Corinthian-Casuals 5 – 1 Walton and Hersham
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 15th December 2015
Match Report: Stuart Tree (photos to follow)
Matt Reece notched a brace as Corinthian-Casuals racked up their biggest win of the season against Walton and Hersham in the Ryman League Division One South fixture at King George’s Arena.
Adding to Reece’s tally were strikes from defender Terry Murray, top scorer Juevan Spencer and Josh Uzun, with only Aaron Watson replying for the Swans in a 5-1 win to Corinth.
And with the win came a statement from Boss James Bracken, “We’re on a mission now.”
Casuals came into the game on the back of an historic FA Trophy run, finally succumbing to Hungerford Town on Saturday. The performance and spirit shown in the encounter clearly left the Amateurs full of confidence. Their opponents, struggling Walton and Hersham who have recently made a managerial change with Mark Hams coming in to steer the ship - the Swans having not won in five league matches coming into the evening.
Despite two losses on the spin for Casuals, the much-changed side in the Alan Turvey Trophy and the narrow FA Trophy loss to higher league opposition had not left Manager James Bracken with any concerns. In fact, prior to these results, Casuals had only lost once in nine matches.
A different looking strike force took to the field with Emmanuel Akokhia and Cherno Mendy rested. Matt Reece came into the line-up and Josh Uzun was pushed further up field. Ben King was recalled to take up a holding midfield role.
Conditions weren’t easy and on a pitch which had coped well with the large quantity of rain, the standard of football was surprisingly high. From the outset, it was clear there was always going to be goals in this encounter. Play flowed from end-to-end with ease and players from both sides found large areas of space with aplomb.
It didn’t take long for the first goal to come. On 11 minutes, Terry Murray converted a corner which appeared to take forever to cross the line, but did so, much to the jubilation of the home crowd.
The Swans had two good chances to level, first when a vicious cross was fired past Danny Bracken and found Ryan Marklew unguarded at the back post, but failed to convert. Minutes later Gianfranco Mici found enough time and space in the box to place a shot either side of Bracken but ended up gifting it straight into the arms of the keeper.
In truly end-to-end fashion, chances were created at by Casuals with numerous efforts falling to Matt Reece, Kevant Serbony, Ben King, Josh Uzun and Danny Dudley - all who couldn’t quite find the perfect final touch. Was this to be a case of missed opportunities?
Not quite; Warren Morgan’s whipped in cross from the by-line found 6’2” Matt Reece free in the box and the striker had no hesitation in placing his header past Swan’s stopper Borja Loeches Teixeira.
Before you could blink, it was three-nil. Matt Reece grabbing a delightfully easy goal after a mix up left the Walton Keeper on the floor, stranded and Reece strolling past to tap home into an empty net.
Any thoughts of the game being done and dusted were soon quashed; a deflected shot from Aaron Watson steered the ball past Bracken’s near post and the deficit was reduced to two, though with hardly a murmur around the ground, many wondered if it had counted.
Walton looked to have scored again and had the ball in the back of the net. However, the Assistant Referee’s flag raised was sight well received by the home crowd.
Despite a few lapses in concentration, discussions amongst supporters at half time concluded that Casuals had too much firepower for Walton to contain. This was confirmed on 56 minutes as Juevan Spencer, latching onto a pinpoint Dave Hodges ball, had no hesitation in dispatching his 13th goal of the season.
More and more chances fell to Casuals and Uzun continued to look a threat. He finally got his reward for perseverance into stoppage time. Finding vast amounts of space on the right flank, Uzun took aim from 20 yards out to fire past Teixeira into the bottom corner - a class finish.
The night was ended with a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ from the supporters to substitute Brandon Johnson and though the evening air was filled with rain, no spirits were dampened from a Corinth point of view.
The win puts Casuals up to tenth in the table just four points from the playoffs with two games in hand over most sides. After the match, Manager James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.
“Mani (Akokhia) was honest with me and said he hadn’t recovered from Saturday as well as he’d have hoped. It’s the first time he’s said that all season and if someone tells you they’re feeling a bit jaded, it helps me do my job. You don’t end up fielding a player and then wonder why he isn’t at his best.
“Matt Reece has come into the team today and scored two, led the line well and is a player we’ve been trying to get fully fit since the start of the season. Now he’s starting to look like the player that I know he is.
“We’ve come into the game full of confidence; the opposition set up a certain way which we counter-acted what they were trying to do and arguably played the conditions better than they have.
“We’re on a mission now. We’ve had a great cup run but the league is now our priority. All of our eyes are on this.
“I’ve made it clear to the lads this week that we need to pick up two wins and send us into Christmas on the back of a decent bit of form. We’ll attack these games. We’re confident.
“We held our own on Saturday and were better than two decent Ryman Premier sides. So when you play against Walton and Hersham… and no disrespect to them, knowing you can reach the level that we have, you’re going to be in with a very good chance of winning.”
