Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 0 Chipstead
(Chipstead win 4-3 on Pens)
Velocity Trophy 3rd Round
Tuesday 30th November 2018
Match report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)

Corinthian-Casuals Manager James Bracken was left puzzled after his side were knocked out of the Velocity Trophy on Tuesday Night.
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Casuals were held to a 0-0 draw by the Bostik League South Central side with the visitors progressing to the next round following a 4-3 penalty shootout win.

It’s the second cup loss in three days following Corinth’s limp exit from the FA Trophy to Horsham at the weekend.

“I’m not quite sure how we’ve not won,” said Bracken after the match.

“Chipstead had six wins in a row coming into this game but we restricted them to one shot, off target in the whole ninety minutes.

“We’ve had 28 touches in their box, hit the post twice, the crossbar once and cleared off the line numerous times. Even the one that rebounded off the post onto the goalkeeper’s back… that didn’t go in. They lived a charmed life and it didn’t go our way.

“The main thing was to get a positive reaction after our loss at Horsham on Saturday. We certainly got that. In terms of controlling the game, there’s plenty of positives to take.”

As the Manager alludes, Casuals had the lion’s share of possession and chances. Whilst it took a while for the match to warm up on this cold October evening, by half time, Chipstead were feeling the pressure. Both Gabriel Odunaike and Warren Mfula had a good couple of chances to score and Jordan Clarke saw two of his shots snatched and dragged past the post.

The second period was far livelier. Corinth surged forward on multiple occasions. Mu Maan on his 100 competitive appearance crashed one off the post, which rebounded off the back of the keeper who scrambled to recover before Odunaike could pounce. There was one off the bar, from a corner, another off the post from Clarke and a host of other near misses too numerous to mention. It wasn’t to be.

Alas, the stalemate after 90 minutes was decided by penalty spot kicks. Maan and Mfula both missing theirs to send Chipstead through to face AFC Hornchurch in the next round.

“Of course, when it goes to penalties, it’s a lottery and one we don’t seem to do very well in,” continued Bracken.

“But once it gets to that point, it’s a by-product for me. Don’t get me wrong; when your season ends on a penalty shoot-out, it’s different but pens in a cup competition, I’ll look at the performance first and foremost.

“Consistency is key now. The performance on Saturday at Horsham was nowhere near acceptable. I didn’t really need to tell them either. They knew.

“Tonight, they knew what they needed to do. They had to put in a more positive display which they did. It’s a shame it wasn’t capped with a win. Realistically, that deserved a 3-0 or 4-0 victory. That would have been a fair reflection on the chances we created alone.

Casuals will look to get back to winning ways on Saturday, but Bracken is aware of the tough ask as his side visits 3rd placed Dorking Wanderers in the League.

“We’ve got a little tough run coming up. Dorking Wanderers are the best side I’ve watched this season, so we’re aware of what we’re going into. But I also know that if we perform well, we can get those three points. We’ll go there to win and if we get it right, we will.”  

​After the 3-0 defeat to Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday, Manager James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.

“The two goals we conceded in the second half are especially poor. To concede just after half time is a flattener because we’re still in the game at 1-0. If we got the next goal, it could’ve been a very different outcome.
 
“To concede such a soft goal was disheartening for everyone. We’ve then had to force changes; come away from our usual game plan to get a foothold in the match and give ourselves a chance. The changes didn’t really improve matters, but you have to take a throw of the dice sometimes. The last goal, it’s not the change in shape that’s cost it… just an individual error.
 
“First half, we were more than competitive in the game. I felt we dominated large parts of the mid-field and we looked a threat. We probably didn’t play enough right passes and when we did, the quality wasn’t there. But we had chances. There was a one-on-one, a header from under the crossbar that was well saved. There were plenty of promising positions that we got ourselves into around the penalty box, but poor decision making cost us.
 
“Across the pitch, we weren’t good enough. The boys worked their socks off trying to do what we’ve asked them to do. I’m not going to beat them up too much over it though. It’s not like we’re coming off the back of eight straight wins and we’ve been hammered. It’s a game of football against a team that’s around the playoff spots. We were in it, competitive, we’ve had a throw at it but conceded three soft goals. If you give a side like this those opportunities, it doesn’t really matter what else you do in the game, it makes it very hard.
 
“We can be better than that for sure. I’ve asked them to take individual responsibility and not to point the finger at someone else. Everyone could’ve played better.
 
“At the same time, we must remember these lads aren’t robots. There’s plenty of variables to a game of football. Bishop’s Stortford have two lads up front in Cass and Cureton who are as clinical as you’ll find at this level. If you concede chances like we have – and we’ve gifted the pair of them goals – they’ll take them.
 
