Kent Football United 0-2 Orpington - The team should be doing better, admits Sam Macneil

KENT FOOTBALL UNITED  0-2  ORPINGTON
Kent Invicta League
Wednesday 19^th September 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakwood

ORPINGTON manager Sean Glover was pleased with his side after they defeated ten-man Kent Football United to climb into eighth-place in the Kent Invicta League table after seven games.



Kent Football United, the artist formerly known as Erith & Dartford Town, were profligate in front of goal and they paid the price after they had goalkeeper Ashley Thorpe red-carded for a cynical professional foul after Orpington striker Alex Chambers-Campbell sped past him outside the penalty area.

The home side sacrificed central midfielder Liam Simkins and substitute striker Billy Robinson came off the bench to don the number one jersey and the brave nineteen-year-old was beaten by two late goals from Lewis Gregory and Glenn Brewer as Orpington grabbed the victory to end a run of three defeats on the bounce.

“Very happy with the three points and the clean sheet,” said Glover, 29, after his side bounced back after losing to Phoenix Sports, Lydd Town and Crown Alexandra.

“We were a bit tentative in the first half if I’m honest.  We could’ve quite easily gone 1-0 down but I think nil-nil in the first half was a fair reflection.

“I think we contained them but we didn’t have enough up front. I played five in the middle and one up front for the first half so Alex Chambers-Campbell was a little bit goal shy. He was a little bit struggling up front because he was running his legs off.”

Kent Football United manager, Sam Macneil, who aged 20 is the youngest manager in the county, admitted missed chances cost his side.

“Extremely frustrating after the first half, which I thought we played some lovely football at times,” he said.  “We kept the ball really well. The philosophy that I want to bring to this level of football is a short passing style of football.

“Because of what happened today, when you create so many chances and you get into so many good positions, you need to take your chances because you can keep the ball and play pretty football as much as you want, but the ball didn’t go into the back of the net, otherwise all your hard work is unjust.

“I thought first half we did play the ball around really nicely and we did move the ball around really well.  We played the ball to feet a lot of times, the strikers came short. It was good and we got ourselves into some great positions but the finishing thing wasn’t there and that’s what we were crying out from the bench for the whole game.”

Orpington, who finished the inaugural Kent Invicta League campaign in last place, should have taken the lead with only seventeen seconds on the clock.

Adrian Deane, who was playing at the heart of the Kent Football United defence, inexplicably gave the ball straight to Adam Steward outside the box and he put through lone striker Chambers-Campbell, who was denied by Thorne when he only had the keeper to beat.

Glover said: “It was a good save by the keeper. I thought Al could’ve buried it but it wasn’t meant to be. That’s pretty much the story of the season so far and the story of that game at least in the second half.”

Brewer then cracked a right-footed shot wide of the far post after home central defender Danny Willis headed the ball out of his penalty area.

But Kent Football United began to dominate the game as Orpington treated the ball as a hot potato as they regularly lost possession.

A ball over the top of the Orpington defence from Willis released debutant Isa Bangura down the left wing and the former Fisher midfielder cut in and played a low centre and Alex Tiesse laid the ball back to Bradley Killick and the former Phoenix Sports frontman was denied by visiting keeper Harry Kent, who dived low to his left to parry and collect the ball at the second attempt.

Kent Football United put in a good passage of play when Killick swept a diagonal pass to Elstrom Die down the right and good link up play involving Killick, Die and Bangura resulted in Tiesse latching onto Bangura’s dink but he skied his right-footed shot over the bar.

A poor square pass from Orpington defender Metin Ramadan gifted the ball to Die, who picked the ball up and went on a mazy 30-yard run but his angled, low left-footed drive was comfortably saved by Kent at his near post.

Orpington went close following in the 32^nd minute when Steward clipped in a corner towards the near post from the right and Chambers-Campbell powered his header wide from six-yards.

Orpington adopted a shoot-on-sight policy during the first half and Gregory cut in from the left into the middle but his speculative right-footed drive from 40-yards was easily caught by Thorpe as the ball dropped to him on the edge of his penalty area.

Orpington created the first half’s final chance when Filipe Carvalho Da Silva clipped the ball up field for Gregory to knock the ball down and Brewer hooked a right-footed volley from 30-yards, which bounced once before Thorpe comfortably gathered.

