Corinthian-Casuals 2 - 1 East Thurrock Utd
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 3rd March 2020
Report: Stuart Tree
Corinthian-Casuals climbed off the foot of the Isthmian League Premier table with a convincing win over East Thurrock United on Tuesday night.
Two first half goals were enough to seal three points for James Bracken’s side with Gabriel Odunaike and Ben Cheklit finding the scoresheet.
The win was the result of hard work, desire and some very attractive first half football, topped off with resilient defending against a good side in East Thurrock. The Rocks have suffered a slump in form but are nevertheless challenging for a playoff berth.
There were two changes to Bracken’s line up from that which narrowly lost to Kingstonian last week. Jack Tucker came in for the departed Juevan Spencer and Kev Serbony took his place in the middle of the field replacing the injured Matty Bakare.
It only took two minutes for Casuals to score and Bracken will be delighted that both goals were courtesy of well-worked set pieces. A lofted free kick found the head of Jack Strange who flicked it on to Odunaike tapping home from six yards.
It gave confidence to the home side who surged forward with aplomb. Odunaike will feel he should’ve had two when he scuffed a close-range shot just wide. Nat Pinney caused problems all evening and Serbony danced across the edge of the area, consistently drawing fouls from late lunges.
Unsurprisingly, the lead was doubled on the half hour mark when Brad Wilson’s corner found Ben Cheklit at the far post who smashed his shot against the keeper and into the roof of the net.
The contest should’ve been over early in the second half when Pinney, once again finding good space had two shots, one well saved and the other, blasted just over. As it happens, the last half hour was a nervous one when Thurrock pulled one back. Danny Cossington header from a wide free kick reduced the arrears.
The visitors began to impose themselves territorially and held Casuals in their own half for large parts. Casuals began to use the counter attack as their outlet. Into stoppage time and Serbony could’ve ended any fightback, but his run and shot was charged down by Thurrock’s Jack Giddens.
With the full time whistle, there was much relief. Casuals had well and truly earned their three points with a fine display that moves them up four places to 18th. They’ll be eyeing up those above, especially Lewes, who are just three points ahead but having played twice more.
“Psychologically, it’s a big boost to lift ourselves off the foot of the table but we have another tough game on Saturday against Hornchurch,” said Bracken after the match. “We’d be daft to think we’re out of trouble with that win. We need to come again Saturday with these levels as an absolute minimum.
“I don’t question these boy’s desire; I don’t question their effort. That’s backed up by the stats – their GPS vests tells me how much they’re running. We’ve committed everything we’ve needed to commit to in games in the last few weeks. It’s been on point. They’ve been putting their bodies on the line, throwing themselves at crosses, committing to challenges. We’ve had that in abundance. In the position we’re in and what we need to get the job done, that’s exactly what you need.
“We’re not going to cruise through games playing pretty football on boggy pitches. We need to put our foot in, put ourselves on the line and battle for every aerial ball. We need that desire to come out on top the majority of times. Tonight, we had the bit between our teeth as a group and that’s fair play to the boys.
“I think they’re realising that we really need to put points on the board. They’re going to accept nothing less. That’s the feeling I get from them now. They gave me that feeling against K’s too, where I felt we were worthy of the draw – had we took our chances in the first half, we’d have been 3-0 up and there’s no coming back from that.
“We showed tonight that we can defend leads, we can adapt to see games out. That’s evident in that display.
“From the supporter’s point of view, if they see that desire then that’s great. It’s my job to get the best out of these players and get them to fight for those fans and get the best results for this club, the badge, the shirt and what it represents.
“We’ll give it our best together, we’ll come out of this and we’ll look back at this season as a blip. Whatever happens, it’ll be a season I look back upon with disappointment. There’s a lot of ‘what if’s?’ What if we did get a few more decisions go our way? Losing Shaun Okojie just as we start to get it together with a striker that’ll score most games. The injuries to Danny and the others at the start of the season. The fiasco we had at Potters Bar where we had to play 85 minutes with no goalkeeper. But, we know these are all here to challenge us and we’re up for it and we’ll be ready once again to give it our all on Saturday.
