Holmesdale 5-3 West Wickham - Our roots will stay firmly where they are, says Keith D'Urso

HOLMESDALE 5-3 WEST WICKHAM
Pre-Season Friendly
Tuesday 6^th August 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakley Road

WEST WICKHAM manager Keith D’Urso says he will have to win the lottery for his club to make the switch to the Southern Counties East Football League.

The Bluebloods finished in fifth-place in the top-flight of the Southern Amateur League last season and they threw away an early 2-0 lead against Holmesdale in an eight-goal thriller at Oakley Road.

The first seven goals were scored in a whirlwind 37 minute spell during an explosive first half, but Holmesdale, who were playing their seventh and last pre-season friendly came through with a morale boosting victory ahead of Saturday’s league opener at home to Cray Valley (Paper Mills).

The Dalers were defeated in their opening four warm-up games, but home wins over The Skrill South (Conference South) sides Tonbridge Angels and Bromley lifted spirits.

West Wickham open their league campaign on 7 September and this was their second pre-season friendly, after going down to a 3-0 defeat to Greenwich Borough on the 3g pitch at Dartford’s Princes Park Stadium on 27 July.

“A quite lively game, entertaining certainly in the first opening 20-25 minutes,” said D’Urso afterwards.

“We were end-to-end stuff. Overall not too disappointed with the result. It’s our second work-out this season because our season starts a bit later than the Kent sides.

“I’m a bit disappointed with the way we gave away some of the goals, which were a bit shoddy. We could’ve defended a bit better but overall, very pleasing performance.

“We had a couple of youngsters out there who showed themselves well and I’m looking forward to the season ahead.”

Holmesdale’s coach Ross Mitchell admitted he was pleased with his side’s attacking play, but disappointed in the manner his side leaked three goals in 18 minutes.

“Good to get pre-season out of the way,” he said.  “Good ultimately to finish on a win.  Disappointing first half defensively. We gave away three sloppy goals and we need to improve on that as we move into the season.

“Offensively we looked really positive. It’s something that we’ve been working on in pre-season. Pleased with the second part of the first half and definitely the second half.”

Holmesdale go into their league campaign on the back of three wins, something that Mitchell thinks is important.

He said: “They say results don’t matter in pre-season and I agree with that to an extent, but I think leading up to your last couple of games I think it’s important because it builds good morale into the team and not only have we won those games we’ve actually played really well in every single one of those games bar the first 20 minutes of tonight.”

West Wickham drew first blood, by taking the lead inside the opening six minutes.

Jamie Askew swung in a left-footed corner from the left and the Holmesdale defence left Adam Freeman unmarked at the near post and the central midfielder headed down and inside the near post from six-yards.

D’Urso said: “Good start! Can’t wish for more. Very pleased.  I think we probably gave them a bit of a shock to start with, but we went another one up didn’t we?”

Mitchell added: “Not happy at all! We didn’t deal with the first bit and the guy’s got a free header and to be honest three or four of them could’ve put it in the back of the net. We just didn’t defend it well enough and we knew that and just tried to get on with it from there.”

Holmesdale should have equalised following their opening corner, which was swung in by Mark Axell but central defender Lindsay Prescott-Kerr headed straight at visiting keeper Craig Open from eight-yards.

Holmesdale got away with sloppy defending when keeper Alex Hyde passed the ball to Shaun Browne, who gifted the ball to West Wickham striker Jamie James, who didn’t punish poor defending and stroked a weak shot straight into Hyde’s gloves.

But West Wickham punished some more poor defending to race into a 2-0 lead after sixteen minutes.

This time it was a poor back pass from Holmesdale right-back Steven O’Rourke, which was latched on by Joe Ivory, who cut the ball back from inside the box to striker James who swept home a clinical first time left-footed shot from ten-yards, which flashed across Hyde to nestle inside the bottom far corner.

D’Urso said: “We took our goals well. Nice to see them go in and hit the back of the net. We took our chances, very clinical finishing, not bad.”

Mitchell added: “Again, sloppy play. We gave away the ball. That’s not the way we play. Sloppy goal. Nothing more, nothing less.”

