Erith & Belvedere 1-2 AFC Greenwich Borough - We need to get better, there's no jazzing it up, we've got to be better than what we were tonight, says AFC Greenwich Borough boss Tony Russell

Erith & Belvedere 1 – 2 AFC Greenwich Borough
Location	Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Kickoff	31/07/2026 19:45

ERITH & BELVEDERE  1-2  AFC GREENWICH BOROUGH
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Friday 31 July 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road

AFC GREENWICH BOROUGH manager Tony Russell says he’s proud of his sides character but they’ve come away a little bit disappointed with their performance after winning their first ever game in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division.

Erith & Belvedere attracted a record crowd of 820 to Park View Road for this opening night and the hosts took the lead through Freddie Cray’s finish, before AFC Greenwich Borough swiftly restored parity through Stefan Payne’s penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The artist formerly known as Welling United FC Academy claimed the victory with 13 minutes remaining, courtesy of a clinical first-time strike from debutant home grown substitute midfielder Austin Tanner, 16.

“I think me and Vinsey (assistant manager Joe Vines) will learn more from that game then probably what we’ve learnt on the whole of pre-season,” said Russell, 46.

“Yes, pre-season probably went too well, a little bit too well but listen we’ve learnt about them and I’ve just said that to the players after.

“Look, I’m proud of their character. We just lost our way a little bit, had to ride it out in the second half for a 10-minute spell but at the end of the day I’ve just been speaking to my goalie in there. I said, ‘how many saves did you make?’ He said one. 

“So for the whole game to have had one save to make of note and we’ve come away a little bit disappointed in our performance when we’ve scored two, we’ve hit the post, their goalie’s made a couple of saves, that’s good signs that the fact that we’re a little bit deflated, not deflated, a little bit flat with our performance.

“We’ve come here and away from home and we’ve come here and created a lot of chances and our goalie’s made one save of note to make.”

Erith & Belvedere assistant manager Ross Baker added: “I think it’s a bit harsh to lose late in the game that way.

“I thought first half we came out with a game plan. We knew what Greenwich were about and it was our job to make sure they couldn’t execute their plan and I thought we done that really well first half.

“We got the boys in at half-time and we adjusted what we thought we could do better and places to get at them and it worked second half. 

“Their goal came against-the-run-of-play. We’ve had two or three good chances
where all we needed was a toe in and it could’ve been a bit different with the three points that way.

“They’re a good side, don’t take nothing away from them, they’re a good side. They’re a good young side, they move the ball around well, they’re well drilled. You expect that from Tony and Vinsey, so they wasn’t nothing that we didn’t expect but they will be in and around it come the end of the year, that’s for sure.”

AFC Greenwich Borough deployed Russell’s renowned playing-out-from-the-back policy, with Erith & Belvedere sat in defensively sound and a threat on the counter-attack through pacey left-winger Clarence Tambe, who is on a season long loan from Isthmian League Premier Division side Chatham Town.

AFC Greenwich Borough created their first opening following their first of five corners when debutant left-winger, turned attacking midfielder, Tom Jones floated the ball in from the right and holding midfielder Arthur Penney rose to send his free bullet header over the crossbar with eight minutes and six seconds on the clock.

Erith & Belvedere countered attacked and should have opened the scoring with an even better chance, with 11 minutes and 32 seconds on the clock.

High Greenwich Borough centre-half Wilfred Evans failed to cut out a long ball by left-back Ronnie McClean and this released Tambe down the left and he cut into the box and teed up attacking midfielder Casey Dudley, who swept his first-time shot straight at goalkeeper Javarn Pitterson from eight-yards at the near post.

Baker said: “I thought we were very disciplined. People who were here tonight would’ve seen what both sides are all about. We want to be hard to beat. You’ve got to be hard to beat.

“Before we started today, people were saying Erith are going to be down the bottom but let me tell you if we carry on how we started, we won’t be nowhere near that!

“We were very professional with what we’ve done. None of the boys jumped out (of their defensive shape) and everyone took on the instructions that was given to them beforehand and executed the game plan neigh on perfect.

“Listen, we’d like a bit more out of Casey on and around the 10. For me, that’s his bread and butter. That should really hit the back of the net but having said that, a little bit of lapse in concentration, maybe not getting there at the right time but it’s early days.”

Russell added: “I think we controlled it for the most part and then sort of ran out of ideas a little bit.  We were trying to get full-backs too high too early and the ball would turn over and they were breaking on us.

“They were good. They didn’t give up and they sat in tried to break on us and took the lead and looked like it was going to be a difficult night but we found a way.”

