Tunbridge Wells 1-1 Bearsted - The core are running on empty now but we've got the bodies to get over the line, says Tunbridge Wells boss Steve Ives

Tunbridge Wells 1 – 1 Bearsted
Location	Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9SG
Kickoff	22/04/2024 19:45

TUNBRIDGE WELLS  1-1  BEARSTED
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Monday 22 April 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Culverden Stadium

TUNBRIDGE WELLS manager Steve Ives says his core players’ are running on empty after playing their fourth game in the past seven days.

 

Tunbridge Wells remain in fifteenth-place (43 points from 37 league games) in the Premier Division table, after being held to a draw by seventh-placed (69 points from 39 games) Bearsted at Culverden Stadium.

Regan Corke, who played behind 33-goal striker Trevor McCreadie, drilled in his ninth goal of the season to give the home side a fourth minute lead.

Bearsted levelled in stoppage time through substitute midfielder Joel Wakefield, who looped in a free-header to score his eighth-goal of the season for Kevin Stevens’ side.

Bearsted’s play-off hopes were mathematically ended by losing 2-0 away to struggling Rusthall at the weekend, while Tunbridge Wells came away from Gillingham with a point in a 2-2 draw at Hollands & Blair.

Both sides made four changes each for tonight and to ask part-time footballers to play so many games at the end of the season needs addressing, especially as the Southern Counties East Football League decide not to play midweek games when the weather is better during August and September and player welfare is severely impacted when footballers who have to also hold down jobs have and take to the field four times in a week.

“From our perspective, we’ve let a late goal in, which is always disappointing. On the balance of play, I’ll say a draw is probably a fair result,” said Ives.

“I felt we played significantly better in the first half than we did on Saturday.  I thought we set a good tempo.  I thought our work-rate off the ball was good. I thought we made them make a lot of mistakes in possession and I guess ideally it would’ve been nice to get more than one goal.”

Bearsted club advisor Danny Wakeling added: “It is what it is.  It’s got that feel as an end-of-season dead rubber about it. We didn’t approach it like that. We still wanted to maintain an upward curve going into next season.

“I suppose having defended the slope relatively well first half, second half not quite taken a couple of presentable opportunities that we did create, scoring late on, you can say it was a well-earned point.”

Bearsted centre-half Ryan Blake gifted a square pass straight to McCreadie inside the penalty area and the talisman striker’s left-footed shot on the turn was saved by the legs of visiting goalkeeper Frankie Leonard after only 166 seconds.

“I think they learnt their lesson by half-time.  A lot of people say, ‘it’s the pitch, it’s the pitch,’ I thought they were playing a bit kamikaze to be honest regardless of the pitch.  I thought the quality for them wasn’t quite there and we were on the front foot. We were quite hungry and the only thing we couldn’t get was the second goal,” added Ives.

Wakeling added: “That’s when the malaise started.  There was a couple of those square flat passes across goal and that sets the tempo for the rest of the game.

“I mean, the boys are aware, as soon as the toss was done, we were defending the slope the first-half, so you have to alter your approach and those two instances that was a failure to alter approach, which lead to the malaise.”

However, Tunbridge Wells opened the scoring with three minutes and eight seconds on the clock.

Bearsted gifted possession away inside their own half and Corke raced through on goal straight down the middle before drilling a clinical right-footed shot past the diving Leonard to find the bottom right-hand corner from 25-yards.

“It was a good finish from Reg.  I’ve got to be brutely honest and say I was talking to someone in the dug-out so I missed it! The Veo hasn’t recorded either, so I probably can’t re-live it, so I’ll take your word for it.  Regan told me it was a corker,” added Ives.

Wakeling added: “Yes, it’s a good finish, don’t take nothing away from the finish but it’s been presented by us turning over the ball again cheaply, part of that malaise in that first five minutes.

“That summed us up. We got away with it that first couple of times and that one got punished. It deservedly turns into a goal and we have to take it on the chin.

“If you do that three times in the first six minutes and they’ve already had two snap-shots at our goal, law of averages say they’re going to take the third one.”

Bearsted central midfielder Jack Palmby gave the ball straight to McCreadie inside the Bearsted penalty area for a second time but Leonard grabbed hold of the ball before it nestled inside the bottom corner.

Tunbridge Wells appeared hungry in the middle of the park and went close to doubling their lead in the 13^th minute.

Left-wing-back Ned Lewis tackled Palmby in the middle before drilling a 35-yarder, which screamed past the flying goalkeeper and only just cleared the top of the left-hand post.

“I challenged the boys a little bit. I personally felt the way we played second half on Saturday wasn’t good enough. We didn’t show enough desire or enough energy, or enough tempo and I said in the end in the huddle, although it was disappointing not to get three points, I couldn’t really fault people’s endeavour (tonight), explained Ives.

