Glebe 3-0 Eltham Palace - We just felt a little bit cheated, claims Eltham Palace boss Lloyd Bradley

Glebe 3 – 0 Eltham Palace
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	18/11/2016 19:45

GLEBE  3-0  ELTHAM PALACE
Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Friday 18^th November 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

ELTHAM PALACE boss Lloyd Bradley blasted referee Daniel Sanchez for controversially sending off his goalkeeper for making a save.
 

.Glebe leapfrogged over Kent Football United into second-place in the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table on 35 points from 14 games – three points behind uneaten leaders Rusthall, who have played 16 games.

Eltham Palace remain in the bottom five after collecting 16 points from as many games and they arrived in Chislehurst without five key players in the shape of strikers Billy Shinners and Georgie Lowes, holding midfielder Sam Ryan, winger Billy Jolley, central defender Casey Killiea.

It took Glebe 24 minutes to break the deadlock when Jamal Alexander scored, but Eltham Palace goalkeeper James Bradley was controversially sent-off after picking up two yellow cards.

He was booked inside eight minutes for foul and abusive language towards his left-back Frankie Beale, and the keeper clearly won the ball as he denied Andres Felipe Losada Tobon adding a second in the 44^th minute.

However, the hapless Camberwell based official – who took 76 minutes to notice that Eltham Palace had seven or eight members of their bench standing up in and around their technical area during the game – awarded a penalty and sent off the shell-shocked goalkeeper.

Midfielder Harry Gamble, 20, took over in goal and saw Ryan Golding sweep the resulting penalty wide, but he was beaten by two second half goals, as Golding scored his 24^th goal of the season before Alexander added his fourth for the club  before the crowd of 102 suffered watching an uninspiring second half.

Adam Woodward admitted his Glebe side were tired after knocking Walton & Hersham out on penalties in The Buildbase FA Vase Second Round after the game finished 2-2 after extra time in Surrey on Tuesday night.

“A win’s a win, we dust ourselves off and we go again,” said Woodward, 27, during the post-match press conference.

“Tough  game on Tuesday night, we played 120 minutes with penalties and nine out of the 11 who started played 120 minutes on Tuesday so it was good to get tonight out of the way and get a win and three points on the board.

“Tuesday night was massive. A lot of the players didn’t get back until gone 12 o’clock and were up early for work so we’ve only had Wednesday and Thursday to recover. We didn’t train on Thursday and Friday came along and we was very, very tired tonight and it looked a very tired performance tonight with no tempo in the game.  The game was very flat, but at the end of the day, I keep saying it, we’re here to win football matches and we’ve won a football match. Job done. We didn’t tear up any trees. What can you say? We won three points!”

Eltham Palace manager Lloyd Bradley had every right to vent his fury at the referee.

He said: “Really disappointed, but very proud of my players having gone down to ten-men in the first half and already 1-0 down.  It’s very disappointing but I really played it on the line to the players how proud I was tonight.  I think they’ve been superb really to keep going, especially when we conceded two early goals in the second half.  It was really difficult but so easy for us to throw the towel in at that point.

“I’m proud of the performance but disappointed with the decisions by the referee tonight. I don’t think he helped at all. The referee looked a little bit out of his depth tonight.”

Glebe created the first opening after only two minutes and 40 seconds when Fred Obasa teed-up Frazer Cronin, but the central midfielder lashed his right-footed hooked volley high over the crossbar.

Referee Daniel Sanchez booked James Bradley after being heard shouting out, “stop sulking, you c***!” several times across the pitch to his left-back Frankie Beale, before the keeper was about to take a free-kick outside his penalty area.

Glebe’s second attempt at goal was just as woeful as their first.  James Day played a short free-kick to Sam Long, the former Bromley left-back had time and space to slice his shot wide from 35-yards.

But they had a glorious chance to break the stalemate inside 18 minutes.

