Sheerwater 3 - 4 Corinthian-Casuals
Combined Counties Premier Division South
Tuesday 13th August 2024
Report: Dominic Bliss
Photo: Andy Nunn
Mu Maan registered his first win as Corinthian-Casuals manager as we picked up three points on the road at Sheerwater in our second league fixture of the season last night.
This result has been coming after a series of promising attacking displays in recent weeks, but it didn’t come easily against a dangerous opponent in a harum-scarum match. In the end, Casuals edged a seven-goal thriller, and there could have been even more goals on a night when attack came out on top.
It was clear from kick-off that both teams would look to get the ball forward quickly and play on the front foot, but there was a distinct difference in the way they tried to do that. Casuals had the superior technical quality, putting together some intricate passing moves, while the widemen, Kiyo Brown and Shea Cascoe-Rogers, unsettled their respective markers with quick feet and darting runs. Meanwhile, Sheerwater looked to hit us on the break with balls down the inside-channels and whipped crosses into the penalty area, while their sharp midfielders followed up whenever we failed to clear our lines.
That was precisely how they took the lead before 10 minutes were up, and Casuals had every reason to feel hard done by, given our lively start to proceedings.
However, just as the Casuals fans – who made up the bulk of the attendance – were beginning to search their ranks for the person who must have smashed a mirror two years ago, we found ourselves level. Brown and skipper Reyon Dillon combined smoothly on the edge of the area before the centre-forward laid it off to Diogo da Silva, who was following up in the No10 position. The Brazilian then stroked home a beautiful low left-footed finish from the edge of the area and it felt like the goal we had needed to settle our nerves.
However, this game refused to settle all night. It was end-to-end stuff from start to finish and, midway through the first half, Sheerwater striker George Sellick capitalised on some indecisive defending to fire home his second goal of the game and give Casuals fans that sinking feeling again.
That sinking feeling lasted less than two minutes, though, on an evening when no one in attendance was allowed to relax for a moment. Dillon has come close to scoring his first goal since returning to the club on several occasions already this season, and he broke his duck here with a precise low finish into the bottom corner after a marauding run by right-back Jonathan Gjoshe.
Dillon had another effort ruled out by the assistant referee’s flag moments later, following some fine play by Ryan Murad and Da Silva that picked apart the Sheerwater defence. He then hit the woodwork with a back-post header from a delightful cross by Brown on the right wing.
The half-time whistle brought the opportunity to decompress and catch our breath, but there was a sense that this game was there for the taking if we could only make our chances count.
Casuals seemed to step up a level in the second half, growing in confidence as the game unfolded, while the travelling supporters raised the decibel levels behind the goal.
Around the hour mark, the faithful erupted when Ben Cheklit ran onto a loose ball 25 yards out and thumped a right-footed piledriver straight into the top corner, before nonchalantly raising his arms into the air in that inimitable style we became used to during those heady post-pandemic days when he hit his stride in his previous spell here.
Finally, we were ahead, and it felt as though this could be the moment for us to kick-start the Mu era… for about 30 seconds.
That was all it took for our new-found confidence to be punctured by a Sheerwater goal, as we failed to regroup following the restart. It was a blow that could have produced two outcomes: either we fought, or we folded.
We fought. The Casuals players, stung by the equaliser, sprung back to life immediately and began to pour forward in search of a winner. They clearly weren’t willing to accept a point on a night when it felt like a goal could arrive at any moment.
Dillon was withdrawn after 65 minutes, having connected things brilliantly from his centre-forward’s role, and was replaced by the Brazilian livewire, Raf Barbosa – a defender’s nightmare, constantly breathing down his marker’s neck and sniffing out any loose pass. He picked up a booking for one slightly over-zealous attempt to block the Sheerwater left-back’s clearance, but he had no intention of cooling off.
On 82 minutes, he got the chance to satisfy his thirst for goals when his indefatigable compatriot Emerson Pilonetto burst forward from left-back, made it to the byline and sent a low cross towards the edge of the six-yard box – the corridor of uncertainty. Da Silva seemed to be the target but, seeing his route to goal blocked by a defender, he deftly stepped over the ball, leaving it for the unmarked Barbosa to finish firmly into the back of the net. A goal made in Brazil, from a move fashioned on the training ground in Tolworth.
Casuals rode their luck in the dying minutes, escaping a spot of pinball that broke out in our penalty area during stoppage time, when the Sheerwater keeper, Chris Adams, saw his desperate goalbound effort blocked.
The final whistle brought raised arms and guttural cheers from the pitch and the terrace behind the goal. We did it the hard way – of course we did – but we’ve deserved this. Now it’s time to build on it.
