Glebe 0-2 Kennington - That's the furthest we've now gone in The FA Vase, it's making history each season, if we get a home tie, I fancy us, says proud Kennington boss Dan Scorer

Glebe 0 – 2 Kennington
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	05/12/2020 15:00

GLEBE  0-2  KENNINGTON
The Buildbase FA Vase Second Round
Saturday 5 December 2020
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

KENNINGTON manager Dan Scorer celebrated his 200^th game in charge of the club by reaching the last 64 of The FA Vase for the first time in their history.

The Ashford-based side came away from Chislehurst with another scalp as goals from attackers Tom Scorer, 27, and striker Gary Lockyer’s 14^th goal of the season sealed their third win over Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division opposition.

Glebe last took to the field on Saturday 24 October when they lost 2-1 at Tunbridge Wells and they went into this game sitting in ninth-place in the table with 17 points from their 12 league outings.

Kennington are second in the Southern Counties East Football League First Division with maximum points from their opening six league outings, three points behind leaders Sporting Club Thamesmead but with two games in hand.  The Ton last took to the field by beating Fisher in the last round on 31 October.

The Ton have reached the Third Round after beating Erith Town (1-0), Shoreham (7-0), Fisher (5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw), while Glebe started at this stage of the competition after reaching the Fourth Round last season and losing 3-0 at Stowmarket Town.

“Overall, I think over the 90 minutes we probably deserved the win,” said Kennington boss Dan Scorer, 29.

“We’ve come up against a very, very good footballing side today that caused us a few problems. They moved the ball really, really well, nice and intricate in the final third.

“Defensively we’ve been fantastic, we were again today, so another clean-sheet (seven in 11 games), a deserved win I’d say.

“It’s history again. We’re a club that is continuing to make history and we’re moving in the right direction. For me personally it was my 200^th game today so it’s nice to get the win.  I think more importantly for us today was to guarantee we have a game (in the next round) on the 19 December because we want to keep playing football.”

Glebe manager Gary Alexander received the news that he tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday so his assistant manager Damian Briggs took charge with Aaron Fray assisting him.

“Footballing wise, I thought we were the better team,” said Briggs.

“We stuck to the game plan, which was to defend and nullify their threat of the long balls in behind and I thought we done that really well. Every time they clipped it in we were there and we won it.

“We had a few chances on the counter, especially first half and the early part of the second half and if we took those chances the game would’ve been different but fair play to them, two mistakes from us, two bad mistakes that cost us two goals. Fair play to them, they kept doing what they do well, which is effectively clipping balls in behind, eventually they scored from our mistakes.”

Reflecting on their early exit, Briggs replied: “It’s tough for various reasons in terms of it’s a game that we knew was going to be a tough game, even though they’re in a league below.  They’re front runners at the moment and we wanted to win this game for the manager as well so that he can have a go himself in the Vase.

“We just have to look at so many positives in the way we defended for the best part of what? I’d say 70-75 minutes and kept it 0-0, still created one or two chances, so we have to build on the positives there and look forward to next year in The FA Vase and do better in the league.”

Glebe created their first opening after only 119 seconds when centre-half Harry Hudson hit a long free-kick towards the edge of the Kennington penalty area where striker Charlie MacDonald flicked his header harmlessly wide.

Glebe’s left-back Reginald Yembra launched a long throw into the penalty area which was met by wide striker Jamie Philpot at the near post and his flicked header from eight-yards was comfortably gathered by Kennington keeper Joe Mant at his near post.

Kennington are a big and strong direct outfit and Mant’s big kick was flicked on by Lockyer in the middle and left-winger Callum Pack reached the by-line and his cut-back was cut out by Glebe keeper Billy Johnson at his near post.

However, Kennington missed a glorious chance to take the lead with seven minutes and five seconds on the clock.

Kennington centre-half Calvin Sedenu launched a big kick upfield and Lockyer dropped deep to play a lovely reverse pass to put Peck in on goal. He easily used his strength to brush aside last defender Emmanuel Dasho, skipped past keeper Johnson but his shot nestled into the base of the side netting from a tight angle.

