Stansfeld 2-3 Phoenix Sports - I'm always under pressure only because it means so much, the club means a lot to me but we won't give up and we're a club that's prepared to fight and stick together, insists Stansfeld stalwart Billy Shinners

Stansfeld 2 – 3 Phoenix Sports
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	10/12/2025 19:45

STANSFELD  2-3  PHOENIX SPORTS
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Third Round
Wednesday 10 December 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

STANSFELD manager Billy Shinners insists his side have enough fight and character to avoid losing their Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division status at the end of the season.

Phoenix Sports booked their place in the Challenge Cup Quarter-Finals with an expected win over Stansfeld, watched by a crowd of only 69 at Middle Park Avenue on a chilly December night.

The impressive attacking midfielder Lyle Della-Verde, 30, gave the visitors’ the lead, against-the-run-of-play at the time, from the penalty spot to score his ninth goal of the season.

Striker Jamarie Brisett scored a brace – a magical sublime 30-yarder in off the far post – and a clinical drive a yard inside the box – to give Phoenix Sports a commanding 3-0 lead.

However, Stansfeld left-winger Merrick Simms, 27, came off the bench to score twice in 99 seconds at the death but it proved to be too little, too late for the bottom-of-the-table hosts.

“We played well with the ball and generally speaking we’ve got to take into account their first two goals was a penalty and probably the best goal we’ve conceded,” said Shinners.

“There wasn’t much in the game. In terms of keeping the ball and sometimes you just got to hold your hands up really, especially the second goal but I will say we went 3-0 down and we never gave up.

“To go three down on 77 minutes, I’m sure it shows the type of characters I’ve got in my changing room – the boys won’t give up.

“Obviously, this is a Cup game but that’s the type of boys we need from now until the end of the season for the League and that’s obviously the priority.

“We’ve got a young side. I think that’s got a lot to do with being at the bottom. We’ve got a young, inexperienced side and essentially to get off the bottom now, we need to be better in both boxes, more determination, more ruthlessness of defending your goal and scoring goals.

“I’m generally happy with the middle of the pitch and the build-up play I’m generally quite happy with but what we need to improve on to get off the bottom is in the boxes and that’s where you win football matches.”

Phoenix Sports’ player-manager, Jake Goodman, added: “Positives, loads of positives. A lot of difficult decisions now for the next couple of days leading into Saturday but for most of it, I’m 90% happy, 95%, 98% probably. Really pleased with the performance, the attitude and the application of the group.”

When asked to clarify what decisions he was talking about, Goodman replied, “I’m not going to say, just in case but there’s a few choices and decisions that need to be made with us so we’ll put our brains together myself, Marssy and Luke (coaches, James Marrs and Luke Johnson) and we’ll pick a team that we think is the best side to go and win the game on Saturday.

“Difficult decisions because of the performance they’ve just done for 88 minutes.”

Stansfeld played the opening 20 minutes with freedom and played some impressive attacking stuff outside the box which was not one of a side struggling against relegation – but they lacked quality in the Phoenix Sports penalty area during large chunks of the game, which will prove their downfall in the relegation dog-fight.

Shinners’ men created their first opening after only 120 seconds when four-goal striker Samuel Plant played a one-two with attacking midfielder Adam Wallis in the final third before Plant cracked a right-footed rasping drive towards goal from 20-yards inside the D, which stung the fingers of visiting goalkeeper Ryan McCourt, who saved at the second attempt.

“Sam’s a young forward.  He’s got great potential moving forward. He’s had quite a few shots off and essentially the ball stuck against two very experienced centre-halves,” added Shinners.

Goodman added: “Ryan made a good save from distance. We feel comfortable with the system we’re playing.  It just took a bit to getting used to. Certain players were getting up to speed if they haven’t played in a while.

“People have had a long day’s work, a long couple of days at work as well. Their personal family lives comes into fact as well. I’ve known myself, it’s difficult when you’ve got kids’ so it gets you a bit of time to get up to speed but we’ve done that. We made a couple of adjustments, which then helped us in play.”