When asked what he told his troops at half-time, Orpington boss Glover replied, “I can’t repeat it really!  I think it was pretty obvious what was happening.  We changed it around in the second half. We changed formation. We took Marvin (Francis) off and put Harry (West) on so it was better in the second half.

“In the first half we weren’t (strong) up front. We was a little bit light so we could’ve done a lot better.”

The introduction of left-winger Harry West at the interval brought a fresh attacking threat for Orpington as he replaced Marvin Francis, who lacked composure whenever the right wing-back approached the final third during the first half.

Brewer played higher up the pitch during the second half as Glover switched his formation to a more attacking one and the number 10 tried his luck from the corner of the box but his shot lacked power and Thorpe made another comfortable save.

But Glover defended Brewer after he missed a couple of gilt-edged chances to hand Orpington the lead when Kent Football United had eleven men on the pitch.

Another poor pass from Deane – who has had better games than the one he endured tonight – towards Georgie Jones was intercepted by Brewer, who somehow screwed his left-footed shot wide of an open goal.

And Chambers-Campbell’s precise low through ball released Brewer through on goal in the 55^th minute but he flashed his right-footed shot the wrong side of the foot of the left-hand post when it seemed easier to score past an exposed Thorpe.

“Glenn’s finding his fitness and finding his feet in front of goal,” explained Glover.  “He’s just come back to us so he’s getting into the side. It’s only his second game. I know what he can do. He could’ve done better with the chances but I’m pretty sure he’ll do better next time.”

Some lovely skill under pressure from Kent Football United skipper Tiesse – who has played at a much higher level of football than this – set up a chance for Bangura, who cut onto his left foot before clearing the crossbar from 25-yards.

However, the game’s turning point arrived when Gregory released Chambers-Campbell through on goal and he took the ball around the advancing Thorpe, who sprinted out of his penalty area and clattered into the striker who was set to slot home into an open goal.

Thorpe and Chambers-Campbell were both laid flat-out on the ground following the keeper’s challenge and deservedly collected a red-card from referee John Quirke.

“There’s no ifs or buts as far as I’m concerned,” said Glover, when asked about the red-card.

“He took it round the keeper cleanly, the keeper’s come out and clumped him and took him out and it was a goalscoring opportunity. He was the last man, there were no defenders covering him so it was a bog standard sending off. I don’t think any of their bench can complain about it.”

Macneil said: “Ashley had another good game.  The sending off is one of those things. He had to do it.  He was going to tap it in or you just have to stick your body on the line. It’s a cynical foul. It was a correct sending off. The referee and the other two officials had a good game by the way.”

Macneil explained why he put Robinson in goal for the remaining 25 minutes of the game.

He said: “Billy is a centre forward.  Literally he went in goal. We picked him because of his height to be honest. Orpington showed a willingness to just throw the ball into the box as much as they could and try to fight for the second ball and win the aerial contest and I thought Billy would be ideal. He came and claimed a few balls, punched one out of the box, so I can’t blame him. Anyone who steps up from the bench, he’s only nineteen years of age as well, so anyone who puts his hands up for the team is a good lad.”

He added: “You have to adjust your team which we tried to do and even with ten men ironically we still kept the ball and still passed it.  From the first minute to the last we were crying out for a final ball today and it wasn’t there!

Orpington peppered Robinson’s goal halfway through the half when Chambers-Campbell put in Gregory but he dinked his shot across the stranded stand-in keeper and agonisingly wide of the foot of the far post.

Glover felt his side should have tested Robinson a bit more.

He said: “I was a bit disappointed about that!  We should’ve started to throw a few more shots and throw a few more problems at him really, but frustrating unfortunately.”

Kent Football United almost hit Orpington on a devastating counter attack when Tiesse released Richard Whyte through on goal but his powerful right-footed drive screamed over the Orpington crossbar.

Orpington didn’t look like scoring as their shooting was woeful and after Brewer was fouled by Jones on the edge of the box Orpington skipper Rob Haines’ right-footed free-kick from 28-yards sailed wide.

Kent Football United went agonisingly close to taking the lead with seven minutes remaining when Whyte cut the ball back to Tiesse who swept the ball across the face of the goal and Killick’s miss-hit shot was cleared off the line by Orpington substitute Joe Champ.

But Orpington grabbed the lead with only four minutes remaining when the impressive West whipped in a low cross from the left across the face of goal and Gregory’s side-footed placed finish with his right boot left Robinson stranded as the ball nestled into the bottom right-hand corner.

