Lordswood 1-5 Sutton Athletic - They gave us a really mature hardworking performance but then having the quality to finish the chances that we had, says Sutton Athletic coach Tristan Cropley

Lordswood 1 – 5 Sutton Athletic
Location	Martyn Grove, North Dane Way, Walderslade, Chatham, Kent ME5 8YE
Kickoff	26/11/2022 14:00

LORDSWOOD  1-5  SUTTON ATHLETIC
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 26 November 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Martyn Grove

SUTTON ATHLETIC coach Tristan Cropley says his players’ put in a mature hardworking performance after humiliating Lordswood to climb into fourth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table.

Lordswood manager Richard Dimmock declined to comment on his side’s awful performance, which lacked desire, leadership and quality from the 16 players that he put out on the long grass at Martyn Grove today.

Left-winger Conor Evans scored twice in the first half to take his goalscoring tally for the season to eight to put the Hextable based side in the driving seat going into the interval.

Right-winger Akoloawole Salami notched his sixth goal of the season before talisman striker Arlie Desanges tapped in his 13^th of the season before the outstanding William Muckle capped off a very impressive game with a late fifth.

Lordswood scored their first goal in 371 minutes when substitute George Acland headed in a late consolation to score his third goal of the campaign.

“Really impressed with the lads, I thought it was a very professional performance in terms of getting the win,” said Cropley.

“We probably could’ve got more goals.  I would’ve liked a clean-sheet but I can’t complain.  The boys were brilliant, 1-14 who played today.”

Erith & Belvedere lead the table with 46 points from 17 games, while Stansfeld remain second with 30 points from 16 games, Erith Town are third with 28 points from 14, while Sutton Athletic are in fourth-place with 25 points from 15 games.

Stansfeld and Sutton Athletic were both promoted from the First Division last season and both sides do not pay their players. The third side, Fisher, climbed off the foot of the table with a vital 3-1 home win over third-from-bottom side Welling Town, closing the gap to a couple of points with four games in hand on Kevin Oakes’ side.

“It’s nice. It’s better than being at the bottom end of the table but it’s still too early, we still haven’t played half of the teams yet,” said Cropley.

“I think at Christmas, we’ll see where it is but the aim this season has always been let’s not be looking in the bottom two places.”

Lordswood have recently lost the services of goalkeeper George Bentley to Isthmian League South East Division basement side Faversham Town and striker Richard Pingling has returned to Croydon, from the division below.

Dimmock gave a debut to Daniel Houckham, having snapped him up from Dartford based side Halls Athletic in the Kent County League Premier Division and he leaked five goals.

Dimmock was forced to play centre-half Junior Baker as an emergency striker for the 66 of the 76 minutes that the 39-year-old was on the field and the move backfired as Lordswood put in a dire performance from all of their players in front of a small crowd of 40.

Both sides cancelled each other out as Lordswood started with three men at the back, a diamond midfield and three strikers up front but Zachary Jacubowski, Baker and Nathaniel Murray were all starved off service, as Lordswood played this game as 11 individuals rather than a team showing desire, pride and character.

Sutton Athletic created their first opening in the 12^th minute when Evans and debutant Liam Spellward linked up down the left before Spellward got close to the by-line before putting over a cross towards the near post, which was headed over his own goal by Dennis Agbudume, who played on the left of a three-man defence.

Sutton Athletic opened the floodgates with only 14 minutes and 9 seconds on the clock, hitting Lordswood on the counter-attack.

The outstanding Muckle split open James Teodorescu and Bode Olajide to put Desanges in behind and his first time 20-yard pass along the deck put Evans through, who skipped past the advancing goalkeeper before finishing left-footed into the bottom left-hand corner from 15-yards.

“It’s almost a carbon copy, we were here a few weeks ago playing Hollands & Blair (winning 5-0 on 25 October) and it was a similar goal,” recalled Daniel Kelly’s coach.

It was almost two just 113 seconds later when Olajide gave the ball away (despite not being under pressure) and Muckle fed Evans, who set up Desanges, who cracked a left-footed drive just over the goalkeeper’s fingertips and just over the centre of the goal.

Lordswood created a half-chance in the 19^th minute, however, when Sutton Athletic’s emergency left-back Daniel Watson gave the ball away to Baker, who played a short pass into William Marsh (who played on the right of their midfield diamond).

The second phase of the attack saw the ball worked to Qendrim Murselaj (who played at the base of the diamond) into Lewis Tristram (left of the diamond) and his left-footed drive from 22-yards screamed past the far post with goalkeeper Joe Hyde rooted to the spot.

Marsh was on the halfway line when he clipped a long ball towards the edge of the Sutton Athletic penalty area. Hyde came out and failed to gather the ball on the deck but was in the right place at the right time as Baker smashed the ball straight at him.

Dimmock lost Agbudume to injury, so on came Robert Hicks to slot in the centre of their three-man defence alongside Teodorescu and Olajide.

