Kentish Football 
Whitstable Town 0-6 Metropolitan Police - EMBARRASSING!
Sunday 27th March 2011
WHITSTABLE TOWN 0-6 METROPOLITAN POLICE
Ryman League Division One South
Sunday 27th March 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Belmont Road
EMBARRASED Whitstable Town manager Peter Nott says his players will not be paid for their dismal display against new leaders Metropolitan Police and apologised to home fans for the SHOCKING POOR performance.
“BIG APOLOGY for the fans today,” a beleaguered Nott said afterwards.
“I’ve just said in there that we’ve had 186 people giving up their Sunday, paying good money and they should all get their money back.
“I’m absolutely embarrassed. It’s not all about money at all but NONE OF THE PLAYERS ARE TAKING A PENNY IN EXPENSES TODAY, NONE OF THEM ARE GETTING PAID!
“That was just a total shambles from the word go.”
Goalkeeper Brandon Hall - a work experience kid from Coca-Cola League One club Charlton Athletic - endured a nightmare on his eighteenth birthday as Metropolitan Police raced into a 4-0 lead after just 38 minutes and added two after the break on a day of shame for relegation threatened Whitstable Town, who now need to win half of their last six games to maintain their Ryman League status for another year.
Nott revealed that the teenage goalkeeper wasn’t fit to take to the field.
“I feel sorry for him really,” admitted Nott. “He got injured with us last Saturday. He’s had treatment all week in an effort to get fit for us. He turned out on his 18th birthday, where really he’s a Charlton player, he could’ve made an excuse saying he wasn’t fit enough but he’s showed desire to play but we just left him totally exposed.
“I’ve said to him, ‘please stick with it,’ but this has got to be the bottom pit now.”
Whitstable, with only 8 wins in 35 games before today, faced an uphill struggle from the off and they clearly missed their front two as 24-goal Ian Pulman, who was in America celebrating his brother’s wedding, and Lloyd Blackman, who began a two-match suspension, were clearly missed.
Also missing were Shaun Smith (knee ligaments), Ashley Ulph (knee ligaments), James Peacock (two-match ban), Scott Heard (playing for Kent’s under 18s) and the injured Gary Sayer.
Nott said: “It was a sloppy performance. We had to change it around today because of the people we’ve got missing. They are big players in this team and any team would’ve suffered today with those players’ out.
“But I don’t care, there could’ve been nine or ten out. You still expect anyone that’s got the shirt to be proud to wear the Whitstable shirt and go on from there but it’s just gutless and I can’t repeat what I said in there, word’s fail me at the moment. It was awful!”
Nott used central defender Steven Lloyd as an emergency forward for 62 minutes but by then the damage had already been done as Metropolitan Police extended their unbeaten run to six games to leapfrog over Bognor Regis Town at the summit.
Whitstable Town, meanwhile, must pick up the pieces from this shambolic performance and pick up three wins from Leatherhead, Chatham Town, Eastbourne Town, Horsham YMCA, Ramsgate and Corinthian-Casuals to avoid relegation.
With his side on 36 points, four points clear of the relegation zone, although Corinthian-Casuals have a game in hand, Nott, who escaped relegation with Maidstone United in their penultimate game of last season, said, “I’ve said all along, when I came here, 45 points. We’re now left in a situation where we need to really win three out of the last six.
“It’s important all the bottom games are six pointers after the Leatherhead game, with the exception of the Ramsgate game, all the games that we’ve got are teams in the bottom half a dozen, all fighting for their lives and I’ve got to make sure now I get a team out that’s absolutely going to fight for their lives. We didn’t show any of that today!”
For a Kent team to show NO PRIDE. NO PASSION. NO DESIRE. NO COMMITMENT. NO HEART - THE LIST GOES ON - was simply hard to stomach for all of the 186 Whitstable Town supporters who ventured out to Belmont Road on the first day of British Summer Time.
Thankfully, Whitstable’s players will at least not be getting paid for this embarrassing fiasco.
