Larkfield & New Hythe 0-1 Punjab United - If we show that character and fight every week, we've got a chance - if we don't we're going to drop out of these play-off's really quickly, says Punjab United boss Chipie Sian

Larkfield & New Hythe 0 – 1 Punjab United
Location	The Community Stadium, 251a New Hythe Lane, Larkfield, Maidstone, Kent ME20 6PU
Kickoff	21/01/2025 19:45

LARKFIELD & NEW HYTHE  0-1  PUNJAB UNITED
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 21 January 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from New Hythe Lane

PUNJAB UNITED manager Jugjit (Chipie) Sian says his side will have a chance of staying in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division play-off zone if they show the same character and fight as they did during this hard-fought tussle.

The Gravesend-based outfit capped off a dominant second half performance by claiming a big three points away to their promotion chasing rivals Larkfield & New Hythe, courtesy of defensive midfielder Jordan Campbell’s first goal of the season - a sublime 30-yard half-volley, two and a half minutes into stoppage time at the end of a poor encounter at New Hythe Lane.

“An awful game of football, no football, pure battle,” admitted Sian.

“I said at half-time to the lads’, it’s just going to be whoever gets their chance, takes it.  It’s going to be a scrappy game all the way through. 

“The pitch didn’t help, it was very bobbly, very muddy. It’s just one of those days, grind (it out) and get your job done.

“The boys gave me everything. I said recently in one of my interviews that we’ve gone through a very purple patch where we haven’t tried.  We’ve given a lot of team’s easy goals, easy chances and in the last few weeks we’ve really buckled up because I wasn’t happy with the performance at Hollands & Blair (a 3-0 away defeat, 21 December).  I thought that was embarrassing for the club. I’m not saying they’re a bad side. What I’m trying to say is Punjab didn’t turn up.

“Recently we’ve been good. We had a hard game at Croydon (1-0 win in the Challenge Cup) the other night and that was the same thing, hustle and bustle and we gave everything with nine men even.”

Larkfield & New Hythe manager Michael Phillips reflected on his first defeat in his third game in charge of the club, following the shock departure of Danny Lye through personal and professional commitments.

“It’s frustrating isn’t it? It’s hard to take when you get done by a worldy in the last sort of minute in the game.

“We had the chances to kill them off. Another day you score three or four don’t you?

“I think our final ball in the final third second half was poor. We’re a lot better team than that but it’s football.”

When asked what was missing from his players tonight, Phillips replied: “Final ball, final ball and putting the ball in the back of the net!

“I thought we defended well. I thought they was quite direct. I thought we dealt with what they had to offer for most of the game. I just think we were poor in the final third. Another day we turn up and we’re decent in the final third and it’s a different story.”

The first half was played at a frenetic pace with both direct sides treating the football like a hot potato and serving up a poor encounter for the 65 people who braved the chilly conditions.

Sian said: “You know the worse thing is? Both sides have got quality. I came here the other night and watched them play against Bearsted (a 4-1 win on 7 January), they’ve got quality and we’ve got quality but sometimes the pitch is like tonight, it’s cold. It was never going to be a pretty game of football.

“I think this (Punjab) side has got to match that. We’ve got to do both. We can’t just be this pretty football team and then not have the battle as well and I think we’re trying to mix it.”

Larkfield & New Hythe started the game on the front foot and high right-back Clark Woodcock and Tyler Ibe linked up well down the right before the ball was cut back to Woodcock, who put in a cross towards the near-post.

Visiting goalkeeper Owen Bushell raised both of his arms to pluck the ball out of the air but dropped the ball at the feet of Larkfield’s 13-goal striker Bryan Zepo, who failed to turn the ball over the line.

Jack Sammoutis switched the ball first time out to Woodcock, who dinked in a cross from within the right channel and Zepo’s diving header from three-yards out was smothered by visiting goalkeeper Owen Bushell, low to his left to prevent the home side taking the lead (5:59).

“That was unlucky. He didn’t get enough power on it. I think it needed to be in the corner a bit more,” said Phillips.

