Holmesdale 0-2 Phoenix Sports - We're hoping that the boys turn up on Saturday and if we play well, we'll be in the play-off, says Phoenix Sports boss Steve O'Boyle

Holmesdale 0 – 2 Phoenix Sports
Location	68 Oakley Road, Bromley, Kent BR2 8HQ
Kickoff	19/04/2023 19:45

HOLMESDALE  0-2  PHOENIX SPORTS
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Wednesday 19 April 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakley Road

PHOENIX SPORTS manager Steve O’Boyle says his side’s promotion aspirations are in their hands going into their last league game of the season at the weekend.

Erith & Belvedere claimed the league title following their goal-less draw at Tunbridge Wells on Monday night, a day after Deal Town suffered a 6-0 humiliation at the hands of Punjab United in the Kent Senior Trophy Final.

However, Deal bounced back by beating Erith & Belvedere 3-0 at Park View Road tonight, while Phoenix Sports sealed a comfortable 2-0 win over struggling Holmesdale, who extended their winless run to 13 games.

Tom O’Connor swept home his seventh goal of the season just before half-time to settle nerves, before an own goal from Holmesdale centre-half Ryan Styles sealed the victory at the start of an uninspiring and boring second half.

Erith & Belvedere (82 points from 37 games) are promoted into the Isthmian League South East Division and the play-off race is now down to two horses going into the final game of the season.

Phoenix Sports (78 points) and Deal Town (77) are at home to Kennington and Sutton Athletic respectively on Saturday, with the side that finishes second going into an away play-off against a struggling side from the league above.

The FA will confirm the fixtures on Sunday, using points-per-game, with the one-off game taking place on Saturday 29 April.

O’Boyle was furious after their game here at Oakley Road on 29 March was abandoned at half-time due to a waterlogged pitch with his side coasting at 3-0.

O’Boyle said: “We just done a job really. It wasn’t a great spectacle of a game (tonight) and we just come here and done a job and that was it really. We done a job, professional performance, came here and got the three points and we’re going to come home.

“Listen, it’s a good win. Was it our best performance of the season? No, but a win’s a win and that’s what you need at this moment of the season.”

When asked about the vocal travelling support, O'Boyle replied: "They're fantastic, they really are and it does help, it really does.  There's no words to describe it. They're brilliant and I know the players' appreciate it. It really does help, so it's good to have."

Holmesdale manager Lee Roots added: “It was a replay of a game that’s kind of been and gone, so it was the second crack of the game.

“Listen, it’s tough for us with the position we are in, in the league, to play Phoenix at any point in the season.  The fact that we played them twice in two weeks, last game we lost 4-0.

“I think this game the performance was much improved. I think some of the goals they scored were maybe a little bit fortunate but on the whole it was all about how much momentum we could take into this game into our run of games so I was fairly happy.”

Phoenix Sports started this game on the front foot, creating their first opening after only 89 seconds.

Hayes’ left-footed delivery from the right was met at the far post by striker Tashi-Jay Kwayie’s head and goalkeeper James Boughtflower got a strong hand to the ball.

Phoenix Sports dominated the corner-count by 8-0 and Hayes’ deliveries were on the money.

Centre-half Matthew Bourne came up from the back and sent his downward header into the goalkeeper’s gloves after Hayes’ first corner of the night inside the opening seven minutes.

“That was one of the things I spoke about. The goalkeeper saves it and we had a man who was supposed to be on the goalkeeper so if he was where he should’ve been, it wouldn’t have mattered – he would’ve been there with a tap-in,” said O’Boyle.

Roots added: “The game we played against them before, they scored three goals from set-pieces so I felt if we could limit the set-pieces, we maybe limit their open play and goals.

“They’ve got great delivery and when you’ve got good quality in your team, you have to limit them corners and free-kicks. It’s the way that they put the ball in as well that becomes very difficult to defend and the lads need to influence the ball as much as they can and I thought it was quite an easy save from James.”