Whitstable were completely outclassed from the very first whistle and if this was a Boxing fight then the contest would have been over after 38 sorry minutes.
To play like that against a club that did not bring one single supporter is simply disgraceful.
Metropolitan Police were on the front foot from the off, and they created three early chances.
Left-back Chris Bourne had time and space to float in a cross towards the Whitstable six-yard box and James Field glanced his header across Hall and past the far post.
Tyron Smith then swung in a corner from the left towards the near post and Field got in front of his marker to glance another header wide from five-yards out.
Metropolitan Police skipper Steve Sutherland then shrugged off the attentions of Lloyd and sprayed the ball out to Eddie Smith, who cut in from the left and his right-footed drive from 20-yards was turned around his near post by a diving Hall.
But Metropolitan Police deservedly broke the deadlock inside nine minutes.
Craig Watkins’ shot was parried by Hall and the ball dribbled towards the goal-line and Dan Wisker’s low stabbed clearance went straight to Luke Hickie, who stabbed the ball over the line from close range.
Worse was to follow for Whitstable, as Metropolitan Police doubled their lead just 78 seconds later.
Watkins swept the ball through to Eddie Smith, who drilled a low left-footed shot across the diving Hall, which nestled into the bottom right-hand corner.
Whitstable midfielder, Michael Yianni, then got in the act - shame his shot was towards his own goal from 25-yards, which forced Hall to swiftly dive low to his left to save the ball beside the foot of his post.
Had Whitstable scored from their first chance - inside fourteen minutes - then it might have been a different story.
Lloyd’s back header dropped nicely for Wisker, who cracked a right-footed drive from 12-yards, which sailed agonisingly over the crossbar.
Whitstable were enjoying their best spell of the game and if they had a proper striker on the pitch then they would have pulled a goal back in the 21st minute.
Gareth Cornhill swung in a corner from the right, which was flicked on by Louis Smith at the near post, which whistled across the face of goal and the ball bounced off Lloyd’s knee and the chance was gone.
Visiting keeper Mo Maan was finally called into action when he dived low to his left to save Wisker’s right-footed drive from 35-yards out.
But Metropolitan Police made it 3-0 in the 28th minute - and from that moment on the game was of little interest for the shell-shocked and annoyed 186 home fans.
Field hooked the ball to Bourne on the left, who comfortably beat Cornhill to reach the by-line and he whipped in an excellent cross, which was met with an emphatic header from Watkins, which flew into the top-right hand corner.
Another chance came Whitstable’s way when following another right-wing corner from Cornhill, the ball found Lloyd at the far post and his powerful header was blocked on the line of a crowded goal-mouth.
Yianni carved up a chance for Ant Bodle, but the Whitstable midfielder’s right-footed drive was comfortably caught by Maan.
And being 4-0 down at home after 38 minutes was simply not good enough - and Nott told his murdered side to win the second half.
He said: “The game was over and I said ‘go out and show me a bit of pride and a bit of passion.’
“We’ll start the second half nil-nil and ‘go and win the second half for me,’ because the other thing is to lose 6-0 today, with it being so tight down there, it’s absolutely killed our goal-difference now and we’ve got to get ourselves back into it and show those people out there that have given up their Sunday that ‘you do care about it’ and we’re going to have a good second half. At least take a positive into next week’s game, but we didn’t even up the tempo.”
Metropolitan Police right-back Steve Noakes had time and space to float in a cross into the box, which Hall flapped at and Field knocked the ball back across goal and Eddie Smith stabbed the ball over the line from one-yard out.
Assistant referee Paul Gorvett raised his flag for offside, but after consultation, referee Mr Mead awarded the goal. This misery just summed up Whitstable’s day.
Two minutes into the second half, Lloyd shouted to his team-mates, “Come on, we’re quiet still,” - an example of the lack of passion from the players in red and white.
Whitstable’s only second half chance arrived in the 55th minute when they were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the D.
