Faversham Town 2-2 Margate - I'm disappointed that we threw away two leads, says Ray Turner

FAVERSHAM TOWN  2-2  MARGATE
The FA Cup with Budweiser First Qualifying Round
Saturday 8^th September 2012
Paul Parkinson reports from Salters Lane

HONOURS even at Salters Lane this afternoon, but there will be contrasting feelings from the rivals in this FA Cup First Qualifying Round Kent Derby.

Faversham Town, from Ryman League Division One South, who led twice, will look at missed opportunities, whereas their Ryman Premier neighbours Margate will feel relief that their FA Cup adventure continues into Tuesday night’s replay at Hartsdown Park.

Both managers expressed the same feelings, with Faversham’s Ray Turner saying, “As a manager, you are disappointed (when you lose two leads). We did well when we scored, we did the right things and made them work very hard to get back into the game.”

“When you have the lead, you want to hold on and potentially extend it, but Margate were always in the game. Their forward players were very sharp, always looking for knock-downs, and you have to remember they are coming off a great run. I think the boys can be very proud of the way they played.”

Whereas, his opposite number, Chris Kinnear added, “We’re pleased we were able to fight back. There are a lot of ex-Margate players here, the pitch is a bit bobbly, and we’ve got a lot of young players in our side. We’re glad to still be in it, but we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves when we went behind. Our lads have shown a little more character.”

“We knew they would play for set pieces, and there were a few errors on our part, but we don’t let many goals in and we do score our fair share. We’ve got some talented players here who have struggled to play on this pitch. I’m not going to have a go at the lads, we’re unbeaten now in eleven, including pre-season games, so we’ll go to the next game and hope we’ll play better.””

Before some of the crowd had left the clubhouse, Faversham took the lead in the third minute from a corner earned by Wayne Wilson’s shot that Craig Holloway had to turn behind at full stretch.

Wilson’s resulting set piece was met by James Peacock’s glancing header that looped over Holloway into the net.

Lilywhites’ boss, Turner, was pleased to see the hard work in training pay off, and explained that, “Our delivery, it’s important at any level, but particularly when we’re playing teams at this level, it’s our chance to get players like James Peacock and Matt Bourne into the game. We’ve got good headers of the ball and it is important that we make the most of the opportunities.””

Margate looked to hit back quickly and from a corner of their own on 9 minutes, Faversham keeper Simon Overland came for, and missed the cross, only to see the ball bounce down off Aaron Lacy into the path of Carl Rook, who could only stab the ball over the bar from 10 yards.

But the equaliser wasn’t long in arriving, four minutes later, as Sam Long burst down the right channel, beating challenges from Aiden Sherlock and Ashley Brown. Long drove to the deadball line and clipped a cross of the unfortunate Matt Bourne, who inadvertently diverted the ball past the stranded Overland.

Within two minutes, Margate may have taken the lead, as it took a last ditch tackle from Bourne to deny Tommy Whitnell, who had been released into the area by Rook, capitalising on a poor goal-kick.

Rook fired a diving header over after good work by Phil Starkey midway through the half, but despite Faversham looking to discomfort their visitors using the pace of Adrian Stone and Renford Tenyue, they only had a long shot by Luke Harvey that make Holloway work to provide encouragement for their first half efforts.

Early in the second half, Long put a dangerous ball into the Faversham box, where Peacock and Rook clashed, but the ball fell to Tommy Murphy, whose drive was tipped over by Overland.

Just after the hour, Rook thought he’d given Margate the lead, nodding home from close range after John Beales had retrieved Long’s free kick, but the assistant referee’s flag was raised to indicate the ball had gone behind.

For a team that has been trying to play more of a passing game, Faversham’s second goal was right out of the route one handbook, as Jamie Maxted launched the ball over the Margate back four. The otherwise outstanding Michael Alaile couldn’t cope with the attentions of Harvey, and the former Herne Bay man crashed the ball past Holloway to restore the lead on 65 minutes.

A delighted Tuner said: “Luke’s outmuscled the defender brilliantly. You’ve got to be adaptable. I want them to play, but I knew Margate would be direct, they pick up a lot of second balls. To some extent, we’ve set up differently today to combat that area of the pitch, and we’ve dealt with them well, but there’s room for different sort of goals, and I think they were vulnerable to Luke’s strength up front. He’s deserved his man-of-the-match award today.””

As in the first half though, Margate were soon level. Starkey played the ball in from the right and Richard Avery headed goalwards, only for Rook to poach a finish, nipping in front of Overland on 73 minutes to level matters once more.

From the kick-off, Faversham winger Tenyue had a golden chance to score, trying to clip the ball over Holloway, but the former Bromley keeper was able to catch the ball as he retreated back towards his line.

Murphy and Harvey had chances for their respective sides, but neither side could find that piece of magic that would win the game.

Turner, explaining his substitutions in the second half admitted, “I couldn’t quite make the impact changes that I wanted to because changes were forced on me by injury, but I wanted to freshen up the forward area and take the game to them again in the last 10. Most importantly for me, when we were at 2-2, was that we were men out there and we still looked strong at the end of the game.

“Ashley (Brown) was struggling with the heat after the break, and Jamie Maxted is a natural left back, so it’s a change we made quite quickly to be positive, but Aaron’s got a tight hamstring, so we just don’t know about him.

“Tuesday is not far away. Chippy (Richard Carpenter) has come in today and done a job for us, probably surprising a few people, but he’s got a heel problem, so all three changes were enforced. I was looking to get Danny Lawrence on to impact the game.”

Kinnear, looking upon his Margate team as a work in progress, said, “The supporters have seen what we are trying to do this year, and it has taken some time as last year we inherited a few players. It was the first year in the league for Jake (Leberl) and I, and we’re not 100% there yet, but we’ve got lads who hopefully can be with us for a while.

“The supporters, I’m not surprised they’ve come here today, might be a bit disappointed that we’ve not done better, but last year maybe we wouldn’t have had the resilience to come back. Hopefully we can get a better result on Tuesday.””

When asked about the Second Qualifying Round draw on Monday, both managers were in agreement, in that they wouldn’t be watching as the job of qualifying hasn’t been completed.

Kinnear said: “It doesn’t really matter what the draw is on Monday. Someone will probably tell me, but I won’t look for it. We’ve got a job to do on Tuesday, and there are a lot of our old players who will want to cause an upset, but we’ve got to perform ourselves to make sure they can’t do that.

Turner added: “I won’t be worrying about the draw. I think any team that has got Margate, with the form they are in, doesn’t take anything for granted. We’ve just got to go and do our jobs.”

Faversham Town: Simon Overland, Aaron Lacy (Toby Ashmore 74), Ashley Brown (Jamie Maxted 55), James Peacock, Matt Bourne, Aidan Sherlock, Richard Carpenter (Dave Botterill 78), Wayne Wilson, Adrian Stone, Luke Harvey, Renford Tenyue.
Subs: Dan Lawrence, Antonio Gonnella, Danny Hockton, Daniel Ellis

Goals: James Peacock 3, Luke Harvey 65

Margate:  Craig Holloway, Phil Starkey, Dean Pooley, Richard Avery, John Beales, Michael Alaile, Sam Long (Alex Rhodes 87), Dan Stubbs, Carl Rook (Ryan Dolby 78), Tommy Whitnell, Tommy Murphy (Matt Bodkin 87).
Subs: Mark Corneille, Josh Mattles

Goals: Matt Bourne 14 (own goal), Carl Rook 73

Attendance: 409
Referee: Mr Jonathan Pickford (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Martin Osborne (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex) & Mr Steven Parmenter (Southend-on-Sea, Essex)