The local derby then went into a stalemate before Tambe picked up a loose ball inside the Greenwich Borough half of the field and skipped past Penney but his shot was poor and lacked the quality to trouble Pitterson, who helped Reece Parara claim the Southern Counties East Football League First Division title and London Senior Trophy in his only season in charge of the club before director of football Russell then took over this summer.

Evans, who wasn’t troubled by lone Erith & Belvedere striker Alfie Bloomfield and was able to often travel towards the half-way line, played the ball along the deck to play the ball into Payne, who had his back to goal before his fine pass put Jones through on goal but the former Fisher attacking midfielder cracked his right-footed half-volley past the near-post.

Greenwich Borough were still dominant by the time that Jones was put through on goal with an even better chance in the 29^th minute.

Jones played a one-two outside the penalty area with right-winger Abel Vendreslls Paracerisa, who put Jones through on goal but goalkeeper Danny Alexander came off his line and dived to his left and stuck out his right leg to pull off a great save.

“Dan’s a good goalkeeper to be fair. He’s young, he’s obviously Gary’s boy. He gets down to things. His shot-stopping is up there with the best in this division that’s for sure and that was one there was good,” said Baker.

“I kind of thought it was going in but he managed to get there with his legs. At the end of the day, he’s done his job.”

Jones impressed for last season’s runners-up last season, scoring 18 goals for Fisher last season and the 23-year-old attacking midfielder was expected to play for Isthmian League Premier Division side Dulwich Hamlet, so it was a surprise to see him playing for AFC Greenwich Borough tonight.

Russell said: “I’m a big Tom Jones fan. We looked at him last year. He’s a really good player, he’s bright, so when I found out, as we do with a lot of people, we kind of come up with strategy in the summer that we probably couldn’t offer certain individuals levels or money to get them come here so the strategy was always to give our youngsters a go with the boys that we’ve got in the building and see if we could pick a few up late in pre-season who maybe didn’t quite get the move they wanted and were looking for a club and Tom Jones fell into that category.

“We spoke to (Dulwich Hamlet manager) Mark Dacey, obviously I get on really well with Dace and we spoke about him and we said we know him, we’re really keen.

“I thought he was our best player. I thought he was bright. When he was in the 10, he was bright, obviously won the penalty. I thought all day he caused them (problems).

“He probably should’ve had a hat-trick today. I mean, he’s gone clear through, the goalie saved it. He’s had a free header with the goalie to beat and he’s also got around the box a couple of other times – his work-rate was superb.

“He was probably, along with Austin Tanner who came on, I thought they were probably our two bright sparks today.”

The impressive Jones whipped a right-footed free-kick from just outside the corner of the penalty area, which beat Alexander and clipped the top of the near-post as AFC Greenwich Borough kept knocking on the door, with 32:28 on  the clock.

“I was happy at that stage because it was pressure.  We were building, we were pinning them in. We were getting down the side of them and we were getting balls in the box,” added Russell.

Baker admitted he was surprised to still see Jones playing in this division.

“He was very good last year. To be fair, I didn’t expect him to stay at this level if I’m honest with you after watching him a couple of times last year. He was a menace all night really to be fair to him.”

Greenwich Borough right-back Joshua Shonibare threw the ball to Tanner (who had earlier replaced attacking midfielder Christie Pattison, who injured his knee) and debutant Tanner cracked his right-footed half-volley towards the near corner, only for Alexander to dive to his left and palm the ball around the post for a corner.

“Another good save. Listen, I’m not for one minute saying we were perfect first half. Like all the boys put a shift in. When it was down to them to do their individual jobs, they done it and Danny done it two or three times tonight and it’s a little bit harsh to be on a losing side tonight,” admitted Baker.

Erith & Belvedere grabbed the lead – against the run of play – with 43 minutes and 47 seconds on the clock.

Tambe played the ball into Bloomfield – who offered no threat to the two Greenwich Borough centre-halves – but he drifted out wide and back-healed the ball towards two players, Tanner and Casey in the middle of the pitch some 35-yards from goal.

Casey stole the ball off Tanner and threaded a lovely through ball to put Cray through on goal and the central midfielder held his composure to place his left-footed shot bouncing just inside the bottom right-hand corner from 16-yards, with the keeper to beat.

It was a lovely passage of football, the way it should be played. Unlike promoted pair Whitstable Town and Punjab United who played ugly direct in every single one of their games last season. Football purists should watch these two sides more often this season.

“Listen, we like to play football. Gary’s the same, so we all want to get the ball down and play and we done that and you could see that through the way we played tonight and through the goal,” said Baker.

