Tunbridge Wells 1-4 Phoenix Sports - We needed to be on it tonight. If we weren't we could slip up and we can't afford to slip up. We need to win football matches to get to where we want to be, says promotion-chasing Phoenix Sports manager Steve O'Boyle

Tunbridge Wells 1 – 4 Phoenix Sports
Location	Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9SG
Kickoff	04/04/2023 19:45

TUNBRIDGE WELLS  1-4  PHOENIX SPORTS
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 4 March 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Culverden Stadium

PHOENIX SPORTS manager Steve O’Boyle insists all the pressure is on league leaders Erith & Belvedere after closing the gap to four points with five league games remaining.

Phoenix Sports put in a professional performance to beat Tunbridge Wells on an awful bobbly playing surface at Culverden Stadium to retain second-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table, having picked up 71 points from their 33 league outings.

O’Boyle’s men raced into a commanding three-goal lead inside the opening 33 minutes, courtesy of outstanding strikers Tashi-Jay Kwayie, Andy Pugh and Francis Babalola.

Goalkeeper Andy Walker, 41, saved a penalty from Trevor McCreadie just before half-time, before Tunbridge Wells pulled a goal back through Frank Griffin’s spot kick before Kwayie completed the scoring on the hour-mark to extend Phoenix Sports’ unbeaten run to 15 games.

Referee Freddie Young threw three Tunbridge Wells players – Griffin, Jordan Sarfo and substitute Jacob Feasey in the sin-bin, as the home side suffered back-to-back defeats, having lost 3-0 at Deal Town at the weekend.

“Listen, difficult conditions tonight, the pitch was for me way too long and it was horrible out there and I asked for an old-school performance, roll your sleeves up and that’s what we got,” said O’Boyle.

“You weren’t going to get a great game of football out there tonight, turning teams and whatever.  I think the difference in the game was our front line. Our front line were exceptional tonight and I think that was the difference in the game.

“Coming to Tunbridge Wells always has been difficult, hasn’t it?  The pitch is difficult, it’s got a slope, they normally have their fans behind them.  I don’t think I’ve ever had an easy game here.

“We needed to be on it tonight.  If we weren’t, we could slip up and we can’t afford to slip up.  We need to win football matches to get to where we want to be (the Isthmian League).”

Tunbridge Wells manager Luke Carpenter, meanwhile, read his side the riot act and demands better performances against K Sports, Fisher (away, Easter Monday, 10 April), against Erith & Belvedere, Punjab United (home, 19 April) and at Hollands & Blair on the final day.

“It was a bit of a shower on many fronts, individual errors have cost us massively in the first half,” said Carpenter.

“The referee, I don’t even know how to comment on him to be honest.

“It wasn’t a good game but if we’re taking positives, we’ve made some bold changes and they’ve had a very positive impact and it shows that the people that are here and willing to fight for the shirt and want to be a part of this team and what we’re looking to achieve going into next season, there’s going to be some changes.

“I don’t like losing. I want to win games. I don’t care who’s it against, how long’s left. I’ve told the boys if they want to switch off now and go on holiday then so does their money, they might as well physically go. 

“That’s not me. I like to work until the end (of the season) and while we haven’t got nothing to play for this season, they’re playing for shirts for next season.  If they want to be involved here, then they need to perform for 38 games. If they want paying for 38 league games, then they’ve got to show up for 38 league games!

“I’m not really one for social media but I want to show my appreciation (to our fanbase) to show their commitment to travel to places like Deal, it’s unreal.  We’re very grateful for it and it disappoints me more.  We’re not in a position that we feel we should be and could be and there is work to be done to get us to that point.

“It’s not really much more that I can give than an apology that we’re not getting the results.

“It’s been time for a reaction a lot longer than that, much longer than that and I think the reaction here with changes was better and I think there were people competing for their shirt or worried for their shirt and if they’re not worried for their shirt it shows they’re not the right people to have here anyway.

“There’s competition here and there’s people who are hungry to be a part of this and I’m quite positive about what we’re doing for the future and I need to see a reaction on Saturday.”

The poor condition of the playing surface ensured Tunbridge Wells lost right-back Jonathan Shea to a knee injury, as he pulled up on the half-way line after Phoenix Sports counter-attacked and opened the scoring with three minutes and 50 seconds on the clock.

