Glebe 2-6 Beckenham Town - Beckenham had a lot of passion and desire and they looked hungry, they came here wanting it and it looked like at times they wanted it more than us, admits Glebe boss Gary Alexander

Glebe 2 – 6 Beckenham Town
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	25/01/2020 15:00

GLEBE  2-6  BECKENHAM TOWN
Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Final
Saturday 25 January 2020
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

BECKENHAM TOWN assistant manager Billy Walton says his side are chasing the double after thrashing Glebe to reach the Kent Senior Trophy Semi-Finals.

Jason Huntley certainly got his men charged up for this game, most likely down to Beckenham Town losing home advantage after two games at Eden Park Avenue were postponed last week due to waterlogged pitches and the tie was switched to Glebe’s Foxbury Avenue ground in Chislehurst.

Beckenham Town went into the game sitting at the top of the Sea Pioneer Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 47 points from 21 games, while Glebe were in seventh-place with 30 points from 18 outings.

The first half was played at a high-tempo frenetic start with six goals being scored inside the opening 27 minutes.

Glebe drew first blood with midfielder Jordan Johnson heading home, before Beckenham Town swiftly equalised just 97 seconds later when right-wing-back Harvey Brand buried a header.

Ryan Hall then gave Beckenham Town the lead, before Glebe equalised through Vance Bola before Hall scored his eighth goal of the season to give Beckenham Town a 3-2 lead inside 18 minutes.

Beckenham striker Malik Noiske capped off an impressive performance in front of goal by scoring a hat-trick.  The eighth goal of the game came on the hour-mark, as Beckenham Town claimed the local bragging rights and remain on course to win the double.

“We’re highly delighted! It was a good performance against a very good side,” said Walton.

“It’s a difficult place to come and we’ve stuck to our game plan, the boys worked extremely hard. All the young lads who came in today and haven’t played for a while, I thought to a man they done a really good job, so I’m really, really pleased.”

On the switch of venue, this just made Beckenham’s players even more hungrier to beat their local rivals and in an emphatic fashion.

Walton said: “I don’t really care me personally, I don’t really care where we’re playing so it doesn’t bother me.

“I thought it was just not justified switching the game.  Personally we’d love to be at home but we’ve come here, it’s a nice pitch, nice club, so we’ve come here and done the job.”

Glebe boss Gary Alexander admitted he wasn’t pleased with his side’s performance.

“Not good enough all over the park, conceding six goals is not good enough but we also had chances to be in the game, to be in front, to be level but we weren’t clinical all over the park, we weren’t ruthless enough.

“It was like basketball, neither team could defend and there was some good individual goals, there was also a few errors and it became a bit of a basketball game and you didn’t know when the scoring was going to stop, which was probably not good enough from both teams. Fair play to Beckenham, they’ve upped their game and come out on top.

“You have to give Beckenham a lot of credit today, they had a lot of passion and desire and they looked hungry. They came here wanting it and it looked like at times they wanted it more than us.”

Alexander made a couple of changes to his side that were knocked out by Stowmarket Town in The FA Vase Last 32 two weeks ago, with Stacy Long (bruised toe) and Aaron Fray (hamstring) being replaced by Max Fitzgerald and Jesse Darko.

Hunley made four changes to the side that were held to a 2-2 home draw by Sheppey United two weeks ago.  Sheppey United, now in second-place, have since closed the gap to a point but have played a game more.

Glebe were wasteful up in Suffolk in their last outing and again today as they should have taken the lead after 102 seconds.

Left-back Matt Parsons played the ball into Bola, who played a fine diagonal pass over to unmarked striker Jamie Philpot, who lacked composure just 15-yards from goal and lashed his right-footed drive over with only Australian goalkeeper Michael McEntegart to beat.

Alexander said: “Look, I can’t keep defending it, it’s the story of our season.  It’s a great opportunity. Have we made the keeper work? No!”

Walton added: “As I always say to you, you have to take your chances when they come along. If you do that then you’ve got a good chance of winning the game. Fortunately for us it was well off-target.”

