Glebe 5-0 Lydd Town - I want them to show the fight for Lydd Town, says boss Liam Smith

Glebe 5 – 0 Lydd Town
Location	Foxbury Avenue, off Perry Street, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6SD
Kickoff	31/01/2017 19:45

GLEBE  5-0  LYDD TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League First Division
Tuesday 31^st January 2017
Stephen McCartney reports from Foxbury Avenue

LYDD TOWN manager Liam Smith admitted his side did not show enough fight during their thrashing at title-chasing Glebe.

The Chislehurst-based hosts remain second in the Southern Counties East Football League First Division table with 56 points from their 22 league outings, a point behind Rusthall but with a couple of games in hand.

Lydd Town remain in ninth-place with 32 points from 24 games and Smith’s decision to make seven changes to his side that suffered a 5-2 defeat in Dartford to Kent Football United at the weekend backfired.

Glebe striker Fred Obasa has been in fine goalscoring form while star striker Ryan Golding has been out with a broken fibula and he scored a hat-trick tonight to take his tally up to 19 for the season, while his strike partner Aaron Jeffery added a late brace, as Lydd Town capitulated during the second half by leaking four goals.

Despite raining all through the game, Glebe’s pitch was in pristine condition as we head into the vital last three months of the season.

“No complaints really, they were a lot better than us, a lot sharper than us, fitter across the pitch and their nine (Obasa), the lad up front was the difference really,” said the towering Liam Smith during the post-match press conference.

“I thought the first half was fairly even, there weren’t many chances but Glebe are sharper across the pitch but I didn’t think we gave enough going forward first half, especially with the lack of quality in midfield.  When we got into the final third they just kept coming back wave-after-wave of attacks.

“Second half they had their instructions and a bit of a collapse really especially going downhill. The pitch was getting heavier and heavier. I felt we didn’t do enough and the floodgates opened and it could’ve been six or seven.”

Glebe made a couple of chances to the side that suffered a shock 2-1 home defeat to second-from-bottom side Sporting Club Thamesmead at the weekend and with Scott Whibley suspended, Woodward had two of his assistant managers out on the pitch, centre half Charlie McCarthy and left-winger Sam Long.

“It was a great response,” said Glebe’s manager Adam Woodward, who has seen his side win 18 league games this season.

“I changed the shape a little bit, changed a bit of personnel. I though the boys done well, good response.  I thought we were second best on Saturday, there were no ifs or buts about it.  We lost to a very organised and well-disciplined Sporting Club Thamesmead. Unfortunately, for the first time this season they wanted it more than us.

“Tonight was a perfect response against a good Lydd side. They were organised. I thought they’d be more direct but they played a bit of football, which probably played into our hands a little bit.”

Lydd Town created the first opening after only 48 seconds and former Folkestone Invicta man James Everitt should have taken it.

The striker started the move and played the ball up to his strike partner Craig Calvert, who played the ball out wide to Shqipron Ahmetaj, whose low cross was swept into Adam Molloy’s hands by Everitt from 12-yards, although the weak shot was heading out for a goal-kick.

Glebe’s holding midfielder James Day had a great game as he bossed the midfield and his short free-kick was played into Jeffery’s feet, who played Obasa in behind but Craig Smith came off his line and dived to his left to make the save as the Glebe striker dinked his shot towards the bottom corner after 12 minutes.

“It would’ve been great to have a fast start. We don’t tend to have fast starts,” revealed Woodward.

“We attack teams quickly, come out from the blocks but like I’ve said to you before we’ve got to score these goals when we charge out of the blocks.  We’ve got to be scoring!”

Smith added: “Our goalkeeper Ben Stevens fell ill and Dan Cook, our other goalkeeper, is not fit to play so Craig is just helping me out and doing me a favour tonight.  He played for Lydd last year but he’s only played once this year at Holmesdale.”

Lydd Town’s left-back Matt Burdon clipped a free-kick into the Glebe box, which was punched away poorly by Molloy, the ball dropping to the wrong player a defender than a striker, as Paul Mabb’s chip from 25-yards looped into the hands of the keeper as he made his way back towards his goal-line.

“The keeper came and flapped at it first of all and he went to punch it away and it didn’t go far enough,” said Smith.

“Paul’s leaning back to try to lob the keeper and he got back quite quickly to be fair and done well to catch it in the end.”

Burdon played the ball down the line to left-winger Dan Wanstall, who played the ball inside to Everitt, who turned his man, cut inside and his right-footed drive from 25-yards was charged down by McCarthy and Molloy made a comfortable save.

Smith said: “Dan Wanstall done well down the left, he’s got a good left foot. He cut it well and James Everitt, who should’ve taken it first time, he’s had two or three touches. Charlie McCarthy, Glebe’s assistant manager, got a real block in so can’t have any real complaints about that.”

Woodward added: “He was lively up top. I let them know before the game that James Everitt was lively. He’s scored a few goals this season (15) but we’ve had no Scott Whibley tonight, which is massive. He’s our captain, our leader, our centre half and Charlie McCarthy’s gone in again and he’s been absolutely immense.”

Glebe produced a slick move on the deck involving right-winger Andreas Felipe Losada Tobon and Jeffery, who played Obasa in behind Mabb but the Glebe striker dragged his shot across the keeper and past the far post.

“Fred has a lot of chances, he’s got his hat-trick tonight, he probably could’ve had five or six if I’m honest,” admitted Woodward.

Smith added: “I think he should’ve scored if I’m honest for someone who’s scored that amount of goals he has this season. The lad’s a hell of a forward, he’s so quick, so lively. He should’ve had four or five on another day he probably would.”

Lydd Town’s first of five corners arrived in the 27^th minute and Everitt retrieved Ahmetaj’s corner, lost his footing, got up immediately and cut the ball back for Calvert, who forced Molloy to dive to his right to parry the shot.

Smith said: “I was down the opposite side today because I was trying to stay away from the dug-out trying to have a better advantage point trying to talk to a few more players a bit more in-depth rather than being in the dug-out.  It was a good save from Adam Molloy.”

Woodward added: “it was nice to go in with a clean one at the break, which was good. I don’t think they really had too many chances and Molloy had a comfortable night.  I thought we defended very, very well and stopped them getting any chances really.”

Lydd Town keeper Craig Smith palmed over Long’s right-footed dipping free-kick, which was destined to drop into the top far corner in the 27^th minute.

The visiting keeper then made a comfortable stooping catch as central midfielder Cronin hit a dipping drive towards the near corner from 35-yards.

Lydd Town were guilty of hitting hopeless balls into Molloy’s grasp as Everitt and Calvert were given poor service from midfield.

Glebe deserved their lead when it arrived in the 31^st minute and full marks must go to man-of-the-match Day.

Glebe’s captain slid in to win the ball inside his own half and the lush wet turf allowed the ball to skid 30-yards along the deck into Obasa’s feet, who strode forward before poking his right-footed shot past the advancing keeper into the empty net from 12-yards – the striker ignoring Jeffery in space on the opposite side.

“Good finish from Fred. Aaron or Taz gets a little bit frustrated when other forwards score but that’s fine.  He got a couple of goals tonight,” said Woodward.

“It was a good finish. It was a great tackle by Jim. He was a real leader in there tonight, in centre midfield. Him and Frazer (Cronin) were absolutely immense. Maybe they don’t get the credit they deserve.”

Smith added: “We spoke at half-time about the goal. We’re very critical of ourselves. You want to always improve as a young football side especially with our side. We had the ball in the final third and without the quality pass that puts the ball out to the left, James Day has put a good block in and then we’ve been overloaded and not shown a good reaction and Fred didn’t need a second invitation did he and just slotted it nicely past the keeper.”

Cronin whipped in a deep low cross from the right which fell at Long’s feet and the former Bromley winger cracked a right-footed dipping drive towards the roof of the net, which was tipped over the bar by Craig Smith in goal.

Glebe left-back George King hit a sublime 60-yard diagonal pass straight into Long’s feet on the right and his cross caused a scramble which Craig Smith pounced on the ball low to his right on the line as Jeffery and Obasa both had stabs at goal from close range.

But as soon as the heavens opened from the 37^th minute, the rest of the first half petered out and Glebe went in with a slender one-goal lead.

Both managers were asked their thoughts at the interval.

Woodward said: “It was a good response form Saturday.  I can accept performances like that tonight for the first half because we showed a little bit of guts and we dug in and we battled. It was definitely an improvement from Saturday.”

Smith added: “There was a lack of quality in midfield.  You can’t defend for 90 minutes but because we’re going uphill against one of the best sides in the league, I felt we had to try to contain them and try to frustrate them and keep our discipline, which I thought we did very well.

“There was a lack of chances for both sides first half. They probably had two and we had a half chance and one full chance.

“I said we’re in the game, you’ve got a big 10 minutes. We played 4-5-1 to try to contain the game but within two minutes we made a sloppy, sloppy error and it’s 2-0 and then all off a sudden it’s 3-0 and then it’s game over!”

Lydd Town were forced to reshuffle their pack at the break when right-back Matt Hadlum was forced off through injury and Gary Penfold, who like Burdon, have been picked up from Sunday League football in Ashford, slotted in at right-back.

You have to go to Glebe with your strongest line-up and Glebe took only 102 seconds to double their lead.

Day’s perfect low pass slid through the heart of Lydd’s defence to put Obasa through on goal, he rode Mabb’s sliding challenge and skipped past the advancing keeper before keeping composed to slot his shot into the empty net.

Woodward said: Good pass put him in, another good finish from Freddy boy. It’s nice to come out and eased it up a little bit, a nice little cushion to go 2-0 up. It was the perfect way to start the second half.  It gets us a little bit of confidence up for the boys.

“As soon as we went 2-0 up they went with two players up and went a little bit more direct.”

Smith added: “He nicked it off our centre halves (Mabb) toe. He went to have two touches, he should’ve put that into row Z to be honest and tried to clear his lines, which we said about staying in the game for the first 10. That’s a sloppy goal from my point of view. Again, Fred’s got in, great finish and gave our keeper no chance.

“I was standing over the stand side still at that point and I ended up going over by the dug-out because I was very frustrated by that goal and I’ve let the boys know how I feel!”

Lydd Town went direct in the search of a quick breakthrough.  Everitt launched a trademark long throw towards the near post and Ryan Smith’s flicked header was beaten around the post by Molloy, diving to his left.

The towering Lydd boss said: “Ryan Smith is one of our best headers of the ball. He's got nine goals this season, I think eight of them have been headers. We said to just try to put it on them and try to play a bit more direct. It might as not be as pretty and we’ll try to impose ourselves on the game and yet again Molloy made a good save and it’s gone out for a corner.”

Glebe killed the game off with their third goal in the 63^rd minute, through route-one football.

Keeper Molloy launched a big kick forward, Jeffery flicked the ball on to put Obasa through on goal who slotted the ball to the advancing keeper’s left to slot the ball in to score his hat-trick.

Woodward said: “It was a good header (from Jeffery).  Fred takes the glory with the goal but Taz has won a fantastic header and taken one for the team, a smack on the head. A good win from Taz put him in and a good goal by Fred.

“As you said in your report before I need to calm down with my touchline antics so I was pretty calm tonight.  When we were three up, I didn’t want us to take our foot of the gas. We still carried on working hard and creating chances.”

Smith added: “From our point of view very sloppy from 2-0 until the 90^th minute. The floodgates really did open. I said some harsh words to the boys in the end. We want to see a reaction on Saturday and we’re very disappointed with the third, fourth and fifth to be perfectly honest with you.

“At 3-0 it’s game over totally. Glebe are not going to let that advantage slip, especially at home, especially the free-flowing football game they play.  The games’ never dead with them, they always want the ball and full credit to them.  I feared the worst at 3-0. I said to the boys ‘let’s have some respectability! Have a bit of fight’. I don’t think we did that today.”

A diagonal pass from central midfielder Owen Kessack found Lydd substitute Reece Mortimer, who cut in from the left and bent his right-footed shot around the diving keeper and just past the foot of the far post.

“I thought he done all the hard work, he’s beat his man, made his yard and he’s went for a curler at the far post because he’s dome that a couple of times this season and he just dragged it wide,” added Smith.

Glebe hit Lydd Town on the counter-attack as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

Long played a one-two with Obasa and was played in behind a struggling defence but dragged his right-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post when faced with the keeper to beat, frustrating Woodward.

“Sam’s got a great non-league CV (playing for Bromley and Dover Athletic). He played really well. He was good, his organisation on the pitch, it helps. I had both my assistant managers out there tonight, which is good to get information across on the pitch.”

Glebe wrapped up the comfortable victory with two late goals from former Sevenoaks Town striker Jeffery.

Substitute Elyon Marshall-Katung linked up with King down the left and Marshall-Katung cut the ball back to Jeffery, who turned his man before placing his left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from 15-yards in the 82^nd minute.

“It was good for him to get his goal but he battled really hard tonight,” said Woodward.

“He created chances, he worked hard off the ball.  Ok, to get his goal was good, thoroughly deserved. If I’m honest he probably should’ve had a hat-trick.”

Smith added: “I thought Sam Long and Aaron Jeffery were quiet tonight.  I personally thought Sam Long is one of the best players in the league because of the levels he’s played. He probably shouldn’t be playing at this level but his mate is the manager.

“Aaron Jeffery deserved his goal because he done a lot of hard work off the ball but we didn’t see him in the first half until about an hour, did we?”

Jeffery’s seventh goal for Glebe arrived just 98 seconds later, courtesy of a helping hand from goalkeeper Craig Smith.

Long threw to ball to Day in the final third and his short pass played in Jeffery, who cut into the box and slid his shot underneath the keeper, who got a touch to the ball before it trickled over the line despite the keeper’s last-ditch attempts.

Woodward said :”I’m sure he’s going to claim it! You’ve given the goal to him? Brilliant! Good finish! He worked hard today. He had a good battle with (Ryan Smith).  They battled well. Taz got two goals and could’ve got three or four.”

Smith added: “It was bit of a pinball and all of a sudden the keeper’s come and he stopped and he’s hesitated. That’s probably through a lack of game time to be perfectly honest with you.  I keep saying the word sharp like a broken record but our keeper wasn’t sharp because he doesn’t play often. He’s just doing me a favour.  Their striker has nipped in and it’s 5-0. From them I thought it was going to be even more even with seven minutes to go.”

Glebe had three further chances to humiliate Lydd Town further.

Marshall-Katung dragged his shot across the diving keeper and past the foot of the far post, before fellow sub Steve Jerrome appeared to be offside when he latched onto a ball over the top and cut inside from the right wing and was denied by a morale-boosting save from Craig Smith, diving to his right to tip around the post.

“Stevie done well. He’s been out injured for a couple of weeks. I’ve given him a couple of weeks to get his groin sorted, which he has done and he came back and I thought he was very lively when he came on. He’s got pace and the one thing you can’t defend against is pace,” said Woodward.

“It’s fallen to Jerrome and it’s a good save and full credit to him for that really,” added Lydd’s manager.

Long’s outswinging corner (Glebe’s tenth of 12) was met by rising debutant Jack Duffy, but his free-header from 15-yards sailed over the crossbar.

Lydd Town have now conceded 10 goals in their last two away games and Smith searches for improvement ahead of Saturday’s trip to Sporting Club Thamesmead.

“I’d say we’ve left ourselves down because 5-0 was a fair reflection on tonight but it’s not a fair reflection on my football team.  We’re not as bad as the scoreline may suggest,” said Smith.

“I’m definitely not going to be shying away from anything! I’m not going to be a sore loser. I’m trying to get the boys in training, have a light session with them and try to prepare for Thamesmead away because they’re the last side to beat Glebe, if you remember, last Saturday, so they’re going to be a very tough test as well.

“I want them to show the fight for Lydd Town.  The chairman’s disappointed tonight, I’m disappointed and I’ll go home and dissect it, talk to my wife, try to calm down eventually on the long drive home and try to prepare for Saturday.

“We’re not showing enough fight when we start losing and that’s why we’ve been losing games.”

“As far as Glebe, good luck to them. I hope they go on and win it and if they don’t then we’ll see them next year but we’ve still got them down at our place in April on the last game of the season so we can have a say (on who wins the title), but I think it will be over by them because they’ve got a couple of games in hand on Rusthall.  I think they’ll probably win it and Rusthall will come second but that’s just my opinion.”

While Rusthall and Glebe battle it out for the league title, Kent Football United and K Sports are waiting in the wings, six points adrift of Woodward’s men, who were banging on the walls of the dressing room after the game singing along to “Ain’t no stopping us now.”

“Rusthall are in front, leading the way. We’ve got Kent Football United and K Sports right up behind us but we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing, keep trying to win games of football and we’ll see where it leads us,” added Woodward.

Glebe: Adam Molloy, Davy-Jo Anderson, George King, James Day, Carson Dennis, Charlie McCarthy, Andreas Felipe Losada Tobon (Steve Jerrom 59), Frazer Cronin (Jack Duffy 69), Fred Obasa (Elyon Marshall-Katung 77), Aaron Jeffery, Sam Long.
Subs: Joe Borland, Sidney Warden

Goals: Fred Obasa 31, 47, 63, Aaron Jeffery 82, 83

Booked: Fred Obasa 30, Frazer Cronin 58

Lydd Town: Craig Smith, Matt Hadlum (Chris Howells 46), Matt Burdon, Owen Kessack, Paul Mabb, Ryan Smith, Shipron Ahmetaj, Gary Penfold, Craig Calvert (Reece Mortimer 59), James Everitt, Dan Wanstall (Alex Coyne 59).
Sub: Dan Cook

Booked: Owen Kessack 8, Paul Mabb 74, Ryan Smith 82

Attendance: 58
Referee: Mr Nick Fruin (Beckenham)
Assistants: Mr Jamie Eacott (Walderslade) & Mr Matthew Sell (Rochester)


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