Chipstead 1 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 6th February 2016
High Road
Attendance: 70
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered a cruel last minute knock back to their playoff chances as a Danny Dudley own goal gave lowly Chipstead a much needed point in the Ryman League Division One South.
And Casuals’ Manager James Bracken has issued a challenge to his players; win ten more games this season.
“Today is a slip-up but looking at the games we’ve got remaining, we’ve beaten eight of those teams already,” said Bracken.
“We have to play Walton Casuals twice, which I look at as our games in hand. If we can pick up ten wins between now and the end of the season, which is achievable, then we won’t be far away. It’ll be tough but we’ll keep going and the boys are motivated. We know we’re going for it and we’ll continue to do so.”
In truth, the league table does lie and Chipstead are now a far better side than the one that lay rock-bottom when Corinth defeated them earlier in the season. Since then, Ex-Tooting boss Craig Tanner stepped in and has transformed the team, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Terror’s side he managed last term. With the likes of Dan Summers, Billy Marshall, Harry Knock and Sol Pinnock amongst others now in the Chips side, it’s no surprise they went into the game unbeaten in three.
Casuals made one enforced change with Ben King replacing the suspended Brandon Johnson and Kevant Serbony dropped to the bench with Emmanuel Akokhia taking the 7 shirt.
This game could hardly be described as one for the purists; the wind was so strong, players found it hard to keep the ball still on set pieces. With this in mind, play was erratic, passes were errant and play struggled to flow. With the wind behind Casuals for the first half, they created the better chances. Terry Murray saw his header crash against the post from a corner ball (pictured below). Minutes later, Akokhia forced a fine save from Alex Kozakis.
On the half hour mark, Casuals struck; Juevan Spencer, ever adept on the ball made a penetrating run into the box and his shot was parried out to Niall Wright only to be denied by a resolute defence. However, the resulting rebound fell to Shaun Okojie who made no mistake in firing home from ten yards.
The second half was more painful for the visitors who struggled to get the ball out of their own half. Chipstead forced a number of excellent saves from Danny Bracken. Any attempt at getting the ball forward was met with strong resistance from the weather and Chipstead’s assisted clearances made light work of the length of the pitch.
However, Casuals remained steadfast and looked to break on the counter. Shaun Okojie and sub Stef Joseph having a couple of half chances, giving welcome respite to the visitor’s defence.
However, into stoppage time, a hopeful lofted ball was launched by Chipstead into Casuals’ box. The wind-assisted kick was misjudged by Danny Dudley and his header rocketed past Bracken in goal. It was a cruel end to what had been a class defensive performance in testing conditions.
After the match, James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.
“As I said in the week, it’s another bitter pill to swallow conceding that late.
“As a spectacle, the game has been ruined by the wind and that’s been the story of too many games this season. Obviously, that’s not our fault and we have to go out there and do what we can. It’s hard for both teams.
“I said to the lads afterwards that we could’ve lost that. But listen to my words very carefully; they were immense today. In those conditions, to get our nose in front and then defend the way we have, there was a lot of effort that’s been put in. Sometimes, when you put that much in and get a knock-back at the end, emotionally it can be tough.
“As it was in the week, there are no negative feelings nor am I going to apportion blame on anyone because they’ve done everything I’ve asked of them to do.
“Letting in a goal like that with the wind pulling it in towards the goal was cruel. On another day, you clear that. It wasn’t a great ball but the wind has taken it and made it difficult to deal with. Those are the small margins you work with.
“There have been so many instances of these incidents in games throughout the season. Realistically, we could’ve had another fifteen points from games where I feel we’ve done enough to get more out of.
“You can say it’s a tough learning curve for a young side. But I don’t care if you’re 19, 20, 21 or your side is full of 30 year olds, a lot of these things cannot be helped. So it’s not down to a lack of experience, it’s simply down to bad luck… and I don’t like using that word – but it is!
“At the start of the season, for us to get into the playoffs would’ve been one of the biggest achievements in non-league football in decades. From the position we’re in now, it will be the biggest achievement. But we’ll still go for it. We’ve got the fixtures up on our board and each game, we list our previous result against that side. To them, I say ‘can you match it or better it?’
“Today is a slip-up but looking at the games we’ve got remaining, we’ve beaten eight of those teams already. We have to play Walton Casuals twice, which I look at as our games in hand. If we can pick up ten wins between now and the end of the season, which is achievable, then we won’t be far away. It’ll be tough but we’ll keep going and the boys are motivated. We know we’re going for it and we’ll continue to do so.”