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 3rd March 2020
Report: Stuart Tree
Corinthian-Casuals climbed off the foot of the Isthmian League Premier table with a convincing win over East Thurrock United on Tuesday night.
Two first half goals were enough to seal three points for James Bracken’s side with Gabriel Odunaike and Ben Cheklit finding the scoresheet.
The win was the result of hard work, desire and some very attractive first half football, topped off with resilient defending against a good side in East Thurrock. The Rocks have suffered a slump in form but are nevertheless challenging for a playoff berth.
There were two changes to Bracken’s line up from that which narrowly lost to Kingstonian last week. Jack Tucker came in for the departed Juevan Spencer and Kev Serbony took his place in the middle of the field replacing the injured Matty Bakare.
It only took two minutes for Casuals to score and Bracken will be delighted that both goals were courtesy of well-worked set pieces. A lofted free kick found the head of Jack Strange who flicked it on to Odunaike tapping home from six yards.
It gave confidence to the home side who surged forward with aplomb. Odunaike will feel he should’ve had two when he scuffed a close-range shot just wide. Nat Pinney caused problems all evening and Serbony danced across the edge of the area, consistently drawing fouls from late lunges.
Unsurprisingly, the lead was doubled on the half hour mark when Brad Wilson’s corner found Ben Cheklit at the far post who smashed his shot against the keeper and into the roof of the net.
The contest should’ve been over early in the second half when Pinney, once again finding good space had two shots, one well saved and the other, blasted just over. As it happens, the last half hour was a nervous one when Thurrock pulled one back. Danny Cossington header from a wide free kick reduced the arrears.
The visitors began to impose themselves territorially and held Casuals in their own half for large parts. Casuals began to use the counter attack as their outlet. Into stoppage time and Serbony could’ve ended any fightback, but his run and shot was charged down by Thurrock’s Jack Giddens.
With the full time whistle, there was much relief. Casuals had well and truly earned their three points with a fine display that moves them up four places to 18th. They’ll be eyeing up those above, especially Lewes, who are just three points ahead but having played twice more.
“Psychologically, it’s a big boost to lift ourselves off the foot of the table but we have another tough game on Saturday against Hornchurch,” said Bracken after the match. “We’d be daft to think we’re out of trouble with that win. We need to come again Saturday with these levels as an absolute minimum.
“I don’t question these boy’s desire; I don’t question their effort. That’s backed up by the stats – their GPS vests tells me how much they’re running. We’ve committed everything we’ve needed to commit to in games in the last few weeks. It’s been on point. They’ve been putting their bodies on the line, throwing themselves at crosses, committing to challenges. We’ve had that in abundance. In the position we’re in and what we need to get the job done, that’s exactly what you need.
“We’re not going to cruise through games playing pretty football on boggy pitches. We need to put our foot in, put ourselves on the line and battle for every aerial ball. We need that desire to come out on top the majority of times. Tonight, we had the bit between our teeth as a group and that’s fair play to the boys.
“I think they’re realising that we really need to put points on the board. They’re going to accept nothing less. That’s the feeling I get from them now. They gave me that feeling against K’s too, where I felt we were worthy of the draw – had we took our chances in the first half, we’d have been 3-0 up and there’s no coming back from that.
“We showed tonight that we can defend leads, we can adapt to see games out. That’s evident in that display.
“From the supporter’s point of view, if they see that desire then that’s great. It’s my job to get the best out of these players and get them to fight for those fans and get the best results for this club, the badge, the shirt and what it represents.
“We’ll give it our best together, we’ll come out of this and we’ll look back at this season as a blip. Whatever happens, it’ll be a season I look back upon with disappointment. There’s a lot of ‘what if’s?’ What if we did get a few more decisions go our way? Losing Shaun Okojie just as we start to get it together with a striker that’ll score most games. The injuries to Danny and the others at the start of the season. The fiasco we had at Potters Bar where we had to play 85 minutes with no goalkeeper. But, we know these are all here to challenge us and we’re up for it and we’ll be ready once again to give it our all on Saturday.
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