Punjab United 1-1 Stansfeld - We've come up in this division against an established good side and we're disappointed that we've come home with only a point, says Stansfeld joint-manager Jamie Phipps

Punjab United 1 – 1 Stansfeld
Location	Elite Venue, Dunkirk Close, Gravesend, Kent DA12 5ND
Kickoff	07/10/2022 19:45

PUNJAB UNITED  1-1  STANSFELD
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Friday 7 October 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Elite Venue

STANSFELD joint-manager Jamie Phipps insists his side are not dark horses for the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division title after leapfrogging over Deal Town into second-place.

The First Division champions have collected 21 points from their 12 league outings, six points adrift of big-spending league leaders Erith & Belvedere, who sealed a club record nine wins out of nine with a 4-2 home midweek win over Glebe.

Stansfeld were without striker Tommy Whitnell, who injured his ankle during their 2-0 home win over Fisher in midweek, and they also lost attackers Aidan Hayes (ankle) and substitute Rob Hughes, who pulled up with a hamstring strain here tonight.

Returning striker, Lee Friend, came off the bench and just 175 seconds after coming on, slotted in an counter-attacking goal to give Stansfeld a deserved lead.

However, Punjab United showed great character and levelled just 85 seconds later through a sublime left-footed volley from talisman striker Paul Vines, notching his fourth goal of the season to share the spoils in Gravesend.

“I thought we did alright.  I thought we had the better chances overall,” said Phipps, who has performed miracles alongside Billy Hamlin to get the amateur outfit up in second-place in their first season in the ninth-tier of English football.

“It was a fairly even game, both teams could’ve won it but we’re disappointed, which shows how far we’ve come as a club,  We’ve come up in this division against an established good side and we’re disappointed that we’ve come home with only a point.

“It’s a fantastic start.  I think momentum goes a long way and we’ve carried on the momentum from last season.

“It’s always good to get points on the board early because it takes a bit of pressure off, so we’re happy with the start that we’ve made but we’re also disappointed that we haven’t got a few more points because we feel like we should’ve done.”

Punjab United, meanwhile, have leapfrogged over Canterbury City in the bottom three, with eight points from their 10 league outings.

“I thought it was a tough game that we expected.  We know exactly what they’re like to be honest, hard-working, physical, shout for everything, so we know what we were coming into but I think the way we played the last few weeks, this is a good response,” said Punjab United manager Chipie Sian, who hailed the opening inaugural Groundhop weekend a success, having attracted the club's largest league attendance tonight.

“I think we should’ve won it at the end. I think we had the better chance at the end, even the last five minutes.  Don’t get me wrong, they had a couple of free-kicks near the end that was a bit nerve-wracking but clear-cut chances were ours.  I think we should’ve won. We deserved to win with that little bit at the end.”

Stansfeld were the better side during a dominant first-half performance with Punjab United goalkeeper Sam Mott making his long-awaited debut after replacing Liam Northwood.

Stansfeld created their first opening after only three minutes and 44 seconds, with the 33-year-old former VCD Athletic stopper making a fine double save.

Centre-half Dan Parkinson’s free-kick from 35-yards bounced in front of the goalkeeper, who pushed the ball away before smothering the rebound at his near-post to deny right-wing-back Sam Smith.

Phipps said: “It was a good chance and a good save.  The keeper got across his line well, saved at the far post.

“We’ve changed a few things up in the last couple of weeks after a couple of different performances and it’s worked well for us.  When you’re wing-back is at the far post, that’s where you need and want them to be. It was unlucky but it was a good save.”

Sian added: “Sam’s a good goalkeeper, he’s been with us since the beginning (of the season), I know he hasn’t played.

“Liam Northwood wasn’t here today, so Sam stepped in. It was a fantastic save to be honest.

“Listen, our luck has been a bit, when something’s happened like that, it’s come out and it’s fallen to another play and bang! You’re 1-0 down.  Sam was brilliant in goal today.

“Liam’s away this weekend. He’s told us that a long time ago. I think the break will do him some good. It’s good to see Sam as well because we’ve got two good goalkeepers and that’s what it’s all about.

“I think the first-half was pretty even.  I think they had a couple better chances than us but we kept the ball a lot better than them.”

With heavy rain falling in windy conditions for the first 10 minutes or so, Stansfeld operated a shoot-from-distance policy.

Macey Malyon played the ball out to fellow striker Ollie Milton, who cut onto his right-foot and his 30-yard drive was comfortably saved by Mott at his near post.

