Erith & Belvedere 1-1 Stansfeld - I think Phoenix are well within a shout - I think it will go down to the wire, says Erith & Belvedere boss Matt Longhurst

Erith & Belvedere 1 – 1 Stansfeld
Location	Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Kickoff	28/03/2023 19:45

ERITH & BELVEDERE  1-1  STANSFELD
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 28 March 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road

ERITH & BELVEDERE manager Matt Longhurst says he is feeling pretty confident that he will get the job done and over the line and win the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division title next month.

 

The 42-year-old was appointed the manager of Isthmian League South East Division side Burgess Hill Town on 20 February but lasted only five games before leaving the club on 15 March, citing work commitments.

Erith & Belvedere chairman Adrian Deane, who appointed Longhurst as the club’s third manager of the season, following on from Tony Beckingham and Andy Constable.

The club has gone through 52 players and are seven points clear at the top of the table with six games remaining. However, second-placed Phoenix Sports (65 points) can close the gap back to four points with a win at bottom-four side Holmesdale on Wednesday night.

Erith & Belvedere suffered their fourth league defeat of the season upon Longhurst’s return, losing 2-1 at home to Whitstable Town on 18 March, before coming away from bottom-three side Welling Town with a 3-1 win at the weekend.

Twelfth-placed Stansfeld arrived at Park View Road on a poor run of form, winning just the once in their last 11 games in all competitions with 42 points on the board from their 31 league outings.

Stansfeld grabbed the lead just before half-time through a quality curling strike from midfielder Ryan Fowler, scoring his fourth goal of the season.

Erith & Belvedere were wasteful in front of goal during a dominant first half and put in a lacklustre performance during the second half, as they appeared to be cracking from the pressure of a title race.

However, they salvaged a point deep into injury-time when centre-half Rob Strachan headed in his sixth goal of the season following their seventh corner of the game.

“I thought first half we had enough chances to win two games and didn’t take any of them,” admitted Longhurst.

“I thought we should’ve had at least one penalty, which we didn’t get. 

“I thought second half, after about 10-15 minutes, we panicked and didn’t really put our foot on the ball and we then huffed and puffed and we definitely, without a doubt, deserved a point.

“But I thought the quality in the second half was poor and I think that’s testament to them.  They do what they do, they run around, they head it, they break the play up, they kick it and they cause a fuss from the side.  Listen, it is what it is and they’re good at what they do.

“I just think we have to put the game to bed in the first half then all that other stuff that comes along side of that doesn’t really have a chance to have a play in it.”

Longhurst has released a number of players recently, including 21-goal striker Tunde Aderonmu, 35, who has since returned to Beckenham Town, and 20-goal attacker, Nathan Palmer, 30, - and Erith & Belvedere missed their quality tonight.

“People were on holiday when I came to the football club and not at training and I think that the way that I’ve always worked has been very professional,” explained Longhurst.

“We need to get detail into the players, we need people at training.  We need people able to run and ultimately the players that we’ve brought in have come from a higher level of football.  I won’t go into too much detail about the players that have left the club because there’s different reasons, which remains between me and those players.  They know the reasons, they’ve been spoken to.”

Stansfeld joint-manager Jamie Phipps added: “It was a really good game. We defended really well, got our noses in front with a great strike and then defended really well. We just switched off right in extra time but overall on chances they had the better chances throughout the game but I think we’re really happy with the point.

“We were quite poor on Saturday (losing 4-2 at home to Sutton Athletic), we didn’t turn up and we kind of played it like an end-of-season, nothing on it, we’re safe game and that’s not us.  We’re better when we play at tempo, when we press and that’s what we did tonight.”

Stansfeld created the first real goalscoring chance, inside the opening 12 minutes, following their first of five corners.

Dan Parkinson swung the ball in from the left and striker Tommy Whitnell nipped in front of Lewis Chambers but steered his header screaming over the crossbar from 15-yards.

“Tommy’s been very good for us this season. He just got too much on it. I think it was in front of the post so it was always going to be difficult to turn his neck to get it on target from there,” added Phipps.