“It was an absolute screamer wasn’t it. I would’ve been so chuffed for Ned if he got a goal because he’s been our absolute unsung hero since he’s come into the team, bear in mind he’s one of the under 23s.”

Wakeling admitted: “I felt they shaded it (the first half).  Kevin alluded to it at half-time.  We needed to be a bit more combative in midfield and that malaise that was there against Rusthall in the first half was there again in the first half for us tonight.  We went with the same midfield and ended up getting the same result in there.”

Bearsted created their first opening in the 38^th minute when attacking midfielder Eniola Hassan cut in from the left before Tunbridge Wells’ centre-half James White closed the door.  Striker Ollie Freeman’s left-footed drive from 25-yards was initially spilt by goalkeeper George Bentley, before gathering at the second attempt.

Wakeling said: “That sums us up. If your number nine is swivelling from 25-yards, shaping to shoot and then the players that play behind him aren’t running beyond him or the wider players aren’t looking to feed of scraps, that again summed us up the malaise. 

“That lack of intent, that lack of desire to pounce on an opportunity like that summed up our first half in a nutshell.”

Ives added: “I thought Bentley done well with everything that he had to do all night. I thought he kicked well. I thought he talked well. I thought the balls that swung into him from dead ball, he was very strong with.  I don’t think there was anything he could’ve done with the goal either, so a good night for him.”

Bearsted’s holding midfielder Adam Turton swung in a free-kick towards the back post where Blake knocked the ball towards goal, which Bentley easily gathered at his near-post.

“He needs to sort his feet out in this instance.  The coaches have worked with him on his movement, approaching and attacking balls. It’s probably a stationery action, header. At six foot four or five, he needs to be attacking the ball, rather than from a standing position.  Ryan is well aware of that himself and all players at this level have many things to improve on and we’ll look to improve that during the summer,” explained Wakeling.

Both Ives and Wakeling were asked their thoughts at the interval.

Ives said: “Just said I was really happy.  There was a couple of tactical bits, which I won’t bore anyone with.  We made a little bit of a tweak on our throw-ins. I thought we were a bit one dimensional, trying to force it down the line and we didn’t really have anyone big to attack it, so we tried to vary that a little bit.

“We talked about giving Ned a bit of an out-ball, just felt sometimes we needed a runner, so that we could roll one down the line, which allowed them to keep us on the outside and we just talked about trying to switch the play.

“I thought our wing-backs were quite dangerous and I also said ‘this was the score on Saturday,’ and we didn’t manage to hold onto for the win, which sadly happened here as well.  I thought it was a much better performance than Saturday.”

Wakeling said: “The usual tenacity that we play with (was missing) and that’s not going around snapping people but ball speed, being good in transition. When you lose a football, looking to win it back early, all the basics to be honest with you.

“We changed second half but you really shouldn’t have to try to instil those facets into players, they should bring that with them with their boots.

“There wasn’t anything heated. It was more heated on Saturday. We went with the positives actually. The best we can to turn it around, reverse psychology.

“We can play a lot better. We expected us to dominate down the slope second half, which I think we did. We had clear sights of the goal in the second half, which should’ve been taken and we haven’t.

“We gambled late on in the game and brought on some more attacking players and those players have caused enough chaos for us to get a point out of the game,”

Tunbridge Wells offered very little in an attacking sense during the second half but McCreadie was let in by last-defender Blake but the striker’s right-footed chip from 25-yards drifted past the right-hand post when he only had Leonard to beat.

“A lot of our better attacks were quite fast transitions over the top.  I don’t mean this disrespectfully, I thought they had a little bit of a lack of pace in their backline and we were able, when we could, to get in that way,” added Ives.

Turton floated in the away side’s second of four corners of the night from the left and the ball sailed over to Freeman, who guided his free-header over a crowd of players and just past the right-hand post in the 50^th minute.

“The lads work diligently on their set-plays and they get their details out before kick-off on what routines we’re going to go with on any given game-day,” revealed Wakeling.

“I think there needs to be a little bit more diligence from our players in terms of capitalising and turning them into more goals. Someone has to step up and take that mantle on and it’s something that we need to look at through the summer.”

A clearance from Bentley went straight to Turton some 35-yards from goal and he released Hassan straight down the middle and his right-footed drive forced Bentley to make sure, by diving to his right to push the bouncing ball towards safety.

Wakeling said: “That’s what we’re capable of and that’s what we’ve probably done for the majority of the season, particularly the last couple of games and that’s where we’ve been a little bit flat.  That bit of spark, that little bit of hunger to really get our shots off and score more goals. It’s a bright moment but the way we play, we need to be having half-a-dozen of them a game.”

