Margate 2 - 2 Corinthian-Casuals
(Casuals win 5-3 on penalties)
Velocity Trophy 2nd Round
Tuesday 24th October 2017
Report: Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (full set here)
Following a hugely-satisfying equaliser from Jack Strange in the dying minutes, Corinthian-Casuals players and supporters were able to celebrate again moments later when Ben Cheklit netted from the spot to win an exhilarating penalty shootout at Margate FC to progress into the next round of the Velocity Trophy in style.
Five penalty kicks. Five conversions. The perfect penalty shootout. As the Casuals contingent jogged to the other end of Hartsdown Park at full-time, James Bracken gathered his pink and brown army in a huddle and discussed the penalty-taking order. It was a surreal moment for the away support whilst the majority of the away fans shuffled to the home end to get a closer look at the action. About ten minutes ago they had been accepting defeat at the hands of the well-organised and sturdy Margate. But now, thanks to Strange’s superb header, Casuals had a 50/50 chance of advancing. And oh did they take that chance!
It was a two hour drive- a 183 mile round trip- to the seaside town of Margate, who sit 14th in the Bostik Premier Division and play their games at the artificial surface of Hartsdown Park. A 2-1 win over East Grinstead Town in the middle of September sealed Margate a second round home tie in the Velocity Trophy, whilst in Tolworth, Corinthians also bagged a 2-1 result, but for Casuals it was an away-from-home victory at Whyteleafe.
Three changes to the Casuals side that came back to defeat Hastings United 3-2 on Saturday included Ike Robertson-Feehi, Ben Cheklit and Gabriel Odunaike, who grabbed a spot the starting line-up. Meanwhile, an announcement that echoed across the ground brought bad news for Margate fans - their first-choice goalkeeper had been injured in the warmup, so centre-back Tom Wynter took his place in-between the sticks. The Gate were wearing their classic blue home strip and Casuals were in their natural chocolate and pink shirts. Inside ten minutes, Casuals seemed to be second to everything as the collected Blues took the lead with a Jack Bray header from a corner.
However, Corinth picked themselves up after the 9th minute opener with a more structured approach to the match - the attacking midfield trio of Josh Uzun, Jordan Clarke and Ben Cheklit attempted to slip sly balls in behind the Margate defence at any opportunity. An improved performance from the visitors payed off when no.10 Clarke found himself 25 yards out before curling a pinpoint screamer into the bottom left corner of the keeper. It was level again in Kent, all thanks to Clarke’s effort that left Margate’s back four and no.1(3) for dead.
For the remainder of the half, possession dabbled between the sides, as did the chances. A Max Oldham strike from the left flank was parried away hastily whilst Danny Bracken was kept on his toes by a few tame shots from the Blues. But after 45 minutes, it was 1-1 on a windy evening by the seaside.
The next 45 would provide agony, anxiousness and amusement for every spectator in the ground. The Gate were consistently drilling the Casuals defence for a good twenty minutes when they finally struck. Matt Bodkin was the man to calmly tuck a one-on-one opportunity away in the 81st minute as rare cheers from Margate supporters were soon drowned out by the disappointed, but ever-resilient Casuals contingent.
Albeit over, James Bracken allowed brother Danny to race upfield towards a crowded penalty area for a corner in the dying embers of the match that Jordan Clarke would take. As the goal-scorer delivered a beautiful, floating cross into the box, Jack Strange managed to peel away from his hands-on marker and nod past the keeper to equalise in superb fashion! Rapturous celebrations behind the goal from the always-vocal fans, Casuals had shocked everyone in Hartsdown Park- including themselves- as they pegged Margate back at the death… it was 2-2!
Following three minutes of injury time, Margate and Casuals would have to settle the fixture with a penalty shootout and no extra-time. The lively Jordan Clarke was the first player to take a spot-kick, and he netted to put Casuals 1-0 up. The hosts scored to level proceedings, before Max Oldham’s confident, low strike edged Casuals ahead. Margate’s second penalty of the night was taken by midfielder Lee Prescott, who was too audacious with his kick and fired the ball high over the crossbar; almighty celebrations from the Casuals supporters ensued. However, nothing was final yet. Substitute Omari Delgado-Hibbert played it safe and slotted home to make it 3-1, but the Margate taker also scored; it was 3-2. Danny Bracken switched saving penalties to scoring penalties when he composed himself to fire home Casuals’ fourth penalty. A brilliant finish from a Margate player made it 4-3, which meant that if Ben Cheklit scored, Casuals had won. Cheklit seemed calm and collected during the run-up, and his lack of nerves helped him expertly guide a fantastic penalty kick into the top right-hand corner. The pink & brown army mobbed Cheklit whilst the supporters were in ecstasy, and chanted throughout the night.