Hayes floated in another free-kick, this time from the left and some 35-yards from goal and Styles headed the ball away before Bourne hooked the ball back into the danger area and another header from Kwayie was comfortably gathered by Boughtflower.

Holmesdale created just a couple of goalscoring chances as putting the ball in to the back of the net has been an issue during their winless run as the Bromley based side have scored only two goals in their last 13 games, after beating fellow strugglers Welling Town 4-2 on 28 January.

Can Yilmaz floated a left-footed free-kick from within the right touchline, which was headed back across goal by Styles.  Edward Sata’s drilled shot was blocked within a crowd of players inside the box and the ball came out to left-back James Shield, who’s first-time left-footed drive sailed over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Ineffective attacker Harry Main played the ball out to Shield, whose floated in a cross towards lone striker Luke Adams but left-winger Emmanuel Oduguwa sent a right-footed hooked half-volley brought a comfortable save from Andy Walker in the 19^th minute.

“I thought on reflection of the play we would’ve liked to have converted some of our play into some more chances,” admitted Roots.

“Their defence is the best in the league, same as the attack, so sometimes like a team like that you’re looking at three or four attempts in a game and you’ve got to be really good at them.

“Emmanuel’s new coming into the starting eleven, he’s not been in the starting eleven for a while.  He got himself in some nice positions. We played him in a different position tonight to compliment and nullify Ryan Hayes and I thought he did really well tonight.”

Roots, meanwhile, explained why his seven-goal leading scorer, wide-left attacker, Fred Obasa had the night off.

“We actually left Fred at home on purpose tonight. He is our poster boy. He did pick up an ankle injury a week ago, so with the games that we’ve got coming up, tonight is kind of a difficult one.  We could’ve chucked him in the team because we want to give everything in every game but Saturday is massive.

“I’ll be totally honest with you, we left Fred at home tonight to give him as much recovery time as we can.  He’ll be coming back into the squad on Saturday.”

O’Boyle added: “They haven’t hurt us going forward.  Not being horrible, we had the same scenario last year when we was in the Isthmian League – I couldn’t get a goalscorer in for love or money and it was something that I needed to address in the summer.”

Phoenix Sports swiftly went up the other end and produced a sweeping move that involved Hayes and Kwayie and Alfie Evans’ right-footed drive was beaten away by Boughtflower at his near post just 36 seconds later.

Holmesdale were showing fight, were scrapping for everything and showing plenty of desire and were making it hard for O’Boyle’s men.

Roots said: “The team needs to be a reflection of me and the staff. They were full of desire, full of commitment and we know the position they are in and we know that we feel that our league position is false and we can take some good points from this next run and change the position but we knew this was a game was almost a free hit but they’re going to be like that for the next couple of games and there’s a manner of losing a game.

“I think putting that level of commitment, passion and desire, nine times out of 10 you sometimes get your rewards but if you don’t, that’s the way to lose the game.”

Phoenix Sports’ right-back Henry Douglas played the ball up to Kwayie, who did well to control the bouncing ball with his chest on the edge of the Holmesdale box, as it bounced up off the long bobbly playing surface on a windy night.

He then played in O’Connor, who curled a left-footed shot towards the bottom far corner from 22-yards, only for Boughtflower to produce his best save of the game, diving low to his right and using a strong right hand to push the ball towards safety.

“It was a very good save by the goalkeeper, a good shot, a good save,” said O’Boyle, who was full of praise for O’Connor.

“He’s just a very good player, isn’t he?  Just been unfortunate over the last few years, he’s just had a lot of injury problems, which I’m hoping are behind him now.

“He had an operation in the summer on his shoulder after it kept dislocating last season.  If he was fit for the run-in last season, we wouldn’t be in this division, he's that good a player.”

Roots added: “I thought it was a fantastic stop.  I thought how he (O’Connor) created the chance was very, very good.

“I think James has really had a couple of fantastic weeks. He looks more like himself. He’s only 21-years-old and I think people forget that with his size. He’s still learning the game. I thought it was a good save, not only did he make the save but he pushed the ball away really, really well. I thought he was tremendous in that first half.”

