Tunbridge Wells 2-0 Erith & Belvedere - Everyone here wants to finish as high as they can just to prove a point, says Tunbridge Wells manager Steve Ives

Tunbridge Wells 2 – 0 Erith & Belvedere
Location	Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9SG
Kickoff	17/04/2025 19:45

TUNBRIDGE WELLS  2-0  ERITH & BELVEDERE
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Thursday 17 April 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Culverden Stadium

TUNBRIDGE WELLS manager Steve Ives says his players are showing that they clearly care about finishing the highest they can at the end of their treacherous season.

The Wells climbed four places into ninth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, having picked up 46 points (13 wins, seven draws and 14 defeats) after beating seventh-placed side Erith & Belvedere (50 points from 36 games – 13 wins, 11 draws and 12 defeats).

Tunbridge Wells made three changes to their side that lost 1-0 at home to Faversham Town on Tuesday night, on the night when Tommy Warrilow clinched his maiden league title and they will celebrate their trophy lift when now relegated side Lordswood visit Salters Lane on Easter Monday.

Tunbridge Wells opened the scoring with a chipped counter-attacking goal from attacking midfielder Rocco Zilli.

The home side – who are playing 10 games in April – dominated the entire second half and striker Regan Corke chipped in his 23^rd goal of the season in the last minute.

“I think we were good value for it to be completely honest,” said Ives.

“Obviously goals change games and sometimes we’re guilty of not scoring enough (45 in the League, 55 conceded). 

“I sort of challenged the boys, particularly at half-time. I said, ‘remember Stansfeld.’ We were 1-0 up at half-time and we lost it 2-1. 

“Just really important we kept forcing it, kept playing on the front foot, kept trying to get the second goal.

“One of the guys in the dug-out keeps a little reference of shots. We had 21 shots in the second half alone and 11 on target – they had two – so I think that shows the boys wanted to make sure there was no doubt.”

Erith & Belvedere joint-manager Billy Hamlin added: “We knew it was going to be tough. Obviously, we had all of the kids playing for us today. We had a count up, we had eight 18 and under tonight.

“Ben Rankine in goal, I thought he was excellent, bless him.  I’ve just said in the changing room, the last time he played, he played in a pre-season friendly for us against our landlords Welling United and it was a big game for him but tonight I thought he acquitted himself really, really well.

“For a club point of view and the kids’ point of view, it was a great experience for them. We’re disappointed to lose but we’re down here on a Thursday night when we should’ve been here when the original fixture was (called off on Tuesday 18 February due to floodlight issues).

“We had people travel here and we had people on their way from the city on the trains and it got called off at six o’clock or whatever it was, a quarter-past-six and I got told there were no (working) floodlights.  Well, there weren’t no floodlights for weeks before that!

“It’s disappointing to lose tonight because we were primed and ready to go in the original fixture but obviously it is what it is, isn’t it?”

Tunbridge Wells put in a vastly improved second half performance in than the awful game of football that was played here on Tuesday night.

“Yes, Tuesday was hard, I’ve got to be honest.   Faversham were worthy champions and I’ve already said that and well done to Tom and well done to them. They came here and played very, very direct and it was quite hard to play against to be honest. Fair play, it worked but I thought we played a little bit more football tonight,” said Ives.

Tunbridge Wells were without Tom Penfold, James White and Jacob Feasey (all ankle injuries) while Harry Hudson picked up a knee injury against the Lilywhites.

Erith & Belvedere were without goalkeeper Charlie Cottrell (away), Ronnie McClean (family commitments), Harry Day (work commitments), Ladic Melconian (away), Billy French (knee), Donnell Anderson (work commitments), Danny Lear (calf), Ali Mansaray (second of a three match suspension) and long-term Dan Parkinson (broken ankle) and Ross Morley (back).

Erith & Belvedere started the game with all guns blazing, kicking down the slope at Culverden Stadium.

A mazy run from holding midfielder Ryan Fowler saw him dance past three players inside the Tunbridge Wells half before he released winger Tyller Davis-Whitlock down the left.  He put in a low first time cross from close to the by-line and striker Luca Sanford swept his first time looping left-footed shot across the keeper and over the top of the far post inside the opening five minutes.

