Bridon Ropes 0-0 Glebe - You can't just turn up in this league and expect teams to roll over because you're Glebe, says boss Adam Woodward

Bridon Ropes 0 – 0 Glebe
Location	Meridian Sports & Social Club, 110 Charlton Park Lane, Charlton, London SE7 8QS
Kickoff	01/03/2017 17:45

BRIDON ROPES  0-0  GLEBE
Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Wednesday 1^st March 2017
Stephen McCartney reports from Charlton Park Lane

GLEBE manager Adam Woodward admits his side just can’t expect opponents to roll over after being held to a goal-less draw by resilient Bridon Ropes.

The Chislehurst-based club lost their 100% away league record to remain in second-place in the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table on 63 points from 25 games – four points adrift of leaders Rusthall but with three games in hand.

Glebe received a scare when they lost Fred Obasa with a twinge in his thigh after only 14 minutes but physio Emily Sawyer confirmed that the 22-goal striker will  hopefully be fit for the top-the-table clash at Rusthall next Wednesday.

It would be a crying shame if Glebe are without Obasa at Rusthall because big games should have quality players out on the pitch.

Bridon Ropes’ player-manager Mark Murison was delighted, in one way, that the pacy striker didn’t last long tonight.

He said: “I’m not pleased for anyone to have a knock or an injury, obviously. He’s a top player but to have one of the best players off the pitch was fantastic because he’s just that threat, he’s so quick and it’s always on my mind.  He was one we talked about before the game and I think it gave everyone a bit of a lift.”
 
But with Ryan Golding unavailable through work commitments, Glebe lacked the cutting edge in front of goal against seventh-placed Bridon Ropes, where Matt Dennis won the man-of-the-match award with a brilliant performance at the heart of the Charlton-based home club’s defence.

“A point gained. We can’t win every game of football, alright! We’ve come away tonight, we’ve drawn 0-0, kept a clean sheet. There was just not enough quality in the final third,” said Woodward.

“I’ve seen Rusthall draw 2-2 here and in my opinion, that day Bridon hit the post in the last minute.  Again, they could’ve nicked it at the end (tonight).  They don’t stop going.  Their manager has got them organised, got them working hard and we haven’t lost, which is what we’ve come here for, to make sure we didn’t get beat. It’s another point gained. Alright, people expected us to get three tonight.”

Bridon Ropes player-manager Murison felt proud that his players whom had to pay £10 to take to the field, held Glebe to a draw, as they did against league leaders Rusthall here.

“Really proud of the boys. They put in a really good performance, battling performance,” said Murison, who has worked wonders to guide the club into the top six with their 41^st point from their 27^th league outing of the season.

“We know Glebe’s quality, we know they’ve got some money but they’ve brought well, they’re doing well.  They should probably go on to win the league and it’s just a really good performance. 

“Every single one of them did the job that was required.  We worked hard on what we wanted to do.  I spoke a lot about shape and what we wanted the boys to deliver, probably apart from the first six or seven minutes and slightly probably five or 10 in the second half when they really were on top of us, we controlled it.  I thought we all did well.

"A point against Glebe is a very good point."

Glebe squandered a glorious chance to open the scoring after only 55 seconds.

Frazer Cronin played Obasa in behind the Bridon Ropes’ defence and chipped the ball over the crossbar when he only had goalkeeper Yemi Zaria to beat.

“I mean, it was just a classic mistake early on,” admitted Murison. 

“We spoke about everything that we didn’t want to happen and everything we did talk about did happen in that first minute, no pressure on the ball in our own half, a simple ball over the top, misjudged by our centre back (Oliver Hickman), who went on to have an amazing game.

“We got away with it, let’s face it.  He had an one-on-one. Obasa’s a top, top player, should’ve scored, thankfully he didn’t!”

The rookie goalkeeper then saw Jonny Murray whip his curling cross around the post from the left after Glebe linked up through Andreas Felipe Losada Tobon and George King.

King whipped in a quality free-kick from the right towards the far post and Carson Dennis rose to see his header from 10-yards tipped around the post by Zaria inside the opening five minutes.

