Chatham Town 1-2 Walton Casuals - We'll be looking for reinforcements to plug the areas where I think we're lacking, says Chatham Town boss Tony Beckingham

Chatham Town 1 – 2 Walton Casuals
Location	Maidstone Road Sports Ground, Bournville Avenue, Chatham, Kent ME4 6LR
Kickoff	22/08/2016 19:45

CHATHAM TOWN  1-2  WALTON CASUALS
The Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round Replay
Monday 22^nd August 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Maidstone Road

CHATHAM TOWN boss Tony Beckingham says he will not have his playing budget cut after being knocked out of The FA Cup at the first hurdle.

 

Chatham Town were dumped out in the Preliminary Round in tonight’s replay by the smallest club in the Ryman League Division One South, although Walton Casuals deserved their victory to earn £1,925 in prize money and a home tie against Greenwich Borough or Walton & Hersham in the next round.

Anthony Gale’s side took an early lead on the counter-attack with winger Sol Pinnock opening his account for the new season.

Chatham Town equalised through their only shot on target, flicked home by Ricky Gundry, but Gale’s side were the better side during a one-sided first half and sealed victory through striker Dan Summers’ second goal of the campaign as the Surrey club won their first FA Cup tie since 2010.

Beckingham admitted his side had to climb Mount Everest as soon as winger Aaron Rhule was sent-off for picking up two yellow cards only 47 seconds into the second half – the 12^th of 18 fouls that Chatham Town committed during a poor performance from the Kent outfit.

“In the end I’m proud of the players that really competed so well in the second half,” said Beckingham during the post-match press conference, held in his office.

“Disappointed for them but we obviously gave ourselves too much to do first half and once again the first half has come back to hurt us.”

Many clubs are forced to slash their playing budget after an early FA Cup exit – but Beckingham has assurances that won’t happen to him.

“Listen, one thing about this club, they don’t rely on the money. The money is nice and it’s an added bonus,” he said.

“Believe you me, I’m as disappointed as them in there (the board) not to have been able to get them some money but you can’t rely on Cup money to boost your playing budget.  Clubs that do that, it’s false economy and it just doesn’t work, it isn’t right. Fortunately, I’m at a club where, yes, it will hurt them, yes the money would’ve been nice but…”

Chatham Town opened their league campaign with a goal-less draw at Three Bridges and entertained a crowd of 239 despite losing 3-2 at home to Tooting & Mitcham United seven days ago. Only 43 people watched Saturday’s 3-3 draw between these two sides, although the game was played at Whyteleafe’s Church Road and a crowd of 152 watched Chatham’s FA Cup exit.

Walton Casuals opened the scoring with the first chance of the game, timed at five minutes and 21 seconds.

Pacy left-winger Gabriel Odunaike broke down the middle with the ball and laid the ball inside to Pinnock, who drilled a right-footed shot across the keeper from 15-yards, the ball kissing the foot of the far post before nestling into the back of the net.

Beckingham said: “All I can say is it’s not great defending is it?  I mean, one ball over the top and we’ve left him clear. 

“To be honest, first five minutes we sort of started quite well and put them on the back foot and their first breakaway we’ve been loose at the back, switched off and we’re chasing the game again.”

Walton Casuals’ should have scored again following their first corner, which was swung in from the left by Summers, flicked on across goal by Pinnock but central defender Jordan Cheadle failed to turn the ball in as he ghosted in at the far post.

Chatham Town were thankful to on-loan Gillingham goalkeeper Henry Newcombe, 18, for keeping them in the game.

Central midfielder Billy Marshall released Summers down the left channel and he reached the by-line before cutting the ball back to Malachi Hudson, the former Welling United winger was denied by the keeper palming the ball out at his near post.

“Great save! He made a few good saves tonight, that’s what he’s in goal for and that’s why he’s a professional at Gillingham,” added Beckingham.

Summers, who ran the channel, drilled a 25-yard angled drive from the left, which brought a comfortable low save to his right by Newcombe.

Beckingham said: “He saved them but I don’t remember thinking ‘oh my God, they’re going to score!’

“He saved it, a couple of great saves but a lot of them were fairly straight forward for him.  I think the point you’re trying to make is they had us under a bit of pressure and I would agree with that!”

Chatham Town grabbed an equaliser, timed at 18 minutes and 36 seconds and Walton Casuals’ central defender Max Fitzgerald was at fault.

Chatham left-back Lee Radford hit a long ball out of defence which wasn’t cleared by the visitors captain and Gundry produced a classy finishing, flicking the ball over the advancing keeper, dropping into the empty net.

