Burgess Hill Town 2 - 1 Corinthian-Casuals
Bostik League Premier Division
Saturday 6th April 2019
Report: Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (set here)
The word to describe the final minutes at the Green Elephant Stadium would be controversial as Corinthian-Casuals conceded twice in five minutes due to scandalous officiating and a late Burgess Hill comeback to lose 2-1.
Rudoni’s run and Maj’s magic was the topic of conversation for the Casuals contingent who travelled down to West Sussex. The 1-0 victory over Carshalton was glorious and with only five games left, James Bracken’s pink and brown army yearned to secure safety for another season.
Most football fans in Sussex would be at Wembley for Brighton & Hove Albion’s cup semi-final clash, or have their eyes glued to the TV for a late kick-off in London. For those stationed in Burgess Hill’s homely Leylands Park, it would be the latter and therefore non-league football first. Bottom of the Bostik Premier, the Hillians had improved as of late and were searching for an upset versus Corinthians, who were not in the clear themselves.
Two changes to the winning side on Saturday- Hakeem Adelakun stepped in at left back as Juevan Spencer played in a more attacking role at no.7; Warren Morgan switched to the right. This meant Oliver Sitch would start on the bench whilst Warren Mfula was on for Kevant Serbony. The pink and brown versus the green of Burgess Hill.
It was all to play for even after a tepid first twenty minutes, brightened a little by an excellent Cruyff turn from the maestro donning no.8 Jack Rudoni. A Man-Of-The-Match performance on his debut and assisting the winner the game after, Rudoni looked to continue his form for the Casuals. Mfula had the chance to boot the ball back into the danger zone early on, and his attempt bounced off Tolulope Jonah’s hand and went out for a corner. Waving away penalty appeals despite the connection, the referee gave Corinth the set-piece, in which Ekim looped the ball to the back post for Reece Hannigan. The centre-back looked to nod it across goal and after hitting the post, the ball bounced uncertainly on the goal-line with Mfula getting a touch on it before being cleared. Away supporters behind the goal were half-celebrating and half-appealing as they had the best view in the ground, and they believed it should have been a goal.
Again giving the Hill a defensive headache, Mfula turned and had a long-shot that was swallowed by the keeper. Using his pace and patience that the Casuals were getting used to, Rudoni played a brilliant through ball to Spencer on the right flank, who had all the time in the world… until keeper Josh James closed him down tremendously. Trying to sneak it under the bright yellow shirt, Spencer nearly grabbed a rare goal but it was well-saved by James.
A frustrating first-half for both sides, Casuals were dominating. However, Burgess Hill’s counter attack was an itch that Corinth could not quite scratch. Defending was not what the visitors were doing when the half kicked off though as Majed Osman nodded a long ball towards Mfula in the 46th minute. Prodding the ball past the baffled Toure, the no.9 showed terrific composure and skill to wait and then open up his body to curl a beautiful shot into the keeper’s bottom left hand corner. Celebrations could finally ensue and the pink and brown army mobbed Mfula whilst the away support had something other than appeals to shout about.
Antonio’s efforts in midfield were commendable and as was Spencer despite playing in a different position to most weeks as the no.7 so nearly made it two with a shot high and wide. The introduction of Reyon Dillon was inspired as the striker fed the ball to Osman on the left and cutting in, the attacker hit an effort that was saved yet again by the on-fire James. Dillon’s hold-up play and relationship with Osman was utilised again and somehow Maj’s curling shot smacked the outside of the post instead of spiralling in. Ekim had two free-kicks that were blasted comfortably over, which was the epitome of the half. Complete annihilation up front that was just lacking the finishing touch that Mfula provided after a minute.
All of a sudden, the un-scratchable itch returned. Burgess Hill needed to get some sort of result in order to keep their relegation fears at bay, so Danny Bracken came to rescue Casuals late on with a great save from a corner. This meant another corner to defend, but instead of Bracken being able to come out and collect the ball, sub Pat Harding held Casuals’ no.1's arm and completely blocked him from getting to the chance. The referee did not see any issue and did not call a foul even when Boris Kipeye-Bonno tapped the ball home. Perhaps it was Bracken’s enthusiastic and passionate appeals that the official had to ignore that influenced his later thinking, which sent a mixture of shock and disbelief through everyone in the ground.
