Cray Valley 1-4 VCD Athletic - We looked devoid of ideas, admits frustrated Tony Russell

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)  1-4  VCD ATHLETIC
Pre-Season Friendly
Wednesday 23^rd July 2014
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

VCD ATHLETIC manager Tony Russell says he felt frustrated with his side’s performance during their flattering 4-1 victory at Cray Valley.

Last season’s Ryman League Division One North champions put in a disappointing first half showing, before they made nine changes at the break and only started replicating last season’s dazzling football during the last 25 minutes.

The Millers, meanwhile, who finished in seventh-place under Steve Chapman in the Southern Counties East Football League last season, went into this game on the back of four straight wins, beating Glebe (4-3), Chipstead (2-1), Sutton Athletic (4-0) and Bearsted (4-1).

A shock was on the cards when substitute striker Harry Fenner curled home just before the hour mark.

But former Tunbridge Wells winger Jon Pilbeam tapped home an equaliser nine minutes later before Michael Power, 30, who scored 19 goals in 22 appearances on their way to a last-day title clincher, scored a fourteen minute hat-trick to give the result a flattering look for the Crayford based side.

This was Vickers second game of pre-season.  They lost 3-2 at home to Conference Premier side Welling United on 15 July and have had games against Ebbsfleet United and Brentwood Town cancelled.

Russell said: “It was a much needed game, only our second pre-season game.  We’ve had two called off. It’s been a bit of a disaster so far and it showed if I’m honest.

“We looked a little behind in terms of sharpness. It was a much needed game.  In terms of the result, I’m not much concerned. Performance, not good, not great.

“I thought the last 20 minutes we started to get going how we normally do.

“I’ve said to the boys it’s not good enough. The standard we set, that’s not good enough. It’s not the way we do it!

“That’s no disrespect to Cray Valley because I like Grossy as a person and as a team. I think they’ll do well but for us our personal standards, people were playing like individuals, taking too many touches and doing their own thing.

“I said to the new boys you’ve got to learn that’s not the way we do it.  We do our jobs and it works effectively as a group.

“Pleased at the end, but I found it frustrating for an hour.”

Cray Valley manager Paul Gross knew exactly what went wrong during his first defeat in charge of the club.

“Good exercise, got what we wanted out of it. We set our stall out to keep our shape nice and early. We set-up a game plan and I thought it worked until we made all the changes.

“Lads that weren’t here Tuesday at training lost their shape a bit. We switched off for two minutes and we got punished so that’s the way it went.”

VCD Athletic were almost gifted a goal by Cray Valley goalkeeper Matt Bailey inside the opening four minutes.

The keeper kicked the ball straight to Power inside the penalty area, who twisted and turned Joe Matthews before playing the ball inside to Leigh Bremner, whose shot rolled across goal instead of finding the bottom corner of the net.

A clearance from Vickers’ goalkeeper Nick Blue released Bremner down the right and the former Cray Wanderers and AFC Hornchurch striker hooked the ball past Millers left-back Ben Healy before drilling a shot which forced Bailey to dive to his right to push away towards safety.

The Millers almost grabbed a sixth-minute lead when a poor ball out of defence from club debutant Grant Basey was picked up by Jimmy Rogers who threaded the ball through to lone striker Luke Tanner, who cracked a right-footed drive on to the top of the crossbar from 25-yards.

Gross said: “Great strike from Luke. I thought he was superb tonight. He worked his socks off. Again we gave him a job to do, keep the two centre halves occupied and I think he done very well tonight.”

“We was a little bit all over the place,” admitted Russell.

“I tried to play a diamond. I just wanted to have a look at it. It was a bit carnage but we switched it back after 10-15 minutes.

“I don’t like pre-season because I like to pride ourselves on how organised we are with and without the ball.

“In pre-season you’ve got 20 players you can’t get organised, exactly what you want to do.  We did rough bits in training. We did some light stuff in training, not enough to really influence and dictate what we want them to do.  It is a bit of a frustrating thing to be honest.”

Lea Dawson clipped the ball down the right to release Bremner, who cut inside central defender Reis Boyle, but his progress was stopped by a fine sliding block from the defender. 

Seconds later, Power’s follow up shot was blocked by Millers’ right-back Tommy Osborne and Power bent a low left-footed angled drive narrowly past the foot of the far post.

