Corinthian-Casuals 4 - 1 Bowers & Pitsea
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 13th August 2022
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pics here).
​More photos from Andy Nunn here.

You’ll have to trawl through the history books to find out if and when Corinthian-Casuals last scored two goals in the opening four minutes. You’ll also have to go back to 2016 for Casuals last opening day win.
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Both were achieved in a stellar 4-1 win over Bowers and Pitsea in which we heard the chants of ‘we are top of the league’ sang somewhat in jest, yet truthful, even if it is after just one game.

Both Corinth and Bowers have had major changes over the Summer. Both saw their long-standing managers depart along with a wealth of players. Many new faces have appeared. Just four of the twenty-two players starting were involved in the previous fixture six months ago – all Casuals.

Manager Tony Reid had stated that his side will play with a high-intensity, attacking ethos and it paid off after just two minutes. An early corner was headed home by Saidou Sanogo – with Kie Plumley unable to keep the ball from spilling over the line.

Before the first goal was even registered on social media, Casuals had struck again. Tayo Oyebola latched onto a cutting pass and slotted under Plumley to make it two-nil – extravagant and acrobatic celebrations ensued.

Casuals pressed on and kept up the intensity regardless of the searing heat. Bowers defence was run ragged and Ben Cheklit broke the lines only to see his shot smack off the bottom of the post. He soon made amends when making no mistake in a similar move to put the hosts a dizzy 3-0 up.

The dampener was a sloppy goal conceded at the other end. Complacency had perhaps kicked in seeing as Casuals were three goals to the good. A corner was conceded and the resulting clearance fell to Ola Bello who’s unsighted shot squirmed under Sami Nabaad to give Bowers hope.

It was the only blemish on an otherwise impressive afternoon and Casuals put the game to bed in the 73rd minute when Plumley, on attempting to prevent a corner, scuffed his clearance straight to Cheklit on the edge of the box and the Captain calmly stroked the ball into an unguarded net. Job done.

It was a real statement from Reid and his side to usher in his reign. He’d hoped to win the fans over with his style of football and on this evidence, he might have already done so. Including pre-season, Casuals have scored four goals in three of their last four matches. That's got to be encouraging. However, Casuals face an arguably tougher test at Horsham, one of the potential favourites and second in the league, on Tuesday. First vs second? Why not?

“What we’ve been working on in pre-season showed today,” said Manager Tony Reid after the match. “Though the fast start took me by surprise.

“I gave them a little pep-talk before as I’d heard from their changing room ‘stay in the game’. For me, that gave me the initiative and we’ll have them on the ropes right from the start.

“We took our chances well.

“I’m not going to get carried away. Let’s have this conversation after ten games. But what we’ve achieved today is a real positive. Credit to the boys, they’ve taken the information on board.

“We’ve gone three-nil up, but an error saw us concede. We should’ve cleared our lines. But they’ve scored from a set piece. I warned the boys that this will happen throughout the season so they need to be aware as to when to just get the ball clear. I want the ball eighty yards up the other end in those situations.

“We learnt from it after speaking at half time. We ensured that we wouldn’t concede again and we managed the game well. It was a little scrappy at times and they tried to nullify us from playing. Credit to the boys in the middle, who worked tirelessly and moved the ball quickly.
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Commenting on the trip to Horsham on Tuesday, Reid said, “It’s eleven vs eleven at the end of the day. I know a bit about them. I know Dom (Di Paola) from old and it’ll certainly be a good test but it’s about who turns up on the day. We’ll try to keep this momentum going.”

Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 3 Bowers & Pitsea
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 12th February 2022
Report: Stuart Tree. Photos: Andy Nunn. (Full set here)

​Corinthian-Casuals put in their most insipid performance this season as they were convincingly beaten by Bowers and Pitsea at the United Business Group Stadium on Saturday.

A Lewis Manor brace along with a Michael Ademiluyi strike was enough to give the Essex side three vital points on the road as they look to pull away from the drop zone.

Casuals were without a number of players including Emmanuel Mensah who was still suffering from a dead leg in midweek. Nordibek Bobomurodov returned to make his first start for the club as they looked to get back to winning ways following a lack of three points in recent games – albeit against top of the table opposition.

But they got off to the worst start as Bowers took the lead on just six minutes. Manor was on hand to tuck away a Jamie Dicks free kick leaving Casuals defenders scratching their heads.

Corinth never got their engine started, let alone out of first gear as Bowers could’ve – and should’ve been out of sight before half time. Two gilt-edged chances fell to Manor who somehow didn’t add to his early strike. The hosts were also dealt another defensive blow as Jerry Nnamani had to come off thanks to a hamstring pull.

But Casuals weren’t to get away with it as Michael Ademiluyi pounced at the far post from a long throw just before the break to leave Bracken’s side an uphill task.

The home side clearly had a rocket put up their backsides by Bracken as they started much brighter, but a third for Bowers on the break, with Manor tapping in from close range was enough to seal victory. Casuals never truly got going and never really troubled Beaney in the Bowers goal.
 
"As a game of football, that’s the worst I’ve seen all season," said James Bracken after the match. "Credit to Bowers though for coming and doing what they’ve done to us as it worked for them. We’ve shot ourselves in the foot. The goals that we’ve conceded are terrible. To let players have tap ins from four yards unmarked is criminal.

"Lewis Manor has bagged two and we all know what he’s capable of. We prepared for what to expect and to anticipate him winning first balls because he’s very good at that. A player of that ilk is as good as a Cunnington in terms of being a target man. But we’ve switched off too many times.

"I thought we were better in the second half but they’ve scored against the run of play. We had plenty of the ball but we did nothing with it. Our only real good chance in the match came in the 93rd minute. We weren’t good enough. The overall level was not up to the standard I expect.

"Sometimes you get sucked into a game of football that suits one side and their style. I think that’s what has happened against Bowers. I don’t want to be seen as making excuses but the wind and the pitch was better suited for them than it was us. But we needed to do better on the day to combat that.

"We went out there with one or two knocks and a few missing. We have six games in less than two weeks coming up which is shocking. Even for a fully fit squad, that’s a tough ask.

"The bottom line is we’ve conceded three against Bowers, three against Bishops Stortford, three against Margate, three against Bognor and five against Cheshunt before Christmas. That’s certainly not what I want to see. We’ll address that though and look to tighten up once again.

"But we must have a reality check; we shouldn’t really be in this division on our resources. But we’re sitting twelfth in the league. We’re not down the bottom fighting off relegation. We’ve played some of the better sides and got great results. It’s been an enjoyable season for the most part. But we need to dust ourselves down and go again.”