Kentish Football 
Hadlow Evolution 2-1 Sevenoaks - It's great for us to get this win, says Hadlow boss Anthony Kent
Tuesday 08th May 2012
HADLOW EVOLUTION 2-1 SEVENOAKS
Haart of Kent County League Division Two East
Tuesday 8th May 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Greatness Park
HADLOW EVOLUTION’S suspended player-manager Anthony Kent says he was proud of his players after they pulled off the club’s most famous result in their short four-year history.
The Hadlow College based outfit snatched victory against a dominant Sevenoaks side, who finished their campaign in third-place in the bottom tier of the English football pyramid.
Hadlow Evolution, who switched the game underneath the floodlights at Greatness Park, opened the scoring with Myles Lowden’s eleventh minute penalty and lone striker Chris Stoate doubled their lead just ten minutes later.
But a string of fine saves from 26-year-old stopper Charles Wash ensured Hadlow Evolution finished their campaign their inaugural campaign in the Haart of Kent County League campaign in a respectable eighth-place with a victory.
“Really pleased, actually with the result,” said 24-year-old Kent.
“It’s a difficult place to come. It was essentially supposed to be our home game but to come here and get a win is brilliant!
“They’ve had a great season, are a really difficult team to play, so I’m really proud of our result essentially, especially as we’re short tonight.”
Sevenoaks boss John James, meanwhile, admitted he suffered frustration, after his side slipped up after winning seven games on the bounce.
He said: “Cor, it was a really frustrating end to the season. You don’t like to finish and go to summer holiday break like that!
“We were a bit sloppy first half. We came out and had a little stroll around, knocked the ball around the first five minutes, looked very pretty and then we gave the ball away all over the park.
“We got caught for the penalty, got caught for a sloppy goal.
“We dug deep for the last ten minutes. My right-back Gary Barnes and left-back Scott Willard, I thought they showed a little bit of commitment from deep and run and strong through the team got us back into it.
“At half-time we had a little chat. Basically we asked ‘let’s give it all until the end of the season.’
“I couldn’t have asked for no more. That’s the kind of stuff we’ve been doing all season and we’ve been rewarded here. We’ve been unbeaten at Greatness all season and we’ve scored some very late goals really, but tonight I stood in the dug-out waiting for a goal to go in.
“Mr Wash in goal looks a good standard of a goalkeeper as well. He held everything really.”
Wash made his first save inside the opening four minutes when Sevenoaks skipper Joe Creasey played a precise diagonal pass to his strike partner Agana, who brought the ball under his spell before unleashing a fierce right-footed drive which Wash caught high above his head.
Hadlow Evolution’s first of very few shots on goal came just 35 seconds later when Lowden stroked a left-footed drive wide of the right-hand post from 30-yards.
But Sevenoaks chances reigned in towards Wash’s goal, with winger Richard Bryce stroking a left-footed shot which was comfortably saved, before Matt Crompton played the ball inside to an unmarked Bryce, who cracked a left-footed drive from 30-yards, which was tipped over the bar by Wash from underneath his own crossbar, before Creasey clipped the foot of the near post direct from the resulting corner.
But Hadlow Evolution, who were playing Tonbridge & District League football last season, snatched an early lead against the run of play.
Lowden played the ball inside to Stoate just inside the Sevenoaks penalty area and his flicked effort glanced Stuart Clarke’s right hand and the Maidstone based referee pointed to the penalty spot.
Lowden stepped up and emphatically stroked his left-footed penalty into the left-hand corner.
Kent said: “It was a great penalty! I definitely think it was a penalty, a stonewall penalty, a handball in the area, but a fantastic penalty. He showed confidence to do it.”
James added: “It happens! It just kicked up. It happened at Tenterden. I think Stuart’s been caught two or three times this season. When he’s looking down at the ball and it’s come up and caught him. It’s not the first time. It happens for defenders when things aren’t running your way. We looked a bit slack and we were waiting for things to happen.”
But man-of-the-match Wash continued to keep his out-played side in the game as he caught Crompton’s right-footed drive from 30-yards after John Phillips did well to hold the ball up before waiting for support from Crompton before playing the ball inside.
Hadlow Evolution grabbed a second goal in the 21st minute and Sevenoaks defender Clarke played his hand in that goal too.
Chris Crouch drove a right-footed shot towards goal and the ball clipped the outstretched right-leg of Clarke inside the penalty area and keeper Adam Porter did fantastically well to react to dive full length low to his right to parry the bouncing ball away from his goal-line but Stoate pounced on the loose ball to slam a right-footed shot into the roof of the net from two-yards.
Kent said: “Both of our goals, if you saw, came from nicking it well as they were on the break. It came back. A great strike really. It got deflected obviously, the goalkeeper scrambling and Chris has done well to pounce in and get that.
“He’s been a bit not too confident in front of goal recently but I’m really happy for him to get that goal.”
James added: “It was two of those goals that you don’t do anything about on the training ground. We’re knocking the ball around and it’s just very, very frustrating for Adam in goal really. He’s been beaten by a penalty and a deflection really. There’s nothing he can do.”
Sevenoaks should have powered their way back into the game when the impressive Bryce released Andy Logan through on goal, but Wash made a low save.
James called for his side to show ‘a bit more passion’ on the half-hour mark and Creasey cracked a right-footed volley which screamed just wide of the post after Agana’s knock down.
But Sevenoaks deservedly clawed their way back into the game through Agana’s fine finish in the 42nd minute.
