Holmesdale 3-0 Tunbridge Wells - Our focus is on getting to Wembley in The FA Vase Final, says Tunbridge Wells boss Richard Styles

Holmesdale 3 – 0 Tunbridge Wells
Location	68 Oakley Road, Bromley, Kent BR2 8HQ
Kickoff	02/02/2022 19:45

HOLMESDALE  3-0  TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Third Round
Wednesday 2 February 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakley Road

HOLMESDALE manager Lee Roots says it’s great for the club to reach the Quarter-Finals of the Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup after clinical finishing defeated an experimental Tunbridge Wells side.
 

The Bromley based outfit went into this Third Round tie sitting in eleventh-place in the Premier Division with 31 points from 22 games, while Tunbridge Wells were a couple of places higher with 33 points but with a couple of games in hand.

With 11-goal talisman Nathan Palmer having left Oakley Road, right-winger Reuel Powell-Downey stepped up the plate with a first-half brace before striker Kameiko Pope-Campbell sealed the victory as Holmesdale joined Crowborough Athletic, Sheppey United and Sutton Athletic in the last eight of the League Cup competition.

“Obviously over the moon. I thought we were really good value for the win for different aspects of what we did in the game and 3-0 is a really pleasing scoreline and it’s another clean-sheet for us as well,” said Roots.

“It’s our second win over them and progressing to the quarters, so I think overall, as a manager, you’re absolutely delighted with that.

“We wanted to field as strong a side as we could. We rested our club captain James Teodorescu and we wanted to field a strong side.

“Tunbridge Wells are a good team, you don’t get to the last sixteen of The FA Vase by luck.  Their league form is catching up on that so for us we wanted to approach it right.

“We played them before and had our day against them again. We wanted to get through to the next round but also we’ve had a few players move on and it’s about us finding our feet consistently and I thought the lads were fantastic tonight.”

Tunbridge Wells manager Richard Styles said: “It wasn’t the greatest game to watch, I’ll be honest. It was an exercise, it’s a game and we’ve come out second best, the best team won.”

It appeared that Tunbridge Wells’ players had other things on their mind, like their FA Vase tie on Saturday week.

“Possibly, yeah, the whole mentality was elsewhere. I think in terms of where we are. We’ve got a situation where we’re nursing injuries, nursing knocks, players coming back from Covid, who have had their five days and we’re throwing them into tonight just to try to get them through to get some minutes into their legs.  We looked at a couple of things, the focus is elsewhere. It was a game that allowed us to do that, so yes.”

Roots made four changes to the side that lost 1-0 at home to second-placed Sheppey United at the weekend, while Tunbridge Wells made three changes to the one that beat Erith & Belvedere 2-1 at Park View Road seven days ago.

Tunbridge Wells were to be denied the lead after only 44 seconds, courtesy of route-one play.

Centre-half Robbie Bissett launched a long ball straight down the heart of the pitch which caught out Holmesdale’s centre-half Jordan Eels to put left-winger Kyron Lightfoot through on goal and his chip was clawed out by goalkeeper Nathan Edwards, who stretched high to his right to bring the ball down and catch it, with Lightfoot aiming for the top left-hand corner.

Styles said: “A great opportunity, we should score. A great run from Kyron. Out of the ones he had that was the one that he should’ve scored. It might’ve been a different game if that happened.”

Roots added: “Was it that quick? It was a fantastic ball, totally caught us asleep.  Listen, if they score that goal maybe the game goes a different way but it was a good save.  If he sticks it two feet higher the goalie can’t get anywhere near it.

“Listen, I wouldn’t say that’s a lucky moment because Nathan is a fantastic goalie but you need your goalie to stand up and we rode our luck in that first minute but for me I felt that was a good omen because we had our moment so early.”

Poor defending from Holmesdale’s recalled left-back Cian McCarthy let in Tom Carlton – who was later forced off as a precaution with a knock to his ankle – who drilled his right-footed angled drive just past the near post from 25-yards.

However, clinical Holmesdale grabbed the lead following their first chance of the night, the goal coming after six minutes and 14 seconds.

Central midfielder Charlie Hackshall played the ball out to Powell-Downey down the right and he terrorised left-back James Nurden, did a couple of step-overs on the edge of the box before drilling his right-footed angled drive across the rooted goalkeeper and into the bottom far corner from a tight angle.

