Corinthian-Casuals 3 - 3 Tooting and Mitcham United
Ryman League Division One South
Monday 29th August 2016
Attendance: 212
Report by Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian Casuals moved to the top of the Ryman Division One South table despite only gaining a point in a nail-biting 3-3 draw against Tooting & Mitcham United.
Returning to the gloriously sunny King George’s after a brilliant away victory at Godalming Town, Casuals faced possibly their toughest opponent so far this season as Tooting aimed to maintain their unbeaten run. Likewise were Corinth as they sat in third place behind Carshalton and Faversham. James Bracken made three changes from Saturday’s win as Josh Uzun, Niall Wright and Jamie Byatt were introduced ahead of Juevan Spencer, Kevant Serbony and Shaun Okojie. This bank holiday fixture had attracted a large crowd of 212 including a big cluster of the fantastic Tooting contingent.
The visitors, who were in a Fiorentina-esque away kit, started the brightest as they tested the sharp Danny Bracken. Bracken was on call to save Casuals again as a deflected through ball found Taurean Roberts, who was denied, but the rebound was converted by no. 9 Danny Basset from a few yards out, which was by far the easiest goal Bassett will score all season. Two minutes later, a Casuals corner was half-punched by Tooting shot-stopper before the unmarked Terry Murray slotted into gap left by committed keeper Pierson. Moments after Casuals had clawed their way back in the game, they found themselves in a losing position once more. Pacey full-back Jordan Wilson inserted a dangerous ball into the box in which the unfortunate Josh Gallagher bundled in to put Tooting ahead. A crazy five minutes, Corinth were 2-1 behind to the impressive Terrors.
Calm was restored to King George’s for a twenty-five minute period before Gallagher, playing as a striker, was upended whilst bursting through on goal. The referee pointed to the spot before Josh Uzun composed himself and sent the keeper the wrong way to equalise. Casuals had to hold on for four minutes before half-time. Tooting had other plans as a corner swung into the near post was scored- by Corinth’s Danny Dudley! A penalty, two own goals, five goals overall - what a sensational first-half!
The definition of nail-biting, the teams switched ends and re-started the thrilling game.
James Bracken, obviously unhappy with the current set-up, implemented talisman Shaun Okojie at half-time while left-back Dave Hodges was replaced. The versatile Byatt shifted into left-back. Even though Byatt was in a more defensive position, the club legend was still making the keeper work as Pierson saved a low effort in the 60th minute. Then, Bashiru Alimi of Tooting used his hand in the area to give away the second penalty of the match. Uzun dispatched as Pierson correctly judged which way the midfielder was going but couldn’t grab a firm hand on the strike. It was 3-3 as Casuals were injected with a new sense of hope. Soon after, Warren Morgan sprinted down the touchline before producing a perfect cross for the oncoming Uzun. A chance for the hat-trick, Uzun connected but his header agonisingly flew a few inches over the bar. End to end, Casuals and Tooting were level in ability as shots were flying everywhere! In the 74th minute, Jordan Clarke was dismissed for a second yellow card as the winger obstructed the goalkeeper to earn a harsh yellow. Down to ten men, Casuals were just about holding on, even conjuring a few chances of their own from Okojie and Byatt.
A tense three minutes of stoppage time was concluded as the game ended 3-3. Tooting would be disappointed to leave Tolworth with a point after being pegged back from a leading position three times, dropping them down to tenth. Next, they faced Horsham at home. Meanwhile, Corinth moved to the top of the table and are up against Oxford based North Leigh in the FA Cup on Saturday.
James Bracken said after the match, “We've come back from behind three times to win games coming into this game and we've done it again today, this time to draw.
“It was a funny old game. There were a lot of horrible goals and it wasn't a vintage performance. The game on Saturday probably played its part in that having played twice in three days.
“There were plenty of positives by the end of the match. Again, we've come from behind and again we haven't been beaten. We played with ten men for the last fifteen minutes and yet still looked the more likely to go on and win. That's the resilience you need if you're going to be successful. You can't just roll over after conceding a goal and we've never done that. If we concede, we'll stay in the game and carry on to get our rewards at the end of it.
“The red card changed the match. The way we played with ten men, if we'd had that extra body on the pitch, we'd have carved out one or two more chances and perhaps taken one of those. But you have to play with ten men from time to time and we adapted well. The boys put an absolute shift in today, from playing in the heat on Saturday to putting in another ninety minutes today with a man less for quarter of an hour, that's a great effort from all of them.
“Dave Hodges is suffering with a sore groin so we couldn't take the risk in the second half and therefore it was logical to take him off and get him some treatment on it.”
Looking ahead to North Leigh visiting in the FA Cup, Bracken commented “We're excited. We're through to the next round of the Cup at home and the lads enjoy playing on our surface. We'll attack that game and try to get at them but I expect a really tough match.”