Both sides were playing tippy-tappy football during this period and Stansfeld produced a sweeping move when Oliver Andrews played the ball out to Jack Calvert on the right and the winger’s left-footed angled drive was spilt by McCourt at his near-post before gathering, although the home side did have three other men inside the penalty area.

“I think today we’ve had three or four shots outside the box and the keeper’s made saves and it’s one of those days where it just hasn’t flown in,” admitted Shinners.

Stansfeld kept knocking on the door and Phoenix centre-half Jensen Grant (who was withdrawn at the interval with a hip injury) gifted the ball straight to Stansfeld centre-half Stefan Kempton in the centre-circle and he played in Plant, who cut inside and his right-footed drive from 22-yards was spilt by McCourt and once again the keeper gathered at the second attempt (16:40).

Phoenix Sports’ left-winger William Efambe was a threat during the first-half and received Della-Verde’s switched pass before cutting into the box and his right-footed angled drive rolled into the gloves of an untroubled Cemal Osman, 21.

“I thought we were a threat once we made our adjustments. Once we made our adjustments tactically, I think we were able to take over,” said Goodman.

“I think we were all coming to the ball.  Once we made that adjustment, we changed it and the game swung in our favour.”

When asked about being a player-manager, Goodman, 32 – who has never played in this division before joining the club last season, heaped praise on his coaches (Marrs and Johnson).

“That’s down to the guys on the side from what they say and the information and that’s why they’re there and that’s why they’ve got full trust from me and that’s why I needed them if I was taking the job.

“I knew I wanted to get into management. I always said I think that would be really tough to be a player-manager but a couple of years ago me and Marrsy met and we now work with each other coaching during the day so that relationship has grown and he’s been a bit of a mentor to me in my coaching career.

“He’s a hell of a lot more experienced that me at the moment. He’s took me under his wing, he’s helped me out and that’s why it’s been a hell of a lot easier because I’ve had two people who have been absolutely outstanding with their attitude and their application and a culture we’re trying to bring into the club and an identity where people will know and understand what a Phoenix side is, which I think was lost for quite a number of years.”

Grant travelled over the half-way line before central midfielder Kyrone Standley fed Brissett, who played the ball out to right-back Paul Lee, who reached the by-line before delivering a deep cross towards the back post where Efambe was taken out by Kempton and referee Alex Gordon pointed to the spot.

Della-Verde stroked his left-footed penalty into the right-corner – despite Osman diving the same way – to grab his side the lead, with 23 minutes and 53 seconds on the clock.

“He was excellent, he was excellent today. Maybe he’s had a bit of a point to prove and yes he’s one whose certainly giving me a great headache over the next few days,” Goodman said of Della-Verde’s impressive performance.

“Lyle in these moments, big moments, he’s very comfortable, doesn’t really feel the pressure. I was very confidence he was going to put it in but we probably should’ve been ahead before that as well with another similar chance with Will.”

Shinners admitted: “Probably was a pen. It probably was a pen.  There’s no arguments there.

“We probably should’ve stopped the cross. It was probably too easy for the cross and then there was a bit of a mis-judgement and Stefan was recovering and yes he just got very late to the block tackle.”

Shinners was asked how he was feeling at this point in the game.

“Here we go again because we are bottom of the League and suddenly its getting quite frustrating. A lot of people come up to us and say ‘you play nice football’ and then we go 1-0 down. It is frustrating but I think I’ve got now enough characters in the club, in the team to kind of keep going and I think that showed today.”

The goal knocked the stuffing out of a spirited Stansfeld side and Phoenix Sports then controlled the vast majority of this poorly-supported Cup tie.

Standley – who was one of four changes made by Goodman from the side that thrashed relegation-threatened Hythe Town 4-0 at the weekend (Stansfeld also made four to the side that lost 1-0 to Hollands & Blair) – played the ball into Della-Verde, who kept finding pockets in front of the Stansfeld back four and he took a touch before drawing a comfortable save from Osman following his left-footed shot from 35-yards.

