Glebe 0-2 Punjab United - I thought we were fantastic from start to finish, says Punjab United boss Chipie Sian

Glebe 0 – 2 Punjab United
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	21/02/2023 19:45

GLEBE  0-2  PUNJAB UNITED
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 21 February 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

PUNJAB UNITED manager Chipie Sian says he wants his side to remain unbeaten until the end of the season after sealing a comfortable victory over a lacklustre Glebe side at Foxbury Avenue.

Striker Jayden Hussain scored his maiden first-team goal, before right-winger Theodore McKenzie killed the contest by doubling Punjab United’s lead on the stroke of half-time.

The Gravesend-based outfit have extended their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions and have risen to 12^th place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 33 points on the board from 25 (of 38 games).

Sian’s men are now 11 points clear of the relegation zone, which contains K Sports (22 points from 27 games) and Canterbury City (15 points from 26).

“I thought we were fantastic from start to finish,” said Sian, whose men were up against a side unbeaten in four games in all competitions.

“I watched a couple of their videos last night again and I was up in Birmingham today, I was driving and I told my wife this is the formation I’m playing and we’re going to play with pace and turn them backwards and everything we hit, we done well.

“I saw their videos when they were playing from the back and try to suck teams in so I said ‘let’s go at them and be brave and box them in’ and I thought our back four were outstanding and brave.

“I thought we stopped them playing straight away from the start and I don’t think they expected that.

“What pleased me? Just the performance.  The attitude. We’ve brought some players in today, we rested some on Saturday and the squad is building into a really good unit.

“Jason (Powell) and I have been working with them now for weeks and weeks and weeks and told them to believe in themselves.  Some of the performances over the last five to six weeks have been outstanding.

“Well, we’re not done yet. We want to keep going up and up and up and I’ve said to the players we’ve had a slow start and I just feel if we can keep building, keep going, the boys have done so well.”

Punjab United set the tone by charging out with all guns blazing, kicking down the slope and putting Glebe on the back-foot.

The home side lost attacking midfielder George Whitelock to a hamstring pull inside the opening eight minutes and his replacement, eight-goal Marcel McDonald was also coming back from a similar kind of injury and offered little threat.

Punjab United missed a glaring chance to take the lead inside the opening 13 minutes, following their second of nine corners.

Chris Edwards whipped in a quality delivery with his right-foot from the left and central midfielder Lea Dawson’s free diving header whistled harmlessly past the far post from eight-yards.

“We do a lot of work behind the scenes.  The coaching team has been good and we try to implement what we can,” said Sian.

“Last night, there was just something that I looked at. I re-grouped again this morning, up in Birmingham at five in the morning and I just thought, ‘right, this is the way that we are going to play tonight, and we’re going to go for it’.

“Lea scored a harder header on Saturday against Fisher. I thought he scored to be fair. He was unlucky and we should’ve been 1-0 up.  I just think we pressed them so well.”

Punjab United’s pacey attack was a threat during their dominant start with Arun Suman causing Glebe’s right-back Jamal Abubakari a headache.

Punjab United’s high-pressing game had Glebe’s holding midfielder Reece Gillies in trouble in the 20^th minute, losing the ball in his own defensive third and Dawson’s through ball released 10-goal striker William Johnson-Cole through on goal and his left-footed shot was destined to nestle inside the bottom far corner, only for Glebe goalkeeper Jordan Olds to dive to his left to flick the ball around the post.

“It was a good save in the end. It was coming, it was coming. We didn’t give them a sniff really to get out.  The moment we stopped them playing from the back and made them go long, it favoured us,” added Sian.

However, Glebe weathered the storm and then enjoyed their best spell of the game and creating three decent chances of their own.

Parish Muirhead drove forward before slipping the ball inside to McDonald, who swept his shot straight at visiting goalkeeper Rilwan Anibaba to make a comfortable save in the 24^th minute.

Abubakari then played the ball low into the box into talisman striker Jamie Philpot, who flicked the ball up before sweeping his right-footed half-volley straight at Anibaba.