Smith, who got in behind Punjab United left-back Stephen Ratcliff several times during the first half, linked up well with Milton and substitute Hughes, before Malyon’s 25-yard drive was comfortably saved by the busy Punjab goalkeeper, playing his first game for six months.

“We believe it was the keeper’s first game so we thought we’d try to test him early.  They were quite comfortable saves that you’d expect any keeper at this level to make,” added Phipps.

A side that play with three centre-halves, with wing-backs Joe Borland and Smith making it a back five when required, Stansfeld continued to play on the front foot.

Borland floated in a cross from within the left-channel, the ball was cleared out to an unmarked Smith, who curled his shot past the far post from 22-yards, which pleased Phipps to see both of his wing-backs involved in the move.

He said: “That’s what we try to do, we try to get our wing-backs high up the pitch. If you don’t use them, it’s a little bit pointless playing them. If one wing-back is crossing for the other wing-back to create a goalscoring chance, then it’s obviously working for you.”

Punjab United’s holding midfielder Lea Dawson put his body on the line to prevent Stansfeld taking a deserved lead in the 26^th minute, sliding in to make a last-ditch block to prevent Malyon from scoring at the back post from the corner of the six-yard box after Borland broke down the left and put in a deep cross.

“I don’t know why he dived in like that. He should’ve just stood up,” added Sian.

“We didn’t switch off, which is a good thing about Dawson. That’s why he is here. His leadership and his running, his ability to think what’s going on and he went over and covered and it was a great sliding tackle.”

Another chance went begging for Stansfeld inside the final couple of minutes, taking advantage of kicking down the slope during the first half.

Once again Borland got the better of Punjab United’s right-back Jordan Campbell, and his cross was half-cleared to Harry Day, who lashed a volley high over the crossbar from 12-yards.

“You could see he tried to sort his body shape out to get his knee over the ball but he’s about two foot six so the ball bounced a bit high for him,” joked Phipps.

A poor first half ended goal-less and both camps had to improve the entertainment in front of the 347 inside Elite Venue.

Sian said: “It looked like we were a bit nervous. I just felt it was a bit static, both teams were a bit not all there but I knew we had a lot more in us and that’s what I said to them. If we can get to half-time 0-0, then we can go for it second half.

“I just said, listen, the energy, the levels, the work-rate, which has been brilliant, we’ve been missing that for the last three or four weeks. We had a better squad out tonight, which helped and we are a good side. We shouldn’t be near the bottom where we are but it’s football.  If you don’t play too well, you get punished at this level, doesn’t matter who you’re playing but today at half-time I said ‘keep going and you’ll get one.”

Phipps added: “I thought they created very little first half and that’s what we said to the boys at half-time. We were quite comfortable at the back. It never looked like we were in trouble, so we were more than happy with the way that the first half had gone, especially against an established side in this division so we were pleased.

“When you put in a decent shift in the first half you just want more of the same in the second.  I thought going up the slope might’ve helped us a little bit in the second half, holding the ball up because the ball was skidding on a little bit especially when it was wet, so we thought the slope might work for us a little bit in the second half and I thought it did a few times.”

Vines’ performance vastly improved during the second half, as Punjab United attacks were of a better quality.

Six minutes in, Campbell’s long throw was cleared, Dawson recycled the ball back into the box and Vines’ left-footed volley was cracked harmlessly wide of the goal from 25-yards.

Punjab United finally called Stansfeld’s goalkeeper Charlie Cottrell into serious action in the 61^st minute.

Campbell delivered a deep cross, which was half-cleared out to Vines, whose stinging drive stung the keeper’s fingers, who beat the ball away, to his right.

“I had a go at him (Vines) at half-time a little bit because I said to him our front two was a bit static and sometimes getting caught offside and it wasn’t great, so second half we had to be a bit more potent, get in the middle of that goal and stay there and he was unlucky then,” revealed Sian.

Phipps added: “I don’t know too much about Paul Vines but what people say about him that he’s been a good player so to keep somebody quiet for that long, obviously the back three done a good job on him.”

Stansfeld hit the hosts on the counter-attack just 94 seconds and wasted a glorious chance to break the deadlock.

Borland’s right-footed through ball out of defence resulted in a foot-race between Milton and last-defender Dylan Gilbert.  Milton latched onto the pass but Mott made a vital save in the one-v-one dual.

Phipps said: “Ollie’s been fantastic for us this year so far, he puts in such a shift.

“It was on his wrong side, he could’ve lifted it but he’s done everything that you want a forward to do. He’s put his foot through it and he’s hit the target and made the keeper make a save. It was a good chance that we probably should’ve took.”