“We work on a lot of moving into little areas and Skips (Cray) done well tonight. He was excellent off the ball tonight and he got his rewards and he took that one on his left peg and it was good.”

Russell added: “I mean, it came from our possession. I mean Austin’s come on for his debut, he was only 16 in April. Someone I’ve coached, I’ve been at the club for two years.  I’ve coached him since he’s under 15 so I’ve always been a huge fan of him, so I was delighted to give him this opportunity but he’s come in, we’ve passed him the ball and he just didn’t see the person coming from behind him and they’ve robbed him.

“We’re split because they’re playing and they’ve slipped the guy in and it’s a neat finish, against-the-run-of-play, out of nowhere.

“It’s the first time we’ve been behind this season. Every pre-season game we haven’t gone behind so it was like ‘we’ll find out about them now!’

“The volume levels go up and everyone gets excited.”

However, the home side’s lead lasted only 276 seconds, as AFC Greenwich Borough restored parity, with 48 minutes and 23 seconds on the clock.

Jones cut into the box from the left and was tripped by Erith & Belvedere’s diminutive holding midfielder Alfie Morgan (who otherwise let the game pass him by) and Payne sent Alexander the wrong way, drilling a low right-footed penalty along the deck, not fully in the bottom left-hand corner.

“I mean, great response and that’s what I said. I said to Vinsey, ‘we’ll see what the response is?’ The whole of pre-season we’ve done an eight week camp, we haven’t been losing.  This group didn’t lose many last year (4 in 34 League games in the tenth-tier), it’s unusual for them, it’s unchartered waters, so to speak.

“A bit of magic from Tom Jones, wriggled in between two. I don’t think there’s no argument. I think everyone was pretty obvious that was a pen and Stef does what Stef does. Stef’s on one leg at the moment.”

Baker, meanwhile, wanted winger Frederick Baker to lump the ball into the busy main road behind the goal.

“I mean there’s no doubt about it from where I was stood it was a penalty.

“I want to go back before that where we should’ve cleared our lines. Where you Freds had a touch when what he probably should’ve done really was put the ball down Welling High Street and then we could’ve re-grouped.

“But listen, we’re a young group, we’re a young side. I think the chairman (Paul Springett) said the other day our average age is about 22, so it’s a young side at this level, so we’re learning every day. We put that down to a learning curve.”

Both were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Baker said: “Me and Doylie went in there tonight and we just said to the boys ‘just keep doing what you’re doing, like you’ve been excellent.’

“We’ve come out with a game plan, the first half they executed it well.  Yes, it was a bit like they scored right on the stroke of half-time but they had their chances as well.

“I thought it was quite even. We said what we wanted to do second half, which was to play higher up the pitch, try and press on the front foot rather than sitting off people’s shape and it worked second half.

“We got at them, we created chances and I kind of feel a little bit hard done by really. I thought we should’ve come away with three points.”

Russell added: “I felt the longer the half went on, we started to come apart. We was getting frustrated and I thought we started to force it and I thought the only way I could see them scoring was for us over committing and forcing passes, so we just adjusted that and we didn’t want full-backs just to start high and wide.

“We just made some adjustments and we spoke about centre-halves, about decisions in terms of decision making, their options with their passes but whatever I said didn’t seem to work! We didn’t come out very well second half.”

With Erith & Belvedere manager Gary Alexander absent due to business ownership commitments, it was down to Baker and coach Craig Boyle to rip into their players at the interval and they came out with all guns blazing for a good 20 minute spell.

Crosses were put into the penalty area, without creating a clear-cut chance and Bloomfield is not a number nine that will score you 20 goals in a season and his race was run in the 65^th minute when he picked up a calf injury.

The visiting goalkeeper made a fine beat-away save to prevent Tambe curling his left-footed shot into the net and the ball fell to quiet winger Frederick Baker who looked certain to score, only for AFC Greenwich Borough’s left-back Levon Horsley-McKay to make a match-winning block inside the box (11:45).

“Clarence is on loan from Chatham for the year. He impressed us against us in pre-season and he’s been an absolute menace all pre-season and he showed again tonight how direct he is and people don’t want to play against direct and speed and he’s got that in abundance,” added Baker.

Russell added: “I think, to be fair to them, they sensed we were obviously getting a little bit frustrated towards the end and I think credit to them they pushed and pushed. We had to soak up some pressure without them really creating too much.

“I was on the line thinking ‘right, ok, we’re a young group, we’re a new group.’  I’m trying to stand on the line, what do I do? How do I help them? Because I just thought if it continued like that eventually they’re going to create a chance.”