Frustration started creeping into Phoenix players and management team the longer the first half went on, as Holmesdale were fighting for their lives and putting in a committed performance.

Tom Cousins threw the ball into the Holmesdale box, which was cleared out to holding midfielder Mikey Dalton, who lacked composure and sliced his first time shot harmlessly wide when left in space some 25-yards from goal.

Dalton, meanwhile, was withdrawn in the 65^th minute after receiving treatment and when asked about the extent of the injury, O’Boyle replied: “Hopefully, nothing! He’s got a slight knock on the able but Mikey Dalton is a massive player and I’m hoping it’s just precautionary.”

Hayes was inside his own half and produced a sublime 50-yard pass down the line for Dalton to put the ball into the penalty area but O’Connor – who played behind Kwayie – looped his header over the crossbar.

Phoenix Sports certainly deserved their lead when it finally arrived with 39 minutes and 42 seconds on the clock – and it was a well-worked move.

Kwayie dropped deep and around the centre circle inside the Holmesdale half and stabbed a right-footed pass some 15-yards into Hayes, who played a first time pass that split open Holmesdale centre-half Cian McCarthy and O’Connor’s movement was quality, sweeping a first-time right-footed shot past the advancing goalkeeper to roll the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from 18-yards.

O’Boyle said: “When it was one-on-one, there was only one answer for me. He’s so good in front of goal, so very cool and it was a very good move wasn’t it? A good move.  It was only a matter of time when we did put the ball in the back of the net.

“The goal came at a good time because the mood changed going in at half-time.

“Their goalkeeper pulled off two or three really good saves in the first half but I think when the goal came it did sort of eased us a little bit, a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of doubt had gone then and I thought we were more relaxed and I think if there were any more goals in the game, it would only be from us tonight.”

Roots added: “I think we’re a little bit annoyed with that. That Tashi is a great player, he’s got great movement and he’s a handful for the players and I felt we defended static set-piece moments really well and we didn’t want to get carved open. We felt we got carved open against them before so that one was disappointing.

“We also spoke at half-time and Jamie feels that maybe he could’ve come off his line a second quicker. It’s fine margins.  It’s three or four really good players linking up and actually we needed to come in at 0-0. I think we deserved it.  I think it was a big goal for them at that period.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Roots said: “We were dissecting the goal. We thought on the whole we wanted to nullify their attempts.  We were relatively good. Listen, we were only 1-0 down at half-time in a game against a team who are trying to become an Isthmian League side.

“We’ve got a run of games coming up that the lads can worry about, so it was a case of really challenging and testing themselves for 45 minutes and carry on with what they’ve been doing and try to highlight some of the tactical stuff we can change.”

O’Boyle added: “I wanted a better second half, If I’m being honest. I said we thought we were just about doing enough and I wanted a little bit more than that. 

“I wanted to get into a situation where the game was won and safe and we could get a few boys off (the pitch) and rested for the weekend and use our substitutes so I wanted to maybe race into a 3-0 lead quite early so I could do that but unfortunately that never happened.”

Phoenix Sports’ left-back Cousins drove into the Holmesdale penalty area and Boughtflower came out to narrow the angle to make the block after 164 seconds.

Phoenix Sports doubled their lead with three minutes and 47 seconds on the clock.

Evans played the ball to O’Connor, who rolled the ball out to Hayes on the right.  He easily cut inside Shield and played in a left-footed cross.  The ball deflected off Styles and nestled inside the bottom far corner of the goal to go down as an own-goal.

“If that was me and I hit the shot and it was going between the sticks, I’d claim it as well, so I think you’re not going to get that goal off Ryan.  I think he’ll be claiming that goal,” added O’Boyle.

“It was a good time to score again and it sort of killed the game then didn’t it?  It was just an average performance tonight, which was enough and we should have plenty in the tank for Saturday.”

When your luck is down, it’s down and it only seems to be that way for struggling sides.