Sanford was impressing for Erith & Belvedere during the early exchanges and he swept the ball out wide to right-winger Tommy Kale, who put over a cross and Sanford’s driven shot was blocked and fell to Davis-Whitlock, who was denied by goalkeeper George Bentley, who narrowed the angle on his by-line and used his chest to deny the impressive winger.

Hamlin said: “Luca had a good shot didn’t he. The fella made a block.  Like I say mate, it’s a learning curve for the kids. If it had gone in, the goal for Luca, it would’ve been cracking for him, wouldn’t it?

“Tyller done well, I thought he was a proper threat first half. Tyller’s carrying a few injuries. He rolled his ankle a few weeks back and he’s taped that up and his back is sore.  I’ve never known anything like it mate.  This season has just been unbelievable with injuries, it’s been unbelievable!

“They grew into it and they got on top more or less in the first half but to be honest with you, I was out there in the warm-up and that pitch is absolutely shocking, absolutely shocking!

“I feel half sorry for them – but you can’t enjoy playing on that every week!”

Ives said: “They started alright, they’ve always got a threat. I think their left-winger played quite well for them. He gave Brendan (Austin) a few issues.  I thought Bentley had to be on his toes.  I wouldn’t say he did anything fantastic but he had to be on his toes. We managed to keep a clean-sheet, so can’t ask any more.”

Erith & Belvedere centre-half Frederick Cray launched a long ball over the top and Frederick Baker latched onto the ball down the right channel and beat Jamie Shield for pace but lacked composure and drilled his shot over the top of the far post.

Tunbridge Wells created their first opening in the 13^th minute when Corke floated in their first of five corners and Rory Ward took a touch before hitting his right-footed drive sailing over the crossbar from 17-yards.

The home side were now starting to enjoy a spell of pressure and Ward and Shield linked up before feeding striker Rhys Bartlett, whose left-footed angled drive from 22-yards was comfortably gathered by debutant goalkeeper Ben Rankine.

Ives said: “I thought Rhys grew into the game. I thought he started a little bit….

“I challenged him because I thought he played well against Faversham. He had Callum Davies and Matt Newman both treading all over him and he stood up to that.

“I did wonder about giving him a rest tonight but with Feasey being injured, Rhys is probably the most physical forward we’ve got and I felt we probably needed a little bit of that tonight, so I thought he grew into it, even though, you’re right, the shots in the first half were quite speculative.”

Tunbridge Wells took the lead through a devastating counter-attacking goal, with 24 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.

Fowler floated in the away side’s second corner from the right and Bentley juggled the ball before catching it before launching a big kick straight down the middle of the pitch.

Sanford was inside the centre-circle and failed to clear his lines and Corke pounced on the loose ball and fed Zilli on the counter-attack and his left-footed chip from 22-yards sailed over the advancing Rankine and dropped into an empty goal to score his first goal for the club.

Ives said: “Very pleased for Rocco. He’s been with us for about six weeks now on dual registration with (Isthmian League South East Division side) Beckenham.  That’s his first start as well and I thought he really worked hard and I’m pleased for him that he got his goal. I thought he deserved it, took it well as well didn’t he."

Hamlin admitted: “I said at half-time, I took the blame for that because we only had on the pitch experience wise Strachan, Freddie Cray, AJ (Morrison), Fowler and Whitnell.  We only had five and we wanted them attacking the corners but it meant we had to leave two young kids back, so a little bit of experience I suppose.

“We gave the goal away but again they’ll learn from that.  They’ll learn next time to boot it out of play or deal with it better.

“Like I say tonight no one likes to getting beat and we’ve been on a decent run but not being funny coming down with a bit of a scratch side and the kids and we knew it was going to be hard tonight, so you don’t accept defeat. I’ve never accepted defeat in my life. It’s a double-edged sword isn’t it.

“The kids’ have got a lot of experience tonight and they’ve done alright to be fair.”

Davis-Whitlock posed a threat for Tunbridge Wells’ right-back Brendan Austin during the first half, picking up the ball on the half-way line and going the long way round to cut into the box but his cross from a tight angle was comfortably caught by Bentley on the half-hour mark.

Erith & Belvedere produced a well-worked move in the last five minutes of the first half.

Baker cut inside Ward inside the Tunbridge Wells half before switching the ball over to Fowler on the right and he cut the ball back to right-back Rohan Pinto (who launched seven long throws into the Wells’ penalty area) and Pinto’s deep cross was met at the back-post by the unmarked Baker, who hooked his shot over the crossbar from a tight angle.

