Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 1 VCD Athletic
Saturday 16th December 2017
Bostik League South
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to lowly VCD Athletic at King George’s Arena on Saturday in the Bostik League South when Kemo Darboe’s 78th minute strike was enough to separate the sides.
James Bracken’s Casuals have now only won once in their last six league matches denting promotion hopes in the process. The 4-1 win at Horsham just days before seemingly a distant memory.
VCD came into the match also struggling for form; they’d lost the last three on the bounce and a trip to second-placed Casuals was set to be the toughest test in the festive period.
Casuals still remain depleted and though it’s hoped that Jordan Clarke will soon return from injury, Danny Cunningham, Kevant Serbony and Mu Maan look to be out for somewhat considerably longer. There was no last hurrah for departing Dave Hodges either also due to injury.
Despite this, Casuals looked lively in the early exchanges and most of the threat came from the right with Reyon Dillon constantly haranguing Kojo Awotwi at full back. The imposing striker forcing a large number of corners. It was to be the theme for the afternoon.
At the other end, Rashid Kamara’s free kick from a dangerous area caught all by surprise and blushes were spared when the crossbar came to the rescue. Further embarrassment was avoided when Nathan Daly slipped, allowing Kamara the chance to score, only to be denied by a clearance from Malachi Robinson.
Casuals continued to force more corners. Dillon’s looping header came the closest, causing Joe Mant to tip it over to safety. Max Oldham found the side netting with another burst into the box but the half was to end as drab as the weather.
Arguably, VCD looked the better in the second half, often causing Casuals to remain on the backfoot and hurrying clearances. Ex-Casual Ayman El-Moyhalbel came closest when he struck the post from close range. It was a warning sign that wasn’t heeded.
The story at the other end was repeatable ad-nauseum; Corner, corner, corner, corner, corner. It became somewhat of a reoccurring joke in the stands as many had lost count of the set-pieces Casuals had earned. Despite the growing number, now well past twenty, Casuals rarely threatened.
Then on 78 minutes came the sting in the tail; Rather than clearing the lines, Daly was caught in possession and VCD couldn’t fail to score. Darboe slotting past Bracken to deal the final blow. Casuals attempted to rally and forced a couple of decent saves from Mant, but VCD held out for their fourth win on the road this season.
“Our play wasn’t good but I can’t knock us based on how many times we’ve got into the final third of the pitch,” said James Bracken after the match. “It’s not an exaggeration; we’ve won 25-30 corners.”
“If you’re forcing that many corners – and we were forcing them by putting in crosses and shots that were blocked, we have to be scoring one or two of them. I can’t be watching every single corner get comfortably cleared. We’d have been there all night pumping balls into the box without anyone getting on the end of it.
“There were players not doing their roles properly and it’s very frustrating. To set a team up with jobs to do on the pitch and for them to not carry those out simply isn’t good enough. If one or two players don’t stick to the plan, then it comes all unstuck for the rest of us.
“The goal was a mistake. We should just be clearing our lines but got caught with a bouncing ball and tried to get too clever with it. We had four instances in the first half where we got caught in bad areas trying to do the wrong thing. If we continue to do that, we’ll gift goals away. We’ve been guilty of that recently and that’s why we’re on a bad run. The number of set-piece goals we’ve conceded are absolute gifts.
“We dealt with what VCD threw at us relatively well. They had one flick off the post and a couple of small periods in the second half of pressure, but Danny hasn’t had too much to do. But we gift a goal like that and it kills us. Ultimately, it’s down to us not taking our set-piece chances. From 30 corners, I expect us to be getting a minimum of five chances on target. We’ve had a couple at most and clearly wasn’t enough.
“I’m not going to say it’s okay because title rivals Lewes and Carshalton both lost. It’s not alright. We cannot accept losing, especially to teams that far down the table. No disrespect to VCD – they came with an energy and worked hard. For me, they’re a little better than their league position suggests. But we must remember we’ve forced the best part of 30 corners and if we convert a fraction of those, it’s game over.
“We’ve got to pull our fingers right out now. For me, Cray Wanderers will win every week. They’ll win this league. They’ve only lost once this season as it stands.
“Second spot is still available as everyone else will lose games – us included. There’s no point dressing it up and saying we’ll go on and win every game. We won’t. We need to get more mentally tough and grind out enough points because that’s what all teams are going to have to do now. Everyone can beat everyone.
“We need a couple of players back and we need a couple of players in. Hopefully, that’ll happen soon.
“Ask me again in a month how I feel when I have six more players available then I might be telling a different story but at the moment where we are, with what we’ve got, that’s where we are – having to grind out results. But we need to improve… and fast.”
