Sandhurst Town 1-1 Corinthian-Casuals
Combined Counties League Premier South
Saturday 15 February 2025
Report: Josh Lamey
Images: Stuart Tree (full set here).
Casuals just love leaving it late. Frazier Osunkoya was the talk of the town on Saturday, as his frantic leveller sent a relieved Corinthian-Casuals side home with a point.
Recent unfavourable weather has caused a sporadic start to 2025 for Casuals, with just two games going ahead since the turn of the year. It’s been stop-start on the results front too – a 4-4 score draw with Camberley that went down to the wire and a 3-1 defeat at the hands of table-toppers Redhill left Mu Maan’s men firmly in mid-table.
Sandhurst, despite evidence of a mid-season resurgence, had been hovering just above the bottom two for the majority of the season. However, a handful of hard-fought draws and courageous performances suggested a battle was certainly on the cards for Casuals down the road from the Royal Military Academy.
The young Sandhurst side started the brighter, and fashioned an impressive opener on 17 minutes, when George Lock squeezed past Warren Morgan before launching a rocket high and hard beyond Murillo Bernardes’ left glove.
In a first half which lacked much meaningful goalmouth action, Sandhurst were eager to take any opportunity that they were given. Alfie Edmonds found himself with enough room to manoeuvre, before slinging a cross into the danger zone, and it was inches away from being an assist had Eddie Cooper’s header not trickled the wrong side of the post.
Amidst the frosty bite of the winter’s remnants, there was enough time for a fiery end to the half. Both sides had arms raised in penalty appeals – Sandhurst after Cooper was challenged by a strong but fair Marcos Dos Santos tackle, and Casuals when Reyon Dillon was galloping through the gears and seemed to be thwarted by Connor Allison inside the area. Nothing given.
Half-time presented Casuals with the perfect opportunity to regather and regroup after a difficult first 45, but if one thing was for sure, an improvement was imperative.
And whatever was said by Maan and the coaching staff during the interval nearly paid off after 48 minutes. Trey Masikini was electric down the right flank all game, and his low driven cross into the six-yard box was there for Dillon to pounce on, but the ball rolled agonisingly through the legs of the fan favourite. A glorious chance, but a sign of things to come in this second period.
Despite trailing early on, it was a heroic display from the defenders bearing the Corinthian badge. Fearless is just one of the words to describe debutant Tobi Falodi’s performance, as the left-back brought in from Epsom & Ewell put his body between ball and goal on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, returning goalkeeper Bernardes made some vital saves to keep Casuals in it.
The Fizzers had a chance to ensure that all three points would remain in Sandhurst on 66 minutes, when Cooper pounced on a loose ball just inside the area, but his wayward effort whistled over the upright. A matter of seconds later, Kieron Cadogan led the latest Corinthian counter-charge but his ambitious half-volley from 25 yards dropped over the bar.
As the clock ticked down, an impending sense of ‘now or never’ was looming among the persistent Corinthian-Casuals travelling support. The best chance of the match fell to Cadogan following a low cross by substitute Frazier Osunkoya, but his swivel and shot somehow failed to cross the line, despite a kind rebound allowing him and second and third swing at it.
However, Casuals weren’t done there. Eight minutes into time added on, many inside Bottom Meadow would’ve thought that Lock’s first-half strike would prove enough to separate the sides, but this is Mu Maan’s Corinthian-Casuals we’re talking about. In the dying embers, right-back Jonathan Gjoshe hoisted one final cross into the box, where Osunkoya met it with a powerful header that crashed off the bottom of the crossbar bar and over the line, sending those behind the goal into raucous raptures. You couldn’t believe it, but you had to. Casuals had pulled a point out of the fire again.
“It was a great feeling, but more importantly we wanted the three points,” said goalscorer Osunkoya, who had a spell at Sandhurst earlier this season. “We were pressing, running, we were on top. With another 10 minutes we would’ve won the game.”
Corinthian-Casuals: Bernardes, Gjoshe, Morgan, Dos Santos, Falodi, Swaby, Adelakun (Champion 45), Mu Maan (Cheklit 73), Masikini, Cadogan, Dillon (Osunkoya 82)
Combined Counties League Premier South
Saturday 15 February 2025
Report: Josh Lamey
Images: Stuart Tree (full set here).