It took the 55^th minute introduction of central midfielder Jack Sammoutis to pull the strings for the home side and his through ball put Cray through the middle again but this time his right-footed shot lacked conviction and rolled into Pitterson’s gloves for a comfortable pick-up.

“Jack’s so experienced. He’s a leader in the group and he’s got a calming nature around him,” Baker said of the former Larkfield & New Hythe man.

“He keeps us ticking over from time to time. His instructions tonight were to come on and get us up the pitch, get us playing higher. Keep moving the ball in dangerous areas and he does that all the time. He’s a real pleasure to have around the club at this moment in time, that’s for sure.”

Greenwich Borough then swung momentum their way – by going three-at-the-back and Alexander pulled off an excellent low save at the half-way point.

Central midfielder Oluwatomisin Obilana cut in from the right into the middle and just outside the D and drilled a low left-footed drive towards the bottom right-hand corner, only for Alexander to dive low to his left and stretch for the ball with both gloves and grab hold of the ball before it nestled into the bottom corner.

“We changed the formation, shored it up at the back, went into a three and then we started to get a foothold in the game. We stopped the bleeding and then we started to get a foothold and we had a couple of chances,” said Russell.

“Their goalie’s pulled off a really good save from Tomi when he’s come inside and he’s shot into the far corner. I think their goalie’s had a really good night, really good, full-stretch save and that’s my point.

“We can sit here and say that we’re disappointed we didn’t think we played well but we’re talking about great chance and great saves.

“We’re quite a young side and we just started to go in a three and we started to clear our head.”

Baker added: “At that point they kind of weathered the storm a little bit and they started getting a bit of a foothold into it and they broke out and Dan’s done his job by keeping the ball out of the net.”

AFC Greenwich Borough claimed the victory through a clinical finish from their home-grown sixteen-year-old, with 31 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock.

They produced a sweeping move down the right with Paracerisa fighting his way back into the game after doing nothing much during the second half and he fed Obilana before Paracerisa cut the ball back into a crowded penalty area where Tanner sublimely drilled a first-time right-footed shot past the diving keeper into the bottom right-hand corner from 16-yards.

Russell said: “We started to punch back a little bit and then we started to come. We was getting down the right. Abel was getting down a lot and putting balls in the box and we started to push back again and we pulled one back and we got ibn a game plan, a lovely 1-2 and he pulled one back and Austin comes onto the ball and it’s a great finish.

“It’s an unbelievable story because I first met him when he was 14. This is the third year I’ve been at the club and I went into his under 15 group, I was in with them for eight weeks and I done two sessions a week and games at the weekend, so Just spent a lot of time and I was just blown away by his composure, he’s unflappable.

“I said to him ‘when you’re 16 come and see me. We didn’t have a first-team. I wanted to try to get him into non-league football. I just have so much believe in this kid. 

“He’s been at Rondos, he’s been connected with the club since he was like six years old.  He’s different class.

“Do you know what, I don’t really celebrate goals. I sit on the cool box but I celebrated that one because it was him and I was over the moon. I’m probably more happy than him because at half-time, after he made that mistake, so I made a bee-line for him.

“I said it’s not about your mistake, its about what happens now. It’s what you do from this point on and we just spoke about that in the dressing room. I said ‘that’s how you respond.’  Not just because he scored, I just felt he had a good game. “

Baker added: “I mean we can go further than that. We gave the ball away in passion, Chigozirim was a little bit slow on the ball, gave it to Ronnie, Ronnie gave the ball away in an area that you don’t really want to and we’ve got punished for it again.

“If you go back to even the penalty decision in the first half, it’s from our own mistakes. We are a young side, so we are going to make mistakes but they’re the sort of things that we can’t make mistakes at that time in the game for.

“I’d rather Ronnie turned the game and turned the ball and we could’ve got up the pitch and we could’ve re-grouped then but all the time they were just getting on us. If we had just moved it 30 yards further forward that doesn’t happen and we could’ve got a foothold in the game a bit higher up but at the end of the day we’re still a young side, so we’re learning.”

In an attempt to walk the ball out from the back, Erith & Belvedere’s Whitstable Town loanee, centre-half Chigozirim Njoku trod on the ball close to the half-way line and had his pocket picked by Obilana, who fed Payne, who drilled a right-footed angled drive across the diving Alexander and flashing past the far post, towards the end of a feisty end of the game where referee Max Doyle had to issue five of his cards all inside the last 17 or so minutes.

AFC Greenwich Borough top of the table after one outing ahead of tomorrow’s other opening games, while Erith & Belvedere drop to the foot.

