Whitstable Town 2-5 Bognor Regis Town - We looked like rabits in headlights, admits Justin Luchford

WHITSTABLE TOWN 2-5 BOGNOR REGIS TOWN
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 17^th December 2011
Paul Parkinson reports from Belmont Road

Shorn of five first-team regulars, Whitstable Town put up a valiant second half display against a Bognor Regis Town side who demonstrated why they have taken the mantle of Ryman League Division One South title favourites.  

An overpowering opening half-hour saw the visitors take a three goal lead, before Scott Heard pulled one back.  Then, two second half goals, before Dane Luchford’s strike, sealed the game for Bognor, who finished the game with 10 men after Ben Andrews was forced off the field through injury.

Although his side was well beaten, Whitstable manager Justin Luchford summed the game up by saying “I’m slightly less disappointed now than at half-time.  We didn’t come out of the blocks at all for the first 15-20 minutes and we got punished by a very good side.

“We’ve got a bit of a problem at the moment that, for whatever reason, we’re not performing in the first half and we looked a little bit like rabbits in the headlights today.  

“It took till half time for us to relax and start playing, so I’m disappointed, but I am trying to take the positives.  They are a very good side, I think one of the best we’ll play.  They play the best football, and I think they’ll go on to win the league.

“We’re missing a lot of players. I lost both centre-halves (Lee Shearer and Marc Cumberbatch) at 9:30 this morning – Shears got called into work and Marc has been ill all night – Dan Wisker failed a fitness test, Gary Sayer won’t be back for another week, and Dane shouldn’t really have played as he hasn’t played for about a month, so it showed that we had players missing.”

The writing was on the wall from the opening minutes for the reshuffled Whitstable defence, as from their first attack, Bognor’s leading scorer Jason Prior headed straight at Jack Smelt from the six-yard box after Steve Harper’s right-wing cross.  

But the striker was more clinical with his next effort in the 5th minute.

Playmaker Terry Dodd picked up the ball in the middle of the Whitstable half, weaved past three players and played the ball out to Ben Johnson on the left wing.  Johnson clipped a cross to the back post, where Prior, unmarked, made a late run to place his header past Smelt.

Two minutes later, two consecutive corners caused mayhem in the Whitstable box.  First Andrews looped a near post header over Smelt, but James Brown cleared off the line.  Then from the corner, Stuart Axton’s header came back off the bar and was cleared.

Bognor’s second goal arrived in the 14th minute and was created again by Dodd.  This time, once Dodd fed the ball out to Johnson, the winger turned James Morrish left and right before curling his shot into the top left corner.

Dodd could have increased the lead in the 20th minute, flicking the ball over Neil Sayer’s head before curling his shot wide, but received his reward 6 minutes later.

Johnson played a ball out to the right wing, where Harper drilled a low cross towards the 6-yard box.  Prior missed the ball, but Dodd, right behind him, had time to control the cross before placing his shot wide of Smelt into the right corner.

Having been on the back foot, Whitstable suddenly sprung their first attack in the 29th minute, as Damien Abel broke down the right wing, turned full-back Daryl Wollers, and fired a low cross that found its way to Heard on the edge of the box.  The young midfielder calmly slotted the ball inside the right hand post for only his second goal in the Oystermen’s colours.

Smelt had to be alert to keep the gap to two, saving well from Dan Beck, but was grateful to Sayer for blocking a Prior effort on the line.  The Bognor forward also came close to his second, latching onto Dodd’s pass and firing a first time effort that scraped off the right hand post.

Whatever Justin Luchford said to his charges at the half, he was proud of the second half effort, adding “Leaving Stuart (Vahid) out backfired on me; it was a no-win situation.  We decided to go 4-5-1 today and got the players in early to show them the pattern we wanted, and they did absolutely nothing like it in the first half.  So it killed the plan, and I said to the lads that they had let Stuart down today.

“There’s a lot of young lads out there and, from speaking to their manager, he’s said we caused them some problems, and we did. The lads thought the game had gone, so they relaxed and second half we played a bit.  We caused them a few problems, got a goal and should have had a stonewall penalty.  

“We’ve played the best side in the league, we’re still in transition, and honestly no-one expected much from us today.

“But we know where we need to be, we have targets and we’ll reach them.  We’re averaging two goals a game, which I’ve said is Championship form.  The problem is, at the other end, it’s relegation form at the moment, so we’ve got to work on the back - if we can get it right at the other end, we’ll be alright.”

Whitstable’s cause was helped as Bognor lost the creativity of Dodd at the break, but Prior was still finding room in the home defence.  In the 51st minute, he found acres of space but glanced a header wide with the goal at his mercy.

Bognor increased their lead on 58 minutes, as Harper, who had moved up to join Prior with the loss of Dodd, fired a shot against Sayer, then reacted first to the rebound to fire past Smelt.

Abel brought a good save out of Craig Stoner, before Dane Luchford opened his Whitstable account in the 66th minute.  

A 1-2 between Ryan Moreby and Joe Hitchings freed up Moreby on the right and his cross towards Stuart Vahid fell to Luchford, who buried his shot in the bottom right corner.

Any hopes of a Whitstable revival were extinguished three minutes later as Prior latched onto Kane Will’s throughball and, with the home defence stationary appealing for offside, the Bognor forward carried the ball into the area before firing beyond Smelt.

Prior’s threat was blunted in the last quarter, as he dropped in to the Bognor back-four to replace Andrews, who eventually left the pitch through injury on 78 minutes, with Bognor having used all three replacements previously.  

The change seemed to unsettle the Bognor defence, as Whitstable saw appeals for a penalty waved away following a challenge on Vahid, but despite playing against 10 men, the hosts couldn’t mount a concerted attack.

Even a man short, Bognor continued to press, and both Wills and Beck saw shots saved by Smelt, who saved his best for the closing act.

With seconds left in normal time, Johnson laid a ball into Wills, whose shot was fired wide, but in the act of shooting, the Bognor midfielder was caught by Sayer and Mr Woodison pointed to the spot.  Prior stepped up looking to complete his hat-trick, but Smelt pulled off a wonderful save to his right.

Whitstable Town:  Jack Smelt, James Morrish, James Brown, Joe Hitchings, Neil Sayer, Steven Lloyd, Gary Mickleborough, (Stuart Vahid 61), Ryan Moreby, Scott Heard, Damien Abel, Dane Luchford (Lewis Heard 80).
Subs: Alfie Munday, Dan Wisker, Giga Zulmatashvila

Goals: Scott Heard 29, Dane Luchford 66

Booked: Neil Sayer 89.

Bognor Regis Town:  Craig Stoner, James Crane (Jon Marzetti 46), Daryl Wollers, Steve Harper (Dan Sackman 63), Stuart Axton, Ben Andrews, Dan Beck, Kane Wills, Jason Prior, Terry Dodd (Callum Saunders 46), Ben Johnson.
Sub: Tim Bond

Goals: Jason Prior 4, 69, Ben Johnson 14, Terry Dodd 26, Steve Harper 58

Attendance: 167
Referee: Mr Stephen Woodison (Ashford, Middlesex)
Assistants: Mr Brett Grant (Canvey Island, Essex) and Mr Peter Wilson (Chelmsford, Essex)