Cronin clipped a 30-yard pass forward, it was brought under control by Golding’s chest and his right-footed drive was saved comfortably by James Bradley, low to his right.

Woodward admitted: “Ryan will tell you, he didn’t have a great night tonight. He should’ve had at least a hat-trick but at the end of the day Ryan is the top goalscorer in the league. He’s allowed a night off and he still scored to be fair.”

Bradley said of his son: “There were good saves. We knew we had to defend at times and we knew they would get chances.  James did well to come out and mop up a couple of times.  We rode our luck at times but the whole idea of the game tonight was to stay involved in the game for as long as we could. Frustrate them as much as possible.”

Eltham Palace central defender George Martin had Golding in his pocket up until the striker latched onto Cronin’s ball over the top and sped past last man Martin only for James Bradley to come off his line to narrow the angle. An under-par Golding sliced his shot past the right-hand post.

“That was the game-plan,” said the Eltham Palace boss.

“We spoke about it quite intensively before the game that Ryan Golding was the goal threat and we had to get tight but not too tight because we know how good he is at rolling players and that we had to be in close contact to him at all times.

“George did that really well tonight. He didn’t get sucked in too much. He didn’t get pushed around too much and he managed to push Ryan away from the goal rather than allow him to dictate on the edge of the box and he was getting quite frustrated as the game went on.”

Woodward added: “Keeper done really well, disappointed he got sent off to be fair but he is a very good goalkeeper and really we should’ve put the game to bed in the first half.  We should never have come in at half-time one up. It should’ve been at least two or three.”

But the inevitable happened when Glebe opened the scoring with 23 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock.

An advantage was played inside the Glebe half and Tobon latched onto the long ball from Davy-Jo Anderson, broke at pace before playing the ball inside to Alexander, who drilled his right-footed shot into the top right-hand corner from 25-yards, despite the keeper getting fingertips to the shot.

Woodward said: “Jamal’s been very, very patient. He’s played a higher level of football (Carshalton Athletic). He’s come in and waited for his chance. He came in on Tuesday night and in my opinion he was probably one of the best players on the pitch, so he’s been very patient for three or four weeks and got his start tonight and got his just rewards.”

Lloyd Bradley said: “Disappointing for us, again, because it came from a free kick the other end of the park. A ball headed down, a quick break and we know Glebe are a good at that but we seemed to get bodies back but he stuck it very early. It was a magnificent strike. Maybe James will be disappointed he didn’t do more with it but I think it was hit so early he couldn’t set his feet properly so he dived from where he was. He did get a hand to it or fingertips to it but it wasn’t enough.”

Eltham Palace lacked quality in the final third. Lone striker Ryan Hassan offered very little and a central defender should have equalised in the 28^th minute.

Beale swung in their first corner from the right which sailed over flapping goalkeeper Adam Molloy, but Charlie Burgess steered his header wide at the far post.

Bradley said: “The keeper flapped at it.  He flapped at a couple of things tonight and Charlie was disappointed, he probably felt the keeper was going to catch it there and took his eye of it a little bit and that’s unlike him because normally he arcs his run a little bit more and comes in facing the goal. He got half a flick on it rather than full contact. It would’ve been a good goal because it’s something that we’ve spoken about before the game and it actually worked and we didn’t capitalise on it so that was disappointing.”

The referee and assistant referee Tony Woods failed to do anything about seven or eight people standing up in the Eltham Palace technical area – until the last 14 minutes.

Eltham Palace whipped in a free-kick from the right via Beale’s left-foot, the ball was cleared and Obasa broke through the heart of the pitch and Tabon was denied by a smart block by the advancing James Bradley.

“We’ve just got to be clinical, we was not clinical enough in front of goal tonight,” admitted a frustrated Glebe manager.

“He made a good save there but we didn’t work the keeper (Bradley). When they made the change and put the outfield player in (Gamble), we didn’t work him enough.”

But referee Daniel Sanchez must have been hallucinating when he made an embarrassing decision.

