Otford United 1-2 Kent County League - Nothing's inked in on the teamsheet, says Darren Phillips

OTFORD UNITED  1-2 HAART OF KENT COUNTY FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Representative Friendly
Wednesday 20^th February 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Otford Recreation Ground

DARREN PHILLIPS says there are eleven shirts still up for grabs for the FA Inter-League Cup Preliminary Round showdown against the Sussex County League in ten days’ time.

The Haart of Kent County League representative side opened their two-match warm-up campaign with a victory underneath the floodlights at Division One outfit Otford United, who will have Jamie Knight and captain Callum Hall vying for a place when Phillips’ side travel to play University of Kent on their 3G pitch next Monday night.

Despite not having any training sessions behind them and meeting their new team-mates on the night, the Haart of Kent County Football League side were 2-0 up inside the opening 33 minutes, courtesy of two goals from Steve Ashmore, who was playing out of position on the right flank.

Both camps made numerous changes at the half-time interval and Otford United seized upon their visitors’ new-look back line as the impressive Knight slotted home early in the second half, but the League representative side held on to claim a deserved victory.

Phillips, who is also Chatham Town’s reserve team manager, hailed the exercise as very positive, despite being without former Sittingbourne and Maidstone United talented midfielder Colin Richmond, who now plays for Premier Division side Fleet Leisure, through illness.

Phillips said: “I had nine boys dropped out for different reasons, work and stuff, but the boys that came in, you can’t really complain.  They done what they can, won 2-1 with lots of changes. I’m happy with that to start with.”

Phillips explained the problems that he faced for this outing.

”That’s my seventh game in two years’ and pretty much every time you play, there’s probably seven or eight new people.  The National Cup competition starts in ten days’ and Metrogas players have been ruled out because they’ve got a London Cup fixture, which can’t be cancelled so that’s ruled out five players in one go.

”But the boys’ have come in, done a job, taken their opportunity and we play again Monday night against the University of Kent and there will be a few new boys in that squad as well and we’ll see what happens.”
 
For Otford United boss, Jimmy Gillan, he used tonight’s outing as a chance to work on a few new things.

The club are presently in eighth-place in Division One, having picked up five wins and three draws from thirteen games.

”Good commitment. We played good football at times as well, so I’m really pleased,” he said.

”It took them a little while to get settled and when they settled in the first half really they had two chances and took them both and we didn’t do particularly well but I think we were more organised than they were, which you expected. They turned up. I don’t think they even train do they? But they’ve got some very good individual players and it’s nice to have a game of football and no one’s kicked us off the pitch.  I think we stood up to them.”

Otford used a new formation of 4-5-1 and lone striker Mark Lampard issued an early warning with only 70 seconds on the clock by cutting in and sending his right-footed lob over Craig Smith’s crossbar.

However, Otford United keeper Jordan Busby made the first of his many useful saves when he got down low to his right to turn around Greenways’ 22-goal striker Aaron Kleman’s right-footed drive from 20-yards.

The representative side looked like a team that had only just met eachother just before the game and in an attempt of trying to pass the ball from the back, Lampard stole the ball off Staplehurst’s Dan Mitchell and his angled right-footed drive from 20-yards brought a comfortable save from Bromley Green keeper Smith, who will miss the real action at Chatham Town on 2 March owing to work commitments.

Gillan said: “Mark’s one of those players. He was prolific two or three years’ ago. Both of our strikers (the other being Fergus Farmer) this season have gone off the boil in recent weeks so I changed the actual shape tonight just to have a lone striker and it just gives us more in the middle. Unfortunately it doesn’t give us an option up top apart from picking up the pieces and it’s a different game for both to learn but they’re learning it.”

The representative side took the lead in the sixteenth minute, as Hildenborough Athletic’s Ashmore finished well.

A bullet header from his club team-mate Adam Davies was latched onto by Ashmore, who had cut across from right to the left hand side of the penalty box, before steering his left-footed shot across Busby into the bottom far corner.

”He’s cut in from the right, a left-foot finish,” said Phillips. “He’s another new player that performs for his club. He’s not playing in his natural position so he done us a favour for us out on the right wing. 