But to sum up their miserable day, Cornhill stepped up and floated a weak right-footed free-kick over the wall, which was comfortably tipped over the bar by Maan.
Lloyd partnered skipper Peter Hawkins at the back when Nott made a tactical change to bring Callum Day off the bench to partner the ineffective Danny Williams, who was clearly out of his depth, as the visiting central defensive partnership of Billy Manners and Sutherland enjoyed an untroubled game.
Metropolitan Police had the luxury to replace their front-two of Watkins and Eddie Smith, but they upped a gear in the final twenty minutes.
Tyron Smith won the ball off Yianni in midfield and played the ball over the top of both Cornhill and substitute Steve Baines and Field ploughed through and flicked the ball with the outside of his right boot to find the bottom right-hand corner after 70 minutes.
The visitors’ - how many of their sixteen-man squad are actually Met Police officers, rather than Ryman League journeymen who play for them to bolster their bank balance? - wasted another good chance when Sutherland met Tyron Smith’s corner on the volley, which he blasted over from ten-yards.
Day squandered a chance to score a late consolation when his poked shot lacked any power and Noakes easily cleared the ball off the line.
Former Dartford striker, Rob Haworth, emphatically wrapped up the game by scoring goal number six in the final four minutes.
A fierce left-footed drive from Tyron Smith from 25-yards was beaten out by the diving Hall, but the unchallenged Haworth rifled the follow up into the top left-hand corner.
Haworth glanced a header wide and Matt Gray and substitute James Greenaway all fired wide as Metropolitan Police ran riot at the death.
Nott warns his players not to ask for their wages for this game. They don’t deserve it!
“The money we’re on here is only expenses anyway for the boys’ but no-one’s going to get anything out of today. If anyone wants any money, you come and talk to me and not one player has come up and that’s the right decision without a doubt because that was a total embarrassment today.
“There’s a lot of people that do a lot of hard work for the club and the players’ have got a simple job, they just have to go out there on the pitch and do 90 minutes and do what they can from start to finish, but they didn’t do that at all today.”
Nott says he will be on his phone constantly to bring in new players in time of the transfer deadline day on Thursday.
“I’m just absolutely hurt by it. I feel embarrassed by it and we can’t go on like this,” he fumed.
“I’m on the phone now 24-7 before the 31st because of the deadline. I’ll be getting players, even if they’ve got less ability than we’ve got out there today and they’re weren’t a lot of ability shown out there at all.
“We’ll get those players’ because I want people to run through brick walls for me. We’re in a precarious position. We keep getting ourselves out of it (the relegation dog-fight) and then we put ourselves back into it and the one thing I won’t accept is people not giving the effort and there was just no effort out there today.”
Second from bottom side, Corinthian-Casuals, meanwhile, have seven games of the season left to play - Chipstead (twice), Ramsgate, Burgess Hill Town, Whitehawk, Metropolitan Police and a possible loser-goes-down showdown at Whitstable on the final day of the season.
Whitstable Town: Brandon Hall, Kieron Morris (Steve Baines 46), Jermaine Darlington, Dan Wisker, Louis Smith (Callum Day 62), Peter Hawkins, Gareth Cornhill (Lewis Heard 62), Ant Bodle, Steven Lloyd, Danny Williams, Michael Yianni.
Sub: Dan Hadlow
Booked: Steven Lloyd 72
Metropolitan Police: Mo Maan, Steve Noakes, Chris Bourne, Billy Manners, Steve Sutherland, Matt Gray, Luke Hickie (Rob Haworth 76), Tyron Smith, Craig Watkins (Carl Wilson-Denis 63), Eddie Smith (James Greenaway 58), James Field.
Subs: Nathan Simpson, Dave Smalley
Goals: Luke Hickie 9, Eddie Smith 10, 38, Craig Watkins 28, James Field 70, Rob Haworth 86
Attendance: 186
Referee: Mr Andy Mead (Orpington)
Assistants: Mr Paul Gorvett (Erith) & Mr Aji Ajibola (Erith)
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