“It was a bit of a scrappy sort of first half wasn’t it. I said to the boys to get the ball down and start enjoying playing football and second half we got better. We got into the game but yes it wasn’t enough on the night.”

Sian added: “Listen, it was a good move to be honest but we prepped it through the week. We knew what Zepo was going to do. We know he drops off.

“We had a slow 10 minutes – I’m not going to lie – we were a bit off but I think after 10 minutes we settled really well.”

Punjab United weathered the 10 minute storm and both sides then cancelled each other out with too many balls going astray and a lack of quality from both sides, who are well under the quality shown by the top three sides in this ninth-tier division, Faversham Town, Fisher and VCD Athletic.

Punjab United’s left-back Stephen Ratcliff lined up eight long throws during the game and their first chance arrived by this method in the 22^nd minute.

Ratcliff’s fifth long throw was flicked on by five-goal centre-half Jack Barry at the near post some 16-yards from goal and the ball sailed into the gloves of Jordan Carey, who comfortably held the ball low to his left.

“It was threatening all game.  Every time we took a throw; we were really good and sometimes you have got to play to your strengths.  We can play both.  We can do the long ball, we can do long throw-ins. We can do corners. We’ve got set-pieces, we’ve got all of that now,” revealed Sian.

Phillips added: “Very direct team.  They caused many teams problems with the way they play but for the majority of the game I thought we dealt with their threat.

“I think that (long throw) was their main threat really. They’re very good at set-pieces as well but overall we should’ve at least got a point out of that.”

Punjab United’s winger Alfie Moynes was penalised by a flag waving assistant (Mark Takacs) for handball and referee Jack Smith awarded Larkfield & New Hythe a free-kick 25-yards from goal on the half-hour mark.

Visiting goalkeeper Owen Bushell lined up a five-man wall but Ibe drilled his low left-footed free-kick towards the centre of the goal, which was comfortably saved by Owen Bushell.

“You hope that bobble comes off the keeper and we knock the rebound in – but it wasn’t to be,” admitted a crestfallen Phillips.

Punjab United missed a glorious chance to smash the stalemate with 31:54 on the clock in a game that saw 24 fouls committed (13 from Punjab United).

Larkfield left-back Nathan Gordon gave away a free-kick on the half-way line and Edwards delivered a right-footed free-kick, which was cleared away.

Ratcliff recycled the ball back into the box from the left and Hopkins found a pocket of space in between two defenders to send his free header straight into the gloves of the 26-year-old Carey for a comfortable save.

Sian said: “I was fuming with my lot because he had so much time there. He could’ve just brought it down, chested it or anything. He was waiting for a call. He thought the keeper was coming out and panicked with his head, so communication was a bit of a problem there.  I said that at half-time – that should’ve been a goal to be honest.  That’s a clear-cut, six yards out, that should be in!”

Phillips admitted: “Very well worked. We were lucky. We got away with one there!

“I’m sure the boys could see what they did with the block and they run around the back. Second half, it didn’t happen again. We wasn’t touch tight enough, lost their runner.”

The home side produced a well-worked move down the right when Woodcock played the ball down the line for Ibe, who held the ball up as Jack Barry shut the gate.

Tyrell Richardson-Brown and Ibe linked up well before Ibe curled his left-footed shot across the keeper and around the far post.

The small crowd inside New Hythe Lane hoped for much better quality in the second half as both sides cancelled each other out during most of this game.

Phillips said: “Just stop getting on eachother’s backs because a few of them were annoyed with things. I know they were frustrated with the referee and his decisions.

“The second half performance was much better, much better. It was just the final ball, the final ball was poor. If the final ball was better, I think we would’ve created at least another four or five more good decent chances but saying that we still had five or six decent chances.”

Sian added: “I just said ‘just do not make any stupid mistakes! We can’t give them something cheap’ and that is the only thing I said. If it ends up a draw, then so be it, but we do not give any s**t goals away and that’s what’s been happening before Christmas.

“We just made really poor decisions when we lost three or four games, so I said just make sure our decision making’s good, if it’s not on, then clear your lines and I think they were brilliant second half.”

