Corinthian-Casuals 1-0 Three Bridges
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 23rd April 2016
Attendance: 164
Match report and pics: Stuart Tree (full set here).
Corinthian-Casuals ended the season in utter disappointment as decisions off the pitch scuppered James Bracken’s side’s chances of the playoffs and promotion.
Despite the tumultuous 24 hours which saw three points harshly docked for fielding an ineligible player back in January, Casuals had an outside chance to still make the top five. Six wins on the bounce had put Corinth’s playoff destiny in their own hands but decisions made by the FA and League meant that three vital points were stripped from a side that didn’t deserve such a punishment. Many hundreds of messages of support for the club came in from the Non-League community, not least from scores of Hastings fans, whose side were set to profit the most from Corinth’s loss.
Bracken named his strongest line-up possible with the only notable omission of the suspended Niall Wright. Jamie Byatt resumed his familiar attacking role after filling in at full back last week.
The opposition, Three Bridges had only pride to play for but proved their competitiveness in the week after a 3-3 draw with Peacehaven and a narrow last minute loss to Champions Folkestone.
Byatt almost opened the scoring in a matter of seconds but was to be the story of the first half. Stand in keeper, Alfie Jones was in fine form as he prevented a number of chances, not least saving from Shaun Okojie in the early minutes. Juevan Spencer also came close as did Josh Uzun’s beautifully struck free kick from 25 yards which was well tipped over by Jones.
Tension was in the air as supporters learned that Hastings United were losing to Herne Bay. However, Faversham Town, the only other side who could reach the playoffs were inexplicably beating in-form Hythe Town by a comfortable margin.
Second half and Casuals pushed for the goal which would give them the slim chance for playoff glory. The crucial introduction of substitute James Cottee turned the game; Dave Hodges in a trademark burst down the wing crossed to the near post where Cottee neatly flicked the ball past Jones and sent the fans into rapturous jubilation.
In truth, it was pretty comfortable for Casuals with Danny Bracken in goal only coming into action at the end to neatly stop a Bridges counter attack. However, events in Kent had conspired against the miracle that was needed as Faversham thumped playoff rivals Hythe Town 4-0. Hastings had surprisingly lost and the final scores meant Faversham clinched 5th whilst Casuals leapfrogged Hastings into 6th… one point behind the crucial playoff place.
After the match, James Bracken found it hard to contain his disappointment.
“Every one of those players deserves to be in the playoffs. That’s where my thoughts on the matter begin and end. I don’t think anything else has sunk in at the moment.
“We turned up today to win and we’ve won our seventh game in a row. That’s exactly what I’d said we’d do, even before Christmas. We’ve done enough to get in the playoffs. We should be in the playoffs but we’re not. The reasons are scandalous to say the least.
“It’s not about me… it’s about the lads. I’ve enjoyed every minute of this season apart from maybe three halves of football. Every minute of every game, they’ve done everything I’ve asked of them . They’ve worked their absolute socks off for nothing and they deserved their rewards. That’s what we set out to do but we haven’t got it.
“It’s been a fantastic season. When I came here in the summer and said I’d get this team promoted, people looked at me like I was a lunatic.
“If we’d made the playoffs, we’d have won them. People might say it’s easy to say that now but when I’m wrong, you can pull me up on it. Until then, I’ll say what I want to say, and that is we would’ve won it.
“Record points total, record position in the league, record FA Trophy run… I don’t know what more we could’ve done short of getting the fair rub of the green which we deserved. I wanted the opportunity to pit ourselves against the other top sides in this division over two games to bring Ryman Premier football to a club that never believed it could be done.
When asked if this team could win the league next season, Bracken said, “Of course! I’m very forward thinking. In football, if you don’t move forward, then you go backwards. I’m continually moving forward. We have a squad here that is in my opinion a top three side.
“Next season, we’ll be stronger, I will be wiser, we’ll be more together and the squad will be settled from the start of pre-season rather than the forty-odd group of players we had last year which was too many. We’ll be ready to go.
“This group of players have proven what they can do; we’ve lost once in the last ten games and seven on the spin. Not only that, we were leading the league in the early part of the season. We had a dip, come back from that and showed character. They showed everything you need to see in a team to be successful.
I will relax now. I have a few games left with Sutton Youth side, I’ll take a breather – a few weeks off and then I’ll be ready to go again come the start of pre-season.