“There’s no great surgery needed.  We’ve won our previous three without conceding a goal, so we just need to look back at what went wrong and learn from it. It’s just down to how the boys correct things on the pitch. We have a great group of lads here that don’t get paid, yet they do their best. They’re good players and I know I’ll get a response from them.
 
“The response I’m looking for is ‘how hard are you willing to run for the team? How hard are you willing to get out there and push yourself?’ I know the team we put out against Haringey Borough on Tuesday night will be willing to run for another three points.
 
“It’s a good time to play Haringey. They’re a decent side that’ll come with lots of pace across the front. They’ve got a great FA Cup result at home against Poole and are in the 1st Round draw. Hopefully Haringey get a good tie and whets the appetite for the FA Cup. Perhaps they’ll overlook us a bit.
 
“They’ve got to come to Tolworth where we’ve won three in a row and not conceded a goal. We’re looking to make King George’s a fortress, which it hasn’t been in my time here. I believe we’ve got more points away from home in the last few seasons, but we need to use that confidence from the three consecutive home wins and add a fourth.”

Bishop's Stortford 3 - 0 Corinthian-Casuals
Bostik League Premier Division
Saturday 20th October 2018
Report and Pics: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)

Corinthian-Casuals suffered their first defeat in four matches going down 3-0 to a clinical Bishop’s Stortford side in the Bostik League Premier Division.
 
Casuals headed into this game looking to extend an unbeaten run which had saw three clean sheets in three games. However, standing in their way was a resurgent Stortford, who have vastly improved on their early season exploits – now under the guidance of Steve Smith and Jamie Cureton. The blues are unbeaten in their previous eight matches following the appointment of the new management duo.
 
Their cause was helped by having the services of National League hot-shot Jake Cass up front. His first start for the club in five matches. The dual-registered striker was unavailable to play for his parent club, Braintree thanks to FA Cup eligibility reasons. Joining him was the experienced ex-QPR and Norwich hitman Jamie Cureton.
 
Casuals made a number of changes from their London Senior Cup win in the week but a notable absence in midfield was Coskun Ekim, being replaced by Hamilton Antonio.
 
Stortford had the better of the opening chances though Casuals looked more dangerous on the counter. Keeper Brad Comins had to be sharp to prevent Cureton and Nick Brown from scoring.
 
The first blow was struck on 13 minutes. Cass turned Jack Tucker and his low cross was pounced upon by Alfie Mason in the six yard box. Casuals’ defending something left to be desired.
 
Warren Mfula was closest to restoring parity when he met a cross and his header was expertly kept out by Calum Kitscha. Gabriel Odunaike broke the back line and raced onto a through ball, though the assistant referee deemed him offside. However, replays of footage show the striker clearly onside when the ball is played. Small margins can be costly.

And so it was; just four minutes into the second half and a long ball from Stortford’s own half found Casuals’ defence wanting and Cureton had no hesitation in punishing the visitors. How he took his goal well, though!
 
Corinth had been winded and never looked like getting back into the game, despite good build up play around the box. Jordan Clarke cut in from the byline and forced a save at the near post. Jack Strange’s free header could only sail over the bar. Odunaike breaking through could only muster a weak shot.
 
At the other end, Comins made a string of excellent saves from a number of chances but many will remember his mistake that cost the third goal. Another long ball into the box was mishandled by the keeper and Cass reacted quickly to head into an empty net.

Read Manager James Bracken's post match thoughts here.

Corinthian-Casuals claimed their second league win in a week when Gabriel Odunaike’s 78th minute strike was enough to earn all three points against AFC Hornchurch.

The result leaves James Bracken’s side looking up the table rather than down. “If we win our game in hand, we’re three points off the playoff places,” said Bracken following the win. “If you’d have asked me if I’d take that at the start of the season, most people would snap your hand off.”

“That’s four wins out of the last five against Bostik Premier opposition in all competitions. We’ve defeated an unbeaten side here today and thoroughly deserved it.”

“It was great today. Non-League Day. Big crowd. There was a real buzz about the place. When the final whistle went, and you get that spine-tingling feeling… you can’t buy that. That’s what we play for. We play for those moments. We’ve had plenty of those in the past. We had a great day today and it’s up to us to continue to earn more of them.

“The boys done the right things today. We’re improving all the time and hopefully the last few games will give them the belief that they can perform to the required standard. Even when things aren’t going so well, we can look back at matches like today and draw from it.

“If we win our game in hand, we’re three points off the playoff places. If you’d have asked me if I’d take that at the start of the season, most people would snap your hand off.

“We’re not going to get carried away. It’s a tight league, right down to the bottom. But we’ve shown through recent performances that when we get it right, and when the boys stick to what they’re supposed to do, we’re more than capable of picking up points.
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“Looking back, when we played Brightlingsea Regent for over an hour with ten men, we still should have won. That’s two points dropped. The Kingstonian game should’ve been a point. That puts us three points better off in total. Take that and we’re two points outside the playoffs with a game in hand. I’m happy. It could be better but we have to be happy.”