When asked about Bremner’s contribution, Russell replied: “He’s rusty. He done really well when we got him down the side. He was bullying their centre half and he had pace on him and he created a couple of chances for himself.  It’s just that sharpness. You can see it.  That match sharpness is just not there. But that will come with that match sharpness. That’s why this was a much needed game tonight.”

Former Charlton Athletic and Ebbsfleet United defender Basey, 25, clipped a long ball out of Vickers defence which sailed over Healy’s head to pick out Danny Phillips, who whipped in a cross towards the near post for Bremner to plant his bullet header wide.

Bailey made his second fine save to keep the Millers in the game in the 19^th minute.

Dawson played the ball inside to Bremner, who cracked a right-footed drive from 20-yards, which forced the keeper to dive to his right to make another fine save.

Gross said: “Bailey’s a good shot-stopper. Bailey’s good with his feet. We’re just trying to get him to lose some weight. He carries a bit of timber but if he gets himself fit, shot-stopping, I’ve got no doubts about him. He’ll be my number one for the season. I’ve got every trust in him.”

Basey tried to score from a free-kick on the half-way line but Bailey was relieved to see the ball sail past the post.

Cray Valley forced their way back into the game as the game entered the halfway point.

Tanner broke through the middle and played the ball inside to supporting Jamie Miller, who sent his speculative left-footed drive sailing over the crossbar.

Miller then released the impressive right-winger Ola Rambiu down the wing, before he tried to score against his former club with a dipping right-footed drive, which bounced harmlessly wide.

Former Hythe Town defender Osborne was gallivanting forward on a number of occasions and after he received a diagonal pass from central midfielder Miller, the right-back had a rush of blood to the head and curled his shot towards the corner flag then the goal.

Michael McKenna played the ball out to the left for left-back Healy to cut inside before curling his shot wide of the far post.

Bailey made his third save of the first half when VCD Athletic created a great chance to break the deadlock six minutes before half-time.

Bremner spotted Karl Dent’s run in behind the Millers defence but the midfielder’s right-footed looping chip was blocked by Bailey’s outstretched right arm.

Central midfielder Curtis Will – on trial from the Academy at League Two side Dagenham & Redbridge – sent his right-footed free-kick sailing over Bailey’s crossbar on the stroke of half-time.

Gross made four changes at half-time, while Russell made nine changes and a change of kit from blue shirts to orange shirts, giving Basey and Power the full 90 minutes.

Russell admitted he wasn’t pleased with his side’s first half performance.

One player, Dean Carpenter, who played left-back in the first half, opted to roller-skate nearly six miles from his Sydenham home all the way to Cray Valley’s ground in Eltham.

“I thought first half some of the boys who were here last year let us down. I thought they were shocking,” said Russell.

“It doesn’t matter about the result. I don’t care about the result. It’s their performances.  Some of them know what to do. They should do, they were all here last year!

“I don’t understand why because it’s pre-season we do things different. I found it frustrating but I’m relieved it’s out of the way now.  Like I said to them, we’ll put it down to we’re rusty. We’ve got a game (at Phoenix Sports) on Friday and we’ll go properly then.”

A first time drive from Miller from the corner of the Vickers penalty area sailed high over the crossbar inside the opening three minutes.

A long ball over the top of the Millers’ defence was latched onto by Power, who drilled his right-footed shot past the near post when he only had Bailey to beat.

A cross from Vickers’ new left-back Alwyn Jones was knocked down by Power on the edge of the box and Pilbeam sent his right-footed shot on the turn over the bar from 20-yards.

But Cray Valley stunned the side that are now two leagues above them by taking a 59^th minute lead.

Fenner capitalised on some sloppy defending to turn Basey to drill an angled right-footed drive across substitute goalkeeper Tom Wellman, the ball sailing into the far corner of the net.

Gross said: “Great strike, took it well! Turned him well and then buried one in the bottom corner. Nice to see. He’s done well Harry. He’s Jimmy Rogers’ cousin. He was at Millwall a couple of years ago in the youth set-up, hasn’t played a lot. He’s got a goal down at Sutton. We knew his hold-up play was good but now he’s starting to show us he can score goals as well.”

Russell added: “It came from Greg (Moorse-Macdougall) and young Taylor (McDonagh). We’ve pulled him (McDonagh) out of the youth team.  Greg’s not a centre half, he’s a centre midfielder but we’ve got so many central midfielders we had to put him in there.  They got in a bit of a tangle. It’s dropped to him and Grant’s come across and he’s stretching.

