Aylesbury United 4-2 Faversham Town - It's not been a good week for the club, admits Ray Turner

AYLESBURY UNITED  4-2  FAVERSHAM TOWN
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Preliminary Round
Sunday 6^th October 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Bell Close

FAVERSHAM TOWN manager Ray Turner says his side must concentrate on the league now after exiting three cup competitions in the space of seven days.

The Lilywhites crashed out of The FA Cup when they lost 2-0 away to their Ryman League Division One South rivals Horsham in the Second Qualifying Round last Sunday, before they suffered a 5-0 defeat at Hythe Town in the Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Second Round in midweek, before Aylesbury United ensured Faversham Town crashed off the road to Wembley at the first junction.

The Ducks, who won the Spartan South Midlands Premier League and Cup double last season, raced into a 3-0 lead inside the opening 28 minutes, in this FA Carlsberg Trophy Preliminary Round tie in Leighton Buzzard.

Aylesbury United central defender Bill Morgan headed home his first goal of the season to give the home side an early lead.

Faversham Town central defender Billy French, 19, had a nightmare debut as he gave away two penalties within three minutes, which were converted by Aylesbury left-back Keith Williams.

Faversham Town striker Brendon Cass, 30, poked home his sixth-goal of the season just before the break to bring the Kent side back from the dead.

Aaron Lacy, 31, launched a total of nineteen long throws and Faversham Town pulled a goal back when left-back Jamie Maxted, 22, applied the finish at the far post.

But Aylesbury United will host Tim Dixon’s Ramsgate in the First Qualifying Round on Saturday 19 October when striker Jason Blackett drilled in his fifth-goal of the season to seal the victory.

“We gave ourselves a massive problem to be 3-0 down after 28 minutes, coming away from home on a difficult surface,” admitted a disappointed Turner afterwards.

“We already mentioned it before the game. We didn’t play in the right areas and we got ourselves in a bit of a muddle.

“Defensively we brought it on ourselves. If you analyse the goals it’s very simple. They’ve not opened us up. It’s a set-piece that hasn’t been picked up – someone’s put their hand up in the dressing room, which is fine – and two penalties.

“But fundamentally we didn’t play in the right areas and they were a lot sharper in terms of picking up second balls and they’ve dominated the opening period of the game and that’s a hell of a long way back from 3-0 down.”

Aylesbury United, who have lost all three of their home Carlor (Southern League) Division One Central Division games on Leighton Town’s bobbly playing surface, created the first chance of the game inside the opening nine minutes.

Richard Armstrong floated in a cross towards the far post where diminutive left-winger Lee Grace looped his header into Simon Overland’s gloves.

But it soon went downhill for Faversham Town, as Aylesbury United opened the scoring inside the opening 13 minutes.

Williams swung over their first corner from the right and Morgan was left unmarked to plant his header across goal into the left-hand corner from eight-yards out.

Turner refused to point the finger of blame at one of his players that failed to pick up his man.

“He’s just unmarked,” he bemoaned.  “One of my centre halves has put his hand up, which is fine, within the dressing room.

“Who? That stays within the dressing room, because he’s admitted that and he’s not tracked him and it’s as simple at that! It’s that simple!”

Williams then cracked a powerful left-footed free-kick past the far post from 28-yards, before French made two sloppy tackles inside the penalty area to gift Aylesbury United a three goal lead.

Blackett cut into the penalty area from the left and French held his head in his hands in agony when referee Mr Andrew Williams pointed to the spot after the debutant brought down the Aylesbury United striker three yards into the penalty area.

Williams stepped up and sent Overland the wrong way with a left-footed penalty which went in just right of centre in the 25^th minute.

French was booked for his challenge on Williams in a similar position and Williams stepped up and placed another left-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, sending Overland the wrong way again, to give Faversham Town a mountain to climb, just 213 seconds after his first successful penalty.

It wasn’t the debut that French, who was released by Ryman Premier League side Maidstone United so he could sign for Faversham Town, dreamt about last night.

Turner refused to blame the central defender for the defeat.

He said: “It is tough. He’s come in to help us out and I very much appreciate him coming in to help us out.  We’ve had a lot of problems recently.  I wasn’t sure how many players we could get out on the field today, there was a lot of fitness tests and he played (for Maidstone) Tuesday night, including extra-time (in their 4-1 win over Thamesmead Town in the Kent Senior Cup).

