Kingstonian 3 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Strange 18 Pinney 81
Bobomurodov 25
Owen 60
Surrey Senior Cup 1st Round
Wednesday 30 November, 2022
Attendance: 115
Match Report by Gabriel Radulescu
Photo by Stuart Tree
Appointed not long ago as the Corinthian-Casuals manager, Justin Fevrier has the most difficult task of rebuilding the team in mid-season, while needing to gather the points needed for survival. A Surrey Senior Cup game in such circumstances could be seen mostly as a chance to test new players or settle in the ones that arrived only recently. On the other side, our hosts, Kingstonian, were the finalists of the last edition of this cup – lost dramatically against National League side Dorking – so they clearly put a different emphasis on this competition. However, on a World Cup evening, which was also probably the coldest one since last winter, not even their fans were attracted too much by this encounter, and the Casuals supporters seemed to be the majority at Imperial Fields, or at least in the bar, pre-match.
With several new faces, especially in defence, Casuals struggled at the beginning of the game, and Kingstonian were the first to create a threat at the opposition goal, but our debutant keeper Mohammed Otuyo responded well to a couple of close-range shots early on.
Then Casuals started to make their work count in the opposition half, as Mo Cisse fired a shot wide from outside the area. Just after a quarter-hour into the game, Kingstonian made a recovery deep inside our half, and Otuyo made a great save in front of Bobomurodov, one of four ex-Casuals in the hosts’ starting eleven. However, the resulting corner was sent in low and found our defence unprepared, allowing former Casuals hero Jack Strange to tap in from a few yards and make it 1-0.
Nathaniel Pinney had the ball in the net for Casuals on 22 minutes, but the linesman had his flag up, and a potential equaliser was ruled out. Otuyo then denied Kieron Cadogan a clear shot, but lost the ball in his own area a minute later, and from the resulting cross, Bobomurodov scored another easy goal: 2-0.
Corinthian-Casuals started to enjoy more of the ball in the opposition half at this point, helped in part by the fact that Kingstonian looked content with the existing score. Our new addition Thomas Jackson showed quality in midfield and had a good long-distance shot that went wide. Then, in the last attack of the first half, we had a double chance from inside the area, with Sam Dowridge’s low shot being deflected by the keeper to Cisse, who in turn had his shot blocked.
The second half started with four substitutions for Casuals, who showed renewed energy and continued to press and threaten. Kingstonian goalkeeper Rob Tolfrey made an excellent intervention in front of Pinney and then managed to deflect a very good low shot from outside the area from Jackson. Then, against the flow of the game, Kingstonian scored with probably the first chance they created in the second half, with Tyreece Owen converting a cross from the left side.
Changes followed on both sides, with Gucci Osekanongo coming on for Jackson as Casuals kept pushing, with one of our half-time subs Tyler Caton impressing on our right side.
With 10 minutes remaining, Caton first had a shot denied by the keeper and then, a minute later, robbed the ball from a defender and sent a great cross for Pinney to push the ball in from three yards: 3-1.
Soon afterwards, Jean-Pascale Masikini went close to scoring a second for the Casuals, but Tolfrey was there again there to deny a goal that would certainly have made the final minutes interesting. However, it ended 3-1, though not before the referee trying to replicate the lengthy extension times seen at the World Cup. All thoughts turn now to the crucial league on Saturday against Brightlingsea Regent.
Corinthian-Casuals (3-4-2-1): Otuyo; Kudyiwa (Collins h/t), Diaby, Adelakun; Chislett (James-Lewis h/t), Jackson (Osekanongo 67), Thompson (Caton h/t); Masikini; Dowridge, Cisse (Stokoe h/t); Pinney
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