Margate 4-1 Clevedon Town - I thought we handled the pressure well, says Margate boss Simon Osborn

MARGATE  4-1  CLEVEDON TOWN
The FA Carlsberg Trophy Second Qualifying Round
Saturday 2^nd November 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Hartsdown Park

MARGATE joint-manager Simon Osborn says his side handled the pressure of being the favourites to comfortably win this FA Carlsberg Trophy tie.

Margate eased their way into the Third Qualifying Round thanks to their 4-1 win over Calor (Southern League) Division One South & West strugglers Clevedon Town at a blustery Hartsdown Park.

The Somerset based outfit – who went into the game in the bottom four having collected two wins and two draws from their opening nine league games – were unlikely to pull off a shock after Margate raced into a 3-0 lead inside 36 minutes.

Charles Ademeno scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes to give midtable Ryman Premier League side Margate a commanding lead, before Phil Walsh scored the first of two headed goals, before Clevedon pulled a goal back through midfielder Matt Thorne just before the break.

Ademeno squandered hopes of a hat-trick when he blasted over a penalty early in the second half, before Walsh’s second headed goal killed off their poor opponents.

Margate lost central defender John Beales to a knee injury and substitute Paul Vines lasted less than three minutes after he was red-carded towards the end following an ugly nineteen-man melee inside the Clevedon Town penalty area.

Striker Vines became Margate’s seventh sending off for the season and the club are close to breaking an unwanted record, when they twice had ten players sent-off during seasons 1988-89 and 2003-04.

That unwanted statistic was made available following the press conference with Osborn, who was pleased to progress through to the final qualifying round, which see’s Conference South clubs enter the competition in two weeks’ time.

“I thought we started the game really well, got a couple of goals in front and it was very comfortable,” said Osborn afterwards.

“It probably could have been more. We gave (them) a little glimmer of hope there just before half-time but again we’ve had the luxury of missing a penalty.

“We created chances in the second half and I don’t think Craig (Holloway) probably had to make a save all that second half so pleased to get through.

“Always tricky (playing against lower-league opposition), the conditions weren’t ideal with the wind a bit blustery and that but I thought we played well and adapted quite well to it.”

Clevedon Town’s best spell of the game came inside the opening eight minutes when the skies above Hartsdown Park were sunny.

Their first attempt on goal came inside the opening three minutes when left sided midfielder Ibz Diallo stroked a speculative left-footed drive sailing wide of the far post from 30-yards.

Margate goalkeeper Craig Holloway was then forced to his left to parry Thorne’s left-footed drive from 25-yards, after an initial poor goal kick from Margate’s joint-manager.

But clinical Margate opened the scoring following their first chance inside seven minutes.

Matt Bodkin swung in a corner from the left and Walsh’s downward header was blocked and Ademeno pounced on the loose ball and swept his right-footed shot on the turn past goalkeeper Joseph Wallacott from four-yards.

Osborn said: “We’ve not scored enough goals from set-pieces. We’ve got some guys that attack the ball really well.

“It’s dropped to Charles and we asked him to be in and around the goalkeeper and he’s managed to swivel on that and stick it home, which was great for us.”

Clevedon Town almost equalised straight from the re-start when the ball was played up to lone target-man Ross Macnab, whose right-footed angled drive forced Holloway to move to his left to make another save.

Osborn added: “They’re always going to come, with the wind. It’s going to be difficult at certain times. It does play a factor in the game. They created a couple of half chances there but I thought every time we went forward, I thought we looked dangerous and could have had more (goals) in the game.”

Clevedon Town linked up well down the right through Abi Adams and Thorne, but Adams’ hooked volley screamed over the Margate crossbar from the corner of the penalty area.

But Clevedon Town gifted Margate a second goal inside 20 minutes.

Tall central defender and skipper Clayton Fortune (who was wearing the number 9 shirt) made a huge howler when his attempted back-pass towards his goalkeeper was latched onto by Ademeno, who clipped a quality right-footed chip over the stranded keeper from 25-yards, which dropped into the bottom far corner of an empty net.

Osborn said: “He’s second goal was a great finish!  A bit of a mistake from the guy at the back from them but Charles still had a lot to do and lobbed it in there with the wind and used that nicely.

“We wanted to get off to a flyer. They’ve had a long journey. We wanted to utilise that, try and come out of the traps fast and we’ve done that.

“I thought we played some good football at times. I thought first half we was quite comfortable.”

Margate’s supporters breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that they didn’t have to make the 424-mile round trip for a Monday night replay.

Ademeno’s first chance of scoring a hat-trick arrived in the 28^th minute.

Walsh played the ball into Bodkin who burst forward down the right before whipping in a cross towards the near post where Ademeno hit a right-footed shot on the turn from eight-yards, which forced Wallacott to dive to his right to push the ball away to safety.

Giannoulis Fakinos then played the ball into Bodkin, whose left-footed drive from 22-yards took a deflection and flashed just wide of the far post.

But Margate deservedly increased their lead further with a third goal in the 36^th minute.