”I know a lot of the Hildenborough boys have been at Tonbridge Angels and Tunbridge Wells, so they’ve all played a bit.”


Gillan added: “I think he took the goal well. I think he finished it really well.”  

Poor defending from Davies almost gifted Otford an equaliser but Knight wasted the chance by flashing his left-footed drive past the far post.

Otford called visiting keeper Smith into action after 21 minutes when Hill released Tim Iles down the left and his hopeful cross was turned over by Smith’s outstretched arm.

Iles swung in the resulting corner and the ball came out to Lampard, whose left footed shot on the turn lacked power and Smith comfortably gathered beside his post.

A second piece of poor defending from Davies gifted Otford another chance but Knight drilled his left-footed shot agonisingly wide of the far post.

Hildenborough Athletic defender Alfie Hall pumped a long ball into the Otford United defence for Kleman to loop over from 12-yards, before the representative side doubled their lead.

A long 30-yard ball over the top of the Otford defence was latched onto by Sevenoaks’ 22-goal striker Joe Creasey, who was denied when Busby came rushing off his line to make the block on the edge of his box, and the ball ran loose for persistent Ashmore to slam his right-footed shot into the bottom far corner.

Phillips added: “He’s not in his natural position. He obviously wants to come in the middle and be in the right place at the right time.  I can’t ask for much more.”

Gillan said: “I was more disappointed with the second goal because he got a bit lucky. The ball landed at his feet.  He should never been in that position in the first place! No one tracked the runner.  We work on that all the time so that was disappointing.”

Otford United almost pulled a goal back when Knight played a low cross in from the left and Lampard was crowded out at the near post and the ball ran loose to Hill whose left-footed shot from 20-yards flashed just wide of the foot of the right-hand post.

Knight later swung in a corner from the right which saw central midfielder Perry Hart try to score with an overhead kick, which was gathered by the keeper.

Phillips’ side came within a whisker of increasing their lead further towards the end of the first half.

Kleman’s inswinging corner from the left was headed out and came out to skipper Chris Rowley, who cracked a left-footed volley which Busby did well to tip on to the crossbar. 

Another corner from the Tudor Sports striker was hit deep and Dan Mitchell’s ambitious acrobatic hooked shot flashed past the far post.

The League representative side made four changes - and Gillan explained why he made five changes at the break.

He said: “First of all they knew I was going to make some changes because we were always going to try and get something out of it for us as well.

”I basically said to the boys’ at half-time don’t beat ourselves up.  You are playing a rep side and you’re two goals down and you shouldn’t be.

”The first goal was well taken and the second goal I’m a bit disappointed with but go out there and make a good account of yourselves.

”The guys who came off knew they were coming off before the game started but what it showed was we’ve got quite a good squad in depth and we play the same way with all new different personnel.

”But we showed good character second half and dug deep and I thought we bossed it a little bit in the second half and by then I think they would be settled so for me there’s a lot of encouragement to take from it.”

The changes in personnel, however, helped Otford to pull a goal back inside the opening five minutes of the second half.

Gillan opted to play with two men up top and they both combined to score.

Knight picked up the ball on the left and played the ball inside to substitute Fergus Farmer – one of three bothers in the seventeen-man squad – and he played the ball back to Knight who received a little bit of luck when his left-footed was deflected in by keeper Smith at the near post.

Only Dan Mitchell was in the representative side’s back four, the other three players had just come off the bench.

Knight gave his chances of a start wide on the left against Sussex no harm with his performance tonight.

Gillan said: ”He’s a Rep player. He plays for the Rep side. I think it was good for him.  That’s just Jamie. He’s a little livewire. I don’t think they coped with him when he got at them.”

Phillips said: “The changes contributed to that, four changes, we changed the formation as well. 

”The back three wasn’t the original plan, players dropped out so we were asking people to do a job that they weren’t familiar with. 

”I weren’t overly disappointed with the goal. It’s just one of those things.”

Goalkeeper Smith made sure just 42 seconds later when he got his whole body behind Knight’s angled drive to make a comfortable low save at his near post.

