Walton Casuals 1-0 Whitstable Town - It's not all over and we're going to keep fighting until the end, says Whitstable Town boss Scott Porter

Walton Casuals 1 – 0 Whitstable Town
Location	Moatside Stadium, Weldon Way, Merstham, Surrey RH1 3QB
Kickoff	16/03/2016 19:45

WALTON CASUALS  1-0  WHITSTABLE TOWN
Ryman League Division One South
Wednesday 16^th March 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Weldon Way

WHITSTABLE TOWN boss Scott Porter insists his battling side will keep fighting until the end as the relegation threatened club edged closer towards the trap door.

Porter lost 1-0 at home to third-placed Worthing in his first game in charge of the club last Saturday, before losing a soul destroying game at eighteenth-placed Walton Casuals in front of only 51 fans in Merstham tonight.

Walton Casuals’ left-back Jordan Cheadle produced the one bit of quality during the entire game, drilling a 30-yard free-kick into the top right-hand corner after 30 minutes to inflict Whitstable Town’s 33^rd league defeat of the season.

The Oystermen remain rooted to the foot of the Ryman League Division One South table, having collected only four wins and two draws from 39 league games and are on verge of dropping down into the Southern Counties East Football League unless they receive a reprieve.

The Oystermen have suffered nine straight defeats and extend their winless run to 11 games and play Corinthian-Casuals, Chipstead, Chatham Town, Dorking Wanderers, East Grinstead Town, Peacehaven & Telscombe and Guernsey as their worst campaign in nine seasons in the Ryman League comes to an end.

They have collected 14 points and are 17 points adrift of safety, with 21 left to play for, but the former Hythe Town boss insists he is not going to give up.

“For two games that I’ve been in charge we still haven’t been beaten by a goal from open play, one penalty, one free-kick,” said Porter.

“When I came to the club all I wanted to get the boys to do was to fight for me and I can’t fault the fight out there tonight, the same as Saturday.

“We’re just lacking that bit of quality really. I can’t fault the desire, the passion and the work-rate from the boys and the commitment.  The togetherness has come together in the two games that I’ve seen, which I’ve tried to install in the team.

“It was a scrappy game but it’s always going to be scrappy this stage of the season, especially the situation we’re in but we’re disappointed that we didn’t get anything out of it again.

“It’s down to me to pick the boys up. We wanted four to five wins out of the nine games. We’ve got seven games to go. 

“It’s not all over and we’re going to keep fighting until the end.  It’s down to me to keep the boys motivated mentally and physically and we’re all together in there and the boys are with me and we’re as a unit.

“When you’re down the bottom you don’t get that luck and we didn’t get the rub of the green tonight and we didn’t get it on Saturday but that’s football and we have to pick our heads up and go again.”

Walton Casuals, who made four changes to the side that went down to a 1-0 home defeat to local rivals South Park in front of a gathering of 36 fans, created their first opening after four and a half minutes.

Winger Stefan Cox played the ball inside to central midfielder Jake Nicholson, who cut inside and hit his right-footed dipping drive just over the bar from 30-yards.

Nicholson’s physically strong midfield partner, captain Scott Day, then cut in from the right and drilled his shot over the top of the near post.

Whitstable Town’s first opening arrived after ten minutes when Craig Thompson fed Michael Yianni, who stroked his right-footed drive across the keeper and past the far post from 25-yards.

Cox was forced wide by good defending by Ollie Brown, but the winger cut the ball back to Jordan Cheadle, who whipped in a first time deep cross into the Whitstable box for lone striker Omar Folkes to knock his downward header past the right-hand post.

Whitstable Town suffered a major blow when striker Stuart King was forced off through a groin injury after 18 minutes.  He ended his warm-up early after pulling his groin.

“He’s someone who can get us goals out of nothing and that’s a massive blow to us,” admitted Porter.

“We are limited on the players and squad because of the situation we are in. Trying to get players in is difficult, to lose Kingy so early is a big blow and hopefully he’s not going to be out for too long.”

Thompson hit a speculative right-footed drive sailing over Harvey Cheadle’s crossbar from 30-yards moments after losing a striker who has scored six goals for the club since his arrival.

Cox and Yousseuf Bamba swapped flanks at the half-way point of the first half before Whitstable Town called the Stags keeper into touching the ball.

Sam Bewick’s throw-in came back to him on the right and he whipped in a cross towards the near post but King’s replacement, Jerry Adeji’s flicked shot bounced once into the keeper’s hands.

Yianni then rolled the ball inside for Bewick to drill a low first time drive which took a deflection as it flashed past the post.