Bodkin floated in a corner from the left and Walsh ghosted in and powered his header into the middle of the goal from six-yards to kill Clevedon off.

Osborn said: “I thought Walsh played really well today, first half especially, wind against us and he was getting hold of the ball for us causing their defenders a lot of problems.

“He was getting a lot of free-kicks for us, which was relieving a lot of pressure for us in that first half.

“He was immense for us today up front in really difficult conditions in the first half. I was really pleased with Phil. He’s been playing like that in the last couple of weeks now and he deserved his couple of goals today.”

Walsh then cracked a right-footed drive on the run over the Clevedon Town crossbar from 30-yards, before Clevedon Town scored a consolation in the 44^th minute.

Full credit must go to substitute Louis Feeley, who picked the ball up in midfield, skipped past a challenge and progressed 30 yards through the heart of the pitch before playing in Thorne, who slammed his right-footed shot past Holloway.

“That goal just before (half-time) did give them a little bit of glimmer of hope, which was a bit of a poor goal on our part,” said a disappointed Osborn.

“We gave the ball away a bit higher up and let ourselves right open in the midfield area, which was disappointing.

“They got that goal completely against the run of play, but second half with the wind and with us going down the hill – with the penalty miss – it could have been a lot more comfortable.”

Osborn said conditions were difficult because the sunny skies at kick-off turned to rain lashed dark clouds during the half-time interval and the groundsman had to folk the centre circle during the break in play.

Thankfully the rain stopped for the second half and a rainbow was seen above Hartsdown Park during the second half with a pot of £3,250 of prize money coming from The Football Association following this comfortable win.

Margate kicked-off the second half and the ball was played up to Fakinos, whose right-footed dinked shot was caught by Wallacott after only thirteen seconds.

Osborn was pleased with the start to the second half.

He said: “We just said keep doing the things that we’ve done in the first half. We wanted to go on, keep creating chances, get some shots off, get plenty of balls in the box for big Phil and Charles who was causing them problems and I think that was the thing we wanted to do in the second half.

“We done that to a point. It kind of went a bit scrappy for twenty minutes in that mid-period in the second half until we got that fourth goal, when we relaxed that little bit more and probably deserved a couple more towards the end.”

Clevedon Town should have done better when a free-kick from left-back Ollie Barnes was headed away to Kye Mountford, whose right-footed chipped half-volley from 25-yards looped harmlessly over Holloway’s goal.

Margate linked up well down the right when Bodkin found right-back Elliott Cox on the overlap, who whipped in a wind-assisted cross from the right and Wallacott kept his eye on the ball as it sailed over his shoulder and pushed the ball over his crossbar at the last moment as the ball dipped towards goal.

Ademeno had himself to blame for not scoring a hat-trick only nine minutes into the second half.

The Margate striker cut inside Fortune, who stuck out a leg to bring the striker down and referee Mr David Spain pointed to the spot before booking the hapless defender.

Ademeno grabbed the ball but powered his right-footed penalty high over the bar and into the trees at the Coffin End of the ground.

“I don’t know what he decided there – he decided to go for the power,” said Osborn.

“I think it’s still going. It’s probably on the beach or something by now!

“He’s stepped up, he’s taken penalties before, he’s decided to go for power and he just got under it a little bit.”

Ademeno was clearly pulled from behind but referee Spain waved play on and Walsh played the ball to Bodkin, whose right-footed drive from 35-yards whistled agonisingly past the right-hand post.

Margate were dangerous from Bodkin’s dead-ball deliveries and a free-kick saw Beales ghost in unmarked but the former Tonbridge Angels defender sent his bullet header from a tight angle across goal and harmlessly wide of the far post.

Osborn was delighted when Walsh joined Ademeno on eight-goals for the season, when he scored Margate’s fourth goal in the 67^th minute.

Ademeno was fouled from behind by Fortune and Bodkin took a couple of giant Jonny Wilkinson esque steps back before whipping in a brilliant free-kick with his right-foot some 40-yards from goal and Walsh headed across goal and into the bottom far corner from ten-yards.

Osborn said: “It was a really good header by Phil. He adapted really well. We’ve been asking Bods to put those balls in here and Phil managed to get his head on it. It was actually a more difficult header than what it actually looked. He was stretching and got it in there.

“He wins so much ball. We want him in the box scoring more goals – he’s got the capability. He’s our (joint) top goalscorer this season again and if he keeps getting in the box and we keep delivering the balls in there, he will score goals.”

Walsh, too, was denied a hat-trick when Wallacott caught his right-footed drive from 25-yards.

Clevedon goalscorer Thorne held his head in his hands in agony when he skied a decent chance from 22-yards high over the Margate crossbar within a minute.

A slick passing move from Margate involving Ryan Dolby, Ademeno – whose first time pass released Jack Sammoutis down the left wing – saw the ball come over to Walsh, who hooked a first-time right-footed volley agonisingly wide of the right-hand post.