But Lordswood’s defence switched off to allow Sutton Athletic to deservedly double their lead with 43 minutes and 52 seconds on the clock.

Right-back Harry Lawrence threw the ball short to Spellward, who put over a cross towards the corner of the six-yard box where an unmarked Evans turned and clinically found the bottom far corner to leave Lordswood beleaguered.

Cropley said: “Excellent finish, excellent move.  The goals particularly in the first half were a joy to watch in terms of intricate passing between the front three. It’s stuff we’ve worked on, we always work on it in terms of attacking transitions and it paid off.”

When asked about his thoughts at half-time, Cropley added: “Keep going! Offensively we were doing great in terms of our attacking transitions.  Just defensively, with them pushing their wing-backs up, it was making sure that our two full-backs were switched on and also that the centre-backs didn’t get pulled on the wrong side.

“Dan Watson, the left-back, is not a left-back, he’s a centre midfielder or even a right winger but he did a job today and he was up against someone twice his size.”

Teodorescu had a woeful game in Lordswood’s defence and he gifted Sutton Athletic their third goal when it arrived with six minutes and 36 seconds on the clock.

A long ball from defence from George Wishart should have been dealt with in the air by the former Holmesdale defender but his weak back-header was intercepted by Salami, who flicked the ball over the hapless goalkeeper’s head before tapping the ball into the back of an empty goal from within the six-yard box.

“It looked like he over-played it but to have that composure to flick it over the keeper and then coolly tap it in, is really good,” said Cropley.

“I think that’s his sixth goal of the season. He doesn’t start every week but he’s outstanding when he’s called upon.  He seems to like scoring here, he got one against Hollands & Blair but what’s nice for Kola is that he’s got pace, technique and he’s experienced.

“In the past he may not have chased that down and may have let the keeper get it but we’ve been saying to him in recent weeks ‘chase things up, run the keeper down, if you can run the centre-back down if you can, gamble, don’t always try to win the header, especially when you’re up against a bigger lad, try to spin off in behind,’ and that’s what he did.”
 

Sutton Athletic’s fourth goal swiftly followed (09:27) and man-of-the-match Muckle was involved again.

The midfielder rolled the ball out to Salami, who easily cut inside Teodorescu down the right and put it on a plate for an unmarked Desanges at the back post and he tapped the ball over the line for a simple finish.

“A great finish! As in I think he’s on the line and then he put it in but they all count,” said Cropley on his talisman’s close-range finish.

“What was nice in the first half, Kola done that a couple of times and his decision making, he either played it behind Arlie or over hit it and we said at half-time to ‘just keep going, you will get one, don’t stop doing the right things,’ and he did the right things, he beat his man, whipped the ball across and Arlie scored.”

Cropley is delighted that after scoring 48 goals in the tenth-tier last season, Desanges has scored 13 at the higher level so far this season.

“We know what he can do, he’s a goalscorier and he’s one of those that can play at any level of non-league and get goals,” Cropley said of his captain.

“You look at players like Kola etc and you say you couldn’t learn from a better player, he’s an absolute outstanding number nine and probably the best striker in this division.”

Evans stroked a right-footed free-kick high into the side netting from 25-yards – but Lordswood offered nothing and all 16 players that donned the jersey put in an awful performance.

Houckham got down low to his left and tipped Muckle’s 35-yard drive around the post as Sutton Athletic went close to adding a fifth goal with 23:57 on the clock.

Muckle released substitute left-winger England Kurti, who cut into the box and rifled his shot into the side netting when he only had the goalkeeper to beat – and fellow sub Neil Spencer was also a threat with his pace on the other side of the pitch after replacing Evans in the 64^th minute.

“It’s really difficult. It was four-nil and you come off the bench and you see the guys that were playing in your position scoring goals and you think ‘I can get involved here.’

“We may have got more goals from assists from the two that came on, rather than trying to score goals themselves but it was a well-worked move.”

Sutton Athletic had earlier lost centre-half Richard Gregory to a dead-leg and Evans was forced off with a bang underneath his knee, which alarmed Cropley.

“It’s a shame for Richard, he was absolutely outstanding and scored a great goal against Welling Town last week and he put his body on the line, which he does. It's a cold day and when you get a foot across like that, they hurt and he’s got a bit of a dead leg but he should be alright by next week,” revealed Cropley.

When asked about Evans’ injury, Cropley added: “The tackle was rash. I think everybody in the ground thought it was.

“Originally the ref played on, which was concerning but when she saw how severe it was she stopped the game and then spoke to the player. He got a yellow. I’ve seen it given as a red but I thought it was a horrible tackle and with the weather the way it is, it could’ve bene worse than what it is.

“It looks like a flesh wound above the knee but he’ll know better in a couple of days when the swelling goes down.”

Sutton Athletic’s right-back Harry Lawrence cracked a right-footed dipping drive towards goal inside the final seven minutes from 35-yards which brought an unconvincing save from a goalkeeper that was playing two levels beneath Lordswood last weekend.