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 23rd April 2016
Attendance: 164
Match report and pics: Stuart Tree (full set here).
Corinthian-Casuals ended the season in utter disappointment as decisions off the pitch scuppered James Bracken’s side’s chances of the playoffs and promotion.
Despite the tumultuous 24 hours which saw three points harshly docked for fielding an ineligible player back in January, Casuals had an outside chance to still make the top five. Six wins on the bounce had put Corinth’s playoff destiny in their own hands but decisions made by the FA and League meant that three vital points were stripped from a side that didn’t deserve such a punishment. Many hundreds of messages of support for the club came in from the Non-League community, not least from scores of Hastings fans, whose side were set to profit the most from Corinth’s loss.
Bracken named his strongest line-up possible with the only notable omission of the suspended Niall Wright. Jamie Byatt resumed his familiar attacking role after filling in at full back last week.
The opposition, Three Bridges had only pride to play for but proved their competitiveness in the week after a 3-3 draw with Peacehaven and a narrow last minute loss to Champions Folkestone.
Byatt almost opened the scoring in a matter of seconds but was to be the story of the first half. Stand in keeper, Alfie Jones was in fine form as he prevented a number of chances, not least saving from Shaun Okojie in the early minutes. Juevan Spencer also came close as did Josh Uzun’s beautifully struck free kick from 25 yards which was well tipped over by Jones.
Tension was in the air as supporters learned that Hastings United were losing to Herne Bay. However, Faversham Town, the only other side who could reach the playoffs were inexplicably beating in-form Hythe Town by a comfortable margin.
Second half and Casuals pushed for the goal which would give them the slim chance for playoff glory. The crucial introduction of substitute James Cottee turned the game; Dave Hodges in a trademark burst down the wing crossed to the near post where Cottee neatly flicked the ball past Jones and sent the fans into rapturous jubilation.
In truth, it was pretty comfortable for Casuals with Danny Bracken in goal only coming into action at the end to neatly stop a Bridges counter attack. However, events in Kent had conspired against the miracle that was needed as Faversham thumped playoff rivals Hythe Town 4-0. Hastings had surprisingly lost and the final scores meant Faversham clinched 5th whilst Casuals leapfrogged Hastings into 6th… one point behind the crucial playoff place.
After the match, James Bracken found it hard to contain his disappointment.
“Every one of those players deserves to be in the playoffs. That’s where my thoughts on the matter begin and end. I don’t think anything else has sunk in at the moment.
“We turned up today to win and we’ve won our seventh game in a row. That’s exactly what I’d said we’d do, even before Christmas. We’ve done enough to get in the playoffs. We should be in the playoffs but we’re not. The reasons are scandalous to say the least.
“It’s not about me… it’s about the lads. I’ve enjoyed every minute of this season apart from maybe three halves of football. Every minute of every game, they’ve done everything I’ve asked of them . They’ve worked their absolute socks off for nothing and they deserved their rewards. That’s what we set out to do but we haven’t got it.
“It’s been a fantastic season. When I came here in the summer and said I’d get this team promoted, people looked at me like I was a lunatic.
“If we’d made the playoffs, we’d have won them. People might say it’s easy to say that now but when I’m wrong, you can pull me up on it. Until then, I’ll say what I want to say, and that is we would’ve won it.
“Record points total, record position in the league, record FA Trophy run… I don’t know what more we could’ve done short of getting the fair rub of the green which we deserved. I wanted the opportunity to pit ourselves against the other top sides in this division over two games to bring Ryman Premier football to a club that never believed it could be done.
When asked if this team could win the league next season, Bracken said, “Of course! I’m very forward thinking. In football, if you don’t move forward, then you go backwards. I’m continually moving forward. We have a squad here that is in my opinion a top three side.
“Next season, we’ll be stronger, I will be wiser, we’ll be more together and the squad will be settled from the start of pre-season rather than the forty-odd group of players we had last year which was too many. We’ll be ready to go.
“This group of players have proven what they can do; we’ve lost once in the last ten games and seven on the spin. Not only that, we were leading the league in the early part of the season. We had a dip, come back from that and showed character. They showed everything you need to see in a team to be successful.
I will relax now. I have a few games left with Sutton Youth side, I’ll take a breather – a few weeks off and then I’ll be ready to go again come the start of pre-season.
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