Cray Wanderers 1 - 2 Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 15th January 2022
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
More Photos from Andy Nunn here

Olly Sitch’s 88th minute strike sunk Cray Wanderers hearts as Corinthian-Casuals came from behind to claim all three points in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

The win extends Casuals good form having lost just once in the last twelve outings, notwithstanding penalty shoot-outs.
James Bracken’s much changed side from the midweek London Senior Cup outing was replaced by a more ‘conventional’ looking squad – with the exception of Ben Cheklit, who was missing following a scary bike accident involving a HGV!

The first half played out fairly even with both sides creating no more than the odd chance. Danny Bracken made a couple of well-held stops as Cray edged the best of the efforts. Better in possession, Casuals' Bobby Mills and Olly Sitch had off-target shots to keep the away fan contingent interested.

But with half time looming, the action came in spades. First, Jamie Yila converted Luca Albon’s corner from close range to give the hosts the lead. Cray could’ve doubled it moments later when Kasim Aidoo was bundled over in the box and what looked to be a sure-fire penalty was waved away by the Referee. Casuals capitalised and with the last kick of the half, Olly Sitch pounced to put away his chance, levelling the scores.

The second half continued with most of the momentum in Casuals favour. With twenty minutes remaining, it was all the away side as Cray tired. Sitch had two good chances with his head, but missing the target. The spoils looked like they’d be shared when up popped Sitch once more to latch onto a Kieron Cadogan pass and send the away fans into raptures.

There was just enough time for Cray to muster a response but their best chance was well saved by Bracken diving low to his right. Casuals held on for a closely fought win, though Cray Manager Grant Basey will have plenty of positives to take from his side’s performance as they look to pull away from the danger zone.

“I thought we were really good for the first 25 minutes today,” said James Bracken following the win.

“Our pressure was on point and we created two or three very good chances. But we didn’t hit the target often enough.

“We let them get into the game and we became sloppy. We weren’t good enough. We didn’t find that first pass. We addressed it at half time and we came out and turned it around.

“The substitutes gave us fresh impetus, fresh legs as Cray tired near the end. On the balance of the second half, I think we just edged it enough to get the three points.

“We gave them a lot of respect today because they scored four against Enfield, won against Bowers and only lost narrowly to Bognor in the week. They’re not a million miles away from where they’ll want to be. We know we’d be in for a tough game. They all are in this division. That’s the mindset that we’re trying to instill in the boys.

“We’ll certainly take an 88th minute winner. After a couple of missed chances with headers inside the six yard box, it would’ve been easy enough to lull a little thinking it wasn’t going to be our day. But the boys were relentless. We kept going forward, we kept the pressure up and we kept winning the ball high up the pitch. We looked like we really wanted those three points. And that’s coming from the players on the pitch – not us in the dugout.” 

Corinthian-Casuals 2 - 1 Carshalton Athletic
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 1st January 2022
Report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
​Additional pics: Andy Nunn (full set here)

Corinthian-Casuals continued their decent run of form into the new year with a hard-working 2-1 win over neighbours Carshalton Athletic.

New Years Day has been kind to Casuals over the years as you’ll have to go back 41 years to find the last loss on the First of January. Having only lost once in the last eight matches, Manager James Bracken must’ve felt confident going into this tie against an always competitive Carshalton side.

Casuals were without ever-present Jack Tucker through having Covid but returning to the squad was Emmanuel Mensah as well as a place on the bench for Mo Diallo – recently signed from Worthing.

It was almost the dream start too, as within the first minute, Bobby Mills found himself bearing down on goal but forced Lloyd Thomas into a crucial save.

It spurred Casuals on and they continued to put the visitors under pressure until they finally cracked halfway through the half. Kieron Cadogan’s quick feet inside the box saw him push his shot past Thomas into the bottom corner.

Corinth were frustratingly pegged back after having the bulk of the play when defender Luke Read expertly headed home following a corner that had failed to be cleared.

