Canterbury City 3-2 Erith & Belvedere - We've got a slim chance of getting to Wembley, says Canterbury City joint-manager Ben Smith

Canterbury City 3 – 2 Erith & Belvedere
Location	Homelands Stadium, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent TN26 1NJ
Kickoff	22/11/2015 15:00

CANTERBURY CITY  3-2  ERITH & BELVEDERE
The FA Vase Second Round
Sunday 22^nd November 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Homelands Stadium

CANTERBURY CITY joint-manager Ben Smith says the club has a slim chance of reaching The FA Vase Final at Wembley Stadium after reaching the last 64 for the first time in the club’s history.

A crowd of 70 braved the bitterly cold conditions to watch Canterbury City knock out their Southern Counties East Football League rivals Erith & Belvedere to join landlords Ashford United and Lordswood in the Third Round.

Two long throws from Jordan Casey were converted by Dan Lawrence and Dave Pilcher as Canterbury City went into the break with a 2-0 lead.

John Wilfort’s side pulled a goal back through a speculative cross-shot from left-back Sheriff Babatunde, but Canterbury City had one foot in the next round when Matt Martin scored his sixth goal of the season on the counter-attack.

Erith & Belvedere ensured it was a nervy ending to the game when former Crystal Palace and Bromley attacker Ashley-Paul Robinson headed home from close range but their FA Vase campaign ended at the first attempt.

Canterbury City’s joint-manager Ada Gower came out of the dressing room first and said: “Very pleased to get through to the next round because it’s the furthest we’ve got in the competition so we’re very pleased.

“I think in season’s past we’ve never particularly had a good cup run. We’ve always been knocked out pretty early so it is really pleasing.

“Obviously league wise we want to do the best we can in the league but we know realistically we’re never going to win the league so a good cup run is absolutely vital.”

Wilfort, meanwhile, sent out his player-assistant manager John-Paul Collier to conduct the post-match interview.

Collier said: “Clearly disappointed by the result, obviously going straight into it, Canterbury didn’t deserve to win.  They know they got away with it! We weren’t at our best but we’re on a process at the moment and I’m proud of every single one of those players and so is Wilfs.

“We’re building something good here and what we’re trying to build takes time and we’re not there yet. It’s not the finished article but I guarantee in three-four months’ time we will be in a position that’s credible and people will enjoy watching what we do.

“We will be up the top of the league and we will be pushing to do well in every competition that we play in.”

Canterbury City - in ninth-place in the table with 20 points from 15 games - created the first chance after only 55 seconds when striker Casey swept a shot on the turn from 25-yards, which rolled into the hands of visiting keeper Rilwan Anibaba.

Erith & Belvedere – in eighth-place in the table with 22 points from 16 games – went close to breaking the deadlock with seven minutes on the clock.

Right-back Joe Minter played the ball up to right-sided midfielder Andreas Felipe Losada Tabon, who drilled his right-footed angled drive from 20-yards into the side netting.

The impressive Robinson cut in from the left and stroked his right-footed drive from 30-yards, which bounced across the diving Shannon Harris and past the far post.

But Canterbury City wasted a great opportunity to open the scoring after 15 minutes.

Casey floated on a deep cross from the left towards the far post where an unmarked Martin powered his header past the far post when he only had Anibaba to beat.

“Normally he’s pretty good, normally he buries those sort of things but he’s not played for a little while so he’s a little bit rusty, he normally puts them away,” said Gower.

Collier added: “I don’t think they did a lot to be honest.  I thought we dominated possession from the start of the match and up until half-time”

Nineteen seconds later, the right-winger then cut inside Babatunde and curled his left-footed shot straight into the hands of the goalkeeper from 25-yards

Both sides then cancelled each other out, before Canterbury City scored twice in 186 seconds.

Casey looped a long throw into the Erith & Belvedere penalty area from the right, the ball was half-cleared out to Dan Lawrence, who hit a stunning right-footed half-volley from 20-yards which clipped the underside of the crossbar before dropping into the back of the net with 28 minutes on the clock.

Gower said: “A great strike! “I don’t know if the keeper didn’t see it ‘til late but it was an absolutely quality strike! That’s the sort of thing Dan Lawrence does.”

With Ramsgate joint-manager Jim Ward watching, Gower admitted the central midfielder should be playing in the Ryman League.

He said: He’s a quality player. We’re lucky to have him here as well to be honest because Ryman teams are sniffing around him. He likes it here but yes, it was a quality strike.”

Smith echoed his colleague’s views by saying, “Dan’s our skipper, he’s decided to stay with us, instead of going to the likes of Whitstable and Ramsgate.

“He’s unbelievable today. I thought he was everywhere, pressing the ball, working hard. He looked so fit out there even in the last minutes he was chasing around box to box, just a complete performance really.”

Collier added: “I thought they were very, very lucky to be going in at half-time 2-0 through our mistakes of our own, not from anything they did in possession of a football or out of possession. It’s purely down to us, so yes they were very lucky to be going ahead.

“Both of their goals were from throw-ins! The first one was a long throw launched into the box, which is a tactic teams can use.  They’ve got a big lad in the middle, we didn’t get in front, we didn’t get one front, one behind and we let him challenge and it dropped down and they got the second ball and it’s a goal. 