Lee, who relished the chance to drive towards the right by-line, skipped past Stansfeld’s left-back Tom Green and then beat centre-half Kai Jeffrey before finding Della-Verde in space and his drilled left-footed drive from 25-yards in the middle flashed past the left-hand post (34:27).

Goodman’s men kept knocking on the door and holding midfielder Louie Downey played the ball out to Lee, who cut inside from the right and put in a low cross towards the near post where Brissett was denied by a fine reaction save from Osman (36:42).

“Magic (Brissett) is just getting up to speed, just getting up to where we feel he’s close to where he should be and you see that every game, he’s getting better and better. I knew it took time but hopefully we’re staring to see the real Magic,” added Goodman.

Shinners added: “I kind of expected that their full-backs and their wingers would be very high hand get a load of crosses in with the first goal especially. We need to get out winger and we didn’t do that.

“I think football is all about patches.  The first 15 minutes, I think it was our patch, our 15 minutes and then they got more into the game but we kind of stuck in really.

“We kept it 1-0 until a guy smashed it into the top corner from 30-yards, so we were in the game. We dug in against a side that have clearly got more experience, who are able to keep hold of the ball and football is all about patches. We dug in and kept in the game. Sometimes with that second goal, you hold your hands up.

“At half-time, was very much ‘we need to keep going, we need to keep believing in what we’re doing,’ because I still believe what we are doing is the right thing moving forward.

“We just need that more desire, especially in the attacking box, more desire to get goals, actually get some nasty goals. 

“I just think as a team we’re trying to do these perfect goals but we need to shoot more. We need to cross more, just get in the box more, so we can get those horrible goals, I suppose they’re called, against these good sides, that’s how you get results.”

Goodman, meanwhile, revealed that subbing Grant at the interval was “precautionary,” and that ‘he should be fine for Saturday,” and that bringing on Ben Morrison at the break to play him at right-back and switching Ahkeem Belford from left-back to partner Goodman was “an easy switch.”

Goodman added: “Just keep going really. We still worked on the tactical sense with certain positions on our build, getting our build-up right, which then allows us to then go and attack, which has been a massive, massive focus for us in our style of play, which we have been really nailing it into the group.

“We’ve always said we’ve got to focus on performance. If performances are right then the results will come, so performances’ always first and then the development of the players.”

Phoenix Sports deservedly doubled their lead, with one of the goals of the season at this level, after only 320 seconds of the second half played.

Della-Verde drove forward before feeding Brissett, who cut onto his left-foot to drill a stunning 30-yard drive in off the top of the far post and the ball nestled low into the opposite corner of the goal-net.

“Great finish and that’s what he can do. We knew that, obviously that’s why I’ve signed him.  I knew he could do that last year.  Was I surprised he done that? No but we’ve got to play to his strengths, which we certainly have done the last couple of games,” said Goodman.

Shinners added: “I think they were going to have good build-up play.  They’re going to have more of the ball in certain patches.

“Yes, maybe a slight foul on our player but then obviously when they play forward, maybe we could’ve got out a little bit quicker but sometimes you’ve got to hold your hands up and just say how it is – what a fantastic goal from the guy!”

Standley and Efambe linked up down the left-channel before playing the ball inside to Della-Verde, who took a touch before drilling his left-footed drive past the left-hand post from 25-yards, as no one in a Stansfeld shirt picked up the attacking midfielder who easily found pockets of space throughout the game.

Efambe then skipped past Kempton outside the penalty area and then beat three other Stansfeld players as he drove into the penalty area but he lacked composure when it mattered, sweeping his left-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post from 15-yards on the angle (19:25).

Goodman said: “We grew in confidence.  We really took control of the game. You could see they were sort of dead on their feet really. We were controlling the tempo, controlling the way we were playing. Whatever we wanted to do, we were dictating it. We were still creating countless opportunities. I’m just disappointed from the 88^th minute because the scoreline looked closer than what it actually was.”

Stansfeld created an opening (27:16) when Wallis played the ball out to Simms, who cut onto his right-foot to drill a low angled drive flashing across the keeper and past the far post from 30-yards.