But it wasn’t to last long as an excellent cross from Ben Cheklit found the arriving Bobby Mills front and centre to nod home leaving Thomas no chance and sending the bulk of the 507 in attendance into celebration.

Casuals had other chances to go in at the break with a comfortable lead but failed to capitalise on a decent 2-on-2 chance. Therefore, it was no surprise that Carshalton felt they were always still in the contest as they probed Casuals for the bulk of the second half.

Despite large amounts of possession in the home side’s half, the Robins rarely threatened. Keeper Danny Bracken had only one save to make, from Harry Ottaway who’s effort was comfortably retrieved. Debutant Mo Diallo had a shout for a penalty turned down at the other end, with the resulting challenge ending in a yellow card for simulation.

However, Casuals were able to hold onto their first half lead and claim all three points, lifting them above their opponents in the league table.

 “Naturally, we’re pleased with that,” commented James Bracken after the match.

“We hadn’t had a game in two weeks but maybe the break has done us some good. We’ve made sure the boys have kept sharp.

“I had to remind them that we won our last game 4-1 and to keep that momentum going. It’s been good to see us scoring goals too. In our dry spell, we’d been creating the chances, but just not finishing them. I thought today, we should’ve had another two at least.

“We’ve been creating those chances all season but now, at the top end, we’re reaping the rewards.

“I look at Ollie Sitch scoring two last week and Bobby and Kieron chipping in this week. That’s the way it needs to be. We need to get our midfield and our centre-halves to be doing the same too.

“If we can share the goals around, then we don’t need to rely on just one player to do all the legwork. I feel we’re in a position where we do have goals in us and we’re defending well. It’s nice to see that we don’t have to change much and we’re there or thereabouts. We feel that if we play well, we’ll win.” 

Corinthian-Casuals 4 - 1 Potters Bar Town
Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 18th December 2021
Report: Stuart Tree. Photos: Andy Nunn (full set here)

Corinthian-Casuals completed a fine turnaround performance in contrast to the week before by putting four past Potters Bar Town in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

A brace from Ollie Sitch was complemented by two set-piece headers from Jack Strange and Ben Cheklit to complete a fine 4-1 victory over the Scholars.
​
Casuals had enforced changes following birthday boy Emmanuel Mensah testing positive for Covid and Ola Williams out with a knee injury. Also missing was top scorer Warren Mfula following his return to Sheppey United. In stepped Sitch, debutant Peter Ojemen and the returning Bobby Mills from suspension.

Despite some not even having taken their seats, Sitch had opened the scoring. And how! A fine volley from inside the box topped off the bright start as Casuals looked to dominate the early stages. Mills also went close taking a wonderful touch before just dragging his shot wide.

It was all Casuals when finally they broke their duck from corners this season. The work in training in midweek had paid off as Jack Strange powered home his header for his first of the season.

Corinth made it three just before the break when he capitalized on a Bar defender’s mistake and making no mistake with finding the target.

And just like the week before at Cheshunt, the next goal after half time would be the key to finishing the match off as a contest. This time it was in favour of the Casuals as Ben Cheklit converted his header from another Kieron Cadogan corner to put the game to bed.

The only disappointment for James Bracken’s side was to concede a late consolation, courtesy of substitute Luke Tingey who headed home. But it was a comprehensive win for the Casuals who’s constant press was too much for Lee O’Leary’s side on the day. The win puts Corinth up to tenth.

“Our focus is on the next game,” said Manager James Bracken after the match. “But we’ll set the boys a points target for the month of January. Of course, we want to win the next one so that’s where our focus remains for now.

“We’ll set a target that we feel will keep us in the top ten as a minimum and hopefully pushing towards those playoff places. We have ambition and we see performances like that, and the fact that we’ve lost just one in the last eight.

“In those last eight, we should’ve won at least three of the games that we’ve drawn, based on the chances that we created.

“Last week was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It was one step too far in terms of us not taking our chances. So there was always going to be changes made. Even though we had a couple unavailable today but everyone to a man today was fantastic.