Beckenham Town played the game with three centre-halves in the shape of Mudiagha Wanogho (left), Joe Bannan (centre) and Rob Carter (right) and their first opening came with four minutes and 58 seconds on the clock.

Left-wing-back Archie Johnson ran down the line before playing the ball inside to Billy Martins, the holding midfielder unleashing a 35-yard drive which was held by Pat Ohman in his midriff.

“Bill’s one of the lads that came in and he’s been patient. He can strike a ball and you see it in training, when it opens up for you, have a shot! If you don’t shoot, you don’t score,” said Walton.

Glebe opened the floodgates by taking the lead with six minutes and 53 seconds on the clock, as Carter switched off.

Jordan Johnson swept a crossfield pass at a set-piece from left-to-right to right-back Chris Parr, who took a touch before whipping in a deep cross which sailed in behind Carter and Jordan Johnson showed the desire to bury his downward free header past McEntegart from six-yards.

“Look, it was a good goal. He’s played a square pass, made a run forward and he's made the box and he’s got a deserved goal, he puts us in front,” said Alexander.

“It’s a good ball by Chris Parr, he put in a few decent crosses today and on that occasion, someone attacked it.”

Walton admitted there was a lack of communication leading to the goal.

He said: “Macca said ‘winners’ and Rob though he said ‘keepers’ so he just left it and they both left it and he’s got a tap in.  You just say to either it’s a mistake, miss-communication, a mistake. I said to the centre-half, ‘it’s straight at you, you deal with it!’ When it’s cleared if he wants to have a go at you, you’ve cleared the danger. It was a bad mistake from us and they’ve scored.”

Glebe’s lead, however, lasted only 97 seconds, as Beckenham Town swiftly equalised through Brand’s tenth goal of the season.

Archie Johnson found himself down the left-hand side of the penalty area and floated in a precise cross for Brand to bury his bullet header, which flew across Ohman and screamed into the far corner from 12-yards.

“You won’t see a better header than that all season,” claimed Walton.

“That’s a great goal! He’s done that regularly for us and I’m really pleased for the lad. It was a great cross and that’s what that deserved that cross – put away like that!”

Alexander added: “Not good enough defensively! You take the lead, everyone knows in football the next couple of minutes you’re vulnerable, aren’t you, after scoring a goal and probably the first attack they get, we don’t stop the cross.  It’s a fantastic header but can we do better on the cross to stop the cross, can we get closed to Harvey as he’s coming in or get contact on him?”

The outstanding Nosike teed up Luke Rooney, who unleashed a right-footed screamer sailing just past the far post from 25-yards.

Beckenham Town took the lead with only 12 minutes and 39 seconds on the clock.

Hall brought a diagonal pass under his spell on the halfway line before releasing the recalled Bertie Valler down the right. He played the ball across the face of the penalty area to Rooney, whose short pass set up Nosike, who cut onto his right-boot and his angled drive was pushed away by Ohman, low to his right.

The ball landed at an unmarked Hall, whose left-footed shot clipped the left-hand post before rolling along the goal-line and nestling into the opposite corner of the goal.

“I thought he missed, I thought he missed,” admitted Walton.

“When it hit the left-post and went across the goal, I thought it was coming out! I was really pleased to see it go in.  There again, that was a great bit of skill from Malik. He created the chance and surely Ryan’s not going to miss that with his quality – he almost did!”

Alexander added: “Ryan scores goals. He’s scored goals a lot higher up the Leagues. You can’t give people like that chances. You can’t give someone 10 yards of space inside the six-yard box. We have to take responsibility and see him spare and pick up.”

With the game being played at 100 miles per hour, Glebe were gifted their equaliser with 14:01 on the clock.

Rooney’s back-pass should have been meet and drink for a goalkeeper who has experience of National League South football but McEntegart’s clearance was poor and rolled straight into Bola’s feet a couple of yards outside the penalty area and he took a touch before driving his shot into an empty goal from 16-yards.

Alexander said: “Vance was a handful today.  I felt at times he possibly could’ve laid things off a little bit quicker but he was a handful and he got rewarded for his goal, the hard work he puts in.

“The goalkeeper made a mistake, there was a number of mistakes in that opening 15-20 minutes from both sides, which led to goals. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper, he made one.”