“They thought there was a pull on Luca,” claimed Hamlin.

“Rohan’s come in the last couple of weeks and he’s done really, really well. He’s a real find, he’s only 18.  He came in and done well and then he had to wait his chance.  He was on the bench for a few weeks but the last two weeks he’s come in and I think he’s been outstanding to be honest with you.”

Ives said: “I challenged the boys at half-time. I thought the gaps between the back four were a little bit too big and it just meant if anyone was to miss a header or their tackle, we cold have problems but we didn’t.

“I don’t recall Bents having to do anything fantastic, so I was relatively pleased at half-time but 1-0, as we’ve seen many a time, is not a winning scoreline.

“I put the gauntlet down to the boys to make sure they have a really good first 10 minutes of the second half. I just asked them for a little bit more work-rate off the ball from the strikers, which I feel like they did. Make the spaces a little bit smaller when we didn’t have the ball and I think we probably just maybe snuffed any enthusiasm out of Belvedere.

“I thought (we dominated the second half). It’s not like they’ve given up or anything like that but they’ve kept on going until the end.

“They’ve had a few dead balls come in the box, which we had to be on our toes with.”

Hamlin added: “I just said to them ‘get on the front foot!’  I said ‘enjoy it a little bit.’

“I asked them to use their youth, if you know what I mean?  Go and press a little bit more because they’ve got legs because they’re all babies, they’re so young, so we said try and get on the front foot.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. We’re 1-0 down, go and have a go and they did.”

Tunbridge Wells came out with all guns blazing and dominated large chunks of a one-sided second half.

Central midfielder Ward hooked a volley into the right channel and Corke held the ball up (as left-back Anthony Morrison failed to attempt to make a tackle close to the by-line) and Corke clipped the ball into the penalty area and Bartlett chested the ball before smashing his volley over the crossbar from 10-yards at the near-post after only 86 seconds.

Ives said: “Really unlucky. I feel like in August, maybe not August, on a pitch with a bit of give in it, that goes in because he’s done everything right. He’s swivelled, he’s hit it into the ground but it’s concrete out there and it’s bounced up over the bar.

“I would love Rhys to get a goal because I think he deserves it. I think he couldn’t have done a lot more with that one.”

Shield cracked a right-footed rasping drive from 30-yards which was heading towards the top right-hand corner and Rankine dived to his left to push the ball towards safety.

Ives added: “I felt like Shieldsey had two or three sort of sighters from long range. He was starting to enjoy himself weren’t he, so that was pleasing.

“If you’re going to go through every single shot we had, we’re going to be here a long time because we had a lot of shots!”

Corke put in a poor delivery from the home side’s second corner but the ball fell to Ward at the near-post and the midfielder hooked his right-footed shot past the right-hand post.

The dominant Ward nicked the ball off Pinto on the half-way line on the left-flank before releasing Bartlett down the left and he teed up Muiz Alaka, whose left-footed drive from 20-yards was straight at the busy Rankine.

Tunbridge Wells kept knocking on the door and the 18-year-old goalkeeper pulled off the Save of the Season in the 63^rd minute.

Ward unleashed a left-footed drive from 40-yards, which was sailing towards the top right-hand corner and Rankine dived high to his left and used both of his hands to push the ball over his crossbar.

Hamlin said: “Lovely for him weren’t it?  Cracking moment for him. I was really pleased for him. I thought his kicking as well was really good.

“Let’s be honest, it was men-against-boys a little bit at times wasn’t it? But like I say mate, I won’t knock none of the boys. This is a massive learning experience for them tonight but one thing I did say in the changing room, we only really had five senior players tonight.

“I know Freddie Baker and Tyller have played a lot of football this year but Tyller’s 21 or whatever he is and Freddie Baker is 18 but really over the age of 21, we probably had Strachan, Freddie Cray, Whitnell, Fowler and AJ (Morrison).”

Ives added:  “I thought the goalie had a good game in fairness and that one was probably the pick of the bunch.

“I think he made a really good one from Jonesey as well but that was a fantastic save from Rory, It would’ve been good to see Rory get a goal as well.

“A lot of our boys, when you look at the season, their stats in terms of goals against games played are not as fantastic.  We’re one of the lowest scoring sides in the league and that does put a lot of pressure on us to not let goals in.

