Sporting Club Thamesmead 1-1 Bridon Ropes - Listen, we’ll either fall short or we’ll get the job done but it won’t be through the lack of trying and grit and hard work, says play-off chasing Bridon Ropes manager Lee Roots

Sporting Club Thamesmead 1 – 1 Bridon Ropes
Location	Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ
Kickoff	17/03/2025 19:30

SPORTING CLUB THAMESMEAD  1-1  BRIDON ROPES
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Monday 17 March 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Bayliss Avenue

BRIDON ROPES manager Lee Roots says being happy with a point would be the wrong thing to say following an open game of 27 goalscoring chances.

 

The Charlton-based outfit would have returned to the Southern Counties East Football League First Division play-off zone had they won this local derby at Bayliss Avenue.

An open start to the game, Sporting Club Thamesmead went on to dominate large chunks of the first half but were profligate in front of goal, lacking composure and quality when it mattered.

The home side took a deserved lead just 122 seconds into the second half through left-winger Deshon Carty’s tap-in, following a mistake from former Bromley Academy goalkeeper Cemal Osman, 20.

However, Bridon Ropes grabbed an equaliser with 19 minutes remaining, through a clinical 35-yard drive from 21-year-old striker Paris Jackson.

“Listen, we wanted to come here and get three points,” said Roots, who has previously managed Forest Hill Park and Holmesdale.

“We had a bit of a tough day on Saturday for numerous reasons result wise, so I thought the performance was good. Disappointed to maybe not come away with three points but I think on reflection, it’s a really entertaining game to watch, both teams fighting for something, so we’ll take a point, would’ve liked three.”

Sporting Club Thamesmead manager Reece Parara added: “The only way to sum it up is we killed ourselves! The game should’ve been dead. We’ve had loads of chances, haven’t taken them. A fair reflection would’ve been if we had won by three or four goals, we didn’t put the ball in the net.

“We created chances, the performance on the whole was very good but the only thing that matters is scoring goals and we didn’t do enough.  Yes really frustrating because we deserve more.”

Roots made seven changes to his side that suffered a 4-0 defeat away to Tooting Bec and centre-halves Jamie Thuillier and Vernon Nzinga often opened the gate and put in poor performances in this local derby.

“I’ve never actually done a Saturday to Monday night game, I’ve done a Saturday-Monday Bank Holiday, so it was quite a unique one for us, a lot of clubs are playing Wednesday but we had to manage it.  We were always going to rotate, we picked up a few injuries at the weekend,” explained Roots.

“I think we needed to do it for freshness.  We’ve got quite a good squad and you’re rolling the dice by doing that but I think we needed to be bold and we needed to make heavy changes to create a dynamism into the team.”

The home side kicked off and rolled the ball straight back to centre-half Storm Glautier – who smashed the ball upfield and Carty’s low shot was blocked by Osman after only 22 seconds, before other winger Matthias Broomes drilled the rebound past the left-hand post with his right-boot just five seconds later, which was the sign of things to come, which frustrated their manager, Parara.

“It’s just not him (Carty) though.  There’s other players in the dressing room that are disappointed. He’s disappointed as well because we know when these chances come up, we have to take them, we have to score."

For Bridon Ropes, right-winger Marcis Fanson and striker Joe Jamal linked up well in the first half and impressed during the early stages of this game.

The diminutive Fanson cut into the box before Jamal’s first time drive flew straight at Sporting Club Thamesmead goalkeeper Archie Aldous.

Just 31 seconds later, the home side swiftly went up the other end and central midfielder Wilfried Peel Evans cut onto his left-foot before hitting a rasping drive from 22-yards, which was comfortably caught at head height by Osman.

Sporting Club Thamesmead’s right-back Ryan Grant gave the ball away in a sloppy manner to Jamal, who played a first-time through ball for otherwise quiet left-winger Tyresse Bundu-Kamara, who lacked composure inside the box and his first time shot was comfortably gathered by Aldous, with eight minutes and 45 seconds on the clock.

“It was too open for my liking.  They nearly scored first minute, we nearly scored second minute,” said Roots.

“I’ve just said it to the lads, I don’t like games to be that open. I like to control the game more but I think it wasn’t a case of us leaving ourselves super open but I think they were able to counter on us pretty effectively and we were able to counter on them.”