Lee Bird clipped a diagonal out of defence and Babalola knocked the ball on with his head before charging over the half-way line and into the Tunbridge Wells penalty area down the left.

Griffin couldn’t stop the raid inside his penalty area and Babalola fed Pugh, who played the ball back to Bird, who drove in a low cross from inside the penalty area and Kwayie poked his shot to the left of goalkeeper Jacob Bennett from inside the six-yard box.

“Tashi was fantastic tonight, a good run by Babs, a good ball in by Birdy and Tashi’s there to just slot it home,” added O’Boyle.

Carpenter added: “In the build-up to it, it started on the edge of there area. We didn’t get tight as a midfield to one of their players. It’s then broken out.

“I was looking at Joffy, I didn’t actually see the goal. He’s gone down and done something to his knee on the half-way line and they carried on breaking and I didn’t see from that point because I was trying to gage what he was like so I couldn’t even tell you what happened from that point onwards.”

Phoenix Sports were dominating the first half and called Bennett into making a decent reaction save in the 20^th minute.

Left-back Tom Hanfrey threw the ball into the box and the ball was cleared out to holding midfielder Mikey Dalton, who stroked a first-time right-footed drive towards the bottom left-hand corner from 20-yards, forcing Bennett to smother and hold onto the ball, low to his right.

“A good shot, a good save, a good shot, a good save and he held it as well,” added the Phoenix Sports manager.

Carpenter added: “They’ve got good players. We knew they were going to come out, they’re fighting for promotion and you don’t get into that position without having a bit of endeavour about you so we fully anticipated that to be the case.”

Tunbridge Wells created their first opening just 42 seconds later.

Griffin (who had now slotted in at right-back after Shea’s early injury), floated in a deep free-kick from the right, pacey winger Festos Kamara cut the ball back for left-back Johnny Phillips to drill a first-time left-footed drive flashing just past the foot of the near post.

Phoenix Sports doubled their lead, however, with 27 minutes and 42 seconds, with a three-man move.

Dalton was close to the halfway line and he drilled a long ball forward to release Kwayie down the right before he put it on a plate for an unmarked Pugh at the far post to tap the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from a couple of yards out to score his 13^th goal for the club this season.

“It’s what Andy Pugh does, isn’t it?  You give him a chance, it usually ends up in the back of the net. In front of goal, he’s fantastic,” said O’Boyle.

“He’s a good lad, he’s just a proven goalscorer isn’t he.  You give him chances, he will score.”

Carpenter added: “Individual mistakes and a couple of individuals that have lead to that. It’s very, very, very, very poor defending and I think that’s the best place for me to leave that one.”

Tunbridge Wells were facing a mountain to climb by the time Phoenix Sports raced into a 3-0 lead with 32 minutes and 23 seconds on the clock.

Centre-half Ryan Sawyer played a no-nonsense long ball out of defence to release Kwayie down the right again.  Pugh got involved and played the ball into the box for Babalola to hook his volley into the bottom left-hand corner from six-yards to score his 14^th goal of the season.

“Fantastic goal.  A good bit of football. Babs has taken it really well as well hasn’t he? That was the difference tonight, the front three, I thought were exceptional and they took their chances,” said O’Boyle.

“I’ll be honest with you, I wanted to get in at half-time at 3-0.  We were going up the hill, get in at 3-0 and try to kill their enthusiasm basically.”

Carpenter added: “A great finish and again awful defending, incredibly bad. Embarrassing! It’s not the first time.  They haven’t undone us. There’s been times that we’re playing at the moment, we’re competing with team’s and then we’ll concede stupid goals from silly errors at silly times and it just puts us on the back foot. It’s bad. What the hell is going on? It’s very, very basic stuff that you learn as kid, yes, not great.”

The outstanding Pugh easily turned Griffin down the left channel before floating a cross towards the back post which Babalola headed down and Bennett smothered low to his left and gather at the second attempt.

Tunbridge Wells started having a go and called Walker into making a fine save in the 38^th minute.

An unmarked Griffin floated in a cross from the right towards McCreadie’s head and the 27-goal striker met the ball with a looping header, which was pushed over the crossbar by Walker’s right-hand.

“A good delivery, Trevor got on it nice and early and he’s made a good run, directed it towards goal quite well, good save,” added the Tunbridge Wells gaffer.