Day put Tobon through on goal through the heart of the pitch and James Bradley came towards the edge of his penalty area and made a brave SAVE – only for the referee to point to the penalty spot.

The angry keeper started to walk towards the dug-out in despair throwing his gloves down on to the ground before returning to his penalty area and being shown a second yellow card by the referee.

If Sanchez has any BOTTLE he will ADMIT he has made a BIG MISTAKE and put in his report that James Bradley should not have been sent-off in the 44^th minute following his SAVE.

The keeper stormed towards the corner flag to trudge towards the dressing rooms and Gamble picked up the gloves and keeper’s jersey off the floor and faced Golding’s penalty, which he swept past the left-hand post.

Manager Bradley said: “It’s a shocking decision from my point of view, in the first place. The fact he’s given a penalty, he was a long way from play, he didn’t take any guidance from the linesman (Tony Woods). It would’ve been wise of him to take a breath and ask the linesman if he thought it was something there but the keeper had the ball in his hand! There wasn’t really an appeal really from even the sideline, let alone the players on the park! It’s such a bad decision and such a crucial decision at that particular moment in time.

“James is foolish to get booked in the first place but to get a second yellow when it's not even a foul and to give a penalty as well to boot, that is a major, major bad decision!”

When asked about the keeper’s reaction to it all, the manager replied: “It happens a lot. His reputation goes before him sometimes.  He’s forced himself to go out there, he’s timed it perfectly and made what I consider a great save one-on-one with a player going through. Not only he gets penalised for a foul, it’s a penalty and he’s sent off, you can understand his frustration.

“He works hard at his game. He’s one of the best keeper’s in the league and he feels passionately about losing. He wants to win. He’s a winner and something like that happens, as he’s said he’s thinking about giving up now because it’s just so frustrating for him that he doesn’t want to play no more.”

And on Golding’s penalty miss, Bradley added: “That’s a bit of justice there really in that. Perhaps the delay didn’t help him but he’s a better player than that. He shouldn’t be fazed by something like that.  That would’ve been game over at that point.”

“The ref thinks it’s a sending off, from where I was, it looked like he won the ball,” admitted the honest Woodward.

“It wasn’t in my eyes a penalty. I would’ve been screaming. I don’t think that changed the game if I’m honest. I thought we was totally in control for 90 minutes.

“I have asked him (the referee) why he sent him off. His first yellow was for swearing or mouth or whatever so he’s got a second yellow.  He wouldn’t have only got one for not shouting and hollering.

“Unlike Golding, he’s had a few penalties this year and he’s scored them all and he's scored some very, very important penalties for us. That wasn’t a great penalty and I told him at half-time it will go in if you get it on target and he’s put it wide.”

Gamble made a comfortable low save as Obasa hit a shot on the turn towards the 20-year-old.

“The last game he played in goal, he was at West Ham as a junior, probably aged nine or ten,” revealed the manager.

“He shunned the opportunity of going in goal the other week. He said last time he did that he was 10 so tonight he had no excuses. He was brave enough to volunteer as well.  I really wasn’t sure who to put in tonight. Billy Jolley is normally a cover keeper and we went away to Crowborough and he was superb on the night there but we didn’t have that luxury tonight. Harry’s gone in goal and I thought he did great in there under a lot of pressure from a good side.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts at the break.

Woodward said: “I wasn’t happy! The tempo was flat. The game was being played like it was a Sunday League game.  We massively, massively needed to improve the tempo but Tuesday night took a lot out of the boys and luckily enough we’ve got a week to recover (for our trip to Fisher in the Kent Reliance Senior Trophy Second Round).

“It wasn’t ideal playing Tuesday and Friday, if I could, I would’ve changed this game to a Saturday for another day’s recovery, but it is what it is.”

Bradley added: “I was thrilled by the first half performance.  We were all bitterly disappointed in the dressing room and frustrated with the referee’s decision and we just felt a little bit cheated.

