Margate 3 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 22nd January 2022
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
10-man Corinthian-Casuals succumbed to a 3-1 reverse at Margate on Saturday in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
A Ken Feyi header fifteen minutes from time was swiftly followed by a red card for Ola Williams in a double blow for the Casuals, leaving them with little chance of a comeback.
Manager James Bracken would’ve felt confident going into this match having lost just once in the previous twelve games and also achieving a 3-1 win over opponents Margate back in November.
However, he was hampered with vital absentees of Jack Strange and Ben Cheklit (injuries) and Peter Ojemen (suspension). In came the experienced Jerry Nnamani for his league debut for the Casuals and Mo Diallo was preferred up top to the benched Bobby Mills.
Casuals had to weather a bright Margate, out of the blocks quicker than their visitors but Corinth soon grew into the contest enjoying good possession even if it wasn’t particularly threatening. The biggest challenge for Margate’s back line was Mani Mensah operating with guile down the right.
The crowd were brought to life on 26 minutes when Gate’s Vance Bola looped a through ball over the Casuals defence for Sam Blackman to latch onto and finish past the advancing Danny Bracken – not the result the captain wanted on his 31st birthday.
As Casuals did against Cray the week before, they looked to get back into the contest before half time and the best chance came on the stroke of the whistle when a Nnamani header was beaten off the line by keeper Billy Johnson.
The fact didn’t matter post team talk as two minutes after the break, a marauding Casuals, with fresh impetus levelled. 16 year old Alfie Bendle’s shot could only be parried back to him before he made no mistake in following up. Casuals were in the ascendancy and continually knocked on the door of Margate’s defence.
But then something strange occurred. That momentum disappeared. Unlike last week, James Bracken had praised the increasing intensity and ‘never give up’ attitude that his side possessed in the last quarter of the match at Cray. But it just as easily disappeared here as the threat diminished.
Despite this, Margate had rarely threatened themselves. A shot into the side netting was as good as it had got for them. But with fifteen minutes remaining, the match would be decided. Gate won a free kick in a wide position, close to the corner flag. Ben Greenhalgh whipped in the cross and Feyi pounced with a free header at the back post to regain the lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Casuals just two minutes later. A scuffle in the middle of the park resulted in a yellow card to Ola Williams for dissent. Not backing down, the defender quickly talked himself into another yellow and was dismissed. Casuals were down to ten.
The final blow was dealt in stoppage time when Greenhalgh converted a penalty to seal the three points for Jay Saunders side.
“The turning point of the match was the red card,” admitted James Bracken after the match. “That was the point where the game became more difficult to get something out of.
“Up until then, I was pleased with the performance and I thought we were the better team. We found ourselves 2-1 down despite the fact that the second half was pretty much all us on the attack. They’ve scored from a soft set piece, which we need to do better from.
“Straight after that, we’ve had the red card shown and that made life very difficult for us.
“It was a game that just got away from us. Two moments decided the outcome in an otherwise tight game. I was pleased with a lot of the football we played. I believe we had the better of possession and a better tempo about us.
“But we’ve killed ourselves and I’m not going to hide behind anything – we’ve undone ourselves out there. That’s a shame because nine of the players have put in a good, honest shift, playing relatively well. A couple of mad moments and we find ourselves going home with nothing. The players that are responsible, they’re aware that they are. We do win as a team and we do lose as a team, together but you also have to remind lads that they are culpable for their actions. Sadly, a couple of them got it wrong and it’s cost us.
“Obviously, we had no Strangey and no Peter today. So we were missing two of our back three so-to-speak. But we still managed to get that calibre of defence out there. We’ll be okay even if we miss two or three of our key players.
“This is why we have a squad. We’re in a position where we might have 20 players available some weeks. You pick your starting eleven, you pick your best cover on the bench and then you make four difficult phone calls. If and when we get everyone fit, we’ll be in that position and that’s where we’ll want to be. That’s why we have a squad and why the boys must understand why some days they’ll play and other days they’ll have to be patient for an opportunity.