Beales handed the captains armband to his central defensive partner Joe Vines before he was stretchered off the pitch with thirteen minutes remaining.

When asked about the injury, Osborn said he will know more tomorrow.

He said: “He’s tweaked his knee a little bit.  We’ll have to see how it settles down and wait to see how John is. 

“It’s disappointing to lose John because he’s a major part of us. He’s our captain and he’s playing well again today so we’ll just have to see how he settles down tomorrow.”

The impressive Bodkin was denied Margate’s fifth goal when his angled drive brought a smart save from Wallacott, who got down low to his right to push the ball away to safety.

Margate’s fine day was marred when they finished the game with ten-men for the final four minutes after substitute Paul Vines was shown a straight red-card following a nineteen-man melee inside the Clevedon Town penalty area.

Referee Mr Spain brought play back for a foul on Fakinos – after Wallacott made a low save to deny the midfielder scoring from just outside the penalty area – before a coming together of players.

Paul Vines was sent-off, Dolby was booked and Clevedon’s Macnab was also shown a yellow card for their alleged part in the ugly scenes.

Once calm was restored Dolby drilled the resulting free-kick into Wallacott’s arms.

Osborn was asked his thoughts on the flashpoint.

“I just thought it was a little bit disappointing,” he said.

“We’ve reacted to something. We’ve had a ball kicked in to the back of somebody’s head from five-yards away.  I didn’t actually see what went on with Paul there and the referee sent him off and we’ve got a yellow card for Ryan Dolby and just a yellow card for them.

“I’m not happy about the sending off in any way shape or form. I can’t comment on the actual incident because I couldn’t see it happening. There was too many people in and around it.

“The disappointing thing is we reacted when somebody’s booted the ball in to somebody’s head, which is a natural reaction for me.”
 
Margate can now look forward to Monday’s final qualifying round draw.

“You don’t want to go down to there on a Monday evening so we were pleased we’ve got ourselves in the draw,” said Osborn.

“It was comfortable. We were the better side throughout the whole game.  A little disappointed in certain areas that we didn’t take some of the chances that we created but at the beginning of the day we would have taken that.

“The conditions worsened in certain times but we’re through. We’re in the hat on Monday. We look for another home draw, touch wood!”

Margate have scooped a total of £8,950 in prize money after winning three games in both The FA Cup and The FA Trophy.

Osborn said: “Listen, clubs at any level in the non-league need cup runs to survive. It generates a good income. We’ve had another result. We go in the next round and try and win that one as well. We’re pleased that we’ve got the result and we move on.”

Osborn was disappointed that today’s match attracted a crowd of only 227.

“It’s disappointing but you can only keep dragging people in,” he said.

“It’s difficult. We’re coming up to Christmas, people haven’t got loads of money about. The weather doesn’t help as well. It’s disappointing. Was it a big tie? Probably not!  We’ll keep battling, keep doing what we’re doing and see if we can drag a few extra ones.”

Margate return to Ryman Premier League action with a trip to third-placed Kingstonian next Saturday.

Osborn said: “Difficult game. Very difficult game.  We’re going to prepare this week, hopefully get some of the injured ones back up and running but we know it’s going to be a tough place to go and get a result there but if we can play like we have been, creating chances, I’m sure, touch wood, we can get something there.”

Margate’s home game against Billericay Town in two weeks’ time will now have to be re-arranged for a midweek fixture.  Margate could play two more FA Trophy rounds this month, which will cause a fixture back-log.

“We’re in the hat, that’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to get through this round. We were the favourites, there was a bit of pressure on us but I thought we handled it well and we played well and deserved to go through.

“Of course you always want to get home ties as much as you can through any cup competition. We’ll take it. We’ll see what comes up and we’ll prepare for next Saturday’s game against Kingstonian and then we’ll see what we get for the following one.”

Margate: Craig Holloway, Elliott Cox, Ryan Dolby, Scott Kinch, John Beales (Richard Avery 77), Joe Vines, Giannoulis Fakinos, Jack Sammoutis, Phil Walsh (Paul Vines 83), Charles Ademeno (Gary Vizzard 90), Matt Bodkin.
Subs: Georges Ehui, Warren Whitely

Goals: Charles Ademeno 7, 20, Phil Walsh 36, 67

Booked: Scott Kinch 72, Ryan Dolby 87

Sent Off: Paul Vines 86

Clevedon Town: Joseph Wallacott, Kaine Gazzard, Adi Adams, Matt Thorne, Ollie Barnes, Ibz Diallo (Laim Leister 80), Kye Mountford, Edd Vahid, Clayton Fortune (Jack Hewlett 70), Ross Macnab, Iboo Sarr (Louis Feeley 32).
Sub: Micky Bell

Goal: Matt Thorne 44

Booked: Matt Thorne 41, Clayton Fortune 54, Ross Macnab 87

Attendance: 227
Referee: Mr David Spain (Westfield, east Sussex)
Assistants:  Mr Theo Parfitt (Heathfield, east Sussex) & Mr Stephen Brown (Ashford)