“First of two fantastic strikes by the kid.  We targeted to wok on overload in wide areas and that was a part of our plan especially down that side,” said Roots.

“He’s got tremendous pace. When he knocks the ball past people, he runs after it and catches it before people can get near him.

“I thought the strike was great. We actually had him in for an hour early last week, he actually had a three-and-a-half-hour session and we spent 45 minutes working on that goal from that angle and the second goal.

“It’s only Reuel’s fourth of fifth start, he’s new to the club but he’s super hungry and he’s got a huge ambition in football and we want to help him reach that but I thought it was a really good one-on-one, he sized him up, maybe two or three step-overs and a good shot across the keeper, a great goal.”

Styles added: “A goal out of nothing really. I don’t know how it ended up in the back of the net if I’m honest but he’s hit a cross and he’s done it and that’s what he's capable of.

“It was hard to see from where I was stood. It was really hard to see. It’s obviously gone across the goal and gone into the side netting, so fair play to him.”

Styles put winger Regan Corke up front on his own during the first half and he found a pocket of space inside the box to flick Nurden’s cross across the keeper and past the far post.

“It’s something that we’re looking at, something we’ve looked at. We’ve worked on a few things before this and I thought (putting Corke up front) might give us another option. It was a perfect opportunity tonight to try that and that’s what we did,” explained Styles.

Tunbridge Wells’ main goalscoring chance came from direct play and they missed another decent chance to equalise halfway through the half.

This time right winger Johnny Phillips was just inside his own half and split open the Holmesdale defence and a quality first-touch from Lightfoot saw him put through on goal and Edwards made a vital block before catching the ball as it dropped from the sky.

Styles said: “A great run, a great run into a good areas that we looked at. I thought it was the harder of the two (chances) but he’s made the keeper make a save. It was a good save again. We would’ve loved it to have gone in.”

Roots added: “I felt that was their two biggest chances in the half. A great ball by them again. I felt we were getting down by that ball twice. Our starting positions from the centre-backs could’ve been better.  We addressed it at half-time.  We were a little bit flat across the back four. We should’ve been more staggered but a fantastic save by Nathan. I think he makes that with his right hand.”

Frank Griffin threw the ball into Corke, who was in space and he stroked a left-footed drive from 25-yards, which went through a pair of legs and Edwards made a comfortable save to prevent the ball finding the bottom far corner.

Holmesdale’s holding midfielder Jamie Rawsthorne was penalised for fouling Lightfoot, who got up and smashed his right-footed free-kick into the wall and over the crossbar.

Lightfoot delivered a deep corner from the right and Ryan Cheek came up from the back and while within a crowd of players at the far post his shot was held by Edwards, smothering the ball low to his left.

Holmesdale had one foot in the Quarter-Finals when they produced a moment of real quality to double their lead with 40:27 on the clock.

Chris Hubbard’s left-wing corner was cleared back to him and he played a short pass inside to Powell-Downey, who was not pressed by the Tunbridge Wells defence.

Powell-Downey shifted the ball onto his right-foot and curled a sublime shot around the diving goalkeeper to find the far corner from 30-yards out.

“Absolute moment of quality,” added Roots.

“They call Chris Hubbard the wizard on his Sunday side and he’s very good technically but it’s all about what Reuel has done there, a couple of step-overs, he shifted it on his right and it moves so much in the air.

“Credit to him and (coach) Mike Parker. They were working on that for an hour and a half last Wednesday and it’s paid off and I’m pleased for Reuel because he’s really, really grafted and to add that to his game, that was a fantastic strike.

“I commended them for being 2-0 up without really controlling any elements of the game.  I felt the game was very much to and frow and I like my teams to have an element of control and I think we were good value for it.

“We wanted to use this as an exercise where we want to become much more proactive as a team and try to score more goals.  We need to score goals so what was we going to do at 2-0? Sit on it? No! We expected a reaction from them. We knew Gething would come on. It was a case of nullifying a few threats. I thought Lightfoot was a very good player and Corke as well, so we played a couple of yards deeper and made a couple of tweaks and it was just a case of trying to get that third goal. We felt the third goal would be the nail in the coffin and it certainly was.”

Reflecting on the goal from the former Rusthall winger, Styles said: “A great strike from the boy. We haven’t reacted quick enough to the ball. The ball’s gone, we’ve come out and we haven’t reacted quickly enough and we’ve been punished from their second shot of the game.”

Styles was also asked his thoughts at the interval.