Corinthian-Casuals 1 - 0 AFC Hornchurch
Bostik League Premier Division
Saturday 13th October 2018
Report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pics here)

There are some days you look back upon and say ‘that was perfect’. Saturday was a strong contender after Corinthian-Casuals grabbed their second league win in a week, dispatching unbeaten AFC Hornchurch in the process.

Perfect? Close to it. The summer had returned – briefly, even allowing Manager James Bracken to throw on a pair of shorts when just a week ago, he stood shivering in the corridor of Imber Court trying to get warm and dry.

Non League Day saw a bumper crowd through the turnstiles – including the four Preston North End supporters who’ve taken Casuals to heart since their first stumbling across the amateurs at Three Bridges in 2013. They even gave their flag ‘Northern Casuals’ – complete with a tribute to the late Terry Farnworth, to add to the growing number of banners that adorn the ground.

The weather was set. The atmosphere was set. The two captains – uniting to hold a ‘Prostate Cancer UK’ charity message at the coin toss, we set. All that was needed was a performance to match the audience.
Casuals started cautiously but soon grew into the game. The best chance fell early on to Warren Mfula after the ball fell to him around 12 yards out. Callum Chafer saved well to keep the scores level.

Whilst play was good, despite the strong wind blowing down the ground, neither team created too many clear cut chances. Brad Comins had one save to make. Mu Maan’s shot was palmed around the post by Chafer. But both sides exited the field at half time scoreless.

The second half saw Casuals with the wind behind their backs. They looked to capitalise on this early. Jordan Clarke let fly a 25 yard curling effort which whistled past the stanchion and clipped the stand roof.

Pressure started to tell on Hornchurch and to the neutral observer, you’d have been hard pressed to work out who was the unbeaten side and who sat second-bottom in the league. Corinth exploited Hornchurch’s wings. Corner followed corner and thoughts of VCD last season entered some heads. Could all this pressure come to nothing or will it pay off?

It was the latter. On 78 minutes, Jack Tucker found Mu Maan who fooled his marker. A covering defender couldn’t clear and Maan squared the ball for Odunaike to tap in from six yards.

Casuals never looked threatened in the remaining time and Comins was only forced to make one clearance. Bracken’s side had their second win and second clean sheet in four days. Fans celebrated. Punters took part in a post-match crossbar challenge for charity. The Corinthian Ale had been drunk dry. The flags finally taken down after sunset – with many not wanting the day to end. Perfect? Pretty close!

Eyes turn to King George’s on Tuesday as Casuals host Croydon in the London Senior Cup.

​Manager James Bracken's post match thoughts can be read here.

Corinthian-Casuals 2 - 0 Whitehawk
Bostik League Premier Division
Tuesday 9th October 2018
Match report and pics: Stuart Tree (full set here)

Corinthian-Casuals earned their first league home win of the season with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Whitehawk.
 
Second half goals from Warren Mfula and Gabriel Odunaike were enough to seal the three points on a welcome return to King George’s Arena following the FA Cup debacle which saw Casuals forced to play their ‘home’ replay against St Albans City at Met Police’s Imber Court.
 
On paper, this was always going to be tough; The Hawks had come off a 9-1 thrashing at the hands of Billericay in the Cup and as often with drubbings, it was expected that they would dig in to grind out a positive result.
 
James Bracken made a couple of changes to his side that lost 3-0 to the Saints on Saturday. Jack Tucker came in along with Coskum Ekim.  
 
Under the new lights, both sides failed to shine in the first half. Plenty of huff and puff was on display yet neither side could break the deadlock. Hawks came close when Sisimayi Williams unleashed a powerful effort from 25 yards that came off the side of the post. Brad Comins had to be sharp to prevent Brannon O’Neill from scoring.
 
At the other end, Casuals used their pace to frighten the Hawk’s back line. Warren Mfula had the best chance of the half when he broke the ranks, forcing a fine stop from Melvin Minter.
 
Corinth looked an altogether different side in the second period. Despite Whitehawk clipping the top of the crossbar at one stage, they rarely threatened Comin’s goal. The breakthrough came of 55 minutes. Mfula was played through and with one touch, stabbed home from ten yards – the striker injuring himself in the process.
 
Casuals had the wind in their sails and looked to put the game to bed. Though they needed an assist from Hawk’s Matt Drage to do so. The Centre back played a lazy pass back straight to Gabriel Odunaike who had all the time in the world to slot into an empty net to double the lead.
 
Defensively, Casuals remained strong and the introduction of Gil Carvalho continued to cause Whitehawk problems. However, the score remained the same and the Amateurs had their first clean sheet of the season.