“A lot of goals are scored like that and that’s not good enough from us, so good goal from them I suppose.”

Casey then launched another long throw from a similar position but this time Dan Lawrence laid the ball inside to the unmarked Pilcher, who placed his right-footed 15-yard drive across Anibaba to nestle inside the bottom far corner of the net.

Gower said: “Pilcher’s been one of our best players, he’s an absolute quality signing. You expect him to put it away as well.  I thought it was a good chance but he slotted it away well.”

The way that Collier was speaking when describing Canterbury City’s second goal, it sounded like he was to blame for not picking up Pilcher inside the box.

He said: “I suppose you play to your strengths so if you can throw the ball into the box you do that every opportunity you can get and you’ll get something from it. That’s their game plan and it worked for them today.”

When asked about the poor marking, Collier said: “Yes, listen we’ll keep that in house but we’re disappointed.

“Are you to insinuate that it was me? I was playing in the hole, in the pocket so we had two centre midfielders. We got underneath the ball, we were too late to get that runner so yes it was our fault. Whether it was me or not I’m not quite sure!”

Erith & Belvedere went agonisingly close to reducing the deficit after 32 minutes.

Quiet striker Jamie Wood laid the ball into Minter’s path. He cut inside and bent his left-footed shot just around the foot of the far post from 20-yards.

Collier said: “We’ve come in (to the club) and he’s been one of our best players and we’ve taken to him really well. He was really unlucky. He’s cut inside , he does everything basic and simple, he’s tried to tuck it into the corner and it’s just gone wide – he was unlucky.”

“We always defended well. We’re quite well organised,” added Gower, on their opponents lack of first half chances.

“We play 4-3-3. To be fair to them they’ve had a lot of different players, a new manager, new players come in and stuff like that. I think they like to play football, but they had no penetration really.”

That happen to be the last goalscoring action of the first half as Canterbury City went in at the break with a 2-0 lead.

When asked what he told his players in the dressing room, Gower admitted: “I didn’t go in actually, Ben did all the talking.  I stayed out and had a run round.  You’ll have to ask Ben about what he said.”

Collier, meanwhile, was inside the away dressing room and listened to what Wilfort had to say.

“I think the emphasis was we were keeping possession but it wasn’t sharp enough, it wasn’t quick enough. We had to penetrate a little bit better. We had to find pockets a little bit better than we did. We struggled moving the ball quick enough. We didn’t do it well enough so that was what was said at half-time. We needed to move the ball quicker and dominate our possession.”

When asked about the 3G pitch at Homelands Stadium, Collier admitted he prefers playing on grass.

“It’s completely different to playing on grass. I suppose it’s the same for both teams. It isn’t the same. The ball doesn’t run true, it chucks up.  That’s an excuse that I don’t want to use because we train on a 3G pitch every Thursday evening so listen we’re not using that as an excuse at all.”

Canterbury City created the first chance of the second half, which saw three early chances inside the opening four minutes.

Adam Woollcott floated a free-kick towards the far post and Ollie Lee came up from the back to loop his header high in the air and visiting keeper Anibaba caught the ball as it dropped down from the black, floodlit skies above.

Erith & Belvedere called Harris into making his first save of the game after 48 minutes.

Collier skipped down the left and made space for himself to unleash a right-footed angled drive, which was beaten away by the Canterbury keeper at his near post.

The impressive Robinson then hit a fierce drive from 30-yards, which screamed past the far post.

Not for the first time this Kent derby petered out but a slice of luck brought Erith & Belvedere back into the game in the 66^th minute.

Collier swept a free-kick out to an unmarked Babatunde.  He whipped in a left-footed cross from 35-yards, which sailed over Harris’ head and dropped into the bottom far corner of the net. It was good timing for his first goal for the club.

When asked whether his team-mate meant it, Collier replied: “Only he can tell you that! I’m sure he didn’t mean that! I’m sure he meant to cross it but it’s ended up into the back of the net, which was lucky for us I suppose.”

Gower added: “A good goal. I don’t know, it was a just little disappointing that one really.”

This sparked Erith & Belvedere into life and substitute Denzel Gayle raced down the right but he was in too minds once he reached the penalty area and Harris gobbled up the ball at his near post.

Woollcott swept in a free-kick from out wide on the left which was caught by Anibaba at the far post, before Canterbury City went closer.

Casey burst down the right and played the ball inside to Martin, who teed up striker Pilcher, who forced Anibaba to dive low to his left to make the save.

Canterbury City scored their third goal – on the counter-attack – with 15 minutes left.

Jordan played a sublime through ball straight through the heart of the Erith & Belvedere defence.

The eccentric Anibaba came rushing out of his penalty area as Martin raced through but Martin rounded the keeper and slotted his left-footed shot into the back of an empty net from 20-yards.

Gower said: “The keeper didn’t quite get to that one. He didn’t make it in time and he was struggling to get there.

“I feel a little bit sorry for the keeper. Tenacity from Matt Martin though, so it was good.”

It was the worst thing that could have happened to the visitors.