“Peck’s so good at doing that.  Our partnership between Lockyer and Peck and also Tom Scorer as well is starting to become really, really strong and they’ve got a good understanding about movement,” said the Ton boss.

“Pecky’s done well to get on the end of a very good pass, gone round the keeper but slightly off balance, which was a shame. I’m sure given a few more games under his belt he definitely would’ve scored that.”

Briggs added: “We spoke about how effective they are when they clip the balls in behind and they get runners coming along.  We coped really well after that to be fair.”

Glebe also went close with 10 minutes and 41 seconds on the clock.

Hudson clipped a long ball out of the Glebe defence and striker Charlie MacDonald linked up well with right-winger Eric Demelo and MacDonald unleashed a right-footed angled drive which flashed across the keeper and just past the foot of the far post from 10-yards, courtesy of a deflection.

“I thought from where I was standing, I thought it was on its way in.  Unfortunately, it had a deflection, which took it wide,” said Briggs.

“We spoke about that, when we regain possession, how quickly can we get it into Charlie MacDonald and then get people supporting him and play on the counter and I thought that was one of the better chances of the entire game that was created and unfortunately it didn’t go in. If it does, it’s probably a different game.”

Scorer added: “They’re a very, very good footballing side, nice and intricate and we picked up on that inside the first 10-15 minutes.  They move the ball really well across the 18-yard box and they’re looking to feed balls in so we tried to address that early on and plug those gaps, which we did really well from that moment on.”

When asked about the dominant performance from his centre-halves Calvin Sedenu (captain) and Adam Phillips, Scorer said: “Brilliant!  Calvin was touch and go today. He came off early in the Fisher game in the last round with an ankle injury and it’s only been the last two weeks that he’s been back out and doing stuff to strengthen it so it was important he got through a good, intense training session on Thursday. He felt good going in today’s game. The pair of them have been phenomenal this season.”

Peck played the ball inside to central midfielder Robbie Dolan, who was given oceans of space to stride forward before drilling a right-footed 30-yarder just over the Foxes’ crossbar.

Kennington continued on the front foot and called Johnson into making a diving save in the 15^th minute.

Harry Stow, a right-back who likes to get forward into the opposite channel, played the ball in from the right and Dolan teed up Peck, who swept his shot towards the bottom near corner, forcing the busy Johnson to dive low to his right to push behind for a corner.

Scorer said: “We’re showing that we can move the ball well. We’re a side that likes to get our full-backs on.  Harry Stow does that superbly. He does that better than anyone, certainly in our league and he will cause problems time after time down that right-hand side. He provides plenty of opportunities throughout the game for us so once again he’s causing teams problems.”

Glebe switched off following Kennington’s short corner, which saw left-back Reiss Crimmen – a long throw specialist – play a corner short to Scorer, who fed the ball into Lockyer, who took a touch before drilling a shot just over the top of the near post from 10-yards.

Glebe keeper Johnson pulled off a brilliant double save to frustrate Kennington at the half-hour mark.

Lockyer was marked on the half-way line but a square reverse pass saw Scorer poke the ball past his marker and race from the halfway line into the box before drilling his shot towards the bottom far corner, forcing Johnson to get down low to his right and use a strong right-hand to push the ball into Lockyer’s path and the keeper used his legs to ensure Lockyer didn’t score from the rebound, the ball tricking past the near post and behind for a corner.

Briggs said: “It was one of those indecisive moments from the centre-halves (Parr and Hudson).  One looked at the other one and the other one looked at the other one and both ended up going halfway and not doing anything and allowed them to get in and create chances.

“To be fair to Bill I thought he was outstanding today. He came up with that first save and then from the rebound. I thought the second save was even better than the first. Fair play to Bill, he was really good in goal today.”

Scorer said: “Again, that’s down to that partnership, that relationship between the front three, fantastic movement off each other and Tom’s done well to get his shot off, a good firm shot.