“He’s obviously going to put his hands up and say he’s made a mistake but I’m not going to harp on about it.  He’s come here, it’s awkward.  He’s only trained with us for one session on Thursday night and the met the blokes Thursday and came straight into the team so I know how difficult that is.  It’s one of those situations but as I say he’s given us a big problem.”

When asked what was going through his mind being 3-0 down at that time, the Faversham Town boss replied: “Well, the fact is we haven’t been opened up! We’ve caused it ourselves. We caused our own problems today and the boys’ have got to take responsibility because they know what they were set out to do.”

Aylesbury broke down the right with Blackett, who floated over a cross towards the far post where winger Ben Baines broke into the box unmarked and cracked a left-footed volley wide of the left-hand post from ten-yards.

Aylesbury United almost scored a fourth goal when Baines cut the ball back to Williams, who whipped in a first time cross towards the far post and Blackett hooked his volley narrowly wide from close range.

The travelling fans were left shaking their heads in dismay with their side’s poor performance – but they were given hope when Cass poked home two minutes before the break.

Midfielder Darren Marsden clipped the ball into the penalty area and Aylesbury United’s ever-present keeper Jack Sillitoe hesitated and Cass stuck out his right leg and poked the ball past the keeper, the ball rolling into the bottom far corner.

It ended Faversham Town’s 326 minute goal drought and Cass picked the ball up out of the back of the Aylesbury net to halfway to show that he had not given up hope when all seemed lost at half-past-three.

“I think you slowly saw the game turning,” said Turner.

“I felt they thought their work was done for the day. I just felt we just started to look sharper, getting into better areas and causing them some more problems.

“It was good timing.  Even I felt we could have got another one before half-time.

“It’s a good goal. It’s an opportunist goal, which is like him. It’s not an easy finish coming over his head and he’s had to see the keeper come out and poke it home and he’s taken it really well.”

Striker Luke Harvey danced his way past the Aylesbury defence but his shot lacked conviction and Sillitoe made a comfortable low save as the ball tricked into his gloves.

When asked whether Cass’s opportunist goal changed his half-time team-talk, Turner replied: “Not really because I wasn’t very happy and they know that. What we spoke about, they just didn’t do for 28 minutes and you could see second half they did start doing the right things and the difference was quite dramatic and the only thing is you’re a little desperate when you’re chasing a three goal advantage but we got the second at the right time and I then felt it was a really crucial period and we should have equalised.”

Aylesbury United created a couple of early chances when Williams swung in his second and last corner from the right and Armstrong powered a bullet header wide from eight-yards.

Blackett then shrugged off the attentions of Faversham defender Matthew Bourne inside the Ducks’ half and played a sublime diagonal 50-yard pass and Grace powered his angled drive wide of the far post from outside of the box.

Faversham Town clawed themselves back into the game through Maxted’s first goal of the season after 52 minutes.

Lacy trotted over from his position at right-back and hurled a deep throw over a crowded goal-mouth and Maxted nodded in from within a couple of yards at the far post.

It may have been predictable but the tactic worked.

Turner said: “I think he got free at the far post and nodded it in.  They seemed to have a real problem second half particularly dealing with it (Lacy’s long throws).

“There was that middle period of the second half that I felt we would score from every throw in. The keeper’s had to make a couple of great saves and they had one situation off the line.  We just needed to get back level.  I think if we got back level we could have settled down in terms of our structure but we was always chasing it a little bit.”

Turner added: “That sort of momentum shift, goals do change the dynamic of the game and it was just a case of doing the simple things well and we just started doing it better and all of a sudden we looked a different side because we were playing in their final third.

“They knew about the game plan and when we started actually putting the game plan into practice we looked a completely different outfit and quite frankly when we got it back to 3-2 and Luke had his chance I felt as though I was going to win the game because I felt anytime we got level we were so dominant at that point. I just felt that we would go on and win the game but the fourth goal killed the game off.”

Grace was left unmarked at the far post and cracked a right-footed over Overland’s crossbar, before Faversham threw the kitchen sink at their Southern League opponents’.

Turner admitted his side should have equalised in the 58^th minute.

James Peacock made progress down the inside left channel before whipping in an excellent cross towards the far post where the unmarked Harvey powered his header agonisingly against the crossbar from six-yards.

Turner was full of praise for midfielder Peacock who made a great run and produced a great cross.

“He’s done great hasn’t he, getting in an advance position and it was a great cross in and Luke knows he’s unmarked and he should have equalised for us,” admitted Turner.