“The boys showed great mentality in there. They wanted to go out and roll their sleeves up and have a go.  The plan was to try to dig in, go 4-4-1, take no risks at the back and try to stifle them for 20 minutes.”

Both teams were out on the pitch and the match officials took an awful long time to reappear as the second half kicked off late at 20:58.

Anderson launched a long throw into the Eltham Palace box but Golding’s overhead kick sailed over the crossbar inside four minutes.

Eltham Palace’s best chance of the night arrived in the nine minute.

Beale swung in a corner from the left, the ball was cleared out to winger Charlie Richmond, who hooked his right-footed volley screaming past the right-hand post from 35-yards.

Bradley said: “Great strike by Charlie, he’s got that in his locker.  He’s done it before. I’ve called him up from the third team today. He’s played for me on and off. He gives you everything. He’s one of the young players, he’s got a great future at the club and great technique, really caught it well. The keeper was struggling as well. He was nowhere near it.

“If that could’ve gone in, it would’ve been lovely and put a little bit of pressure on them.  It looked like they looked a little bit embarrassed on what had gone on as well. If we had scored, I think there may have been a little bit of a panic on their bench especially because they’re under pressure to do well and get a march on.”

Woodward picked out emergency central defender Charlie McCarthy for special praise.

“They didn’t have a shot on target all night. I am pleased with the back four. What people don’t understand is I’m missing a lot of players. My centre half is Charlie McCarthy, who is my assistant manager, whose come in for six or seven games and has been absolutely superb.

“I’m missing Tamer Bilal, who’s on the bench but he’s coming back from injury.  Scott Whibley, whose massive for us, is out injured so Charlie is really my fourth choice centre half.  I’m missing two left-backs in George King and Jack Clark, who are Ryman League left-backs all day long, so that takes a lot out of a side and credit to the boys. We are defending very, very well at the moment and we’re keeping clean sheets.”

Glebe grabbed a second goal with 13 minutes and 41 seconds on the clock and it was just as ugly as the game itself.

Sam Long, who was forced off with a knee injury, swung in their third and last corner from the left, Eltham Palace had chances to clear it and didn’t and Golding nodded the ball over the line from very close range at the far post.

“Yes, Golding does what he does best and nicks a goal,” said Woodward.

“You’ve got to be there and I think that takes him up to 24 this season. It’s really, really good before Christmas if I’m honest, superb for a forward. He’s enjoying his football and playing with a smile on his face, which is great.”

Bradley added: “Just the sort of goal that we didn’t want. We were more worried about open play. To give away a goal from a set-piece was really frustrating as you can imagine.  The fact that we had two or three opportunities to actually clear it and panicked a little bit and didn’t quite get any contact on the ball. It was a real sloppy goal on our part. It’s frustrating to give a goal away from a set-piece. It wasn’t what we were looking to do.”

Glebe scored a flattering third with the goal timed at 16 minutes and 30 seconds.

Day fed Obasa down the left channel and he cut the ball back for Alexander to sweep his left-footed shot over Gamble’s left-shoulder to find the top far corner of the net.

Woodward said: “Brilliant, another great goal from Jamal.  Fred worked hard tonight, he didn’t get the rub of the green tonight with his finishing but look Jamal’s come in, he’s got two goals. It’s nice to give him another 73 minutes.

“Look, competition is massive in our team. I’ve got a great bench. I’ve got Scott Whibley, George King and Jack Clark all missing, who will strengthen any side at this level and any level the next two league’s above.”

Bradley added: “Again, we got pulled about a little bit out of position. He was in oceans of space there, we’ve not picked him up, a little bit of ball watching there. Nice strike through the middle of the goal. Maybe James would’ve saved that, I don’t know, but he stuck it well.

“It was a fairly good cut back from them. It was something they tried to do all night. They actually got away with it then and I’m starting to worry at that point then.”

