Rochester United 1-2 Sevenoaks Town - We're getting to where we need to be, says Sevenoaks Town boss Micky Collins

Rochester United 1 – 2 Sevenoaks Town
Location	Rede Court Road, Strood, Rochester, Kent ME2 3TU
Kickoff	22/03/2016 19:45

ROCHESTER UNITED  1-2  SEVENOAKS TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League
Tuesday 22^nd March 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Rede Court Road

SEVENOAKS TOWN manager Micky Collins hailed his players’ spirit after beating fellow inform side Rochester United with nine men.

The Oaks’ nine match unbeaten run is a record at this level and they deserved to claim the victory to leapfrog over AFC Croydon Athletic in to the top six in the Southern Counties East Football League table on 44 points with six games remaining.

Striker Chinedu McKenzie drilled in his first goal for the club to give Sevenoaks Town a deserved lead going into the break, but they had his strike partner Adam Marsh red-carded for a clash with Rochester central defender Ricki Holmes, who was lucky to stay on the pitch.

Rochester United made their numerical advantage count when holding midfielder Tom Carr hooked in a volley to score his seventh goal of the season just before the hour-mark.

Set-piece specialist Chris Edwards deservedly won it for Sevenoaks Town with a deflected free-kick, before referee Glen Childs showed second yellow cards for Carr and then Sevenoaks Town winger Kieran McCann late on.

Collins said it was “a tough win!”

The Sevenoaks Town manager added: “They’re on a good run, five unbeaten. We’re up against all the odds, we’ve gone on and shown what spirit we’ve got in our side. A good result, three points, pleased with that.”

Reflecting on extending the club’s Step Five record unbeaten run, Collins added: “The record was six back in 09-10 and now we’re up to nine so we’re just making a go of it.  They’re a really good bunch of lads. We’re assembling it, it’s on its way really for next season and we’ve shown tonight it wasn’t going to be a pretty game, unfortunately it was really, really ruined by an individual.  I think we all watched that but we stuck to our task and gone and got three points.”

With Rochester United manager Matt Hume enjoying his 25^th wedding anniversary on a cruise with his wife, assistant manager Mike Langston faced the post-match questions.

He said: “It was a funny old game really. I thought they started really well. They’re a good side, no doubt about that. They’re on a good run and I thought the first 20-25 minutes we had the backs to the wall really. Fair play to them. They put us under a lot of pressure. I thought we weathered that and come half-time I thought we were back in the game, it was quite even.

“Obviously second half things have gone on with the sending offs and the referee decisions and whatever.  I’m not going to criticise him because it’s never easy.

“We got the goal back, I think we deserved. It was a great goal, a great run down the left by Vince (Collis) and he’s crossed it in and a great volley.

“At one-all I really thought that was our game. I couldn’t really see any other winner!  I don’t think our goalkeeper had a shot to save particularly in the second half. 

“They got a free-kick, which we should’ve dealt with. We didn’t deal with the header and then we’ve given a soft free-kick away.  We’ve given them too many soft free-kicks second half and the chap’s had a shot, a big deflection which has hit us a bit hard.

“But I still felt we could’ve got something out of it but it wasn’t to be. We huffed and puffed but at the end of the day I think we certainly deserved at least a draw, it not the three points really.”

Rochester United created the first chance of the game after only 68 seconds but right-winger Alex Kendall’s deflected shot bounced once into the hands of Ben Bridle-Card, who is gaining experience of first team football from Maidstone United’s highly-acclaimed Academy.

Collins said: “I was disappointed with our sloppiness to be fair. I didn’t think they created anything and I think we generated our own problems in the back four and we weren’t tight enough and we never cleared the ball clinically enough so I had a moan about that at half-time.

“But I thought going forward we had five, six, maybe seven shots on target and I think if we had a bit more guile around the goal it could’ve been a much easier game for us.”

Sevenoaks Town swiftly created their first opening through a stinging rasping angled drive from Stephen Okoh, which was plucked out of the air by Roddy Hayward, who was soon to receive treatment to a knock to his ankle.

Rochester United failed to get in behind a resilient Sevenoaks Town back four, well marshalled by Jack Miles and John Lord.

Vince Collis swung in Rochester’s first corner from the left which was over-hit and retrieved by Kendall. His cross was cleared out to Carr, whose left-footed shot bounced comfortably into Bridle-Card’s hands from 25-yards.

Langston added: “I don’t think we did an awful lot in the first half but we could’ve done! It really was credit to them first half, they were a good side.”