The home side started to dominate proceedings and a very late offside flag from Paul Agyei-Tabi denied them the lead.

Right-winger Tyrell Richardson-Brown spun Stansfeld’s left-back Callum Keeble before releasing striker Danny Lear and he cut into the box and his shot was destined to creep into the bottom far corner but lurking unmarked at the far post towards Anthony Adesite and Billy Bennett and Adesite tapped the ball over the line.

Referee Jacob Miller consulted his colleague and the goal was ruled out (16:37).

Longhurst said: “I don’t think he needed to touch it but I can’t really see.  I think he was offside but without seeing it back, I don’t know, but from where I am, I can’t really see if he was or he wasn’t.  I didn’t really comment to the referee because I’m miles away from it so I can’t see whether he’s onside or not.”

Phipps agreed, adding, “I think it was offside, it certainly looked offside. I’m not sure why the linesman didn’t put his flag up?  I’m also not sure whether the kid needed to touch it in because I think it was probably going in without the touch.

“It’s one of them, it could’ve gone against us. I think everyone knew he was offside and fair play to the referee.  He knew it was offside, which is why he went over and spoke to the linesman and then the right decision was made.”

Erith & Belvedere called visiting goalkeeper Charlie Cottrell into making a comfortable save shortly afterwards.

Right-back Oluwakemi Osinfolarin drove forward and shrugged past Harry Day, who ended up crashing to the deck in midfield.

Bennett flicked the ball back to Osinflorain, who found space to unleash a left-footed drive towards goal from 25-yards, the ball comfortably being caught in Cottrell’s midriff in the centre of his goal.

Erith & Belvedere then produced a well-worked move involving Osinfolarin and Bennett, whose fine through ball put Adesite through on goal but Cottrell came out and narrowed the angle and made a big save, ensuring that the ball looped over the top of the far post and behind for a corner.

“I thought first half we were extremely dominant and we had enough chances to win the game.  The end product in the first half was poor but that’s part and parcel of the game,” said Longhurst.

Phipps added: “We knew they were going to have more of the ball tonight. We picked a team and they knew they would have to work hard and they did so we knew they were going to control the game for long periods but we were quite happy and comfortable for them to do that.”

Poor defending from Stansfeld centre-half Ezekiel Miller in the 26^th minute saw an intended 20-yard square pass for left-back Keeble being intercepted by Richardson-Brown, who charged into the Stansfeld box before dragging his shot across the diving keeper and flashing past the far post.

Erith & Belvedere goalkeeper Jordan Perrin was called into making a comfortable save on the half-hour mark.

Keeble drilled a free-kick into the wall before fellow full-back Billy Martins cracked a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which was comfortably caught at head height by the former Herne Bay goalkeeper.

“It was a really, really good strike to get it on target from there. Billy was really good tonight. He’s only been with us for probably six or seven games. He came back from a bad injury and he’s got better the weeks have gone on and he’s got fitter and he’s been a really good signing for us,” said Phipps.

Cottrell – who is one of the best goalkeepers in the division – made a big save to keep his side in the game shortly afterwards.

Seventeen-goal striker Danny Lear headed the ball on while being closely marked by the centre spot and released Adesite through on goal straight down the middle of the pitch but Cottrell rushed off his line and used his legs to make a block when the former VCD Athletic attacker only had the keeper to beat.

“He’s got to score, he knows that but as I said to the players after the game, ultimately we showed good character to get back in the game, which we deserved. Our goalkeeper hasn’t even got any dirt on his shirt,” said Longhurst.

“We had loads of chances. We can stand here all night and dissect each one.”

Phipps said: “It’s no coincidence that we lost Charlie between Christmas and New Year, when he got sent off at Erith Town but he carried on training and then got injured in training and we lost him for a number of games and we struggled.

“We know that goalkeeper is a tough position but we’ve had Charlie back for the last four games and we’ve won two, drawn one and lost one so I don’t think it’s a coincidence our form has improved since Charlie has been back in goal and Charlie makes saves like that.”