Corinthian-Casuals: Greenaway; Gjoshe, Morgan, Adelakun, Pilonetto; Brown, Cheklit, Murad (Allchurch 80), Cascoe-Rogers (Hudson 55); Da Silva (Castelo 90); Dillon (Barbosa 65)
Combined Counties Premier Division South
Tuesday 13th August 2024
Report: Dominic Bliss
Photo: Andy Nunn
Mu Maan registered his first win as Corinthian-Casuals manager as we picked up three points on the road at Sheerwater in our second league fixture of the season last night.
This result has been coming after a series of promising attacking displays in recent weeks, but it didn’t come easily against a dangerous opponent in a harum-scarum match. In the end, Casuals edged a seven-goal thriller, and there could have been even more goals on a night when attack came out on top.
It was clear from kick-off that both teams would look to get the ball forward quickly and play on the front foot, but there was a distinct difference in the way they tried to do that. Casuals had the superior technical quality, putting together some intricate passing moves, while the widemen, Kiyo Brown and Shea Cascoe-Rogers, unsettled their respective markers with quick feet and darting runs. Meanwhile, Sheerwater looked to hit us on the break with balls down the inside-channels and whipped crosses into the penalty area, while their sharp midfielders followed up whenever we failed to clear our lines.
That was precisely how they took the lead before 10 minutes were up, and Casuals had every reason to feel hard done by, given our lively start to proceedings.
However, just as the Casuals fans – who made up the bulk of the attendance – were beginning to search their ranks for the person who must have smashed a mirror two years ago, we found ourselves level. Brown and skipper Reyon Dillon combined smoothly on the edge of the area before the centre-forward laid it off to Diogo da Silva, who was following up in the No10 position. The Brazilian then stroked home a beautiful low left-footed finish from the edge of the area and it felt like the goal we had needed to settle our nerves.
However, this game refused to settle all night. It was end-to-end stuff from start to finish and, midway through the first half, Sheerwater striker George Sellick capitalised on some indecisive defending to fire home his second goal of the game and give Casuals fans that sinking feeling again.
That sinking feeling lasted less than two minutes, though, on an evening when no one in attendance was allowed to relax for a moment. Dillon has come close to scoring his first goal since returning to the club on several occasions already this season, and he broke his duck here with a precise low finish into the bottom corner after a marauding run by right-back Jonathan Gjoshe.
Dillon had another effort ruled out by the assistant referee’s flag moments later, following some fine play by Ryan Murad and Da Silva that picked apart the Sheerwater defence. He then hit the woodwork with a back-post header from a delightful cross by Brown on the right wing.
The half-time whistle brought the opportunity to decompress and catch our breath, but there was a sense that this game was there for the taking if we could only make our chances count.
Casuals seemed to step up a level in the second half, growing in confidence as the game unfolded, while the travelling supporters raised the decibel levels behind the goal.
Around the hour mark, the faithful erupted when Ben Cheklit ran onto a loose ball 25 yards out and thumped a right-footed piledriver straight into the top corner, before nonchalantly raising his arms into the air in that inimitable style we became used to during those heady post-pandemic days when he hit his stride in his previous spell here.
Finally, we were ahead, and it felt as though this could be the moment for us to kick-start the Mu era… for about 30 seconds.
That was all it took for our new-found confidence to be punctured by a Sheerwater goal, as we failed to regroup following the restart. It was a blow that could have produced two outcomes: either we fought, or we folded.
We fought. The Casuals players, stung by the equaliser, sprung back to life immediately and began to pour forward in search of a winner. They clearly weren’t willing to accept a point on a night when it felt like a goal could arrive at any moment.
Dillon was withdrawn after 65 minutes, having connected things brilliantly from his centre-forward’s role, and was replaced by the Brazilian livewire, Raf Barbosa – a defender’s nightmare, constantly breathing down his marker’s neck and sniffing out any loose pass. He picked up a booking for one slightly over-zealous attempt to block the Sheerwater left-back’s clearance, but he had no intention of cooling off.
On 82 minutes, he got the chance to satisfy his thirst for goals when his indefatigable compatriot Emerson Pilonetto burst forward from left-back, made it to the byline and sent a low cross towards the edge of the six-yard box – the corridor of uncertainty. Da Silva seemed to be the target but, seeing his route to goal blocked by a defender, he deftly stepped over the ball, leaving it for the unmarked Barbosa to finish firmly into the back of the net. A goal made in Brazil, from a move fashioned on the training ground in Tolworth.
Casuals rode their luck in the dying minutes, escaping a spot of pinball that broke out in our penalty area during stoppage time, when the Sheerwater keeper, Chris Adams, saw his desperate goalbound effort blocked.
The final whistle brought raised arms and guttural cheers from the pitch and the terrace behind the goal. We did it the hard way – of course we did – but we’ve deserved this. Now it’s time to build on it.
Corinthian-Casuals: Greenaway; Gjoshe, Morgan, Adelakun, Pilonetto; Brown, Cheklit, Murad (Allchurch 80), Cascoe-Rogers (Hudson 55); Da Silva (Castelo 90); Dillon (Barbosa 65)
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