Kingstonian vs Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Wednesday 26th February 2020 – 7.45pm
King George’s Arena, Hook Rise South, Tolworth KT6 7NA

Corinthian-Casuals Manager James Bracken will be hoping his brother and club captain, Danny Bracken will be available for the derby game ‘away’ at Kingstonian on Wednesday evening.

The talismanic keeper was absent through illness on Saturday for the 3-1 loss to Potter’s Bar Town. Casuals called on ‘Ibby’ Ugradar – the backup, who’s heroics will forever be remembered against Chelmsford City in the FA Cup this season. But luck was against the Amateurs after the Soccer AM stopper suffered a bad injury just minutes into the match.

Without another keeper on the bench (Jon Williams wasn’t named), striker Ben Cheklit had to don the gloves. Sadly, when an outfield player has to step in, it’s an uphill task. It already happened once at the Pakex Stadiumthis season, when Carshalton Athletic suffered the same fate. The end result was the same – no points for the visitors.

Now, Casuals must focus on the task in hand – the unique fixture that sees Bracken lead his side out at King George’s from the away changing room. Hosts are tenants Kingstonian, who are fast becoming the league’s draw specialists. Seven of the last nine league matches have been tied. In fact, over the last ten matches, Casuals are in better form than their hosts having gained a point more in that time.

But the lack of game-time hasn’t helped momentum and Corinth find themselves bottom of the league after weekend wins for fellow strugglers Wingate & Finchley and Brightlingsea Regent. Casuals have up to four games in hand over those immediately above and with only six points separating the bottom seven sides, they’ll be confident of clawing back lost ground.

But this is no ordinary fixture and derbies are always keenly contested. The two sides met earlier in the season – drawn in the FA Trophy. Hayden Bird’s K’s stormed to a 3-0 lead before Casuals pulled it back with a better second half performance. However, it was Kingstonian who progressed, winning 4-2.

This time, they won’t be able to call on their top scorer, Louie Theophanous who left for Glenn Tamplin’s new Romford project. Without the hairdresser, they’re at the lower end for scoring goals but they’re sharing the workload with Gus Sow, Dan Bennett, Eddie DSane and Dan Hector all netting recently. At the other end is ever-present Rob Tolfrey, the longest serving keeper in the league, now with over 500 appearances for the K’s.

Whatever happens, it’s likely to be a night to remember under the lights at King George’s with a bumper crowd expected. Remember, with the outside field likely to be saturated, parking may be limited (it’ll be controlled by our hosts). Please look to using public transport if possible.

Also, the planned Christmas charity collection will take place at this match. The Kingstonian Supporters Club have organised a bucket collection, Golden Goals and 50/50 raffles on the night with the proceeds split equally between Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness and Kingston Carers Network. Please give generously to these great charities.
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Entry to King George’s is the same as Casuals matches. £10 adults, £6 concessions, £4 students and Under 18s for free. Casuals season ticket holders can enter for half price thanks to our mutual arrangement with Kingstonian. 

Potters Bar Town vs Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 22nd February 2020 – 3pm
Pakex Stadium, Potters Bar, Herts EN6 1QB

After the disappointment of two postponements in succession, Corinthian-Casuals will be looking to return from their very own ‘winter break’ with a win at Potters Bar Town on Saturday.

Following the London Senior Cup loss to Wingate and Finchley last Tuesday, James Bracken’s side will be itching to get back to action after ten days without a match - the games against Haringey Borough and Merstham falling foul of the recent bad weather.

Potters Bar are enjoying a decent second season in the Isthmian Premier and currently sit in 13th, well clear of the relegation zone, but unlikely to trouble the playoffs. They also enjoyed a good FA Cup run, taking National League Barnet to a replay in the Fourth Qualifying Round, courtesy of a last-gasp equaliser at Bar’s Pakex Stadium. That fixture also saw the record attendance broken with 2,011 coming through the turnstiles.

Casuals will be looking to pull clear of the drop zone, currently sitting in 20th but with up to four games in hand over sides around them.

Lee O’Leary’s Bar will be looking to bounce back from a 5-1 thumping at Carshalton Athletic on Saturday and turning around a recent slump in form which has seen them win just once in the last five matches. However, that win came against promotion-chasers Hornchurch, which indicates that The Scholars are more than competitive at the moment. That’s something that O’Leary has recently echoed.