“That’s why they have to perform at their best. Because if you’re not performing then your position will come under threat.
“We’ve lost a game of football today and that happens. But we’ve killed ourselves out there. But we’re a good team. We’ll be the same good team on Tuesday and again on Saturday. We’ll be the same good team we were last Saturday and the Saturday before that and as far back as you’re going to the start of the season.
“I saw a league table that our Vice President, Brian Phillips put together. It was a table minus just the first four games of the season. It lists us level on points with Enfield Town with a game in hand on them. That’s the level we’ve been at since. Bear in mind, our slow start, Potters Bar Town, we were 1-0 up in the second half and two penalties saw us throw it away. 2-0 up at Wingate, drew 2-2. The Kingstonian game we should’ve won, ended up losing 1-0 to a penalty and Folkestone, another 1-0 loss with a second half of us as the better side. Had those games come now, especially the Wingate and Potters Bar games, we’d have seen them out. Another day, we know we’d have at least drawn with K’s. So we could’ve had seven points more from that poor start.
“We look back at every game and think we could’ve won it, probably with the exception of Cheshunt and Bishop’s Stortford. But two games out of 24 we’ve given ourselves a chance to win. But it shows where we are at when we’ve picked up the same amount of points as Enfield and Cheshunt have since the first four games of the season. And everyone praises Cheshunt and Enfield as great sides this season – and we’re right up there with them on points since the start of September. Yet we’ll get no respect. We’ll still be seen as the side who came away lucky with a win, or the opposition had an off day. But we’ve been ‘lucky’ enough to have picked up the same points as Enfield have over that period. So we’ve been ‘very lucky’ so far this season.
“We’re playing well. We have a good team. We have a good way of playing. Our system gives a lot of teams a lot of problems.
“So we’ll just keep doing it. We’ll try for the win again next week. It’ll be a tough game of course. But we’ve played Worthing three times this season and only lost once. We’re certainly not going to fear anything going into it. We’ll attack the game, hopefully get a good crowd and make life very difficult for them.”
Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 22nd January 2022
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
10-man Corinthian-Casuals succumbed to a 3-1 reverse at Margate on Saturday in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
A Ken Feyi header fifteen minutes from time was swiftly followed by a red card for Ola Williams in a double blow for the Casuals, leaving them with little chance of a comeback.
Manager James Bracken would’ve felt confident going into this match having lost just once in the previous twelve games and also achieving a 3-1 win over opponents Margate back in November.
However, he was hampered with vital absentees of Jack Strange and Ben Cheklit (injuries) and Peter Ojemen (suspension). In came the experienced Jerry Nnamani for his league debut for the Casuals and Mo Diallo was preferred up top to the benched Bobby Mills.
Casuals had to weather a bright Margate, out of the blocks quicker than their visitors but Corinth soon grew into the contest enjoying good possession even if it wasn’t particularly threatening. The biggest challenge for Margate’s back line was Mani Mensah operating with guile down the right.
The crowd were brought to life on 26 minutes when Gate’s Vance Bola looped a through ball over the Casuals defence for Sam Blackman to latch onto and finish past the advancing Danny Bracken – not the result the captain wanted on his 31st birthday.
As Casuals did against Cray the week before, they looked to get back into the contest before half time and the best chance came on the stroke of the whistle when a Nnamani header was beaten off the line by keeper Billy Johnson.
The fact didn’t matter post team talk as two minutes after the break, a marauding Casuals, with fresh impetus levelled. 16 year old Alfie Bendle’s shot could only be parried back to him before he made no mistake in following up. Casuals were in the ascendancy and continually knocked on the door of Margate’s defence.
But then something strange occurred. That momentum disappeared. Unlike last week, James Bracken had praised the increasing intensity and ‘never give up’ attitude that his side possessed in the last quarter of the match at Cray. But it just as easily disappeared here as the threat diminished.