“He’s had to come in.  You’ve got a 17-year-old and a geezer who don’t play at central midfielder in defence so I can’t be too worried about that goal.”

Russell added: “I thought Cray Valley were well worth it, the lead after an hour. I’ve got no complaints whatsoever. I thought we had chances but I thought they looked more dangerous than us if I’m honest and we looked devoid of ideas.”

The Millers were full value for their shock lead and at this point VCD Athletic were struggling.

Gross said: “I was standing there hoping the ref would blow his (full-time) whistle and that’s a half decent result.

“Look, they’re a quality side. We shut off a few times, didn’t go with our markers because we changed our personnel and they pulled our shape apart.

“We stopped them playing first half with our shape, which was good and we hit them on the break a few times, had a few chances. If our deliveries were better we’d have maybe scored a couple but they’re a quality side so I’m not too disappointed with that.”

But Russell’s side turned the game around and clawed themselves back in the game after 68 minutes.

Ellis Green, now in the middle of the park, swept the ball out to the right towards wing-back Taylor McDonagh, who reached the by-line before cutting the ball back for Pilbeam to stab the ball home from six-yards.

Russell said: “It was a nice build-up. Ellis started to come inside and it sucked them in, drew them in and then the killer ball on the overlap. It was a good goal.  We opened them up. It was nice.  You’ve seen our games, that’s the flow that we like to go with. It’s that slow, slow, quick, quick and once everyone got there finger out of their you know what we looked half decent again. The last 20 minutes that was us. That’s what I expected.”

Gross added: “I thought their best player was the right back in the second half.  He came on and he was the liveliest player.  He caused us a few problems.  I think two or three goals came down from his side so he was a good player. We switched off. We told our winger to do a job on the full back. We’ve switched off a couple of times. You’re going to get punished by a team of this standard.

VCD Athletic turned the game on its head by taking the lead only 103 seconds later.

This time it was Pilbeam that reached the by-line to cut the ball back to the unmarked Power who swept his shot into the corner of the net from 10-yards.

Russell said: “I said to them in there when you come to teams lower than you, you’ve to come and dominate.  You’ve got to puff your chest out and dominate and come here and dictate the game.

“No disrespect to Cray Valley, whoever we play, I expect us to go there because I saw us last year dominate teams. I see no reason just because you put pre-season next to it why people need to do it.”

Gross added: “Shaggy’s Shaggy. I’ve known Shaggy for years. He’s good friends with me and my brother.  For the first 15 minutes of the second half you wouldn’t have known he was playing and then all of a sudden he goes and does things like that.”

By that Gross means Power’s second goal in the 72^nd minute, which will go down as goal-of-the-season so far.

Gross was bitterly disappointed that his new-look defence backed off Power as he picked the ball up, dummied before turning and unleashing a dipping right-footed curler from 25-yards, which swerved around the stranded Bailey and sailed over the keeper’s left shoulder into the top right-hand corner of the net.

Gross said: “I’m not worried about what Shaggy does. He’s quality. He’ll score goals. What I’m worried about is the way our three players backed off him and let him get the shot off on the edge of the box, so something else for us to work on!

“Shaggy’s not going to miss them (his second goal) and then he goes and shows what he can do from outside the box so he shows his quality and that’s the difference between the level that they’re at now and what we’re at.

“Quality strike but the three boys have backed off.  You give a player like that – you see what happened when they back off (Luke) Tanner in the first half. He’s hit one and he’s hit the post. Shaggy’s hit one and its hit the top corner!”

Russell said: “He looks sharp tonight Shags, I thought he looked sharp.

“He’s done really well for us last year. He scored 19 goals in 22 appearances to help us win the league and he’s come back fitter than he was last year and he’s got a determination.

“He had a few offers in the summer. Usually the old Shaggy goes off chasing the pound note and then he’ll turn up like a stray dog a year later kicked out and gone to another club to this club to that.

“I think he realises that he just wants to stay somewhere where he enjoys playing football. It’s just ain’t about the colour of people’s money. He’s a handful when he just concentrates on football, relaxes and enjoys himself.

“To me, like I’ve said to you before, he’s as good as I’ve seen. Tell me someone who’s six foot three, good build on him, strong, but got beautiful feet?”

