westwickham271104

Treble tops for Beszant

Beckenham Town cruised to a comfortable 8-1 victory in this Kent Senior Trophy at Eden Park Avenue on Saturday.

The home side did not have it all their own way as the visitors were organised in defence and managed to reduce Town's chances in the first half.

The home side's failure to turn superiority into goals ultimately allowed West Wickham to mount pressure and counter attack.

The game took a bit of time to get going with both sides creating goal-scoring opportunities in the first quarter of an hour.

The normal Becks passing game was sparse and they could not find their rhythm. After 35 minutes, however, the home side showed glimpses of what was to come when former Cray Wanderers, Bromley and Erith & Belvedere striker, Paul Vines opened his Beckenham account with a powerful header.

West Wickham responded well and should have been on level terms by half time.

After the break Beckenham Town come out of the blocks scoring in the three goals in the opening three minutes.

The first, a well worked goal by Darren Hall, who smashed the ball into the net from 12 yards.

Sean Cooney made it three a minute later and Beszant scoring the first of his hat-trick in the 48th minute.

At this stage Beckenham Town began to pile on the pressure spraying passes around with Hall playing some neat one-two's with Aliy Kvieu, Hall being the provider of two goals.

Beckenham dominated for the entire second half possessing, probing and frustrating the visitors into a series of errors.

The familiar 3-5-2 formation saw flair man Beszant playing just behind the front pair with Cooney in the midfield holding role. Mario Celaire was as reliable as ever at the back.  

Some great skill from Beszant culminated in his second goal after 55 minutes; he then followed it up ten minutes later by what was the goal of the game. After being fed the ball on the edge of the opponents penalty area he dropped his shoulder to shrug off a Wickham defender then curled a shot into the top corner of the net leaving the keeper stranded.

The crowd were treated to some wonderful build-up play resulting in an inch perfect cross by Hall onto the head of Vines who headed goal number seven for Beckenham after 70 minutes.

There could easily have been more in the next two minutes had it not been for some great goalkeeping by the West Wickham keeper who twice denied Rose.

The final Beckenham Town goal of the game came from Celaire who glided through Wickham's defence to score from close range.

Some poor defensive play by Beckenham allowed Wickham to score in the final minute. The scorer was Joe Kinchin who's father Steve played for Beckenham in the 70s and 80s.

Beckenham Town's assistant manager Jason Taylor said "West Wickham made it tough for us and matched us in the first half, full credit to them as they never gave up.

"We had a few players out today so we had to tweak our style a bit, but I was confident we would settle down.

"Lewis (Woods) was unlucky not to get on the score sheet today but he produced some great runs and it was him who took Wickham's defence away and allowed Danny (Beszant) in to score his second.

"Our finishing today was clinical particularly Beszant's. I am delighted to be in the next round"

Meanwhile, Beckenham Town would like to place on record their thanks to Tyrone Liston for his services to the Eden Park Avenue club for the past two season's.

He was reserve team manager during that period, and the club offer him their best wishes for a successful future.

Ken Pickard will take over as caretaker manager of the second string.

Meanwhile, Beckenham make the short trip to Croydon Sports Arena to tackle Ryman League Division One basement boys Croydon in the Surrey Senior Cup on Wednesday.

Former Cray Wanderers midfielder Adam Heaslewood and Sinclair return to the squad but Asher Edwards has been ruled out due to injury.  Keviu, however, will be missing due to work commitments but despite picking up a knock against West Wickham, Nathan Paul should be fit for the local derby at Croydon Sports Arena in Albert Road, South Norwood.

Jason Taylor added: "It¹s big game when we go to Croydon. It¹ll be a very difficult tie as they are a Ryman League side and we have a lot of respect for them; but we have a good chance of winning if we play as well as we¹re capable."

Beckenham Town: - Hopper, Weatherhead (West), Kirkby, Wood, Celaire, Paul, Beszant, Vines, Hall (Pickard). Keviu, Cooney (Rose). Sub: Harding