Bridon Ropes 0-4 Corinthian - The aims are to get promoted and do better than last year, says Corinthian boss Michael Golding

Bridon Ropes 0 – 4 Corinthian
Location	Meridian Sports & Social Club, 110 Charlton Park Lane, Charlton, London SE7 8QS
Kickoff	20/11/2019 19:45

BRIDON ROPES  0-4  CORINTHIAN
Kent Senior Trophy Second Round
Wednesday 20 November 2019
Stephen McCartney reports from Charlton Park Lane

CORINTHIAN manager Michael Golding says he wants his side to have something to play for at the end of the season.

Corinthian have booked their place in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Finals after beating Deal Town 3-1 at Gay Dawn Farm, before comfortably beating struggling Bridon Ropes 4-0 here tonight.

James Montgomery’s side are second-from-bottom in the Sea Pioneer Southern Counties East Football League First Division table, having collected nine points from their 12 games, while Corinthian are in third-place in the Premier Division table with 31 points on the board from their 17 league outings.

Corinthian got off to a dream start by racing into a two-goal lead inside the opening seven minutes, courtesy of striker Luke Tanner’s eleventh goal of the season and Jack Bath heading in his fourth goal of the season.

Corinthian added two more headed goals at both ends of the second half with centre-half George Snelling and left-back James Trueman both scoring their third goals of the season as Golding’s men scored all four of their goals from set-pieces.

Bridon Ropes beat their First Division rivals Sutton Athletic 3-1 in the First Round but their exit from the competition was confirmed inside six minutes and 14 seconds into this game.

“A job well done! I thought we were professional tonight, we limited them to very little, obviously they hit the bar with that wonder strike but pleasing with the five changes that we’ve made. It’s often unsettling when you make five changes to a starting line-up but job done, happy,” said Golding.

“The cup competitions are important because it enables us to have a slightly bigger squad. We can rotate a little bit more and it keeps the boys happy and chomping at the bit to want to do well and get into the league games.

“I’m really pleased with the start today. We set the tempo and two goals in the first few minutes, it almost killed the game as a contest and then it was whether we can maintain our standards throughout the game.”

Montgomery failed to make himself available for interview, despite agreeing to  one before the game.

Corinthian opened the scoring after only 137 seconds when Oscar Housego delivered a free-kick from the left into Bath, who laid the ball off for Tanner to drill his first time right-footed angled drive across the keeper to find the bottom far corner from 15-yards.

“A good finish from Luke with the outside of his foot,” said Golding.

“If we’re ultra-critical, which is strange because we’ve scored from it, we probably under hit the free-kick slightly but good awareness from Jack Bath in there to set the ball back to Luke. I thought Bath was good for the time he was on tonight.”

Bridon Ropes were facing a mountain to climb as Corinthian doubled their lead with their second shot on target.

Corinthian won the corner count by a whopping 14-4 and Jack Mahoney, who was later withdrawn through a knock to his foot, swung in their second corner of the night from the right and Bath’s deft glancing header sailed into the far corner from within the six-yard box.

“Really pleased with that, it’s something that we work on and we probably need to do a little bit more work on the delivery, which wasn’t quite there tonight, which is silly when you consider we’ve scored two goals from corners,” admitted Golding.

“It was a great ball in, a great run from Jack Bath, he timed it well and a goal and a clean sheet and an assist for his 51 minutes on the pitch.”

Corinthian were to be denied a third goal with only 13 minutes and 34 seconds on the clock.

Mahoney cracked a left-footed deflected dipping 35-yard volley, which was destined to loop into the top right-hand corner, only for debutant Bridon Ropes goalkeeper Benjamin Atkinson to pull off an outstanding brave save, diving to his left to push the ball behind before colliding with the post.

“I thought it was a great save, a massive deflection off Jack’s foot. He picked up a slight knock so we’ll have to asses him, we’ll get him in over the next few days but a really good save, really brave because that went looping up into the sky,” added Golding.

Bridon Ropes weathered the early storm and created their first opening in the 25^th minute.

Conor Johnson was penalised for handball down the left-channel and Bridon Ropes top scorer Nathan Simpson drove his right-footed free-kick from 25-yards towards the bottom near corner, only to be comfortably gathered by Corinthian keeper Taylor Gable at his near post.