Collier said: “When you’re 2-0 down it’s difficult. When you get back into it, you know you need another goal to force extra-time so we were going all out trying to get the second.

“I think it’s difficult for the goalkeeper when you’re pressing to try to get the two-all. We’re playing a high line and they’ve had one counter attack and they played someone in and the keeper’s made the decision to come out and he’s gone round him.

“But if he stays on his line he’s still one-on-one with him so I think it’s difficult for the goalkeeper what he needs to do there.

“He’s come out, made his decision, he’s come out and the guys rounded him and scored.”

But Erith & Belvedere ensured it was going to be a nervy finish when they scored their second goal with their next chance with 79 minutes on the clock.

The Deres won themselves their sixth and last corner, which was swung in from the right by Babatunde and Robinson capped off an impressive display by planting his free downward header into the bottom left-hand corner.

Collier said: “It was a cross more than a header. The header was on the goaline pretty much. It was all about the delivery from Sheriff and Ash is at the right place just to nod it in.”

When asked about Robinson’s arrival at Park View Road, Collier said: “He is playing at this level because he knows me and he knows Wilfs (John Wilfort) and he wants to play football that we want to play. It’s no other reason than that really. He’s not here for the money. He could certainly earn more money elsewhere but he wants to be with us and the football that we try to promote.”

Smith added: “It was a bit nervy at the end there but we got through, we dug deep. 

“We knew it was going to be hard work. We had them watched, they play football, they move the ball well.

“Ashley Robinson, what a player, he’ a real star in this league! How they’ve managed to get hold of him, I don’t know? A really classy player and it took us a lot to really stop him.”

Erith & Belvedere squandered two excellent chances to force extra-time.

Substitute Liam Wright played a one-two with Robinson down the left but Wright’s right-footed dipping shot only just cleared the crossbar.

Erith & Belvedere then forced a last-gasp free-kick down the right, which was swung in excellently by Babatunde and the ball fell at Jake McIntyre’s feet, but he produce a typical defender’s finish, blazing his shot over the bar.

Collier refused to blame the central defender for the club’s FA Vase exit.

“He was unlucky he’s got a rebound and he’s tried to stick something on it and it’s gone over,” he said.

“I think he’s tried to put something on it but what can you do? It’s gone over the bar.

“He was unlucky.  We’re not having a go at him.

“Obviously hugely disappointed but I’m proud of every single one of the boys What we’re trying to do here. 

“The football that we play (on the floor), they stuck to that for the whole 90 minutes. We will never, ever try and go away from that no matter what. I believe in it 100% and they’re all buying into it and they’ve all got the ability to produce.”

Reflecting on the club’s FA Vase exit, Collier added: “I honestly thought if we could’ve got through this round we thought that we honestly could do really, really well in this competition, but that’s football.  We weren’t quite ready and we made some mistakes.”

When asked how he was feeling following McIntyre’s miss, Gower admitted: “Relief! You need a bit of luck sometimes. It goes your way sometimes, sometimes it doesn’t, so it’s good.”

When asked about reaching the last 64 for the first time in Canterbury City’s history, Smith added: “It’s massive, just winning one game is massive this season for us, starting from scratch so to speak with the squad.

“We’ve had good success off-the-field recently which you’ll hear about. To put success on it and make history, keep trying to push that benchmark a little bit further is just unbelievable really.”

When asked about reaching the Wembley Final, Smith replied: “You never know do you? We’ll have a slim chance of getting there, but we’re in the hat, (one of) 64 sides so there’s not many games to go there is there?

“We’re not expecting to get to Wembley but you take it game by tame. The old cliché as they say. We’ll see where we get to. Let’s hope the next draw is good to us.

“I could’ve done without playing another Kent side in this round so let’s hope we don’t get another Kent team in the next round.  I hope it’s a bit of an unknown, which will give it a real FA competition feel to it, rather than playing the same old sides.”

Canterbury City: Shannon Harris, Chris Webber, Sam Baker (Connor Partridge 46), Sam Staunton, Ben Gorham, Ollie Lee, Adam Woollcott (Sam Hallett 73), Dan Lawrence, Dave Pilcher (Rob Lawrence 78), Jordan Casey, Matt Martin.
Subs: Chevan Xavier, Dom Snee

Goals: Dan Lawrence 28, Dave Pilcher 32, Matt Martin 75

Booked: Ben Gorham 21, Dave Pilcher 24, Connor Partridge 83

Erith & Belvedere: Rilwan Anibaba, Joe Minter, Sheriff Babatunde, Charlie Holness, Enoch Akosah (Liam Wright 78), Jake McIntyre, Andreas Felipe Losada Tabon (Denzel Gayle 58), Zak Henry, Jamie Wood (Jake Ross 46), Ashley-Paul Robinson, John-Paul Collier.
Sub: George Reed

Goals: Sheriff Babatunde 66, Ashley-Paul Robinson 79

Booked: Zak Henry 19, John-Paul Collier 45, Sheriff Babatunde 51

Attendance: 70
Referee: Mr Richard Joss (Margate)
Assistants: Mr Don MacLeod (Deal) & Mr Matthew McCaughan (Deal)