“It was a good save by the keeper and Gary was just a little bit late coming in.  I think the angle was just a little too tight in the end but another good save by the keeper.”

Glebe weathered the storm and created a chance on the counter-attack in the final five minutes of the half.

Stacy Long, who played as a holding midfielder and an attacking central midfielder during the first half, found himself in the left-back role as he came back for a set-piece.

Long clipped the ball long down the left-channel and Philpot picked the ball up, cut into the box and Mant stuck out his right leg to ensure the six-goal striker didn’t drive his shot into the bottom near corner from a tight angle eight-yards from goal.

Briggs said: “Again, from where we were standing, we spoke about this, it doesn’t matter who scores for us, if someone is in a better position than you, probably the good thing to do is roll the ball back across the face of goal instead of trying to force it in from an angle.

“Nevertheless it’s a chance and it’s one of these things which is happening a lot to us where we create chances and don’t put them away and then we make mistakes and get punished and when the opposition makes mistakes against us they don’t get punished!”

Scorer added: “It was not the busiest of games for Manty but that’s why he’s so vital to us. There’s been plenty of games already this season where he’s not that busy but when called upon he always steps up to the plate and he’s partly the reason why we’ve got so many clean-sheets as we have, as well as the defence.”

Kennington created the final chance of the first half and it came from Crimmen’s second of five long throws.

Scorer brought the ball down at the near post, turned before drilling his right-footed shot over the crossbar from the corner of the six-yard box.

Both sides went in at the break on level terms.

Briggs said: “We just wanted to speak about a few things, with the midfield players in terms of how far to allow them the room before we clip it, when to start engaging and when to start to apply the pressure on them.  I thought that went really well and then we spoke about how quick we can be and how brave we can be when we win it and we also spoke about not every counter-attack has to be a rapid 100 mile per hour.

“Second half we came out and it looked like we would nick that first one and probably go on and get a second.”

Scorer said: “Slightly concerning we were sort of getting on each other’s backs. It was difficult. Everyone’s had a five-week lay-off (due to the second national lockdown) so things weren’t perfect, so I just reminded them things weren’t perfect before the break, so we shouldn’t expect everyone to be perfect now.

“I said just try to keep doing what we were doing and look to encourage.”

Glebe started the second half on the front foot and went close to taking the lead inside the opening three minutes.

Long’s corner came in from the right and Philpott had his head in his hands after steering his header at the far post just past the near upright.

Glebe centre-half Chris Parr hit a long ball out of defence to release Demelo down the right and his pace saw him beat around four players but he lacked composure inside the six-yard box as Mant got down low at his near post and used his left-hand to push the ball behind for a corner.

“I know it’s a chance and the keeper has made the save but it’s about that final decision in the final third,” said Briggs.

“It could be argued possibly if Eric slots it back, Charlie MacDonald is in and he taps it in.  Nevertheless, he went for it and the keeper has made the save.

“The players’ have got to learn from it and lean how to deal with things and hopefully one day it will just click for us and we go from there.”

Scorer added: “We knew they would come out second half a lot stronger, which they did for the first 10-15 minutes and they were certainly on top.  We rode our luck a little bit at times but we grew into the game in the second half and from then on we were completely dominant.

“I think perhaps with us playing down the hill, I think mentally we thought we would be in for an easier half than what we were up against for the first half but credit to Glebe they came out and they moved the ball really well and they moved the ball quickly in the final third and they were certainly being nice and direct with their wide players, which caused us one or two problems but we defended really well. We soaked up that pressure and we grew into the game.”

Glebe struck the foot of the far post in the 12^th minute of the half, courtesy of some persistence from their captain, holding midfielder Tom Hever.

Hever’s crossed the ball into Kennington’s box, which was cleared out to Philpott, who struck a first time right-footed angled drive, which screamed across Mant and pinged against the base of the far post and came back out but no one was there to tap in the rebound.

