Hendon 1 - 3 Corinthian-Casuals
Velocity Trophy Quarter Final
Tuesday 9th January 2018
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic goods and the aim of human life.
For those travelling Casuals fans in attendance at Silver Jubilee Park on a cold, drizzly January evening, pleasure and happiness was most definitely provided by James Bracken and his Corinthian-Casuals side. Hedonism at Hendon? Absolutely.
It’d been 33 months as to when the last two sides met and the resounding 5-1 victory by the Greens over Casuals in the inaugural competitive contest at Hendon’s new ground was still fresh in the memory.
Much has changed in that time - for both sides. Danny Bracken, notching up his 350th competitive appearance was the sole survivor from that London Senior Cup Quarter Final in 2015, joined by Hendon’s San Murphy. Vast changes to both squads in less than three years meant this was as new an encounter as the 3G surface that lay beneath the feet.
Hendon’s ranks included league top scorer Niko Muir and Dagenham & Redbridge loanees Joe White and Liam Gordon. By contrast, Casuals were without regular centre-backs Jack Strange and Terry Murray as well as forwards Gabriel Odunaike and Reyon Dillon. Whilst Harry Ottaway was touted to play, an injury kept him from travelling to North London for the tie. Leading the line was Jordan Clarke – making his first start in three months following an injury layoff. Bookmakers had put Casuals as far out as 4/1 for the win and those odds looked generous with the changes enforced on Bracken.
Despite this, it didn’t go to plan for the home side. Within 13 minutes, Casuals were in front. Using the counter-attack to good effect, Jordan Clarke laid a perfect ball for Max Oldham who struck through the feet of keeper Dan Purdue to send the small but vocal away contingent into raptures.
Danny Bracken was called into action himself on a couple of occasions, including a fine tip onto the post to prevent parity in the scoreline.
Casuals doubled their lead in the 35th minute with Max Oldham turning provider, laying a perfect ball across the face of the goal for Josh Uzun to lash home from close range.
Despite what looked to be a foul on Jordan Clarke in the build-up, Hendon’s Joe White found himself with a great chance to score but was bundled over by Ben Cheklit. The resultant penalty was dispatched by Muir to bag his 30th goal of the season.
Controversy was averted on the stroke of half time when good pressure from Clarke forced an error from the back four and bearing down on goal, struck the side netting. However, the ball had passed through a hole to nestle in the back of the net. Some thought he’d scored but the eagle-eyed officials had spotted the ball passing the wrong side of the post. Reaction of the players also told everyone that it was a chance missed rather than converted.
The second half saw Hendon attempt to take a grip on the game and were afforded good spells of possession, though never really testing Bracken in goal.
The tie was sealed when Max Oldham ran onto a through ball, caused by pressure exerted on the Hendon midfield. Oldham beat Purdue to roll the ball into the empty net, much to the American’s delight.
Hendon were repelled one last time in the dying minutes with Bracken making an excellent fully-stretched dive across his goal and Casuals were able to comfortably see out the rest of the game.
The win sees Corinth as the first club to reach the last four with the heavyweights of the Bostik Prem yet to play their quarter finals. Based on this performance against Hendon, Casuals will have nothing to fear for the remainder of this cup competition.
"The performance was fantastic,” commented James Bracken after the match. “I lifted the pressure off by telling them to just go and enjoy it.”
“We’ve got a lot of good footballers and a 3G pitch suits how they want to play. So I gave them a little more freedom to just play the way they wanted to. They certainly didn’t let anyone down in their performance.
“Right from the start, we took the game to them, passed the ball well and created chances. We should be pleased with that.
“We were the better team for sure. I like Gary (Hendon Manager). Hendon are a nice club and they’re a good side. They’re a league above doing well on merit. But we deserved that tonight. If we perform to the levels I know that we’re capable of, we can do that to most teams in our league and the league above. Tonight, we proved that.
“I said we wanted a trophy and we’re in good sight of one. I go back to what I said before that this is supposed to be a local tournament in the early rounds at least. We’ve been to Margate, Hendon, Whyteleafe, Thamesmead – every round has been an away game. We’ve been on a lot of journeys, but we’ve got ourselves into a semi-final. With a bit of luck, we can do the business in that and have a cup final for everyone to look forward to. It’d be a fantastic achievement to get there and then on the day, it’s anyone’s for the taking."