Glebe then went route-one with their next chance just 113 seconds later when Olds’ launched a big kick upfield, Philpot jumped to flick the ball on and Malachi Morris’ shot on the turn forced Anibaba to dive to his left to tip the ball around his post for the first of six Glebe corners.

“We know they’re a dangerous side. They came to us (3 December) and they beat us 4-1 and they broke us on the break and we spoke about that and a couple of times, when you’re being brave at the back like that you are going to get caught a little bit and that’s when Rilwan comes in and does his bit,” said Sian.

“They had chances, the only one that was probably troubling Rilwan was Philpot’s one but the rest of them were like half-chances and Rilwan’s done well to keep it simple really.”

Punjab United regained control of the game and deservedly took the lead with 32 minutes and 14 seconds on the clock.

Suran’s progress was halted within the left channel and the ball was worked back to centre-half Stephen Ratcliff, who drilled a first-time right-footed cross from close to the half-way line and McKenzie laid the ball off for Hussain to sweep his first-time right-footed shot past the advancing keeper to find the bottom left-hand corner with a clinical finish.

Sian said: “Jayden’s been one we’ve been watching for a while.  He’s been in our under 23s and Alan and Simon have been raving about him for weeks so I gave him a little shot at training and he’s come in and he’s been unbelievable. He’s hungry, he’s young and that’s what the under 23’s are about, to give us players who want to step-up. He’s been brilliant and he hasn’t been dropped since.”

Sian explained why 17-goal veteran striker Paul Vines had to wait until the 67^th minute to come off the bench to replace Hussain, who along with Johnson-Cole picked up knocks early in the second half and both will be assessed during training on Thursday night.

“Vinsey was outstanding (during our 2-1 win at Fisher) on Saturday and on that (3G pitch), I didn’t want to kill him so we rested him up today.  Let’s go full pace at them and some games we can chop and change a little bit.  Saturday he lead the line excellently and we’re going to need him on Saturday again.”

Morris was impressing for Glebe in the middle of the park and a strong challenge saw him poke the ball through to Philpot, who tried to lob Anibaba from 45-yards out, only for the goalkeeper to step to his right to gather, as the ball was drifting harmlessly wide of the goal.

Punjab United sealed the deal by killing the game off with their second goal a second into stoppage time.

Reece Gillies launched a free-kick from the right-back slot inside the Glebe half and Punjab United cleared their lines and clinically counter-attacked.

Holding midfielder Jordan Campbell’s sublime through ball released McKenzie running at pace down the heart of the pitch and the winger kept his composure to slot his right-footed shot inside the bottom left-hand corner in a one-on-one situation with Olds.

Reflecting on McKenzie’s finish, Sian said: “He’s got so much pace, it’s unbelievable. He’s dangerous. He worked so hard going the other way and today I said to him now it’s your time to go forward. He was unbelievable and he put in a beautiful finish. I think it was thoroughly deserved at half-time.

“At half-time, I sort of said to them ‘game management,’ let’s see the game out and we done that on Saturday. I said do not make any mistakes, not second half.

“I thought it was a masterclass in making the game tick away and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. Sometimes we go gung-ho and today I was like no!  I didn’t let Chris Edwards push up.  I said stand, do your job. Let Theo go up and down and we didn’t get caught and that was the best thing about it.”

This was a poor showing from Glebe, who are jointly-managed by Danny Oakins and Craig Nelson and there was no surprise when centre-half Reece Barrett and Gillies were both hooked at the interval.

Simeon Dennis, who went missing during the first-half as a right-winger, slotted in at right-back and Daniel Vaughan had a new central defensive partner in Abubakari after the interval, with Jargal Enkh retaining his left-back berth until he was replaced.

Glebe’s malaise continued into the second half and they almost gifted Punjab United a third goal in the 52^nd minute.

Enkh rolled a free-back back towards his goalkeeper Olds, who allowed the ball to roll off his foot and narrowly miss the foot of his near-post.