“We should’ve been 2-0 up in the first five minutes, that’s what I mean about quality in the final third, it wasn’t good enough,” admitted Woodward.

“We had other chances during the game that we should’ve taken. It’s just life. We’ve just not won tonight.”

Bridon Ropes weathered the storm and took 16 minutes to create their first shot towards goal.

Eamon Gaughan threw the ball to John Woodcock, who cut the ball back to striker James Doherty, who hooked his right-footed volley on the turn high over the crossbar from 22-yards out.

But Bridon Ropes will be kicking themselves with an even better chance just a couple of minutes later.

Striker Dean Gould found himself on the left touch-line when he hooked the ball to play in Doherty through the heart of Glebe’s defence.  He travelled 20-yards but Adam Molloy raced out to the edge of his box to make a vital block with his legs.

It was a chance that Bridon Ropes had to take and Murison knew it!

He said: “I was a striker, or try to be and I’ve missed quite a lot of one-on-ones in my time. It’s easy when you look back on it and reflect.

“Jimmy came off the pitch at half-time and said he should’ve just rounded him because he planted himself, the keeper made himself big but if he knocked the ball around him then there’s not a lot the keeper can do.  It’s one of those, one game it goes in, the next, this game it didn’t, but what I’m proud of sometimes when you have a real classic moment like that and you’re up against a really good team, a really good outfit and you have that opportunity, sometimes it can have a negative effect if it didn’t go in.”

“They had a chance, which was a ball over the top, which was a good touch, which Molloy saved, which we gifted them because George King wasn’t around,” added Woodward.

Zaria made another save in the 35^th minute.

Davy-Jo Anderson’s long throw was cleared out to Cronin, who from the edge of the box threaded the ball through to Jonny Murray, but the former Sutton Athletic winger saw his right-footed drive spilt by Zaria before the keeper gathered the loose ball at the second attempt.

Murison has blooded in Zaria, having lost Anthony Gaughan, Jack Turner and Ricky Wadman to injuries.

He said: “We’ve only just found Yemi. We’ve known him for a while. We’ve known him around the club but nobody realised he could play in goal! He’s not been a goalkeeper for a very long time.  He’s one of those players that used to play and hasn’t played for a very long time.”

Woodward said: “He made a few good saves, but I don’t think he was worked as much as he should’ve been tonight and other days we would’ve come in at half-time probably 3-1 up with the chances we had but to come in 0-0, I said to the boys to calm down.  The main objective was not to get beat, we didn’t get beat.”

Glebe created a couple of late chances before the break.  Cronin was given time and space to slice his right-footed shot sailing harmlessly wide from 30-yards, before Obasa’s replacement, Sidney Warden, found space inside the Bridon Ropes’ box to cut inside in the box and Zaria used his legs for a second time to make the save.

“We had chances, again  we was in control but we didn’t take our chances tonight, so that’s life,” came Woodward’s reply.

When asked of his thoughts at half-time, the Glebe manager replied: “It is frustrating, it is frustrating as a manager but it is what it is.  I told them to keep going, get the ball down, get it moving, relax and don’t play like it was the 89^th minute.  We were playing like it was the last minute.  We were throwing everything forward and I could see us getting caught if we wasn’t careful.”

Murison wanted more from his side for the second half.

He said: “We’ve just got to do exactly the same. The main focus was we’ve had some performances even since 2017 that we’ve had a good first half, a good 45 minutes and we’ve suddenly come out and three minutes later we’ve conceded a goal or we’re 1-0 up and it’s 1-1, so the main focus was they’ve done absolutely nothing, don’t come up here all smiling and happy in one way because you’re halfway there.  The job isn’t done, you’ve got 45 minutes left to go and to be quite honest we had them for the taking tonight. I felt that even after about 20 minutes.

“We would create opportunities to win the game and that proved in the second half. Unfortunately, we didn’t take them but to be fair to Glebe they had some chances as well.”

Carson Dennis clipped the ball out of Glebe’s defence up to Tobon, who stroked a low dive which was spilt by Zaria before the keeper gathered at the second attempt after 97 seconds into the second half – before King dragged his shot across goal and past the far post from 30-yards.