Dominant Erith & Belvedere wasted another chance to score when Osinfolarin showed more desire to get to the ball ahead of Day some 35-yards from goal, before feeding Adesite down the right and he put it on a plate for former Chatham Town attacker Billy Bennett, who sent his free header past the near post from inside the six-yard box.

“100%, he’s got to score it.  The game should have been put to bed in the first half, there’s no two ways about it.   When you’re dominant like that and you’ve got the ball that much, you have to go in front and then what it does, particularly against teams like that, that are aggressive and they’re going to waste time etc, etc, you need to go in front. If you don’t go in front then you run the risk of what happened to us.”

Phipps added: “They had a few decent chances in the first half. I think they had a couple of one-on-ones, a couple of headers they put over and wide. We rode our luck a little bit but you come away to the league leaders, you have to do that.”

Stansfeld were a hard nut to crack and they created a decent chance themselves following their second corner.

Holding midfielder Parkinson drilled the ball in low from the left and Whitnell found a pocket of space at the near post to sweep his first-time shot just past the foot of the near post.

But Stansfeld grabbed the lead with 41 minutes and 48 seconds on the clock with pure quality from Fowler.

Fowler drove into the final third, beat a couple of defenders, cut the ball onto his right-foot and curled a sublime shot past the diving goalkeeper into the top far corner from 25-yards to give Stansfeld something to hang on to during a poor second half.

“If you see a better goal than that all season, I’d like to know where,” hailed Phipps.

“To pick the ball up where he did, travel with it and brush off a couple of challenges and then put it in the top corner the way he did, just a fantastic goal.

“Ryan’s got so much ability, on his day he’s unplayable.  He’s had a stop-start season himself, he’ll openly admit that but hopefully we can get a good pre-season out of him and then we’ll have one of the best players in the division, if he gets fit, in my opinion.”

Longhurst added: “It’s their first shot on goal and it’s gone in the top corner, so fair play to them.  They’re waiting for the turnover, they win the ball back and then they play it forwards quickly. We’ve got caught on the turnover and they’ve scored a decent goal.

“I’ve said to the players’ at half-time, they’ve had one shot and put it in the top corner and we’ve had 20 and haven’t hit the target!

“It’s disappointing. When you’re in so much control you’ve got to be so mindful on the ball turning over and then you’ve got to be better with the football and our passing in midfield has got to be better.”

Phipps added: “We asked for more of the same. What we needed to do was make sure we came out with the same tempo that we played in the first half.

“We couldn’t let ourselves go flat. We were quite happy, quite comfortable. We knew the deeper the game went they would become a little bit more direct, which was the way and that happened quite quickly when they brought on Ryan Johnson (to sit in front of their back four and push Billy Bennett up as striker) and they started to become a little bit more direct.”

Stansfeld created the first chance of the second half after only 72 seconds when Joe Matthews’ free-kick was knocked down by Whitnell and unmarked nine-goal striker Rob Hughes found space to hit a left-footed drive towards goal from 25-yards, which was plucked out of the air above head height by Perrin.

And at the other end, Chambers launched a long ball forward, Stansfeld’s right-back Martins kicked thin air and this let in Adesite, who cut inside and lacked end product and his deflected shot from outside the box was comfortably gathered by Cottrell after 143 seconds.

Longhurst revealed why he hooked his two wingers Adesite and Richardson-Brown and striker Lear.

“Danny Lear was injured, so he had to come off. He’s got a tight glute so that was a change that we had to make,” said Longhurst.

“The end product wasn’t good enough (from our two wingers) so we had to change it and try to give them something different to think about but if I’m honest we didn’t really work that ball out to the wide players feet after that, so realistically we’ve brought Prince Domafriyie in from Chatham and he hasn’t really touched the ball.”

Erith & Belvedere were not performing like a championship-winning team and the longer the game went on, the more desperate they became, the longer and direct they went.

Osinfolarin floated in their sixth corner of the game in the 20^th minute towards the back post where former Ramsgate centre-half Jahmal Howlett-Mundle jumped and sent his free header sailing past the right-hand post.

Stansfeld created a couple of headed chances following two set-pieces from Keeble to snatch the lead as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

Firstly, Hughes threw his head at the ball and guided his free header past the far post, before Matthews came up from centre-half to meet Keeble’s right-wing corner, with a header which cleared the crossbar.