Casuals’ success in this penalty shootout seemed to wash off the shootout taboo that came with the gut-wrenching loss at Dorking Wanderers in the play-off final last year. Thank you to Margate FC for their hospitality, and we wish them good luck for the rest of the season. The advancement into the third round left an extremely sweet taste in the mouth of Casuals supporters and players- who would be next to stand in the way of James Bracken’s pink and brown army?
“I thought we were the better side for most of the game but we didn’t have enough shots on target”, said Manager James Bracken after the final whistle.
“If we had, with their stand-in keeper, we’d have obviously scored more. I have the same gripe with set pieces too, where we needed to stick more on him. That’s probably the main reason why we went to penalties.
“However, it gave us the opportunity to show spirit. Being 2-1 down away from home with ten minutes remaining gave us the chance to show our resolve. From there, we went on and scored five out of five penalties.
“I’m sure that a penalty shootout will happen again this season – whether it’s in the Cup or playoffs. Now we can go into that with this experience in mind. If those five boys are on the pitch, they should be confident stepping up again and the others can also be confident knowing we’re a side that can win from the penalty spot.
“You come into these games knowing both sides will make a few changes, which we both did. Margate still had a good side. We didn’t make wholesale changes. We gave one or two a game from the bench and a few others a chance to get into the squad who haven’t been involved for a few weeks.
“But when you travel this far on a Tuesday night, I want to be fair to not only the players, giving them a real chance to win the game, but to be fair to our supporters. We’ve had a good turnout again tonight and they’ve sung and chanted all evening. We didn’t want to come along, put out a disjointed side, lose 3-0 and waste an evening. Hopefully they enjoyed it and had a good night.
Asked about his preferences for the draw in the next round, Bracken commented, “I don’t want Bury, Leiston, Lowestoft… anyone miles away. We’ll give them a swerve. It’d be nice if this competition was local like they claimed it was supposed to be. Coming here to Margate on a Tuesday night is in no way shape or form, local.
“One of the local sides would be my preference just for the team’s sake, the supporter’s sake and my sake in terms of travelling, getting time off work, etc. Other than that, I have no real preference. I want games that we can win and we can beat anybody. Let’s see how far we can go.”
(Casuals win 5-3 on penalties)
Velocity Trophy 2nd Round
Tuesday 24th October 2017
Report: Cameron Smith. Pics: Stuart Tree (full set here)
Following a hugely-satisfying equaliser from Jack Strange in the dying minutes, Corinthian-Casuals players and supporters were able to celebrate again moments later when Ben Cheklit netted from the spot to win an exhilarating penalty shootout at Margate FC to progress into the next round of the Velocity Trophy in style.
Five penalty kicks. Five conversions. The perfect penalty shootout. As the Casuals contingent jogged to the other end of Hartsdown Park at full-time, James Bracken gathered his pink and brown army in a huddle and discussed the penalty-taking order. It was a surreal moment for the away support whilst the majority of the away fans shuffled to the home end to get a closer look at the action. About ten minutes ago they had been accepting defeat at the hands of the well-organised and sturdy Margate. But now, thanks to Strange’s superb header, Casuals had a 50/50 chance of advancing. And oh did they take that chance!
It was a two hour drive- a 183 mile round trip- to the seaside town of Margate, who sit 14th in the Bostik Premier Division and play their games at the artificial surface of Hartsdown Park. A 2-1 win over East Grinstead Town in the middle of September sealed Margate a second round home tie in the Velocity Trophy, whilst in Tolworth, Corinthians also bagged a 2-1 result, but for Casuals it was an away-from-home victory at Whyteleafe.
Three changes to the Casuals side that came back to defeat Hastings United 3-2 on Saturday included Ike Robertson-Feehi, Ben Cheklit and Gabriel Odunaike, who grabbed a spot the starting line-up. Meanwhile, an announcement that echoed across the ground brought bad news for Margate fans - their first-choice goalkeeper had been injured in the warmup, so centre-back Tom Wynter took his place in-between the sticks. The Gate were wearing their classic blue home strip and Casuals were in their natural chocolate and pink shirts. Inside ten minutes, Casuals seemed to be second to everything as the collected Blues took the lead with a Jack Bray header from a corner.
However, Corinth picked themselves up after the 9th minute opener with a more structured approach to the match - the attacking midfield trio of Josh Uzun, Jordan Clarke and Ben Cheklit attempted to slip sly balls in behind the Margate defence at any opportunity. An improved performance from the visitors payed off when no.10 Clarke found himself 25 yards out before curling a pinpoint screamer into the bottom left corner of the keeper. It was level again in Kent, all thanks to Clarke’s effort that left Margate’s back four and no.1(3) for dead.