Byrce burst down the left and steered a low pass into the penalty area and Agana turned and clipped a composed left-footed shot beyond Wash.
James said: “He run down the middle found a bit of space between the two very, very physically strong centre halves and took his goal well over the keeper. The keeper laid down probably for the only time in the game.”
When asked what he wanted from his players during the second half, James replied, “This has been a fortress for us all season and I basically said that Hadlow knew we’re coming. We expected to up the tempo big time and I thought we played some really good stuff second half. No reward for 45 minutes hard graft really.”
Sevenoaks were camped inside Hadlow Evolution’s half for the whole of the second half.
Leading goalscorer Creasey came close from scoring Sevenoaks’s second goal after he only just missed the foot of the left-hand post with a right-footed free-kick in the 51st minute.
The game turned into a midfield battle, but Hadlow Evolution should have increased their lead further at the half-way stage.
Stoate delivered a right-wing corner which was allowed to sail over to the far post and Chris Harbour sent a diving header agonisingly wide of the near post from four-yards.
But normal service resumed as Sevenoaks continued to press a tiring Hadlow Evolution backward line.
Kent admitted: “As you saw in the second half we were pretty much in our own half. We were boxed in.
“They’re a very good team. If we had been able to make a couple of substitutions then maybe we had played a bit more.
“After you take the lead early against a good team away from home, especially when we go two goals up, we expect to be boxed in for the rest of the game and that’s exactly what we were but I thought we defended really well from the front and I was really proud of the boys.”
A poor kick from Wash was picked up Crompton, whose ball released Logan, but his right-footed shot was poor and the ball flashed wide.
Substitute Dave Blundell then released Creasey, who cut in from the left to curl a shot with his right-foot, which was caught by the busy Hadlow keeper.
Kent praised his goalkeeper, by saying, “Charlie is pivotal to everything we do here. His kicking is ropey at times but he’s a fantastic keeper. He should be playing at a lot higher level if he was fitter. He’s fantastic in the air and he pulled off some great saves. He saves us a lot of times to be honest.”
The longer the game went on the more likely Hadlow Evolution were to hang on, but Sevenoaks squandered a couple of gilt-edged chances towards the end of the one-sided game.
Blundell once again released Logan down the left and he played the ball across the face of goal, but Agana burst into the penalty box and missed a sitter at the far post, flicking his shot just wide.
But Sevenoaks’ best chance came in the fifth minute of injury time. Referee Mr Butler somehow found an additional nine minutes and 20 seconds of injury time at the end of the game.
Bryce and Creasey combined down the left and Creasey slid the ball in behind the flat-footed Hadlow defence but Agana stroked his right-footed shot agonisingly into the bottom of the side-netting.
James said: “My assistant, Dave Norburn, thought it was there!
“These lads score goals. It was one of those nights tonight that nothing ever fell to Joe Creasey, our 30 goal top goalscorer. It fell to other people.
“There’s always one team that frustrate you and they frustrated us earlier in the season. Mr Wash in goal, he had a fantastic game down here earlier in the year and I thought he was outstanding again tonight really with his handling.”
Kent said: “I actually thought Benji Agana had stuck that one in! They started celebrating and I put my head down but it materialised it went wide of the post.
“It’s great for us to get this win. It’s fantastic. We weren’t expecting it in all honesty because we’re short. We’ve come here thinking a draw would be fantastic for us because this is what we got the last time we played them. To get a win is brilliant.”
The Hadlow Evolution player-manager says he is satisfied with a mid-table finish at the end of their first campaign at this level.
“It’s been a very difficult campaign stepping up from the Tonbridge League, obviously local football,” explained Kent.
“We’ve come up and we’ve done really well. We’ve had a lot of injuries. We’ve had three cruciate ligaments in our squad of eighteen so that will tell you what you need to know. We’ve turned up some places like Deal and Broadstairs away and it’s a big change of culture for us.
“But the boys have dug deep and we’ve done fantastic. We’ve had a bad start but then when we can play our football there’s no-one who can beat us essentially hands down. I think on our day we’re the best footballing team in the league.
“People might be fitter than us, people may be stronger than us, they might have more depth, but we’re a fantastic footballing team.
“To finish eighth in the league, bang on mid-table pretty much. I’m proud of our achievements.”
Reflecting on his side’s campaign in the Haart of Kent County League, James said: “Third place. The Les Leckie Cup was good to win. It showed that we can hold our ground with one or two of these physical sides in the East.
“Next season by hook or by crook we will take Division One if we got it. If there’s some restructuring in the Kent County, if they asked us to go up to Division One we will snap their hand off. We’d love to go up to Division One.”
Hadlow Evolution: Charles Wash, Jonathan Lord, Lewis Wright, Michael Keen, Sam Washer (Tom Croft 90), Dean Blake, Chris Harbour, Chris Crouch, Myles Lowden, James Lyell, Chris Stoate.
Sub: Martin Batley
Goals: Myles Lowden 11 (pen), Chris Stoate 21
Booked: Lewis Wright 90
Sevenoaks: Adam Porter, Gary Barnes, Scott Willard, Stuart Clarke, John Eastwood, Matt Crompton (Dave Blundell 71), Richard Bryce, John Phillips, Benji Agana, Joe Creasey, Andy Logan.
Subs: Grant Brooker, Dave Norburn, Joe Williams
Goal: Benji Agana 42
Attendance: 40
Referee: Mr Andy Butler (Maidstone)
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