Kentish Football 
Phoenix Sports 1-2 Hollands & Blair - We wanted it a little bit more, says Paul Piggott
Saturday 02nd February 2013
PHOENIX SPORTS 1-2 HOLLANDS & BLAIR
Kent Invicta League Challenge Trophy (Sponsored by Sandom Robinson) Semi-Final
Saturday 2nd February 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Mayplace Road East
HOLLANDS & BLAIR boss Paul Piggott says his side wanted to reach the Kent Invicta League Challenge Trophy Final more than last year’s bridesmaids Phoenix Sports.
The Gillingham-based outfit deservedly booked their place in the final and they will be favourties when they face bottom-four side Lydd Town, who sprung a surprise with a 3-0 win at fourth-placed Bearsted in the other semi-final at Honey Lane, courtesy of goals from Gary Lockyer (2) and Steve Harris.
A good crowd of 110 watched the League’s top two sides cancel each other out. Hollands & Blair could have gone into the break a goal up but Michael Jenner’s penalty produced an excellent save from Phoenix Sports goalkeeper Adam Woodward.
But the former Herne Bay midfielder produced a quality finish, which appeared to have given Hollands & Blair the victory in the final seven minutes – but two controversial penalties were awarded at the death.
Phoenix Sports, who were beaten on penalties by Bly Spartans (now Rochester United) in last season’s final, grabbed their lifeline with only 97 seconds of normal time remaining when central midfielder Grant Brown kept his composure to convert a penalty, but Hollands & Blair won it when striker Ricky Freeman scored his 21st goal of the season from the spot to inflict Phoenix Sports’ second defeat in 23 games this season.
”Without being disrespectful to anyone, I thought there was only one team that was going to win the game. I thought we were superb,” said a proud Piggott afterwards.
”It’s always nice to get to any final but to come to a tough place like this to a team doing so well and come and beat them quite convincingly over 90 minutes makes it the more sweeter.
”I think that we rose above our game today. I don’t think it was as much as they were poor because they’re a good side, full of good players as well. They showed that today. I thought over 90 minutes we probably wanted it a little bit more, played a little bit more. Write it up how you will but I just think our desire pipped it a little bit more.”
Joint-manager Steve O’Boyle criticised his players after Phoenix Sports put in their poorest performance of the season.
”They were the better side. They wanted it more than us. I think they outfought us, out footballed us and the best side won,” admitted O’Boyle.
”I don’t think we’ve turned up. We’ve been on a fantastic run, won a lot of games. We do try to respect the opposition and whatever.
”Our players today, for some reason, just didn’t want to know and we’ve been in the changing room at half-time, they’ve got a b******ing and it really didn’t change second half.”
Senior assistant referee Ian Crouch returned after ten months out following a knee injury, but awarded two of the three penalties.
The Orpington official last ran the line in the Championship fixture between Ipswich Town and Leicester City back in April 2011.
His second to last outing was also on the line, the Johnson’s Paint Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium, between Swindon Town and Chesterfield, but he and referee Danny Geary were regularly verbally abused by the traveling faithful.
Hollands & Blair – who won the corner count 11-3 – created the first chance inside the opening six minutes.
Scottish left-back Bryan Greenfield swung in a left-footed corner from the right and Phoenix Sports failed to head the ball away on two occasions and Billy Johnson – who was immense at the back alongside Tom Staff – clipped his right-footed half-volley straight at Woodward.
Phoenix Sports’ opening chance fell to right-winger Ben Yiadom within two minutes but his shot rolled agonisingly wide of the foot of the near post after picking up the loose ball following Aaron Jeffrey’s free-kick – the referee ignoring an offside flag.
Hollands & Blair enjoyed plenty of possession against a flat Phoenix Sport side – who were on the end of hairdryer blasts from O’Boyle and Tony Beckingham throughout.