There was no shock when dominant Phoenix Sports drove in their third goal of the night, timed at 32 minutes and 37 seconds on the clock.

Brissett started the move by drilling a right-footed switch pass out to substitute right-winger Kristian Campbell, who put over a cross and the ball fell to Brissett, a yard inside the box and the striker drilled a clinical drive past the diving keeper to find the right-hand corner to seemingly kill the game off as a contest.

Goodman said: “He’s now starting to get up to speed, when he’s in there he becomes deadly.”

When asked whether he is happy with Brissett’s five-goal return, Goodman replied: “Yes and no because I know what he can bring. I still think he can bring a hell of a lot more and he will, the more games he’s playing.”

Shinners added: “We got a bit caught high and the desire to work back to get the ball back wasn’t quite there but like you said, they’re very clinical, very, very clinical to get the goal.

“I will say 3-0 down most people would say the game’s dead but we didn’t, which is a good sign, which I really hope we can go into Saturday with.”

Stansfeld notched what appeared to be a consolation goal, timed at 42 minutes and 9 seconds on the clock.

Calvert floated a cross – which sailed over the head of substitute George Bishop – and Simms drilled a clinical left-footed angled drive across the keeper and into the bottom far corner.

“I’ve known Merrick for a very long time now – I’m talking about characters, I’ve got enough characters in that changing room and he’s one of them,” said Shinners.

“He hasn’t had the minutes this season as probably he would’ve liked but he comes in with the right attitude every single time.

“He’s one of the older boys believe it or not at 27 but all the boys really look up to him.

“He had quite a bad injury last season and he’s still recovering from that but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying that was a bit of the old Merrick, whose come on for the last half-an-hour so that was very, very pleasing to see that from him.”

Goodman added: “It’s come from a mistake. This is where, there was, I wouldn’t say an argument in that sort of sense. It’s disappointing because we’ve worked so hard. We’ve controlled it so much and it’s cheap goals, cheap goals that can’t happen because on another day, if you do that on Saturday, that could make it 1-0, so they’re just little things.

“It’s game management that needs to be sharpened up on. These things happen. It’s a mistake. Both goals were mistakes. It is what it is but we just need to make sure we’re aware of it and it can’t happen again.”

It did happen again! Like London buses nearby, you wait ages for one and another one comes along just 99 seconds later.

Plant and Calvert linked up down the right and Plant put over a cross from just inside the penalty area and Simms got to the ball first to sweep a first-time shot into the right-hand corner.

“We’ll go away with a loss which is disappointing but that is one positive that he’s come on and really had a good impact,” said Shinners, who was asked whether Simms will be knocking on the door to start on Saturday.

“He’s one of the main characters in the changing room but essentially you’ve got to be in the team to play football and do well when you’re playing and Merrick coming on today he’s made a real impact, two great goals. Hopefully he can move forward because he hasn’t had the minutes or even the opportunities. Unfortunately, I haven’t given him the opportunities of what he probably wanted but tonight proved he probably deserves more moving forward.

“I think at the moment that kind of sums up our season, with us scoring goals. We’re scoring goals at the end really. I need that desire early on in the game to get a result.”

Goodman added: “It’s game management isn’t it.  Like I just said with the last one, it’s the 89^th minute, you should just see the game out.

“They need to learn from that and they will. They made a mistake. It is what it is. They’ve held their hands up but I don’t want that couple of minutes to take away from the good performance we’ve just done.

“Reaching the Quarter-Finals, it’s another game. We go into every game looking to win it. To control it on our style but we’ll have some time until then and we’ll just roll with it.”

Both sides report back to League action on Saturday with coach Luke Johnson sent to New Hythe Lane on Tuesday night for a scouting mission on Larkfield & New Hythe, who lost the top-of-the-table clash against Whitstable Town.

Fraser Walker and Tony Reid’s men lost top spot following their first home League defeat since April and travel to Phoenix Sports, who aren’t doing as well as expected.

Goodman’s side are in 13^th place in the Premier Division table, having picked up 23 points (six wins, five draws and eight defeats) and are six points adrift of the play-off zone.