“I have a massive smile on my face. I don’t usually smile after a win. You know how I am. I can be a bit morose and especially peed off after a defeat. But I couldn’t stop smiling today. “We worked on set-pieces on Thursday. 40 minutes on just two corner routines. We haven’t had much chance to do that at all. The training sessions you get, you don’t have a lot of time and you need to tick a lot of boxes in terms of how to work the boys. Thankfully, this week, we had a longer session where we could work on set pieces. We’ve seen the payoff on that. We’ve scored two from corners where we haven’t scored one since pre-season.

“We’ve worked on a lot these last few weeks with added sessions and we saw a lot of that today. That’s exactly why training is so important. We’re not here to have a jolly. We’re here to put the hard work in and we saw the rewards this afternoon.”

Cheshunt 5 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Pitching In Isthmian League Premier
Saturday 11th December 2021
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (images here)

It was a day to forget for Corinthian-Casuals as they succumbed to a five-one defeat at the hands of a clinical Cheshunt, flying high in the playoff places.

Manager James Bracken apologised to fans after the final whistle declaring that ‘it wasn’t good enough’.

Finding themselves three down at half time, the odds were already stacked against Casuals and although they pulled a late goal back via Kieron Cadogan, it was ultimately a fruitless occasion for the Tolworth outfit.

Casuals came into the match six unbeaten, although having struggled to score in their most recent games. Probably unsurprising that one of the key strikers, Bobby Mills was still absent through suspension. Defensively, Casuals were tight, having conceded less than a goal a game in the league so far. That was about to change.

Cheshunt were in even better form having not lost in the league since the 9th October, and sitting top of the form guide for the last ten matches. Craig Edwards had also strengthened their squad with the addition of Rowan Liburd – the ex-League Championship professional who’d scored five in four games since becoming an Amber. He added another three on this occasion.

To be fair to Casuals, as many agreed on both sides, it never looked like a 5-1 game. Casuals fluffed their lines in front of goal on too many occasions and by rights, could’ve been a couple of goals to the good before Liburd got the first of his three on 17 minutes. They doubled their lead just before the half hour mark on a pitch that became increasingly tricky as the heavy rain descended.

Even at two-nil, Casuals pushed and forced a number of corners and held good pressure high up the field. But Cheshunt broke fast once again and Corinth were left exposed by Reece Beckles Richards to end a miserable first half for the visitors.

It didn’t get much better after the break; Taylor Miles converted from the edge of the box following a javelin-esque long throw which ended up finding him on the edge of the box. Keeper Danny Bracken protested that he was unsighted due to a forward blocking him in an offside position, but in truth, at 4-0, it didn’t really matter much.

Casuals pulled one back late on with Cadogan’s smart finish from 20 yards and Sub Nat Pinney could’ve made the last five minutes interesting had he pipped George Marsh to a loose ball, but Liburd claimed his match ball and ended the contest with a follow-up from a parried shot, fired into the roof of the net. “5-1 and a long way home” was the song that left Casuals players and fans looking back on the third worst defeat in James Bracken’s seven seasons in charge.

“We haven’t had many days like that in my seven years but it happens,” said Bracken after the match.

“It’s funny because I don’t think we were desperately bad today. Perhaps a few individuals at the back had an off day. We can look at a number of the goals where we should’ve done better.

“Let’s remember, we had two or three great chances at nil-nil to put ourselves in front. And it wasn’t as if we were riding our luck with those. We started off the better side. But the chances that fell to them were so clear cut that they couldn’t miss. Obviously, it makes it supremely hard when you go three down to come back.

“Even in the second half, I thought we came out well and were worthy of snatching the first goal. We were in the ascendency when they hit their fourth and that flattened us. We still kept going and came back to 4-1 before they get a fifth. At that point, you just know it’s been one of those days. No matter what you do, it’s going to go against you. I thought the boys tried hard. I have no problem with the effort that they’ve put in. All I ever really ask is they give 100%.

“Everyone has these results though. Just look at Cray last year, when they were flying. They went to Bognor and lost 8-0. Cheshunt are a decent side but was it a 5-1 game? In my opinion, no. But if we defend like that and they’re as clinical as they have been, then it ends up like that.

“Hopefully it’s a one-off… an anomaly. I said to the boys that we don’t get many days like that and we’ll bounce back on Saturday and look to get a win. What we can’t accept is another one of these results either next Saturday or the following week. I don’t think that’ll happen. I think we’ll be just fine and we’ll be bouncing back as we should.”

Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 0 Brightlingsea Regent
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 27th November 2021
Report and Pics: Stuart Tree (set of photos here)
Additional photos: Andy Nunn (set of photos here)

Two hundred and two hardy souls braved Storm Arwen at the United Business Group Stadium who sadly, were not rewarded with a classic as Corinthian-Casuals and Brightlingsea Regent played out a stalemate.

Wintry conditions pounding in from the North led to any semblance of football being nullified as a scrappy bout quickly replaced what was a wonderful game at Lewes on Tuesday night.

Casuals remained unchanged from the win at the Dripping Pan and came into this game on a high, having not been defeated in four whilst Regent were looking for their first point since the 25th September, albeit with a new, determined Manager now at the helm.

Any ideas that this would be a straight-forward three points for the home side were quickly dismissed as Regent threatened twice in the opening minutes. First with a counter-attack resulting in only the woodwork keeping them out followed up by Danny Bracken saving with Jack Strange mopping up the leftovers.

But it was Casuals who were the dominant side, playing with the wind at their backs. Elliott Bolton’s fierce 20 yard drive smashed the bottom of the post before Ola Williams tucked away the follow-up… only for the Assistant Referee to brandish it offside.

It became 2-1 to Casuals in the struck upright stakes when Warren Mfula was played into a dangerous position via a one-two but again thwarted by the post.

The second half saw Corinth continue to search for a winner but Regent’s defence held firm – Captain Chris Ribchester lapping up everything thrown his way. Two more chances fell to Mfula who was unable to convert, both going agonizingly wide.

And so that’s how it ended. Despite their best efforts, the windy conditions coupled with the slippery surface condemned this match to the archives without troubling the scorers. Despite Regent’s lowly league position, it never felt like two points dropped and the visitors look like they’ll pick up a fair few points on this showing.

"The conditions were a leveller and made the game difficult for both teams,” said James Bracken after the match. “They came here to get a point and with the conditions as they are, it’s always going to benefit that team. I don’t think it was in our favour at all.

"When the weather is bad, it can be horrible here. I’d love to have an enclosed stadium where we can keep the elements out, but we have a wind tunnel and a pitch that you can hardly stand up on so it didn’t bode well for a good game of football, and it wasn’t. But what you ask for in these games is not to make mistakes that cost us goals. We made sure we didn’t do that. We kept a clean sheet and created enough chances to win. We hit the post twice and had the ball in the net once. Second half, three one-on-ones – we did enough to get three points. The chances weren’t easy – But we didn’t score and if you don’t do that, you don’t get those points. We just need to be a little more clinical.

"It's a point on another day, it could swing on a poor decision or a slip-up or bad pass because it’s boggy and you end up losing. It’s not what a purist would want to see. It’s not why we give up our time – I wouldn’t want to watch that every week. If it was, I wouldn’t touch football. I’d put my time into something else. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable.

"We carved out four or five good chances but we’ve not taken them and that’s what it boils down to. There’s no deep thoughts needed about why we haven’t won. Take the positives… kept a clean sheet. Didn’t cost ourselves the match with any errors, defended relatively well and played a better second half.

"I wouldn’t say we were good but conditions made it hard. Especially in the way we want to play. If we had a big, horrible ugly geezer up front who we sent balls up to, he’d be causing havoc on days like these. But we don’t play that way.

We’ll have had two training sessions this week but I’d much rather have two games a week and one session. But for the boys, it is hard to keep turning in ninety minutes, especially as the pitches are getting heavy now. Two days recovery coupled with going to work on Monday and Tuesday before getting out there on the pitch and being at 100% physically is unrealistic. So the training sessions will allow us to come into the next game nice and fresh, playing some decent attacking football looking for those three points."