Greenfield’s sliding challenge saw him win the ball on the edge of the Phoenix penalty area (after Woodward had punched away Jenner’s inswinging corner from the left) to free Freeman down the right and his cross towards the far post was headed wide by his strike partner Stuart West.
Phoenix striker Steve Strotten snatched at a right-footed shot from the edge of the box, which screamed past the left-hand post with visiting keeper James Smith rooted to the spot, after sixteen minutes, but the home side were not their usual attacking threat.
O’Boyle barked: “I thought we were poor up front with the striker’s we’ve got. I thought they were all poor today! I think the only player that comes out with any credit out of our side today was Adam Woodward, our goalkeeper. All the rest of the players were pretty poor.”
The game then turned into an uninspiring midfield tussle, which forced Hollands & Blair to twice shoot from distance in the 29th minute.
Greenfield was given time and space to hit a speculative right-footed drive from 40-yards, which bounced once for Woodward to make a comfortable save.
And just 27 seconds later Jenner ran forward before unleashing a right-footed drive from 30-yards, which also brought a comfortable save from the Phoenix skipper in goal.
Mr Crouch raised his flag over his chest to award Hollands & Blair a penalty after Strotten tripped Staff as the central defender raced into the penalty area.
Stotten raised both of his arms to plead his innocence but referee Mr Geary pointed to the spot.
Jenner stepped up and stroked his right-footed 32nd minute penalty towards the bottom left-hand corner, but Woodward dived low to his right to make an excellent block, the ball looping over the crossbar.
”I thought it was a great save to be fair,” said former goalkeeper Piggott.
”You do say you miss penalties but to me it was a great save to get down that low. It had pace on it. He’s tipped it over the bar. It’s a great save. Although we’re disappointed to miss a penalty, I was saying to (assistant) Darren Blackburn for a game I thought we dominated, we didn’t create too many clear cut chances ourselves but we always felt confident.”
O’Boyle added: “Woody has had another good game today, very consistent. He’s a good goalkeeper and I thought it was an excellent save.
”It was the only positive out of our first half performance that we was actually 0-0 at half-time.
Jenner swung in the resulting corner from the left and Strotten received a slice of luck at the near post when his back header sailed past his near post.
Greenfield swung in a corner with his left-foot from the right and Johnson rose to meet the ball with a downward header to go out for a goal-kick but referee Mr Geary awarded Blair a corner instead.
Piggott admitted his players found James Brown and Dean Kearley a tough nut to crack at the heart of the Phoenix Sports defence.
He said: “To be fair to them, they’ve got Brownie and Dean Kearley, who are wily centre halves that have been around a long time and played at a good level and they keep you at bay most of the game and that’s probably why we didn’t get clear cut chances but I think we ground them down.”
O’Boyle was clearly upset with his side’s poor performance.
”First half was a complete waste of time for us,” he blasted.
”We couldn’t wait to get in at half-time. Not much of (my half-time talk) is repeatable to be honest. Basically we haven’t turned up and (I said to my players’) you’ve got five substitutes sitting there and you’ve got the shirt and at the moment do you want to keep it? Basically there’s five boys’ wanting to come on.”
Unfortunately you cannot make ten changes at the break in competitive games – Phoenix were that bad - but they made one change at the interval with Gary Phillimore slotting in to the middle of the park alongside Grant Brown.
Hollands & Blair created the first chance of the second half when Greenfield’s dinked pass was controlled by Freeman, before cutting inside to stroke a right-footed curler, which saw Woodward dance to his left to make the catch.
Freeman then played the ball inside to Greenfield, who had time and space to cut on to his right-foot to send a 30-yard shot sailing wide.
But the best chance of the game finally arrived in the 58th minute and it fell to Hollands & Blair.
A hooked pass from skipper Ross Brookes released West through on goal (between left-back Jeffrey and Kearley) but his right-footed chip sailed over Woodward and dropped agonisingly the wrong side of the far post, with right-back Aran Heyrettin desperately trying to get back.
