Crowborough Athletic 3-1 Sevenoaks Town - I don't think we were at our best but we've still won, admits Crowborough Athletic boss Sean Muggeridge

Crowborough Athletic 3 – 1 Sevenoaks Town
Location	Crowborough Community Stadium, Fermor Road, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 3BU
Kickoff	26/12/2015 15:00

CROWBOROUGH ATHLETIC  3-1  SEVENOAKS TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League
Boxing Day, Saturday 26^th December 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Fermor Road

CROWBOROUGH ATHLETIC manager Sean Muggeridge says he’s targeting a top eight finish after Boxing Day derby delight over Sevenoaks Town.

A crowd of 161 flocked through the turnstiles at the Crowborough Community Stadium to watch the Crows comfortably beat a Sevenoaks Town side that were clearly missing their manger Micky Collins, who is on a Christmas family break in Marbella.
 
Crowborough opened the scoring – against the run of play – inside nineteen minutes through John Shea’s chip, before three second half goals were scored.

Striker Josh Biddlecombe scored his fifteenth goal of the season to double Crowborough’s lead before Sevenoaks Town’s sixteen-year-old debutant goalkeeper Harry Earls was beaten at his near post for a second time when left-back Jimmy Matthews scored from the corner of the box.

Sevenoaks Town pulled a controversial goal back through central defender John Lord, who like Shea and Matthews netted his first goal of the season.

“I don’t think we played particularly well first half to be honest with you, but we’ve become a good side now” admitted Muggeridge after his side’s seventh league win of the season.

“Coming in at 1-0, I wasn’t very happy at half-time. I had a go at them a little bit because we were a bit complacent. It could’ve been more. We let them back in it really but second half it was pretty much all us really.

“We always have that threat. We didn’t finish them off. We got two goals and at the end of the day it wasn’t our best performance but we’re starting to win, when we don’t play well, which proves we’re getting a good side.”

When asked how it felt beating the club’s second nearest rivals, Muggeridge said: “It’s good for the fans. The fans come to us home and away and I think it’s for them really because to have a local derby, us and Tunbridge Wells are derbies as well, it’s just nice to give something back to the fans really but when you beat your rivals it’s always nice and the way we did it today, I don’t think we were at our best but we’ve still won.

“It’s three wins and one draw in four games, which is good.”

Rob Palmer and Julian Leigh took charge of Sevenoaks Town today and Leigh admitted he was feeling disappointed following his side’s ninth league defeat of the season.

“Really and truthfully I’m disappointed.  I think there were opportunities there where we could’ve got something out of the game, not saying we would’ve won it but we could’ve got something out of it,” said Sevenoaks resident Leigh.

“But that said we’ve had a sixteen-year-old kiddie in goal and I thought he done really well. I was proud of him today, another sixteen-year-old came on (Steve McCarthy) but I thought there were opportunities to get maybe something out of it, certainly first half.

“We had a few shots and this and that and the other that were wayward to say the least.”

Crowborough’s opening chance arrived after only 93 seconds when central midfielder Ryan Waterman played the ball into the Sevenoaks box and the ball was cleared out to Callum Ridley, whose 16-yard left-footed drive was hit straight at the debutant teenager who made a comfortable save.

Muggeridge said: “To be fair, it’s quite difficult out there, the surface is quite difficult this time of the year.

“He’s had a shot and it bobbled and you’re going to get that this time of the year on these pitches. The goalkeeper did well with it but I think it bobbled. I’ll let him of the hook.”

Leigh added: “I thought Harry did well with an early shot which went in early, which he got his body behind and I was pleased with that because as a youngster and as a goalkeeper you need something like that.”

Sevenoaks Town went close following their first corner of the game inside five minutes.

Chris Edwards, who hobbled off injury reducing the Oaks to ten-men for the final seconds of the game after picking up his second knock, swung in the corner from the right and Tom Ripley made space for himself to direct his header past the left-hand post from 12-yards.

A quickly taken free-kick from Gary Stock sailed over the head of Crowborough left-back Matthews and was hit on the half-volley by Tom Skelton from 12-yards, which sailed over the crossbar.

Crowborough striker Ronnie Conlon danced to the by-line and his shot deflected into the side netting.

Waterman swung in the resulting corner from the left and Kevin Everest came up from the back to plant his header past the far post from 12-yards.

But despite the game being open, Sevenoaks Town enjoyed the most possession and they wasted a great chance to open the scoring.

Edwards swung in a corner from the left towards the far post and Chan Quan powered his header past the near post from close range.

“I thought we did actually start well. We put them under a bit of pressure. We had three or four corners in succession, really nothing come of it,” said Leigh.

“The best chance really fell to Chan. A ball at the far post, it had to be him! He’s three foot nothing and the one person we had at the far post is a little fella but hey ho.”