Glover added: “Finally! Deadlock broken and a lot of relief!   It was coming. It was a product of quite a lot of pressure from us and I think we deserved it.”

The home side almost hit back immediately when a good move involving Bangura, Die, Tiesse resulted in Die sliding his left-footed shot agonisingly wide of the foot of the right-hand post.

Macneil was bitterly disappointed that Die and Tiesse failed to hit the target tonight.

He said: “It’s very frustrating.  It’s very disappointing. They had chances there and you’d expect boys of that calibre to score.  It’s a shame when they get themselves into such good positions and the hard work that builds up to that.  We don’t just lump it and run after it then play off the second balls.

“Alex and Elstrom do the hard bit better than anyone that I’ve seen at this level, Alex especially. He gets himself into some amazing positions from areas you wouldn’t expect him to and then the bit that lets him down tonight is the little bit is to just tap it past the goalkeeper.”

Orpington also had one off the line when Ronan Dunphy got back to clear a scuffed shot from Chambers-Campbell off the line after Brewer put him through on goal.

Orpington substitute Ben Marlow played the ball forward to Brewer, who was unlucky when his right-footed drive went across Robinson and bounced off the far post and the stand-in keeper gathered the rebound on his goal-line.

But Orpington scored a flattering second, one minute and 56 second into injury time when the ball came in from the left and Brewer turned and swept a left-footed shot through the keeper and into the net.

Glover said: “Like I say, Glenn’s a proven goalscorer. I know what he can do. I’ve known Glenn for quite a long time so I know what he can do in front of goal. His both footed, left and his right foot. He can create and score at the same point.  I’m quite happy with Glenn. He’s an experienced head. He’s been around and his old enough to know exactly what he’s doing.”

Macneil was disappointed that his side failed to hold out for a draw.

“To work so hard for that long and for it to go unrewarded is very, very hard, especially for the boys who have been involved in the build-up,” he said.

“It’s a shame the boys put in a really good shift and some boys put in a shift for more than one person. 

“In the end it’s disappointing, neither of the goals were created, they were both gifted goals.  The spaces we created for ourselves and not to finish them off and then to get two simple goals is disappointing, frustrating and it makes you angry because you’ve worked so hard on the training field.

“You work so hard to put together a side to play this type of football because it doesn’t take five minutes to try to develop it. It takes a long time. It’s quite easy to play lump and run.”

Kent Football United pressed for a goal that their play deserved and visiting keeper Kent made a fine brave block after Willis wriggled through the heart of the defence,  before  Die got up after appearing to be injured to send his left-footed drive over before Jones exchanged a one-two with Bangura before driving his shot wide.

Orpington did have another chance but Chambers-Campbell hooked his shot over the advancing Robinson and the ball landed on the top of the roof of the net.

Glover added: “I thought in the second half we were a lot better. Maybe in the first half we were a little bit slow but I thought in the second half we really pushed on and when we changed the formation that really helped.”

Macneil added: “For that final bit to be missing and it’s been missing for all of our home games – we could have scored four or five goals. We need to take our chances otherwise points aren’t going to go on the board.”

Kent Football United remain in the bottom five, with two wins from six games and Macneil is not happy.

He said: “The players that we’ve got in the squad and have attracted here in such a short space of time, the team should be doing better at the moment. A couple of senior players have let us down tonight and not put in a proper shift like they should do.”

Kent Football United: Ashley Thorpe, Ronan Dunphy, Richard Whyte, George Jones, Danny Willis, Adrian Deane, Isa Bangura, Liam Simkins (Billy Robinson 65), Elstrom Die, Alex Tiesse, Bradley Killick.
Subs: Steve Filmer, Samuel Oladipo

Sent Off: Ashley Thorpe 65

Orpington: Harry Kent, Marvin Francis (Harry West 46), Neil Harper (Joe Champ 71), Metin Ramadan, Lee McPherson (Ben Marlow 89), Filipe Carvalho Da Silva, Adam Steward, Rob Haines, Alex Chambers-Campbell, Glenn Brewer, Lewis Gregory.
Sub: Harry Greville

Goals: Lewis Gregory 86, Glenn Brewer 90

Booked: Joe Champ 76

Attendance: 63
Referee: Mr John Quirke (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Wally James (Sidcup) & Mr Andy Cutting (Gillingham)