Littlehampton Town 1-0 Greenwich Borough - My players have got to learn quick, says John Cumberbatch

LITTLEHAMPTON TOWN  1-0   GREENWICH BOROUGH
The FA Cup with Budweiser Preliminary Round
Sunday 1 September 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from St Flora’s Road

GREENWICH BOROUGH manager John Cumberbatch claimed his side were intimidated during their hard-fought FA Cup exit at the hands of Littlehampton Town.

Littlehampton Town will travel to Ryman League Division One South side Sittingbourne in the First Qualifying Round on 14 September after striker Jason Jarvis lashed home a 32^nd minute winner in a hard-fought battle on the West Sussex coast.

Greenwich Borough, who went into the game sitting second from bottom in the Southern Counties East Football League table with one point from three games, ensured it was a disastrous weekend for Kent clubs at their level, with only Tunbridge Wells staying in the competition.

Martin Larkin’s side will travel to Whitstable Town on Tuesday night knowing they will host Eastbourne Town (who defeated Corinthian 1-0 yesterday) if they beat Nicky Southall’s side at Belmont Road.

Greenwich Borough, who needed a replay to knock out Sussex County League side Ringmer in the Extra Preliminary Round, disappointed their manager.

Cumberbatch said: “Well, bitterly disappointing because first it wasn’t really a run was it?  It was just one game that we’ve won and then coming here against a side who certainly are no better than us but they played better in that first half but I felt we contained them.

“We gave away what was a good goal from them but again like all goals could have been avoided, but I really wanted to see characters from us in the second half.

“Despite the fact in the second half we were far better – and if anything we edged it in the second half – I just still feel players were too tight, too tentative, not really expressing themselves and I think that’s what let us down.  It certainly did in the first half.”

Littlehampton Town, who went into the game sitting in ninth-place in the top-flight of the Sussex County League with a 50% record from four league games - and defeated St Francis Rangers 3-1 at the start of their FA Cup run - caused early problems through a couple of quality set-pieces.

Left-back Mitchell Hand curled a floated free-kick towards the near post with his left foot which sailed over visiting keeper Jon Beale and Liam Humphries nodded his header wide of the near post after only 75 seconds.

Cumberbatch said: “When you’ve got somebody like that who can deliver the ball the way he was doing, they’re bound to create chances from that.

“I was pleased with the fact that a lot of the goals that have gone in against us have been set-pieces, corners, but we have done a little bit of work on defending those and today it showed. We had a little bit of luck with it but if you’re working hard and defending well, you will get that luck.”

Cumberbatch, however, was alarmed with the poor quality from their free-kicks and he felt that his side should have scored inside five minutes.

Striker Badar Mohamed stroked his right-footed free-kick from 28-yards underneath the Littlehampton wall and goalkeeper Jon Hendricks made a comfortable low save.

Cumberbatch said: “You can’t really call it a save even because Badar has scored a tremendous free-kick (in a previous game) and he’s taken another two or three that have been superb free-kicks and have been unlucky not to score from them.

“As I said to the lads at half-time or at the end of the game, we’ve lost the game because we’ve had two free-kicks in two good areas and whereas normally the players that take them, Badar’s taken one and scored (previously) and George (Jones) has taken one in the last cup game and scored and they both took free-kicks today and quite frankly I could have saved them even with my bad knees. 

“They were terrible free-kicks and as I said to them you can’t allow that to happen in a game that’s this tight.”

Littlehampton went close again when Hand swung in another free-kick from the right towards the far post and Humphries was allowed to ghost in to send his diving header sailing past the near post from six-yards.

Greenwich Borough squandered an excellent chance in the fourteenth minute when Danny Williams floated over a cross from the right-wing and Leighton Francis’ downward header was caught by Hendricks at the near post.

Francis stole the ball in midfield before playing the ball through to striker Jeff Duah-Kessie, who cracked a right-footed shot on the turn sailing over the bar from 20-yards.

Littlehampton right-back Shay Wiggans played in a cross into the near post and midfielder Liam Humphries poked the ball past the advancing Beale and past the foot of the near post.

Greenwich Borough were presented with another opportunity from a free-kick in the 22^nd minute, but skipper George Jones stroked his right-footed free-kick through the wall and Hendricks got down on his knees to comfortably catch the ball.

However, the best chance of the game fell to Littlehampton Town in the 27^th minute.

Man-of-the-match Hand whipped a left-footed free-kick over the wall from 28-yards, forcing Beale to dive full length to his right to push the ball behind for a corner to prevent the ball sailing into the top left-hand corner.