Quiet Sevenoaks striker Michael McKenna dropped deep to sweep the ball out wide to left-winger Quan, who released striker Michael Fahm in behind Tom Boddy and Everest.

However, Fahm’s cut back was cut out by Crowborough keeper Adam Faith, stretching low to his left at his near post.

Crowborough Athletic went up the other end and opened the scoring just 21 seconds later, the clock showing 18:15.

Right-back Boddy swept a long ball forward out of defence and a mix-up involving Earls and Lord was punished by Shea, sweeping his right-footed chip into the roof of the net.

“Normally we make mistakes and get punished,” said Muggeridge.

“We’re getting a good side now and we’re punishing sides for making mistakes.

“To be fair, he reacted quicker than the other two so I put it down more to he scored it, not them giving it to us.

“We have to be careful when we’re 1-0 up because we do sit back a little bit and think we’ve done it last week against Ashford when we should’ve been 4-0 up at half-time but it’s not a good thing.

“We need to punish sides at the right time and today we showed we can hold onto a 1-0 lead for a little while and punish them second half, which we did today.”

Leigh admitted the goal came during a spell of Sevenoaks pressure.

“The goal, I thought was maybe a tad against the run of play but it was just a long ball through, a little bit of hesitation and Joffy just got a little toe on it.

“Maybe we have to take responsibility in that bearing in mind we’ve got a youngster in goal. Fair play to Joffy, who carried on going, it was difficult, it’s all if’s, buts and maybe’s really.”

The Crows then dominated and went close to doubling their lead in the 25^th minute following their third corner.

Ridley swung in a corner from the right and central defender Will Jagger’s towering header was destined to sail into the far corner, only for Josh Gilbert to head the ball off the line.

Sevenoaks Town should have equalised after 33 minutes but Fahm fluffed his lines.

The Oaks won a free-kick inside the centre circle, which Lord clipped forward and landed at Fahm’s feet inside the D but his weak left-footed shot rolled into Faith’s hands.

“We huffed and puffed at it but realistically we didn’t create something real clean cut that I suppose made the keeper work,” admitted Leigh.

“Really and truthfully it hardly reached the goal, did it?”

Sevenoaks winger Tom Skelton whipped in a low centre from the right which evaded a couple of team-mates inside the box and the ball was cleared out to Stock, whose right-footed dipping drive from 22-yards narrowly cleared the crossbar.

Crowborough Athletic created a couple of late first half chances before the break.

Left-winger Shea stroked a right-footed free-kick straight into Earls’ midriff from 35-yards, before Biddlecombe cut into the penalty area before hitting his right-footed shot over the crossbar.

On Shea’s free-kick, Muggeridge said: “If you were out there, wherever you were standing in the ground the wind was quite strong against us first half and I think that affected the free-kick.

“It looked like he struck it well. It was right at him and you’re not going to score if it’s right at him.”

Both camps were asked their thoughts at the break.

Muggeridge said: “I just said - in a nice way - I just think we weren’t at the races first half.

“This little break we’ve had over Christmas – I did warn them that you can’t be complacent.

“I just think we weren’t tight enough, there was no communication, we were letting crosses come in, they were playing through us.”

Leigh added: “We (myself and Palmer) both thought we could get something out of this game.

“We didn’t think they were particularly quick in the full-back areas and we thought if we could get balls behind we’ll have a chance to get in but to be fair maybe we didn’t get those opportunities.”

Sevenoaks Town created the first chance of the second half – after 25 seconds – but Fahm drilled his right-footed shot past the near post from 30-yards.

Chris Edwards and Ripley allowed Conlon’s through ball release Biddlecombe through on goal down the left but his left-footed shot crashed into the side netting as the keeper dived to his right to attempt to make the save.

Shea’s sublime diagonal pass from left to right sailed over Gilbert’s head and Wayne Clarke cut into the penalty area and his lashed shot was punched away by Earls at his near post.

But the goalkeeper committed the cardinal sin of being beaten at his near post as Crowborough Athletic doubled their lead in the 57^th minute.

Jagger played a short free-kick on the half-way line to Matthews who slipped the ball in behind Edwards and Ripley to put Biddlecombe through on goal and he steered his right-footed shot into the bottom near corner from eight-yards.

“He’s been with us for quite a while but he’s starting to score goals,” said Muggeridge.

“He normally scores those one-on-ones. I was pretty confident when you’ve got a bloke like that in front of goal you sort of know he’s going to score and he did! He came up trumps.

“It was a vital time for us to make that cushion because you’re always nervous at 1-0.

“Josh has worked hard on his game. He never used to work hard in his younger days. He’s come here and he’s worked hard and he’s getting his rewards through working hard in training.  We’ve worked hard on him in training as well and he will keep scoring goals, he’s that kind of player.”