Parara added: “I wouldn’t really say it was end-to-end. It was more us creating chances and not taking them, which is frustrating.”

The home side hit Bridon Ropes on the counter-attack and were guilty of a glaring miss (13:06).

Six-goal targetman Steven Karkari flicked the ball on from the halfway line and Broomes latched onto the ball and beat Polish born right-back Stanislaw Abyszkin before emphatically drilling a left-footed shot screaming past the left-hand post.

Both sides were direct and Sporting Club Thamesmead were guilty of a second glaring miss in the 18^th minute.

Carty cut into the box and reached the by-line and put it on a plate for an unmarked Karkari who side-footed his shot past the left-hand post from six-yards, proving just why the pair are playing in the tenth-tier and not higher up the food chain.

Roots added: “I like Steve, I’ve known him for a while. He’s been here for a while with the other management team. I think he’s a real asset around the pitch.

“Funnily enough, he’s never scored against us, he might’ve scored one.  You have to be aggressive with him. 

“I think at this level, you know the levels anyway, even at this level everyone will have a chance.  Nine times out of 10 they don’t hit the barn door, so you’ve just got to keep applying pressure.”

Parara added: “It was just the story of our game, missed chances and they’ve scored a goal from about 35-yards out, a great strike but we haven’t done. We haven’t finished off the simple chances that we’ve created, which can happen, which can happen.

“I thought Steve worked extremely hard and hopefully on Saturday he’ll put it right.”

The home side kept knocking on the door and holding midfielder Connor Dobson wasn’t pressed and floated a deep cross towards the back post where Broomes took a touch before drilling his low left-footed shot across the untroubled keeper and past the far post from 22-yards.

Bridon Ropes were also profligate in front of goal and Jackson held the ball up from his marker on the halfway line before releasing Fanson down the right and he burst forward with pace and once on the edge of the penalty area lacked conviction and weak left-footed shot rolled into Aldous’ gloves in the 27^th minute.

“This is Paris’ first start of the season for us tonight, I thought he was superb,” added Roots.

“He got a wrongful dismissal against Canterbury that put him out for three or four games and he scored a last minute winner for us away at Elmstead. I was really pleased, I thought he was excellent.”

Reflecting on Fanson’s performance, Roots said: “He’s electric Marcus. He picked up an injury playing on Boxing Day for a club at Step Four so we lost him for probably six to eight weeks but he’s superb.  He creates chances out of nothing. He probably should’ve scored today. 

“Today’s the first game that he’s played where he actually hasn’t contributed in a goal when he’s started. He’s only started five or six.  You can play him on different wings, he gets in behind just through his pace. He’s very, very quick.  I think if he was a little bit more fresh, I think he probably scores tonight.”

Karkari and Carty linked up well inside the final third in the 35^th minute before Jack Church clipped a volley from within the D over to the unmarked Broomes, who smacked a volley high over the crossbar despite being left unmarked on the edge of the penalty area as Bridon Ropes’ left-back John Woodcock went missing.

Broomes played a sublime through reverse pass along the tired playing surface to put Karkari through on goal but once again he lacked composure inside the box and drilled his right-footed shot crashing against the top of the right-hand post from 15-yards, another example of the Sporting Club Thamesmead attack failing to finish their dinner.

Parara said: “Steve’s not fully fit yet, once he does I think chances like that, he’ll put away but we just have to keep going to Saturday.”

Roots admitted: “That was probably their best chance.  I think if he composes himself there, he gets it on target.

“I think they were starting to get in down that right-hand side and we needed to be a little bit more aggressive there, probably their better player but I think if he doesn’t try to take the leather of it and maybe tries to pass it into the space of the goal, he scores.

“Cemal’s angles were good for me, I think that was probably their best chance that they had.”

Reflecting on the poor state of the playing surface, Roots said: “It’s really tough, there’s no grass on it, it’s not flat. It’s not cohesive to ball playing and I think it tires the players out. It’s quite dusty. There’s a weird bit of sand down the right-hand side of the pitch. I think it can de-motivate a player when you’ve got a pitch like that.

“If I’m honest, all the pitches we’re going to be really ropey at this stage of the season, ours included. It’s been quite a soft couples of weeks of weather.”

