Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 1 Cheshunt
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Saturday 30th October 2021
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (Photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals were knocked out of the FA Trophy at the first stage in an uninspiring 1-0 loss to a gritty Cheshunt side.
The visitors progress courtesy of a 47th minute solitary strike by Zac Newton to put the Ambers in the hat for the First Round Proper.
James Bracken was forced to make a number of changes, which included the resting of Centre-Back Jack Strange and the absence of leading scorer Warren Mfula. Kieron Cadogan was also rested via the bench as Nat Pinney made his first start this season.
On a pitch that had taken a battering from the morning’s relentless rain, pure football was going to be a tough ask. Cheshunt asked questions first, forcing a fine tip over from Danny Bracken after the Ambers hit one from range.
It took until the second half for something to happen in the match; whilst many were still attending to their half-time beers, Cheshunt snuck a goal – a neat swivel and shot by Newton to beat Bracken and give the lead to a very quiet response. In fact, many hadn’t even realized that Cheshunt had scored!
Casuals bounced back and should’ve had an equaliser moments later. A neat interaction between Pinney, Bolton and finally Manni Mensah saw the latter beautifully curl his shot into the top corner. A goal worthy of taking the game to penalties – except the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. It was hard to work out when the infringement occurred but thus, the goal was struck off.
Corinth probed a resilient Cheshunt defence for much of the second period but the breakthrough never came and the visitors eeked out a tight win to progress in the Trophy.
"Our application and energy levels towards the game today wasn’t a problem", said James Bracken after the match.
"We performed better than we did on Tuesday against Stortford in terms of ensuring we were in the game.
"The second half, we got off to the worst possible start. It’s a poor goal from our point of view. We gave the ball away, no one does enough to react and thus, they score. It’s such a soft goal and I felt someone in that passage of play could’ve done more to prevent it.
"I thought we had an equaliser too. We can talk about officials all day. They’ve missed a lot in my opinion. Cheshunt had around 15-16 fouls in the first half alone but only one booking. It’s a shame because you could see it was going to be one of those afternoons which detracts from what you’re trying to achieve on the pitch.
"These games get no easier. We’ve got Margate and then Enfield Town on Saturday. All we can do is put ourselves in the game. We’ll pick what we believe is the right side with the right tactics. We’ll make ourselves be hard to break down yet still carrying our own threat.
"We need to start doing better from set-pieces. We had two or three clear headers again that went over the bar. We have to take those chances. Especially at this time of the year, because of the pitches, it’s harder to create clear-cut chances. The speed of play up to this point has to be put to one side and you have to find other ways to win games. So we need to up the percentage of goals from set-pieces. We’ll certainly be looking at that. The lads that get into the box for free-kicks and corners need to start chipping in. If they don’t, we’ll see more games go against us 1-0.
"We were missing a few today as well. We were a little light. We had everyone here who was available to play and could only muster four subs, which is unusual for us. When you miss two or three big players, it does make a difference. Hopefully, they’ll be back in fresh and drive the intensity up from the very start."
FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Saturday 30th October 2021
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (Photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals were knocked out of the FA Trophy at the first stage in an uninspiring 1-0 loss to a gritty Cheshunt side.
The visitors progress courtesy of a 47th minute solitary strike by Zac Newton to put the Ambers in the hat for the First Round Proper.
James Bracken was forced to make a number of changes, which included the resting of Centre-Back Jack Strange and the absence of leading scorer Warren Mfula. Kieron Cadogan was also rested via the bench as Nat Pinney made his first start this season.
On a pitch that had taken a battering from the morning’s relentless rain, pure football was going to be a tough ask. Cheshunt asked questions first, forcing a fine tip over from Danny Bracken after the Ambers hit one from range.
It took until the second half for something to happen in the match; whilst many were still attending to their half-time beers, Cheshunt snuck a goal – a neat swivel and shot by Newton to beat Bracken and give the lead to a very quiet response. In fact, many hadn’t even realized that Cheshunt had scored!
Casuals bounced back and should’ve had an equaliser moments later. A neat interaction between Pinney, Bolton and finally Manni Mensah saw the latter beautifully curl his shot into the top corner. A goal worthy of taking the game to penalties – except the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. It was hard to work out when the infringement occurred but thus, the goal was struck off.
Corinth probed a resilient Cheshunt defence for much of the second period but the breakthrough never came and the visitors eeked out a tight win to progress in the Trophy.
"Our application and energy levels towards the game today wasn’t a problem", said James Bracken after the match.
"We performed better than we did on Tuesday against Stortford in terms of ensuring we were in the game.
"The second half, we got off to the worst possible start. It’s a poor goal from our point of view. We gave the ball away, no one does enough to react and thus, they score. It’s such a soft goal and I felt someone in that passage of play could’ve done more to prevent it.
"I thought we had an equaliser too. We can talk about officials all day. They’ve missed a lot in my opinion. Cheshunt had around 15-16 fouls in the first half alone but only one booking. It’s a shame because you could see it was going to be one of those afternoons which detracts from what you’re trying to achieve on the pitch.
"These games get no easier. We’ve got Margate and then Enfield Town on Saturday. All we can do is put ourselves in the game. We’ll pick what we believe is the right side with the right tactics. We’ll make ourselves be hard to break down yet still carrying our own threat.
"We need to start doing better from set-pieces. We had two or three clear headers again that went over the bar. We have to take those chances. Especially at this time of the year, because of the pitches, it’s harder to create clear-cut chances. The speed of play up to this point has to be put to one side and you have to find other ways to win games. So we need to up the percentage of goals from set-pieces. We’ll certainly be looking at that. The lads that get into the box for free-kicks and corners need to start chipping in. If they don’t, we’ll see more games go against us 1-0.
"We were missing a few today as well. We were a little light. We had everyone here who was available to play and could only muster four subs, which is unusual for us. When you miss two or three big players, it does make a difference. Hopefully, they’ll be back in fresh and drive the intensity up from the very start."
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