When asked his thoughts on the goal, Russell was harsh in his reply.

“I think the balls they were throwing on, I think they were running out of balls and that was a bit light that one. It’s like one of those 99p balls you know when you kick it and it bends everywhere, it swerves.

“Don’t get me wrong, Shags has got a good technique but I’m not sure.  You can’t even blame the goalkeeper because that moves from one end of the goal to another. God knows. It’s one of those wobble balls with too much weight in there.  It was a good goal but he’s saying he’s Roberto Carlos now but I’m not having it!”

Gross brought on Max Williams for a late cameo and the diminutive right-winger impressed with some nice touches.

“Max is a good lad. He’s sixteen years old. He’s just gone in our first year under 18s but he’s only small so we want to protect him but he’s got a bright future Max so he’ll be in and around our squad.”

Cray Valley substitute Harrison Carneige lost composure after cutting in from the left but his shot rolled into the gloves of Vickers’ substitute keeper Tom Wellman.

VCD Athletic completed the scoring in the final seven minutes through Power’s hat-trick.

McDonagh played a low cross in from the right and Power nipped in front of his marker to stroke his right-footed shot across Bailey, the ball rolling into the bottom left-hand corner.

Russell praised McDonagh for setting up another goal.

He said: “He played in our youth team last year and I always go and watch the young ones. I know he’s gone out and been on the bench and played a few minutes for Chatham last year.  I spoke to him in the summer. I generally want to have a look at him and he thought I wasn’t being serious.

Gross added: “And a free-kick at the end that’s hit the post. I’m thinking pleased don’t make it five!

“First half we more than matched them. I don’t think we deserved to get a big scoreline against us second half.

“But it is what it is. Pre-season. We move on. I’ve learnt more now than I’ve learnt in the three games previous that we’ve won so we’ve got things to work on again.”

Lewis Perkins won the ball before setting up Pilbeam, whose right-footed shot was hit straight at Bailey, to make a comfortable save.

But there was nothing Bailey could do from Basey’s left-footed free-kick from 20-yards, which crashed against the far post in the final three minutes.

Russell added: “He’s played a lot of games for Charlton in the first team. He’s got a really good pedigree. He’s really good. This is his first game. He hasn’t done a session. He’s got a few things going on outside of football he needs to sort out so he’s literally come in today. That’s why we kept him on for as long as possible. I thought he done well considering he ain’t done nothing.”

The home side created the last chance when Thomas played a one-two with Jojo Degraft but his dipping right-footed drive only just cleared the crossbar.

Gross said: “It’s not been a bad start. I wanted a defeat because I said to them I’ll be worried about how I was going to react to a defeat because I don’t like getting beat but it’s fine.

“I don’t mind getting beat by a team like that but as I’ve just said to the boys in the changing room, you give them one chance, you give them two chances. We ask them to play a certain way. First half they done it. Second half a couple of them came on, didn’t listen, done their own thing and we got punished.

“If we set them up to do things and we lose, I’ll take full responsibility, but if we set a team to play and the players don’t do it, I have to act upon that because that’s not the way we set out to play second half and we got punished for it.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Matt Bailey, Tommy Osborne, Ben Healy (Ryan Sawyer 82), Jimmy Rogers (Max Williams 71), Joe Matthews, Reis Boyle (Luke Doherty 63), Ola Rabiu (Harrison Carneige 46), Jamie Miller (Mikey Dalton 63), Luke Tanner (Taylor Thomas 46), Michael McKenna (Harry Fenner 46), Dan Gunner (Jojo Degraft 46).
Sub: Brad Morgan

Goal: Harry Fenner 59

VCD Athletic: Nick Blue (Tom Wellman 46), Elliott Cox (Taylor McDonagh 46), Dean Carpenter (Alwyn Jones 46), Nick Reeves (Peter Smith 46), Grant Basey, Curtis Will (Ange-Elie Ramariavelo 46), Danny Phillips (Ellis Green 46), Karl Dent (Greg Moorse-Macdougall 46), Michael Power, Leigh Bremner (Lewis Perkins 46), Lea Dawson (Jon Pilbeam 46).

Goals: Jon Pilbeam 68, Michael Power 69, 72, 83

Attendance: 75
Referee: Mr Ronald Albert (Catford, London SE6)
Assistants: Mr Micky Stevens (Maldon, Surrey) & Mr Michael Hopkins (Croydon, Surrey)