“It would’ve been nice for a hatful had gone in tonight but that’s being disrespectful to Belvedere.  They’re seventh in the league, they got to the Quarter-Finals of the Vase. They’re no mugs at all and they definitely didn’t come here not to give us a game.”

Tunbridge Wells continued their dominance and Corke whipped in a delicious free-kick from the left and centre-half Lewis Allan (who threw six longs throws into the Deres’ penalty area) sent his free-header over the crossbar in the 28^th minute.

Erith & Belvedere created just the one chance when Fowler floated in a corner from the right and centre-half Rob Strachan’s looping header at the far post dropped down and was comfortably caught by Bentley.

When asked about not creating anything else during the second half, Hamlin replied: “Listen, when you’re missing Danny Lear, when you’re missing Harry Day, when you’re missing Ladic (Melconian), they get on the ball and they’re good players and we missed them.

“I’m not going to stand here and say ‘we could’ve done this and we could’ve done that’, we done what we could with what we had.”

Ives added: “I feel like we were pretty good at getting at least within touching distance to try to put them off but Rob Strachan’s a good player, he’s quite aerially dominant. He was always going to get one header at some point in the game and thankfully it didn’t cause is any major concern.”

Hamlin and Jamie Phipps sent on chairman Paul Springett, 44, in the 73^rd minute and the holding midfielder turned right-back was at fault for Tunbridge Wells sealing the deal with 43 minutes and 44 seconds on the clock.

Lively substitute striker Tom Jones hit a diagonal counter-attack pass and Paul Springett stretched and failed to intercept and this released Corke, who ran forward and sent his right-footed chip over the keeper from 22-yards, the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar before dropping over the line before Paul Springett could get back to clear.

Ives said: “Very good finish, wasn’t it.  He could’ve taken the easy option and just side-footed it but he’s gone for the chip and executed it perfectly and I’m really pleased.

“I think that puts him on 23 goals. We’ve got a target with him. We want him to get 30, obviously with four games left I believe and he’s got to get seven, so a hat-trick in the derby would be nice.”

Hamlin added: “He took his goal well. I’ll fine Geordie (Paul Springett) for missing that, not cutting out the through ball but no listen, you’re asking Geordie to go on there and he’s 44 – he’s gone on there and it’s great. When you play football you don’t lose your competitiveness and you could see the competitiveness when he went on, which was great.

“I can’t speak highly enough of Geordie what he’s done for the club and the way he backs me and Jamie (Phipps) is fantastic. If that’s his little reward by getting 20 minutes, then good luck to him.”

When asked about putting the chairman (who played for the club during his playing career), on the pitch, Hamlin replied: “We had to, we had to, simple as that. We’re down to the bare bones and obviously you want to bring some kids’ in but we’ve had a few drop outs more or less yesterday so it was a case of ‘Paul, bring your boots.’ If I would’ve lost about five stone, I think I would’ve been on the bench!

“It was a proper family affair tonight wasn’t it?  Proper family affair.  Freddie (Springett, the son of coach Pete Springett) came on in the last minute because we had had another pull out today, so Freddie came on. He only got a couple of minutes at the end.”

Corke teed up Shield, who drilled his left-footed drive from 22-yards past the diving goalkeeper and past the left-hand post.

Tunbridge Wells countered down the right through Austin, before he released Corke and his right-footed angled drive was kept out by the impressive Rankine, diving to his right to parry and the unmarked Jones lacked composure while left unmarked in the box, stroking his left-footed shot into the base of the side netting.

“I thought all the subs had a good positive impact, Jonesey particularly buzzed around at the front,” said Ives.

“I just felt we needed a bit of energy again. I thought maybe the work-rate had just dropped off with some tired legs.  I thought Jonesey particularly really, really put in a great shift and all that was missing was a goal. He should’ve had a penalty as well.”

Reflecting on the win and being where they should be in the league table, after back-to-back defeats to Stansfeld and the champions, Ives said: “We were on the verge of running riot really. 

“I thought the fact that the boys quite clearly care about finishing strong when there would’ve been every reason if they were that way inclined to just toss it off and go through the motions but everyone here wants to finish as high as they can just to prove a point.

“It’s been a bit of a treacherous season at times and we want to finish strong for the fans and for each other as well.