Roots said: “Do you know what? I’m gutted for the lads on that one because we’ve gone captain-v-captain tonight, James Shield against Hayes and he’s got past skip for the first time and where’s those goals for us? Where’s the cross, own-goal, comes off someone’s backside that we’ve been waiting for?  We can’t believe it! How’s your luck?

“Ryan Hayes is quality. Even though it’s a cross-come-shot, you do those type of shots, you get a deflection and I felt really hard done by for the lads.  An own-goal from open play, you’ve got to stop the cross, stop it at source.”

Hayes put in a high, hanging corner from the right which dropped down and Boughtflower did well to push the ball onto the top of his crossbar before making sure the ball dropped behind for another corner.

The sooner this level of football gets rid of allowing clubs to use all five substitutions at any time during the course of the game the better because for 30 minutes the second half lacked tempo and was of poor quality, just like a pre-season friendly where players chop and change like London buses.

Roots said: “I think you’ve got a team in Phoenix that are ending their season on Saturday and they’ve got - in their eyes - bigger fish to fry, bigger games to come so I felt players were winding down in that respect. Also, with us to a point.

“We felt with 30 minutes to go, we were kind of growing into the game.  We can’t pass up any minutes for opportunities for points but the game was slowing down.   We were making subs with Saturday in mind so I think it might’ve been the case for both teams there.  It probably wasn’t the most entertaining.”

Phoenix Sports missed a glorious chance to score a flattering third in the 70^th minute.

Douglas reached the by-line down the right and pulled the ball back for 11-goal winger Evans, whose shot was superbly tipped onto the post by the diving Boughtflower and Kwayie skied the rebound over the crossbar.

O’Boyle said: “The second half was quite boring. We went through the motions. There was nothing really.  Do you know what? You can’t play well every week and I’m hoping on Saturday, going forward, we are a lot better than we were tonight.

“I think we’ve got to score one of them. Alfie’s quite good in front of goal and I expect him to score that.”

Roots added: “I think it was harder for him to miss that one than to score!  I think there was no tempo in the game, it was tired. The third goal would’ve been a killer on us.  Maybe 2-0 would’ve been a better reflection on the game.”

Holmesdale’s second shot on target arrived four minutes later.

Styles played the ball along the deck towards Adams, who tussled for the ball with Bourne before the ball was worked to substitute attacker Kameiko Pope-Campbell, who was in space on the edge of the box but his left-footed shot on the turn was comfortably saved by Walker.

Roots said: “Kam has got to add more consistency in front of goal into his game. He’s no longer 21 anymore, he’s 24 but Kam gives you nothing other than 100% heart and passion and he was unlucky.

“We just need a goal. The crazy thing is if we were playing like absolute c**p then you understand why. We’re setting the team up correctly, maybe a lack of confidence but we’re coming up against good defences.”


“If Walks gets beat from there, I think we’d be having words,” said O’Boyle, who was quick to praise his centre-halves for keeping their 16^th clean sheet of the season.

“Since we brought in  Matt Bourne and Ryan Sawyer, they have been fantastic for us and set-plays is part of that. They’re both dominant in the air.

“We’ve got the best defensive record in the league (conceding 33 league goals), so that’s pleasing.”

Hayes’ sixth corner of the night was floated towards the back post and Bourne steered his header past the near post inside the final four minutes.

Substitute central midfielder Kieran King found himself on the touchline where he launched a big kick over the top of the Holmesdale defence to put substitute striker Francis Babalola through on goal but the impressive Boughtflower came off his line and smothered the ball at the second attempt.

Eleventh-placed Kennington (51 points) have sealed back-to-back wins over Welling Town (6-2) and Hollands & Blair (4-0) and come to the Mayplace Ground on Saturday, with Phoenix Sports needed a win to seal that play-off place, as they bid to return to the Isthmian League at the first attempt after relegation.

“My thoughts are, its in our hands, last game of the season,” said O’Boyle.

“I’m struggling to understand why Erith & Belvedere and Deal game was changed because that game tonight actually meant nothing. It was fixtured for Tuesday night and it was a game where Erith & Belvedere had to go into the game to win the league.