Richardson-Brown’s long ball along the deck released Harvey Welford through on goal – the winger beating the offside trap in the middle – but lacked composure inside the box and allowed Punjab United’s centre-half Kyden Lewin Thomas to make up ground and slam the door firmly shut.

Punjab United went from winger-to-winger in the 53^rd minute when Moynes delivered a deep cross from within the channel over to Kedwell, who lacked composure inside the box and hooked his volley over the crossbar, while under pressure.

“We’ve had Preston Kedwell for a while. He had to go back because Ashford are really short and they wanted him in the squad for a few weeks but we’ve played him for three or four weeks and he’s a good, young player, he’s a good talent,” said Sian, who was asked why he took off the winger.

“He felt a bit dazed and I asked the physio but we knew he wasn’t right and that’s why we took him off straight away after that. He didn’t feel 100% (following a bang to the head).”

Punjab United were the better side during the second half and Carey was called into making a diving save on the hour-mark after Woodcock fouled Moynes, who tried to latch onto a flick on from ineffective striker Roman Campbell following a long kick from keeper Owen Bushell.

Carey lined up a four-man wall for set-piece specialist Edwards’ right-footed 30-yard free-kick on the angle, the keeper diving to his right and pushing the ball towards safety.

“I think second half we had more of the play, better of the chances. We just didn’t have that final third,” added Sian, who was asked about his side’s second half performance.

“I love these sort of games because it shows character and it shows me my boys are ready for a fight in a sense are they aggressive enough? Can they cope with these conditions? Can they cope with this physicality? - and we were brilliant!

“We can match that with any team in our league now. I think we can battle with anyone but they have just got to show that every week. If we show that every week, we’ve got a chance. If we haven’t, we’re going to drop out of these play-offs really quickly.”

Phillips added: “Jordan’s been very good recently, hasn’t really put a foot wrong and he was good tonight as well.  He couldn’t do nothing about the goal. It was a worldy. No one would’ve saved it!”

With Lewin Thomas and Barry (who serves a two-match ban from the weekend)  resilient at the heart of the Punjab United defence, Larkfield & New Hythe were forced to shoot from a long way out.

Larkfield centre-half Nathan Daly played the ball along the deck to Ibe, who skipped past two men close to the half-way line before hitting a speculative left-footed drive from 35-yards, which was initially spilt by Owen Bushell, before he picked the ball up way before the ball could roll over the goal-line at his near post (27:42).

Sammoutis then fed Gordon, who cut inside Punjab United’s sub right-winger Hudson Scudder to cut onto his right-foot before drilling a 30-yarder past the left-hand post (29:56).

Phillips said: “We didn’t really have to go long-range I don’t think.  I said to Tyler after the game, we had two runners, three-v-one, I think and he decided to shoot from 40 odd yards when he should be looking to pass the ball to one of our players because we were on the counter-attack, so it’s decision making, decision making was poor and the final ball was poor from us.”

Sian, who’s side kept his seventh clean-sheet of the season tonight, added:
“Just long shots, popping shots. We restricted them to what they’re not used to and I think that’s what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to put them out of their rhythm sometimes.

“I think second half we didn’t give them much at all, apart from one chance before we scored.

“I think we restricted them really well. It was scrappy but we were very pleased with the way that we performance. We battled all the way through.”

Moynes showed desire to win a free-kick close to the corner flag on the right-hand side as he was fouled by Gordon and Ratcliff delivered a deep free-kick towards the back post where Hopkins stretched to get his header on target, which was comfortably caught by Carey.

Lewin Thomas capped off his man-of-the-match performance by preventing Larkfield & New Hythe grabbing the winner.

Centre-half Fraser Walker launched a free-kick just over the half-way line, the ball was knocked down by Richardson-Brown and substitute striker Matthew Day was about to sweep the ball home – only for Lewin Thomas to make a match winning saving tackle.

Larkfield & New Hythe squandered a glorious chance to grab the victory with 45:35 on the clock when the 12-goal Day missed a sitter.

