Croydon 0-2 Erith & Belvedere - I'm treating the London Senior Cup with respect, says Micky Collins

Wednesday 20th October 2010

CROYDON 0-2 ERITH & BELVEDERE
(after extra time)
London Senior Cup (Sponsored by Coventry Scaffolding) Second Round
Wednesday 20th October 2010
Stephen McCartney reports from Croydon Sports Arena

ERITH & BELVEDERE manager Micky Collins says he is treating the London Senior Cup with the respect it deserves - as two extra time goals sent his side through to the last sixteen at Croydon’s expense tonight.

A meagre crowd of just 41 braved the coldest night of the season so far and witnessed the struggling Combined Counties League hosts enjoy the better of the first 45 minutes, before the Kent League visitors put their stranglehold on this low-key Second Round tie for the remainder of the game, but they had to wait until the first period of extra time to progress.

Goals from James Lyons and a beautiful 40-yard chipped free-kick from Adrian Deane - their third goals of the season - booked a trip to Ryman Premier League side Croydon Athletic in the next round.

Reflecting on the 120 minutes of football at a sparse Croydon Sports Arena, Collins told www.kentishfootball.co.uk of his delight getting past Dickson Gill’s side.

“Tough performance. Croydon done alright on the night. I thought we made hard work of it and got the result at the end of the day,” said Collins.

“We’re still in the London Cup, which is great and the lads gave a good performance over 120 minutes.

“It’s tough, you know, when you go away from home, no matter what the surroundings or what the place is like, teams set their stall out and play a certain way and we have to beat that and tonight we’ve one it and we haven’t done it lately. It was refreshing to see it.”

Croydon went into the Cup tie sitting in 18th place (the bottom four) in the Combined Counties League and without a home league win, with the Deres having Lordswood, Holmesdale and Sporting Bengal United below them in the Kent League table.

Croydon called visiting goalkeeper Richard Stroud into making a comfortable save when Dana Zada’s lay-off set up a chance for Morgan Jenden, but his 35-yard right-footed drive was fiercely struck straight at the goalkeeper.

Croydon keeper Francis Ameyaw excelled when he spread himself to block Marcus Cassius’ driven shot from inside the box after the contracted 20-year-old striker latched onto Michael Dodsworth’s ball over the top of the home side’s defence.

With a shortage of personnel, Gill was forced to play Mark Sims as the lone striker, against Erith & Belvedere’s four man defence, well marshalled by John Wilfort and Danny Twin.

Croydon were enjoying the first half much better than their Kent neighbours and after Sims cut in from the left , Martin Smith laid the ball back (with his back to goal) to Jenden and his low shot was comfortably saved by Stroud.

A rare chance for the visitors’ saw Sean Brown release Josh Biddlecombe down the left flank and he smashed an ambitious low drive from a tight angle which was gathered by Ameyaw at his near post.

With half-time approaching, two long-range shots from fully 30-yards from Danny Cumber (powerfully hitting a free-kick following a long run-up) and Gareth Graham stung Strouds fingertips.

It was obvious at the break that this game would need extra time, as on many occasions both sides were guilty of doing all the hard work and lacking quality when it mattered.

Cassius, who made his loan spell from Blue Square Bet South side Bromley permanent last Friday, arrowed a shot just over the crossbar after cutting in from the right, before he created their best chance to break the deadlock after 51 minutes.

Cassius cut the ball back to Brown, who was lurking on the edge of the D, and he bent his shot agonisingly past the far post with the Croydon keeper beaten.

Croydon really should have scored when Aaron Smith slid the ball through to Martin Smith, who had burst into the box from the right-flank, but he skied his shot high over the bar with only Stroud to beat.

Croydon keeper Ameyaw pulled off his second fine save of the night, tipping over Lyons’ 25-yard drive with 22 minutes of normal time remaining.

Jenden was then thwarted by a save from Stoud after the Croydon right-sided midfielder had cut in on the counter-attack.

Erith & Belvedere almost snatched victory in the 85th minute when Brown picked the ball up and smashed a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which had Ameyaw scampering across his line, only for the keeper to bizarrely kick the ball against his post and the ball ricochet off his body and bounced wide.