“I really don’t understand why the League have changed that fixture because it just made it an easy night for Deal tonight.  I think it made it a lot easier for Deal and I’m not the only person who thinks it.

“People can’t understand why the League moved that game, such a big game in the season. Why was that game changed on Saturday?  I don’t know and I’d like an answer to it thought because Deal got beat on Sunday in the Kent Senior Trophy Final and they were going to travel to Erith & Belvedere on Tuesday, that’s tough going and Erith & Belvedere win the league on the Monday and I don’t know why the date has been changed and I’ll be honest with you, I’m not happy about it, I’m really not happy about it!

“We’ve got to do our jobs on Saturday and beat an in-form Kennington team which are going quite well at the moment and I’m expecting a tough game.”

When asked how he is going to handle the pressure of the final league outing, O’Boyle replied: “Well I wouldn’t say it’s a stroll in the park.  There will be emptions and I’m quite an experienced manager now. I’ve been managing a long time and I’ve been involved with relegation and promotion battles and you’ve got to use that experience. 

“I’d like to think I’ve got an experienced dressing room where players last season have experienced relegation and I’d like to think a lot of players in that dressing room have won promotion and we’re hoping that the boys turn up on Saturday and if we play well, we’ll be in the play-off.

“I’m expecting a tough game.  If you offered me at the start of the season we had to win our last game of the season at home to get in the play-off, I would’ve taken it, so we’re in that situation.

“I’m not even thinking about the play-off game. If we can finish second in our league, which was always the target, second or top. That was the target at the start of the season. If we get second or top, we’ve reached our target and whatever happens in that play-off game, happens in that play-off game, that’s all I can say.

“I’m not even thinking about it yet. I’m interested to see what happens on Saturday and let’s see if we can make sure that we can get second spot.”

O’Boyle added: “I’m hoping (striker) Andy Pugh, maybe, if we get to a play-off final he could be available. He done his groin at Stansfeld the other week so he could be available.”

For Holmesdale, they travel to already relegated side K Sports (22 points) on Saturday and their campaign has been extended a further week, with a home clash against Lordswood (Wednesday 26 April), before a trip to Bearsted (29 April).

The bottom five sides are Lordswood (38), Welling Town (33), Holmesdale (31), Canterbury City (30) and K Sports (22).

“The next three games that we play are all teams that we’ve beaten already so we’ll certainly test their defence especially Saturday,” said Roots.

“Listen, we want to keep everything in our hands. We’ve not been good enough for the last 10-12 games in regard to results, that obviously falls on me.

“There’s a lot of twists and turns. If Canterbury don’t get the job done (against Erith & Belvedere), then it’s in everyone else’s hands but for us it’s in our hands.  We have nine points to play and we’re looking to take six at least.”

Holmesdale cannot afford to slip up at K Sports at the weekend. 

“I totally agree, it cannot go to the Wednesday night or the trip to Bearsted. It (survival) must come on Saturday.”

Holmesdale: James Boughtflower, Emmanuel Dasho, James Shield, Can Yilmaz (Louie Reid-Newth 79), Ryan Styles, Cian McCarthy, Emmanuel Oduguwa (Kameiko Pope-Campbell 68), Riley Asaam (Baley Lands 69), Luke Adams, Harry Main (Herve Mbongue 73), Edward Sata.
Sub: Abdul Muiz Alaka

Booked: Emmanuel Dasho 27, Riley Asaam 59, Can Yilmaz 72, Ryan Styles 75

Phoenix Sports: Andy Walker, Henry Douglas, Tom Cousins (Lewis Clark 73), Mikey Dalton (Kieran King 65), Ryan Sawyer, Matthew Bourne, Alfie Evans (Daniel Birch 90), Lee Bird, Tashi-Jay Kwayie (Francis Babalola 80), Tom O’Connor (Harrison Pont 82), Ryan Hayes.

Goals: Tom O’Connor 40, Ryan Styles 48 (own goal)

Attendance: 88
Referee: Mr Stuart Beadle
Assistants: Mr John Monksfield & Mr Hamish Louie