Briggs said: “I thought it was smart build-up and Tom Hever initially looked like he lost possession but he regained it quite quickly. He played a clipped ball forward and the decision for Jamie to go first time was really good and he was unfortunate to hit the base of the post. It came back, goalkeeper beaten, the net screaming for the ball to be rolled in but no one was close enough or near enough to tap it in.”

Scorer added: “He’s a great player, he’s a very, very good talent so we were very wary of him today. He does shift that ball really well and when he gets that ball onto that right-foot, we knew he was going to cause us one or two problems.

“Luckily for us, a stroke of luck that it hits the post and bounces all of the way across the face of goal and no-ones there to tap it in so we’ll take that.”

Kennington regained their dominance of the game from the 65^th minute.

Once again, they played their direct approach as Crimmen hit the ball over the top of a flat-footed Glebe defence to put in Lockyer, who saw from the corner of his eye that keeper Johnson was off his line but his right-footed half-volley cracked over the crossbar from 20-yards when the striker only had the keeper to beat.

Scorer said: “Strangely, I think he’s scored three of those already this season. He’s just been alert to the ball over the top, their defenders have switched off and he normally dispatches it.  After a five-week lay-off expecting everyone to be at their best is a very tough task.  I think he’ll be slightly disappointed that he didn’t have the composure on that occasion.”

Crimmen’s long throw came in from the left and Lockyer’s near-post flick was comfortably caught by Johnson at his near post.

The players’ complained of a flat football coming in from the home dug-out but Kennington almost scored with it as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

Peck swung in a deep corner from the left and it fell to Craig Calvert, who poked his shot towards the bottom right-hand corner, keeper Johnson getting fingertips to it as he smothered to his left and the ball clipping the outside of the post.

Scorer said: “After we soaked up that early pressure we grew into the game and we could see that we were going to be the side that were going to get that goal.  We had to work hard at it, we had to be patient on how we moved the ball and we were starting to create chance after chance.”

Briggs added: “Billy was outstanding and got a touch onto it and did what he had to do and kept us in the game.”

Kennington went long again as Mant kicked the ball straight down the middle of the pitch, Scorer flicked the ball on and Stow whipped in a cross from within the right channel and the physically strong Calvert sent his free-header past the near post.

Kennington deservedly took the lead with 36 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock, as their persistence counted.

Glebe substitute right-winger Theo Osinfolarim gave the ball away on the half-way line and Crimmen released Peck down the left channel. He put in a deep cross to find Lockyer inside the box and his shot was blocked and fell at Scorer’s feet and his right-footed shot nestled into the bottom left-hand corner from eight-yards out.

Scorer said: “Fantastic ball from Peck.  Gazza’s had a great first touch and you think he’s just going to shoot and he just looked to take an extra touch, which perhaps slowed him down.  I think he had a shot initially and it just rebounded back out and it fell nicely to Tom’s feet and he finished it really well.  What felt like an age for him to put it in the goal but a cool finish.”

Briggs added: “It started before Theo gave the ball away. I think the decision from Stacy Long to sort of do that short pass into him sort of almost put him into a bit of a problem. If we don’t communicate when that pass is coming in to let him know a man’s on, he’s tried to roll it into an area and it’s been intercepted so I think it was a culmination of errors leading up to that goal.

“We spoke about being decisive and no nonsense in the middle of the park. If it’s going to put your player under that pressure, we might as well clip it behind and turn them. If we did that they probably wouldn’t have scored from it.

“Two mistakes from us that created their two goals and I don’t think the goals that they’ve scored, they didn’t carve us open or created something themselves, it was just from our mistakes.”

Lockyer, another well-built player, hit a shot on the turn which flashed across the keeper and past the far post from 20-yards.

Kennington sealed their deserved victory by scoring their second goal with 44 minutes and 8 seconds on the clock.

Peck was in the middle of the park when he hooked the ball forward, which split open Glebe centre-half Hudson to put Lockyer through on goal and he kept his composure to slot his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

“He puts himself in those positions, he gambles on those balls that are either hooked or sort of put in behind the defence and thankfully it fell nicely for him. He got the ball from under his feet really well and finished it really, really well in a one-v-one situation, which you’d expect him to,” said Scorer.