The home side won the corner-count by nine-to-seven and left-back Luke Alliband floated in a right-footed corner from the right and Karkari glanced his towering header past the left-hand post when it a decent position as the first half ended goal-less.

Both manager’s were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Parara said: “They probably had a 15-20 minute spell in the game, or the rest of it, we were really comfortable.  Archie hasn’t had much to do. We’ve created chance after chance but we didn’t finish those chances and you get punished.

“I said ‘keep doing what you’re doing.’ We were all frustrated. We haven’t taken our chances and we came out and scored pretty quickly, so it seemed to have the desired effect.”

When asked whether Bridon Ropes had got away with it during the first half, Roots replied: “No, we didn’t feel that at all, no, if anything we felt maybe the opposite.  We felt we’ve been pretty good with sustained attacks.  They’ve had some chances, we recognised set-pieces being a big night for both teams.

“We were quite happy with the performance really, considering we made seven changes, had our top striker (Patrick Ward) out.  No disrespect to these guys, we weren’t doing it because it was them.  We rotated, so we were quite happy with the performance really.

“What we were trying to work out with the lads was how they were going to figure out to get that goal.

“They came out second half and there heads were still in their shirts, I’m afraid.”

Sporting Club Thamesmead were given a helping hand for their goal, timed at 122 seconds into the second half.

Alliband’s throw-in from within the left-channel was cleared back out to him and he floated in a cross which was met by Broomes, hitting a rasping left-footed drive from 20-yards, which was beaten away by Osman and the ball fell kindly to Carty, who placed his left-footed shot across the keeper to slot into the bottom far corner from inside the six-yard box to score his first goal of the season.

“Deshon followed it up really well and finished it off,” added Parara.

“I just wanted to go and get more but we probably had another two really good chances, not half-chances, really good chances and missed them and yes we got punished in the end.”

Roots added: “I’m disappointed with the goal if I’m honest.  Cemal’s been excellent all year, he’s such a great keeper. He’s kept 12 or 13 clean sheets, which is amazing!

“I think he needed to palm it away from the goal. We can also follow it in. The lads were saying maybe (Carty) was offside? I don’t know. If you have a shot, I was always taught to follow the ball in as a defender. We’ve not done that.

“If Cemal palms it any other way, he doesn’t score but fair play to the lad, it’s a tap-in for them. We were disappointed with that.

“At the end of the day, if teams are going to score, make them work for it but I don’t think they really had to work for that.”

Bridon Ropes went up the other end and holding midfielder Taylor Bowley played the ball inside to Joe Quinnear, who switched the play over to the unmarked Woodcock, who flashed his left-footed angled drive from outside the box past the foot of the near-post.

“You know John, he’s been around the league for years. John’s always got a worldy in him.   We’ve got so many injuries, we would normally play Elias London, Simon Bye, Finlay Chambers, that’s our back three, all out.

“John’s ultimately by trade a winger, not a left-back but he’s done us a good job today, against really lively players probably half his age as well but any time John gets into the final third, he’s got a delivery, he’s got a cross, he’s got a shot that can cause a goal.”

Church switched the play over to Carty on the left and the winger cut into the Bridon Ropes penalty area and went to pieces again as his shot was pushed around the post by Osman, down on his knees.

Roots added: “I thought when they scored, they had a 10 minute spell when we played into their hands and they could’ve maybe got a second goal.

“I think when they took away some of their key players from the game, which then allowed us to go on top.  I think once that period settled, chances started to slow down a little bit, open chances, as they were, but I think both teams were still having to defend really, really well inside their own box.”

Church picked Bowley’s pocket before charging into the Bridon Ropes penalty area before dragging his right-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post as yet another chance went begging for the home side.

Osman made a superb double-save to thwart Peel Evans from 25-yards and denied the wasteful Carty from inside the penalty box in the 61^st minute.

“That was his best save. He almost went to a similar fumble to the first goal where he palms it centrally, gets up, makes a double save,” said Roots.

“They were threatening at that point. We needed to make a couple of changes, we made three at one point, so you could sense they were having that little bit of momentum but I thought it was an excellent save from him.

