Following the 2-1 defeat on Saturday against Enfield Town, Manager James Bracken had these words to say.
“The boys should hold their heads up despite the result. They played a good side. Enfield turned over East Thurrock 8-0 last week. They’ll know that they’ve got away with one against us. The referee’s decisions have swung the game. He was poor all afternoon. I feel sorry for the boys, I feel sorry for everyone that’s come to watch and sorry for football. You’ve got good honest boys on both sides giving their best, trying to win a game of football in the right way – and then you get someone in the middle that’s incompetent. His decisions, game management… everything.
“We done a lot right today. Enfield started really well and looked bright. But that was five minutes out of the 45. Other than those five minutes, it was pretty much us penning them in. With the wind, you like to try and get a goal or two and take advantage of the conditions. We haven’t done that, but we’ve taken the lead in the second half with a very good goal.
“The first goal for them is never a foul for the free kick they put into the box. In the second phase it’s a clear and obvious foul on our centre-half – the player has played the player, restricting him from kicking it and the referee plays on. I cannot fathom that.
“It was a terrible goal to concede though. My brother should save it. I spoke to him about it in the changing room after. He might be my brother but he’s not exempt from criticism. He’s not exempt from competing for his place. I’m always aware of everyone’s qualities. I’m aware there’s been plenty of games in the past where he’s pulled out numerous saves to keep us in games. So you do try to balance things out. But at the same time, I’ve had enough of the soft goals. I won’t bury my head in the sand. We’ll address it. But the way they’ve got to the goal and the build-up play is the moment it swung the momentum of the game.
“We were defending into the wind, 1-0 up and absolutely comfortable. I can’t remember them having a shot up until that point. Nothing clear cut. But those decisions from the referee changes the game. It pivoted on that point. Enfield are a good side and if you give a good side momentum, it’s going to be very hard to see a game out. The second goal has seen us go a little crazy. Instead of being calm and collected, we rushed a clearance, it falls to their feet and they score.
“Both goals are bitterly disappointing. But we have to remember we’ve faced a very good team. I said to the boys, there’s nothing between the two sides. There’s nothing to separate Enfield Town, who’ve been turning over sides 8-0 and are second in the league and little old Corinthian-Casuals.
“We played Margate who were in the playoff places on Tuesday and we were far better than them. We played St Albans twice and they couldn’t beat us. We’ve played Worthing three times and could only beat us once, and that was to a last minute penalty. Kingstonian only beat us with a penalty. Look at the games that we’ve won. We know where we’re at. We’re positive.
“You have to remember some of the resources these other sides have. Look at the front-line of Enfield Town. They’ve got four players who’d compete in any side. Not on today’s performance though. I see one of their boys throwing a wobbly because he’d been subbed after 75 minutes. He’s played the majority of the game in Manni Mensah’s pocket and ends up whinging. I don’t like that. Give me my boys every day of the week.
“Will I batter them after this result? No. They absolutely don’t deserve any criticism. They’ve done everything they could have done. They worked their socks off. We’ve had a bad rub of the green and a bad ref. Ultimately, that’s cost us.
“Bowers and Pitsea on Tuesday and it’ll be interesting to see how they react after their FA Cup run. Sometimes, there’s a little bit of a hangover after a cup run and we need to capitalise on that if it does happen.
“Our focus is on the league now. Sure, we’ve got the Surrey Senior Cup, the London Senior Cup and the Velocity Trophy, but I don’t intend to play my first team in those games. I’ve no interest in those competitions. We want league points. This league is wide open. We’ve played all of the better teams now and picked up some good results. We should have a lot more. We’ve lost three or four games to penalties. If we don’t score goals, then you’ll never hear me say we deserved to win. But we have been scoring on a regular basis. We have been defensively solid. We’ve got a lot of good things going about us. We just need to find the right intensity on a consistent basis.
“We’ll bounce back this week with another decent performance. We’ve produced a couple of decent showings this past week against two top sides and come away with three points. We’ve got boys that can go again and again. We’ve got good eggs with good mentalities. If we do maintain good levels, we can win two out of every three. And if you do that, you’ll be pushing playoffs. There’ll be tight games in those but we need to ensure we tip those in our favour. We’re a far better side than we’ve been in the last few seasons and long may that continue.”