Briggs said: “In all fairness to Harry Hudson, I thought he was excellent today.  The one time that he got caught in two minds to go to attack it or not to attack it, that was the one mistakes that he made and they got in behind and unfortunately for Harry he wasn’t quick enough to go and recover it.

“We’ve got to take the good and the bad, just go back to the drawing board and look at things and re-asses and go again.

“I’m gutted for the gaffer more so than anything else that he wasn’t able to be on the touchline for a FA Vase game.”

Kennington’s holding midfielder Harry Lavender played the ball inside to substitute Charlie Owen, whose left-footed 25-yard drive was comfortably saved by Johnson on his knees.

Glebe struck the crossbar with 47:43 on the clock, following their eighth corner of the game (both sides won nine corners apiece).

Ramell Lake delivered a left-footed corner from the right which curled and dipped and bounced onto the crossbar and Mant made sure by flicking the ball over.

“Clever from Ramell, he’s taken it from the right-side so he’s using that left-foot and he just whipped it in and it’s just one of those days where nothing we did towards goal seemed to go in,” admitted Briggs.

“It’s unfortunate but we can’t just keep saying it’s unfortunate and let that become part of our DNA. We have to find ways and keep going and keep pushing ourselves to do better and turn these half chances into full chances and turn these into playing well and winning games.”

Kennington fans were prevented from attending this game due to UK Government’s controversial tier system.

“It’s a great shame. They’ve been fantastic for us this season. Each year we’re starting to get a bigger fan base, which is fantastic and we hope it continues to grow,” said Scorer.

“I think a lot of them would’ve enjoyed that game today because it was quite a good game for the neutral as well. I don’t know how much they would’ve enjoyed the cold and it’s a shame they weren’t able to be here and celebrate with us at the end but hopefully from the Third Round (19 December) things change.”

Reflecting on his 200 games in charge of the club, Scorer said: “It’s making history each season, that’s the furthest we’ve now gone in the competition (after reaching the Second Round in their debut season last time out), which is obviously a proud moment for myself.

“It’s got to a point where now that’s our expectation now with the boys.  I certainly feel if we get a home tie, I’m very confident of getting most sides at our place and we should be. We’ve got a fantastic record over two years at Homelands so if we get a home time, I fancy us.”

The Southern Counties East Football League remains suspended until Saturday 26 December, while clubs can play FA Vase, London FA Cup ties and friendly matches from today.

Glebe are scheduled to play Tower Hamlets (at Phoenix Sports FC) on Boxing Day, while Kennington travel to Lydd Town the following day.

“I think the players’ are eager to put things right,” said Briggs.

“It’s disappointing, we’re all gutted for the chairman (Rocky McMillan), gutted for the club, gutted for the manager, gutted as players, as coaching staff but you’ve got to take the positives out of every situation.”

Glebe:  Billy Johnson, Emmanuel Dasho, Reginald Yembra, Tom Hever (Theo Osinfolarin 75), Chris Parr, Harry Hudson, Jamie Philpot (Brandon Williams 85), Stacy Long, Charlie MacDonald, Ramell Lake, Eric Demelo (Freddie Nyhus 79).
Sub: Jason Mensah

Booked:  Emmanuel Dasho 18

Kennington:  Joe Mant, Harry Stow (Luke Hughes 83), Reiss Crimmen, Harry Lavender, Calvin Sedenu, Adam Phillips, Callum Peck, Robbie Dolan (Joe Fisher 90), Gary Lockyer, Craig Calvert (Charlie Owen 90), Tom Scorer.
Sub: Ryan Philpott

Goals:  Tom Scorer 82, Gary Lockyer 90

Booked:  Calvin Sedenu 53, Craig Calvert 78

Attendance: 124
Referee: Ian Fissenden
Assistants: Mr Jack Owen & Mr Steven Martin