To their credit, however, Holmesdale fought back very quickly and pulled a goal back in the 20^th minute.

Hyde kicked the ball forward and left-back Emmanuel Folarin glanced his header forward towards Kristian Campbell. The former Bromley Academy winger cut in from the left before whipping in a crossfield pass which was dinked towards goal by striker Raul Minondo, which dropped into the net despite Marcus Howell’s attempts to hook the ball off the line.

Mitchell said: “Again, offensively we looked really strong. We could’ve had a couple more before that so again pleased with us going forward. Something that we’ve definitely worked on pre-season and to be honest to the guys they’ve pulled it off when we’ve gone forward.”

D’Urso added: “The first and second goals we probably could’ve defended a bit better. I think the second one came shortly after and that was from a corner if my memory serves me right.”

Holmesdale equalised only 84 seconds later to turn the game on its head and to undo West Wickham’s excellent early work.

Visiting keeper Open dived to his right to tip Campbell’s right-footed drive from 35-yards onto the post and out for a corner, which was whipped in by Axell and Open flapped at the ball and West Wickham got bodies back on the line to block in a scramble before Nathan Wauters applied the finishing touch, aided by a deflection from Chris Rose, from close range.

Mitchell said: “It was a scramble but again it’s pleasing because we’ve worked on that and the guys have done what we’ve detailed them to do so the good thing for our perspective, yes, it was a bit of a scramble, but actually the build-up to that was exactly what we wanted to do.”

D’Urso added: “Anything in the box we’d like to deal with it a bit better.  It’s the second work-out this season and we should learn from that.”

But West Wickham regained the lead when they scored their third goal only 134 seconds after Holmesdale pegged them back.

Central midfielder Scott Simmonds cracked a stunning right-footed shot on the turn from 35-yards, which screamed into the top left-hand corner, for the goal of the game, giving Hyde little chance.

The West Wickham boss said: “Belter! You can’t do too much about those can you? They either go in row Z or they hit the back of the net and that one hit the back of the net so I’m very pleased with that!”

Mitchell was beginning to sound like a broken record at this point and said: ”Again, sloppy play in the middle of the park giving the ball way far too easily and to be fair the guy won’t strike a better shot all season. He’s done well to put that in the back of the net.”

But West Wickham failed to hold onto their lead again, but this time Holmesdale took only 43 seconds to claw themselves back into the game with the sixth goal of the game in the 25^th minute.

Axel whipped in another corner from the left and winger Francis Babalola was left unmarked at the near post to glance his header inside the near post from six-yards.

Mitchell said: “Really pleased we’ve been clinical in front of goal tonight, something that we probably lacked last season, but certainly pre-season we’ve been a lot more sharper in front of goal.  It’s something that we’ve really been looking at and we’re pleased it’s come off in the last couple of games.”

D’Urso added: “Again, we’ve got to deal with it and we didn’t deal with it. Again it’s all about early doors, early pre-season games and the guys will learn from that and defend a bit better in the future.”

Holmesdale were denied by a smart near post save from Open in the 32^nd minute when Campbell picked the ball up out on the right wing and danced his way into the penalty area before steering a left-footed shot towards the near post from a tight angle, which the West Wickham keeper dived to push around his near post.

Marc Cumberbatch, whose dad John is the manager of Greenwich Borough, then spread the ball inside from out on the left flank to Babalola, who swept a left-footed drive from 25-yards, which forced visiting keeper Open to make a low save to his right to prevent the ball finding the bottom corner.

West Wickham squandered an excellent chance to regain the lead again when Hyde’s poor goal-kick went straight to Askew, who played the ball inside to striker Ivory, who swept a left-footed shot into the keeper’s arms.

A fine sliding tackle from Simmonds saw the goalscorer play the ball inside to James who was denied by Hyde, saving low to his left.

But West Wickham gifted Holmesdale their fourth goal in the 43^rd minute.

Babalola was released down the right flank before he whipped in an excellent low cross towards the near post and Fitch slid the ball past his own keeper to register an own-goal.

