VCD Athletic 2-0 Corinthian - We thoroughly deserved to get something, says VCD boss Ricky Bennett

VCD ATHLETIC  2-0  CORINTHIAN
Macron Kent League Cup Final
Bank Holiday Monday 7^th May 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

VCD ATHLETIC boss Ricky Bennett says his two-goal hero James Duckworth is good enough to play at a higher level of football after the striker sealed the club’s second Kent League Cup triumph with a victory over ten-man Corinthian.
 

The Crayford based side first won the silverware back in 2000 when they defeated Faversham Town and their three other finals have ended in disappointment after losing to Deal Town (1999), Cray Wanderers (2003) and Maidstone United (2003).

This was Corinthian’s first ever Kent League Cup Final, but missed chances during a dominant first spell cost dear, especially after Vickers grabbed the lead against the run of play on the stroke of half time through Duckworth’s 19-yard free-kick.

Duckworth scored his second goal, taking his tally to sixteen goals for the season, just eight minutes into the second half, but Corinthian were facing an uphill struggle when striker Adam Marsh picked up his second yellow card after swearing at referee Paul Yates just four minutes after the killer goal.

Bennett, 42, said he was pleased that his side have finished in third place in the Kent League and bagged a trophy in his second season in charge.

“Like I said to you before, I think we thoroughly deserved to get something out of what we’ve put in over the last two seasons starting from nothing,” said Bennett afterwards.

“We’re building and still building a decent squad and I think we deserve to get something to show for it.”

Reflecting on their campaign, Bennett said: “It’s an improvement.  We looked at what we’ve done last year and we said we wanted to finish higher than third, perhaps win a Cup.  We’ve finished third but we’ve got better stats if you like than last year and we’ve won a Cup so the improvement’s there.”

With promoted Herne Bay playing Ryman League football next season, Bennett said his side will be going for the title again next season.

He said: “I’d like to think we’ll be pushing for promotion.  The club want to be pushing for promotion.  I said when I took it on it’s a three-year plan, so we should be in a good position to go and look to win the league next year.

“It’s going to be tough, but like I said to you at the start of the season, take Herne Bay out of the equation there’s four or five teams that are more evenly matched so it’s going to be difficult, but why shouldn’t we say we’ve got a good chance of getting promotion?”

For Corinthian manager Tony Sitford, meanwhile, his club’s big day turned out to be a big disappointment.

“I thought first half we did very well to be honest,” he said afterwards.

“We played some good football.  We created three or four chances.  Their manager down the line saying ‘dig in, hold on, dig in, hold on.’

Sitford added:  “Congratulations to them, but from our point of view, we’re disappointed because we didn’t do ourselves justice really.”

The match was played at Cray Valley’s ground, but although the Eltham based club have spent a lot of money in upgrading their ground and facilities, it didn’t have a feel of a special Cup Final atmosphere that would have been created had the game been played at usual venue’s, Welling United or Folkestone Invicta.

Corinthian started well and they created their first of many first half chances inside the opening six minutes.

Goalkeeper Dan Bygrave pumped the ball upfield with a right-footed drop-kick from the edge of his penalty area, and the ball sailed over the Vickers’ back four and was brought down under control by Marsh, who burst forward before curling a right-footed curler over the bar from 20-yards.

Marsh then beat the offside trap by being put through on goal and stroked a right-footed shot, which was spilt by VCD Athletic keeper Adam Molloy, who gathered the ball at the second attempt.

Molloy then made a comfortable save to thwart Alfie May, who cut inside Vickers’ left-back Laurence Collins, but the scuffed shot was not going to give Corinthian an early advantage.

Corinthian’s best chance came in the 20^th minute when they spread the ball from left to right and right-back Joe Minter had time and space to sweep a low cross into the middle where seventeen-goal striker Lee Barnett hooked a low right-footed volley, which was destined to creep into the net, but Molloy dived low to his right to save.

Corinthian squandered yet another goalscoring chance when Ryan Johnson had time and space to float over a cross from the left and Marsh ghosted in at the far post and struck a low right-footed volley, which flashed across Molloy and also past the far post.

Marsh then attacked right-back Jack Asbury in the 36^th minute and reached the by-line before cutting the ball back to his supporting left-back Ben Wilson, who teed up May, who stroked an angled drive with his left-foot which flashed just past the far post.

Barnett’s launched a long kick straight down the middle of the pitch and May brought the ball under control before playing the ball inside to Marsh, whose right-footed shot from eighteen-yards rolled into the Vickers’ keeper’s gloves.