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 6th February 2016
High Road
Attendance: 70
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered a cruel last minute knock back to their playoff chances as a Danny Dudley own goal gave lowly Chipstead a much needed point in the Ryman League Division One South.
And Casuals’ Manager James Bracken has issued a challenge to his players; win ten more games this season.
“Today is a slip-up but looking at the games we’ve got remaining, we’ve beaten eight of those teams already,” said Bracken.
“We have to play Walton Casuals twice, which I look at as our games in hand. If we can pick up ten wins between now and the end of the season, which is achievable, then we won’t be far away. It’ll be tough but we’ll keep going and the boys are motivated. We know we’re going for it and we’ll continue to do so.”
In truth, the league table does lie and Chipstead are now a far better side than the one that lay rock-bottom when Corinth defeated them earlier in the season. Since then, Ex-Tooting boss Craig Tanner stepped in and has transformed the team, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Terror’s side he managed last term. With the likes of Dan Summers, Billy Marshall, Harry Knock and Sol Pinnock amongst others now in the Chips side, it’s no surprise they went into the game unbeaten in three.
Casuals made one enforced change with Ben King replacing the suspended Brandon Johnson and Kevant Serbony dropped to the bench with Emmanuel Akokhia taking the 7 shirt.
This game could hardly be described as one for the purists; the wind was so strong, players found it hard to keep the ball still on set pieces. With this in mind, play was erratic, passes were errant and play struggled to flow. With the wind behind Casuals for the first half, they created the better chances. Terry Murray saw his header crash against the post from a corner ball (pictured below). Minutes later, Akokhia forced a fine save from Alex Kozakis.
On the half hour mark, Casuals struck; Juevan Spencer, ever adept on the ball made a penetrating run into the box and his shot was parried out to Niall Wright only to be denied by a resolute defence. However, the resulting rebound fell to Shaun Okojie who made no mistake in firing home from ten yards.
The second half was more painful for the visitors who struggled to get the ball out of their own half. Chipstead forced a number of excellent saves from Danny Bracken. Any attempt at getting the ball forward was met with strong resistance from the weather and Chipstead’s assisted clearances made light work of the length of the pitch.
However, Casuals remained steadfast and looked to break on the counter. Shaun Okojie and sub Stef Joseph having a couple of half chances, giving welcome respite to the visitor’s defence.
However, into stoppage time, a hopeful lofted ball was launched by Chipstead into Casuals’ box. The wind-assisted kick was misjudged by Danny Dudley and his header rocketed past Bracken in goal. It was a cruel end to what had been a class defensive performance in testing conditions.
After the match, James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.
“As I said in the week, it’s another bitter pill to swallow conceding that late.
“As a spectacle, the game has been ruined by the wind and that’s been the story of too many games this season. Obviously, that’s not our fault and we have to go out there and do what we can. It’s hard for both teams.
“I said to the lads afterwards that we could’ve lost that. But listen to my words very carefully; they were immense today. In those conditions, to get our nose in front and then defend the way we have, there was a lot of effort that’s been put in. Sometimes, when you put that much in and get a knock-back at the end, emotionally it can be tough.
“As it was in the week, there are no negative feelings nor am I going to apportion blame on anyone because they’ve done everything I’ve asked of them to do.
“Letting in a goal like that with the wind pulling it in towards the goal was cruel. On another day, you clear that. It wasn’t a great ball but the wind has taken it and made it difficult to deal with. Those are the small margins you work with.
“There have been so many instances of these incidents in games throughout the season. Realistically, we could’ve had another fifteen points from games where I feel we’ve done enough to get more out of.
“You can say it’s a tough learning curve for a young side. But I don’t care if you’re 19, 20, 21 or your side is full of 30 year olds, a lot of these things cannot be helped. So it’s not down to a lack of experience, it’s simply down to bad luck… and I don’t like using that word – but it is!
“At the start of the season, for us to get into the playoffs would’ve been one of the biggest achievements in non-league football in decades. From the position we’re in now, it will be the biggest achievement. But we’ll still go for it. We’ve got the fixtures up on our board and each game, we list our previous result against that side. To them, I say ‘can you match it or better it?’
“Today is a slip-up but looking at the games we’ve got remaining, we’ve beaten eight of those teams already. We have to play Walton Casuals twice, which I look at as our games in hand. If we can pick up ten wins between now and the end of the season, which is achievable, then we won’t be far away. It’ll be tough but we’ll keep going and the boys are motivated. We know we’re going for it and we’ll continue to do so.”
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