Greenwich Borough’s two strikers linked up well when Mohamed released Duah-Kessie, but he went to pieces just inside the penalty area and sent his right-footed drive sailing over the bar.

However, Littlehampton Town clinched the victory through Jarvis’ third goal of the season.

Right-back Gary Peters did well to skip past a couple of Greenwich Borough defenders down the right flank before playing a pass inside to David O’Gallaghan inside the box, who with his back to goal, cut the ball back to an unmarked Jarvis, who lashed a right-footed drive into the top right-hand corner from 12-yards.

Cumberbatch was clearly disappointed with the manner his side were dumped out of The FA Cup.

He said: “First we needed to be stronger because the first player got past two of ours very, very easily, where the players haven’t really jockeyed, they’ve gone rushing in and the player’s got round them easily and then the loose ball that’s come out, we’ve not worked hard enough to close it down.

“We’ve not shown enough guts in that situation where someone could have come out and closed it down and maybe got a ricochet and avoided it going in, but no one shut him down at all. He had a clear shot at it!”

Littlehampton Town squandered an excellent chance to put the game beyond Cumberbatch’s side’s reach when Peters floated in a deep cross from the right and striker Mark Burgess planted his header over when well placed.

Humphries played the ball into Jarvis’ feet who reached the by-line after his cool drag back put left-back Jack Baines and central defender Greg Barton out of the game before Beale got down low to his right to make a smart low save, before gathering the loose ball as Humphries was ready to pounce.

Greenwich Borough’s central defender Nico James breathed a sigh of relief when he gifted the ball straight to Humphries, who took a touch before drilling a right-footed drive from 30-yards, which drifted past the left-hand post.

Cumberbatch complained about Littlehampton’s robust approach during the game and felt Humphries was lucky to escape punishment when he lunged in to Mohamed just before the break, although claiming the ball.  The Littlehampton winger needed treatment for the knock that he sustained and a drop ball was awarded by referee Conor Farrell.

Littlehampton Town’s players picked up five yellow cards from the Hampshire-based referee, with Greenwich Borough picking up a couple.  Greenwich Borough won the foul count 18-13.

Cumberbatch admitted: “It was a major battle and they should have had more than that!

“They were getting stuck in. A little over zealous at times I felt.  Again, when one of ours did the same there was a lot of screaming and shouting.

“There was one challenge on Badar when the lad came in with a strong challenge and they (the home fans) were all jumping and screaming because they loved the challenge and he (Humphries) got injured and there were calls that Badar should be sent off etc - and that was what we was up against - but again our lads have got to be able to cope with that and they’ve got to be able to put those sort of challenges in themselves.”

When asked whether Humphries should have been punished for the challenge, Cumberbatch replied: “I think so. I thought it was a definite red card!”

When asked what he told his troops during the half-time interval, Cumberbatch said: “At half-time we talked about the players that went in their shell. The fact that we’re intimidated in what they might have seen as a crowd but we’re just a few drunks on the side that were screaming abuse and really I felt the players were reacting to that, instead of realising that was no crowd.

“They’ve got to be able to cope with things like that. They are young, they haven’t got a lot of experience but I was trying to explain to them that is what happens in a football match.  You get people on the side and our players have got to learn it’s about focusing on the pitch and what you do on the pitch and not people screaming and shouting on the side or the referee not giving decisions etc. It’s about what you do on the pitch!”

Cumberbatch felt his side could still force themselves back into the game and had they taken three decent chances during the second half then they would have forced a replay at Dartford’s Princes Park Stadium on Tuesday evening.

He said: “There’s no way it was game over because I knew when we came in at half-time and came out again we would be better.

“We’ve got a very, very young squad, very young squad and there’s certain situations when they go into their shell and we’ve got to stop that happening because there’s a lot of talent in there but there’s not much experience and that’s what we’ve got to get over.

“When the goal went in that should’ve been telling them to raise the players. 

“The other unfortunate thing because we had to play this on a Sunday we only had ten days’ notice so we ended up with our main right midfielder (Paul Lyons) not being able to play and our main centre half in Scott Hillyard were both unavailable because it was played on a Sunday and again that would have made a big difference.”

Littlehampton Town created the first chance inside the opening six minutes of the second half when Hand was given time and space to curl a left-footed shot across Beale and past the far post.

But Greenwich Borough squandered an excellent chance to equalise in the 55^th minute.

Barton played the ball out of defence straight through the heart of the Littlehampton defence to release Duah-Kessie, who rode a challenge from robust central defender McKay, but he dragged his right-footed shot agonisingly wide of the left-hand post from sixteen-yards.

“Again we haven’t got a killer instinct about us because Jeff has scored for us before and he’s only been coming on as sub but he’s playing very well when he’s come on and he’s looked dangerous,” explained Cumberbatch.