Sian added: “Listen, second-half we didn’t make too many mistakes and we defended really well.  I thought they went through, we saved it. I thought are we going to get back into the game? I thought we settled really well second half.”

Punjab United should have snatched the lead with 22 minutes and 39 seconds on the clock, instead they found themselves deservedly a goal behind, just 12 seconds later.

Punjab United’s central-midfielder Emiliano Hysi broke through the middle and slipped the ball through the heart of the pitch to put Arun Suman through on goal but his left-footed shot was prevented nestling inside the bottom right-hand corner by Cottrell’s outstretched left leg.

Dan Parkinson swiftly launched a trickling pass upfield to release Friend, who raced down the right, cut inside Barry before slotting his shot past a diving Mott to find the bottom right hand corner from 18-yards.

When asked what he said to the former Holmesdale striker, Phipps revealed: “We said ‘go on and be a hero!’  A couple of the boys in fairness came over and said, ‘come on, get us a goal as a way of an apology for leaving us in the first place!’

“It’s a great goal. Lee will score goals. He’s always going to score you goals. He backed the centre-half up, which you want him to do and a left-footed into the bottom right-hand corner, so it was a great finish.

“Lee’s been around for a long time.  He gives you experience and you know you’re going to get goals out of him and the boys were pleased when we signed him back and ironically with Tommy Whitnell being injured on Tuesday and then Aidan Hayes coming off and Rob Hughes coming on and getting injured, if we had not have signed him in time for tonight we would’ve been a little bit skinny up front so the timing of the signing turned out to be very good.”

Sian said: “I spoke to Sam after the game and he said ‘he should’ve saved it.”’

“He hasn’t played for a while, didn’t get off his foot enough. It was a good break. We should’ve scored to be honest when we went through and they broke up the other end and scored.

“That’s how our luck has been going. Suman should’ve buried it to make it 1-0 and we go 1-0 down. It was a key moment and that’s what happens to us. We miss and they go up the other end, bang, it’s a goal.”

However, Punjab United’s equaliser was sublime, when it swiftly came just 85 seconds later.

Ratcliff's left-footed high hanging cross from the left was on the money and Vines got in behind centre-half Greg Summersby to smack a left-footed volley into the bottom left-hand corner from 12-yards, leaving the goalkeeper rooted to the spot.

Sian said: “That is why he’s here. He drives everyone. He carries everyone forward and he deserves that goal because we’ve been hitting a brick wall at the moment – but that was a brilliant goal.”

Phipps added: “Top finish, over his shoulder to catch it the way he did. Sometimes that’s things you can do defensively as a centre-half, you can always look at what you can do better but sometimes you’ve got to say it was top drawer, a top-drawer finish, which is what we know about him. That was a good, good finish.”

Punjab United dominated the final 15 minutes and created chances to snatch the victory to kick-start their season.

Probets’ quality left-footed free-kick from the right was bang on the money but all centre-half Jack Barry could do was steer his diving header just past the left-hand post.

Stansfeld then went direct with another long ball from Dan Parkinson releasing Friend, who brought the ball down at the far post, cut the ball onto his left-foot before dragging his shot across Mott and past the far upright.

Ratcliff charged down the left and whipped in a cross towards the corridor of uncertainty for Suman to hit a first-time volley screaming just past the foot of the right-hand post as Sian’s men kept knocking on the door for a late winner.

Referee Kehinde Agboola pulled out a yellow card and booked centre-half Barry for a challenge on Day down the left and almost paid the price.

Dan Parkinson’s low right-footed free-kick from 35-yards was bent around the four-man wall and Mott gathered the tricky shot at the second attempt, 24 seconds into stoppage time.

“Dan strikes the ball so well. There was one in the first half that he hit from a long way out which bounced right in front of the keeper,” said Phipps.

“The keeper pushed it back into play so we know what Dan’s quality is on set-pieces and on another day it might’ve spilled out a little bit further.”

Hysi clipped a free-kick towards the penalty spot for Vines, who steered his header across the goalkeeper and past the far post.

Punjab United should have snatched a last-gasp victory, with 50:16 on the clock.

Winger Suman, who came to life late in the game in a more central position, slipped Vines in behind the Stansfeld defence down the right and instead of testing Cottrell, he unselfishly put it on a plate for Hysi, whose shot on the turn was beaten away by the Stansfeld keeper.

Sian said: “I just felt that if we could break them down a little bit.  I think the last five minutes said it all.  We went through a few times, two or three times and we should’ve scored one of those three and that’s where our luck has not been.