Ryman League Division One South
Tuesday 15th December 2015
Match Report: Stuart Tree (photos to follow)
Matt Reece notched a brace as Corinthian-Casuals racked up their biggest win of the season against Walton and Hersham in the Ryman League Division One South fixture at King George’s Arena.
Adding to Reece’s tally were strikes from defender Terry Murray, top scorer Juevan Spencer and Josh Uzun, with only Aaron Watson replying for the Swans in a 5-1 win to Corinth.
And with the win came a statement from Boss James Bracken, “We’re on a mission now.”
Casuals came into the game on the back of an historic FA Trophy run, finally succumbing to Hungerford Town on Saturday. The performance and spirit shown in the encounter clearly left the Amateurs full of confidence. Their opponents, struggling Walton and Hersham who have recently made a managerial change with Mark Hams coming in to steer the ship - the Swans having not won in five league matches coming into the evening.
Despite two losses on the spin for Casuals, the much-changed side in the Alan Turvey Trophy and the narrow FA Trophy loss to higher league opposition had not left Manager James Bracken with any concerns. In fact, prior to these results, Casuals had only lost once in nine matches.
A different looking strike force took to the field with Emmanuel Akokhia and Cherno Mendy rested. Matt Reece came into the line-up and Josh Uzun was pushed further up field. Ben King was recalled to take up a holding midfield role.
Conditions weren’t easy and on a pitch which had coped well with the large quantity of rain, the standard of football was surprisingly high. From the outset, it was clear there was always going to be goals in this encounter. Play flowed from end-to-end with ease and players from both sides found large areas of space with aplomb.
It didn’t take long for the first goal to come. On 11 minutes, Terry Murray converted a corner which appeared to take forever to cross the line, but did so, much to the jubilation of the home crowd.
The Swans had two good chances to level, first when a vicious cross was fired past Danny Bracken and found Ryan Marklew unguarded at the back post, but failed to convert. Minutes later Gianfranco Mici found enough time and space in the box to place a shot either side of Bracken but ended up gifting it straight into the arms of the keeper.
In truly end-to-end fashion, chances were created at by Casuals with numerous efforts falling to Matt Reece, Kevant Serbony, Ben King, Josh Uzun and Danny Dudley - all who couldn’t quite find the perfect final touch. Was this to be a case of missed opportunities?
Not quite; Warren Morgan’s whipped in cross from the by-line found 6’2” Matt Reece free in the box and the striker had no hesitation in placing his header past Swan’s stopper Borja Loeches Teixeira.
Before you could blink, it was three-nil. Matt Reece grabbing a delightfully easy goal after a mix up left the Walton Keeper on the floor, stranded and Reece strolling past to tap home into an empty net.
Any thoughts of the game being done and dusted were soon quashed; a deflected shot from Aaron Watson steered the ball past Bracken’s near post and the deficit was reduced to two, though with hardly a murmur around the ground, many wondered if it had counted.
Walton looked to have scored again and had the ball in the back of the net. However, the Assistant Referee’s flag raised was sight well received by the home crowd.
Despite a few lapses in concentration, discussions amongst supporters at half time concluded that Casuals had too much firepower for Walton to contain. This was confirmed on 56 minutes as Juevan Spencer, latching onto a pinpoint Dave Hodges ball, had no hesitation in dispatching his 13th goal of the season.
More and more chances fell to Casuals and Uzun continued to look a threat. He finally got his reward for perseverance into stoppage time. Finding vast amounts of space on the right flank, Uzun took aim from 20 yards out to fire past Teixeira into the bottom corner - a class finish.
The night was ended with a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ from the supporters to substitute Brandon Johnson and though the evening air was filled with rain, no spirits were dampened from a Corinth point of view.
The win puts Casuals up to tenth in the table just four points from the playoffs with two games in hand over most sides. After the match, Manager James Bracken spoke to Stuart Tree.
“Mani (Akokhia) was honest with me and said he hadn’t recovered from Saturday as well as he’d have hoped. It’s the first time he’s said that all season and if someone tells you they’re feeling a bit jaded, it helps me do my job. You don’t end up fielding a player and then wonder why he isn’t at his best.
“Matt Reece has come into the team today and scored two, led the line well and is a player we’ve been trying to get fully fit since the start of the season. Now he’s starting to look like the player that I know he is.
“We’ve come into the game full of confidence; the opposition set up a certain way which we counter-acted what they were trying to do and arguably played the conditions better than they have.
“We’re on a mission now. We’ve had a great cup run but the league is now our priority. All of our eyes are on this.
“I’ve made it clear to the lads this week that we need to pick up two wins and send us into Christmas on the back of a decent bit of form. We’ll attack these games. We’re confident.
“We held our own on Saturday and were better than two decent Ryman Premier sides. So when you play against Walton and Hersham… and no disrespect to them, knowing you can reach the level that we have, you’re going to be in with a very good chance of winning.”
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