Velocity Trophy Quarter Final
Tuesday 9th January 2018
Match report and photos: Stuart Tree (full set of photos here)
Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic goods and the aim of human life.
For those travelling Casuals fans in attendance at Silver Jubilee Park on a cold, drizzly January evening, pleasure and happiness was most definitely provided by James Bracken and his Corinthian-Casuals side. Hedonism at Hendon? Absolutely.
It’d been 33 months as to when the last two sides met and the resounding 5-1 victory by the Greens over Casuals in the inaugural competitive contest at Hendon’s new ground was still fresh in the memory.
Much has changed in that time - for both sides. Danny Bracken, notching up his 350th competitive appearance was the sole survivor from that London Senior Cup Quarter Final in 2015, joined by Hendon’s San Murphy. Vast changes to both squads in less than three years meant this was as new an encounter as the 3G surface that lay beneath the feet.
Hendon’s ranks included league top scorer Niko Muir and Dagenham & Redbridge loanees Joe White and Liam Gordon. By contrast, Casuals were without regular centre-backs Jack Strange and Terry Murray as well as forwards Gabriel Odunaike and Reyon Dillon. Whilst Harry Ottaway was touted to play, an injury kept him from travelling to North London for the tie. Leading the line was Jordan Clarke – making his first start in three months following an injury layoff. Bookmakers had put Casuals as far out as 4/1 for the win and those odds looked generous with the changes enforced on Bracken.
Despite this, it didn’t go to plan for the home side. Within 13 minutes, Casuals were in front. Using the counter-attack to good effect, Jordan Clarke laid a perfect ball for Max Oldham who struck through the feet of keeper Dan Purdue to send the small but vocal away contingent into raptures.
Danny Bracken was called into action himself on a couple of occasions, including a fine tip onto the post to prevent parity in the scoreline.
Casuals doubled their lead in the 35th minute with Max Oldham turning provider, laying a perfect ball across the face of the goal for Josh Uzun to lash home from close range.
Despite what looked to be a foul on Jordan Clarke in the build-up, Hendon’s Joe White found himself with a great chance to score but was bundled over by Ben Cheklit. The resultant penalty was dispatched by Muir to bag his 30th goal of the season.
Controversy was averted on the stroke of half time when good pressure from Clarke forced an error from the back four and bearing down on goal, struck the side netting. However, the ball had passed through a hole to nestle in the back of the net. Some thought he’d scored but the eagle-eyed officials had spotted the ball passing the wrong side of the post. Reaction of the players also told everyone that it was a chance missed rather than converted.
The second half saw Hendon attempt to take a grip on the game and were afforded good spells of possession, though never really testing Bracken in goal.
The tie was sealed when Max Oldham ran onto a through ball, caused by pressure exerted on the Hendon midfield. Oldham beat Purdue to roll the ball into the empty net, much to the American’s delight.
Hendon were repelled one last time in the dying minutes with Bracken making an excellent fully-stretched dive across his goal and Casuals were able to comfortably see out the rest of the game.
The win sees Corinth as the first club to reach the last four with the heavyweights of the Bostik Prem yet to play their quarter finals. Based on this performance against Hendon, Casuals will have nothing to fear for the remainder of this cup competition.
"The performance was fantastic,” commented James Bracken after the match. “I lifted the pressure off by telling them to just go and enjoy it.”
“We’ve got a lot of good footballers and a 3G pitch suits how they want to play. So I gave them a little more freedom to just play the way they wanted to. They certainly didn’t let anyone down in their performance.
“Right from the start, we took the game to them, passed the ball well and created chances. We should be pleased with that.
“We were the better team for sure. I like Gary (Hendon Manager). Hendon are a nice club and they’re a good side. They’re a league above doing well on merit. But we deserved that tonight. If we perform to the levels I know that we’re capable of, we can do that to most teams in our league and the league above. Tonight, we proved that.
“I said we wanted a trophy and we’re in good sight of one. I go back to what I said before that this is supposed to be a local tournament in the early rounds at least. We’ve been to Margate, Hendon, Whyteleafe, Thamesmead – every round has been an away game. We’ve been on a lot of journeys, but we’ve got ourselves into a semi-final. With a bit of luck, we can do the business in that and have a cup final for everyone to look forward to. It’d be a fantastic achievement to get there and then on the day, it’s anyone’s for the taking."
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