“Cemal has so much potential, it’s fantastic. Even though he’s made the error, Cemal’s been tremendous and I can’t rate him enough and without him we wouldn’t be where we are.  His clean-sheets have been superb and I’m pleased tonight the lads’ have got him out of that little situation.”

Parara, now sounding like a broken record, added: “It’s literally the story of the game where we’ve missed loads of chances and not punished the opposition and that passage there summed it up as well.”

Roots responded by making a triple substitution in the 58^th minute with 16-goal striker Patrick Ward coming on for Jamal and playing in a wide front three out on the left.

“Pat Ward is our top striker and he’s had a lot of football. We rested him today. He plays Sundays as well, so it’s really tough when you’ve got lads who are fighting for stuff on all fronts,” said Roots.

“I was really pleased with Paris. I thought his first half was really good, hold up play was good and he’ll only get better.”

Jackson swept the ball out to the right and Fanson spung into life for the first time in the second half and easily cut inside Alliband and ran along the by-line before passing to Ward before Jackson got in on the act inside the box and his shot was clawed out by Aldous, racing off his line and making a vital block high to his left in the 63^rd minute.

“I thought that was a fairly good chance to be fair. I felt we were growing and starting to finish the game on top at that point,” said Roots.

“As the game grew on and teams get more tired, they started to back away from Marcus. I think if we were a little bit more ruthless or in a little bit more in-form, which we have been but not so much at the moment, I think maybe we nick one or two of those.”

Bridon Ropes restored parity with a clinical strike with 25 minutes and 50 seconds on the clock.

Abyszkin – who had a very quiet second half – crossed the halfway line before feeding a 20-yard pass inside to Jackson, who took a couple of touches before clinically unleashing a sublime left-footed drive into the bottom left-hand corner from 35-yards.

“Great goal! You don’t see many goals like that at this level. I mean levels above you see that from a moments of brilliance but I thought he was picking up the ball quite well deep and we just brought Pat Ward on at this point, so he’s hard to adapt his position but Paris has got a great strike,” said Roots.

“He scored a goal at Elmstead that he had no right to get off into the box. That was a great goal, just at the right time as well.

“I’m really pleased for him because I thought first half, great performance. He’s been with us for a long time but he’s had to wait and wait and wait, while Pat Ward’s been on form, so when he scored, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Parara added: “It’s a great strike but at that point the game should’ve been done. Listen, he’s hit it from about 35-yards out – it’s a great strike from him.

“What was missing? Putting the ball in the back of the net! Performances have been very good recently but we’re not scoring enough goals (29 league goals in 26 league games) and that’s what we need to put right.”

Bridon Ropes skipper Thuillier kicked a long ball along the deck forward straight down the heart of the pitch and substitute Patrick Da Lomba missed a glorious chance to get his club’s play-off bid back on track, when he placed his right-footed shot past the foot of the left-hand post from inside the D.

“Patrick Da Lomba is so talented. We signed him from (Isthmian League South East Division side) Herne Bay and then he moved to Larkfield, it didn’t work out,” revealed Roots.

“We’ve only brought him back in the last two or three weeks. When he becomes more quick, decision making, more refine in those areas, he’s be able to get better shots away or quicker shots away.”

Both sides squandered stoppage time chances to claim the local bragging rights – in front of a Monday night crowd of 102.

Broomes fed substitute Ethan Osborne, who played the ball out to substitute left-winger Joseph Ikuesan, who easily cut inside Abyszkin but his 20-yard shot lacked conviction and rolled towards goal and Osman comfortably picked the ball up at his near-post.

Woodcock launched a long throw into the Sporting Club Thamesmead box and Da Lomba’s header was cleared off the line by Alliband, before Woodcock’s first-time cross was met by Ward’s header, which looped over the crossbar, as Bridon Ropes finished the game well following Jackson’s second goal for the amateur club.

Parara added: “At the end it could’ve gone either way. We created chances in their half, they created chances in ours but by that point the game should’ve been dead and buried anyway.

“Luke Alliband’s been brilliant since I’ve come in, he’s proved it again tonight.”

Forest Hill Park are top of the table with 54 points on the board from their 26 (of 34) league outings.

