Corinthian-Casuals 3 - 1 Faversham Town
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 16th January 2016
Attendance: 144
Match report: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals downed playoff hopefuls, Faversham Town by three goals to one at King George’s Arena in the Ryman League Division One South and kept them on track for a top five finish.
A penalty from Josh Uzun was followed up by goals from Shaun Okojie and Warren Morgan before Faversham grabbed a late consolation.
Although recent losses to Dulwich Hamlet and Sutton United were still fresh in the mind, both ply their trade in higher divisions. In terms of league form, Corinth have only lost once in the last seven games and that narrow loss to Molesey was courtesy of an injury time winner when down to ten men.
However, goals had been hard to come by of late and Manager James Bracken gave Shaun Okojie his first start of the season, pairing him up with the versatile Josh Uzun and the returning Cherno Mendy.
Fresh from his return in midweek (which saw him score), Joe Hicks moved to a midfield role along with Brandon Johnson.
The visitors had the best of the opening exchanges; George Monger forced a good low save from Danny Bracken in goal, who got enough of the ball to steer the shot wide. Shortly after, a long ball played down field from the Faversham keeper and Liam King got in behind the defence and should’ve scored. However, he poked his effort inches wide, much to the disbelief of those in attendance.
On 15 minutes, the game had its first turning point; A perhaps harsh penalty was awarded against Faversham after Mobolaji Dawodu had been adjudged to have fouled Josh Uzun. The striker dusted himself down and stepped up to slot home his 14th goal of the season.
The home side began to press for a second and Joe Hicks came closest from a corner, forcing a smart save from William Godman in goal. Hicks looked dominant in his new centre midfield position and played in Cherno Mendy who could only fire over from an acute angle.
Uzun turned provider for the next goal after his corner was swung into the middle of the goal. With the imposing Shaun Okojie on hand to meet it, the striker put the ball over the line before being hacked away. There was some confusion as to whether a goal had been given and was confirmed by the assistant referee that it had indeed counted. Chants of ‘the Lino is a Russian’ rang around the ground shortly afterwards.
Casuals could’ve had the game out of sight before half time as Warren Morgan, Dave Hodges and Josh Uzun all linked up in some free flowing football. Corinth had an intensity about them which had been lacking for a few games.
As is often said, at two-nil, the next goal is crucial. And it fell to the home side just after the break. Breaking down the right, Morgan cut inside his marker and fired past Godmon before desperate defender Ashley Brown confirmed the goal by smashing it into his own net. Three nil and the contest was over.
However, with a few changes made for both sides, Faversham grew into the game and Bracken had to be on form to deny the visitors their chances. Things got a little nervy with 20 minutes to go as Renford Tenyue finally found a way past the visibly disappointed Bracken.
Casuals rode out the game without too much concern and condemned Faversham to only their 2nd defeat in 12 matches .The win leaves Casuals 10th in the league but with games in hand on the majority of their playoff rivals.
Corinth Manager James Bracken could take nothing but positives from the outcome.
“It was a welcome return to winning ways. We’ve had a few tough games of late and playing cup games against teams from a higher league isn’t easy. However, I always maintained I want to get back to the league and get a run of games against opposition that I feel we can beat.
“The wins will start to come again. Faversham are a very good team who are in good form, but we were better than them today and hence we picked up the three points.
“We’re fair in our selection and if the boys perform, they keep their shirts. We’ve had some defeats where players have under-performed and we haven’t scored as many goals as we should have, so others have come in for their opportunity.
“We stuck Shaun Okojie up front today; he’s scored a couple of times coming off the bench so deserved to start. Today, he’s led the line for 90 minutes, scored a goal and done everything I’ve asked of him. For those reasons, I’m delighted with Shaun.
“Joe Hicks coming back in is a massive boost for us. He leads by example. Joe will push the other boys around him and drive them on.
“They’re big plusses having those two in the side and playing so well.
“We’re going to have to beat teams in and around us. Right down to thirteenth place, everyone’s fighting to get in the top five and the playoff places. Pretty much every game is a six pointer. It’s not only winning the three points, it stops them getting the points.
“The next four or five league games are massive. If we can pick up three or four wins from them, we’ll put ourselves in a very strong position and hopefully we can attack the last ten games with confidence and end up there or thereabouts.
Speaking about targets and if they’ll break the club record for points in the league, set just last season, Bracken said,
“I’d have to have a serious look at myself if we don’t break last season’s points record for the league. But we will. We need 10 points to do it and we will. The highest position we’ve finished in the Ryman South is 13th but we’ll top that this year.
“They’re little targets but our goal is the playoffs. Points totals are great, we made history in the FA Trophy which is great but we want to get touching promotion. We want to actually achieve something.
Bracken thanked fellow Ryman South Manager Mark Hams – boss of Walton and Hersham, after he praised the Casuals’ Manager this past week.
“I’m a human being like anyone else and if people give you praise, then of course that’s nice. It gives me a little bit of confidence in what we’re doing. But it’s a team effort; Joe Davies, Dan Pringle, Jon Williams, Alan Winnett, Carly Doyle… we support our players totally and they’re doing the job on the pitch.
“Mark’s comments in the week were nice and we’ve had it from Neil Cugley, the Folkestone Manager who said earlier in the season that this was the best Casuals side he’d ever seen. Those comments go a long way and it’s great that people can talk well of you. But we have to focus on ourselves and it’s about producing the results each week.”
Casuals travel to Sittingbourne in the Alan Turvey Trophy Quarter Final on Tuesday and South Park in the league on Saturday.
Casuals: Bracken, Morgan, Hodges, Dudley, Murray, Johnson, Hicks (King), Serbony, Okojie (Akokhia), Uzun (Wright). Subs not used: Spencer, Defoe.
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 16th January 2016
Attendance: 144
Match report: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian-Casuals downed playoff hopefuls, Faversham Town by three goals to one at King George’s Arena in the Ryman League Division One South and kept them on track for a top five finish.
A penalty from Josh Uzun was followed up by goals from Shaun Okojie and Warren Morgan before Faversham grabbed a late consolation.
Although recent losses to Dulwich Hamlet and Sutton United were still fresh in the mind, both ply their trade in higher divisions. In terms of league form, Corinth have only lost once in the last seven games and that narrow loss to Molesey was courtesy of an injury time winner when down to ten men.
However, goals had been hard to come by of late and Manager James Bracken gave Shaun Okojie his first start of the season, pairing him up with the versatile Josh Uzun and the returning Cherno Mendy.
Fresh from his return in midweek (which saw him score), Joe Hicks moved to a midfield role along with Brandon Johnson.
The visitors had the best of the opening exchanges; George Monger forced a good low save from Danny Bracken in goal, who got enough of the ball to steer the shot wide. Shortly after, a long ball played down field from the Faversham keeper and Liam King got in behind the defence and should’ve scored. However, he poked his effort inches wide, much to the disbelief of those in attendance.
On 15 minutes, the game had its first turning point; A perhaps harsh penalty was awarded against Faversham after Mobolaji Dawodu had been adjudged to have fouled Josh Uzun. The striker dusted himself down and stepped up to slot home his 14th goal of the season.
The home side began to press for a second and Joe Hicks came closest from a corner, forcing a smart save from William Godman in goal. Hicks looked dominant in his new centre midfield position and played in Cherno Mendy who could only fire over from an acute angle.
Uzun turned provider for the next goal after his corner was swung into the middle of the goal. With the imposing Shaun Okojie on hand to meet it, the striker put the ball over the line before being hacked away. There was some confusion as to whether a goal had been given and was confirmed by the assistant referee that it had indeed counted. Chants of ‘the Lino is a Russian’ rang around the ground shortly afterwards.
Casuals could’ve had the game out of sight before half time as Warren Morgan, Dave Hodges and Josh Uzun all linked up in some free flowing football. Corinth had an intensity about them which had been lacking for a few games.
As is often said, at two-nil, the next goal is crucial. And it fell to the home side just after the break. Breaking down the right, Morgan cut inside his marker and fired past Godmon before desperate defender Ashley Brown confirmed the goal by smashing it into his own net. Three nil and the contest was over.
However, with a few changes made for both sides, Faversham grew into the game and Bracken had to be on form to deny the visitors their chances. Things got a little nervy with 20 minutes to go as Renford Tenyue finally found a way past the visibly disappointed Bracken.
Casuals rode out the game without too much concern and condemned Faversham to only their 2nd defeat in 12 matches .The win leaves Casuals 10th in the league but with games in hand on the majority of their playoff rivals.
Corinth Manager James Bracken could take nothing but positives from the outcome.
“It was a welcome return to winning ways. We’ve had a few tough games of late and playing cup games against teams from a higher league isn’t easy. However, I always maintained I want to get back to the league and get a run of games against opposition that I feel we can beat.
“The wins will start to come again. Faversham are a very good team who are in good form, but we were better than them today and hence we picked up the three points.
“We’re fair in our selection and if the boys perform, they keep their shirts. We’ve had some defeats where players have under-performed and we haven’t scored as many goals as we should have, so others have come in for their opportunity.
“We stuck Shaun Okojie up front today; he’s scored a couple of times coming off the bench so deserved to start. Today, he’s led the line for 90 minutes, scored a goal and done everything I’ve asked of him. For those reasons, I’m delighted with Shaun.
“Joe Hicks coming back in is a massive boost for us. He leads by example. Joe will push the other boys around him and drive them on.
“They’re big plusses having those two in the side and playing so well.
“We’re going to have to beat teams in and around us. Right down to thirteenth place, everyone’s fighting to get in the top five and the playoff places. Pretty much every game is a six pointer. It’s not only winning the three points, it stops them getting the points.
“The next four or five league games are massive. If we can pick up three or four wins from them, we’ll put ourselves in a very strong position and hopefully we can attack the last ten games with confidence and end up there or thereabouts.
Speaking about targets and if they’ll break the club record for points in the league, set just last season, Bracken said,
“I’d have to have a serious look at myself if we don’t break last season’s points record for the league. But we will. We need 10 points to do it and we will. The highest position we’ve finished in the Ryman South is 13th but we’ll top that this year.
“They’re little targets but our goal is the playoffs. Points totals are great, we made history in the FA Trophy which is great but we want to get touching promotion. We want to actually achieve something.
Bracken thanked fellow Ryman South Manager Mark Hams – boss of Walton and Hersham, after he praised the Casuals’ Manager this past week.
“I’m a human being like anyone else and if people give you praise, then of course that’s nice. It gives me a little bit of confidence in what we’re doing. But it’s a team effort; Joe Davies, Dan Pringle, Jon Williams, Alan Winnett, Carly Doyle… we support our players totally and they’re doing the job on the pitch.
“Mark’s comments in the week were nice and we’ve had it from Neil Cugley, the Folkestone Manager who said earlier in the season that this was the best Casuals side he’d ever seen. Those comments go a long way and it’s great that people can talk well of you. But we have to focus on ourselves and it’s about producing the results each week.”
Casuals travel to Sittingbourne in the Alan Turvey Trophy Quarter Final on Tuesday and South Park in the league on Saturday.
Casuals: Bracken, Morgan, Hodges, Dudley, Murray, Johnson, Hicks (King), Serbony, Okojie (Akokhia), Uzun (Wright). Subs not used: Spencer, Defoe.
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