Piggott revealed his number 10 wasn’t match fit, saying, “To be fair to Westy, he has been out for most of the season. That’s his first start for blimey since about October time so he’s been out a long time and he’s had no game match fitness but he’s trained hard, worked hard. That looked a little tired Stuart West shot, rather than what we know he’s good at.”
Jenner then issued Phoenix Sports with two warnings following two corners from Greenfield, but on each occasion he failed to test the keeper after picking up scraps from second balls on the edge of the box.
Phoenix Sports briefly came out off their slump as a diagonal pass from substitute Gary Phillimore wasn’t cut out by Greenfield, and that gave winger Daryll Wheeler an invitation to burst forward and his low cross flashed ahead of substitute Dan Parish as he dashed towards the near post.
Phoenix Sports forced their first corner in the 73rd minute and Grant Brown swung in the ball and Smith punched the ball away towards the edge of the box for Wheeler to clip his left-footed shot straight at Smith.
Woodward spilt an angled right-footed drive by right-winger Louis Valencia from 25-yards, before Hollands & Blair scored what their fans though was going to be the deserved winner with seven minutes remaining.
Substitute Sean Hetterley whipped in a cross from the right wing, which was headed away, but the ball dropped on to Jenner’s right-foot and he cracked his volley into the right-hand corner from 25-yards.
O’Boyle blamed his defence for not closing down the goalscorer.
He said: “Even their goal was a poor clearance! It summed us up today. No-one was pressing the ball and the geezer shot it in from eighteen-yards with no-one squeezing.”
Piggott added: ”The strike’s not luck! He’s done it in three or four games this year and he’s got such a sweet strike on him. He should do he has enough practice at it. He does that about ten times a game but what a strike! He’s got that in his locker.”
When asked whether he though that was the winner, Piggott replied: “Yes I did! When we dominate the game and when you concede like that it should be enough to take the stuffing out of both sides but they’re up there for a reason because they’ve got good players and they’ve got determination to keep going for 90 minutes. I think they showed that by getting back into the game by getting the penalty themselves – shall I say a dubious penalty!”
O’Boyle added: ”The way things were going, I didn’t think it was going to be our day today. I thought that was the end of it.”
Jenner’s tenth goal for Hollands & Blair forced Phoenix Sports to up their urgency and Yiadom’s low cross from the left was flicked wide at the near post by 27-goal striker Parish.
But Phoenix Sports grabbed a controversial equaliser when Crouch rose his flag again after he adjudged Staff to have handed Jeffrey’s cross from the left.
When asked his views on Mr Crouch’s controversial decision, Piggott said: “How he can give a penalty when he’s facing away from it with a crowded box I don’t know how he’s seen that!
”He’s said to me he’s adamant it was a penalty. He’s the only person in the ground that was adamant so we just have to take his word for it.”
O’Boyle added: “It has traveled a little bit of a way, obviously I appealed for it. It did hit his arm but I don’t know. You get them, sometimes you don’t get them.”
Greenfield and Staff picked up bookings for dissent as Grant Brown waited patiently to take the penalty and once the whistle blew he sent Smith the wrong way, firing his right-footed penalty into the bottom right-hand corner.
O’Boyle added: “It was a good finish but obviously getting back into the game and losing the way we did – it was obviously sickening.”
Both manager’s admitted they though a disappointing stalemate was heading for extra time.
Piggott said: “I’m thinking extra time. We was, but never say never with our lot. We’ve done it so many times, scored in the last minute of games.”
Phoenix Sports grabbed the lifeline that was given to them with 43:37 on the clock – but Hollands & Blair won it with 47:54 on the clock.
Freeman made tracks down the inside left channel and played a low pass into the crowded penalty area and Jordan Gallacher drove a shot towards a green shirted wall.
Kearley jumped up to make the block but referee Geary pointed to his elbow as he blew his whistle and pointed to the spot.
It took 117 seconds for the penalty to be taken, but Freeman held his nerve and drove his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner.