Leigh knows all about Biddlecombe as he was the reserve team manager when the striker was playing for him at Tonbridge Angels.

Firstly, Leigh questioned the decision, by saying: I don’t know if it was offside or not, people are saying it was, I don’t know, I really don’t know, I’m not in a position to see it from where I was so you have to rely on the linesman’s judgement and assume that it wasn’t.

“Josh finished it well. That is what he is good at. He was with me at Tonbridge a few years back and now he’s ten times the player he was then, strong and he’s quick and fair play to him, he’s pushed on, I think.”

When asked whether keeper Earls was to blame for being beaten at his near post, Leigh replied: “Again, he’s come in at an angle and you cover your angles ok. Probably if I’m honest the power, if you’re coming up from under 16 level, the shots there probably aren’t hit with such power.

“I’m not going to put that one down to a goalkeeping error at all.”

Sevenoaks Town’s squandered a great chance to get themselves back into the game after 67 minutes.

Edwards clipped the ball over the top to release Fahm, who shrugged off the attentions of Jagger down the right to cut inside but dragged his shot across Faith and past the far post.

“Again, if somebody was coming in at the far post that was just a tap in, we didn’t get forward enough,” highlighted Leigh.

“I don’t think Chan had his best game for us but the conditions aren’t conducive to the type of football he likes to play. He’s a skilful player, he’s got good touch on the ball but in normal circumstances we’ll be looking to get somebody on the far post and that really was a tap in for Chan.”

Biddlecombe made progress down the left channel down the left and cut the ball back for a stretching Conlon to loop his shot over the bar whilst under pressure.

But Crowborough Athletic raced into a deserved 3-0 lead with nineteen minutes remaining.

Earls made a decent save at his near post to deny Conlon as he cut in from the right and Sevenoaks’ defence fell asleep and left Matthews in acres of space on the other side of the penalty area.

Matthews’ right-footed dipping low drive curled into the bottom near corner to score from 15-yards.

“Jimmy’s a very good attacking full-back. He’s been in those areas before but he’s always decided to cross,” revealed Muggeridge.

“This time, we said to him ‘why don’t you just have a go?’- and he did and it was a great strike to make it 3-0.”

Leigh again refused to blame his teenage goalkeeper for a third goal and Collins must bring in a more experienced keeper for the visit of Greenwich Borough on 2 January, otherwise the defeat will be larger.

Leigh once again stood up for the teenager.

“What I’ve been told the ball did move quite considerably.  Again, I’m not going to proportion any blame on him. Maybe we should’ve shut him down a little bit sooner. If I remember rightly the ball came across, Harry made a good save, it’s gone out and we’ve switched off and from what I’ve been told the ball did actually swerve a lot. There was quite a movement on the ball so you can’t blame him at all.”

The introduction of wingers Kweku Ansah (down the right) and debutant sixteen-year-old Steve McCarthy posed a threat for Crowborough and McCarthy squandered a great chance to make it a dream debut.

Ansah was given space to whip in a cross from the right which flashed across the face of goal and McCarthy ghosted in to shin his shot over the crossbar from four-yards.

“I thought the two players who came on were good,” said Muggeridge.

“They didn’t really cause us problems but they were a bit more lively than the start.  When you’re 3-0 down you do play with a little bit of freedom because you’re not going to get back into the game and that’s what happened. We took our feet of the gas a little bit.”

Another run and cross from Ansah found Fahm at his near post and he laid the ball to McCarthy, whose right-footed shot was blocked by Faith’s legs at the near post.

Leigh said: “Kweku’s got a lot of pace and he’s got a lot to offer. I think he’s one of these players he’s either hot or cold and there’s no in-between. I thought when he came on he done really well, actually he lived it up.

“Young Steve came on and he did well for us. It was his first game, senior debut- can’t ask any more from him.

“He’s had a shot. The ball came across and it went over the bar and I don’t quite know how it quite went over the bar and then there was a shot that was saved by the goalkeeper’s legs.

“Fair play to him, he’s got into positions where he can do that. They’ve got to learn from it. They’re coming up to men’s football, adult football. If I was him I’ll be going back now and I’ll be buzzing and I’ll be saying to my team-mates in the under 16s- 17s ‘we’ve enjoyed that, go for it’ because that’s what it’s all about.

“I think you’ll agree with me on this, the club’s moved on so much in the last two seasons with the youth set-up and with Paul (Lansdale, chairman) from what it was two seasons ago.  We will give opportunities (to young players) but not stupidly like it was two years ago.  It’s in a much better place than it was.”

Sevenoaks Town pulled a goal back with seven minutes left in controversial circumstances as referee Steve Perry gave the away side a late Christmas present.