Golding said:  “Really pleased for Taylor, he’s come in and he’s been playing for the reserves this year. He was with us years ago and he’s got back playing football this year so with Aiden Prall and Daniel Fox both unavailable tonight and rested it was an opportunity to get Taylor involved and I thought he did well and that was really important for him to make a good early save.

“I was impressed with Bridon early on.  I know we scored the two early goals but I thought they looked ok.  Sam Cassell and Eamon Gaugman in midfield got on the ball.  Nathan Simpson, we know scores goals at their level.  We were respectful of what they’ve got but I think we limited them to very little in all honesty.”

Simpson went close with a right-footed dipping free-kick from 25-yards, which only just cleared the crossbar before Bridon Ropes’ holding midfielder Eamon Gaugman went close with two headed chances following their third and final corners of the night.

Left-back Jordan Downes swung in a couple of corners in the from the left, which were both met by Gaugman’s head. The first attempt was guided just over the Corinthian crossbar, the second one flew straight into the grateful gloves of the visiting keeper.

“I thought he was good in midfield, he won a lot of aerial ball.  He went out of the game in the second half but he looked strong in midfield,” added Golding.

“Headers from distance, one went straight into Taylor’s hands and I back our boys from set-pieces generally to mark well.”

At half-time, Golding said: “Just a little bit more tempo and a little bit more quality! We’re 2-0 up, if they want to stay in the cup they’ve got to come out and chase the game a little bit so if that does happen we always back ourselves to pick teams on the counter.

“It was whether we could get back to the standards that we have been playing at. 

“We decided early on that we were going to make three changes quite early to rotate people and carry on doing what we were doing in the same manner.”

Corinthian definitely killed the game off by scoring their third goal of the night with just two minutes and 41 seconds into the second half following their eighth corner.

Housego swung in a deep corner from the left and keeper Atkinson failed to pluck the ball out of the air and Snelling steered his header just inside the near post, via a deflection.

“I don’t think our set-pieces were particularly great today but we have scored goals from set-pieces so we’ve got to be pleased with that,” added Golding.

“It’s good to see George back playing. He’s had a bit of a groin injury quite recently so for George to come back in this, he’s played for the reserves on Saturday so to get him 90 today is good and he’ll get another 90 for the reserves on Saturday.

“We’ve known of George for a few years and everyone told us we won’t sign George, he was K Sports’ captain and he wouldn’t come to play at Corinthians but we spoke to him over the summer and he brought into the project.”

Golding added: “We definitely needed the third goal just to kill the contest.  As the old boring cliché goes, 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline.

“It was important to carry on doing the right things and for Taylor’s confidence and the back four.  That’s our fourth clean sheet in our last five games so we’re starting to do things better defensively, which was good.”

To their credit, Bridon Ropes never gave up and they were agonisingly close to grabbing hold of a lifeline ten minutes in.

Captain Downes cracked a left-footed drive towards the top right-hand corner from 35-yards and saw the rocket crashed off the underside of the crossbar. The ball dropped down to an unmarked Patrick Giovagnoli, who lacked composure 10-yards from goal to drag his first-time shot across the keeper and past the far post.

“A great strike, a really good strike. We were right behind it, it looked like it was flying in,” admitted Golding.

“I thought their captain was alright.  Merrick and Downes had a good battle tonight.  

“We say it all the time, if someone’s shooting from 35-yards and it goes flying in the top corner, yes what could we have done to stop it?  But if they fly into the top corner, we clap them in.”

Corinthian should have buried a headed chance when Housego floated a free-kick into the Bridon Ropes’ penalty area but centre-half Snelling steered his free-header past the left-hand post from 12-yards.

Corinthian could have claimed an even larger victory but assistant referee Daniel Geary raised his offside flag on two occasions.

Firstly, in the 65^th minute, Housego produced a sublime through ball to put Trueman through on goal and he latched onto the ball before slotting the ball underneath the keeper.

Corinthian were to be thwarted by another offside flag in the 38^th minute when substitute centre-half Ryan Sawyer buried his header – following another Housego free-kick.

“Firstly, in terms of the decisions, we’re not in line with it. Officials have to do a job. It’s probably fortunate it wasn’t a lot tighter or it wasn’t in all due respect, it wasn’t a more important game and those kind of decisions can cost you,” added Golding.

“I thought James Trueman was tremendous tonight down on the left-hand side.  Ryan Sawyer has come back from being in Australis for a couple of years. He’s waited for his chance so when he’s come on he wants to impress and he wants to do well and I thought he was good tonight.