Walton added: “Rooney back-passed it to Macca, Rooney should’ve cleared it!
“Macca’s hit a poor, poor kick, gone straight to their bloke, gift! We’ve gifted them their two goals. We’ve given them a Christmas present and then we’ve given them an Easter egg and a Valentines card!”

Beckenham Town swiftly regained the lead with 17 minutes and 26 seconds, through more poor defensive play from Glebe’s defenders.

Archie Johnson swung in Beckenham’s fourth corner, in from the right, towards the near post and no one picked up Hall, who easily glanced his header past the flapping goalkeeper into the near corner.

“We were scoring from quite a few corners at the start of the season, so if you get the delivery right, it’s very hard to defend and the delivery was right and you find your head and it’s a goal from three-yards out so good delivery from Archie and Ryan’s in the right place,” said Walton.

Alexander added: “Just not good enough! You can’t be on the goal line having a free header on the goal line. It either needs to be taken by the keeper or someone needs to be closer challenging him but that was just far too easy and that’s a schoolboy goal that one.”

Glebe striker Jamie Philpot lost the ball to a strong tackle from Brand, who fed the ball up to Hall, whose sublime pass put Nosike through on goal, splitting Glebe’s two centre-halves Denzel Williams and Fitzgerald, but Ohman rushed to the edge of his penalty area and smothered the ball, low to his left.

Despite playing Championship and League One football for Millwall just three years ago, Philpot should be destroying teams at this level but he missed a glorious chance to equalise for Glebe with 22:33 on the clock.

Bola played a sublime cross in from the right which flashed in behind Bannan and Carter and Philpot was left unmarked at the far post but he swept his left-footed volley across goal and past the far post from six-yards.

Philpot, who has played for Millwall, Bromley and Dartford has scored 19 goals this season but he should have scored at least double that this season.

Alexander said: “Look, Jamie’s scored a lot of goals this season but I think on a personal note knows he should have a lot more goals. It’s a chance you can’t miss! That takes it to three-all and we’re in a different game again. I think if you look at it four minutes after they go and score again.”

“Just really fortunate for us that he’s missed it,” admitted Walton.

“The first 20 minutes are the most bizarre 20 minutes I’ve ever seen in football in a long, long time!  I was expecting it to be six-all!

“When I was at Fisher were drew 6-6 against Canterbury and I thought it was going to be like that.  I said to Gary Alexander, ‘is it going to be 6-6 at half-time?, because it was just shocking!

“We made two really stupid errors that you can’t make those errors. The boys that done that, they know they’ve made mistakes. It’s just a lack of communication. We did make quite a few changes today so perhaps that contributed to it.”

Philpot missed another chance just 100 seconds later when quiet winger Toby Ajala cut the ball back to Parr, who delivered a deep cross into the Beckenham box.  The ball was headed away by Brand and Jordan Johnson drilled a first time shot from 20-yards, which was too hot for McEntegart to handle and Philpot swept his shot past the near post from the corner of the six-yards box.

Those two misses proved costly as Beckenham Town raced into a two-goal lead with 26 minutes and 54 seconds on the clock.

Martins was composed in the midfield battleground and swept a diagonal pass out to Archie Johnson, who played the ball inside to Nosike, who danced his way past four Glebe defenders before cutting onto his left-foot to stroke an angled drive across the keeper to find the bottom far corner.

“I’m so pleased for these lads that came in today because they’ve waited and waited patiently, patiently and patiently,” said Walton.

“I said to them before the game, ‘you’ve got an opportunity, make it hard for Jason Huntley to make a decision next week’ and that’s what they’ve gone and done so I was pleased for the lad. Malik’s a great footballer, very, very talented and I think he’s shown that today, man-of-the-match by a mile.”

Alexander added: “Again, defending was not good enough, we were backing off but you have to give Malik credit. He was a real handful and probably the best player on the pitch. He was outstanding!

“I felt there was going to be more goals in this because at 4-2 anything could happen. They’ve had two attacks and scored goals and we could’ve had two attacks and scored goals. It was that open at that time but they were a little bit more clinical than us.”