Billy Lewins’ hooked pass released McCreadie down the right and he cut into the Phoenix Sports box before stroking a shot towards the bottom near corner, only for Walker to make a block with his legs.  However, Sawyer had committed a foul seconds before and the referee pointed to the spot (41:36) but McCreadie missed the resulting penalty.

Walker walked up to the spot, strode back towards his goal-line, kicked one of the goalposts a few times and dived to his right and used a strong right-hand to prevent McCreadie’s spot-kick nestling into the bottom left-hand corner.

Seconds later the former Haywards Heath Town talisman latched onto the looping ball and headed the ball towards goal and assistant referee Christopher Clarke flagged Lewins offside after the attacking midfielder bundled the ball over the line (42:31).

The home side were then reduced to nine men as Griffin and Sarfo were thrown in the sin-bin for dissent as they argued about the controversial offside decision.

“For the life of me, I’ve got no idea why he’s ruled it out, the referee won’t even talk to me,” revealed Carpenter.

“It looks like the linesman was flagging for offside but Billy’s come from behind the ball, so it’s a disgusting decision.  I’m not putting our performance on the referee by any stretch of the imagination. We were awful up until that point in certain areas, actually that’s disrespectful to a lot of our players. Playing forward we were looking dangerous but defensively we were a shambles.

“The referee absolutely killed us because all off a sudden we’re 3-0 down, should’ve been 3-1 and now we’re down by two players and he’s not even had the decency to answer a question.  He just said to me ‘he wouldn’t talk to me,’ so that’s the big disappointment on that.”

O’Boyle said: “I wasn’t happy about the penalty. McCreadie, I really like him. He’s a real good player. He was at Haywards Heath last season and he caused us problems but he’s a good player and he shouldn’t really be playing at this level.

“Once he got the other side of us, he had us in a bit of trouble.  Yes, it was a penalty and Andy Walker has saved it and we got away with one there really, got away with one.

“I said to them at half-time, this game isn’t over. We need to make sure we go out and put a professional performance in the second half and that was it really.

“For me, I was a little bit critical of the side, I thought we weren’t great off the ball tonight and Tunbridge Wells have had too many chances.

“I just said to the boys we have to make sure that we defend properly and do the right things and if we win the game 3-0 here tonight, I’m happy, but I wanted to keep a clean-sheet so not keeping a clean sheet is a little bit of a bitter pill to swallow.”

When asked what he said to his troops to rally them for the second half, Carpenter replied: “A lot, probably the cleanest way I can put it. It’s not really words that were said that you are able to print!

“We made some changes at half-time. We had to be bold. We had to be brave. Let’s not forget we’re coming out with nine players on the field and we started creating some chances from the off, so I’m proud of the reaction of the players that were on the pitch at that point.”

Carpenter hooked centre-half Robbie Bissett and central midfielder Connor Pring at the interval and brought on James Nurden and Dominic Welsh and switched to three at the back with Phillips (left), Daniel Tear (central) and Welsh (right), with Nurden (left-wing-back) and Festos Kamara (right-wing-back) giving the home side some much needed width.

Tunbridge Wells put in a vastly improved second half performance and the crossbar came to Walker’s rescue in the seventh minute.

Nurden threw the ball into the box, Sarfo laid the ball off to Lewins, who cracked a first time right-footed stinging drive crashing against the crossbar (or the top of the far post) from 25-yards, with Walker rooted to the spot.

“It’s good to see us a little bit positive and confident on the front foot at that stage,” said Carpenter, who was full of praise for his recent capture from K Sports.

“I’ve been really impressed by Bill. He’s got a very, very good attitude. He runs for you, he dies for you, he’ll do whatever you ask off him, whether he’s an attacking or defensive role, you can ask him to do anything you can.  You can ask him to do my shoe lace up and he seems to do it. He’s got a very good attitude and that’s three games he’s played in now and he’s nearly scored in all three.

“He’s bringing a bit of attacking intent.  We’ve brought in a lot of new signings and when they start to gel he’s showing that he can be one that’s going to help contribute to getting goals and maybe connect up with Trevor McCreadie a little bit more.”

