VCD Athletic 5-1 Beckenham Town - We didn't show up in the second half, admits shocked Jason Clews

VCD ATHLETIC  5-1  BECKENHAM TOWN
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Saturday 4^th August 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakwood

VCD ATHLETIC manager Ricky Bennett says he was pleased that his side finished off their chances after they set an early marker in the Kent League title race with an emphatic opening day victory.

Beckenham Town, who finished in sixth-place last season, opened the scoring after only 87 seconds through Steve McNamara’s deflected free-kick before Aiden Pursglove converted a seventh-minute penalty to level for a Vickers’ side that finished in third place last season and also won the Kent League Cup.

Beckenham Town clearly missed their manager Jason Huntley’s authority on the bench after missing the game through holiday, because they capitulated during an embarrassing second half performance as Vickers added four goals after the break, courtesy of Pursglove, Uche Ibemere, Karl Dent and substitute Billy Shinners.

Bennett said: “Before the game, I thought it would be a really tough game. It was a tough game. The scoreline is probably a little bit flattering, especially on our first half performance. I didn’t dream of winning 5-1 today.”

Beckenham Town’s coach, Jason Clews, was simply lost for words after his side’s opening day shocker.

He said: “It’s shocking! Absolutely shocking!  Very disappointed. Lost for words really. Shellshocked!

“How we’ve gone about pre-season, played some very good teams, played some good football in certain games and today we didn’t show up in the second half.

“First half, I thought we were alright.  We probably should’ve played against ten-men in the second half.  We lost our shape in the second half.   They capitalised on it and took advantage and punished us really.  I’m lost for words!”

VCD Athletic handed debuts to central defender Chris Hill and central midfielder Gary Clarke, who have arrived from Chatham Town and Tunbridge Wells respectively.

Beckenham Town handed a debut to seventeen-year-old right-back Danny Akers and right-winger Alex Wilks, who has arrived from Ryman League Division One South side Chipstead.

Beckenham Town got the new season off to an explosive start and Vickers’ keeper Jack Bradshaw can be blamed for the opening goal.

Jamie Turner was fouled by former Beckenham Town defender Hill and Wilks left the free-kick for McNamara, who drove his left-footed free-kick from 20-yards into the four-man wall, but Bradshaw, who dived low to his right, shouldn’t have allowed the ball to slide past him and into the back of the net.

Clews felt it was a “very good start,” for his side, adding, “When you get an early goal, you think things are going to go your way – and they obviously didn’t!”

Bennett felt Bradshaw should have done better.

He said: “That’s something that’s not very pleasing, sloppy starts.  Alright, it took a bit of a deflection on the way to goal.  I had a chat with Jack and he could’ve done a bit better with it.

“I always believe we’re good enough to come back from poor starts so it proved.  We got our heads together after that and for spells in the first half we played some decent stuff.  A little bit sloppy here and there still but once we got level I thought we’d get stronger in the second half.”

But VCD Athletic swiftly got themselves back into the game when Beckenham Town midfielder Harry Draper slid in to bring down Dent inside the box and referee Kevin Carpenter pointed to the spot.

Blue dived to his right and rose his right hand up above his head but he couldn’t prevent Pursglove scoring with his right-footed penalty, which he stroked above the diving keeper into the left-hand corner.

Bennett said: “We’ve had this chat before ain’t we – we always bank him to score from the spot. It was definitely a penalty and well taken.”

Clews was asked his thoughts on the decision and he said: “I think Harry Draper was probably over stretching so it was probably a pen and then they have the claim for the second one which wasn’t anyway.”

It could be argued that Pursglove was lucky to stay on the pitch in the thirteenth minute when he slid in late and injured Blue after the keeper was seen to scoop down to collect the ball after Ibemere played an over-hit ball into the penalty area.

Clews fumed: “I thought the referee made the wrong decision there.  He (Pursglove) was very late on the keeper, took him clean out and he stays on and scores two goals.”

Bennett added: “Aiden’s a one hundred percenter. He goes in where he gets hurt and the ref didn’t even book him did he? So for me I think keeper’s do get a lot of protection.  Obviously if it’s the other side of the coin you want to protect your own player. They’ve got every right to say what they said. The ref proved it with no cards.”

Beckenham Town would rue their missed chances as they performed better than the home side during the first half.

Turner floated in a cross from the left and found lone striker Alfie Nunn at the far post but his downward header was blocked by Bradshaw’s body, the keeper spreading himself to make a fine save in the fourteenth minute.

VCD Athletic forced Blue into making a fine diving save in the 27^th minute after Beckenham’s left-sided players Danny Tipple and McNamara failed to clear their lines.

Vickers’ central defender, Paul Gross, unleashed a right-footed angled drive from 30-yards, which Blue tipped around his post.