For the remainder of the half, possession dabbled between the sides, as did the chances. A Max Oldham strike from the left flank was parried away hastily whilst Danny Bracken was kept on his toes by a few tame shots from the Blues. But after 45 minutes, it was 1-1 on a windy evening by the seaside.
The next 45 would provide agony, anxiousness and amusement for every spectator in the ground. The Gate were consistently drilling the Casuals defence for a good twenty minutes when they finally struck. Matt Bodkin was the man to calmly tuck a one-on-one opportunity away in the 81st minute as rare cheers from Margate supporters were soon drowned out by the disappointed, but ever-resilient Casuals contingent.
Albeit over, James Bracken allowed brother Danny to race upfield towards a crowded penalty area for a corner in the dying embers of the match that Jordan Clarke would take. As the goal-scorer delivered a beautiful, floating cross into the box, Jack Strange managed to peel away from his hands-on marker and nod past the keeper to equalise in superb fashion! Rapturous celebrations behind the goal from the always-vocal fans, Casuals had shocked everyone in Hartsdown Park- including themselves- as they pegged Margate back at the death… it was 2-2!
Following three minutes of injury time, Margate and Casuals would have to settle the fixture with a penalty shootout and no extra-time. The lively Jordan Clarke was the first player to take a spot-kick, and he netted to put Casuals 1-0 up. The hosts scored to level proceedings, before Max Oldham’s confident, low strike edged Casuals ahead. Margate’s second penalty of the night was taken by midfielder Lee Prescott, who was too audacious with his kick and fired the ball high over the crossbar; almighty celebrations from the Casuals supporters ensued. However, nothing was final yet. Substitute Omari Delgado-Hibbert played it safe and slotted home to make it 3-1, but the Margate taker also scored; it was 3-2. Danny Bracken switched saving penalties to scoring penalties when he composed himself to fire home Casuals’ fourth penalty. A brilliant finish from a Margate player made it 4-3, which meant that if Ben Cheklit scored, Casuals had won. Cheklit seemed calm and collected during the run-up, and his lack of nerves helped him expertly guide a fantastic penalty kick into the top right-hand corner. The pink & brown army mobbed Cheklit whilst the supporters were in ecstasy, and chanted throughout the night.
Casuals’ success in this penalty shootout seemed to wash off the shootout taboo that came with the gut-wrenching loss at Dorking Wanderers in the play-off final last year. Thank you to Margate FC for their hospitality, and we wish them good luck for the rest of the season. The advancement into the third round left an extremely sweet taste in the mouth of Casuals supporters and players- who would be next to stand in the way of James Bracken’s pink and brown army?
“I thought we were the better side for most of the game but we didn’t have enough shots on target”, said Manager James Bracken after the final whistle.
“If we had, with their stand-in keeper, we’d have obviously scored more. I have the same gripe with set pieces too, where we needed to stick more on him. That’s probably the main reason why we went to penalties.
“However, it gave us the opportunity to show spirit. Being 2-1 down away from home with ten minutes remaining gave us the chance to show our resolve. From there, we went on and scored five out of five penalties.
“I’m sure that a penalty shootout will happen again this season – whether it’s in the Cup or playoffs. Now we can go into that with this experience in mind. If those five boys are on the pitch, they should be confident stepping up again and the others can also be confident knowing we’re a side that can win from the penalty spot.
“You come into these games knowing both sides will make a few changes, which we both did. Margate still had a good side. We didn’t make wholesale changes. We gave one or two a game from the bench and a few others a chance to get into the squad who haven’t been involved for a few weeks.
“But when you travel this far on a Tuesday night, I want to be fair to not only the players, giving them a real chance to win the game, but to be fair to our supporters. We’ve had a good turnout again tonight and they’ve sung and chanted all evening. We didn’t want to come along, put out a disjointed side, lose 3-0 and waste an evening. Hopefully they enjoyed it and had a good night.
Asked about his preferences for the draw in the next round, Bracken commented, “I don’t want Bury, Leiston, Lowestoft… anyone miles away. We’ll give them a swerve. It’d be nice if this competition was local like they claimed it was supposed to be. Coming here to Margate on a Tuesday night is in no way shape or form, local.
“One of the local sides would be my preference just for the team’s sake, the supporter’s sake and my sake in terms of travelling, getting time off work, etc. Other than that, I have no real preference. I want games that we can win and we can beat anybody. Let’s see how far we can go.”
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