Faversham Town 1-2 Beckenham Town - There's no pressure on my lads, says Luchford

Friday 02nd April 2010

FAVERSHAM TOWN 1-2 BECKENHAM TOWN
Bulmers Cider Kent League
Good Friday 2nd April 2010
Paul Parkinson reports from Salters Lane

A LATE Gary Gorman goal gave the three points to Beckenham Town from this Kent League early kick-off, and had chairman Chris McCarthy purring about the effort of his side, saying, “A bit special the second one by Gary, but it shows we have the character inside the squad to pull out a performance like that!"

Beckenham had taken an 11th minute lead through a powerful James Holder header, the former Lilywhites favourite meeting the visitor‘s first corner of the match, but were pegged back by the tenacity of Faversham‘s Damian Abel, who equalised four minutes into the second half.f

Even Faversham boss, Justin Luchford had to admit to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards that, “I think we‘ve played alright. First half, maybe the effort wasn‘t really there, we looked a little jaded. But second half, we‘ve probably had enough chances to win the game, but then there‘s the goal in the last couple of minutes which is a little hard to take. They‘re a decent side and all credit, they didn‘t sit on their heels and wanted to win it as much as we did.”

In atrocious conditions, with a strong wind swirling around the pitch and driving rain, both sides had their moments in a combative match, but rarely were goalkeepers Rob French and Nick Blue truly tested.

Blue had to be alert in the opening minutes to hold an Abel volley and French did well to turn Durrand Jemmott shot aside for a corner. But, from the corner, Holder rose above the home defence to power Beckenham into the lead.

Any possible fluidity to the half was lost on 16 minutes when Beckenham‘s George Belchamber had to be stretchered off the pitch with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

Mr McCarthy confirmed to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards that Belchamber, “has gone back to Queen Mary‘s hospital and he‘s had 9 stitches put in his knee, but it was a 50-50 ball and I can‘t blame anyone; it was just one of those tackles that happens in these conditions.””

But it was the conditions that were dominating the game, making any movement difficult for the players and decision making even more crucial.

Just before half-time, a quick Faversham break saw John-Paul Collier try to feed in Shane Hamshare, but the full-back was beaten to the ball by the sliding Blue. The clearance was turned on towards Jemmott, who was struck by French‘s attempted clearance; the Faversham keeper grateful to see the ball trickle past the post, rather than into his unguarded net.

Faversham got back into the game through Abel on 49 minutes. Dave Botterill released Abel down the left wing and the forward drove past Darren Wise along the byline and into the area. Abel‘s first shot was well saved by Blue, but Abel calmly placed the rebound into the corner of the net for the equaliser.

Although the play was still scrappy, it was Faversham creating the better chances as the half wore on.

Botterill blazed a chance over from the edge of the area, before central defender Ashley Brown intercepted a ball on halfway, drove through two lunging challenges and drew a good save from Blue.

Botterill then latched onto a Hickman through ball but, having rounded the keeper, was caught between going for goal or delivering a cross back to the supporting players; unfortunately, the ball ended up over the bar.

The introduction of Richard Sinden saw the substitute have two 1-on-1 chances, both of which were well saved by Blue, before Gorman stepped up with the winner.

Gorman received the ball out on the right wing and stepped inside a couple of challenges to drill a left foot shot from the edge of the area into the bottom left corner, with French wrong-footed, possibly by a small deflection.

A delighted Beckenham Town chairman closed by saying, “It was a good performance, terrible conditions for both sides, but for us to show a bit of character, yeah, a good game for us.

“Second half, we were against the wind and Faversham do play a lot of long-ball football; we try to play a bit more and made a couple of good chances.

“It was a bit of a bog through the middle, but we‘re more of a footballing side than Faversham, no disrespect to Faversham as it looks as though they‘ve won the league, but it was very hard for us to adapt to a surface not as good as at Eden Park Road.”

Luchford, meanwhile, was more philosophical, saying, “It was horrendous really, the rain, the wind and the pitch cutting up, it was very difficult for both sides. We did OK; it‘s getting to that point now that you want to win, but you come up against these decent sides and sometimes you need a bit of luck; we didn‘t get that today.”

“I am a little disappointed (with some of the finishing), I think if we take our chances we win the game quite comfortably. But, we‘ve scored something like 99 goals this year, so I‘m not overly fussed that we haven‘t got a couple today, but we‘ll go again Monday and see what happens.

“I‘ve just said to them every game, just go out and enjoy yourselves and there‘s no pressure on my lads. They are fantastic, they deserve something this year; whatever they get, they deserve.”

Faversham Town: Rob French, Shane Hamshare, Dan Larkin, Tom Hickman, Ashley Brown, Lee Shearer, Dane Luchford, Damian Abel (Michael Smissen 79), John-Paul Collier (Richard Sinden 65), Dave Soutan (Dale Skelton 55), Dave Botterill.

Subs: Michael Dodsworth, Nick Shaw.

Goal: Damian Abel 49

Booked: Dave Botterill 35

Beckenham Town: Nick Blue, Damen Wise, John Farley, James Holder, Danny Gorman, Lindsay Kerr (Jason Clews 74), George Belchamber (Charlie Hawkes 19 (Femi Emiroloug 69)), Nick Curran, Danny Lawson, Gary Gorman, Durrond Jemmott.

Subs: Alan Brooks, Andy Callaghan.

Goals: James Holder 11, Gary Gorman 89

Booked: John Farley 36, Danny Gorman 52, Jason Clews 90

Attendance: 233

Referee: Mr Simon Finnigan (Maidstone)

Assistants: Mr I Searle (Herne Bay) and Mr Nick Goodhew (Sittingbourne)