Three Bridges 2-1 Erith Town - We gave everything we could and you could see by their celebrations at the end, they knew they've had a hard game, says Erith Town boss Adam Woodward

Three Bridges 2 – 1 Erith Town
Location	Jubilee Walk, Three Bridges, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 1LQ
Kickoff	02/09/2022 19:45

THREE BRIDGES  2-1  ERITH TOWN
The Emirates FA Cup First Qualifying Round
Friday 2 September 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Jubilee Walk

ERITH TOWN manager Adam Woodward says his side’s FA Cup exit leaves a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth.

Jamie Crellien’s side booked their place in The FA Cup Second Qualifying Round for the first time in 20 years, with all three goals coming in the first half at Jubilee Walk.

Three Bridges took only 78 seconds to take the lead, courtesy of right-winger Kieron Pamment’s fifth goal of the season and a goalkeeping mistake, before the Dockers deservedly levelled through left-winger Alfie Eldridge’s third goal of the campaign.

Three Bridges, a side that started the game playing out from the back before ditching that tactic and hitting long diagonals out of defence, sealed progress courtesy of Curtis Gayler’s drilled free-kick on the stroke of half-time.

When asked to sum the game up, Woodward replied: “Sum it up? What do you think? What do you think? Who do you think the better side was?

“You could see how much it meant for them, they acted at the end like they won The FA Cup and I think that’s how far we took them.

“We fully deserved to win the game but we haven’t so it’s one of those things. We move on, we go again. We wasn’t expected to come here and win tonight but listen, it leaves a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth with the way we played.  I thought we played really well and we couldn’t ask for anymore.

“You’ve obviously noted it down.  I thought they were timewasting from 51 minutes and listen if you’re an Isthmian League side in the league above who have aspirations to do things and you’re timewasting against us, I think you’ve got a few issues.”

Three Bridges went into this tie sitting in ninth-place in the Isthmian League South East Division table, with a 50% record from their opening four games, including an opening day 1-0 defeat at Sevenoaks Town.

This was their third Kent team that they have beaten on home soil in The FA Cup, having beaten Whitstable Town (3-0) and Deal Town (3-2) before knocking out an Erith Town side in the bottom five in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table, with three points from as many games.

The Dockers have beaten Pagham (4-0) and Bedfont Sports (2-1) to reach this stage of the competition but failed to kill off their higher-league hosts when they had momentum during this game.

Three Bridges opened the scoring with their first attack on goal as left-back Daniel Ferreira played a one-two with winger Camron Lawson before whipping in a left-footed cross from within the left-channel.  The cross was spilt by visiting goalkeeper MacKenzie Foley and an unmarked Pamment clinically planted his shot just left of centre into the goal.

“Listen, we’ve let ourselves down a little bit there, not picked up or reacted to second balls but it was a good finish and it’s the worst possible start really,” admitted Woodward.

“Listen, we were 1-0 down after three minutes at Bedfont and we came back and won 2-1 and honestly, I was not worried at all.”

However, Erith Town showed plenty of character and there was a huge shift of momentum.

Right-back Tom Ash fed the ball into Jason Goodchild, whose first time pass played in Emmanuel Oduguwa, who was clearly fouled inside the penalty area but the ball ran through for Harry Taylor, whose drilled shot was beaten away by recalled goalkeeper Leo Anderson at his near post.

“It’s a stonewall penalty, stonewall penalty! The positives we have now is we video the games so the officials will be sent it and asked for an explanation.  It’s a stonewall penalty! He’s made no attempt to win the ball but for some reason the referee’s not even waved it away,” said Woodward.

Five of Erith Town’s eight corners came during their front foot spell between minute 11 and 24 but they were wasteful in front of goal during this period.

Attacking midfielder Oduguwa raised the ball high above his head before his outswinging corner from the left was met by Eldridge’s free header which sailed over the crossbar from 16-yards.

Ash swept a first time pass forward, Oduguwa flicked the ball from inside the Three Bridges penalty area and Harry Taylor – a striker who scored 53 goals for Kent County League Premier Division champions Red Velvet last season – lost composure inside the box and slid in with goalkeeper Anderson and skied his shot over the crossbar from 10-yards.

“Listen, he’s been quite unlucky tonight Harry.  If you see the state of him after the game, he’s got a black eye, cuts all over him. He’s been in a right battle tonight,” added Woodward.