Glebe’s two half-time substitutions, Georgi Steeds (left-winger) and Michael Adipojo (central midfielder) offered very little in attack.

Adipojo released Philpot down the left channel and the striker's deflected cross was comfortably caught by Anibaba.

Punjab United created just the one second half chance and it came on the hour-mark.

Dawson’s first time pass released Johnson-Cole, who easily won a foot race against Abubakari but his right-footed angled drive was comfortably gathered by the Glebe goalkeeper.

“Listen, I wasn’t really bothered about that,” admitted Sian.

“I did say to them at half-time, if we can keep this lead for 15 minutes, we will win the game and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Edwards floated a free-kick towards the edge of the Glebe penalty area and Suman cut across his man before cracking a first-time drive from 20-yards, which flashed across the keeper and past the far post.

An often isolated 24-goal Philpot came close to scoring in the 72^nd minute when he hit a right-footed volley towards the roof of the net from 25-yards, which forced Anibaba to tip the ball over his crossbar.

“Listen, he’s a good player, he’s very lively and we always said don’t switch off with him but I think we handled him really well today,” said Sian.

“I thought Steve and Jamie were outstanding on him. A player of that quality is going to have one or two but I just think we snuffed him out and I think he was frustrated at the end of it.”

The second half was poor on quality and Glebe mustered another chance through route-one football inside the final four minutes.

Olds' big kick released right-winger McDonald just inside the penalty area but Anibaba rushed swiftly off his line to smother the shot to retain his clean-sheet, with Punjab United’s centre-halves Ratcliff and Jamie Watson keeping Philpot a frustrated figure.

Sian’s men beat Erith & Belvedere on 11 February to land their first Kent Senior Trophy Final, courtesy of Ashley Probets’ free-kick.

The two sides meet each other again at the Elite Venue in Gravesend on Saturday.

Andy Constable’s side are running away with things at the top of the table with 64 points from 25 games, 19 points clear of Erith Town, who have three games in hand.

“We were outstanding again that day and now we’re in a cup final, it’s amazing for the players and I think that’s helped us, the competition, running a bit more, which is fantastic,” said Sian.

“Listen, it’s a pleasure to work with the boys. They’ve been fantastic all year, when it’s been bad, we’ve stuck together but it’s good times now, everyone’s buzzing and that’s what it should be.

“I think the competition (for places ahead of our Kent Senior Trophy Final against Deal Town in April) is what make clubs tick and good teams have good competition and I think we lacked that at the beginning of the season and we brought that in midway.  These boys are giving me so much at the moment and hopefully we can just keep going.”

When asked what he is targeting in these last 13 league outings, Sian replied: “I’ve just said to them in there, just try to be unbeaten. Why not? Why can’t we go unbeaten?  They’ve got to believe in themselves.

“A couple more wins will hopefully keep us safe and look forward, why not? Enjoy the final.

“Listen, I’ve always said kind words about Erith & Belvedere.  They’ve got a good chairman.  I hope they go up. I hope they go and win it, which I think they will - but we’re not going to let them win on Saturday.  We’re going to try our best to win the game and that’s’ what we’re going to do.

“They have to come out and fight and have to earn the victory.  They’ve invested well, they’ve got a good team, a good bunch and they were so humble after the game when we beat them the other day in the Semi and I can only wish them all the best.

“I do expect a reaction but I know my boys will react. I know my boys are up for it and we know it’s not going to be easy. We had a little bit of luck on that day but I’m sure we’re ready for it. We’re at home and I hope we can get another three points.”

Glebe remain in seventh-place in the league table with 40 points from their 27 league outings, only five points adrift of the play-off place which Adam Woodward’s Dockers are currently occupying.

Glebe joint-manager Oakins experienced his sixth defeat in 15 games since taking over from Luke Rooney in November.

“Very poor tonight from us. We didn’t get going from the first whistle to the last whistle.  We didn’t create any chances, very lacklustre tonight.  Strange really, since we’ve been here it’s been quite good and tonight we were off it, nowhere near it,” said Oakins.