Bridon Ropes, who lost the corner count two-nine, forced Molloy to palm the ball away after Gould whipped in a dipping cross-shot from the left-hand side after his corner was cleared out back to him.

But Bridon Ropes almost snatched the lead halfway through the second half.

Central midfielder Adam Smith collected a loose ball, cut inside and with his left-foot, curled his shot towards the top left-hand corner from 30-yards, only for the ball to agonisingly sail just over the crossbar.

Murison said: “Really good strike, from where was, we thought it was going to nestle straight into the top corner of the net.

“He was brilliant today Smudge. On Saturday (in our 4-2 home win over Barking Reserves in the London Senior Trophy), he had a very shaky first 45 minutes. We had to have a real talk to him because of some of the stuff that was going on and he came out for that second 45 on Saturday and was fantastic.

“Today Smudge and Joe Hall in the centre of midfield were superb.  You’re asking a lot of them, especially today, because we wanted to keep the threat. We didn’t want to keep everyone behind the ball or 4-5-1. We wanted to make a go of it because that’s what’s football’s about.  They had a lot of work to do and they done fantastically well.”

Woodward added: “They had a few chances tonight and they haven’t put them away.  We have lost games this season and look when we’ve gone forward and been hit on the break, it didn’t go for us tonight.”

Glebe started to get desperate during the final 20 minutes, but with Matt Dennis immense at the heart of Bridon’s defence, they found the home side a tough nut to crack.

“I hope he don’t mind be saying but we’ve had to have some real honest words because Matty since the start of the year hasn’t been the Matt that I’m used to,” said Murison.

“He’s had some very, very shaky games, hasn’t been himself but again over the last couple of games we’ve seen a glimmer of hope.  I think it’s also helped Ollie Hickman has come back into the team, he was one of our long-term injured players and they complement each other well.

“Matty isn’t the quickest but he reads the game really well and Ollie’s that little bit quicker to cover anything that goes wrong. Matty was brilliant today. He just needs to continue it. We’ve had the words, it’s up to him really.”

Glebe skipper James Day slid in to poke the ball across to Cronin, who’s second shot on target suffered the same fate as his first attempt – sailing harmlessly wide of the goal from distance.

Anderson cut the ball back from the by-line to Jeffery, but his shot from the corner of the box curled around the far post.

Glebe are too over reliant on Golding and Obasa and Jeffery couldn’t cope with the pressure of being their main man up front.

Woodward said: “We were missing Ryan Golding tonight. He comes back in for Saturday, he’s a big, big player for us.  Golding came through 90 minutes on Saturday and scored. Golding’s back fit, he was working tonight. 

“Fred’s had a little twinge, we’ll see how they are for tomorrow. They are big players but I also class Aaron Jeffery as a big player.  You’ve got Aaron Jeffery who scores goals, you’ve got Jonnny Murray who has come in and scores goals.”

Bridon Ropes winger Woodcock hit a 30-yard free-kick straight down Molloy’s throat in the final 15 minutes.

But Bridon Ropes created a couple of chances to snatch the victory.

Smith played a diagonal out to Woodcock down the left, he played the ball inside to Doherty, who set-up Joe Hall, whose 30-yard half-volley flashed past the foot of the far post.

And they squandered a glorious chance to win at the death, which if taken would have had Rusthall’s joint-manager Steve Ashmore jumping for joy in the stand.

Bridon Ropes’ player-manager Murison, who replaced Gould with four minutes of normal time left, floated in a superb cross towards the far post but an unmarked Woodcock smacked his volley over the crossbar.

“I’ll get an assist as well, my little cross to John,” said Murison.

“I did feel sorry for him. He explained upstairs (in the dressing room), I did see it from my angle. The player that was in front of him jumped. It looked like he’d probably get a flick on and John anticipated just in case and that took away him just trying to plant a header on it.  It was coming at him quite quickly and he’s just trying to sort his legs out and he just didn’t sort them out quickly enough to get it in and he put it over the bar.