"I knew we had a squad who can compete in the middle of the table at this level and who knows where that will take us?” said O’Leary. “We're still looking at finishing as high as we can this season. I still think if we put together a good run of results, there's always the chance at sneaking in [the playoffs] at the last minute.”

The last two meetings between the sides have seen the spoils shared. There was the 0-0 stalemate earlier this season at King George’s and at the back-end of last term, Bar fought back from two-down to salvage a 2-2 draw – a game that saw both sides mathematically safe from relegation in their first seasons at Step 3.

Josh Hutchinson is the player to keep an eye on, having notched 19 goals this season, though he’s failed to score on his last seven outings. They’ve recently added new signings Ben Ward-Cochrane and Nana Kyei – a target that O’Leary has had eyes on for a while.

The Pakex Stadium can be found not far off the north side of the M25 in Watkins Rise (off The Walk), Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1QB. For those driving, don’t park in the adjacent Mayfield Lodge Home car park – you could be clamped. The nearest railway station is Potters Bar, served by services from King’s Cross and is a 15 minute walk to the ground.
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Admission is £12 for adults, concessions for £8 and under-16s come in for a quid. 

​Merstham vs Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 18th February 2020 – 7.45pm
The Whisky Bible Stadium, Weldon Way, Merstham, Surrey RH1 3QB
 
Tuesday night sees Casuals travel the short distance to Merstham in what is a crucial Isthmian League Premier fixture for both sides.
 
Merstham are two points above Casuals but have played three games more. It’s all looking a little tight at the wrong end of the division; just five points separate the bottom six sides. But both managers will take heart in their recent good form.
 
Frank Wilson’s Moatsiders picked up another crucial point on Saturday in an unlikely result at promotion-chasing Hornchurch. They grabbed a last-gasp 2-2 draw thanks to an untimely Mickey Parcell own goal.
 
Merstham have picked up points in each of their last five league matches. Two wins (1-0 over Horsham and Margate) have been complimented with three draws (Leatherhead, Bowers & Pitsea and Hornchurch). It’s stark contrast in fortunes which had seen Wilson’s side concede 61 goals this season – the highest of any side. However, they’ve stopped the rot and only let in a miserly three goals in their recent five game run of form.
 
Perhaps the turn of fortunes is in part to some of the newcomers at the Whiskey Bible Stadium. Recent acquisitions include Southend United loanee O’Shane Stewart (surely that name is the wrong way round) and former Casual Andrew Herring, who has already scored nine times for South Park this season.
 
They’ve also brought in Calvin Ekpiteta from Tilbury. Luke Ige arrived from Colchester United and Emmanuel Fernandez arrived from Gillingham. It appears all-change and it looks to be paying off.
 
Top scorer Omar Folkes, who netted for Merstham in the 1-0 win at Casuals in August has been out of goalscoring form recently and hasn’t found the target this year. Perhaps that’s commentator’s curse now it’s been mentioned.
 
Casuals Boss James Bracken will be looking at his side’s own good form for inspiration. Whilst the Haringey match was postponed at the weekend, Casuals have only lost three of the last ten league matches and have conceded fewer goals this season than the league leaders, Worthing.
 
“We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up,” said Bracken. “I’m realistic – every game is winnable, but we don’t want to be relying on our run-in at the end of the season. We need to pick up as many wins as we can and see where we are. We can’t be looking at other team’s results – we need to take care of our own matches.”
 
The Whisky Bible Stadium can be found along Weldon Way, Merstham, Surrey RH1 3QB. The nearest railway station is Merstham (on the Southern network) and is a ten-minute walk to the ground. Admission to the ground will cost Adults £10. Concessions £6 (Over 60, Registered Disabled, Student Card Holders). Children 16 and under can enter for £3.

Corinthian-Casuals will be hosting a celebration of the life of Vice President Roger Phillips at the club this coming Saturday, 15th February at 7pm  after the match against Haringey Borough.

There will be a buffet available on the evening, and we look forward to welcoming you on this sad but special evening for our club.  Should the match be called off due to inclement weather conditions, the evening plans will still take place regardless.