“Callum’s delivery is really good, it gives us another dimension with his left foot and Dan Parkinson’s right-foot so it gives us the options of inswingers and outswingers from both sides. They both have fantastic delivery.  They were difficult half-chances, which I think if we had scored the second goal, I don’t think they would’ve come back.”

Erith & Belvedere’s holding midfielder Chambers threw the ball into the Stansfeld penalty box on 13 occasions, nine of them coming in the second half.

“We relied on it far too much in the second half,” admitted Longhurst.

“But I think that’s down to a little bit of a lack of time on the training ground, which is my strengths, in terms of getting a team organised.  We haven’t really had that time, we don’t have that time and that’s why it’s difficult coming in so late as a manger.

“It’s difficult trying to get ideas across when you haven’t had that time on the training ground but the boys came in last night but what I can’t fault is their effort and desire.

“We had the ball the whole half, we had the ball both halves but second half I thought the quality was poor. We went far too quick back-to-front and our goalkeeper hasn’t touched the ball.”

Phipps added: “We can’t criticise the long throw because we use it ourselves. We’ve got one in our team that we use. It’s always a weapon.  Long throws are harder to defend because they’re quite accurate and they can come in quite low but I thought we defended all of the long throws into the box really well.”

Stansfeld had a couple of chances to clear their lines with near-post headers and the ball dropped to Howlett-Mundle, who lashed his left-footed volley high over the crossbar from six-yards.

Chambers’ eleventh long throw came in from the right with 43:45 on the clock and dropped to Bennett inside the six-yard box. He flicked the ball up and hit an overhead kick which looped up and was grabbed hold off by Cottrell, to prevent the ball sailing into the top left-hand corner.

Longhurst admitted: “He should score, he should score and that’s what I’m talking about! There was a number of balls in their box that we’ve got to do better with. That one should go in the goal!”

Phipps added: “I thought he should’ve scored to be fair, once it dropped and he’s got his foot on it, I expected to see it go in the top corner but I don’t think he connected as well as he wanted to but it just looped into Charlie’s hands.”

However, Erith & Belvedere kept plugging away – even though their direct football was dire and desperate – and grabbed a deserved equaliser with 48:58 on the clock.

Stansfeld’s joint-managers Phipps and Billy Hamlin sent on four-goal striker Billy Shinners with 48:29 on the clock.

Osinfolarin swung the corner in from the left, Cottrell and Parkinson collided in an attempt to clear their lines and didn’t and Strachan buried his header into the centre of the goal from six-yards.

“We had no fluidity in the second half. We resulted into just throwing the ball into the box, there were loads of long throws, loads of long balls, not good enough and as a group we’ve got to take that on the chin,” admitted Longhurst.

“Look, how many balls have gone in their box tonight? I couldn’t even count.  I couldn’t even tell you how many crosses went in. I couldn’t tell you how many corners went in, how many throws went in but it’s too many to only come away with one goal.

“I’ll be disappointed if I was standing here and said we weren’t creating chances. We looked like scoring but we haven’t taken our chances.

“There’s loads of games up and down the country from the Premier League, internationals, down to this division, where you don’t get your just rewards.  We should’ve won the game tonight, we haven’t been clinical enough and fair play to them. They came here with a game plan, they’ve stuck to it and we’ve given them a lifeline and they’ve hung onto it and we’ve managed to get something out of the game.”

Phipps said: “We’re disappointed with the goal. We thought we could’ve done better leading up to conceding the corner.

“We made a change to try to defend it better and it caused a bit of confusion. It was a good delivery into the box, the fella’s got a run on whoever was marking him and he’s headed it in. You’re not going to stop them from there but disappointing really.

“It’s a very good point. I don’t think anyone could say we didn’t deserve it on the effort and the work rate that we put in but we haven’t come down here to do anyone favours. We’ve come down here and we were the old Stansfeld tonight and that’s nice to see but we need to do it week-in-week-out at this level because if you don’t do it you can come unstuck quite easily as we’ve found out a few times.”

