Thamesmead Town 2-2 Erith & Belvedere. Gorman bemoanes costly mistakes - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS

THAMESMEAD TOWN 2-2 ERITH & BELVEDERE
Thursday 8th March 2007
Kent League Premier Division
Stephen McCartney reports from Bayliss Avenue

Costly mistakes meant Erith & Belvedere had to settle for just a point at Bayliss Avenue tonight.

With the original fixture falling victim to a waterlogged pitch seven days ago, Thamesmead Town’s efforts to get the game played were not rewarded.

They forked out £200 to hire a machine to clear surface water and also sprayed sawdust on the edge of the penalty area at the troublesome flyover end of the ground to soak up water, but only 87 fans attended the derby draw.

But at least Tommy Sampson (Horsham YMCA), Marc Seager (Whitstable Town) and Jason Lillis (Herne Bay) turned up for a bit of scouting.

The fixture attracted plenty of interest on an internet message board during the hours leading up to the game, but match referee Mr Paul Kelly deemed the pitch playable two hours before the kick off time.

Mead manager Keith McMahon, who along with the groundsman, worked tirelessly to get the game on, insisted throughout the day that the game would go ahead as planned.

“That’s what it’s all about, getting games on,” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk after the game.

“We’re not a club that wants to call games off. As I said earlier, we’ve had one game called off for the first team this year.

“We didn’t have any last year and the pitch has had about ninety games on it already from pre-season.

“There aren’t many with that amount of grass on it but it needs a bit of work on it for Saturday, but the pitch is fine.”

McMahon’s men, meanwhile, started the game well and almost opened the scoring after just 12 seconds.

Kane Rice, on a dual registration with Ryman League Division One South leaders Maidstone United, launched a long throw into the penalty area and the ball was flicked onto Ross Cable but his left-footed shot flew over from 12 yards.

Experienced Erith & Belvedere striker Steve White went agonisingly close with his side’s first chance after eight minutes.

The skipper’s deflected right-footed lob from 25-yards dropped agonisingly past the foot of the right upright.

But slack defending from the visitors presented the hosts with another chance when James Brown received the ball from a quickly taken throw from Ross Cable, but the midfielder poked his shot harmlessly wide.

But a bit of class from former professional player Austin Berkley gave the Deres the lead, against the run of play, after 23 minutes.

The midfield playmaker delicately chipped the ball over the top of the flat-footed Thamesmead defence and White drilled his 21^st goal of the season, with a right-footed shot on the angle, from ten-yards.

But Deres goalkeeper Alan Hughes, hero, who later turned villain, produced a top save to thwart the Mead from scoring after 34 minutes - their best chance of the half.

Striker Rikki Cable showed his class, twisting and turning his marker inside out, before cutting into the penalty area.

The 21-goal striker delivered a low cross, which was cleared only as far as Robbie Tarrant but the midfielder was denied by a fine low save by Hughes, who palmed the ball around the foot of the post.

White had a couple of excellent chances to put the game beyond Thamesmead’s reach late in the half, but he spurned them both.

The stocky, hardworking front man, latched onto another excellent defence splitting pass from Berkley, but with Mead goalkeeper Danny Kemp advancing, White rolled his shot agonisingly past the far post from sixteen yards.

Deres defender Joe Diggins escaped a booking from Gillingham based referee Mr Paul Kelly when he clattered into Rice in the second half.

And the hosts went close from Dean Kearley’s resulting free-kick from the half-way line when Pedro Knight’s towering header was too close to former VCD Athletic goalkeeper Hughes.

A slick four-man passing move from the Deres resulted in Berkley bending a right-footed drive from 18-yards agonisingly past the foot of the near post.

But a blunder from Hughes gifted Thamesmead Town the equaliser with 22 minutes remaining.

Ross Cable’s corner was met by Lee Loveridge’s towering header but Hughes dropped the ball and Knight was on hand to stab the ball across the line in a goal-line scramble despite Hughes’ desperate efforts.

This was very harsh on the visiting side and White’s last contribution came five minutes later when he burst forward before sending Adrian Deane through on goal.

But the former Charlton Athletic striker went on to drill his 25-yard shot past the left upright.

Thamesmead also went close when Ross Cable’s left-footed drive flashed past the post after receiving a square pass from Tarrant.

But Erith & Belvedere thought they had wrapped up a deserved winner with 40 minutes and 4 seconds on the clock.

Substitute Micky Collins latched onto Mark Nougher’s defence splitting pass and with only Kemp to beat the experience striker slotted home with a left-footed shot to score his fourth goal of the season.

This goal sparked wild scenes of celebration from the Deres management team, which saw Chris Cosgrove join in with his jubilant players, illegally, on the pitch.

But their joy was short lived as Thamesmead grabbed the equaliser just 54 seconds later.

A shot from substitute Curtis Williams from 22-yards looped off Deres defender Paul Gross and dropped into Hughes’ net as ecstasy turned to agony on the visitors bench.

Collins had a great chance to score a winner late on but his header found Kemp’s grateful arms after Nougher flicked on Adrian Dean’s left-wing cross.

But a draw does no team any favours as Mead (45 points) remain in third place and Erith & Belvedere remain in eighth with 33 points.

Deres joint-manager Paul Gorman admitted that his side dropped two points tonight.

“Yes. Unfortunately two costly mistakes,” he said EXCLUSIVELY to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“One by the goalkeeper and one by the centre half really. He (Alan Hughes) had no chance with the second one obviously but when the second goal went in, I thought we wrapped it up.

“Obviously with chances again, not taking them. Overall we deserved it in the end but at the end of the day results don’t lie.

“I thought we won it but as you say football’s a funny old game. One minute you’ve gone in front, the next minute, straight from kick-off, they’ve put it in the back of the net. We’ll we’ve put it in the back of our own net.

“A bit unfortunate but you learn mistakes. It’s a boggy pitch, especially in the goal mouth where it happened, lost his footing but end of the day a goal’s a goal. There’s nothing you can change about it.”

Gorman, however, felt his side performed well during the majority of the game.

He said: “They had fifteen minutes of the first half right at the beginning and I think about twenty minutes of the second half when they got back into it.

“But that’s all they had. Give their due, they worked hard, Thamesmead, they done well.

“They rattled us, kept on going and they got a result, got a draw out of it but we’re going in the right direction, which is good.”

Despite their lucky break at the end, McMahon felt his side deserved to bag a point.

“I didn’t think it was our best performance,” he admitted. “I think we started fairly well, conceded a sloppy goal.

“Got back into it and then I thought we were going to go on and win it. To be fair we seemed to have got done with a ball over the top.

“We changed it tactically to deal with it but second goal seemed to caught us when I thought we’d gone on and win it but I thought we deserved a draw to be fair.”

McMahon praised defender Barry Stewart, 27, who played his first game of football for two years tonight after recovering from a career threatening back injury.