There was concern for Vickers after midfielder Michael McKenna was forced off and taken to hospital with a suspected shoulder injury, but penalty claims were turned down after McKenna was tripped at the near post by Malik Fofana, after Clarke played a low cross into the penalty area after he linked up well with Ibemere.

Bennett said: “I thought it was a penalty.  They (the Beckenham bench) all screamed out that he’s taken a dive but even their keeper’s confirmed it after the game and he was very close to it.  I thought he’s (McKenna) got a touch on it before he got ironed out so yes it should’ve been a penalty.

“He’s gone to hospital now. Fingers crossed it ain’t too bad, but it don’t look too clever to be honest.”

Beckenham Town were denied in the final ten minutes of the first half when Bradshaw was quick off his line to block Turner’s shot after Wilks latched onto a ball over the top of a flat-footed VCD Athletic defence.

Beckenham created the last chance of the first half when McNamara floated in a left-footed corner from the right and the ball bounced off Jason Rose’s knee at the far post and Fofana’s hooked right-footed half-volley looped narrowly over the crossbar and dropped on to the roof of the net.

Clews was content with the way the first half went.

He said: “We played very well first half. We created some chances. Again, I thought we were getting a lot of joy down the right side with Alex.  We said to the boys at half-time just keep it out wide, get it to Alex and McNamara because that is where I think our danger was for them and second half we didn’t!  We were playing down the middle. That’s where we lost our shape, in the middle.  We just didn’t get it out wide.”

When asked what he said to his players during the interval, Bennett revealed: “We spoke about a couple of errors we were making in the first half and spoke how to improve on that.

“I always felt we’d get ourselves into our stride a bit. Fitness would tell. I thought we looked fitter, our organisation was better. Again, it was pleasing that we stuck to our guns, kept trying to do what we asked of them and scored some great goals.”

However, after a hard-fought first-half, no-one in the crowd would have predicted what was to follow in a one-sided second half.

Beckenham skipper Rose was guilty of a poor header out of defence, which bounced behind him and he was penalised for bringing down Pursglove as the striker raced towards goal.

Highly-rated striker James Duckworth cracked a powerful right-footed free-kick over the five-man wall in the 54^th minute, which was too hot for Blue to catch and Pursglove pounced on to the loose ball to steer a right-footed shot into the net from three-yards.

Bennett said: “First of all, Duckers has got a great strike on him, gets tremendous power behind his strikes and to be fair to Aiden that’s what he’s about, poaching in and around the goals. It’s a good goal for me and a good strikers’ goal.”

Clews added: “No-one reacted.  Bluey’s put his hands up again. He’s made a mistake. He should’ve grabbed the ball and kept hold of it. People do make mistakes. We don’t go out there on the pitch to make mistakes. It’s just one of those things. There was no reaction from the team after that really.”

Beckenham Town wasted a chance to level on the hour mark when Rose had time and space to look up and float a decent ball towards the far post, which sailed over the flapping Duckworth, but Nunn rose and headed wide of the left-hand post from just inside the Vickers penalty area.

Things then started to go downhill for Beckenham after they made three substitutions, taking off McNamara, Turner and Nunn, for Ben Slade, Joe Jackson and Adam Greenways all within the space of four minutes.

VCD Athletic found their ruthless streak towards the end of the game.

Their third goal came in the 71^st minute when Jackson lost possession to Clarke on the touchline in the middle of the park.  Clarke swept a fine diagonal pass to the unmarked Shinners, who fed the ball through to Ibemere, whose left-footed angled drive flashed past Blue and nestled into the bottom far corner of the net from sixteen-yards.

Ibemere could be a massive star for VCD Athletic towards their Kent League title push this season if he continues terrorising defences with his power and pace.

Bennett agreed, saying, “That’s something that we’ve been trying to get into Uche since he’s been with us.  He doesn’t score enough goals. Sometimes he looks for the perfect goal and one trick too many here and there.  I think the pre-season he’s had behind him and all the words of encouragement and coaching he’s been getting is starting to show.”

Bennett added: “We had to make some changes. Everyone that came on made an effect on the game to be honest.   We did counter well at times. A great goal.”

Clews pointed out the mistake from Jackson after the substitute got caught in possession and within ten seconds the ball was in the net.

“I think we were overplaying in that certain area in a very tight area and we overplayed.  They came away with the ball and caught us on the break when there were probably three of our players trying to play triangles in a tight space, right close, when really the ball should’ve clipped the line.

“It was the wrong choice at that time to play the right ball and we played the wrong ball and got punished for it.”

Beckenham Town now appeared dis-interested and well-beaten - and Duckworth played the ball inside to Dent, whose left-footed drive bounced into Blue’s gloves.