McCann released McKenzie charging down the left and he cut the ball back to McCann, who played the ball inside to Okoh, whose right-footed dipping drive sailed over the crossbar from 25-yards on the left-hand side.

But Rochester keeper Hayward pulled off a fantastic save to deny a dominant Sevenoaks Town side taking a 15^th minute lead.

Lord clipped the ball out of defence and McKenzie chased the ball down the left. He cut the ball back to Marsh, who cracked a right-footed drive which was superbly kept out by Hayward, pushing the ball away just to his right.

Langston said: “I thought Roddy looked quite secure actually. He got a nasty knock on his ankle, which didn’t help us, so he was suffering with his kicks. But I thought he pulled off a couple low saves that he had to deal with. They weren’t easy so he did well there.  Second half, he didn’t have a save to make.”

Collins said: “Fantastic save by the keeper and all of a sudden you’re looking at it and you’re thinking one-up, two-up, we’re going to have a comfortable night.

“The keeper’s made some good saves, we just weren’t clinical enough. We put the ball in the box an awful lot and there’s times like that when you have to go and kill teams off and when Adam’s got sent off all off a sudden we’ve scored and we’re up against it.”

Marsh had a second attempt on goal which he stroked a bouncing shot into Hayward’s hands from outside the penalty area after Edwards’ threaded the ball into his feet.

Rochester cleared away Edwards’ third corner of the night and the ball came out to Okoh, who was given time and space on the right wing to float a deep cross which was swept over the bar by Edwards from inside the penalty area.

Rochester United were awarded a free-kick some 25-yards from goal but Carr’s left-footed free-kick struck the wall and looped high over the crossbar for a corner.

A big kick from the Sevenoaks keeper was chased down by Marsh, who turned and stroked his right-footed drive towards the bottom near corner, which was well-held by Hayward, diving low to his right, saving at the base of his near post.

Rochester cleared away another Edwards’ corner, the ball coming back to him on the left hand side and his dinked shot was comfortably saved by Hayward, the busier of the two goalkeepers.

Rochester United were awarded a free-kick down the left wing but lone striker Brad Webb’s swinging effort was speculative to say the least and was plucked out of the air by Bridle-Card underneath his crossbar.

Langston added: “We didn’t have our usual centre forward, Dan Gonsalves-Bello, he was missing. We asked Brad to do a job. I think he did a good job but it was really hard for him up front. Their centre halves were picking must things off. 

“We tried to get it wide but we couldn’t really get the ball. The pressure they put us under stopped us from putting them under pressure.”

Sevenoaks Town, though, continued to press and a good pass from left-back Tom Menditta released McCann down the left.  He cut inside and laid the ball inside to Joe Bingham, who found McCann and his angled drive was well-held again by Hayward at the foot of his near post.

Sevenoaks Town deservedly took the lead, the ball nestling into the bottom left-hand corner with the clock showing 40:39. 

McKenzie collected the ball inside the Rochester half and swept the ball out to McCann down the left. He cut inside and played a sublime low ball into the penalty area.  The ball fell at McKenzie’s feet to drill his first time shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

However, play was held up for 176 seconds as a melee ensured before Rochester could kick-off and Marsh was shown a straight red-card after clashing with Holmes.

“Chuffed for Chin, he’s worked his socks off for us since he’s been with us and he’s deserved his first goal,” said Collins.

“You can see afterwards he’s such an honest kid and his worked his nuts off being the lone striker. He’s honest, he’s shattered after 70 minutes, he’s shattered! I’m really pleased for him. He’s committed his future to us next season and I’m glad he’s off the mark.”

Langston added: “What can I say? It was a good goal! Should we have dealt with it? I don’t think so. It’s just one of those things. It was a good goal, that’s all I can say.”

Both Collins and Langston were asked their thoughts on the clash involving Marsh and Holmes.

Collins claims: “Adam was on the floor, the guy (Holmes) kicked him in the head intentionally, Adam’s got up, pushed him in the chest with two arms and he’s been sent off for violent conduct.

“I feel very sorry for Adam because I don’t think it’s violent conduct. I think he’s pushed the guy in the chest, he hasn’t gone in his face, he hasn’t done anything untoward in my opinion but he’s took a kick to the head intentionally and the ref hasn’t seen it and the linesman hasn’t seen it and unfortunately Adam’s gone.”

Langston gave his take on the incident.

He said: “I honestly didn’t see it because I even asked the linesman, I asked ‘what happened there’?