Saturday 16th December 2017
Bostik League South
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat to lowly VCD Athletic at King George’s Arena on Saturday in the Bostik League South when Kemo Darboe’s 78th minute strike was enough to separate the sides.
James Bracken’s Casuals have now only won once in their last six league matches denting promotion hopes in the process. The 4-1 win at Horsham just days before seemingly a distant memory.
VCD came into the match also struggling for form; they’d lost the last three on the bounce and a trip to second-placed Casuals was set to be the toughest test in the festive period.
Casuals still remain depleted and though it’s hoped that Jordan Clarke will soon return from injury, Danny Cunningham, Kevant Serbony and Mu Maan look to be out for somewhat considerably longer. There was no last hurrah for departing Dave Hodges either also due to injury.
Despite this, Casuals looked lively in the early exchanges and most of the threat came from the right with Reyon Dillon constantly haranguing Kojo Awotwi at full back. The imposing striker forcing a large number of corners. It was to be the theme for the afternoon.
At the other end, Rashid Kamara’s free kick from a dangerous area caught all by surprise and blushes were spared when the crossbar came to the rescue. Further embarrassment was avoided when Nathan Daly slipped, allowing Kamara the chance to score, only to be denied by a clearance from Malachi Robinson.
Casuals continued to force more corners. Dillon’s looping header came the closest, causing Joe Mant to tip it over to safety. Max Oldham found the side netting with another burst into the box but the half was to end as drab as the weather.
Arguably, VCD looked the better in the second half, often causing Casuals to remain on the backfoot and hurrying clearances. Ex-Casual Ayman El-Moyhalbel came closest when he struck the post from close range. It was a warning sign that wasn’t heeded.
The story at the other end was repeatable ad-nauseum; Corner, corner, corner, corner, corner. It became somewhat of a reoccurring joke in the stands as many had lost count of the set-pieces Casuals had earned. Despite the growing number, now well past twenty, Casuals rarely threatened.
Then on 78 minutes came the sting in the tail; Rather than clearing the lines, Daly was caught in possession and VCD couldn’t fail to score. Darboe slotting past Bracken to deal the final blow. Casuals attempted to rally and forced a couple of decent saves from Mant, but VCD held out for their fourth win on the road this season.
“Our play wasn’t good but I can’t knock us based on how many times we’ve got into the final third of the pitch,” said James Bracken after the match. “It’s not an exaggeration; we’ve won 25-30 corners.”
“If you’re forcing that many corners – and we were forcing them by putting in crosses and shots that were blocked, we have to be scoring one or two of them. I can’t be watching every single corner get comfortably cleared. We’d have been there all night pumping balls into the box without anyone getting on the end of it.
“There were players not doing their roles properly and it’s very frustrating. To set a team up with jobs to do on the pitch and for them to not carry those out simply isn’t good enough. If one or two players don’t stick to the plan, then it comes all unstuck for the rest of us.
“The goal was a mistake. We should just be clearing our lines but got caught with a bouncing ball and tried to get too clever with it. We had four instances in the first half where we got caught in bad areas trying to do the wrong thing. If we continue to do that, we’ll gift goals away. We’ve been guilty of that recently and that’s why we’re on a bad run. The number of set-piece goals we’ve conceded are absolute gifts.
“We dealt with what VCD threw at us relatively well. They had one flick off the post and a couple of small periods in the second half of pressure, but Danny hasn’t had too much to do. But we gift a goal like that and it kills us. Ultimately, it’s down to us not taking our set-piece chances. From 30 corners, I expect us to be getting a minimum of five chances on target. We’ve had a couple at most and clearly wasn’t enough.
“I’m not going to say it’s okay because title rivals Lewes and Carshalton both lost. It’s not alright. We cannot accept losing, especially to teams that far down the table. No disrespect to VCD – they came with an energy and worked hard. For me, they’re a little better than their league position suggests. But we must remember we’ve forced the best part of 30 corners and if we convert a fraction of those, it’s game over.
“We’ve got to pull our fingers right out now. For me, Cray Wanderers will win every week. They’ll win this league. They’ve only lost once this season as it stands.
“Second spot is still available as everyone else will lose games – us included. There’s no point dressing it up and saying we’ll go on and win every game. We won’t. We need to get more mentally tough and grind out enough points because that’s what all teams are going to have to do now. Everyone can beat everyone.
“We need a couple of players back and we need a couple of players in. Hopefully, that’ll happen soon.
“Ask me again in a month how I feel when I have six more players available then I might be telling a different story but at the moment where we are, with what we’ve got, that’s where we are – having to grind out results. But we need to improve… and fast.”
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