Substitute right-winger Harrison Carnegie played the ball out to the right where Woodcock put the ball on a plate for Day, who got in behind Barry to guide his header past the right-hand post.

“Unfortunate isn’t it? Matty’s just come back from a groin injury, so he’s not up to much sharpness and awareness at the minute,” revealed Phillips.

“He’s been out for nearly a month. He was on fire before that before he got injured. He’s probably would’ve taken those chances, no problem but he’s a bit rusty, hasn’t played a lot of football (since 14 December), so it will come.”

Day missed another chance just 59 seconds later, latching onto a long ball before dragging his low left-footed shot across the keeper and flashing past the far post.

Punjab United sealed the victory by scoring the only goal of the game with 47 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.  The final whistle was blown at 50:31.

Ratcliff launched his eighth long throw into the box, from the left, the ball was cleared out to an unmarked Jordan Campbell, who cracked a left-footed half-volley from 30-yards, screaming across the keeper and going in off the top of the far post.

“I thought there would be one more chance for us. I think it would be a corner or something like that. It ended up with our golden midfielder JC.  Brilliant! He will never hit that like that every again with the left-foot,” claimed Sian.

“Listen, sometimes football brings you that little bit of beautiful luck and I think we deserved that little bit of luck. You end up getting a little bit of beautiful bit of luck, that’s why you love football right, that’s why we’re here.

“Listen, he’s been my best player this season, he’s been unbelievable. He does all the hard graft and I notice that. A lot of players go unnoticed in games. He does all the hard work without even thinking about it, so he deserves that because he’s been outstanding.”

When asked about his side’s lack of goals – Punjab United have scored only 29 League goals in 23 outings this season – Sian replied: “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on at the moment. It feels like our defenders and our midfielders are scoring all the goals and our front keep missing.

“We’ve brought Roman Campbell in because we felt Reece Deakin needed a bit more help up front as well because he hasn’t been scoring. It’s not like they’re not trying, it’s just not falling for them.

“I think you can see that in the first half when Roman kind of snatched that one in the six-yard box. It’s just not connecting.  We just hoping they’re going to come good now in the second half of the season, God willing.

“We work on it in training. They score goals, top corners, they put it in every single corner. I don’t know, I really don’t know. I just hope the luck turns because we haven’t scored goals this season in that final third. God willing, second part of the season, God will shine on us and give our strikers a bit of a blessing.”

Phillips added: “It was a poor clearance. I don’t know who cleared it, from one of our boys. If he gets under it, it doesn’t go straight to their player. He’s struck it and gone in off the post. It’s a worldy isn’t it – a sucker-punch right at the end.

“The boys are a bit deflated (in the dressing room). They’re a bit annoyed but they know that they’re better than what we showed in the final third.  They’re all frustrated but I’m sure they will react in the right way on Saturday.”

In tonight’s other League game, Erith & Belvedere missed the chance to climb up into sixth-place after being held to a 1-1 draw at home to second-from-bottom side Lordswood.

Faversham Town (53 points from 22 games) are at the summit and this website is covering Saturday’s trip to VCD Athletic.

The four-play off places contain Fisher (46 points from 25 games), VCD Athletic (45 points from 21 games), Larkfield & New Hythe (38 points from 25 games) and Punjab United (38 points from 23 games).

Corinthian (21 games), Glebe (21), Holmesdale (24) and Erith & Belvedere are all on 33 points.

Larkfield & New Hythe welcome Lordswood here, a side that are six points clear of bottom side Lydd Town, with 19 points from 21 games and they are a point behind Bearsted, who have a couple of games in hand.

“We will get better and hopefully we can get the reaction that we need on Saturday and bounce back and make sure we stay in those play-offs," said Phillips.

“The boys are working really hard and they’re doing extra to make sure they’re at the peak of their fitness. I’m just going to give it my best shot and see where we finish at the end of the season.

“We went into the game making sure we didn’t get beat. It is tight up there. There are teams with games in hand over us, so it’s one of those leagues where everyone’s beat everyone. Points will still be dropped and it’s up to us to react in the right way and hopefully get back to winning ways on Saturday.