Despite this, Margate had rarely threatened themselves. A shot into the side netting was as good as it had got for them. But with fifteen minutes remaining, the match would be decided. Gate won a free kick in a wide position, close to the corner flag. Ben Greenhalgh whipped in the cross and Feyi pounced with a free header at the back post to regain the lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Casuals just two minutes later. A scuffle in the middle of the park resulted in a yellow card to Ola Williams for dissent. Not backing down, the defender quickly talked himself into another yellow and was dismissed. Casuals were down to ten.
The final blow was dealt in stoppage time when Greenhalgh converted a penalty to seal the three points for Jay Saunders side.
“The turning point of the match was the red card,” admitted James Bracken after the match. “That was the point where the game became more difficult to get something out of.
“Up until then, I was pleased with the performance and I thought we were the better team. We found ourselves 2-1 down despite the fact that the second half was pretty much all us on the attack. They’ve scored from a soft set piece, which we need to do better from.
“Straight after that, we’ve had the red card shown and that made life very difficult for us.
“It was a game that just got away from us. Two moments decided the outcome in an otherwise tight game. I was pleased with a lot of the football we played. I believe we had the better of possession and a better tempo about us.
“But we’ve killed ourselves and I’m not going to hide behind anything – we’ve undone ourselves out there. That’s a shame because nine of the players have put in a good, honest shift, playing relatively well. A couple of mad moments and we find ourselves going home with nothing. The players that are responsible, they’re aware that they are. We do win as a team and we do lose as a team, together but you also have to remind lads that they are culpable for their actions. Sadly, a couple of them got it wrong and it’s cost us.
“Obviously, we had no Strangey and no Peter today. So we were missing two of our back three so-to-speak. But we still managed to get that calibre of defence out there. We’ll be okay even if we miss two or three of our key players.
“This is why we have a squad. We’re in a position where we might have 20 players available some weeks. You pick your starting eleven, you pick your best cover on the bench and then you make four difficult phone calls. If and when we get everyone fit, we’ll be in that position and that’s where we’ll want to be. That’s why we have a squad and why the boys must understand why some days they’ll play and other days they’ll have to be patient for an opportunity.
“That’s why they have to perform at their best. Because if you’re not performing then your position will come under threat.
“We’ve lost a game of football today and that happens. But we’ve killed ourselves out there. But we’re a good team. We’ll be the same good team on Tuesday and again on Saturday. We’ll be the same good team we were last Saturday and the Saturday before that and as far back as you’re going to the start of the season.
“I saw a league table that our Vice President, Brian Phillips put together. It was a table minus just the first four games of the season. It lists us level on points with Enfield Town with a game in hand on them. That’s the level we’ve been at since. Bear in mind, our slow start, Potters Bar Town, we were 1-0 up in the second half and two penalties saw us throw it away. 2-0 up at Wingate, drew 2-2. The Kingstonian game we should’ve won, ended up losing 1-0 to a penalty and Folkestone, another 1-0 loss with a second half of us as the better side. Had those games come now, especially the Wingate and Potters Bar games, we’d have seen them out. Another day, we know we’d have at least drawn with K’s. So we could’ve had seven points more from that poor start.
“We look back at every game and think we could’ve won it, probably with the exception of Cheshunt and Bishop’s Stortford. But two games out of 24 we’ve given ourselves a chance to win. But it shows where we are at when we’ve picked up the same amount of points as Enfield and Cheshunt have since the first four games of the season. And everyone praises Cheshunt and Enfield as great sides this season – and we’re right up there with them on points since the start of September. Yet we’ll get no respect. We’ll still be seen as the side who came away lucky with a win, or the opposition had an off day. But we’ve been ‘lucky’ enough to have picked up the same points as Enfield have over that period. So we’ve been ‘very lucky’ so far this season.
“We’re playing well. We have a good team. We have a good way of playing. Our system gives a lot of teams a lot of problems.
“So we’ll just keep doing it. We’ll try for the win again next week. It’ll be a tough game of course. But we’ve played Worthing three times this season and only lost once. We’re certainly not going to fear anything going into it. We’ll attack the game, hopefully get a good crowd and make life very difficult for them.”
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