Sitford said: “If we had taken those chances, that’s what footballs about.  If we had taken our chances we would’ve come in at half-time maybe one or two-nil up if we had defended properly and then second half we’ve got something to play for.”

But Bennett admitted his side started the first half on the back foot.

He said:  “To be honest we dug in first half. They put us under a fair bit of pressure.  They’re a decent football side. I think the pitch was a bit of a leveller, with the slope and the wind in the first half.  It was a bit of backs against the wall at times but I always felt the second half we’ll turn that around.”

You can imagine the shock when VCD Athletic grabbed the lead against the run of play, with the first half goal timed at 48:25.

Johnson’s foul on Duckworth proved to be a costly mistake, especially as the four took place just a yard outside of the penalty area inside the D.

Faced with a wall of six yellow shirts, Duckworth stepped up and bent a low right-footed free-kick around the wall and Corinthian keeper Dan Bygrave was left rooted to the spot as he looked on in horror as the ball nestled into his bottom left-hand corner.

Bennett was delighted that Duckworth got his side out of a hole.

He said: “Duckers has got so much ability. He’s got that in his locker.  I just wish it was a bit more frequent to be honest.

“He shouldn’t even be playing at this level, but if he had a bit more belief, he should be playing a lot higher.  It was a great free-kick!”

Sitford said: “We were a bit annoyed about the goal because walls doesn’t charge down a free-kick.  If the wall stands still it hits the wall.  It’s as simple as  that, as A B C so that was a bad mistake, a naive mistake – and we’ll learn from it!

“But then we go and concede an absolute dire goal. A thump down the middle of the pitch beat everybody.”

The smash-and-grab changed the team-talks of both managers and Sitford admitted it knocked the stuffing out of his players.

He said: “We go in.  I think any other team in the world goes in and they score in the 44^th or 45^th minute whatever way you look at it, no matter how much you try to lift them they’re still a bit deflated and we went out second half and for five minutes we were all over the place.

“We got it together a little bit and then we conceded the goal and then had a player sent-off and then it’s backs to the wall and they’ve created several chances so at the end of the day 2-0 we have to accept and accept it with dignity because at the end they deserved it because of our naivety.”

Bennett also admitted he had to change his half-time pep talk.

“It did in a way,” he said.   “We were not hanging on, I don’t think.  I wouldn’t like to say we were hanging on first half but we knew it would be totally a different scenario second half.

“We got the goal as well, which was also an added bonus but we’ve got that about us.  We don’t let in goals. Well we don’t concede a lot and we’ve always got an opportunity of scoring goals, but over the season, if I’m being picky, we haven’t scored enough goals and that reflects on your league placing’s and points etc.”

Corinthian called Molloy into action inside the opening four minutes of the second half when Barnett fed Johnson, who cracked a right-footed drive from 22-yards, which moved in the mid-flight before the Vickers keeper made a low save at the second attempt.

A long kick from Molloy came down from the sky and Duckworth smashed a dipping left-footed volley from 25-yards with his left-foot, which Bygrave did well to pluck out of the air high above his head.

But VCD Athletic killed the game off with a second goal early in the second half.

A long ball was played upfield and Billy Bennett was congratulated for his ball which released Duckworth through on goal. The striker kept composed and rounded goalkeeper Bygrave and covering defender Johnson before slamming a right-footed shot into the empty net from one-yard.

Bennett added: “You’ll back him nine times out of ten in an one-on-one situation against most keepers. He’s got great feet.  I’m just pleased that he got it! 

“The most disappointing thing is when we went pushing and pushing to kill it off we should’ve made it 3-0 and it would’ve been a lot more relaxing shall we say towards the end.”

Any slim chances that underdogs Corinthian had of fighting back vanished when Marsh picked up his second yellow card in the 57^th minute.

Marsh was booked by referee Mr Yates following a 29^th minute altercation, which involved May, Marsh and Asbury, but Marsh saw red when he swore at the referee – telling him to f*** off – after he slid to his backside after Vickers defender Gary Cook challenged him from behind on the halfway line.

Both managers were asked about the two flashpoints.

Sitford said: “Well, to be honest, I don’t truthfully know.  I haven’t spoken to anybody about it, which I will do in a minute because the tempers were high.

The Corinthian boss claimed: “But Alfie was involved.  Apparently one said somebody tried to nut him and he pushed him away and then Adam went and got involved and pushed the fella.  That’s why he got booked because the other guy was trying to have a go at Alfie.

“Well, I’ll be honest with you.  I thought the referee was poor. I have to say it, the referee was very poor.

“Over here there was a two-footed tackle and he’s got sent-off. All he’s saying ‘what’s the f***s that?’