Piggott said: “To be fair to Ricky he’s cool as a cucumber with the penalty. If you want someone to put your money on at a time like that it’s Ricky Freeman!”
When asked about penalising Kearley, who finished last season with Eltham Palace, Piggott said: “I thought that was harsh as well. It’s one of those natural reactions. It’s one of them weren’t it, when you sort of protect yourself. If your hands don’t leave the side of your body, I fail to see how it’s a penalty, but I won’t argue with the ref because that’s football for you. We had one given against us and one given for us.”
O’Boyle was naturally upset and claimed: “He’s still got the ball mark on his leg and if you give a penalty like that you’re going to give 10-15 penalties a game. I thought the referee just wanted to even it up.
”I think the decision was absolutely awful. It’s hit him on his leg and then bounced up onto his body. He’s blocked it with his leg and he’s got a ball mark just above his knee and to give that was an awful decision, in the last minute of the game.
”Saying that, we didn’t deserve nothing from the game today. Obviously they’ve won the game. I just didn’t think it was going to happen for us today.
”Awful performance. Lacklustre. I don’t think we worked hard.”
Piggott signaled out Staff as his best player for keeping Phoenix Sports’ quiet throughout.
He said: ”I thought Tom Staff was brilliant. They’ve got two very good forwards there. Tom Staff and Billy Johnson and Jock (Greenfield) and Steve Dampier were superb as a back four but probably Tom Staff for me just pipped it. The geezer’s a nuisance. You don’t want him marking you!
”They’re the leading goalscorers in the league, they’re top of the league, they’ve not lost before today (other than losing to Erith & Belvedere in the Kent Senior Trophy). They’re a good side, the league table tells you that but we’ve been slowly getting better over the last six weeks and today we’ve hit that form at the right time.”
Piggott was surprised when Dave Smith’s Lydd Town reached the final with a shock win over Bearsted.
”No way, did they? When you get to a final first and foremost you want to get there. We’re there and you’re not too worried who gets there with you. No disrespect to Lydd – they’ve got a new manager. A new manager brings new players and new belief to everyone else so good luck to them. It should be a good game.”
When he was told that his side are favourites to clinch the silverware for the first time, Piggott replied, “Well I hate that word! They were favourites today so there’s no such thing as a favourite in my eyes. I know it’s an old saying, we’re in a final, they’ll be wanting to get there and beat us like anyone else but we’re looking forward to it.”
Phoenix Sports remain unbeaten after seventeen league games and remain favourites to clinch the Kent Invicta League title, especially as they are nine points clear of Blair.
”The only consolation is that we’ve actually lost a Cup game. We can’t be putting performances like that in the league – we’ve got to get over the line now.”
Phoenix Sports: Adam Woodward, Aran Hayrettin, Aaron Jeffrey, Robbie Tarrant (Gary Phillimore 46), James Brown, Dean Kearley, Ben Yiadom, Grant Brown, Steve Strotten (Dan Parish 64), George Landais, Daryll Wheeler.
Subs: Charlie McCarthy, Martin Chirimuta, Sam O’Keefe
Goal: Grant Brown 89 (penalty)
Booked: Dean Kearley 90, Aran Hayrettin 90
Hollands & Blair: James Smith, Steve Dampier, Bryan Greenfield, Michael Jenner, Billy Johnson, Tom Staff, Louis Valencia, Ross Brookes, Ricky Freeman, Stuart West (Sean Hetterley 79), Jordan Gallacher.
Subs: Emmanuel Abe, Jack West, Cliff Eldridge, Darren Blackburn
Goals: Michael Jenner 83, Ricky Freeman 90 (penalty)
Booked: Bryan Greenfield 87, Tom Staff 89
Attendance: 110
Referee: Mr Danny Geary (Aylesford)
Assistants: Mr Ian Crouch (Orpington) & Mr Andrew Samways (Sheerness)
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