"It feels good to get a first home win in the league," said James Bracken after the match. "We should be higher in the table for sure. We’re on eight points, along with a lot of other sides and with games in hand. Obviously, these games are hard to win but it shows we’re in and around that level along with the sides around 11-12 points on the board.
 
"Don’t get me wrong. We should’ve done better, especially in the first half. We had plenty of opportunities with good runs but poor execution of the pass. When there was a good pass, it was followed with a poor first touch. There was something missing in every one of our moves which meant we didn’t score. But, the components were all there in patches. The boys just needed to put it all together from the back, to the front, to the net.
 
"We’re improving all the time and that’s the main thing to take from this. We’re continually working to improve and we’re able to get the right results. Sometimes you can lose a few games as you try to implement something new but we’re able to win games whilst doing that, which is fantastic from my point of view.
 
"It’s a case of what are we learning from these wins. We’ve learned so much in defeat and so much from all the goals that we’ve conceded. But getting a clean sheet was massively pleasing and we were solid away at St Albans last week. So the defensive side is improving all the time.
 
"We learned tonight that we shouldn’t give teams in and around us as much respect as we have. We gave them too much respect in the first half and we addressed that at the interval. I asked them to apply themselves better and force errors in their game. That ethos led directly to the second goal.
 
"That’s what we learned in victory. Just to remember not to give too much respect. Force errors and get amongst them. Cause mistakes. That way, we can capitalise without having to build our own attack on the edge of our own box." 

St Albans City 1 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Emirates FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
Tuesday 2nd October 2018
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree

Corinthian-Casuals earned themselves a replay against National League South high flyers St Albans City with a late equaliser from Josh Uzun on Tuesday evening.
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It was no less than deserved from the Amateur side as they held their own against Ian Allinson’s Saints in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round.

Whilst City ply their trade one league higher, Casuals never looked over-awed by their counterparts. In fact, it was Casuals who started the brighter. Jordan Clarke had the first real chance of the game when his shot was well saved from Dean Snedker.

Mu Maan went even closer as his 25 yard free kick smacked off the inside of the post and scrambled to safety.

But St Alban’s struck first, cruelly on the stroke of half time. A David Noble free kick somehow evaded everyone and keeper Brad Comins could only parry the shot into the path of David Moyo who dispatched from close range.
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Casuals came close again in the early stages of the second half when Maan’s shot was parried up in the air by Snedker and nearly bounced over the goal-line.

Frustration turned to sorrow when Danny Cunningham looked to have suffered a serious injury and had to be stretchered off the field and attend hospital.

Comins had to be on his toes on a couple of occasions, closing down the oncoming Saints attacks and the defensive line were much improved from the 6-1 drubbing to Enfield on Saturday.

With time running out, Josh Uzun was introduced for the first time this season following a lengthy lay-off through injury.

It was his cross in the 85th minute that was deflected off Tom Bender’s leg and evaded Snedker to find the far corner.

Casuals had a couple of threatening corners in an attempt to win the tie but the two sides will have to go again in the next week to find out who faces Taunton Town in the next round.

“Could’ve won? Should’ve won!” said Manager James Bracken after the match. “They’ll probably say they should’ve won it but that’s football. I thought we had the better chances, including the debatable one that might’ve crossed the line.

“We should’ve been 2-0 up before they scored.

“It was a stark contrast to Saturday. That wasn’t only my biggest defeat in management but by far the worst performance I’ve ever seen any of my teams produce in a thousand-plus games. Even when I was at Sutton with my Youth teams, I never saw such an inept, naïve display. There was a lack of energy, desire, commitment… everything.

We’ve addressed it in a methodical way. Let’s look at this as to where can we be better. It wasn’t acceptable.

Tonight, those boys were fantastic. Result aside, I said let’s go home proud of our efforts. Let’s give our fans something to cheer about like we did at Billericay last year. Let’s make sure the buzz of our performance sends both the players and fans home with a good feeling.

“We’ve got another shot at this now. It’ll be another tough game. I feel they underestimated us leaving their top goalscorer on the bench. That imitated to me that perhaps they thought we were a soft touch. But hey, if they’d watched us on Saturday, that’s probably what they went by.

“But we’re out there again and with a bit of luck, we can get to this level once more and give it a good go.

“After the Carshalton win, we had three or four training sessions where we worked on replicating that performance, replicating the areas we want to do well in, replicate the shape, the movement… everything. And then we went into that game against Enfield on Saturday and it all went out of the window.

“But performances like tonight gives us confidence and it’s something we can take into games. When you see that level of performance, we’re a playoff challenging team in the Bostik Premier. That’s what that level was worthy of. We just need to replicate this more often.
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“It’s not like every ball ran for us or every fancy trick we’ve tried has come off. It was just a solid workmanlike performance with quality when we’ve had the ball and with desire to get back when we haven’t. It was a proper football team with a proper game plan.”