O’Boyle added: “Listen, we weren’t going to have it all our own way tonight. We played them at home and they beat us and they deservedly beat us as well, so they had a little go in the second half and I think they had a little go towards the back end of the first half as well.”

Referee Young awarded Tunbridge Wells a rather soft penalty, which Griffin emphatically despatched with nine minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.

Nurden’s fine pass from midfield released Sarfo down the left and once cutting into the box, Phoenix Sports right-back Henry Douglas committed a soft foul and Nurden stepped up and rifled his right-footed penalty high into the left-corner, despite Walker diving the same way.

“It was a good penalty. It was good to see someone else step up and be confident to take it,” said Carpenter.

“Listen, I felt there were goals in it. I felt we were causing a lot of problems getting in behind. We changed the shape, we reverted back to something a bit more familiar maybe. There were players out there that were running, they were hounding, were hungry and believed themselves so that was giving me some belief that I felt we could get into their back line and we did multiple times.”

O’Boyle added: “I don’t think it was a pen but I think we gave the referee a decision to make. We didn’t need to do anything there.

“That is what I’m saying about tonight. If we kept them quiet for 15 minutes, I think we have an easy second half. Where they get it back to 3-1 and their tails are up and all off a sudden you’re thinking the next 10 minutes is going to be interesting.

“I weren’t happy with the penalty decision but I will say we lost the second ball in the middle of the pitch there and we weren’t picking up enough second balls for me.”

Tunbridge Wells switched off following Phoenix Sports’ second of six corners as they killed the game off with 14 minutes and 3 seconds on the clock.

Tom Hanfrey had trotted over from left-back to take the right-wing corner, but Pugh decided to take the corner instead and play the ball short to Hanfrey, who fed the ball into Kwayie’s feet and his clinical right-footed shot on the turn (while being closely marked) from 10-yards nestled inside the bottom near corner to score his 17^th goal of the season.

O’Boyle said: “A good goal. He’s been on fire recently since he’s come back from his injury. He’s scoring goals and that’s the reason why I signed him.”

Carpenter added: “It’s a disappointing one. We haven’t gone out to the ball on the edge of the area well enough. It’s become reactive at that point. There were a couple of people trying to chase it out, they’re a bit too late, which has made it easy, I say easy, Tash has done very, very well. It’s a very good turn and it’s a very cute finish. It’s a disappointing goal. We’ve not switched on early enough so maybe a bit of naivety at that point.”

Douglas played a through ball, which was dummied by Pugh and put Kwayie through on goal but Bennett rushed off his line to blocked the poked shot in a one-v-one situation just before the halfway point of the second half.

Phoenix Sports produced a well-worked raid inside the final 15 minutes when Babalola beat the offside trap, played the ball into Pugh, who worked the ball towards an unmarked Kwayie, who took a touch before stroking his shot against the base of the near post from a tight angle.

“I think their defender done well to get back and he’s gone into the post. I think Tashi was exceptional tonight and he has been for weeks,” added O’Boyle.

Tunbridge Wells missed a glorious chance to score the next goal just 80 seconds later.

Kamara put in a cross from within the right-channel towards the far post, Nurden trapped the ball inside the box and was in space and put it on a plate for McCreadie, who leaned back and lashed his left-footed shot high over the bar from 12-yards on the angle.

Substitute central midfielder Jack Palmby floated a cross towards a crowd of players but Kamara steered his header past the left-hand post from within the six-yard box as Tunbridge Wells had a go towards the final whistle.

Palmby then played a ball over the top to put Kamara through on goal but he lacked composure and slid in to lift his shot over the crossbar, before Nurden drove towards the edge of the Phoenix Sports penalty area before dragging his left-footed shot across Walker and past the far post at the end.
 

O’Boyle added: “They kept on plugging away.  I thought off the ball we could’ve done better tonight but when I arrived here this afternoon, if you would’ve told me we would have won 4-1, do you know what? It isn’t always about you’re going to play brilliantly every week. We’ve come here, 4-1, a great result and it’s all about winning football matches now. It’s the business end and we’ve just got to carry on winning.”

Leaders Erith & Belvedere remain at the summit with 75 points from 33 (of 38) games, while Phoenix Sports have closed the gap to four points.

Deal Town (68 points, four games remaining), Erith Town (68 points, five games remaining) are also in the hunt for a winner-takes-all away play-off place against a Step Five struggler.