“I was more annoyed about the goal because Ricki had got fouled, I think it was the same guy that got sent off and backed into him in the midfield. He made an arch which was a foul.  The ref didn’t deal with that so then it ended up in the box.  The ref should’ve dealt with it or not so I was a bit annoyed about that bit.

“After that I looked away. I was just annoyed we didn’t get the free-kick and then I just saw the melee. I don’t know what happened. Their centre forward has lost it completely hasn’t he? You can’t act like that but it happens but if he did get kicked, I don’t know, I didn’t see it!”

Both camps were asked their thoughts at half-time and the referee was clearly in Collins’ mind-set.

He said: “Don’t get involved with the referee, that’s the main thing really!

“We worked on our shape, we knew we were down to ten men, so we worked on our shape off the ball and I think we did it well.

“We limited them to try to bang the ball long and we kept our shape and discipline and it proved really.  I said we’d get a chance, we’d get a set-piece and hopefully we’ll get something out of it and we did and we got the three points.”

Langston added: “Being ten men people think it’s easy now but it’s not! If they just have one less man up front, they still defend well and they still had people in midfield.

“We basically said to Rob Alderman, who was sort of our number 10 to push on more to support Brad a little bit more, to be the spare man. I think we did that. We had much more of the ball. Vince Collis was causing them trouble on the left. Alex Kendall was causing trouble on the right but I think we caused them trouble but I don’t think their keeper actually had that many saves to make, did he?”

It took nearly eight minutes for the first chance of the second half as Edwards swept in a trademark free-kick with his right-foot from the left channel, which dipped just over the top of the far post.

Collins added: “I’m a bit disappointed because I wanted him to drive it along the box because the goalie had hurt his ankle in the first half and his mobility wasn’t great and I wanted him to work him and Chris has seen the top corner.  The thing with Chris Edwards’ his delivery is just phenomenal. Unfortunately, it just didn’t hit the target.”

Rochester United lacked the quality needed to prise open a resilient Sevenoaks back four.

Collis broke down the left wing and cut the ball back to left-back Steve Rothery, who pushed up in the final third and curled his speculative shot across the keeper and around the far post from 30-yards.

Langston added: “Once the game went 2-1 later on, we just went three at the back and pushed Steve Rothery in there. He had a good shot. He’s got a good shot on him. He’s scored a couple of really good goals so he didn’t get the luck.”

But Rochester United did score a quality goal, timed at 13:29 and once again Rothery was involved.

Rothery fed Collis down the left again and the winger cut inside Edwards and clipped his cross into the penalty area for an unmarked Carr to hook his left-footed volley into the bottom left-hand corner from 10-yards.

Langston said: “Volley, great goal, great goal!  Vince was causing a lot of trouble down there. He’s got a lot of pace to be fair to him. He was making some great runs, didn’t quite get the crosses in that he can do until then and then the ball’s gone behind Tom a little bit and he’s hooked a great volley in the goal. It was a great goal. I said from then onwards this is our game!

“I thought one sides’ going to win this and it’s us! I really did believe that!”

Collins admitted: “We didn’t pick him up! I said to the boys at half-time that with ten men you can’t switch off! We’ve switched off and we haven’t picked him up.  I don’t know who was marking him but we haven’t picked him up and he’s swung his foot at it and it’s a good finish, got them back in the game.”

Rochester United went into the game on a five-match unbeaten run that has taken the Rede Court Road outfit up to thirteenth-place in the table on 33 points from 29 games.

Rothery swept forward a free-kick into the Sevenoaks penalty area with his right-foot, the ball was cleared out to Collis, who swept his shot past the near post from 25-yards.

Collins called on his men in green to be patient.

“Because we’re down to ten, they’ve still got 11 so at the end of the day we’re away from home, we’re one-all, we’re still in the game and you have to be patient,” he said.

“Sometimes football’s not won in the first 30 minutes, 60 minutes or 80 minutes and you’ve just got to be patient sometimes and I thought the boys showed great discipline and stuck to the game plan, which worked.”

The game was a midfield battle but Sevenoaks Town won it with 12 minutes remaining.

Sevenoaks substitute Michael Fahm was needlessly chopped down by Tom Carr, who was booked for the challenge.

Edwards stepped up and drilled his right-footed 25-yard free-kick into the top of the three-man defensive wall, the ball looping up and over Hayward’s outstretched hand to drop into the roof of the net for the winner.

The Sevenoaks Town manager admitted the winning goal had a lucky streak in it.

Collins said: “We just made the change, we took Stephen Okoh off, put Michael Fahm on and he got fouled. Chris has hit it, it’s gone in over the keeper, a bit of luck that we deserved.