Casuals just love leaving it late. Frazier Osunkoya was the talk of the town on Saturday, as his frantic leveller sent a relieved Corinthian-Casuals side home with a point.
Recent unfavourable weather has caused a sporadic start to 2025 for Casuals, with just two games going ahead since the turn of the year. It’s been stop-start on the results front too – a 4-4 score draw with Camberley that went down to the wire and a 3-1 defeat at the hands of table-toppers Redhill left Mu Maan’s men firmly in mid-table.
Sandhurst, despite evidence of a mid-season resurgence, had been hovering just above the bottom two for the majority of the season. However, a handful of hard-fought draws and courageous performances suggested a battle was certainly on the cards for Casuals down the road from the Royal Military Academy.
The young Sandhurst side started the brighter, and fashioned an impressive opener on 17 minutes, when George Lock squeezed past Warren Morgan before launching a rocket high and hard beyond Murillo Bernardes’ left glove.
In a first half which lacked much meaningful goalmouth action, Sandhurst were eager to take any opportunity that they were given. Alfie Edmonds found himself with enough room to manoeuvre, before slinging a cross into the danger zone, and it was inches away from being an assist had Eddie Cooper’s header not trickled the wrong side of the post.
Amidst the frosty bite of the winter’s remnants, there was enough time for a fiery end to the half. Both sides had arms raised in penalty appeals – Sandhurst after Cooper was challenged by a strong but fair Marcos Dos Santos tackle, and Casuals when Reyon Dillon was galloping through the gears and seemed to be thwarted by Connor Allison inside the area. Nothing given.
Half-time presented Casuals with the perfect opportunity to regather and regroup after a difficult first 45, but if one thing was for sure, an improvement was imperative.
And whatever was said by Maan and the coaching staff during the interval nearly paid off after 48 minutes. Trey Masikini was electric down the right flank all game, and his low driven cross into the six-yard box was there for Dillon to pounce on, but the ball rolled agonisingly through the legs of the fan favourite. A glorious chance, but a sign of things to come in this second period.
Despite trailing early on, it was a heroic display from the defenders bearing the Corinthian badge. Fearless is just one of the words to describe debutant Tobi Falodi’s performance, as the left-back brought in from Epsom & Ewell put his body between ball and goal on numerous occasions. Meanwhile, returning goalkeeper Bernardes made some vital saves to keep Casuals in it.
The Fizzers had a chance to ensure that all three points would remain in Sandhurst on 66 minutes, when Cooper pounced on a loose ball just inside the area, but his wayward effort whistled over the upright. A matter of seconds later, Kieron Cadogan led the latest Corinthian counter-charge but his ambitious half-volley from 25 yards dropped over the bar.
As the clock ticked down, an impending sense of ‘now or never’ was looming among the persistent Corinthian-Casuals travelling support. The best chance of the match fell to Cadogan following a low cross by substitute Frazier Osunkoya, but his swivel and shot somehow failed to cross the line, despite a kind rebound allowing him and second and third swing at it.
However, Casuals weren’t done there. Eight minutes into time added on, many inside Bottom Meadow would’ve thought that Lock’s first-half strike would prove enough to separate the sides, but this is Mu Maan’s Corinthian-Casuals we’re talking about. In the dying embers, right-back Jonathan Gjoshe hoisted one final cross into the box, where Osunkoya met it with a powerful header that crashed off the bottom of the crossbar bar and over the line, sending those behind the goal into raucous raptures. You couldn’t believe it, but you had to. Casuals had pulled a point out of the fire again.
“It was a great feeling, but more importantly we wanted the three points,” said goalscorer Osunkoya, who had a spell at Sandhurst earlier this season. “We were pressing, running, we were on top. With another 10 minutes we would’ve won the game.”
Corinthian-Casuals: Bernardes, Gjoshe, Morgan, Dos Santos, Falodi, Swaby, Adelakun (Champion 45), Mu Maan (Cheklit 73), Masikini, Cadogan, Dillon (Osunkoya 82)
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