With seconds of normal time remaining, another chance for the Deres arrived when Brown slipped substitute Tom Malyon in behind the Croydon left-back and from a tight angle his shot was blocked by the keeper at his near post.

Croydon’s efforts during the 90 minutes clearly took it’s toll and with only 13 players in their squad, Erith & Belvedere’s superior fitness told during extra time.

Left-back Danny Tipple burst forward before slipping the ball through to Cassius, but his 94th minute goal was ruled out for offside (the nippy striker rolling a swept right-footed shot into the bottom far corner).

But Erith & Belvedere finally broke the deadlock after 101 minutes, which knocked the stuffing out of their hosts.

Tipple’s excellent diagonal chipped pass was brought under control by Lyons at the far post and the midfielder smashed a left-footed shot across Ameyaw and the ball nestled into the bottom far corner.

Erith & Belvedere doubled their lead just three minutes later and that goal finished Croydon off.

With goalkeeper Ameyaw standing on his six-yard line, Deane looked up and lobbed his free-kick sailing over the stranded goalkeeper from 40-yards to send Collins’ men through.

The Deres kept the ball well during the second period, but they ran out worthy winners, much to the delight of Collins, who emphasised the fact that this was their first back-to-back win of the season, having beaten Deal Town in the league at the weekend.

“We spoke to the lads when we went on to the extra-time break and I thought the first goal was going to win it - and I thought whoever got the first goal would go on and put the game to bed - and that’s what happened,” said Collins.

“There wasn’t massive chances in the game, not clear cut ones, and we’ve scored two goals and that’s why we’ve won.

“I think that’s our first time this year we’ve put back-to-back wins together, which is great for us because we’re going in the right direction.”

Collins was full of praise for his two goalscorers.

He said: “Jimmy worked hard and he wasn’t in the side Saturday and he’s come into the side and done a job.

“A great goal from Ady. The thing is people are saying his fluked it, but he hasn’t! His caught it, he’s told the lads’ he’s seen him off his line and he’s gone for the lob and he’s scored it.

“Ady’s always capable of that. I just wished he did it for a lot longer in the game than just five or ten minutes at a time.”

Collins warned their next opponents, Croydon Athletic, that he is taking this Cup competition seriously this season, but he is looking forward to locking horns with Bob Langford/Dave Garland’s side.

“We’ve got four or five people out tonight so we go with the strongest we’ve got available,” explained Collins.

“I think it would be a lack of respect to the Cup if you never did that and in every game we play at the moment we’re trying to strive to get results.

“We’ll always play our strongest team. We’ve shown the Cup the respect it should have and hopefully we’ll do the same against Croydon Athletic and we’ll see how far we go. If we only make one more game than so be it.”

Looking ahead to the Third Round tie, Collins said: “You want to be in the next round because unfortunately in the Kent League you don’t have that many games so you want to keep your season going as long as you can.

“It’s my old club, they’ve been through a really torrid time in the last few weeks, which is sad. Hopefully they’ll turn the corner.

“We’ll go there and have a go. They’re two leagues higher than us and we’ll try and set our stall out and do what we can there.”

Croydon: Francis Ameyaw, Lewis Goddard (Ntipadem Sophonie 77), Dana Zada, David Moore, Justin Hemmings, Danny Cumber, Morgan Jenden, Gareth Graham, Martin Smith, Mark Sims (Darren Fox 109), Aaron Smith.

Booked: David Moore 103

Erith & Belvedere: Richard Stroud, Adrian Deane, Danny Tipple, James Lyons (Aaron Hamilton 106), Danny Twin, John Wilfort, Michael Dodsworth (Chris Kinnear 60), Sean Brown, Ross Cable, Marcus Cassius, Josh Biddlecombe.
Sub: Harry Morgan

Goals: James Lyons 101, Adrian Deane 104

Booked: Ross Cable 44, Tom Malyon 73, Sean Brown 89, Danny Twin 93

Attendance: 41
Referee: Mr Alasdair King (Deptford, London SE8)
Assistants: Jon Ruiz Del Portal (Whitechapel, London E1) & Mr Tariq Abdelrahman (East Dulwich, London SE22)