Lewes 1 - 2 Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 23rd November 2021
Report: Stuart Tree. Image: Andy Nunn.

Casuals midfielder Ricardo Thompson summed up the game in one tweet following the match. He simply wrote “Big win last night, football really is a game of 2 halves.”
 
And that really was the case. Manager James Bracken was full of praise for the way Lewes started, describing them as the best side he’d seen all season, amongst other plaudits for Tony Russell’s Rooks.
 
Lewes were everything you’d want your side to be, or everything you’d fear to play against on a Tuesday night in their own den in front of over 500 fans. Organised, decisive, quick… pick as many superlatives as you want.
 
It only took eight minutes for Casuals fans alike to feel that they could be in for a long and fruitless night. Top scorer Joe Taylor added a fourteenth goal to his season tally, turning one in from close range to leave Danny Bracken no chance.
 
If Lewes had added a second, the result could’ve looked very different. But Lewes failed to capitalise on a first half dominance with Taylor fluffing his lines front and centre which, with any serious contact with the ball would’ve likely doubled the lead.
 
James Bracken was quick to address the imbalance and switched a couple of players to stem the tide. It worked. Casuals grew into the half and could’ve equalised when Ben Cheklit’s volley was expertly kept out by Lewis Carey. Kieron Cadogan also had a decent chance to reduce the arrears but blazed over. Casuals were fortunate to be going in at half-time just one goal down when Taylor’s effort was somehow dragged wide when once again, looked like he should score.
 
Bracken’s half time team talk certainly changed Casuals approach. The Manager admitted afterwards that he told his players to ‘play without fear’. It worked. Their game management improved immensely and now it was the visitors in the ascendency. It took just three minutes to watch Cadogan use those magical feet of his to shift the ball and shoot, leaving Carey no chance.
 
The equaliser spurred Casuals on and with Lewes’ Taylor being substituted, their threat diminished even more. Corinth took the lead with a wonderful free flowing move from one end to the other being completed via the left foot of Warren Mfula.
 
Casuals had to resolutely hold on for the last twenty minutes with a real flurry of action in their own box coming into stoppage time. Bracken had to be on his best guard, making a couple of vital saves as well as an excellent performance from the back four.
 
It's a win that propels Casuals into the top ten for the first time this season and had you left at half time, you’d never understand how Lewes conspired to lose this match, or how Casuals showed such determination to win.
 
“We were fearless in the second half,” said Manager James Bracken following the win. “We didn’t go out there with fear but Lewes were fantastic in that first fifteen minutes. The best team we’ve played by a mile. They were the first side that we’ve played where we had to change our shape, just because I felt it was only going one way. We were one-nil down and it wasn’t looking good for us.
 
“But we made the change, moving one player into a different position and it stemmed the flow. It levelled off a bit and we had a couple of chances ourselves. It gave us enough at half time to get our tails up and remind ourselves that we’re a good team and that we have good players who can go and play without fear.
 
“I said it’s not life or death. It’s a game of football and we’ve got nothing to lose from here. If we lost, I’ll take it on the chin – I pick the team and I set the tactics. So I told them to get on the front foot and go and be aggressive. Try and win a game of football. If we don’t, we’ll bounce back Saturday. We just tried to take all the pressure off and reminding them that we are a good side.
 
“I’ve set from the get-go that we can make the playoffs. You don’t play without ambition. You don’t come and give all of this time, effort and commitment to finish 10th or 15th or second from bottom. We do this because we want to achieve something. If you’re playing without ambition, then what are you playing for? Playoffs will always be our aim and until it becomes mathematically impossible to do that, then that’ll be our target.
 
“Brighlingsea Regent on Saturday and I’m targeting three points. We’ll give them respect – in fact we’ll make sure we give them more than enough respect because we don’t want to fall short on games where you feel like you are the favourites. We try to win every game of course. We came here tonight with an aim to win and not a lot of people would’ve given us the chance to do so, but we have.”