Tunbridge Wells, meanwhile, slip down a place and welcome bottom-of-the-table side K Sports on Saturday, while in eleventh-place in the pecking order with 45 points with five games remaining.

K Sports have extended their losing streak to seven games having lost 4-3 at home to Stansfeld tonight.

Ian and George Batten's side have picked up 22 points from 34 games, two points adrift of Canterbury City, who are six points adrift of safety and Welling Town and Holmesdale.

“We’ve got some things to work on and it’s how we’re going to shape up towards next season,” said Carpenter.

“We want to finish as high as we possibly can. I’m really disappointed with the two results we’ve had over tonight and Saturday.  It was a close game, Deal were probably better in but 1-0 was maybe a better reflection. It was literally three errors that lead to three goals.  I didn’t think they were three goals better than us.

“Phoenix have come with a lot of attacking flair, probably deserved the win for a large proportion it was closer than it would suggest and it’s down to errors.

“The pitch is not great, especially with how we prefer to play. I’m not going to give that as an excuse. It might be a part to why we started a little bit slower but that’s an excuse, it’s the same for both sides.”

O’Boyle, meanwhile, takes his promotion chasing side to top-eight side Stansfeld on Saturday and is expecting a tough afternoon at Foxbury Avenue in Chislehurst.

“They won again tonight. They’re a team that works really hard for each other.  I think they’re a team of mates and I’m expecting a real tough afternoon.  We’ve got to make sure that we match them physically, we match their work-rate and if we do that I’m hoping our quality does come through,” said O’Boyle.

“I said to you the other week, I will never give up winning the league. Erith & Belvedere had a very good result away at Rusthall.  They’ve got some tough games, so have we.  I will never give that up.

“Erith & Belvedere are favourites to win the league because they’ve got that four point cushion but we’re in a good form and we will keep on going and we will try to take it until it’s mathematically impossible to win the league and we probably might have to win five out of five to win it.”

After playing Stansfeld, Phoenix Sports face Holmesdale (home, Easter Monday, 10 April), Whitstable Town (away, Saturday 15 April), Holmesdale (away, Wednesday 19 April) and a home clash against Kennington on Saturday 22 April.

Erith & Belvedere, meanwhile, host Bearsted on Saturday and travel to Glebe on Easter Monday.  Matt Longhurst’s side then travel to Tunbridge Wells on 15 April, welcome Deal Town to Park View Road on 18 April and end their campaign at Canterbury City on the final day of the league campaign.

“It’s maybe exciting for you, not for me.  I don’t see the pressure there, there ain’t no pressure for me.  If we can get second spot and secure second spot, then I think the pressure is all on Erith & Belvedere because they had such a big gap. That gap ain’t there no more, so the pressure is on them, not us.

“We’ve got boys in our dressing room that have won leagues and we know what it takes to win a league and if we finish second, so be it and we’ll take a play-off.  The aim was second spot. If it’s second spot, it’s second spot but obviously we want to win it.”

Tunbridge Wells: Jacob Bennett, Jonathan Shea (Jack Palmby 7), Johnny Phillips, Frank Griffin, Daniel Tear, Robbie Bissett (James Nurden 46), Festos Kamara, Connor Pring (Dominic Welsh 46), Trevor McCreadie (Jacob Feasey 83), Billy Lewins, Jordan Sarfo (Rhys Bartlett 83).

Goal: Frank Griffin 55 (penalty)

Booked: Festos Kamara 22, Jack Palmby 87

Temporary Dismissals: Frank Griffin 44, Jordan Sarfo 44, Jacob Feasey 90

Phoenix Sports: Andy Walker, Henry Douglas (Daniel Birch 68), Tom Hanfrey (Harrison Pont 75), Mikey Dalton, Ryan Sawyer, Matthew Bourne, Andy Pugh, Lee Bird (Kieran King 51), Francis Babalola (Tom O’Connor 85), Tashi-Jay Kwayie, Alfie Evans.
Sub: Ryan Hayes

Goals: Tashi-Jay Kwayie 4, 60, Andy Pugh 28, Francis Babalola 33

Booked: Andy Walker 56, Mikey Dalton 90

Attendance: 376
Referee: Mr Freddie Young
Assistants: Mr Daniel Davis & Mr Christopher Clarke