However, there was to be no further chances during nine minutes and 25 seconds of stoppage time.

Steve O’Boyle takes his Phoenix Sports to Bromley tomorrow night to play Holmesdale (30 points from 30 games), while Longhurst takes his side to sixth-placed Rusthall on Saturday.

“Phoenix will go and beat Holmesdale tomorrow, I’ve got no doubt about that. I don’t see them dropping points and then they play Punjab on Saturday, so we’ve got to go to Rusthall and make sure that we put in a performance that’s better than tonight because we have to keep getting better but it’s a new group, we’ve got to carry on,” said Longhurst.

“I think Phoenix are well within a shout (of winning the title).  If I was the Phoenix manager I’ll be over the moon with tonight. It’s a result they’ve been hoping for. 

“I think it will go down to the wire. It’s not going to be a miracle cure, I don’t have a magic wand, I wish I did but I don’t have one.

“We’ve made changes that we felt necessary to make but I think Phoenix have got an experienced manager and assistant manager, they’ve got experienced players and they’ve been together all season so for them it’s a positive.

“Football can change on a daily basis as we all know, that’s why everyone comes out and watches it and what the owners are trying to do here is fantastic.”

Longhurst was seconds away from losing his second game in charge, which would have set off the alarm bells within the boardroom.

“I think there’s pressure when I came in because you have to try to finish the job off that the other two (Beckingham and Constable) have started,” admitted Longhurst.

“If you’re going to be the manager there’s pressure.  Is there any added pressure? Listen, I’m not worried about that at all.  I think I’ve got broad enough shoulders. I’ve been doing this a long time. Andy Constable hasn’t been doing it a long time. Tony Beckingham has.

“What the relationship was with the owners and those two, I don’t know.  It doesn’t really matter to me.   Will they tell me tonight isn’t good enough? I will imagine they will. Am I worried about that? No!

“We’re top of the league, we’re there to be aimed at. People will criticise you regardless.  You can’t get too high, too low, you can’t worry about criticism. 

“I’ve done 500-600 games as a manager. I’ve been coaching in the Isthmian Premier League at a massive club at Billericay. I’ve gone to Burgess Hill and worked at that level and won two games out of five and I’ve ended back here to help some of my friends that own a football club.

“It suits my personal circumstances, having had a young baby and a young family. It’s local to home. It suited all parties.  I’m pretty confident that we’ll get this job done and over the line and ultimately if this football club is back in the Isthmian League where it needs to be, that’s my job done and then I’ll sit down and talk to them in the summer.”

Phipps, meanwhile, wants his side to play the same way in Gillingham at Hollands & Blair on Saturday.

“What we have to do is take tonight onto Saturday. There’s no point putting the performance in on Saturday, which was really poor and a good performance tonight and then not backing it up on Saturday, so we’ll be doing our best to go down there and get a result.

“Our aim at the start of the season was to make sure we stay in the division and we’ve done that so I think that speaks volumes about the group.

“A top 10 finish will be fantastic, any higher than that, it’s a bonus really.” 

Erith & Belvedere: Jordan Perrin, Oluwakemi Osinfolarin, Ryan Khanye, Lewis Chambers, Jahmal Howlett-Mundle, Rob Strachan, Anthony Adesite (George Monger 66), Jerome Wade (George Snelling 90), Danny Lear (Ryan Johnson 48), Billy Bennett, Tyrell Richardson-Brown (Prince Domafriyie 65).
Sub: Ben Wilson

Goal: Rob Strachan 90

Stansfeld: Charlie Cottrell, Billy Martins, Callum Keeble, Dan Parkinson (Harrison English 90), Joe Matthews, Ezekiel Miller, Harry Day (Billy Shinners 90), Ryan Fowler, Rob Hughes (Alfie Moynes 90), Tommy Whitnell (Sam Smith 69), Ross Morley.
Sub: Joe Borland

Goal: Ryan Fowler 42

Booked: Sam Smith 77

Attendance: 156
Referee: Mr Jacob Miller
Assistants: Mr Adam Clayton & Mr Paul Agyei-Tabi