Sevenoaks Town 2-1 Whitehawk - Ultimately our league form this year has been rubbish, we've been so up and down, so inconsistent, it's so frustrating, says Sevenoaks Town boss Harry Hudson

Sevenoaks Town 2 – 1 Whitehawk
Location	Greatness Park, Mill Lane, Seal Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 5BX
Kickoff	07/12/2022 19:30

SEVENOAKS TOWN  2-1  WHITEHAWK
Isthmian League South East Division
Wednesday 7 December 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Greatness Park

SEVENOAKS TOWN manager Harry Hudson praised his side’s motivation levels to beat a disappointing Whitehawk side on a freezing cold Wednesday night at Greatness Park.

 

A classy dinked finish from holding midfielder William Hoare and a bullet header from striker Freddie Parker for his sixth goal of the season gave Sevenoaks Town a two-goal lead going into half-time.

Shaun Saunders’ side pulled a goal back with virtually the last kick of the game through former Sevenoaks Town striker Jerson Dos Santos, who came off the bench to win and tuck home a penalty.

Ramsgate are at the summit of the Isthmian League South East Division table with 35 points on the board from their 16 games and head to Beckenham Town on Saturday, three points clear of the newly-promoted side, who climbed into second-place following their 4-1 win over Chichester City last night.

The play-off places also contain Chatham Town (30 points from 15 games), Whitehawk (29 points from 16) and Cray Valley (29 points from 16), while Hudson’s men climbed up a couple of places into eighth-place with 24 points on the board from their 16 games.

“I thought we were really good today.  I think in the first half we were dominant and we deserved our two-goal lead at half-time,” said Hudson.

“Second half, we thought they would come out and have a bit of a ding-dong with us and if I’m honest Tyler McCarthy made a good save from a corner, apart from that I felt like we were pretty comfortable and if anything we were more likely to get a third, which would’ve killed the game.

“We conceded with one of the last kicks of the game from the penalty, which was a shame because I thought the boys deserved a clean sheet.  I think we were worthy of the three points.”

Hudson made one change from the side that came away from Haywards Heath Town with a 3-1 win at the weekend, with left-back Karn Miller-Neave absent with a hamstring injury.

Emmanuel Mensah (personal reasons) and Bentley Graham (family commitments) were unavailable tonight out of Hudson’s 19 man squad, while second-choice goalkeeper Reginald Rose is on trial with Premier League club Brentford.

Whitehawk kicked-off and Sevenoaks Town created their first opening after only 15 seconds.

Parker pressed the Hawks defence and won the ball inside their defensive third and impressive right-winger Fumnaya Shomotun charged into the box.  His driven shot was charged down by Whitehawk’s centre-half Nathan Cooper and the ball ran to Joshua Bohui, who blazed over with a first-time right-footed drive.

“I think that set the tempo for the game. I felt we looked more motivated today than them and I felt like we picked and choose our right moments to press,” said Hudson.

“I thought it was actually a good opportunity and it really opened up for Fumnaya in the first instance.  His shot was blocked and it fell to Josh and he arrived at a good time but he didn’t get his body over the ball unfortunately, but that set the right tempo for the game.”

Whitehawk were a threat from set-pieces and created an opening following their first of five corners.

Holding midfielder Charlie Harris played the ball towards the near post where centre-half William Miles got in front of Parker to plant his header over Tyler McCarthy’s crossbar in the ninth minute.

“I think that’s where they looked their most dangerous, from set-plays and we spoke about it at half-time,” added Hudson.

“I didn’t feel like any were really troubling Tyler’s goal.”

Whitehawk then enjoyed a decent spell of possession, without creating anything, before Sevenoaks Town grabbed the lead with 14 minutes and 7 seconds on the clock.

Left-back Oluwadamio Olorunnisomo played the ball down the line to release left-winger Bohui but goalkeeper Luke Glover charged out of his penalty area to clear his lines.

Hoare then drove straight down the middle of the pitch at pace before slipping the ball through to Parker, who slipped the ball in behind Miles to play in Hoare, who dinked his right-footed shot over the advancing goalkeeper and into the far corner of the net from 15-yards to open his goalscoring account for the club.

“I don’t know how he’s managed to end up there,” admitted Hudson.

“Will was exceptional today.  Scoring isn’t part of his job description necessarily but he passed and carried on his movement.  We were quite fluid in the first half and I thought that was a problem they struggled to deal with and it opened up for him.  The finish is exceptional.  The composure and the little dink was beautiful to watch.”

Halfway through the first half Hoare skipped past Robert O’Toole inside Whitehawk’s half and played the ball inside to Bradley Wilson, who unleashed a low right-footed drive towards goal from 35-yards, which was comfortably held by Glover, smothering the ball low to his right.