Roger's twin, Brian Phillips has chosen this date and has also made it extremely clear that he wants this to be a heartfelt celebration of his brothers life, so any happy stories you may like to share about Roger will be gratefully received.

I appreciate that some of our members won't be able to attend, but that you may like to pass on your wishes, memories and thoughts to Brian. You're most welcome to send them over to me and I'll make sure they're included in the 'Book of Memories' I'm compiling for Brian, which will be available to add to on Saturday evening. Please could you send anything over by 9pm this coming Friday, 14th February.

For those unable to attend, but wish to still to pass on your memories and thoughts to Brian, then please send them over to be included in the 'Book of Memories'. The book will be available to add to on Saturday evening. Please could you send anything over by 9pm Friday, 14th February to Hanna at [email protected].

Corinthian-Casuals vs Haringey Borough
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 15th February 2020 - 3pm
King George's Arena, Tolworth KT6 7NA
 
Providing the impending ‘Storm Dennis’ doesn’t interfere with proceedings, Saturday we’ll welcome Haringey Borough to King George’s Arena for the first meeting between the sides since the 1-0 Borough win on the opening day of the season at White Hart Lane.

A solitary Chiduben Onokwai goal at the start of the second half condemned Casuals to defeat in similarly blustery conditions. Manager James Bracken was aggrieved that his side had come away with nothing following a particularly strong second half performance that saw four gilt-edged chances go by the wayside. The way Casuals had played was encouraging and many took the belief that the second season in the Isthmian Premier would surpass the first (it still might).

This is also Borough’s second season in the Premier having secured promotion via the playoffs in the same weekend that Casuals did. In fact, without Haringey’s win, Corinth wouldn’t have been promoted on the convoluted Points Per Game basis awarded to the best losing finalist. It’s complicated, so I won’t bore you.

Tom Loizou’s side had an excellent first campaign at Step 3, finishing 3rd, level on points with Carshalton Athletic, who’d also just been promoted as Champions of the South Division. They missed out on a double promotion in the playoff semi-finals.

This time around, it’s been a little more of a consolidation season. They lost several players in the summer and had to rebuild. But they’re still considered one of the more capable sides in the division, knowing they can hold their own with any team in this league.

They had another great run in the FA Cup, losing out to Yeovil Town in the 4th Qualifying Round. Sadly, the tie was marred in controversy. The original match was abandoned following racial abuse directed at Haringey players and the decision was made to leave the field.

With those unsavoury scenes now behind them, Borough are once again focused on the league. Whilst Loizou has been looking to compete for a playoff place, it’s now unlikely to occur, barring a fantastic run of form. A Tuesday night 3-2 loss to Bowers & Pitsea saw Haringey drop below their opponents in the league – down to 15th.

Whilst they have up to three games in hand, Borough are 19 points adrift from the playoff places. Form isn’t stellar either, having failed to win in their last five outings. They’ve also not kept a clean sheet since the 26th October (a 3-0 win over Horsham in the FA Trophy). More hope for Bracken lay in their performances away from Coles Park; Haringey have the second lowest points tally on the road – just 8 points.

That’s why Bracken has highlighted that this game is certainly winnable. “We’ve got a lot of tough games coming up but the next four are winnable,” said the Casuals supremo.

“I’m realistic – every game is winnable, but we don’t want to be relying on our run-in at the end of the season. We need to pick up as many wins as we can and see where we are.”

And Bracken will take heart in his side’s form despite exiting the London Senior Cup on Tuesday night following a 1-0 loss at Wingate. “Our results since the turn of the year puts us sixth in total points won, so we’re much improved. We’ve let in the same amount of goals as Worthing. If you’d had said to me, we’d have conceded the same number of goals as the league leaders, I’d have presumed we were third or fourth in the table.”

A replication of Casuals 3-1 win at King George’s over Haringey last season would indeed be very welcome. You can join us for a 3pm kickoff - Prices are £10 adults, £6 seniors, £4 students and Under-18s come free with an accompanying adult.
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There’s also a tribute night to our dearly departed Vice President and friend, Roger Phillips. There will be a buffet available and the celebrations begin at 7pm. Should the match be called off due to inclement weather conditions, the evening plans will still take place regardless.