Just a minute later, Hannigan and Tommy Wood jumped in the air to head away. Instead of using his feet to return to the ground, Burgess Hill’s Wood flipped mid-air and fell unconvincingly to the ground, feigning some sort of contact. Using the word ‘unconvincing’ was apparent to the Casuals bench, players and supporters as well as the Hill’s bench and players - hence not one cry for 'penalty'. The same cannot be said for the referee. Blowing his whistle and turning everyone’s head, he pointed to the spot. Penalty to Burgess Hill Town with minutes remaining. Even on video replay after the match, there is no contact between the two players and the decision from the officials are baffling. Protests, of course, followed and Morgan was dismissed for the heinous act of showing passion and disagreeing. Tommy Wood scored the penalty. It summed up the men-in-black’s performances when two whole minutes of the five signalled seemed to mean that the game should end. Robbed at the death, Casuals would leave West Sussex devastated as they are defeated 2-1.
Thank you to Burgess Hill for the hospitality; we wish them well for the last four games of the season. Corinthian-Casuals drop to seven points from the relegation zone. Two points below them in 19th, Wingate and Finchley travel to King George’s next Saturday for an extremely important clash. One win will all but guarantee safety!
"I feel we’ve been cheated. 100% cheated," said a furious James Bracken after the match. "But I can find no other words to describe what’s happened in the last ten minutes of the match.
"Their first, our keeper is being held down but the goal is allowed to stand. He then gives a shocking penalty with pretty much the last kick of the game and doesn’t play the full five minutes added on at the end.
"I can handle officials making bad mistakes. I can handle the fact that two of them haven’t seen the ball go a foot over the line in the first half. I can accept that. But I can’t accept being cheated. That man gifted them the game, even gloating afterwards. I asked him what his thinking was for giving the penalty and he couldn’t answer me.
"He knows it’s wrong; his officials know it’s wrong and everyone in the crowd knows it’s wrong. Their management have profusely apologised to me after the final whistle saying we’ve been cheated the worst that they’d ever seen. What more can I say?
"Maybe that’s what we have to contend with. Some say it balances itself out over the course of the season. People might think I’m crazy but we have had no luck all year. None.
"If the referee had put in that level of performance in the Premier League, it’d be scrutinised, he’d be ripped to shreds and the FA would investigate it. Because that’s how bad it was.
"It was another good display from us on what was a tricky pitch. It took us a while to settle. At half time, I didn’t hold back, and I told the boys what needed to be done. We achieved that.
"3-0 would’ve honestly been a fair reflection on the game in terms of chances, possession, threatening attacks and controlled defending. I don’t recall my brother having to make a big save. They didn’t threaten our goal at all until Dan gets held down for their equaliser and lets someone tap it in.
"We should’ve scored more goals, of course. One-nil is always a score that can catch you out, but we never got caught out nor looked like we would. We were simply cheated out of it. We’ve scored one and the referee has scored two. Burgess Hill won 2-1. There’s no more to it than that.
"We’ve been very good in recent weeks but let’s get this right; you can count our poor games on one hand. Enfield at home – we were very poor! Hornchurch away, we were poor. There are not too many others that we’ve not turned up and been competitive – and let’s remember, this is all on no budget.
"We thoroughly deserve to be at this level. I look at teams like Leatherhead, who we’ve beaten twice, and are no better than us. Carshalton, who we’ve beaten three times, are no better than us. We put the levels of performance in consistently. Unfortunately, we’re probably not clinical enough. It takes us a couple more chances than we’d like to put games to bed. But we’ve played everyone, and I rarely come away from games thinking ‘Cor, they were excellent’. Best team we played this season – Bognor Regis Town away… and we won 1-0. Best team by a mile. They played great football, created untold chances, we rode our luck, defended very well and snuck a goal at the death. But there’s no one that’s miles better than us.
"In terms of performance, we’ve been on it, every single week.
"I don’t like losing, I want to be top of the table, but I cannot knock these lads. They’ve been great. They’ve given everything and they continue to do so. They won’t shy away from the challenge. They take the knocks, which we’ve had plenty of, but they’ll be ready to go next week and put another three points on the board."