However, Erith Town deservedly equalised when their goal arrived with 13 minutes and 57 seconds on the clock.

Ash played the ball through the legs of Three Bridges’ centre-half Tad Bromage  and Taylor’s cross from the right was flicked on by Steadman Callender inside the box.  The ball was laid off by Oduguwa to an unmarked Eldridge, who swept his right-footed shot across the keeper to find the bottom far corner from 10-yards.

“I’m pleased for Alfie, he’s deserved that.  I think he’s been exceptional the last couple of weeks,” praised Woodward.

“He’s had a stop-start pre-season but he’s scored two on Saturday (in a 6-0 home win over Loxwood in The FA Vase First Qualifying Round) and he’s come and scored today.  I think he was lively, especially in the front three.”

Oduguwa’s fourth corner from the right was delivered deep towards an unmarked Goodchild at the back post but his header was spilt by Anderson, who stepped to his right to gather at the second attempt.

Three Bridges weathered the storm, however, and went close to grabbing the lead at the halfway point.

Centre-half Bromage liked travelling with the ball at his feet towards the halfway line.

On this occasion he ignored his usual long diagonal pass and played the ball into Lawson, who slipped through attacking midfielder Kevin Rivera but Foley got something to the dinked shot, which trickled past the foot of the left-hand post and went behind for a corner.

Erith Town were a threat from corners and Ash found a pocket of space at the near post to glance his header through a crowd of players and just past the far post after another outswinging delivery from Oduguwa’s right-boot.

Holding midfielder Malik Noiske played the ball out wide to Callender, who whipped in a cross with his right-boot from within the right channel but Oduguwa’s looping header was comfortably gathered by Anderson to prevent the ball sailing into the top corner.

Three Bridges’ striker Noel Leighton cut an often isolated figure up on his own and he screamed in despair after his towering free header sailed just past the far post after Ferreira put in a cross from the left wing.

Three Bridges sealed the deal, however, notching the winner with 47:50 on the clock, with referee Joshua Langley-Fineing blowing his half-time whistle at 48:54.

Oduguwa stuck out a leg and clipped Pamment as he cut in from the right wing into the centre and out came a yellow card for the challenge.

Faced with a five-man wall, Gayler drilled his right-footed 25-yard free-kick screaming into the top right-hand corner, leaving goalkeeper Foley rooted to the spot.

“A cracking strike from the fella  to be fair, a good strike. You don’t save them, do you?” added Woodward.

“I said at half-time, ‘just keep doing what you’re doing.’  I think we’ve been the better side.  We’ve been dominant and if people, the neutrals were watching tonight they would say you were probably the league above side, they were the league below side. We’ve got nothing to lose and we just have to go out and try to leave everything out there.”

Three Bridges came out for the second half with all guns blazing and created some early chances to put the tie out of the Dockers’ reach.

Lawson’s cross was cleared out to an unmarked Gayler, who cracked a right-footed dipping drive from 35-yards, which forced Foley to dive full length to his right to use both of his hands to push the ball towards safety.

Erith Town’s left-back Truman then opened the gate to let in Gayler, who drilled his right-footed angled drive against the top of the near post with Foley well beaten with three minutes and 21 seconds on the clock.

Woodward added: “It was a long way out. I thought it caught MacKenzie a bit off really, other than that, I don’t think they got in our half, did they?

“I thought he did alright MacKenzie. He’s been solid since he’s come in. His distribution is second to none. I think he’s getting better and better with a run of games.”

Erith Town almost levelled shortly afterwards when Eldridge cut inside to crack a right-footed driven shot which flashed past the diving keeper and past the near post.

Bromage’s diagonal found Pamment down the right and he cut inside and curled a left-footed shot towards the far corner from 25-yards, which forced Foley to dive to his right again and push the ball towards safety.

Three Bridges’ goalkeeper Anderson was then called into action when Truman played the ball into Oduguwa, who slipped in Eldridge, whose right-footed curler towards the far corner was pushed away by Anderson, diving to his left.

The game then turned into a cagey affair after those flurry of chances inside the opening nine minutes.

Just before the hour-mark, Brannon O’Neill’s floated corner from the left wasn’t gathered by a flapping Foley and Leighton steered his downward header into the grateful arms of the visiting goalkeeper from eight-yards.