“Vinsey goes through, squares in and it should be 2-1. Game over.  I think he’s done the right thing.  Sometimes when you go through on goal like that and someone’s in a better position, just square it and finish the game off, rather than hit it at the goalkeeper.

“Emiliano should’ve scored. He had his head in his hands. He was a bit upset.” 

Phipps added: “I think that shows a lot about us and what our mindset is because it’s easy for a newly-promoted club to come away to somewhere like Punjab, one-all, last minute and settle for a point but we have a little bit of a different mindset.  We want to try to win the game so sometimes you can get caught, which we did at the end but when you’ve got a keeper like Charlie there, you’ve always got a chance of saving.”

Both sides are in DFDS Kent Senior Trophy First Round action with Punjab United welcoming First Division strugglers Bermondsey Town here next Tuesday, while Stansfeld travel to Whitstable Town next Saturday.

Sian said: “The game’s been re-arranged to here so they’re going to come to us now so they come to us on Tuesday night, so it’s a good thing we’re back at home. 

“We’re going to keep a strong line-up going and I think that has got to build some stability rather than changing because I’ve been doing it for the last five or six weeks and I can’t do that no more so I’m hoping to field a big strong side.  Yes, give a couple of players’ a run out and give them some time and away we go.”

“Listen, we’re going to give it a good go wherever we play now, if we can keep the consistent side and in a couple of weeks we’ll have Will Johnson-Cole back from injury.”

On their double-header against Richard Styles’ Whitstable Town, Phipps added: “It will be a good experience for some of our youngsters down there to go and play in front of what we hope will be a big crowd.  They normally get big crowds down there so it will be interesting to see what both teams do. We’ll go down there strong to try to win the game and then we’ll see what happens the following week (in the league game against them) at home.”

When asked if Stansfeld are going to be dark horse this season on a zero playing budget, Phipps insisted: “No, no! A few people have said that already. We’re a quarter the way into the season. If you had offered us 21 points after 12 games we would’ve ripped your arm off!

“Are we dark horses? No! But we said this all the way through last season.

“The budgets at this level are big as we all know. Our ambition is, as I told you at the start of last season, make sure we stay in the division. We’ve given ourselves a good platform to make sure we do that, so we’ll be looking to finish as high as we can and we’ll just see where we go from there.”

Punjab United, meanwhile, have extended their winless run to six games in all competitions after tonight’s home draw, with Sian highlighting the fact that he lost the likes of Chris Edwards (Herne Bay), George Goodwin (Beckenham Town) and Danny Phillips (VCD Athletic) to Isthmian League South East Division clubs on the eve of the season.

Punjab United were a club that were expected to be challenging for promotion, especially with the likes of Mott, Barry, Hysi, Dawson, Vines and Probets all with higher league experience, but they are currently involved in a relegation dog-fight and are only three points clear of bottom side Fisher.

“It’s not good, I’m not happy with it at all,” insisted Sian.

“We started alright and the last three or four weeks we’ve been sort of half-hearted, as we haven’t had a consistent team, people have been injured.

“We want to instil a bit of heart and that’s what we want, just go and play and play for me, play for us and that’s what we’ve been missing for the last few weeks, so I’m hoping we’ve stopped it against a very good side who are third and we should’ve won tonight.

“I think the boys are starting to believe, so I’m hoping this is going to be a little run. It has to be top 10 and a good run in the Kent Senior Trophy. It’s got to be the top 10.”

Punjab United: Sam Mott, Jordan Campbell, Stephen Ratcliff, Lea Dawson, Jack Barry, Dylan Gilbert, Ashley Probets, Emiliano Hysi, Paul Vines, Elliott Sartorius, Arun Suman.
Subs: Noah Hamelberg, Chandler Kasai, Theo McKenzie, Luke Adams, Charlie Edmundson

Goal: Paul Vines 70

Booked: Lea Dawson 56, Jack Barry 90, Jordan Campbell 90

Stansfeld: Charlie Cottrell, Sam Smith, Joe Borland, Greg Summersby, Billy Parkinson, Dan Parkinson, Aidan Hayes (Rob Hughes 13, Lee Friend 65)), Ross Morley, Ollie Milton (Max Conner 90), Macey Malyon, Harry Day.
Subs: Greg Skinner, Harrison English

Goal: Lee Friend 68

Booked: Ross Morley 90

Attendance: 347
Referee: Mr Kehinde Agboola
Assistants: Mr John Monksfield & Mr Darren Kempson