Once the first half scoring was completed, Glebe then started to enjoy a good spell of possession, as the frenetic pace started to die down, just a notch.

Glebe centre-half Williams played the ball into Siao Blackwood’s feet on the edge of the box and he teed up Bola, whose shot on the turn from 18-yards sailed over the crossbar.

Six goals inside the opening 27 minutes, Beckenham Town went into the interval with an impressive 4-2 lead.

Alexander said: “We needed to match them up. If we can match them up, we were going to get chances, so go out there and match up their three in midfield, the full-backs deal with their wing-backs and the three up top cause them problems for their defenders.

“We stand here, we haven’t played great but we come off going we should’ve scored a lot more goals but out of possession, not good enough!”

Walton added: “What we said at half-time was the next 15 minutes, for me, in a game after half-time are very important.  Just apply yourselves, hunting them down and work extremely hard for the first 15 minutes.

“They’re going up the slope so it’s even harder for them to get out and we did that and that was really pleasing for me as a coach to see them go and take on board what you’ve said to them and at the end everything that I’ve asked of them today, they went and done. It was a great performance!”

Beckenham Town kicked-off for the second half and after only three seconds Hall tried to score from the centre-spot, his shot sailing past the right-hand post with Ohman struggling.

Beckenham Town raced into a 5-2 lead with eight minutes and 28 seconds into the second half.

Midfielder Rooney played the ball into Brand, who swept the ball out to Valler in space down the right and he picked out Nosike in the middle, who skipped past Ohman before drilling his low shot into the centre of the net from 16-yards.

“Same thing, it’s what I say to you all the time. Once you get the ball down and you pass and move and create space, spaces will open up for you. We did that for that goal. We passed it well, created space, good movement and a good goal,” said Walton.

Alexander said: “He had good feet. He caused problems all afternoon. At times the defending wasn’t good enough but we’ve got to look at the manner how it gets to that situation. Are we working hard enough?”

Glebe were given a lifeline by referee Lee Venamore, who saw Ajala unleash a powerful drilled shot from the edge of a crowded penalty area and Valler slid in to make the block, only to be penalised for handball as he slid in with his arms in the air.

Nineteen-goal striker Philpot stepped up and stroked his right-footed penalty pinging against the right-post, despite sending the keeper the wrong way.

“Please, someone from The FA get on to me and tell me, the highest referee in the league, the official (assistant referee Harry Graham) said to me ‘he should learn to tackle, slide tackle with his arms beside his side’.

“I’ve never heard anything like that in my life!  How on earth can you slide tackle with your arms strapped to your side?! You would end up doing yourself a massive injury!  You’d dislocate your arms, or you’d pull your pelvis out!  He slid in, the ball’s hit you like a bullet, no intension of handballing it!

“You don’t get nothing for hitting the post. Fair enough to the lad, he struck it really well. It’s one of them, isn’t it? An inch inside the post and it’s a great penalty. It’s a shame, he hit the post.”

Alexander said: “They were willing, they showed that all afternoon to put bodies on the line and block shots and show desire and on this occasion he’s got his arms slightly up, his hand was up. From where we stood I didn’t think it was going to be a penalty, the refs seen it different and you think all off a sudden it could be 5-3 here and at any point you think if you get another one, you’re back in it.

“Get within two, you only get another chance.  They’ve scored two in quick succession and it was a case of Jamie stepping up and hitting the post with the goalkeeper going the wrong way.”

Archie Johnson pressed Blackwood and the loose ball was hit by Martins from 25-yards, which stung the goalkeeper’s fingers before Glebe went close at the other end when the impressive Bola played the ball into Darko, who lashed his shot past the near post.

Brilliant Beckenham Town completed the scoring as early as 14 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock.

It was a devasting three-v-three counter-attack as Valler was released down the right and he played in Nosike, who skipped past the goalkeeper, was forced wide and kept composed to slot his low shot past the last defender and underneath Ohman from eight-yards.

Walton said: “Bertie’s another lad who came in today. Billy Martins, Malik Nosike, Bertie Valler, all came in today and what a game they’ve played!