“He’s took him out with his foot and he’s sat there and all he said to the ref was ‘what the f***s that?’ and he’s sent him off for it!  It was a foul.  He’s come in two feet.  Bump!”

Sitford added: “I wouldn’t say that cost us the game.  It didn’t help us by a long, long way.  By then we were 2-0 down and not really looking like creating anything and that’s the problem.  If you don’t create you don’t score.  When you do create you have to score!”

Bennett claimed: “Didn’t see it to be honest, but by all accounts the wrong person got booked as far as I’m aware.

“They booked Marshy and it wasn’t him so I hear and he ends up with a red-card, which is not the right thing in a Cup final. He ended up getting sent-off when he really shouldn’t got a yellow in the first place as far as I’m concerned.

“But I don’t think there was any aggravation or any trouble from our point of view in leading to the incident.”

Speaking about the Cook/Marsh incident that led to Marsh’s second yellow card, Bennett added: “That’s his own fault for that!  He was on a tightrope weren’t he with the yellow card in the first half but there you go.  That’s what happens.”

VCD Athletic replicated Corinthian’s first half dominance in the final thirty minutes of the game as they missed several chances to win the game by a far greater margin.

VCD Athletic first hit the woodwork in the 59^th minute when Duckworth played the ball inside to Michael McKenna, whose right-footed drive from 25-yards sailed past the diving Bygrave but thumped against the far post.

Duckworth nicked the ball off Wilson on the edge of the penalty box and laid the ball inside to Bennett, whose left-footed drive from 20-yards sailed inches over the crossbar.

Duckworth cracked a right-footed hooked volley just wide of the post from 25-yards after Asbury swung in a corner from the left in the 65^th minute.

Duckworth came agonisingly close to netting his hat-trick ten minutes later when a cross from left-winger Greg Benbow found the unmarked striker, who sent a bullet header crashing against the crossbar from ten-yards out.

Bennett played the ball inside to McKenna, whose woeful attempt of a shot was caught by Bygrave, before Corinthian finally called Molloy into making an excellent diving save at the death.

A chipped pass from Barnett was brought under Johnson’s spell before the midfielder cracked a right-footed drive, which was destined for the near corner, but Molloy dived to his left to tip the shot around his post.

Whilst Vickers skipper James Brown collected the silverware at the end of the game, Corinthian disappeared into their dressing room to reflect on what might have been had they converted their chances.

Sitford said: “They’re hurting at the moment.  They’re listening to all the banter from the opposition, which as I said to them, you’ve got to expect it.  That’s what we’d be doing if we won it!

“It could’ve been more than 2-0. I’ve got no complaints about the result.  We just have to accept it and move on.”

Corinthian have done well to finish in seventh-place in the Kent League this season and Sitford says he wants his side to kick on further next season.

He said: “Very disappointing end to the season. The players are gutted. We’re gutted but they’ve done great this year.  They’ve worked hard, showed a lot of discipline, played some really good games and some bad games.

“But three years’ ago the chairman said to me ‘if I see an improvement every year, I’ll be happy.’

“Well, we’ve gone from third, fourth bottom to seventh now so we’re happy.”

“Next season we want to finish higher.  That’s what we look for every year. We’ve got some very good youngsters. We hope and pray we’ve got three or four more coming in.”

Bennett added: “We had that bit of belief about us even before the game.  We said depending a lot on what way we went in the first half if we can be disciplined and organised first half and I always felt we had a lot more about us for the second half.”

VCD Athletic: Adam Molloy, Jack Asbury (Daryl Wheeler 73), Laurence Collins, Gary Cook, George Mitchell, James Brown, Michael McKenna, Billy Bennett, Aiden Pursglove (Uche Ibemere 69), James Duckworth, Greg Benbow.
Subs: Jack Bradshaw, Liam Hickey, Christopher Page

Goals: James Duckworth 45, 53

Booked: Jack Asbury 29

Corinthian: Dan Bygrave, Joe Minter, Ben Wilson (Jamie Blunden 76), Chris Kinnear, James Lyons, Ryan Johnson, Mark Axel, Jamie Taylor (Lee Woodyard 56), Adam Marsh, Lee Barnett, Alfie May (Matthew Holder 63).
Subs:  Vinchenzo Wade, Zachery Foster-Crouch

Booked: Adam Marsh 29, Chris Kinnear 90

Sent Off:  Adam Marsh 57

Attendance: 321
Referee:  Mr Paul Yates (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Jack Packman (Margate)  &  Mr Jason Down (Sittingbourne)
Fourth Official: Mr Nick Dunn (Deal)