But Walton Casuals leapfrogged over Sittingbourne into seventeenth-place with a piece of quality from Jordan Cheadle.

The 25-year-old ran up to the ball on the right-hand side and drilled a stunning left-footed free-kick over the wall and screamed into the top right-hand corner giving Dan Eason no chance.

“I agree, it was a great free-kick,” said Porter.

“All game he had a great delivery on him. I can’t blame the goalkeeper because I’m not a goalkeeper but it’s a great strike and maybe we weren’t expecting it.

“It’s another, we still haven’t been beaten by a goal from open play.”

Whitstable Town squandered a great chance to equalise when Thompson’s reverse pass put Bewick in behind the defence but his right-footed stroked shot forced Harvey Cheadle to make his only save of the night, low to his right.

Porter said: “That was probably the best move of the game for us. We didn’t create a lot. It was a scrappy affair but when we were doing one touch, two touch in the right areas we looked dangerous.

“We’re scrapping for our lives and it’s difficult to do that because Walton Casuals are up for the fight as well.”

Porter admitted his players struggled to get in behind Walton Casuals’ giant back-four, which was well-marshalled by the combative Rhys Paul.

Whitstable didn’t have the intelligence to play diagonal through balls along the deck to get in behind their full-backs and ultimately paid the price.

“We tried to get in behind them a lot but that’s where we lacked a bit of quality,” admitted Porter.

“Everything we was doing was falling into them. It wasn’t going beyond the last man and we wasn’t turning them enough and that’s where we were lacking the quality.

“I can’t fault the fight or the commitment but sometimes you need that quality and that’s where we’re lacking at the moment.”

Walton Casuals’ right-back Liam Collins found himself by the corner flag and he whipped in an excellent deep cross but Day looped his free-header over Eason and the crossbar, the ball dropping down on to the top of the roof of the net and behind for a goal-kick.

Man-of-the-match Jordan Cheadle whipped in another left-footed free-kick, this time from the left, but Folkes failed to control the ball, which bounced off him and ran out of play for a goal-kick.

When asked his thoughts at the break, Porter replied: “I think we was only going to get one from a corner or a long throw but they were quite solid at the back.

“We missed Kingy because he’s gone off and he gets you a goal out of noting but Tommo (Thompson) worked his socks off. I can’t fault the work rate but it’s all down to the quality really.

“We’ve just got to believe. We’ve got to believe that something might happen and be a hard team to beat.  In two games I’ve been involved in we are a hard team to beat and it proved that with the two games, we’ve conceded a penalty and a set-piece.

“I said to believe in it, we’ll get something, we’ll get a little bit of luck here and there, keep plugging away but obviously we haven’t come away with anything tonight.”

Referee Andreas Anastasiou allowed Whitstable Town to start the second half with 10 men as Callum Wraight didn’t arrive until 25 seconds into the half, running straight on without the match officials' seemingly noticing.

Day played an inch-perfect through ball to put Folkes through on goal but left-back Wraight was on the pitch at the time to make a vital block tackle inside the box.

Eason pulled off a brilliant save to deny Walton Casuals grabbing a second goal in the 48^th minute.

Jordan Cheadle swung in a corner from the right which wasn’t cleared by the Whitstable defence and Paul came up from the back to smash a volley towards the roof of the net from 12-yards, which Eason somehow kept out.

“It was a great save, how he’s pulled it out, I don’t know. He’s kept us in it really at that stage,” said Porter.

“By the sounds of it he’s kept Whitstable in a lot of stuff this season. I rate him highly because I got him to Hythe when I was there. I’m lucky enough to have him here but there wasn’t any chances after that for both sides.”

The goalkeeper picked up a weak shot from Nicholson before the game turned into a dire midfield battle.

“Just a battle. It was quite laughable at times with the officials but I’m not going to go into that but it was a battle,” said Porter.

“My boys are up for the battle. Don’t get me wrong, that’s what I’ve installed into the side but it’s all down to a little bit of luck and a little bit of quality.”

Nicholson cracked a left-footed dipping drive just over the bar for the home side, while Bewick’s drive from 30-yards flashed harmlessly wide as the game turned into an ugly affair as Walton Casuals’ players went down more times than a prostitute in a brothel.

“Cheating? You took the words out of my mouth but at the end of the day they do go down and you need a strong ref out there, all three officials. I’m not going to go into it, I’m staying out of it because I’ve got a lot more to concentrate on what I’ve got to do with Whitstable. It is laughable at times.”