“He was very disappointed as you would be.  He shouldn’t let it affect him.  We’ve all had it in our careers, that we’ve had a chance really late on in the game and sometimes you miss them but he had a really fantastic performance and since I’ve been here as manager for a year and a half he has been one of the most consistent and best players so he’s got absolutely nothing to be disappointed with in a sense but it’s natural for a player to be disappointed because he knows it could’ve been the three points but he didn’t score it and we move on to Saturday.”

“Should’ve scored, should’ve scored,” admitted Woodward.

“But that’s when the games stretched. We’re trying to get three points, this is what I said to the boys.  You’re away from home, we’ve not been beaten away from home this season. I think it’s 10 games that we’ve won, one draw, so look, away from home we’ve been ok.”

Glebe created one final chance too courtesy of two of their substitutes being involved.

Sam Long threaded the ball through to Jamel Alexander, who steered his shot just past the foot of the near post.

Woodward added: “I don’t think it was a really clear cut, but I think second balls in their box tonight, we wasn’t close enough.”

Glebe host Newham United in the London Senior Trophy Semi-Final on Saturday and shall play Bridon Ropes in the Final if Murison’s men get past Balham the following weekend in the other Semi-Final.

Glebe are only four points clear of third-placed side K Sports but with one game in hand over the Paperboys.

“I’m sure that both Rusthall and K Sports will be looking at the result tonight, like I said to the boys, we’ve not got three points but it’s sweet, it’s life,” said Woodward.

“It’s a point. I’m not going to get too down about it.  I know people expect us to come here and win tonight. Like I said from the start, you can’t just turn up in this league and expect teams to roll over because you’re Glebe.  You have to work hard. I thought we did work hard tonight and if we got the rub of the green we might’ve won tonight.”

Glebe won the London Senior Trophy under Simon Copley last season and looking ahead to Newham’s visit, Woodward said: “It’s a Semi-Final, one game away from a Final. We’re going there pretty strong and we’ll see how we recover after tonight for Saturday and go from there. 

“We could be playing Bridon Ropes in the Final, which is nice for the League but we’ll get tonight out of the way, roll on Saturday and go from there.”

Bridon Ropes travel to bottom-five side Sporting Club Thamesmead on Saturday and Murison wants his side to replicate tonight’s performance, at Bayliss Avenue.

“If you look at SC Thamesmead’s results and our performance tonight then I’m confident we can go there and put on a result,” he said.

“They’ve been a bit of a bogey team since I’ve been here.  We’ve played them a good three or four times and in the Cup as well and I don’t think we’ve actually came away with a win so we need to turn that around on Saturday.

“That was the main focus at the end of the talk. Don’t bother, don’t put that performance in on a Wednesday if on Saturday you lay down and let SC Thamesmead come and beat you so it’s up to the boys to keep their places and go and win games.

“We want to at least finish in the top six and we’re in a Cup semi-final so at least a Cup Final and hopefully we might even get Glebe in that.  I’d actually prefer Glebe in that Final because it would be a really good game to watch. We’ve got to get there first, I’m not counting my chickens, because we’ve got a tough one (against Balham in the Semi-Final).

Bridon Ropes: Yemi Zaria, Luke Hewitt, Eamon Gaughan, Adam Smith, Oliver Hickman, Matt Dennis, John Woodcock, Joe Hall, Dean Gould (Mark Murison 86), James Doherty, Henry Dasofunjo (Adam Saunders 79).
Subs: Kieran Fanner, Oliver Soulsby

Booked: Luke Hewitt 86

Glebe: Adam Molloy, Davy-Jo Anderson, George King, James Day, Carson Dennis, Charlie McCarthy, Andreas Felipe Losada Tobon (Sam Long 66), Frazer Cronin, Fred Obasa (Sidney Warden 14), Aaron Jeffery, Jonny Murray (Jamel Alexander 85).
Subs: Joe Borland, Jack Duffy

Booked: George King 62, Aaron Jeffery 76

Attendance: 50
Referee: Mr Chris Price (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Ashley Overbury (Tottenham, London N17) & Mr Kevin Greenhead (Bexleyheath) 

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