“The chances that he’s had have either been saved or they’ve just gone wide whereas today I felt again he just tightened up at that point and the strike wasn’t a good one.”

Greenwich Borough failed to take another excellent chance in the 65^th minute when Francis clipped the ball down the line to winger Williams, who cut the ball across the face of goal and after McKay’s challenge on Duah-Kessie at the near post, the ball fell to Francis’ feet, who rolled his shot agonisingly wide of the foot of the left-hand post from fourteen-yards.

Cumberbatch added: “Which again he should have hit with venom, instead of trying to place it and the ball just went wide. It wasn’t a very good shot!”

Williams then played the ball inside to Mohamed, who took a touch before drilling a right-footed shot from 30-yards, which forced Hendricks into catching the ball high to his right to prevent the ball sailing into the top left-hand corner.

Cumberbatch said: “It was a very good save. It was a very good strike.  Nothing was going right for Badar today, nothing went right for him at all and when he hit that one I thought he’ll get that little bit of luck that he deserves but it didn’t happen.”

Visiting keeper Beale kept his side in the game when he got down low to his right at his near post to prevent Scott Packer scoring his fifth-goal of the season from close range after the ball came out to him after Jarvis cut inside from the right and Peters played a deflected ball across the face of the goal along the ground.

Littlehampton Town went close inside the final thirteen minutes when Packer cut a corner back to Hand, who took a touch before floating over a cross towards the far post and substitute David Gaskin sent his header sailing just wide of the far post from eight-yards.

Gaskin then delivered a cross into the penalty area from the right and fellow substitute Ben Gray clipped his curling left-footed volley straight at Beale from eighteen-yards.

Littlehampton Town, who can be proud of their lush playing surface at a ground that they share with the cricket club, received a slice of luck in the final six minutes when Hendricks dived low to his left and blocked Duah-Kessie’s swerving right-footed drive from 30-yards with his right leg.

A free-kick from Gray curled just over the Greenwich Borough crossbar from 30-yards before the home side went close inside stoppage time when Gaskin curled his left-footed shot wide of the far post following a slick move involving Packer, Gray, Peter and Jarvis.

Reflecting on new-look Greenwich Borough’s FA Cup defeat, Cumberbatch said: “They’ll learn quite a lot but I’m not going to go into that because that will give away a bit of our weakness but certainly afterwards we had a chat about the fact that there were some positive things that they’ve got to get out of it. 

But the manager added: “They’ve got to learn and they’ve got to learn quick.”

Greenwich Borough return to Southern Counties East Football League action next Saturday when they travel to Whyteleafe.

The Surrey side won the local bragging rights with a 2-0 win in The FA Cup over Croydon yesterday, courtesy of goals from Roscoe Dsane and former Bromley player Gareth Williams at The Arena.

“It’s going to be very, very tough, but again we’ve still got one or two good players to come in and I just think we’ll get stronger.”

Greenwich Borough then welcome Tunbridge Wells to Princes Park on Tuesday 10 September.

“That’s going to be tough because I would think, for me, they’re the best side in the league,” said Cumberbatch.

Cumberbatch revealed the club have settled into their new surroundings well.

“We’re happy at Princes Park,” he said.  “Everything’s set up right for us.  All we have to do as a team is now play better because we’ve got everything we need there.  The people over at Dartford have been fantastic and they have given us a hell of a lot on and off the pitch.”

Littlehampton Town: Jon Hendricks, Shay Wiggans, Mitchell Hand, Gary Peters, Ross McKay, Jamie Thompson, Liam Humphries (Alex Kew 60), David O’Gallaghan (David Gaskin 75), Mark Burgess (Ben Gray 60), Jason Jarvis, Scott Packer.
Subs: Jimmy Taylor, Rhys Watling, Josh Bates, James Askew

Goal: Jason Jarvis 32

Booked: Ross McKay 21, Mark Burgess 29, Jamie Thompson 64, Ben Gray 71, David Gaskin 90

Greenwich Borough: Jon Beale, Marvin Brahowa, Jack Baines, George Jones, Greg Barton, Nico James, Danny Williams (Gabriel Vyiekpen 83), Leighton Francis (Akeem Hanson 83), Jeff Duah-Kessie, Badar Mohamed, Fabrice Kragba (Jordan Keenleyside 61)

Booked: Leighton Francis 35, George Jones 45

Attendance: 121
Referee: Mr Conor Farrell (Fareham, Hampshire)
Assistants: Mr Gary Pratt (Havant, Hampshire) & Ms Amy Robinson (Gosport, Hampshire)