“You know me, I’m honest. I think even with 10 men or nine men we deserved to win. 

“We’re a decent side, we’re getting to where we need to be. I’m really pleased with the boys tonight.”

“We gave away quite a few free-kicks which we didn’t really need to do,” admitted Langston.

“What can you do? I’m more annoyed that we gave the free-kick away. When you get a deflected free-kick it’s lucky and that’s it! There’s nothing you can do!  I was more annoyed that we didn’t deal with the ball and we didn’t deal with the ball before. It should’ve been a simple header away instead we gave away a stupid free-kick. I think there was five or six free-kicks that we gave away.”

You always fear the worst when told pre-match that the referee is being assessed as Mr Childs dished out second yellow cards to Carr (82 minutes) and McCann three minutes later, which clearly annoyed both camps.

Langston was asked about Carr picking up his second yellow card.

He said: It was right by me! I just saw him jostling for the ball. I spoke to him in the dressing room. I said, ‘what did you do?’ He said, he’s done absolutely nothing!

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask the ref why he sent him off.  I wasn’t even sure it was a free-kick, let alone a yellow card, a second yellow card!”

Collins claimed: “He was always going to even it up. It was two yellows. He was so poor tonight. I think we could’ve ended up with three-a-side. He’s just intent on trying to prove something and I don’t know why. I think the game is too big for him, even at this level. He’s too young and he just couldn’t cope with it!”

When asked about McCann’s sending off, Collins replied: “It’s another one! It’s never a second yellow. It’s not even a foul and he’s seen something. It’s funny because the linesman’s seen that one but whereas he’s not seen the incident that really changed the game early on.”

Langston added: “I don’t think that was a foul, it certainly wasn’t, again, a yellow card, a second yellow card.”

But to their credit, Sevenoaks Town held firm and the only chance that Rochester could muster was through Dartford Academy prospect Dajon Golding, the substitute winger cutting in from the left wing and dinking his shot into the hands of Bridle-Card for a comfortable save.

Despite chaotic scenes, hapless referee Mr Childs only added on three minutes and 28 seconds when it should have been at least five. It was a night for the young referee to forget.

Sevenoaks Town have six games remaining, starting with a trip to Lordswood on Easter Saturday, then it’s the big home game against local rivals Tunbridge Wells on Easter Monday.

“It’s a work in progress, that’s all it is,” said Collins, who took three seasons to win the league and cup double with Erith & Belvedere.

“We’re going to win nothing this year but what we’ve got to do is get this group of players and they’ll be some additions in the summer. We’ve got to get them believing in what we can achieve and we’re starting to show it.

“We’ve got to keep the run going, this is our pre-season. We’ve got another six games of pre-season before we come back in.

“Listen, they’ve shown tonight that they’re committed to this football club and they believe in what we’re trying to do and what we’ve set out and we’ve got some good lads here.”

Rochester United also have six league games left to play, starting with a trip to AFC Croydon Athletic on Easter Saturday and then a trip to leaders Greenwich Borough on Easter Monday.

“I’ve looked at the remaining fixtures and this one (against Sevenoaks) was always going to be a tough one,” said Langston.

“Micky Collins has had a good run and he’s got a very good side there. There’s no doubt about that and I’ve looked at all the games left and I thought that was one that was going to cause us the biggest problem but we had the chance to beat them.”

Rochester United: Roddy Hayward, Freeman Rogers, Steve Rothery, Tom Carr, Andy Pierce, Ricki Holmes, Alex Kendall, Tony Whitaker, Brad Webb (Jordan Wylie 72), Rob Alderman, Vince Collis (Dajon Golding 79).
Subs: Harrison Airth, Sam Parrish, Dilan Yucetan

Goal: Tom Carr 59

Booked: Ricki Holmes 51, Tom Carr 77

Sent Off: Tom Carr 82

Sevenoaks Town: Ben Bridle-Card, Chris Edwards, Tom Menditta (Greg Benbow 74), Gary Stock, John Lord, Jack Miles, Kieron McCann, Joe Bingham, Adam Marsh, Chinedu McKenzie (Joe Fuller 80), Stephen Okoh (Michael Fahm 74).
Subs: Craig Lawrence, Michael McKenna

Goals: Chinedu McKenzie 41, Chris Edwards 78

Booked: Joe Bingham 36, Kieron McCann 45

Sent off: Adam Marsh 42, Kieron McCann 85

Attendance: 66
Referee: Mr Glen Childs (Ashford)
Assistants: Mr Brian Woodhouse (Borden) & Mr Steve Julian (Gillingham)