“I felt the goal gave us that opportunity for us to start again and I thought that was going to give us the impetus to kick-on, then we conceded a poor one again,” said Beckingham.

“It was a great goal, a lovely time to score midway through, lovely finish.  I felt we were getting into the game then and that would give us a bit of impetus and I don’t know how long it was before they scored the next goal, I don’t think it was that long and then we’re on the back foot again.”

Chatham Town should have kicked on after that but it was Walton Casuals that looked the more likely to go on and win the game.

They broke again and Hudson’s pass took a kind ricochet to put Pinnock through on goal, his low left-footed drive forced Newcombe to dive full-length low to his left to hold on to the ball.

The best Chatham Town could muster after their goal was when Rhule rolled the ball out to Gundry, who took a touch and his cross sailed over Rhule’s head and was easily gathered by Brannon Daly.

Walton Casuals’ deservedly sealed their victory as early as the 32^nd minute.

Summers latched onto a long ball over the top, which wasn’t cut out by Chatham right-back Jerald Agebaoya, Summers picked the ball up outside the box, cut towards the by-line and Chatham’s central defender Ambrose Kamara came across to meet him.

Despite a tight angle, Summers cut the ball onto his right foot and drilled a low shot across the keeper to find the bottom far corner.

“Let’s wind that a little bit,” added Beckingham. “It was the same diagonal ball again. It’s gone over towards the right-back, who’s completely missed a header. Ambrose, to be fair to him, had to come across and I think I’m right in thinking Ambrose has hit it against Dan Summers’ foot and it’s rocketed into the net.  I don’t actually think he's hit it. I think he’s got a tackle in and it’s a ricochet. I might be wrong, that’s how I saw it.”

A big kick down the pitch from Daly wasn’t dealt with by Kamara or Agebaoya again but this time Newcombe dealt with Summers’ shot.

An outplayed Chatham side relied on another save from Newcombe on the stroke of half-time, saving low to his right to deny Odunaike after the ball was threaded in behind by Marshall’s fine pass.

When asked his thoughts at the break, Beckingham said: “I’m thinking get into half-time.  As has been our recently second half we’ve been much better for some reason.  Get them in at half-time, settle them down a little bit, make a few adjustments put maybe a change of personnel and try and nick it back.  I really felt we had it in us to do that.”

Chatham Town’s chances of progressing through to the next round vanished when referee David Hutton pulled out a second yellow card – then a red – to Rhule after he collided with Liam Collins, the Walton Casuals’ right-back, close to the half-way line on the left-hand side.

“The sending off, one minute into the second half has killed us, it’s given us no chance and the boys are climbing Mount Everest and to be fair to them they tried to do it for the club,” said Beckingham.

When asked how Rhule was inside the dressing room before costing his side only 47 seconds into the second half, Beckingham replied: “To be fair, he don’t say nothing! He didn’t say a word but he goes over that white line and like a lot of players he changes and unfortunately he didn’t channel it in the right areas.

“He had his back to me. I thought from where I was it looked he just ran into him (Collins), I don’t know. The referee said he whacked the boy into the face, I don’t know because he had his back to me, I generally didn’t see what has happened. It literally looked like to me two players running into each other. I’m happy to be corrected.”

Rhule has a reputation for being a hot-head and Beckingham admitted it proved costly.

“Of course it is. It’s absolutely killed us with 10 men!

“I actually felt we played better than with 11 if the truth be known. Listen you’re 2-1 down, you’re chasing the game. It’s extra-time and penalties tonight so even if we got it back, we have to play 75 minutes with 10 men and needless to say towards the end of the second period there was a few boys struggling so in a way extra-time wouldn’t have done us any favours with a big game (at Lewes) again on Saturday and I’m thankful that we haven’t come away with any injuries.”

That killed the game off and made it uninspiring to watch for the crowd as Walton Casuals sat back on their lead and Chatham Town didn’t have the quality to trouble visiting keeper Daly.

Austin Edwards’ swung in a corner from the right and Daly flapped at the ball and Luke Medley held his head in his hands after the Chatham right-winger steered his header wide from six-yards – after 62 minutes.

“Listen, when you’re down to 10 men that’s all you’re going to get, scraps and you just hope you get a little scrap, you get a little bit of luck and you’re going to nick a chance. It’s very rare that it’s going to come from open play when you’re a man down so you hope to nick a set-piece and nick one,” said Beckingham.