He said: “We looked at it and we changed a few things. We looked at a couple of things that we wanted to look at that wasn’t working. We wanted to look at a few different things and try a few things, formations and systems.”

Styles changed formation at the interval and played with three central defenders (Cheek, James Huggins and Bissett), with substitute Jack Hope (right) and Nurden (left) as wing-backs, three in midfield and Corke and substitute Matthew Gething up front.

However, the start of the second half turned into a stalemate until Holmesdale had their clinical shooting boots on and sealed the deal by scoring their third goal of the night with 16:20 on the clock.

Hackshall’s fine through ball had spotted the run of James Shield – a centre-half – and he was initially upended by the advancing Aaron Lee-Wharton but referee William Donnelly waved play on and the ball fell to Pope-Campbell, who slotted his shot into the bottom far corner.

“That’s Hackshall’s first start for us, he picked up an injury a couple of months ago in a Vase game and he’s been playing in my development squad getting himself back. I thought he was instrumental with two assists,” said Roots.

“Kameiko didn’t play all pre-season because he had huge issues with his thighs but he’s worked so hard to get back and he deserved his goal. He’s got people breathing down his nick, Andy Constable and Owen Punselie but I thought he deserved that. He looked absolutely shattered and it was a really good goal.

“I think Shield’s epitomises what we’re about. We spoke at half-time about people leaving areas and zones and going for broke and Shiedsey is the one making the run, gets fouled and then we score.  He’s a great player, a great captain, so really pleased for Kameiko.”

Styles simply added, “Scrappy, untidy goal, not a lot in it really. It kills the game though, the third one, that kills the game as a tie.”

Rawsthorne’s through ball put Powell-Downey through on goal for his hat-trick but he was to be denied by Lee-Wharton, who rushed off his line to narrow the angle and make the save.

Styles changed formation to a 4-4-2 and this tactic gave them more of a threat going forward, now that Corke was in his more natural position down the right-wing.

Corke played the ball out to Griffin, the right-back had time and space to whip in a cross into the Holmesdale box where substitute midfielder Josh Froggatt sliced his shot harmlessly wide of the left-hand post while left unmarked in the 64^th minute.

“A good little bit of play that. We did alright to create and cause the issue. It’s a shame that we couldn’t hit the target,” added the Tunbridge Wells manager.

The impressive Lightfoot played a 20-yard pass across the face of the penalty area for Jordan Wells to drill a low shot into the side-netting.

Holmesdale, however, finished the game on the front foot, although Tunbridge Wells continued to huff-and-puff but lacked the quality to score past the fifth best defensive side in the division.

Hackshall played the ball inside to substitute left-winger Owen Punselie, who cut the ball onto his right-foot and stroked his shot towards the bottom left-corner, only for Lee-Wharton to dive to his right to save.

Both Holmesdale and Tunbridge Wells have highly-rated goalkeepers – where are all of those higher-league scouts keeping tabs on Edwards and Lee-Wharton?

Hubbard swept a pass over to substitute winger Dieko Falade who easily cut past Nurden but lacked composure when he only had Lee-Wharton to beat, drilling his shot past the near post.

Lee-Wharton pulled off a brilliant save to prevent Holmesdale notching their fourth goal of the night in the final 13 minutes.

Substitute striker Andy Constable, 43, played the ball inside for Hubbard to sweep a first-time left-footed drive towards the top left-hand corner from 25-yards, which was sublimely pushed over the crossbar by Lee-Wharton, diving high to his right and using a strong hand.

Roots said: “I thought when Andy came on, it was perfect for him actually, the way the game had opened up, they were leaving big holes at the back. Andy’s so good at either isolating a central defender or winning flicks or with his link-up and his intelligence.

“It was a great little move by him, a good little touch by Hubby and it was snap shot and it was a good save by the goalie. It looked like it was just going to beat him. A good move all round. We were kind of in a free flow mode then, where they were going for broke and we had a lot of space to attack.”

Styles added: “With the players that I had on the pitch at that time, we were always going to be a little bit sceptical to that.

“It was just the case of when Aaron’s called upon, he pulls that out.”

Tunbridge Wells kept plugging away, however, and a slick final third raid involving Froggatt, Gething and Wells resulted in Froggatt stroking a right-footed drive from 22-yards, which bounced into Edwards’ gloves for a comfortable save.