Faversham Strike Force (51 points from 27 games), Canterbury City (50 points from 29 games), Croydon (47 points from 27 games) and Soul Tower Hamlets (45 points from 26 games) are all in the play-off zone tonight.

Sheppey Sports (44 points from 27 games), Clapton Community (44 points from 28 games), Bridon Ropes (44 points, 12 wins, eight draws and seven defeats), Rochester United (37 points from 23 games) and Sporting Club Thamesmead (36 points, eight wins, 12 draws and six defeats) make up the top 10.

Parara takes his side to second-from-bottom Welling Town on Saturday, a side managed by Kevin Oakes that have lost their last two league games and have picked up 17 points (four wins, five draws and 19 defeats).

Former Holmesdale manager, Parara has been in charge at the club for seven games, where he has picked up two wins, three draws and two defeats.

“I think the game tonight has reflected my time as manager, some really good performances but we haven’t quite got over the line and got what we deserved.

“We’ve got no right to go into any game thinking Welling Town are bottom two and we should win. We have to come with the right mentality, right attitude and ultimately we have to be better in front of goal than we was tonight.

“Listen, we can only control ourselves. If we go on a run, who knows but we said to the boys before the game we really needed to win tonight and we didn’t but we’ll keep cracking on.

“There’s stuff we can work on (in training) but ultimately it comes down to the individuals on the pitch to put it in the back of the net.

“They’re upset, it feels like a loss because we were so comfortable and dominant for most of the game so everyone’s pretty down.”

Roots, meanwhile, takes his side to East London to play Soul Tower Hamlets.

“I think if you’re talking about opportunities and teams around you, you’d say yes there’s an eight point gap that doesn’t get changed tonight and I think that with seven games to play this will be enough,” said Roots.

“We wanted to win, at this point with seven games to go, you can’t unfortunately cherry pick any team to be beaten. We do play Meridian and Halls who are in the bottom four, other than that everyone’s in and round it.

“I think to come to these and be happy with a point would be the wrong thing to say because then you become a small club. 

“I’m happy with the performance, I’m happy with the resilience we’ve shown from Saturday, considering we’ve played twice in 52 hours.  Would I liked three points? In hindsight, yes but I’d like us to get another run going. 

“I’d take the point and take it onto Saturday. If we win on Saturday against Tower Hamlets, we’re back in the play-offs anyway.

“Tower Hamlets have been excellent this year. They’ve changed their management team. I actually did a UEFA course with a couple of them at the start of pre-season, they’re really nice guys but listen, we’ll go there fancying our chances. We have been really consistent as a team for many months.

“We don’t have a single budget here, no-one gets paid, so we’re going to be consistent for as long as we can but we’re going to be here right until the end.

“We’ll go to Tower Hamlets, respect them, we’ll prepare well, be in on Wednesday, even though we’ve done Saturday-Monday and we’ll prepare the best we can for it.

“We’ve told the lads there’s a points total to get, they know what to get for these last seven games and we’re chalking them off.  We need a few more wins and we’ll be there 100 per cent.  Listen, we’ll either fall short or we’ll get the job done but it won’t be through the lack of trying and grit and hard work.”

Sporting Club Thamesmead: Archie Aldous, Ryan Grant, Luke Alliband, Connor Dobson, Storm Glautier, Leaven Sullivan, Deshon Carty (Joseph Ikuesan 77), Wilfried Peel Evans, Steven Karkari (Zachary Hallett 77), Jack Church (Ethan Osborne 80), Matthias Broomes.
Subs: Chukwuchinyere Ndugbu, Joaldo Cravid

Goal: Deshon Carty 48

Booked: Storm Glautier 23, Wilfried Peel Evans 75

Bridon Ropes: Cemal Osman, Stanislaw Abyszkin, John Woodcock, Taylor Bowley (Kian Houston 58), Jamie Thuillier, Vernon Nzinga, Tyresse Bundu-Kamara (Patrick Da Lomba 58), Joe Quinnear (Raheem Sterling-Parker 90), Paris Jackson, Joe Jamal (Patrick Ward 58), Marcus Fanson.
Sub: Harry Towner

Goal: Paris Jackson 71

Booked: Paris Jackson 69

Attendance: 102
Referee: Mr Michael Jones
Assistants: Mr Felix Graton & Mr James Beadle