“The boys should hold their heads up despite the result. They played a good side. Enfield turned over East Thurrock 8-0 last week. They’ll know that they’ve got away with one against us. The referee’s decisions have swung the game. He was poor all afternoon. I feel sorry for the boys, I feel sorry for everyone that’s come to watch and sorry for football. You’ve got good honest boys on both sides giving their best, trying to win a game of football in the right way – and then you get someone in the middle that’s incompetent. His decisions, game management… everything.
“We done a lot right today. Enfield started really well and looked bright. But that was five minutes out of the 45. Other than those five minutes, it was pretty much us penning them in. With the wind, you like to try and get a goal or two and take advantage of the conditions. We haven’t done that, but we’ve taken the lead in the second half with a very good goal.
“The first goal for them is never a foul for the free kick they put into the box. In the second phase it’s a clear and obvious foul on our centre-half – the player has played the player, restricting him from kicking it and the referee plays on. I cannot fathom that.
“It was a terrible goal to concede though. My brother should save it. I spoke to him about it in the changing room after. He might be my brother but he’s not exempt from criticism. He’s not exempt from competing for his place. I’m always aware of everyone’s qualities. I’m aware there’s been plenty of games in the past where he’s pulled out numerous saves to keep us in games. So you do try to balance things out. But at the same time, I’ve had enough of the soft goals. I won’t bury my head in the sand. We’ll address it. But the way they’ve got to the goal and the build-up play is the moment it swung the momentum of the game.
“We were defending into the wind, 1-0 up and absolutely comfortable. I can’t remember them having a shot up until that point. Nothing clear cut. But those decisions from the referee changes the game. It pivoted on that point. Enfield are a good side and if you give a good side momentum, it’s going to be very hard to see a game out. The second goal has seen us go a little crazy. Instead of being calm and collected, we rushed a clearance, it falls to their feet and they score.
“Both goals are bitterly disappointing. But we have to remember we’ve faced a very good team. I said to the boys, there’s nothing between the two sides. There’s nothing to separate Enfield Town, who’ve been turning over sides 8-0 and are second in the league and little old Corinthian-Casuals.
“We played Margate who were in the playoff places on Tuesday and we were far better than them. We played St Albans twice and they couldn’t beat us. We’ve played Worthing three times and could only beat us once, and that was to a last minute penalty. Kingstonian only beat us with a penalty. Look at the games that we’ve won. We know where we’re at. We’re positive.
“You have to remember some of the resources these other sides have. Look at the front-line of Enfield Town. They’ve got four players who’d compete in any side. Not on today’s performance though. I see one of their boys throwing a wobbly because he’d been subbed after 75 minutes. He’s played the majority of the game in Manni Mensah’s pocket and ends up whinging. I don’t like that. Give me my boys every day of the week.
“Will I batter them after this result? No. They absolutely don’t deserve any criticism. They’ve done everything they could have done. They worked their socks off. We’ve had a bad rub of the green and a bad ref. Ultimately, that’s cost us.
“Bowers and Pitsea on Tuesday and it’ll be interesting to see how they react after their FA Cup run. Sometimes, there’s a little bit of a hangover after a cup run and we need to capitalise on that if it does happen.
“Our focus is on the league now. Sure, we’ve got the Surrey Senior Cup, the London Senior Cup and the Velocity Trophy, but I don’t intend to play my first team in those games. I’ve no interest in those competitions. We want league points. This league is wide open. We’ve played all of the better teams now and picked up some good results. We should have a lot more. We’ve lost three or four games to penalties. If we don’t score goals, then you’ll never hear me say we deserved to win. But we have been scoring on a regular basis. We have been defensively solid. We’ve got a lot of good things going about us. We just need to find the right intensity on a consistent basis.
“We’ll bounce back this week with another decent performance. We’ve produced a couple of decent showings this past week against two top sides and come away with three points. We’ve got boys that can go again and again. We’ve got good eggs with good mentalities. If we do maintain good levels, we can win two out of every three. And if you do that, you’ll be pushing playoffs. There’ll be tight games in those but we need to ensure we tip those in our favour. We’re a far better side than we’ve been in the last few seasons and long may that continue.”
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