Corinthian-Casuals 0 - 1 Walton Casuals
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 16th February 2016
Attendance: 118
Match report: Stuart Tree. Pics: Andy Nunn (full set here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered their first league loss of 2016 in a tepid display which saw Walton Casuals leave King George’s Arena with three valuable points.
Corinth mustered just one shot on target, coming from central defender Terry Murray in a game which will hardly go down in the annals of history as a classic.
James Bracken’s side came into the game on the back of two vital wins which propelled them within touching distance of the playoff places. Casuals were practically unchanged from the Saturday where they notched up an impressive 4-0 win against Chatham Town. However, top-scorer Josh Uzun was the notable absentee following his injury in the previous game.
Walton Casuals, who in recent times have struggled to pick up points against their hosts were languishing in 19th, just off the relegation zone. Comments made by Assistant Manager Dan Pringle were echoed by Bracken after the match that the home side were perhaps too complacent in thinking they could easily achieve a victory. Inconsistency rules in the Ryman South and no win can be taken for granted.
Tony Gale’s Stags started brightly and Corinth Captain Danny Bracken was forced into early action. Walton skipper Scott Day, who caused problems all night for the Corinth defence, sent in a dipping shot which looked to have caught Bracken off his line, but the keeper tipped the shot over the bar in dramatic style.
A Dave Hodges cross narrowly avoided an oncoming Emmanuel Akokhia, who was looking to score three games on the trot, but in truth, rarely looked like scoring. His penetrating run into the box ended with a wild shot blazed high, wide and still heading for the Industrial Estate as we speak. That was about as good as it got for the home side.
Despite that, the Stags had also failed to impose themselves on the game, though arguably looked better in possession. The game’s ultimate killer blow came into added on time for the first half; a whipped in corner was met by an unmarked Day, and the experienced captain made no mistake in burying his header.
Bouyed by leading on the stroke of half time, Walton stepped up a gear in the second half and Bracken arguably kept the home side in the game, producing a string of fine saves. Twice, the Casuals’ custodian saved from one-on-one chances and was rightly singled out by his Brother after the match as perhaps the only Casuals player that played to his potential.
With only a Niall Wright shot narrowly missing Brannon Daly’s goal and a tame shot from Terry Murray to report on, it’s disappointing how little Casuals tested Daly, who was struggling with an injury, picked up in a collision with Juevan Spencer midway through the second period. As the old adage says ‘Corinth could have played all night and not scored’ and never a truer word was spoken on this occasion.
Uncharacteristically, it was the first time Casuals had fired a blank in seventeen matches.
After the match, James Bracken commented on the performance, “We started awfully slow and they started well. As I said before the game, Walton Casuals have got good players and if they perform, they’re a good side. I think they performed well and the first fifteen minutes is probably as good as they get.
“But we were stand-offish and we just felt that we had no real intensity. We’ve had enough lessons and should realise by now that in this league, you have to turn up and perform to your potential. We didn’t do that and ultimately, that wasn’t good enough.
“After looking so good going forward at the weekend, we muster one shot on target and it leaves you scratching your head. We’re not telling them to do anything different. We’ve asked them to do the same thing as we did against Chatham but for whatever reason, tonight we couldn’t do it.
“I’m not going to single out individuals but who played well? Probably Dan (Bracken) in goal. Beyond that, you’re struggling to find one who’s had a good game by their own standards. You can’t play that way. You can carry one or two… have eight or nine players who are on it and leave a couple to have an off-day but you cannot have the amount of ineffective players that we did today and win a game of football.
“We’re not out of it. We’ve won two out of the last three. If we win two of the next three, we’ll be right up in there. If we win two out of the next three after that, we’ll probably be knocking on the door. We’re not going to get to panicky. We’ll brush ourselves down.”
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 16th February 2016
Attendance: 118
Match report: Stuart Tree. Pics: Andy Nunn (full set here)
Corinthian-Casuals suffered their first league loss of 2016 in a tepid display which saw Walton Casuals leave King George’s Arena with three valuable points.
Corinth mustered just one shot on target, coming from central defender Terry Murray in a game which will hardly go down in the annals of history as a classic.
James Bracken’s side came into the game on the back of two vital wins which propelled them within touching distance of the playoff places. Casuals were practically unchanged from the Saturday where they notched up an impressive 4-0 win against Chatham Town. However, top-scorer Josh Uzun was the notable absentee following his injury in the previous game.
Walton Casuals, who in recent times have struggled to pick up points against their hosts were languishing in 19th, just off the relegation zone. Comments made by Assistant Manager Dan Pringle were echoed by Bracken after the match that the home side were perhaps too complacent in thinking they could easily achieve a victory. Inconsistency rules in the Ryman South and no win can be taken for granted.
Tony Gale’s Stags started brightly and Corinth Captain Danny Bracken was forced into early action. Walton skipper Scott Day, who caused problems all night for the Corinth defence, sent in a dipping shot which looked to have caught Bracken off his line, but the keeper tipped the shot over the bar in dramatic style.
A Dave Hodges cross narrowly avoided an oncoming Emmanuel Akokhia, who was looking to score three games on the trot, but in truth, rarely looked like scoring. His penetrating run into the box ended with a wild shot blazed high, wide and still heading for the Industrial Estate as we speak. That was about as good as it got for the home side.
Despite that, the Stags had also failed to impose themselves on the game, though arguably looked better in possession. The game’s ultimate killer blow came into added on time for the first half; a whipped in corner was met by an unmarked Day, and the experienced captain made no mistake in burying his header.
Bouyed by leading on the stroke of half time, Walton stepped up a gear in the second half and Bracken arguably kept the home side in the game, producing a string of fine saves. Twice, the Casuals’ custodian saved from one-on-one chances and was rightly singled out by his Brother after the match as perhaps the only Casuals player that played to his potential.
With only a Niall Wright shot narrowly missing Brannon Daly’s goal and a tame shot from Terry Murray to report on, it’s disappointing how little Casuals tested Daly, who was struggling with an injury, picked up in a collision with Juevan Spencer midway through the second period. As the old adage says ‘Corinth could have played all night and not scored’ and never a truer word was spoken on this occasion.
Uncharacteristically, it was the first time Casuals had fired a blank in seventeen matches.
After the match, James Bracken commented on the performance, “We started awfully slow and they started well. As I said before the game, Walton Casuals have got good players and if they perform, they’re a good side. I think they performed well and the first fifteen minutes is probably as good as they get.
“But we were stand-offish and we just felt that we had no real intensity. We’ve had enough lessons and should realise by now that in this league, you have to turn up and perform to your potential. We didn’t do that and ultimately, that wasn’t good enough.
“After looking so good going forward at the weekend, we muster one shot on target and it leaves you scratching your head. We’re not telling them to do anything different. We’ve asked them to do the same thing as we did against Chatham but for whatever reason, tonight we couldn’t do it.
“I’m not going to single out individuals but who played well? Probably Dan (Bracken) in goal. Beyond that, you’re struggling to find one who’s had a good game by their own standards. You can’t play that way. You can carry one or two… have eight or nine players who are on it and leave a couple to have an off-day but you cannot have the amount of ineffective players that we did today and win a game of football.
“We’re not out of it. We’ve won two out of the last three. If we win two of the next three, we’ll be right up in there. If we win two out of the next three after that, we’ll probably be knocking on the door. We’re not going to get to panicky. We’ll brush ourselves down.”
RSS Feed