Glover was called into making anther save just 99 seconds later when Bohui cut inside from the left and fed Shomotun, who took a touch before drilling a left-footed shot towards goal from 22-yards, forcing Glover to dive to his right to tip the ball around the post.

“Fumnaya and Josh were constant threats today,” added Hudson, who was less impressed with Whitehawk’s keeper.

“The keeper made saves today but they didn’t look convincing if I’m honest.  Quite a few times he managed to get himself between his body and the ball and kept a few things out.”

Joel Daly swung Whitehawk’s second corner in from the left and Cooper came up from the back to rise to head over McCarthy’s crossbar, before Whitehawk pressed the Sevenoaks defence from the resulting goal-kick and striker Charlie Lambert’s right-footed drive from 25-yards took a deflection and was comfortably gathered by the untroubled Sevenoaks keeper.

Hudson was full of praise of his two centre-halves Rian Bray and Lexus Beeden, who slammed the door shut in Charlie Lambert’s face for the 45 minutes that he toiled up front for the Brighton-based side.

“I thought we defended really well. We looked compact but then we also looked like we could trigger presses at the right times against them. I felt our shape was good today. We worked on it on Monday and I think they struggled to break us down from open play.”

Beeden played the ball out of Sevenoaks’ defence before slipping the ball down the line to Ben Cheklit, who played a one-two down the left with Bohui, before releasing Bohui in behind Cooper before smashing his left-footed shot over the top of the near post.

“I thought Josh was very tight on his angle for me. He’s got to go across goal there or maybe been on for him to pull it back to Freddie Parker.  The combination with him and Ben Cheklit was excellent down the left and down the right with Sammy Johnson and Fumnaya.

Assistant referee Simon Cutler asked the Sevenoaks Town bench to put up board to show three additional minutes and Hudson was heard complaining that it was too cold for additional time and club stalwart Julian Leigh raised the electronic board above his head.

However, Sevenoaks Town scored their second goal of the night, one minute and 48 seconds into the period that Hudson didn’t want.

Olorunnisomo whipped in a great delivery from within the left channel into the Whitehawk box and Parker rose to bury a bullet header from eight-yards, giving goalkeeper Glover little chance to save.

“It was an unbelievably great time to score from our point of view to double our lead before half-time,” added Hudson.

“A fantastic cross from Dami and Freddie gambled and got in between the two centre-halves and like a good nine did, finished it well.”

Sevenoaks Town have recently lost nine goal talisman striker Roy Gondoh to Isthmian League Premier Division side Lewes and Parker has now taken that mantle on as talisman striker.

Hudson said: “Freddie scored last week, he scored today. We know when we feed Fred and we keep him happy, he’s worth a goal a game at this level and I think he was worth his goal today. He had lots and lots of chances against Haywards Heath and got his goal and today he probably didn’t have as many but deserved his goal, especially with the amount of work he got through and how much he was fighting and bullying centre-halves.  I feel Freddie got the better of them today.”

Hudson added: “We were 2-0 up against Haywards Heath at half-time on Saturday and we came out slow and they got a goal and it took us about 15 minutes for us to get the third goal to put the game to bed, so we just reminded them about that.

“Whitehawk were going to get better. We felt they were going to improve in the second half and we needed to make sure we upped our level to match that and if we did that we felt there was another goal in it for us.  I did feel we would get a third.”

The first 20 minutes of the second half was a cagey affair, which pleased Hudson

“Which is fine for us if nothing happened in that period of time. When you’re 2-0 up it’s not a problem when it’s pretty cagey but I didn’t feel like they had us pegged in or that we were defending for our lives at any stage.  When you’re 2-0 up and any minute that can tick away with not much going on, is fine by me.”

The freezing cold crowd of 147 had to wait until the 24^th minute of the half for a real goalscoring chance and this time it was to be a set-piece from Sevenoaks.

Faced with a four-man wall, Parker’s drilled right-footed free-kick from 28-yards sailed over the wall and goalkeeper Glover used his right wrist to flick the ball onto his crossbar and watched the ball drop behind for a corner.

“He (Glover) kept it out so fair play to him but it wasn’t convincing.  It was so well hit, it’s flicked off his wrist and hit the bar but like two centimetres either side of him without hitting his wrist it goes straight through him,” added Hudson.

“That would’ve killed the game.  I didn’t think they were throwing the Alamo at us but I think fair play to the keeper for keeping it out, not orthodox goalkeeping, I don’t think.”

Whitehawk went close to grabbing a goal in open play in the 27^th minute.

Right-back Hamish Morrison hung over a cross, O’Toole cushioned down a header into Dos Santos, whose shot on the turn took a deflection and trickled past the foot of the far post.

Ryan Warwick’s resulting corner was cleared out to Daly, who looped his header over the crossbar.

Hoare played the ball out to Bohui, who cut in from the left wing into the centre and his 25-yarder was gathered at the second attempt by the Whitehawk goalkeeper, preventing the ball nestling inside the bottom left-hand corner.