A move involving Clarke and Billy Wheeler resulted in Jack Asbury sprinting forward to join an attack and his right-footed cross was met by Shinners, who looped his header over Blue and narrowly over the bar.

Bradshaw needed treatment after he was clipped by Slade and once recovered the Vickers keeper launched a kick up-field, which landed over the Beckenham back-four and Shinners brought the ball under control before hooking a right-footed half-volley over.

VCD Athletic made the score 4-1 in their favour in the 88^th minute when Dent finished well.

Duckworth played the ball in behind the two Beckenham central defenders (Rose and Fofana) and Dent dinked a bouncing ball past the advancing Blue into an empty net.

Bennett said: “He’s done that a few times, Denty.  Again, he’s another one looking a lot sharper this pre-season and he knows where the goal is. He’s always chipped in with a few goals. I’d like a few more from him but as we go on he’ll get stronger and get more chances getting into the box.”

Clews summed up the mood  that the disgruntled Beckenham faithful at the time.

“We always try to get back into the game but once the fourth goes in it’s hard to take because we didn’t perform well in the second half.”

This goal sparked arguments among the Beckenham Town players, with Blue shouting obscenities in the direction of his flagging team-mates.

Clews admitted: “After the third or fourth ones there was no sort of heart there or desire to get back into the game. A couple of players probably went missing after that and I think we lost our heads at the back and our shape.

“It’s embarrassing when players are arguing, especially on the pitch with spectators watching.  It’s very embarrassing.

“I think Bluey – there’s a couple of them – his heart is on his sleeve. He can see from the back when people ain’t trying and he gets frustrated.  It’s frustrating watching players, you know they are better players, they can perform better than they did today.

“It’s hard to take especially after that performance.

“I think the players will be hurting from today’s performance and they’ll want to put it right for themselves and for us so I think we’ll bounce back on Tuesday (against Whyteleafe at Eden Park Avenue) and have a lot better performance.”

A public address announcement confirmed Dent was the home club’s man-of-the-match and the number 7 called Blue into making a comfortable save following his right-footed angled drive from the edge of the Beckenham penalty box.

But Vickers scored their fifth goal two minutes and 35 seconds into stoppage time, with not a blue Beckenham Town shirt nowhere to be seen.

A move involving Duckworth, Wheeler and Clarke resulted in the ball being played into Shinners feet and the former Sevenoaks Town and Erith Town striker stroked a right-footed shot across the disgruntled Blue to find the far corner to wrap up a good opening day for the Crayford-based outfit.

Bennett wants Shinners to put the hard work in on the training ground and in the gym to get his match fitness to what it should be.

He said: “Great goal again.  He’s had a bit of a frustrating time since he’s been with us, Bill. He joined us sort of late in the season last year when we were still in cups and he was cup-tied and he couldn’t get as many games. 

“He’s got to hold his hands up. He’s lacked a bit of fitness. He hasn’t worked hard enough in training and that but now he’s got the buzz back and he showed a bit of hunger before he got injured in pre-season and I’m hoping now he’s back from his little niggle, he’s still got a bit more to do fitness wise. 

“He’s not really match fit at the moment but that’s what you want out of strikers.  You want them to come on and don’t need many chances to put the ball into the back of the net.”

When asked what pleased him the most, Bennett replied, “It’s lovely to score five goals.  Over the two years that I’ve been in charge, that’s been a bugbear of mine. We create a lot of chances but don’t score enough, whereas on the other hand, defensively we’ve been excellent in the two seasons.

“I’m hoping this season we’re going to be good defensively but start taking the chances we create and so far so good, but it’s only day one!”

VCD Athletic: Jack Bradshaw, Jack Asbury, Greg Benbow, Chris Hill, Paul Gross, Gary Clarke, Karl Dent, Michael McKenna (Daryl Wheeler 37), Aiden Pursglove (Billy Shinners 68), James Duckworth, Uche Ibemere.
Subs: Laurence Collins, Chris Page, Bradley McNamara

Goals: Aiden Pursglove 7 (pen), 54, Uche Ibemere 71, Karl Dent 88, Billy Shinners 90

Booked: Jack Asbury 47

Beckenham Town: Nick Blue, Danny Akers, Danny Tipple, Jason Rose, Malik Fofana, Nathan Paul, Alex Wilks, Harry Draper, Alfie Nunn (Adam Greenways 65), Jamie Turner (Ben Slade 61), Steve McNamara (Joe Jackson 60).
Subs: Danny McKone, Jamie Taylor

Goal:  Steve McNamara 2

Booked: Harry Draper 29, Alfie Nunn 62

Attendance: 75
Referee: Mr Kevin Carpenter (Elephant & Castle, London SE17)
Assistants: Mr Thomas Vandepeer (Gillingham) & Mr Godfred Osei (Walworth, London SE17)