Mitchell hailed the ball put in by the winger and said: “He done really well. Again, offensively we looked really strong. We got the ball wide and we put it in such a good areas. The defender was either going to miss it and we was going to tap it in or the only place he could put it was in the back of his own net.

“Francis has managed to whip a great ball in, the defender had no chance!”

D’Urso added: “The goalkeeper called it but perhaps a late call, I don’t know.  A bit unfortunate but these things happen.”

West Wickham made four changes at the break, whilst Holmesdale kept faith with their starting eleven, before deciding to making two lots of changes during the second half.

Mitchell revealed that the management team of Paul Proctor, John-Paul Collier (both joint-managers of the club) and player-assistant manager Cumberbatch used their time in the dressing room to good effect.

“We sat them down and we said ‘look, let’s not get too carried away’, said Mitchell.

“We’ve scored four goals, let’s look at the things we’ve done poorly. To be fair not one player tried to defend themselves. We knew walking into the changing room that we’ve done wrong and they put it right second half and that’s credit to the players.”

Mitchell praised the club for working on the pitch during the close season and providing the team with a much-improved playing surface.

He said: “Pitch is brilliant. The credit has got to go to our chairman and actually all of our committee here. The management team sat them down at the end of the season and said we play a certain style of football and we’re not a team that’s going to bash it 70 yards and we need a facility to do that. The pitch had a lot of games on it last year with groundshares but we’ve worked really hard in the close season and we’re very pleased with how much money the club’s invested on the ground and how much time the committee has put in to make sure it’s correct.”

D’Urso explained: “We stayed out on the pitch because it’s a nice evening. It’s warm in the changing room. We kept the guys out on the pitch, there’s nothing else behind it other than stay out in the fresh air.

“I needed to make changes. Unfortunately the referee said no to rolling subs, which is unfortunate so I had to guard about my changes. I was going to make eight wholesale changes but didn’t. I made four changes. I knew I was going to change my keeper at half-time so I said I’ll give them a half each. The changes didn’t work too bad. We had to change our shape because of the personnel we had on board. We probably got a bit unbalanced so we went 4-4-2 for the second half.

“I thought we contained them quite well until we got a bit tired perhaps run out of a bit of legs towards the end and we let them back in to the game.”

Holmesdale put their woeful first half defending behind them and dominated the second half against a tiring West Wickham side, who were short of match practice.

Browne, Campbell, Babalola and O’Rourke combined down the right well and Minondo connected with an overhead kick which bounced into the arms of substitute keeper James Owlett from eight-yards.

West Wickham went agonisingly close to making the score 4-4 in the 63^rd minute when substitute Steve Jones went for power to bend his right-footed free-kick around the six-man wall, the ball curling just wide of the far post.

D’Urso said: “Jonsey’s back on the scene this year. Hopefully he’s got his mo-jo back after having a few injury problems last year. He’s a good addition to the first team squad so we hope he keeps on going in the right direction.”

Holmesdale went close halfway through the half when two of their substitutes combined with the post saving West Wickham substitute keeper Owlett.

Daniel Stewart played the ball inside to Mert Varli, who stroked a left-footed shot past the diving keeper but against the near post.

Mitchell said: “Mert came on and done really well. We made five subs all at once and when those boys came on they really livened it up in the middle of the park and up front. I thought Tyrone (Guthrie) done well when he came on.”

But Holmesdale scored their best goal of the game to wrap up the scoring with eighteen minutes left.

Campbell was inside his own half before he clipped the ball forward to find striker Wauters out on the right. He brought the ball under his spell with close control before playing the ball inside to Tyrone Guthrie, who laid the ball off to Varli to steer a left-footed drive into the bottom near corner from 20-yards.

Mitchell said: “Great finish!  Again, clinical in front of goal, something that we lacked last year, but we’ve been really pleased with this year. It’s only pre-season and we have to make sure that follows through into the campaign.”

D’Urso added: “Mind you, the goal they scored was a good goal. I think the keeper thought it was going wide and he screwed it in.  There you go, these things happen.