Australian midfielder Wayne Wilson swung in Faversham’s second corner from the left towards the far post where Cass sent his downward header narrowly wide from close range.

Aylesbury United received a slice of luck when substitute Danny Jones’s back-header bounced against the crossbar after another long throw from the left-hand side from Lacy caused panic.

“I’ve got no problem how we played from about 35 minutes in really but the simple fact is we’ve given ourselves too much to do,” admitted Turner.

“There were plenty of opportunities second half, there was a lot of pressure on their goal. We was getting on the second ball, we were creating things. I think they were in retreat. It was that elusive equaliser that we needed.”

However, the momentum that Faversham Town had, vanished with fifteen minutes remaining.

And Aylesbury United sealed back-to-back home victories (after thrashing Thatcham Town 5-0 in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup First Round in midweek) with eleven minutes remaining.

The Ducks caught Faversham on the break and substitute Joey Acheampong raced down the middle before playing the ball outside to Blackett, who drilled a low right-footed shot across the diving Overland to place his shot into the bottom far corner from 25-yards.

Turner said: “It was a good finish. I felt we could have stopped the move a little bit earlier.  Obviously then we’re going man for man at the back at that point so we are a little bit stretched and I think we should have engaged the guy a little bit higher but we’ve spoken about that and hopefully we’ll learn from that.”

That goal killed off Faversham’s brave comeback and Aylesbury United created a couple of chances inside injury time.

Overland made a comfortable low save to thwart Ben Baines from scoring with a low right-footed drive, before Armstrong cracked a first time right-footed drive over the bar from 25-yards after Blackett and Acheampong linked up well again.

Faversham Town failed to scoop the £2,500 in prize money and earn a lucrative home tie against Kent rivals Ramsgate in the next round.

“The cups have not been good,” admitted Turner.  “What is it? A week? It feels longer than that.  It’s not been a good week for the club!

“We’ve got to regroup quickly.  The only good thing is we’ve got a few players back today. They’ve got some time under their belt. We’ve got even more coming back for Wednesday and take away the three cup exits which are really disappointing, it’s about where we finish in the league for us and now we have to focus on that. That the league cup out, we haven’t got anything else to focus on!”

Faversham Town travel to Worthing on Wednesday night and Turner wants to pick up three points.

“I said to the boys’. We’ve not been used to losing two consecutive games, let alone three. You just look for the characteristics of the players’ to shine through now and go and earn something Wednesday night.

“I think if we can bounce back with any kind of positive result, we’ve not exactly been in bad form in the league – we’ve just got to be positive and move on.”

Turner wants to take his side’s second half performance with them down to the Sussex coast.

“It was a small amount of positives to take out of our second half performance,” he said.

“I think our performance for 35 minutes was quite strong. I think we can take some momentum out from that but we just have to bounce back quite frankly.

“We’ve got the right people in the dressing room and the league is the most important thing so three points on Wednesday and everyone feels a lot better.”

Reflecting on not being in a position to face the Rams in the next round, Turner added: “There’s financial rewards for this competition, so it’s difficult for a club like ours.  I know how important the prize money is but again if you flip it round and look at the positives there’s going to be an awful lot of clubs with an awful lot of fixtures to fit in and we’ve taken away that problem today haven’t we?”
 
Aylesbury United: Jack Sillitoe, Shane Wood, Keith Williams (Danny Jones 64), Jack Wood, Bill Morgan, Liam Smyth, Ben Baines, Richard Armstrong, Jason Blackett, Zack Reynolds, Lee Grace (Joey Acheampong 59).
Subs: Paul Edgeworth, Dom Petrucci, Stacey Field

Goals: Bill Morgan 13, Keith Williams 25 (pen), 28 (pen), Jason Blackett 79

Booked: Lee Grace 39, Ben Baines 42, Richard Armstrong 61

Faversham Town: Simon Overland, Aaron Lacy, Jamie Maxted, James Peacock, Matthew Bourne, Billy French (Kieran Oliver 86), Darren Marsden, Wayne Wilson, Brendon Cass, Luke Harvey, David Botterill.
Subs: Toby Ashmore, Daniel King, James Etherington, Liam Stone

Goals: Brendon Cass 43, Jamie Maxted 52

Booked: Billy French 28, James Peacock 35, David Botterill 42

Attendance: 134
Referee: Mr Andrew Williams (Pinner, Middlesex)
Assistants:  Mr Andrew Hickman (Northolt, Middlesex) & Mr Michael Oakes (Hillingdon, Middlesex)