“I can’t put my finger on it.  It’s the first time really, maybe the second time it’s happened since we’ve been here. It’s strange really, it’s strange from the boys tonight.

“They put us under pressure all night. They done really well. I thought they pressed us high up the pitch and we just didn’t react to it.  We didn’t react all night. It was dead. It was quiet from us tonight.

“We gave sloppy passes away through the middle. We put ourselves under danger too many times and everything we tried tonight didn’t work.  I thought we played in stupid areas, when we should’ve been hitting it into channels. We just made the wrong decisions all night.

“When we did get it down and play through the lines, we created the two (first-half) chances but we didn’t do enough.  When I look at the whole game, on the whole, that was in the first half. I don’t think we had an effort in the second half.

“Their first goal came from us putting their goalie under pressure and he digs out a 70-yard diag into their winger who brings it down well and it goes across the box and a fully deserved first goal.

“I just think we didn’t do the basics right tonight at all.  We didn’t even come out for the second half really. It’s not like us, it’s not how we’ve been playing.

“It was a great touch (for their second goal), through the middle of the pitch and he just split us wide open with his touch really and it was a great finish.  Nothing I can say about that apart from a lack of, it was poor defending.

“We wanted to come out sharp (at the start of the second half), fighting. If we could’ve got a quick early goal, I think we could’ve been in the game and probably get something out of it but it didn’t happen.  It just didn’t happen for us tonight. We just weren’t at the races.”

When asked why he hooked Barrett and Gillies at the interval, Oakins replied: “We just wanted to change it up a little bit at half-time, see if we can get a reaction from the two boys that were coming on.  I think we got a little bit out of Michael (Adipoju) but that was about it.

“Second half we battled on well, we didn’t concede, which is a good thing but we just didn’t create anything tonight.

“Punjab worked their nuts off tonight, all credit to them, but we’ve had an off night tonight and they fully deserved the win.   That wasn’t good enough tonight from us.  I couldn’t tell you what was missing. There was a little bit of bite (missing), a little bit of urgency on the ball and I couldn’t tell you what was missing tonight.”

Fourteenth-placed Kennington (32 points from 25 games) are the visitors to Foxbury Avenue on Saturday. Dan Scorer’s side suffered a 4-0 thrashing at Lordswood tonight.

Despite the Foxes only being five points adrift of the play-off zone, Oakins, who was without Tom Hever (sickness), is already looking ahead to next season, rather than challenge his players to push themselves for a top-two finish.

Rusthall are in third-place with 45 points from 27 points and they are followed in the hunt by Phoenix Sports (42 points from 22), Deal Town (42 points from 24), Whitstable Town (42 points from 27) and Glebe.

“We go into training on Thursday, we’ll work on a few things and go into Kennington looking for the three points,” said Oakins, who was asked what his targets are for the remainder of the season.

“Just to bed the boys in who we have got here. We’re trying to build something for next year, hopefully.  We’ve got a young squad so we’re just working towards that really.”

Glebe: Jordan Olds, Jamal Abubakari, Jargal Enkh (Teddy Green 74), Reece Gillies (Michael Apipojo 46), Reece Barrett (Georgi Steeds 46), Daniel Vaughan, Malachi Morris (Riley Asaam 75), Parish Muirhead, Jamie Philpot, George Whitelock (Marcel McDonald 11), Simeon Dennis.

Punjab United: Rilwan Abibaba, Chris Edwards, Andrew Dythe, Jordan Campbell, Stephen Ratcliff, Jamie Watson, Arun Suman, Lea Dawson, William Johnson-Cole (Michael Hagan 89), Jayden Hussain (Paul Vines 67), Theodore McKenzie.
Subs: Ashley Probets, Marvin Okundalaiye, Danny Phillips

Goals: Jayden Hussain 33, Theodore McKenzie 45

Booked: Chris Edwards 78

Attendance: 54
Referee: Mr Richard Myers
Assistants: Mr Jason Elliott & Mr Alexander Perros