“Ok, we’ve lost 5-3, we’ll learn from that. We’ve got more games to play, more to be learnt and we’ll move on from there.”

With West Wickham wilting, Holmesdale created a hat-trick of late chances, which were all saved by Owlett.

Stewart clipped the ball over the top and substitute Marlon Frazier cut inside before his right-footed drive was saved comfortably.

Varli then made space for himself to stroke a right-footed drive towards goal, which Owlett dived to his left and gathered at the second attempt.

And there was still time for Frazier to be denied by Owlett, who saved low down beside his post to deny the Holmesdale substitute a goal from 30-yards.

Both camps were asked what their positives and negatives were from this work-out.

Mitchell said: “I thought our fitness showed clearly. We’ve worked on our fitness in pre-season. The team looked really strong, a young group as well, so naturally they’re quite fit but I think our superior fitness showed and what was pleasing is that we managed to keep the ball in terms of possession. It must’ve been 80-20 in the second half. I don’t think they got near the ball.

“Positives were clinical in front of goal, a good second half performance and good impact players coming on.

“Negatives? I’m not touching on it too much. We knew what we’ve done wrong and that was the first 20 minutes of the game defensively. We wasn’t sharp enough but that was the first time in pre-season that’s happened.”

D’Urso added: “Positives? The youngsters out there did well.  Eighteen-year-old central back Marcus Howell very good.  Fitchy, another eighteen-year-old. Good to get some of the first teamers back tonight who have not been around for our last fixture.

“Negatives? We need to defend a bit better, hold on to the ball, certainly not let leads slip so easily but there were some good positives.”

D’Urso explained why the club are happy to continue playing Southern Amateur League football and compete against Southern Counties East Football League clubs in pre-season and in the Kent Senior Trophy.

“What’s stopping us is the infrastructure. We don’t have lights,” he said.

“Week in, week out we could possibly compete with most of the clubs in the Kent League because we are a good side. The standard we play against, a lot of people shout us down because it’s classified as amateur football. We play in the top division, the premier division and it’s a very, very good level.

“It’s unfortunate we have a very strong residents association in West Wickham and each time we try and do ground improvements to put up proper lights we always get a knockback.

“We don’t have any rich benefactor, we don’t have any rich sponsors. All the guys pay to play. We’re self-funded so until that changes and someone leaves us with a pot of money I guess we’ll stay where we are.”

When asked about a possible groundshare, D’Urso said: “You’re throwing money away. You only have to look at Greenwich Borough. They groundshared here now for three seasons and now they’ve moved over to Dartford. Someone must be paying big money to do that? Unfortunately we don’t have one big benefactor or a rich chairman or anyone like that ploughing money in to the club.  Our roots will stay firmly where they are for the time being unless, of course, I win the lottery and I can do something about it.”

Holmesdale:  Alex Hyde, Steven O’Rourke (Daniel Stewart 55), Emmanuel Folarin (Tyrone Guthrie 55), Shaun Browne (Zak Henry 55), Lindsay Prescott-Kerr (Jamie Fernandes 66), Marc Cumberbatch, Francis Babalola (Marlon Frazier 66), Mark Axell (Teddy Bailey 55), Nathan Wauters, Raul Minondo (Mert Varli 55), Kristian Campbell.

Goals:  Raul Minondo 20, Nathan Wauters 22, Francis Babalola 25, Matt Fitch 43 (own goal), Mert Varli 72

West Wickham:  Craig Open (James Owlett 46), Adam Freeman (Greg Brown 55), Chris Rose, Neil Curray, Marcus Howell, Sam Kemp (Russell D’Urso 46), Matt Fitch, Scott Simmonds (Steve Jones 46), Jamie James (Adam Wadey 55), Joe Ivory (Charlie McGeary 55), Jamie Askew (Stewart D’Urso 46).

Goals:  Adam Freeman 6, Jamie James 16, Scott Simmonds 24

Attendance: 25
Referee: Mr Damon Colvin (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Hossain Tavakkoli (Forest Hill, London SE23) & Mr Matt Anyiam (Downham)