“It will be a tough game. Lordswood are down there at the bottom of the league and they’re fighting for their lives, so there’s no easy game in this league.

“It will be tough, so we need to be up for it. We need to be up for it and I’m sure we’ll bounce back.  Looking forward to getting tonight’s game out of the way and playing Lordswood on Saturday.”

Punjab United, meanwhile, host fifteenth-placed Snodland Town (24 points from 22 games) on Saturday.

“I keep telling everyone forget play-offs at the moment, let’s concentrate game-by-game because the moment you think too far ahead, you end up slipping up and that’s what’s been happening recently,” said Sian.

“I think we got carried away before Christmas because we were flying and we’ve had four or five games where we weren’t at the races but recently they seemed to come back to it.

“Now we look forward to a big game against Snodland on Saturday. We’ve just got to keep going.

“It’s going to be tough. Listen, I knew this was going to be tough (tonight). I watched Larkfield when I came to watch them against Bearsted and I knew this was going to be a tough game.

“Larkfield are a good side, they’re full of pace, full of energy. We knew what they can give, what dangers they’ve got and if we came here and we weren’t at the races today, we would’ve got turned over.

“I think that’s what we’ve got to keep doing, we’ve got to go out there, at home we’re a strong side as well. We’ve just got to go out there and compete and now we’ve got a bit of competition for the side, which we’ve been waiting. I don’t think people realise how many suspensions we’ve had.

“We’ve got Jack Barry missing for a couple of games now. He’s got suspended from the Croydon game, so everyone’s got to step in and take their place.  No one can rely on these big players no more. These other boys have got to come in and battle it out and get these results.

“Saturday is going to be a massive one. It’s my birthday weekend, if they lose on Saturday, there’s going to be trouble, so we’ll be alright. We’ve got to keep going.”

Both Larkfield & New Hythe and Punjab United must put in better performances if they are to remain in the play-off zone, as tonight’s game looked more like a relegation dog-fight than fourth-v-fifth.

Sian said: “Listen, like I said, yes, we’re up there. We’ve just got to try to stay up there, stay in and around it. I think the boys have been fantastic up until now.

“The boys have to grind out right until the end.  There’s so many teams around here who can catch everyone now, this is how close it is.  Everyone is beating everyone and no one is there looking for the favourites. 

“Faversham, ok, great, we know they’re going to do well but I think they’ve got VCD on Saturday, so there’s big games for all of the teams coming up. Nothing’s guaranteed for them and nothing’s guaranteed for us.

“I just want to go out like this to be honest and we’ll earn the result if we go out and fight like this but we know Snodland are a good side as well, so I don’t take no team in this league for granted.

“Everyone can beat anyone and we’ve seen that. We lost to bottom-of-the-league Hollands & Blair recently. We lost 3-0 and we didn’t turn up and that’s not the Punjab I made.  That was embarrassing! We strolled the pitch and that was disgusting and I didn’t like that."

Larkfield & New Hythe: Jordan Carey, Clark Woodcock, Nathan Gordon, Jerome Wade, Fraser Walker, Nathan Daly, Harvey Welford (Harrison Carnegie 63), Jack Sammoutis, Bryan Zepo (Matthew Day 63), Tyler Ibe, Tyrell Richardson-Brown.
Subs: Max Sutton, Leevi King-Bassett, Denney McConnell

Punjab United: Owen Bushell, Chris Edwards, Stephen Ratcliff, Jack Hopkins, Jack Barry, Kayden Lewin Thomas, Alfie Moynes, Jordan Campbell, Roman Campbell, Wayne Bushell, Preston Kedwell (Hudson Scudder 58).
Subs: Ryan Hayes, Arun Suman, Ashley Probets, Paul Vines

Goal: Jordan Campbell 90

Booked: Wayne Bushell 85, Hudson Scudder 90

Attendance: 65
Referee: Mr Jack Smith
Assistants: Mr Julian Cowan & Mr Mark Takacs