“I’m so, so pleased for them. They were immense in midfield, the three of them, they done everything that I asked them to do and I can’t praise them highly enough those three lads, as well as everyone else.”

Alexander added: “There, you’ve hit the nail on the head, composed finish.  He’s hit the target. Beckenham’s speed of counter today was good at times, better than ours at times but composed finish, you said it there.

“We’ve had numerous chances to be composed and put the ball in the back of the net and we’ve failed to do that. I’m not saying we would’ve got anything out of the game but it might’ve made the score line a little bit more respectable had we been more composed in front of goal.”

Beckenham Town’s players are always ignored by the Kent Messenger in their Team of the Week and Walton admitted Nosike won’t be selected despite his outstanding performance for the 70 minutes that he was on the pitch today.

“No, he won’t get in the Kent on Line!  I think any player from Beckenham’s got to most probably score 10, win 11-0, score 10 goals, three volleys and four headers and the manager won’t be put in either,” said Walton.

“This is a hard place to come, you’re against a very, very good side who have gone a long way in the FA Vase and are doing very well in the league, against professional people so it’s a really hard place to come and get a result.”

Parr split open Wanogho and Bannan with a delightful through ball to put Darko through on goal but his right-footed chip from 18-yards was comfortably plucked out of the air by McEntegart, stretching high to his right to grab hold of the ball.

Beckenham Town had the luxury of leaving Shameek Farrell and Stefan Cox on the bench, while Alexander made changes in a bid to bring some respectability to the score line. The one plus was an impressive performance from substitute midfielder, the diminutive Tom Hever.  However, too many Glebe players put in poor performances and went through the motions, which is unacceptable in any derby game.

Beckenham Town substitute striker Steve Townsend called Ohman into action with 16 minutes left.

Brand drove forward before releasing Townsend, who cracked a fierce left-footed drive which was beaten away by Ohman before the game petered out in a disappointing fashion.

“He’s got that in his locker Steve. What a player to bring on when you’re tired and you’ve been run ragged by the other players and you bring on someone like Steve Townsend,” added Walton.

Glebe are next in action when First Division highflyers Rusthall visit Foxbury Avenue on Tuesday night in the last sixteen of the Challenge Cup, while Beckenham Town welcome K Sports to Eden Park Avenue in the League next Saturday.

“This is a very good squad, we’ve proved that today,” said Walton.

“With the squad we’ve got, they’re determined to win something and we’ve got a good team spirit and we’re looking forward immensely to going to Corinthian in the Semi-Final.

“We can’t be runners-up or get beaten in the Semi-Final, it doesn’t register with me. We want to win the double!”

Rusthall come here in second-place in the First Division table, just a point behind leaders Kennington.

“No one wants to be on the end of a 6-2 defeat, it’s a little bit embarrassing but again there’s no point dwelling,” said the Glebe boss.

“We’ve got another cup tie on Tuesday night so we have to come here full of energy and we have to make sure our season just doesn’t go out in the space of a couple of weeks.”

Glebe: Pat Ohman, Chris Parr, Matt Parsons, Siao Blackwood (Tom Hever 61), Max Fitzgerald, Denzel Williams, Jesse Darko, Jordan Johnson, Jamie Philpot (Tjani Eshilokun 67), Vance Bola, Toby Ajala (Abdisamad Mohamed 77).
Subs: Danny Fitzsimons, Mackenzie Foley

Goals: Jordan Johnson 7, Vance Bola 15

Beckenham Town: Michael McEntegart, Rob Carter, Archie Johnson, Billy Martins (Kiki Oshilaja 70), Mudiagha Wanogho, Joe Bannan, Bertie Valler, Luke Rooney (Jamie Brown 63), Malik Nosike (Steve Townsend 70), Ryan Hall, Harvey Brand.
Subs: Shameek Farrell, Stefan Cox

Goals: Harvey Brand 9, Ryan Hall 13, 18, Malik Nosike 27, 54, 60

Booked: Luke Rooney 43, Billy Martins 52

Attendance: 102
Referee: Mr Lee Venamore
Assistants: Mr Harry Graham & Mr Christopher Clarke