Bostik League Premier Division
Saturday 6th April 2019
Report: Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (set here)
The word to describe the final minutes at the Green Elephant Stadium would be controversial as Corinthian-Casuals conceded twice in five minutes due to scandalous officiating and a late Burgess Hill comeback to lose 2-1.
Rudoni’s run and Maj’s magic was the topic of conversation for the Casuals contingent who travelled down to West Sussex. The 1-0 victory over Carshalton was glorious and with only five games left, James Bracken’s pink and brown army yearned to secure safety for another season.
Most football fans in Sussex would be at Wembley for Brighton & Hove Albion’s cup semi-final clash, or have their eyes glued to the TV for a late kick-off in London. For those stationed in Burgess Hill’s homely Leylands Park, it would be the latter and therefore non-league football first. Bottom of the Bostik Premier, the Hillians had improved as of late and were searching for an upset versus Corinthians, who were not in the clear themselves.
Two changes to the winning side on Saturday- Hakeem Adelakun stepped in at left back as Juevan Spencer played in a more attacking role at no.7; Warren Morgan switched to the right. This meant Oliver Sitch would start on the bench whilst Warren Mfula was on for Kevant Serbony. The pink and brown versus the green of Burgess Hill.
It was all to play for even after a tepid first twenty minutes, brightened a little by an excellent Cruyff turn from the maestro donning no.8 Jack Rudoni. A Man-Of-The-Match performance on his debut and assisting the winner the game after, Rudoni looked to continue his form for the Casuals. Mfula had the chance to boot the ball back into the danger zone early on, and his attempt bounced off Tolulope Jonah’s hand and went out for a corner. Waving away penalty appeals despite the connection, the referee gave Corinth the set-piece, in which Ekim looped the ball to the back post for Reece Hannigan. The centre-back looked to nod it across goal and after hitting the post, the ball bounced uncertainly on the goal-line with Mfula getting a touch on it before being cleared. Away supporters behind the goal were half-celebrating and half-appealing as they had the best view in the ground, and they believed it should have been a goal.
Again giving the Hill a defensive headache, Mfula turned and had a long-shot that was swallowed by the keeper. Using his pace and patience that the Casuals were getting used to, Rudoni played a brilliant through ball to Spencer on the right flank, who had all the time in the world… until keeper Josh James closed him down tremendously. Trying to sneak it under the bright yellow shirt, Spencer nearly grabbed a rare goal but it was well-saved by James.
A frustrating first-half for both sides, Casuals were dominating. However, Burgess Hill’s counter attack was an itch that Corinth could not quite scratch. Defending was not what the visitors were doing when the half kicked off though as Majed Osman nodded a long ball towards Mfula in the 46th minute. Prodding the ball past the baffled Toure, the no.9 showed terrific composure and skill to wait and then open up his body to curl a beautiful shot into the keeper’s bottom left hand corner. Celebrations could finally ensue and the pink and brown army mobbed Mfula whilst the away support had something other than appeals to shout about.
Antonio’s efforts in midfield were commendable and as was Spencer despite playing in a different position to most weeks as the no.7 so nearly made it two with a shot high and wide. The introduction of Reyon Dillon was inspired as the striker fed the ball to Osman on the left and cutting in, the attacker hit an effort that was saved yet again by the on-fire James. Dillon’s hold-up play and relationship with Osman was utilised again and somehow Maj’s curling shot smacked the outside of the post instead of spiralling in. Ekim had two free-kicks that were blasted comfortably over, which was the epitome of the half. Complete annihilation up front that was just lacking the finishing touch that Mfula provided after a minute.
All of a sudden, the un-scratchable itch returned. Burgess Hill needed to get some sort of result in order to keep their relegation fears at bay, so Danny Bracken came to rescue Casuals late on with a great save from a corner. This meant another corner to defend, but instead of Bracken being able to come out and collect the ball, sub Pat Harding held Casuals’ no.1's arm and completely blocked him from getting to the chance. The referee did not see any issue and did not call a foul even when Boris Kipeye-Bonno tapped the ball home. Perhaps it was Bracken’s enthusiastic and passionate appeals that the official had to ignore that influenced his later thinking, which sent a mixture of shock and disbelief through everyone in the ground.