Eltham Palace produced a sweeping move at the half-way point when Hassan played the ball in from the right to Freddie Sansom and set-up Jack Gibbons, only for the central midfielder to curl his shot around the far post from 20-yards.

Bradley said: “I was just trying to give them a little bit of support and try to get our players’ heads up because you could see across the team at that point it’s just about them. There’s nothing I can do about it.  It’s just about the spirit they’re going to show. It’s about digging in as a team and playing for a bit of pride and that’s the thing I thought was the best tonight, the most outstanding part.  At 3-0 it was easy to throw in the towel. It could’ve been seven or eight.”

Glebe should have added a fourth goal in the final 20 minutes.

Golding skipped past Burgess and Gamble wasn’t getting there only for Golding to poke his shot past the foot of the right-hand post.

Woodward admitted: “I was very frustrated! I thought the game was boring, it was flat. I was bored, the crowd must’ve been really bored and I get frustrated because we’re missing chances and I know how important that can be.

“Strikers need to score goals to keep their confidence up and we should be scoring chances and I just felt it went like a training game. It was very, very flat.”

The visiting manager said: “We were getting stretched at that point. We knew they would get chances. If I was their manager I would’ve been disappointed because that was game over.  I think we could’ve then rolled over but it was a bit strange for him because he loves his goals but that didn’t go in.”

Jo Borland, who had come on for Long, cut into the penalty area and drove his shot into the side netting, before Woodward was clearly frustrated after seeing Tobon cut into the penalty area only to drag his shot past the far post.

Anderson launched another long throw into the Eltham Palace box and Obasa drove his shot over the crossbar at the far post.

Woodward was right when he admitted the game was boring at 3-0.  Day played another fine pass, this time to Tobon, who controlled the ball poorly and then drilled his low shot past the near post.

The poor quality was summed up with Glebe’s last chance of the night.  A big kick from spectator keeper Molloy was allowed to go straight down the middle and Obasa only had Gamble to beat and clipped his shot over the crossbar.

“I think sometimes we have to score the perfect goal. All that matters is putting the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t do that well enough tonight and to be fair to say that after winning 3-0 is a massive statement,” said Woodward.

Bradley added: “Another free scoring player. They showed a lot of nervousness in front of goal tonight.”

Eltham Palace created a chance with the last kick of the game but Sansom shot wide and the crowd of 102 were thankful when the final whistle blew.

Tonight’s 3-0 win was flattering against a spirited Eltham Palace side, who didn’t give up.  Glebe’s performances must improve.

Woodward said: “It’s been very different to what it was like when I was a number two (at Phoenix Sports).  I can see why Boylie (Steve O’Boyle) used to have sleepless nights and so stressed. I’m enjoying it, it’s good experience. It’s good. I’m enjoying my time here. The club’s very, very ambitious. We’ve got to keep plugging away and keep going.”

Glebe: Adam Molloy, Davy-Jo Anderson, Sam Long (Jo Borland 63), James Day, Carson Dennis, Charlie McCarthy, Andreas Felipe Losada Tobon (Steve Jerrom 88), Frazer Cronin, Ryan Golding, Jamal Alexander (Sidney Warden 73), Fred Obasa.
Subs: Tamer Bilal, Elyon Marshall-Katung

Goals: Jamal Alexander 24, 62, Ryan Golding 59

Eltham Palace: James Bradley, Bobby Holley, Frankie Beale, George Snelling (Jesse Thackham 83), Charlie Burgess, George Martin, Charlie Richmond (Ben Holland 90), Jack Gibbons, Ryan Hassan (Harry Fox 84), Harry Gamble, Freddie Sansom.
Sub: James Wade

Booked: James Bradley 8, George Snelling 45

Sent off: James Bradley 44

Attendance: 102
Referee: Mr Daniel Sanchez (Camberwell, London SE17)
Assistants: Mr Tony Woods (Bexleyheath) & Mr Lucas Hooker (Bromley)




Coverage Sponsored by:



Glebe’s pitch maintained by: