Greenwich Borough 5-0 Deal Town -Our main goal next year is to win the league, says Greenwich Borough assistant Paul Blade

Greenwich Borough 5 – 0 Deal Town
Location	Princes Park Stadium, Grassbanks, Darenth Road, Dartford, Kent DA1 1RT
Kickoff	16/04/2015 19:45

GREENWICH BOROUGH  5-0  DEAL TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League
Thursday 16^th April 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Princes Park Stadium

GREENWICH BOROUGH assistant manager Paul Blade admits the club have learnt from their mistakes this season and will be mounting a serious title bid next season.
 

The Dartford-based club have failed to live up to expectations in the league this season and remain in fifth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League table on 64 points with four league games remaining.

Ian Jenkins’ side claimed the Kent Senior Trophy for the third time in the club’s history with a 3-1 victory over Pain & Glory Sports Kent Invicta League leaders Hollands & Blair at Bromley’s Hayes Lane ground last Sunday.




SUCCESS: Greenwich Borough beat Hollands & Blair 3-1 last Sunday to win the Kent Senior Trophy for the third time in their history.
Photo: Alan Coomes

Striker Paul Vines scored a hat-trick in that game and was rested for Tuesday night’s 2-2 draw against Lordswood.

But Paul Vines took his goalscoring tally to 25 for the season with another hat-trick tonight, with box-to-box midfielder Billy Bennett scoring his thirteenth goal of the season, while Mohamed Eisa scored his fifteenth goal for the club following his move from Corinthian.

“Good. A lot different from today’s game and Tuesday’s game and we sort of played the way that we wanted to play, which makes a big difference,” said Blade following his club’s nineteenth league win of the season.

Blade was full of praise for double hat-trick hero Paul Vines.

“He’s on fire at the minute, confidence is up there.”

Deal Town boss Derek Hares admitted Greenwich Borough were just too good for his side tonight.

“I just thought on the night they were too good for us,” said Hares, following his side’s nineteenth league defeat of the season.

“They played really well. I don’t think we played as well as we have been playing. Overall, disappointed but beaten by a good side on the night.

“The main thing for us, 9-10 weeks ago, when we took over, the main thing for us was to stay in the league. That’s what it was all about and I think we’ve all exceeded that by a long way winning nine out of ten.

“It would have been nice to come here and put on more of a show really. That’s one poor performance out of the last ten or eleven games.

“I don’t think we came here tonight with an attitude we’ve done it. We wanted to come here and put on a good show but I just thought we were a bit under par and I thought they played pretty well.”

Deal Town arrived in Dartford on the back of seven wins on the bounce in eleventh-place in the table on 45 points from 35 games and they started the game on the front foot, without testing Greenwich Borough keeper Craig Holloway.

Connor Heffernan – who was later forced off through injury – cracked a wild volley high over the bar from 25-yards following Eisa’s cut-back, before Greenwich Borough took the lead – against the run of play - with 8:48 on the clock.

Eisa’s flicked header fell at Bennett’s feet and he chipped the ball into the Deal Town box where Paul Vines let the ball run across him before hooking his right-footed shot across the keeper to find the far corner from 10-yards.

Blade said: “They started quite well and we knew it was going to be a tough game because they are the form side in the league at the minute so we knew it was going to be a tough game.

“We made five changes to the side. They started quite well but once we scored the first goal from then on everything clicked into gear and they didn’t have an answer.”

Hares added: “We started well but once we conceded the goal, we sort of went back into our shell a little bit.

“Overall disappointed with the display but you can’t be disappointed with the boys’ because they’ve been superb over the last few months.”

Hares agreed that Greenwich’s opener was against the run of play at the time.

“That’s about right to be fair. They’ve got some good players and they’re a good team. I don’t think we performed as well as we could have but I’m disappointed with that.”

Clinical Greenwich Borough doubled their lead with their next attempt with 14:30 on the clock.

Jack Clark hit a sublime long diagonal through ball from inside his half of the pitch and Paul Vines outpaced his marker to crack a stunning first time right-footed drive into the bottom right-hand corner from seventeen-yards.

Blade said: “Good finish, good pass! There’s not much you can say. A joy to watch.”

Hares added: “He’s a good player. I thought we felt we could have defended two of the first three goals better but once they got in those scoring positions they take them. That’s why they’ve got the squad they’ve got!”

Greenwich Borough were awarded a free-kick 25-yards from Deal’s goal but this time Clark’s free-kick deflected off the wall and bounced behind for a goal-kick.

Greenwich Borough were playing some scintillating football at times and had they been playing like this earlier in the season then they might have finished less than 24 points behind champions Phoenix Sports, who won the title following their 1-0 win at Erith & Belvedere at Park View Road last night – both sides finished the game with ten-men.

Gary Borrowdale charged forward from left-back and shrugged off his man to whip in a cross from the left channel but Paul Vines’ towering header clipped the crossbar, high to the keeper’s left, from six-yards.

Blade added: “Confidence is just one of those things. Every time he gets the ball in the box he’s going to score. We won’t take that away from him. We’ll just encourage him to do that.”

Greenwich Borough produced a slick move involving Lewis Wood and Eisa, who played a couple of one-twos, before Eisa’s driven right-footed shot from 20-yards forced a low save out from visiting keeper Chris Waymark.

Deal Town’s only chance of the first half arrived in the 31^st minute.

Right-back Luke Bigginton was given time and space to float over a deep cross into the box but Charlie Dickens’ downward header from sixteen-yards was caught comfortably by Holloway.

Hares, who watched his side beat Lingfield 4-1 last Saturday, said: “That was about it really! We had a little bit of a call for a penalty, whether it was or not I’m not really sure. Other than that we never created enough. The one thing that we have done recently was score a lot of goals.”

Blade added: “We’ve got to expect they’re going to come at us. They’re the form side, they’re going to look to put it in the box so they had an opportunity but Craig dealt with it ok.”

But Greenwich Borough raced into a 3-0 lead in the 34^th minute.

Joe Vines played the ball out of defence to find Eisa, who turned his man brilliantly inside the box before drilling a right-footed shot over Waymark’s left shoulder and the ball crashed down off the crossbar and dropped down to Bennett, who controlled the ball with his chest before nodding the ball into the net from six-yards.

Bennett is a player who can play higher and Blade was pleased that he got on the scoresheet.

“Good follow up. He gets up and down. We encourage Bill to get on the second balls that are bouncing around and that’s what Bill’s good at.”

Hares added: “Well, you summed it up really. I think we could have defended it better particularly the first two goals.

“When they went in 3-0 up, I felt we played a little bit better in the second half, but they still scored a couple of goals.”

Hares admitted his side’s first half performance wasn’t good enough – but Deal Town changed their formation at the break and put in a better display.

He said: “We just said we feel we didn’t create enough in the first half. We were disappointed with our display and we had to up our game and what we didn’t want to do was turn it into a rout. Losing 5-0 is not great!

“Basically we went three across the back (Grant Bagley, Hill and Dickens) and five across the middle and two up front just to try to get hold of the midfield a little bit. I think it worked to a point.”

Blade simply added: “Cliché – keep it going! Same again! You’re trying to keep people’s momentum. You’re trying to keep on at people. Sometimes it can be a hard one at half-time but their manager is screaming and shouting blah, blah, blah and it gives him a chance to scream and have a dig at people but you’ve got to say well done (to our players’) and that’s it.”

Greenwich Borough brought on Danny Phillips at the break and he fed the ball into Bennett, who played the ball into Paul Vines, whose left-footed shot on the turn sailed over from the edge of the box after only 134 seconds.

Deal Town almost received a slice of luck in the 51^st minute when they hit the near post with a lucky break.

Charlie Walsh played the ball into striker Connor Coyne, who hooked the ball out wide to Bigginton – who was pushed up from right-back to a more advanced position during the second half.

Bigginton was given time and space to slice his cross in from wide on the right and the ball clipped the near post.

Hares admitted: “It’s a little bit unfortunate. It could have sneaked in but I think it was more of a cross than a shot!”

Walsh went close with a searching left-footed drive from 20-yards, which only just cleared the top of the right-hand post.

Gary Alexander – who partnered Joe Vines at the heart of Greenwich Borough’s defence – floated over a cross towards the far post, which was cushioned down by Bennett. Paul Vines jumped to flick the ball on at the near post and Lewis Wood headed over from a couple of yards out.

But Greenwich Borough’s fourth goal arrived in the 69^th minute.

Paul Vines played a flicked pass into Eisa, who ran on and sent his right-footed chip from fourteen-yards over the advancing keeper, the ball dropping into the empty net.

Blade said: “I think the keeper made it easy, he made his mind up because he (Eisa) was confident, has great ability and he’s always a threat. He’s a young lad. He’s still learning. There’s things that he needs to work on but ability wise, great, great!”

Hares said: “On the play, they deserved that. I can’t take anything away from him. Good luck to him.

“It looks like they’ve won one cup and are going to win another possibly. I would say they’ve probably underachieved in the league but they are a quality side. We’re not going to play teams like that every week as we’ve proved.”

Deal Town got a shot on target inside the final twenty minutes when substitute Danny Smith powered his left-footed curling free-kick around the wall from 25-yards but Holloway made a comfortable catch.

Hares Said: “It was a decent free-kick, but he’s a good goalkeeper as well!

“The second half was a lot better from us, a lot better.

“We put an extra man in midfield and we sorted it out a little bit like that but overall I’m a little bit disappointed. I don’t think we’ve played as well as we have over the last few weeks and we’ve come up against a good side and when you do that they punish you!”

Blade added: “Their manager has obviously had a go at them and they’re going to have a go, but once we scored the fourth goal that was them done.”

Greenwich Borough completed the rout with 11 minutes left through Paul Vines’ second hat-trick in two games.

Phillips played the ball into Bennett out on the right, who was given time and space to deliver a superb cross and Paul Vines brought the ball under his spell with his chest before smashing a right-footed volley low to Waymark’s left from 12-yards.

Deal’s keeper Waymark cannot be faulted because he was beaten by quality football from Greenwich Borough.

Hares agreed, by saying, “I don’t think the keeper could have dealt with any of the goals. None of them were down to him.”

Blade added: “I had no doubts as soon as it came off his chest there was only one thing that he was going to do and put it in the back of the net.  I’m well pleased for him.”

Former Ramsgate player-manager Dean Hill advanced forward inside the final five minutes for Deal Town and played the ball into Connor Coyne, who cut the ball on to his right foot before hitting his shot over from 15-yards.

Greenwich Borough were denied a sixth goal when Alexander’s curling right-footed free-kick was destined to fly into the top far corner, only for Deal Town substitute Alex Coyne to direct his header over his own bar.

Hill ran forward for a second time before his left-footed shot took a deflection and forced Holloway to make a low save to his right at the death.

Hares said: “He had a good run, he saved one at the end. We created a lot more in the second half. We were better in the second half but it’s still not good enough!

“Dean Hill has been superb for us. He’s brought in bags of experience. He’s still a good player and he’s been great in the dressing room.  I can’t speak highly enough of him really. He’s been great for us and it will be fantastic if we can keep him but we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Greenwich Borough welcome Fisher to Princes Park on Saturday, before completing their league campaign with trips to Tunbridge Wells (Monday); Canterbury City (Wednesday) and Beckenham Town on 28 April.

They then play Tunbridge Wells again in the Macron Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Final at Welling United’s Park View Road on Saturday 2 May.

Winning two Cups will be great for the club, but it was the League title that was number one on the list at the start of the season, although the club have enjoyed good times in the cups this season.

Blade said: “That’s what we said to the boys in there. That’s how frustrating it is for us because we knew what we can do, performances like that and that’s the frustrating side of it!

“We should be much higher in the league. We should be in a different position that we are at the minute.

“We’ll always learn from it and we have learnt from it and most of the players’ have learnt from it as well, what’s expected of them.”

When asked about his plans for next season, Blade replied: “Win the league! Simple as that! That’s it! Win the league!

“We have to take our hat off to Phoenix. They’ve deserved to win the league so we have to accept that but our main goal next year is to definitely win the league.

“We’ve got to win the league with what we’ve got, the players, the facilities, the backing and everything else. It’s a minimum requirement next year.

“We always knew it was going to be tough, the Kent League is not as easy as people think. It has improved from a while ago when all the big boys left the Kent League. It was struggling for a while but it’s gradually found itself and become a tough league.

“There will be teams coming up next year like Hollands & Blair, who we played last week, who will be a tough side in the league. They’re going to be there or there abouts so we’ve got no expectations. We know it’s going to be hard but having a season like we’ve had, we’ve learnt a lot and we’ll take that on to next year.”

For Deal Town, Hares and his management team have done a great job to keep the club in the league when all seemed lost at the turn of the year.

“At the end of January we probably looked favourites to go down,” admitted Hares.

“We weren’t doing very well. We only had four wins up to that point and we were struggling. 

“Fortunately for us we’ve come in and we’ve managed to turn it around. All credit to the players, they have been great.”

Deal travel to third-placed Erith & Belvedere on Saturday, before completing their campaign with a home game against Corinthian on 28 April.

“Another tough one on Saturday. We had a couple of players’ missing tonight but hopefully they’ll be available but we did pick up a couple of knocks so we’ll have to see how we are tomorrow really.  We haven’t got long to get over it, have they?

“Our last game, at home to Corinthian, next Saturday, if we can win that and finish ninth, tenth, eleventh from where we were with 15 points nine weeks ago, now on 45, it’s a massive turnaround.

“These last three games we’ve used them as a bit of a yardstick to see what we need to do and then we’ll sit down and talk at the end of the season but what we have got there is the basis of a decent side because most of the players are under 23. A lot of them are under 20 so it’s a young side, except for Dean Hill!”

Greenwich Borough: Craig Holloway, Cameron Heffernan, Gary Borrowdale, Billy Bennett, Joe Vines, Connor Heffernan (Chris Saunders 55), Lewis Wood, Gary Alexander, Paul Vines (Scott Kinch 82), Mohamed Eisa, Jack Clark (Danny Phillips 46).
Subs: Rob Gillman, Jake Britnell

Goals: Paul Vines 9, 15, 79, Billy Bennett 34, Mohamed Eisa 69

Booked: Joe Vines 36, Jack Clark 41, Cameron Heffernan 83

Deal Town: Chris Waymark, Luke Bigginton (Curtis Stevens 90), Brad Short (Danny Smith 62), Dean Hill, Grant Bagley, Lee Scott (Alex Coyne 78), Andy Miller, Kristian Gregory, Connor Coyne, Charlie Walsh, Charlie Dickens.

Booked: Kristian Gregory 41

Attendance: 54
Referee: Mr Jack Owen (Sevenoaks)
Assistants: Mr Joe Dann-Pye (Maidstone) & Mr Mike Ingram (Chatham)