Ryman League Division One South
Monday 29th August 2016
Attendance: 212
Report by Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Corinthian Casuals moved to the top of the Ryman Division One South table despite only gaining a point in a nail-biting 3-3 draw against Tooting & Mitcham United.
Returning to the gloriously sunny King George’s after a brilliant away victory at Godalming Town, Casuals faced possibly their toughest opponent so far this season as Tooting aimed to maintain their unbeaten run. Likewise were Corinth as they sat in third place behind Carshalton and Faversham. James Bracken made three changes from Saturday’s win as Josh Uzun, Niall Wright and Jamie Byatt were introduced ahead of Juevan Spencer, Kevant Serbony and Shaun Okojie. This bank holiday fixture had attracted a large crowd of 212 including a big cluster of the fantastic Tooting contingent.
The visitors, who were in a Fiorentina-esque away kit, started the brightest as they tested the sharp Danny Bracken. Bracken was on call to save Casuals again as a deflected through ball found Taurean Roberts, who was denied, but the rebound was converted by no. 9 Danny Basset from a few yards out, which was by far the easiest goal Bassett will score all season. Two minutes later, a Casuals corner was half-punched by Tooting shot-stopper before the unmarked Terry Murray slotted into gap left by committed keeper Pierson. Moments after Casuals had clawed their way back in the game, they found themselves in a losing position once more. Pacey full-back Jordan Wilson inserted a dangerous ball into the box in which the unfortunate Josh Gallagher bundled in to put Tooting ahead. A crazy five minutes, Corinth were 2-1 behind to the impressive Terrors.
Calm was restored to King George’s for a twenty-five minute period before Gallagher, playing as a striker, was upended whilst bursting through on goal. The referee pointed to the spot before Josh Uzun composed himself and sent the keeper the wrong way to equalise. Casuals had to hold on for four minutes before half-time. Tooting had other plans as a corner swung into the near post was scored- by Corinth’s Danny Dudley! A penalty, two own goals, five goals overall - what a sensational first-half!
The definition of nail-biting, the teams switched ends and re-started the thrilling game.
James Bracken, obviously unhappy with the current set-up, implemented talisman Shaun Okojie at half-time while left-back Dave Hodges was replaced. The versatile Byatt shifted into left-back. Even though Byatt was in a more defensive position, the club legend was still making the keeper work as Pierson saved a low effort in the 60th minute. Then, Bashiru Alimi of Tooting used his hand in the area to give away the second penalty of the match. Uzun dispatched as Pierson correctly judged which way the midfielder was going but couldn’t grab a firm hand on the strike. It was 3-3 as Casuals were injected with a new sense of hope. Soon after, Warren Morgan sprinted down the touchline before producing a perfect cross for the oncoming Uzun. A chance for the hat-trick, Uzun connected but his header agonisingly flew a few inches over the bar. End to end, Casuals and Tooting were level in ability as shots were flying everywhere! In the 74th minute, Jordan Clarke was dismissed for a second yellow card as the winger obstructed the goalkeeper to earn a harsh yellow. Down to ten men, Casuals were just about holding on, even conjuring a few chances of their own from Okojie and Byatt.
A tense three minutes of stoppage time was concluded as the game ended 3-3. Tooting would be disappointed to leave Tolworth with a point after being pegged back from a leading position three times, dropping them down to tenth. Next, they faced Horsham at home. Meanwhile, Corinth moved to the top of the table and are up against Oxford based North Leigh in the FA Cup on Saturday.
James Bracken said after the match, “We've come back from behind three times to win games coming into this game and we've done it again today, this time to draw.
“It was a funny old game. There were a lot of horrible goals and it wasn't a vintage performance. The game on Saturday probably played its part in that having played twice in three days.
“There were plenty of positives by the end of the match. Again, we've come from behind and again we haven't been beaten. We played with ten men for the last fifteen minutes and yet still looked the more likely to go on and win. That's the resilience you need if you're going to be successful. You can't just roll over after conceding a goal and we've never done that. If we concede, we'll stay in the game and carry on to get our rewards at the end of it.
“The red card changed the match. The way we played with ten men, if we'd had that extra body on the pitch, we'd have carved out one or two more chances and perhaps taken one of those. But you have to play with ten men from time to time and we adapted well. The boys put an absolute shift in today, from playing in the heat on Saturday to putting in another ninety minutes today with a man less for quarter of an hour, that's a great effort from all of them.
“Dave Hodges is suffering with a sore groin so we couldn't take the risk in the second half and therefore it was logical to take him off and get him some treatment on it.”
Looking ahead to North Leigh visiting in the FA Cup, Bracken commented “We're excited. We're through to the next round of the Cup at home and the lads enjoy playing on our surface. We'll attack that game and try to get at them but I expect a really tough match.”
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