Woodward challenged his team to get the ball out to Callender out wide on the right but he was kept in the pocket of Three Bridges left-back Giani Ashley throughout the second half until he was replaced with nine minutes remaining.

Woodward and his assistant manager Russell Bedford were both booked by referee Joshua Langley-Fineing late on for comments made within the technical area, while Three Bridges manager Crellien got away with stepping onto the field of play, before Foley could launch a free-kick forward from the halfway line on the left-hand side.

Woodward said: “Their manager went on to the field of play to handover instructions, did you see that?

“The lino has been completely quiet on it and when I questioned on it, I was booked.”

Woodward made a double change with 81 minutes on the clock, hooking Steadman and Truman, going three at the back and it took his side until stoppage time to press for an equaliser but they lacked the quality required to force a home replay.

Erith Town’s penultimate corner was taken by substitute midfielder Ladic Melconian but substitute Tola Odedoyin failed to keep his towering header down.

Melconian hit a speculative right-footed drive into the keeper’s midriff from 35-yards, but their best chance came deep into stoppage time following their eighth corner of the night.

Melconian’s deep corner was met by an unmarked centre-half Ryan Mahal, who steered his header past the near post and lead to home goalkeeper Anderson being booked for timewasting, something that he started participating in after 51 minutes.

Woodward said: “We tried, we threw everything at it didn’t we, the last half-hour.  We threw everything in. We didn’t get the rub of the green, the drop of the ball in the area.  We had a couple of scrambles in the box.

“Ryan’s had a free header; he’s come up trumps with a few of them usually. He usually heads them back across goal but he’s gone for the near post, which is probably the hardest thing and it’s just gone the wrong side.”

Erith Town kept throwing the kitchen sink at their hosts and they threw many players inside the box but Melconian swept his shot just past the foot of the post at the death, with the final whistle being blown with 53:43 on the clock.

“What did the lads’ give us? Absolutely superb. I couldn’t ask for anything more.  I think we gave everything we could and you could see by their celebrations at the end, they knew they’ve had a hard game.

“We’ve had a good run (in The FA Cup). We’ve beaten a team from a league above, Bedfont and I we’ve come here tonight and we’ve been very, very, very unlucky – at least we deserved was a draw.”

When asked how his players’ were feeling inside the dressing room at the end of the game, Woodward replied: “Disappointed, silent, they’re angry, they’re upset. They’ve gone out of The FA Cup and they’ve given everything.”

Woodward has to pick up his players ahead of their trip to fourteenth-placed side Welling Town next Tuesday and remains tight-lipped when it comes to his club’s aspirations this season, after finishing in the top seven last season.

“We’ll recover and we’ll plan for Tuesday and we’ll go again,” said Woodward.

“Listen, they’ll be tough, Kevin Oakes has got a god side down there. They’ve had a few good results. Chatham is a tough place to go with the (3G) pitch so we’ll just got down there and try to get a result.

“That’s between the four walls, that’s where it’s discussed. We won’t bring anything out in public. We’ll do what we can and we’ll just try to win as many games as possible.”

Three Bridges: Leo Anderson, Daniel Ferreira, Giani Ashley, Brannon O’Neill, Tad Bromage, Callum Donaghey, Camron Lawson (Billy Irving 78), Curtis Gayler, Noel Leighton (Alex Barbary 90), Kevin Rivera (Michael Wilson 47), Kieron Pamment.
Subs: Mitchell Bromage, Tresor Difika, Conner Collcutt, Harvey Woollard

Goals: Kieron Pamment 2, Curtis Gayler 45

Booked: Callum Donaghey 86, Curtis Gayler 90, Leo Anderson 90

Erith Town: MacKenzie Foley, Tom Ash, James Truman (Ronnie McLean 81), Jason Goodchild, Ryan Mahal, Jerome Jayaguru, Alfie Eldridge, Malik Noiske, Harry Taylor, Emmanuel Oduguwa (Ladic Melconian 65), Steadman Callender (Tola Odedoyin 81).
Subs: Charlie Clover, Alfie Maisey, Hugo Webb, Jack Hope

Goal: Alfie Eldridge 14

Booked: Emmanuel Oduguwa 45, Jason Goodchild 81, Adam Woodward 86 (manager), Russell Bedford 90 (assistant manager)

Attendance: 295
Referee: Mr Joshua Langley-Fineing
Assistants: Mr Oliver Westgate & Mr Patrick Jolliffe