With so many new players on the pitch the game then turned into an uninspiring battle, with the next chance falling to the visitors’ in the 68^th minute.

Rowley, who was replaced by Bexlians’ Ben Mitchell at the break, was used as a rolling sub and he produced a fine free-kick which he swung in towards the far post for substitute Liam Smith of Chipstead to head down from two-yards and Busby used his outstretched legs to make a fine reflex block.

Gillan said: “Good shot stopper Jordan. He’s one of them. He can be frustrating as well because he doesn’t come for crosses when he should and he doesn’t always claim everything in the six-yard box but one of one I back him to make a save. He kept us in the game to be fair.”

Ben Mitchell was denied a goal from eight-yards (following a neat one-two with Liam Smith) because Angus Farmer got back from central midfield to make a goal-line clearance.

Fleet Leisure’s central midfielder Craig McGuire, who got better as the game wore on, played a precise pass to release Liam Smith down the right and he cut the ball back from the by-line and Ben Mitchell’s header from six-yards was caught by Busby.

Ben Mitchell then took a touch before he drilled his left-footed shot over the far post before he turned provider for Rowley who ghosted in but was denied by Busby’s foot, which turned the ball wide of the post for a corner.

Phillips took positive out of tonight’s work-out but faces a selection headache for the crunch game against the Sussex County League on 2 March.

”Everyone that comes in gets on with it. It’s a very quiet changing room before all games normally because there’s so many new ones, but after there all in there and it’s like a normal changing room,” he said.

”I plan to play a front three in the game so tonight we played Aaron Kleman, Chris Rowley and Joe Creasey.

”We’ve got a lad coming in from Kennington, Carlum MacLeod, (a 23-goal striker) so he’ll start that on Monday night, to have another look.

”We’ve lost five from Metrogas.  Craig Smith, the keeper, who has been first choice for a number of years, he’s going away with work on that weekend so we have to find another goalkeeper, which will probably be the Greenways lad who will get a game or the other choice is Ross Chandler at Staplehurst.”

Phillips explained how he selects players for the representative side whilst he manages Chatham Town’s second string.

”Jack Dean goes out and scouts every weekend.  League chairman Cyril Windiate goes around different games for different reasons and he’ll mention players.  I know a lot of the boys’ because I was at Charlton Athletic Community for the last five years. We’ve got coaches as well who nominate people.”

When asked whether he knows his starting line up for when the real action begins, Phillips replied, “Nothing’s inked in on the team sheet.  I made it clear to the boys tonight that I didn’t want to think they were just coming in to play a friendly and there was no hope for the Sussex game, that’s definitely not the case.

”No one’s inked in to play that match.   We’ll see what happens on Monday night and pick the sixteen on the Tuesday.”
 
Meanwhile, Otford United welcome Milton & Fulston United on Saturday, looking to avenge a 2-1 away defeat on 10 November.

”That’s a bit flattering for them. We outplayed them there and on this pitch we’re a match for most sides as we’ve played tonight. I expect three points.”
 
Otford United: Jordan Busby, Mike Cunningham (Sebastian Christopher 46), Giles Farmer (Steve Knell 46), Phil Perkins, Ryan Lee (Sean Ellis 73), Perry Hart (Angus Farmer 46), Tim Iles (Dale Taylor 29), Callum Hill, Mark Lampard (Fergus Farmer 46), Sean Ellis (Nick Johnson 46), Jamie Knight.

Goal:  Jamie Knight 50

Haart of Kent County Football League: Craig Smith, Steve Ashmore (Scott Lock 46), Alfie Hall (Jonathan Shea 59), Joe Eastwood (Steve Ashmore 59), Dan Mitchell, Oli Cuthbert (Mark Swift 46), Craig McGuire (Chris Cooper 79), Adam Davies (Rob Jeffrey 46), Joe Creasey (Liam Smith 57), Aaron Kleman (Chris Rowley 67), Chris Rowley (Ben Mitchell 46).

Goals:  Steve Ashmore 16, 33

Attendance: 34
Referee: Mr Keith Wenham (Orpington)
Assistants: Mr Trevor B Bailey (Orpington) & Mr Trevor Windget (Swanley)