“We had them watched. We’ve got the info. We seem to understand from what we’ve seen and how they play and now we’ve watched them and we’ll have our own way of playing. We believe our style can really expose maybe some of their weaknesses.

“As long as we’re 100% on it because it’s going to be a tough game but we should be going into any game not fearing because I feel we should be able to impose our system and our style and our identity on any game.”

When asked about his club’s current league position, Goodman replied: “It’s ok, it's ok. That’s probably the best I can say but we’ve had to change the manager (Darren Anslow) and then change the style of play.

“We’re in a transitional period and you want to build an identity and build a style of play. It takes time. You can’t rush these things because if you’re worried about results then your system or your style always changes and that brings no consistency and that then brings confusion to the players.

“So for me we’re building something, we’re building an identity. We’ve had to wait for players to become available, the right players as well and the right characters for what we want to build.”

For Stansfeld, they are rooted to the foot of the table with 10 points (three wins and one draw) from their 16 games and have 20 League games to save their bacon.

Shinners takes his side to play Keith McMahon’s Corinthian – who are in the bottom four on 17 points (four wins, five draws and eight defeats) from 17 games.

Frankie Sawyer’s Chislehurst Glebe are next in the table on 14 points from 19 games, with Darren Beale’s Hythe Town (11 points from 18 games) and Stansfeld inside the relegation zone going into the pre-Christmas period.

“It’s a must-win game, they’re near us in the League table. We’ve got a game in hand but it’s getting to the point of the season where we need to start picking up points,” insisted Shinners.

“Things like tonight, for example, we’ve played quite well but we’ve picked up nothing. That’s happened far too many times so far in the season, especially the teams in and around us.

“We’re losing games, so we can’t afford to do that moving forward so Corinthian, then we’ve got Sutton and then we’ve got Hythe as well, so we’ve got three massive games before Christmas, which can really define our season.

“I’m always under pressure only because it matters so much. The club means a lot to me. I’ve been here quite a long time, so I put that pressure on myself. I don’t want to see the club fail.”

Shinners needs to bring in players that have experience in playing in a relegation dog-fight in this division, otherwise the club’s four-year stint in the ninth-tier of English football will simply come to an end.

“I think we need to be positive. I think we need to keep going. I have got a couple more players coming in, which includes a couple older faces, which I really do feel will boost our confidence and experience in the team, which is really needed.

“We won’t give up, me especially. I won’t give up.  I think today proved that they are up for the fight. If you actually look at the team as well, do don’t have a massive turnaround of players. It’s not like we’re losing players every week and that kind of proves what type of club we are.  We’re a club that’s prepared to fight and stick together moving forward.

“I think you’ve got to take each game as it comes really. It’s getting harder every season. The points tally (to stay up last season) was 35 points, so that proves it’s getting harder every year. The lower teams are getting better.  We’ve got to start that on Saturday. I don’t think it’s too early to say it’s a six-pointer for us on Saturday!

“We’ve got enough quality in our squad, really there’s no excuses going to Corinthian.”

Stansfeld: Cemal Osman, Frank McCormack, Tom Green, Louis Birch (Frankie Maciocia 63), Stefan Kempton (Teddy Green 79), Kai Jeffrey, Jimmy Shepherd (Merrick Simms 62), Oliver Andrews (George Bishop 79), Samuel Plant, Adam Wallis (Harrison English 79), Jack Calvert.

Goals: Merrick Simms 88, 89

Phoenix Sports: Ryan McCourt, Paul Lee (Ronnie Gilbert 62), Ahkeem Belford, Louie Downey, Jensen Grant (Ben Morrison 46), Jake Goodman, William Efambe, Kyrone Standley (Aarif Adekola 82), Jamarie Brissett, Lyle Della-Verde, Tyrese Agbontaen (Kristian Campbell 62).
Sub: Callum Morris

Goals: Lyle Della-Verde 24 (penalty), Jamarie Brissett 51, 77

Attendance: 69
Referee:  Mr Alex Gordon
Assistants: Mr Andrew Marr & Mr Liam Broom