Just a minute later, Hannigan and Tommy Wood jumped in the air to head away. Instead of using his feet to return to the ground, Burgess Hill’s Wood flipped mid-air and fell unconvincingly to the ground, feigning some sort of contact. Using the word ‘unconvincing’ was apparent to the Casuals bench, players and supporters as well as the Hill’s bench and players - hence not one cry for 'penalty'. The same cannot be said for the referee. Blowing his whistle and turning everyone’s head, he pointed to the spot. Penalty to Burgess Hill Town with minutes remaining. Even on video replay after the match, there is no contact between the two players and the decision from the officials are baffling. Protests, of course, followed and Morgan was dismissed for the heinous act of showing passion and disagreeing. Tommy Wood scored the penalty. It summed up the men-in-black’s performances when two whole minutes of the five signalled seemed to mean that the game should end. Robbed at the death, Casuals would leave West Sussex devastated as they are defeated 2-1.
Thank you to Burgess Hill for the hospitality; we wish them well for the last four games of the season. Corinthian-Casuals drop to seven points from the relegation zone. Two points below them in 19th, Wingate and Finchley travel to King George’s next Saturday for an extremely important clash. One win will all but guarantee safety!
"I feel we’ve been cheated. 100% cheated," said a furious James Bracken after the match. "But I can find no other words to describe what’s happened in the last ten minutes of the match.
"Their first, our keeper is being held down but the goal is allowed to stand. He then gives a shocking penalty with pretty much the last kick of the game and doesn’t play the full five minutes added on at the end.
"I can handle officials making bad mistakes. I can handle the fact that two of them haven’t seen the ball go a foot over the line in the first half. I can accept that. But I can’t accept being cheated. That man gifted them the game, even gloating afterwards. I asked him what his thinking was for giving the penalty and he couldn’t answer me.
"He knows it’s wrong; his officials know it’s wrong and everyone in the crowd knows it’s wrong. Their management have profusely apologised to me after the final whistle saying we’ve been cheated the worst that they’d ever seen. What more can I say?
"Maybe that’s what we have to contend with. Some say it balances itself out over the course of the season. People might think I’m crazy but we have had no luck all year. None.
"If the referee had put in that level of performance in the Premier League, it’d be scrutinised, he’d be ripped to shreds and the FA would investigate it. Because that’s how bad it was.
"It was another good display from us on what was a tricky pitch. It took us a while to settle. At half time, I didn’t hold back, and I told the boys what needed to be done. We achieved that.
"3-0 would’ve honestly been a fair reflection on the game in terms of chances, possession, threatening attacks and controlled defending. I don’t recall my brother having to make a big save. They didn’t threaten our goal at all until Dan gets held down for their equaliser and lets someone tap it in.
"We should’ve scored more goals, of course. One-nil is always a score that can catch you out, but we never got caught out nor looked like we would. We were simply cheated out of it. We’ve scored one and the referee has scored two. Burgess Hill won 2-1. There’s no more to it than that.
"We’ve been very good in recent weeks but let’s get this right; you can count our poor games on one hand. Enfield at home – we were very poor! Hornchurch away, we were poor. There are not too many others that we’ve not turned up and been competitive – and let’s remember, this is all on no budget.
"We thoroughly deserve to be at this level. I look at teams like Leatherhead, who we’ve beaten twice, and are no better than us. Carshalton, who we’ve beaten three times, are no better than us. We put the levels of performance in consistently. Unfortunately, we’re probably not clinical enough. It takes us a couple more chances than we’d like to put games to bed. But we’ve played everyone, and I rarely come away from games thinking ‘Cor, they were excellent’. Best team we played this season – Bognor Regis Town away… and we won 1-0. Best team by a mile. They played great football, created untold chances, we rode our luck, defended very well and snuck a goal at the death. But there’s no one that’s miles better than us.
"In terms of performance, we’ve been on it, every single week.
"I don’t like losing, I want to be top of the table, but I cannot knock these lads. They’ve been great. They’ve given everything and they continue to do so. They won’t shy away from the challenge. They take the knocks, which we’ve had plenty of, but they’ll be ready to go next week and put another three points on the board."
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