“I’ve got to look at positives and we kept the ball really well with 10 men.  We kept it, we moved it and we had a lot of possession, which is something that we weren’t doing in the first half. Obviously that has me scratching my head!”

Pinnock drove forward and cut into the Chatham penalty area before dragging his shot across the face of goal and the ball was put behind for a corner.

Walton Casuals’ seventh-corner was swung in by Summers from the left and left-back Dominic Ogun rose to plant his header over.

Chatham only looked like scoring from a set-piece. Lee Radford swung in a free-kick from the right with his left-foot and Gundry’s glancing header sailed wide of the post from 16-yards.

Marshall played a hanging cross that dropped into Chatham’s box but Summers failed to finish the game by rolling his shot into Newcombe’s hands.

With the game entering the final 12 minutes, Chatham showed a prime example of their poor quality in the final third.  Edwards played in Medley, but a poor first touch inside the box allowed Daly to gather the loose ball.

Walton Casuals missed a chance when Summers played a low pass in from the right and Pinnock turned Radford but blazed his shot over the crossbar from 18-yards.

Radford took a knock in the last five minutes but reappeared after treatment.

Beckingham said: “He just got a little knock and I think it was a mixture of the knock and tiredness but fair play to him, he could’ve so easily have thrown the towel in but he didn’t. He wanted to come back on and see what he could do.  For me that optimises the attitude of the 10 boys that played for me second half.  With that sort of attitude we ain’t going to go far wrong.”

Newcombe pulled off a fine diving save at the end.

Summers played the ball in from the left following a corner, Marshall took a touch and his right-footed curler, which was destined for the far corner, was superbly tipped around the post by Newcombe, diving to his left.

“Listen, Henry second half made a few good saves, kept us in it. They were always going to hit us, weren’t they? They had a man over. The longer the half goes on, it’s a Cup game, we’re always going to change it, we went three at the back, we needed to score goals or we’re out!

“They were always going to get chances, the onus was on us to try and nick one, somehow.”

Collins floated in a cross from the right which was powered over the bar by a rising Odunaike (who finished the game up front for Walton Casuals).

Chatham Town almost snatched an undeserved equaliser when Medley drove his 40-yard shot screaming just past the left-hand post.

Chatham Town have lost their first two home games of the season and Beckingham says he is going to start making changes – ditching the diamond formation would be a start!

“There’s two or three little things that we’ve got to sort but it’s early days. We’re trying to bring a new side in. it will take time to settle down. It’s going to take six to eight, maybe 10 games to settle down,” he said.

“Pre-season fixtures are all very well and good but you can’t see things until you start playing competitive games and it’s highlighted a few little things but again we’ve played four games now, been beaten twice both by the odd goal. There’s nothing in it there so we’ll be looking at reinforcements to plug the areas where I think we’re lacking.”

When asked what was lacking, Beckingham kept his cards close to his chest, adding, “I’m not going to say that to you am I?! Even that would be wrong because that would point the finger at certain players. I know in my head what I think and we’re doing our best to sort that out.”

Next up for Chatham are two games against two clubs that should be challenging for promotion this season – a trip to relegated Lewes on Saturday, before welcoming Cray Wanderers to Maidstone Road on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 August (both games kicking off at 15:00).

They must improve on tonight’s poor performance in those two games otherwise Chatham’s long-suffering fans will be in for another season of disappointment and struggle.

Chatham Town: Henry Newcombe, Jerald Agebaoya (Harvey Brand 80), Lee Radford, Junior Kaffo (Josh Bray 66), Ambrose Kamara, Liam Hickey, Sam Staunton (Abdul Lyoubi 56), Austin Edwards, Luke Medley, Ricky Gundry, Aaron Rhule.
Subs: Freeman Rogers, Ross Morley, Jon Difford, Patrick Lee

Goal: Ricky Gundry 19

Booked: Aaron Rhule 40, Liam Hickey 90

Sent off: Aaron Rhule 46

Walton Casuals: Brannon Daly, Liam Collins, Dominic Ogun, Jack Sammoutis, Max Fitzgerald, Jordan Cheadle, Gabriel Odunaike, Billy Marshall, Dan Summers, Sol Pinnock (Luke Holness 90), Malachi Hudson (Shola Oladipo 90).
Subs: Glenn Boosey, Harvey Cheadle

Goals: Sol Pinnock 6, Dan Summers 32

Booked: Max Fitzgerald 75, Dan Summers 90

Attendance: 152
Referee: Mr David Hutton (Basildon, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Richard Joss (Margate) & Mr Dan Proctor (Dartford)

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