Russell said: “It just gives us a platform to build off and I said that to the players after. I said, there’s so much work in there for us to do and it allows me and Vinsey to get to work. It’s not our first rodeo so we understand and it’s always better to build on something after a win,” said Russell, who is looking to strengthen his squad.

“We’ve got to do a little bit more recruiting. We just need bodies, we’re a little bit light, we’re very light at the moment but we’ve got the ability to go out and get people, in terms of we’ve held stuff back for that.

“Were monitoring situations where boys are on trials, Isthmian League and National league are obviously a couple of weeks behind us so we need to bring two possibly three in.  We know the ones we want. We’re having the conversations, we just need to be patient.

“I think we’ve got a very good nucleus of a squad. They’ve just got to understand how me and Vinsey want to do it and they will and today helps with that by getting the win.

“I was away with all the board. We went to Portugal, me and Garry Fiore, the director of football. We had a really good day around the pool, just me and him and spoke about what it looks like and I just told him I fell out of love with football and that’s why I didn’t do it for two years, I just had enough.

“My aim is to enjoy it. I just want to enjoy every bit of it because you get so caught up in it you forget why we all do football and that’s enjoy it, so I just want to enjoy it, coach and put some belief in those players.

“I’ve read some mad reports that we’ve got all the money. I’ve never seen a team with a massive wage bill have three sixteen-year-olds on the pitch in a game.

“Last year we got really lucky. We had Joe Taylor and people like that. I think that probably done it. People don’t know, Margate were paying most of his wages, so we didn’t actually do that.”

Both club’s meanwhile, kick-off their FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round ties next weekend, with Erith & Belvedere hosting newly-promoted Southern Combination League Premier Division side Billingshurst on Sunday 9 August (13:00).

“We will do our homework on them like every club at this level,” said Baker.

“I’m not making out we’re something special but we’ll have our homework done on them but we will just prepare the best way we can to try to have a little run in both The FA Cup and FA Vase because club’s like us need that to survive.

“We need two or three rounds in the FA Cup. We need three or four rounds in the Vase, a bit of interest, spectators and prize money.

“My aspirations is to win something.  The club’s aspirations is to win something. Let’s be honest, we want to win the league, like everyone says. We want to win the league but let’s take one step at a time. Let’s progress in the FA Cup, let’s progress in the Vase and lets build a platform. We want to be in and around the play-offs, we want to be in the top two.

“The League itself is going to be tough. They are some good sides in it.  Everyone said ‘it’s going to be tough tonight, they’re meant to be the best side, they’ve got plenty of money.’  We want to make this place a fortress.”

AFC Greenwich Borough, meanwhile, travel to fifteenth-placed Isthmian League South East Division finishers Broadbridge Heath next Saturday (15:00), which will be their first competitive outing of their campaign.

“I plan to go and watch them. I don’t know too much about them if I’m being brutally honest.  In all my time in the Isthmian League (managing Cray Wanderers and then Lewes) I’ve never played against them,” said Russell.

“I’ve been in and around the Isthmian League for 10 years as a manager, I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting them, so I look forward to going there. It’s Sussex, I spent a little bit of time in Sussex with Lewes for three years.

“We need to get better. There’s no jazzing it up, we’ve got to be better than what we were tonight but there were good signs, there were moments and I loved the way they protected their goal.”

Erith & Belvedere: Danny Alexander, Tyrone Gondoh (Stefan Wright 55), Ronnie McClean, Alfie Morgan, Frederick Fletcher, Chigozirim Njoku, Frederick Baker (Ellis Proctor 73), Frederick Cray (Wayne Lewis 86), Alfie Bloomfield (Connor French 65), Casey Dudley (Jack Sammoutis 55), Clarence Tambe.

Goals: Frederick Cray 44

Booked: Ellis Proctor 80, Frederick Fletcher 88

AFC Greenwich Borough: Javarn Pitterson, Joshua Shonibare (Archie Panyi 53), Levon Horsley-McKay (Freddy Wylie 73), Arthur Penney, Wilfred Evans, Malik Sesay, Tom Jones, Oluwatomisin Obilana, Stefan Payne, Christie Pattisson (Austin Tanner 24), Abel Vendrells Paracerisa.
Subs: Italianas Komas, Rameses Mesedrisa

Goals: Stefan Payne 45 (penalty), Austin Tanner 77

Booked: Oluwatomisin Obilana 73, Freddy Wylie 90, Stefan Payne 90

Attendance: 820
Referee: Mr Max Doyle
Assistants: Mr Jack Heath & Mr Bright Amedonu
Observer: Mr Nolan Wilde

Match Duration:
First Half: 49:49
Second Half: 48:40