Cropley admitted he “lost a bet” with Lawrence because “he has one of those at least every game and I normally guess the minute.  I said 27 minutes but he did it in the second half but he’s a great player, he’s full of confidence and when he sees that bit of space he’ll go 20 yards and pull the trigger.”

Lordswood finally strung some passes together during the final 15 minutes but the damage was already done.

Teodorescu’s long ball was cut back by substitute Dominic Wynter-Stephens but Rory Ward sliced a woeful shot past the left-hand post from the edge of the box despite visiting goalkeeper Hyde being out of his goal at the time.

Sutton Athletic won the corner count seven-to-three and Muckle played the ball short to Kurti, who cut from the right into the centre and his left-footed drive from 20-yards was smothered by Houckham beside his near post.

Houckham was guilty of gifting Sutton Athletic their fifth goal with 42: 35 on the clock.

His clearance was controlled by Muckle, who hit a left-footed drive into the empty goal from 40-yards to cap off a really impressive day’s work from the Sutton Athletic holding midfielder.

“He doesn’t do tap ins!  He’s only scored two goals for the club, the winning goal in the play-off final, which was an absolute worldie and then he scores that one,” revealed Cropley.

“I’m really pleased with him because he’s done everything but score today and then he scores and he absolutely deserved it and in previous games he’s absolutely deserved it, so it kind of tops of his performance really.”

Since beating struggling Welling Town by a single goal on 1 November, Lordswood have suffered defeats to Erith Town (0-5), Holmesdale (0-3) and Phoenix Sports (0-3) and went into this game in 12^th place in the table with 20 points from 17 games.

Lordswood scored a consolation goal with 50:07 on the clock.

Jacubowski floated in a cross from the left and Acland got in between the two centre halves to bury his free header across Hyde into the left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Cropley said: “It’s difficult because I think there was four or five injuries, there was a lot of injury time in both halves. The game was probably done at four-nil and it’s very hard to keep that momentum and the concentration but we did. It was just that last bit at the end.  For a coaches point of view, I’d rather won four-nil than five-one but from a players’ point of view they like to score goals, so you can’t complain.”

Reflecting on the manner of his side’s seventh league win of the season, Cropley added: “We’re missing key players but the ones that came in put in a very mature game. 

“Liam Spellward (a recent signing from Welling Town) was outstanding in his first game for the club.

“They gave us a really mature, hardworking performance but then having the quality to finish the chances that we had.

“In the past it would’ve been one or the other. It would either have been a hardworking performance or the quality but today it was both and that’s really good because it means that it’s not just 1-11, it’s 1-16, 1-18 in the squad.  We haven’t got the biggest squad in the division so it’s making sure the ones that do play come in and do a job.”

Phoenix Sports visit Lower Road next Saturday, while Lordswood seek a reaction next Friday when Kennington visit here.

Phoenix Sports suffered a 6-4 home defeat to Stansfeld in the Kent Senior Trophy today, while Kennington went down to a 2-1 defeat at First Division leaders Snodland Town in the same competition.

Cropley said: “It will be nice to turn our away form into home wins. I think that’s four away wins on the bounce. It’s been a bit hit and miss at home in recent weeks but then we have played the bigger sides, Deal and Erith & Belvedere at home.

“Phoenix are a great team so it will be a tough game. Hopefully we will have one or two back, hopefully Conor Evans and Richard Gregory are ok.

“We’re happy with where we are in the league and we’re just going to keep pushing to reach a couple of milestones – to get to 40 points, stay out of the bottom two, see where we are at Christmas, see where we are in January and aim for the top half of the table and go from there.

“Success this season would be top 10 personally, to be in the top half of the table. I think that momentum is always key. You mention Stansfeld and ourselves have no budget.

“It’s a team that have got that core of 16-18 players that know each other, know what’s expected and will work for each other rather than some of the teams that have gone through 30-40 players already this season.

“For us, top 10 will be amazing. Let’s get 40 (points), let’s stay out of the bottom two and see where we can go from there.”

Lordswood: Daniel Houckham, William Marsh (Phillip Makinde 66), Lewis Tristram (Dominic Wynter-Stephens 66), Bode Olajide, James Teodorescu, Dennis Agbudume (Robert Hicks 34), Zachary Jacubowski, Qendrim Murselaj (George Acland 68), Junior Baker (Luke Reid 76), Rory Ward, Nathaniel Murray.

Goal: George Acland 90

Booked: William Marsh 58, Robert Hicks 61

Sutton Athletic: Joe Hyde, Harry Lawrence, Daniel Watson, Theodore White, Richard Gregory (Michael Fenn 25), George Wishart, Conor Evans (Neil Spencer 64), William Muckle, Arlie Desanges, Liam Spellward, Akolawole Salami (England Kurti 69).
Sub: Kieran Hughes

Goals: Conor Evans 15, 44, Akolawole Salami 52, Arlie Desanges 55, William Muckle 88

Attendance: 40
Referee: Ms Anastasiya Voloshchuk
Assistants: Mr Michael Corderoy & Mr Jack Smith