“I’ve got Muiz Alaka, James Shield, and Lewis Unwin, who have all stepped away for various reasons in the depths of the season, they’re all coming back. They’re not getting paid certainly nothing significant to do it but they just don’t come back, they actually play like they have and I think it says a lot about the group.”

Erith & Belvedere complete their campaign with a home game against thirteenth-placed Holmesdale on Easter Monday before travelling to Gravesend to tackle Punjab United on the final day.

“I’d like to finish as high as we can, win as many points as we can,” said Hamlin.

“Listen, I’m not saying we would’ve come down here and won but when the original fixture got called off that weren’t on for me. We had people travelling here from the city and taking their stuff from work on the train and they got halfway here and had to turn round and get trains back.

“I don’t think that was right but the League obviously didn’t do anything about it.  We would’ve come here that day with a strong side, tonight, we ain’t, so it’s as simple as that, isn’t it?

“We’ll go and try to win them. We’ll have everyone back then as well, so on Monday it’s the first time in months when we’ll have everyone available, so I’m quite looking forward to Monday. We’ll probably go and get beat but no we should have everyone.

“Danny Lear should be alright, Ladic should be back. Harry Day should be back. Charlie Cottrell will be back. Ronnie McClean will be back. Donnell Anderson will be back.”

Tunbridge Wells complete their campaign here against Corinthian (Saturday), Rusthall (Easter Monday) and Sutton Athletic (Wednesday 23 April) and finish with a trip to Bromley to play Holmesdale on the final day.

“Michael Golding’s stepping away (as Corinthian manager at the end of the season), I like Michael, a good guy. Three more points available. We go Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, so yes, focus one game at a time,” said Ives.

Champions Faversham Town (84 points, two games left) are waiting to see whom will join them in the Isthmian League South East Division next season.

VCD Athletic (75 points, two games left), Whitstable Town (65 points, four games left and 3-0 winners at bottom side Lordswood tonight), Fisher (65 points, two games left) and Rusthall (62 points, three games left) are in the play-off zone.

Punjab United (61 points, two games left) are waiting to pounce, while the top 10 is made up of Erith & Belvedere, Larkfield & New Hythe (46 points, two games left), Tunbridge Wells and Corinthian (45 points, three games left).

Jimmy Anderson’s Rustics' host Whitstable Town at Jockey Farm on Easter Saturday, before coming to Culverden Stadium on Easter Monday and hosting Faversham Town on the final day.

Ives said: “Do you know what? I’m probably going to buck the trend and I’m not going to stoke the fire.  I’ve got a lot of time for Rusthall. My son played youth football there, he’s played with Jack Lyons.  I’ve got a lot of time for him.

“Matthew Blendell was our goalkeeper coach over here. Robbie Bissett and Frank Griffin both played with us. Jimmy Anderson’s doing fantastically well, so I can’t really say anything other than ‘well done to them at the moment.’

“But they’ve got a tough finish and we’re certainly not going to be the easy three points, so if they make the play-offs, I’ll say fair play to them. They deserve it for the unbeaten run they were on (20 games until they lost 2-0 at VCD Athletic last Saturday) but they’re obviously not going to get any special favours from us. We’ll be giving it a good go because it’s three points and to the supporters’ it’s bragging rights but for me it’s three points.”

Tunbridge Wells: George Bentley, Brendan Austin, Muiz Alaka, Jamie Shield, Lewis Allan, Keanu Barnett, Joshua McArthur Nolan (Lewis Unwin 66), Rory Ward, Rhys Bartlett (Tom Jones 69), Regan Corke, Rocco Zilli (Festos Kamara 76).
Subs: James White, Ben Martin-Coward

Goals: Rocco Zilli 25, Regan Corke 89

Erith & Belvedere: Ben Rankine, Rohan Pinto, Anthony Morrison, Ryan Fowler, Rob Strachan, Frederick Cray, Tyller Davis-Whitlock (Billy Ford 81), Tommy Whitnell (Paul Springett 73), Luca Sanford (Freddie Springett 90), Frederick Baker, Tommy Kale (George Basios 53).
Sub: Danny Lear

Booked: Ryan Fowler 72

Attendance: 145
Referee: Ms Anastasiya Voloshchuk
Assistants: Mr Daniel Roberts & Mr Christopher Clarke