With the game going into the final 12 minutes, a big kick upfield from Glover, who poorly header away by Sevenoaks’ centre-half Bray and Dos Santos’s hooked shot flashed across McCarthy and past the far post.

However, McCarthy was called into making a vital save inside the final seven minutes.

Warwick swung in Whitehawk’s fifth and final corner, from the right and Cooper’s near-post header was beaten away by the goalkeeper at his near post.

“I feel like that was their biggest chance if I’m honest,” said Hudson.

“Tyler’s not had much to do in the game on a very, very cold night and when you need him to make a save, he did and that was really important for us.

“I said that in the team talk because there was enough time.  If they had scored that then they will be piling pressure on to try to get something out from the game in the last bit of the match so it was big from Tyler and it came from a set-play and I think that was their biggest threat and biggest chance to score.”

Referee Scott Rudd showed Whitehawk’s substitute midfielder Marcus Marku a yellow card in the 83^rd minute and a second one (and then a red) three minutes later for similar offences to prevent Bohui breaking away from the middle of the park.

“They were both cautions. They were both pull backs in a transition so I don’t think you can have any complaints,” said Hudson.

“I think both cautions were on Josh Bohui.  He nicked it off him and he was just too quick for him and once he got away from him, I felt like the only option he had was to pull him back and I don’t think there were any complaints from their bench or their players about the sending off.”

However, Sevenoaks Town’s right-back Sam Johnson was penalised by referee Scott Rudd for clipping Dos Santos, who turned him inside the box and Dos Santos drilled his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, sending McCarthy the wrong way, with two minute and 57 seconds into time added on.  The referee blew his final whistle just 31 seconds later.

Hudson said: “It was a shame because for the first time in the game we got a bit excited with our defensive side.  A couple of players got pulled out of positions trying to win the ball and as they crossed it there was a bit of an overload at the back post and Jerson’s clever. He sees Sammy’s about to try to clear it and gets his body there.  There were no complaints from me, it was a penalty and dispatched it and thankfully for us the referee decided that was pretty much the last kick of the game and we wrapped the three points up and deservedly so.”

Reflecting on his players’ performance on a freezing cold night, Hudson replied: “I thought they were exceptional. I thought they were brilliant. I think they were motivated and they played with structure out of possession and in possession I thought they were bright and lively and we created opportunities and we looked like we were hurting Whitehawk, who are a very good side at this level.

“They’ve got the best defensive record in the league (conceding 11 goals before tonight’s game), and we would’ve had three goals from the game with the opportunities that we created so that’s really pleasing and really promising.”

Hudson takes his side to Cray Valley on Saturday, a side that are unbeaten in their last nine games in league and cup.

“I think Cray Valley are the best team in the league. I think they’ve got the best individuals in the league. They’re flying with their league form, their form is really good so we’re going to go there as the underdogs but we tend to do better against the so-called better sides in the league and we’ve got our tails up at the moment as well, so we’re looking forward to the game.”

Victory in Eltham will see the gap closed on Tommy Osborne’s men from five points to two but when asked about Sevenoaks Town’s league position, Hudson replied: “Ultimately our league form this year has been rubbish, we’ve been so up and down, so inconsistent. It’s so frustrating if I’m honest, so we have to stop thinking about the league table and whether we’re going to be in the relegation zone or play-off places. We just need to play football matches with a smile on our face and do it with our identity and if we do that, we’ll win more games than we lose.

“Let’s look at the league table in February-March and see where we are then.  Hopefully we can recover our aspirations of what we wanted to do at the start of the year but let’s not focus on that. Let’s just focus on the performances. If we get the performances right, then the results look after themselves.”

Sevenoaks Town: Tyler McCarthy, Sam Johnson, Oluwadamio Olorunnisomo, William Hoare (Jordy Ndozid 90), Rian Bray, Lexus Beeden, Joshua Bohui, Ben Cheklit (Solomon Baugh 89), Freddie Parker, Bradley Wilson (Joe Bingham 66), Fumnaya Shomotun.
Subs: Matthew Weaire, David Kawa

Goals: William Hoare 15, Freddie Parker 45

Whitehawk: Luke Glover, Hamish Morrison, Mahamadou Juwara, Charlie Harris (Marcus Marku 26), William Miles, Nathan Cooper, Joel Daly, Ryan Warwick, Charlie Lambert (Jerson Dos Santos 46), Robert O’Toole, Kai Brown (Billy Fuller 71).
Subs: Shay Leahy, Stefan Wright

Goal: Jerson Dos Santos 90 (penalty)

Booked:  Marcus Marku 83

Sent Off: Marcus Marku 86

Attendance: 147
Referee: Mr Scott Rudd
Assistants: Mr Simon Cutler & Mr Samuel Hall