“We kept working, got into some good areas and did some good things. It was a shame we couldn’t score one or two really,” added Styles

“I got a lot (out of this game). There were some things that I wanted to look at tonight, there were some different combinations, some different formations we wanted to look at so me and Dan (Morrin, my assistant manager) can go away really and analyse it, asses it and sort of see where we are.  We’ve got another game (at Erith Town) on Saturday and then the preparation begins (for our FA Vase tie at Hamworthy United).”

Huggins slipped over after he punted a deep free-kick towards the Holmesdale box from the half-way line but 17-goal striker Gething steered his free-header into Edwards’ hands for a comfortable save to maintain his clean sheet.

“One of my head coaches, he does live stats on the game so he’s recording the stats and they only had the one real attempt in the second half so we expected more of a reaction from them,” said Roots.

“We know they’ve got bigger fish to fry but listen when the games on you have to beat what’s in front of you.”

When asked about reaching the Quarter-Finals, Roots added: “It’s great for the club. I can’t even remember when the club’s even been in the quarters. It’s great for everyone around and it’s important that you have momentum and something else to look forward to apart from the league.

“This is our day, if we’re going to have a day this is the cup where we’re going to do it.  We feel that we’re doing well in the league – with the resources that we’ve got – and we’ll continue to do well. We could’ve done better.”

Tunbridge Wells travel to sixth-placed Erith Town on Saturday, while Holmesdale are next in action next Tuesday 8 February when they make the trip to 12^th placed Bearsted.

Adam Woodward’s side have banked 43 points from 25 games and called his side “spineless” after the Dockers threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at Culverden Stadium when the two sides met on 30 November.

“It gives us a game to get us going and keep the momentum of the league form going. Three points are up for grabs as well and we’ll do our best to go and get them,” said Styles.

Tunbridge Wells travel down to Dorset to play a Hamworthy United side in second-place in the Wessex League Premier Division table with an impressive playing record of 18 wins, eight draws and one defeat from their 27 league games.

Glebe went there and lost 3-2 in the last round and if there were any Hamworthy United scouts at Oakley Road tonight then they would not have been impressed with Tunbridge Wells’ performance.

“It’s a good game to be apart of, it’s exciting and one we’re taking in our stride and one that we want to prepare right and give everything for and that’s where our season is at the moment,” said Styles.

“We know we’re not going to get promoted, we know that we’re not challenging for the league. Full focus is on one that we could potentially do well in and that’s what our focus is on, getting to Wembley in the FA Vase Final.

“If you look at Erith Town and you look at the exercise we had on Saturday behind closed doors and if you look at tonight, we’re looking at different things all of the time, different combinations, different players playing in certain areas and different players getting different minutes, purely, purely to prepare everyone to be in peak condition for the 12^th and that’s where our work is and that’s the job that me and Dan Morrin have got at the moment.

“Instead of playing the same 11 for every game that kills it because you’ve got eight players who weren’t match fit, aren’t ready so what we’ve got to then make sure is that every player is in good condition, are fully fit, match sharp, match ready to go and do the job that we’re going to ask of them on the 12^th.”

Tunbridge Wells needed penalties to beat Bridgwater United in the last round, coming back from being 2-0 down to snatch a last-gasp equaliser through Bissett's clinical finish in Somerset - but they must play better than what they did here tonight if they are to cause an upset in Devon.

Holmesdale: Nathan Edwards, Rolex Buiti, Cian McCarthy, Jamie Rawsthorne (Dieko Falade 72), Jordan Eels, James Shield, Chris Hubbard, Charlie Hackshall, Kameiko Pope-Campbell (Owen Punselie 63), Rory Ward, Reuel Powell-Downey (Andy Constable 75).
Subs: John Foster, William Polius

Goals: Reuel Powell-Downey 7, 41, Kameiko Pope-Campbell 62

Booked: Jamie Rawsthorne 55

Tunbridge Wells: Aaron Lee-Wharton, Frank Griffin, James Nurden, James Huggins, Ryan Cheek (Josh Froggatt 65), Robbie Bissett, Kyron Lightfoot, Jordan Wells, Regan Corke, Tom Carlton (Matthew Gething 44), Johnny Phillips (Jack Hope 46).
Subs: Connor Pring, Jonathan Shea

Booked: Ryan Cheek 51, James Nurden 69, Jordan Wells 70

Attendance: 88
Referee: Mr William Donnelly
Assistants: Mr Gavin Farrington & Mr Jack Heath