“Ryan played some good passes into midfield but ultimately if he scores a goal it looks even better on his record but the linesman took that from him.”

The Charlton-based hosts went close to pulling a goal back inside the final 13 minutes.

Gaugman pinged a long diagonal pass out of defence and substitute left-winger Gibson Perkin-Donson sprinted down the left before cutting the ball onto his right-boot before curling his shot around the base of the far post from 25-yards.

Bridon Ropes almost gifted Corinthian another goal when a back-header from right-back Oliver Cleland bounced towards the bottom near corner.  Goalkeeper Atkinson slipped before using his reflexes to bounce straight back up and pushed the ball behind for another Corinthian corner.

Corinthian wrapped up their fourth goal of a chilly night by scoring with 43 minutes and 8 seconds on the clock.

Housego was a long way out down the right-touchline and his floated in a deep free-kick, which bounced off a Bridon Ropes head and fell kindly for Trueman, who drove a low left-footed drive across the keeper to find the bottom far corner from 12-yards, when left in a pocket of space at the far post.

“Another set-piece, which if people read it will probably think we’re just bombing balls into the box.  Hopefully we’ve got a little bit more about us,” said Golding.

“Trueman is full of energy, he’s been a great signing form Greenways for us, which for me is pleasing.

“We brought young Frankie Morgan on, whose been in the reserves. He’s only 17 and he came on for his debut tonight and I was really pleased to see Frankie out on the pitch. It just shows that little bit of squad depth that we’ve got.”

Corinthian are without a game on Saturday but they host Ascot United in The Buildbase FA Vase Third Round on Saturday 30 November (15:00).

“As we always say, the cup competitions for us are really important because it enables us to carry a slightly bigger squad. If you go out of the cup competitions we’re probably running with a flat 15-16 players and the competition and intensity goes out of training sessions,” said Golding.

“When we haven’t got any money and you stay in the cup competitions it gives boys an opportunity and an avenue to go and play their football. It help keeps sessions alive and training interesting over the winter period.

“We’ve set the boys a target last month of staying in all three cup competitions and being in and around it at the top of the league. We said the same in November and we’ve got one more hurdle on the 30^th to get through and we’ve achieved our objective.”

Golding was asked about his aspirations for the rest of the season.

He said: “Short term targets is to win in the FA Vase next Saturday and to still be in the three cup competitions on the turn of January and to go in the national stages of The Vase would be big for the club. We did it a few years’ ago. It would be nice to do that again.  I think that’s in the back of the boys minds now so we can start to fully focus on that.

“I said it at the start of the season, I want to be involved at the end of the season in April.  I want to be involved in something whether it’s Cup, whether it’s the league.

“Ultimately we want to get promoted. We want to do well. We’ve had a poor start, which will probably come back to bite us but that’s not to say we’ve thrown it in.  We’ll carry on working hard, when other teams cut their budgets or whatever else happens, we’ll have to make sure we’re doing our job properly.

“The aims are to get promoted and do better than last year. We finished second on 90 points last year so can we go and win the league? Can we get to a cup final and win it this year?”

Bridon Ropes: Benjamin Atkinson, Oliver Cleland, Jordan Downes, Sam Cassell, Eamon Gaugman, Matt Dennis, Liam Donaldson (Gibson Perkin-Donson 75), Sean Nicholls, Nathan Simpson, James Murphy (Jack Kirby 80), Patrick Giovagnoli (Delvin President 68).
Sub: Mohamed Koroma

Booked: Matt Dennis 58, Sean Nicholls 82, Jordan Downes 88

Corinthian: Taylor Gable, Jordan Campbell, James Trueman, Jack Mahoney (Frankie Morgan 56), George Snelling, Jack Bath (Ryan Sawyer 51), Merrick Simms, Oscar Housego, Luke Tanner, Conor Johnson, Andres Felipe Losada Tobon (Dereece Thompson 66).
Subs: Alexander Jack Billings, Kameron Gyeabour

Goals: Luke Tanner 3, Jack Bath 7, George Snelling 48, James Trueman 89

Booked: Conor Johnson 81

Attendance: 51
Referee: Mr Marcin Indyk (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Daniel Geary (Maidstone) & Mr Robert Iuliano Redondo (Bromley)