Stock floated a deep free-kick in to the penalty area from midfield and it appeared that Faith had the ball in his hands but Lord challenged the keeper and as the ball dropped out of his hands bundled the loose ball into the net.

“He had it in his hands! As an ex-goalkeeper I’ll differ on that one,” Leigh inevitably said.

“In this day and age goalkeepers are so protected, it made a change actually to see him get a little bit of a hiding. It was good to see the referee give it.

“It’s what it’s all about. Ok they had a moan up about it, I’ll expect them to – but the bottom line is he’s given it and that’s it!  He obviously thought the goalkeeper had control of the ball.

“Too little too late really! You could look back in the first half when we didn’t really create clear cut chances, we made the openings but didn’t really create to put that clear final goal in really.”

Muggeridge added: “It looked like he had it in his hands to be honest with you.  But I’m an honest manager, I couldn’t quite see it as well as I would’ve liked to have done.  I’m not going to comment on that.  I think it looked like a foul and the reactions of the players said it was a foul but I’m unsure on that.

“The goalkeeper said one hundred per cent he had it in his hands.

“But it’s only one conceded. We were conceding four or five earlier on.  We have worked hard on it in training so it’s starting to come together a little bit.”

Crowborough should have made it four late on but Conlon sliced his left-footed volley past the near post from six-yards after Sam Carrington’s delightful floated cross from the right.

Ripley almost capped off an impressive performance at the heart of defence but he sent his towering header looping over the crossbar after meeting an injury-time free-kick from Stock.

When asked the positives and negatives from the game as Crowborough Athletic move up a place into the top eight in the Southern Counties East Football League table with 26 points from 18 games, the Crows boss replied: “What didn’t please me was the start. We weren’t tight enough, we were a bit lethargic.

“What pleased me was not playing to our full potential and getting the three points, quite an easy three points really.

“When we play these sides we need to, not being disrespectful to Sevenoaks, but we need to be as committed as we’re playing the Ashford’s, the Greenwich’s and the Hollands & Blair’s.

“We need to be like that and we weren’t today but that’s a sign of a good team. I’m over the moon with the three points because if we’d had played well and drawn I wouldn’t have been so happy, just playing alright and winning 3-1.

When asked the club’s target for the remainder of the season, Muggeridge replied: “We need to go on. We’ve set the levels high now and I think we need to get to those levels, which we are. We need to do it for 90 minutes. We were doing it for probably 40 minutes in games, now we’re a little bit better, we’re doing it for 70 minutes. If we get 100% for 90 minutes I think we’ll win games, no doubt about it!

“I don’t set targets because they always blow up in your face but if we can get top eight, top six will be the higher one. Top eight, I will settle for now.”

Leigh added: “I thought we deserved to get something out of it, probably the scoreline doesn’t really reflect that.”

Sevenoaks Town have dropped down a place into 11^th on 23 points from 20 games going into the New Year.

“I think we’ll just keep plugging away,” said Leigh.

“I actually believe the club is in a far better place than it was two seasons ago and prior to that really.

“We’ve shown we’re not frightened to use youth players. We’ve got a good chairman and I think the management team is good, they all want to pull in the same direction.

“As far as I’m concerned and I know Mick appreciates it, we would like to finish certainly as high as we did last year. If that’s not possible certainly top half.

“Let’s be realistic about it. We’ve got 23 points from 20 games. Every game is tough in this league. We can rack up some points. We had a good run at the end of last season, which pushed us up to eight, which I believe is the highest the club have finished for a few years and there’s no reason why we can’t push up again. Where we end up, only time will tell.”

Crowborough Athletic: Adam Faith, Tom Boddy, Jimmy Matthews, Kevin Everest, Will Jagger, Ryan Waterman, Wayne Clarke, Callum Ridley, Josh Biddlecombe (Sam Carrington 85), Ronnie Conlon, John Shea (Paul Butler 80).
Subs: Dan Tear, Ryan Hinkson, Callum Hampson

Goals: John Shea 19, Josh Biddlecombe 57, Jimmy Matthews 71

Booked: John Shea 54, Wayne Clarke 56, Jimmy Matthews 89

Sevenoaks Town: Harry Earls, Chris Edwards, Josh Gilbert (Jack Miles 75), Steve Camacho, Tom Ripley, John Lord, Tom Skelton (Kweku Ansah 67), Gary Stock, Michael McKenna, Michael Fahm, Chan Quan (Steve McCarthy 67).

Goal: John Lord 83

Booked: Chris Edwards 30, Tom Skelton 48

Attendance: 167
Referee: Mr Steve Perry (Barnehurst)
Assistants:  Mr Simon Cutler (Sheppey) & Mr Chris Clarke (Aylesford)