Nothing happened until the 65^th minute when Max Fitzgerald released Nicholson down the right and he was chopped down by Adeji, the seventh and last player to be booked by the referee.

Luckily for Whitstable, Bewick was positioned at the near post in front of Eason to head behind another excellent free-kick delivery from Jordan Cheadle.

Walton Casuals defender Paul urged Folkes “to go down” inside the penalty area when he was running away from goal. This summed up Walton Casuals’ antics all night – no wonder so few people pay £8 to watch them!

Whitstable Town got in behind the resilient Stags’ defence in the final 12 minutes but lacked quality to find an equaliser.

Bewick whipped in a cross and Charlie Smith’s header bounced into Yianni’s path but his cut back from the right by-line was caught by Harvey Cheadle at his near post.

The only positive to come out of Whitstable’s night was the performance of former Gillingham midfielder Aiden Blanchard.

Porter said: “He’s come from Gillingham. He hasn’t really played all season. It’s the first time I’ve really looked at him and he’s got a bit about him, yes definitely.

“There’s plusses out of tonight but he done well when he came on and we’ve got a couple back for Saturday. We missed Jamie Collardo tonight, he’s working away so he’ll be back for Saturday.”

Yianni played a fine diagonal pass along the deck to find Blanchard on the right and he passed inside to Adeji, whose hopeful shot was gathered by the keeper.

Bewick hooked a volley away from the Whitstable half straight down the middle of the pitch but Adeji wasted the chance by driving his left-footed half-volley over the bar.

Porter admitted: “We didn’t create an awful lot but it was just a battle and we lacked that little bit in the final third and with Kingy going off it puts a dampener on it.”

Walton Casuals should have killed the game off inside time added on when Collins clipped the ball up to substitute Gabriel Odunaike, whose dink put Folkes in behind Wraight but the striker dragged his shot across goal and towards the corner flag from a tight angle when he only had Eason to beat.

Porter takes his side to ninth-placed Corinthian-Casuals on Saturday, hoping that the team’s immediately above Whitstable, Chipstead (32 points from 39 games), East Grinstead Town (30 from 38), Walton & Hersham (24 from 39) give the Kent club a slender chance of staying up.

“I want to try and get as many points on the board as possible because we want to finish wherever but not bottom because you never know what happens in football,” said Porter, hinting that there may be a get-out-of jail card, a reprieve, for the division.

“We’ve pencilled in four or five wins, we’ve still got seven games to go, so we can still do what we want to do.

“But I can try to get in a couple more (players), it’s very hard because of the scenario we’re in and the position we’re in but I’m working. I haven’t stopped for a whole week now. I won’t stop until the season’s finished and that’s what I’ll do and I will do everything I possibly can to get as many wins on the board as possible.

“It’s a winnable game. I wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. I accepted the job when I got contacted by the new owners and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could do it.

“It’s a tough call but I’m a passionate person, football’s all about reaching your goals and I’ll do everything I possibly can and believe I can win every game of football. It hasn’t happened but you’ve got to believe and I will take that into my side because they’ve shown that in two games.

“We’ve just lacking that little bit of luck and that little bit of quality in front of goal but I can’t fault any single person on my side for the last two games.”

Tommy Warrilow produced The Great Escape as Cray Wanderers won their last ten games of last season (a club record) to maintain their Ryman League Division One North status when all seemed lost.

Walton Casuals: Harvey Cheadle, Liam Collins, Jordan Cheadle, Max Fitzgerald (Taylor Roles 88), Rhys Paul, Quincy Rowe, Yousseuf Bamba, Jake Nicholson, Omar Folkes, Scott Day, Stefan Cox (Gabriel Odunaike 69).
Subs: Peter Wedgeworth, Dominic Bowan-Flavell, Glen Malyon

Goal: Jordan Cheadle 30

Booked: Rhys Paul 45, Max Fitzgerald 51, Jake Nicholson 61

Whitstable Town: Dan Eason, Scott Punton, Callum Wraight, Jack Healey, Joe Kennett, Ollie Brown (Aiden Blanchard 58), Michael Yianni, Sam Bewick, Stuart King (Jerry Adeji 18), Craig Thompson, Charlie Smith.
Subs: Connor Ives, Reiss Crimmen, Harry Brooks

Booked: Sam Bewick 45, Michael Yianni 53, Callum Wraight 61, Jerry Adeji 64

Attendance: 51
Referee: Mr Andreas Anastasiou (Hendon, London NW4)
Assistants: Mr Steven Scott (Woking, Surrey) & Mr Martyn Cannon (Colindale, London NW9)