Ives added: “I actually thought that was going wide, did you?  George has got to be sure but I wouldn’t really call that a chance.  I’m not sure they had many sights of our goal. It didn’t feel like that.”

Bearsted missed a decent chance on the hour-mark, through direct play.

Right-back Dennis Agbudume played the ball down the line to send winger Dieko Falade on his way. He released Freeman, who reached the by-line before cutting the ball back towards left-winger Robbie Roberts, who completely missed the ball at the near-post. The ball came rolling out to Turton, who latched onto the ball to drill a first-time left-footed shot high over the top of the left-hand post from 20-yards.

“Turts isn’t renowned for his goalscoring but what we admire about him is his deep lying midfield role but when he senses something in and around the edge of the box he always gets on top of the ball. We probably like it to fall to someone who’s more used to scoring goals. Turts is an all-round player. He’s got everything in his game. I actually thought he played well tonight,” added Wakeling.

Ives added: “I felt they stopped trying to play and decided to go a little bit long and direct, which in fairness to them, caused us more trouble.

“I had to take Jack Walder and Ronny Little off, both were on a yellow and I brought on Dan Tear and Zak Wolvey, who are good as well but I just think they went a bit more direct, especially down the slope and they pinned us in a little bit and we struggled to turn them and they built up a bit of momentum.

“I was just a question whether we could either hold on for 1-0 or maybe catch them on the break.”

Both teams that had slices of fortune as they almost grabbed a goal each.

Firstly, Roberts whipped in a left-footed cross from the left-flank some 35-yards from goal and the ball dipped down and Bentley did well to use his outstretched left-arm to ensure he palmed it over his crossbar in the 64^th minute.

Wakeling said: “It was on target.  I think that was an end product of the pitch. He set himself brilliantly for the cross, body shape and if anything, it’s hit one of multiple bunkers on the pitch and it’s screwed and the goalkeeper has adjusted his feet really well and pulled off a good save.

“Robbie’s played well tonight. He’ll probably kick himself that he’s had the two clearer sights at goal tonight.”

Ives admitted: “He’s never meant that has he, in a million years, whether it’s bobbled up, whatever. If that’s what we’ve come to talk about, there probably weren’t many clear chances in that second half was there.”

White – who plays at the heart of a three man central defence alongside Ronny Little (a debutant from the title-winning under 23s) and Siji Akinlusi - played a free-kick from the half-way line which released right-wing-back Matthew Astle, who reached the by-line before hanging over a cross, which clipped the outside of the top of the near-post.

“I mean, let’s be honest, you’ve summed it up. He’s tried to cross it. I guess that’s all you can do when you’re a wide man, just got to put it into an area. I can’t really make too much excitement out of that to be honest,” admitted Ives.

Wakeling added: “The goal they scored, we did give it to them. I know it’s a part of football. That’s what hurts for the night, I guess. That tells you overall, they may have shaded the first half. I think we’ve absolutely dominated the second and over 90 we had control.”

Bearsted manager Stevens had strength-in-depth on his substitutes bench and his side continued to play on the front foot during the second half.

Wakefield whipped in a cross from the right towards the unmarked Roberts, who hit a left-footed half-volley which was straight into Bentley’s midriff inside the final 20 minutes.

“If you’re going to be hyper-critical, technique wise. He probably needs to lift his leg hip height, cut across and down the ball to hit it like a rasping volley. It’s come to him quite quickly. It’s later on in the game. He’s played a lot of minutes latterly. He’s had a very productive game though Robbie.”

Ives added: “Look, I’ve got to tell the truth. I felt they were the team asking the questions.  We were the team penned in a little bit. I don’t think there was a massive amount of quality with what they were doing but they were pretty much putting it in the mixer, to use an old term and unfortunately we weren’t able to hold out.

“No doubt people will say ‘they’re not fit enough, why have they let in another late goal?’ but ultimately we’re playing a hell of a lot of games, a little bit of a depleted squad. I can’t really fault the boys tonight. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get the three (points).”

Bearsted kept knocking on the door and their deserved equaliser arrived two minutes and 22 seconds into stoppage time. 

Substitute left-back Conrad Lee threw the ball short to Falade before Lee whipped in a high-quality deep cross with his left-foot towards the back post and Wakefield (who was left unmarked by Akinlusi and Astle, who finished the game at left-wing-back) steered his looping header into the top far corner of the net.

“Joe’s missed a few games so he won’t be his fittest or sharpest but a midfielder like that sniffs danger and wants to hit the box are always worth their weight in gold,” said Wakeling.

“The way that Joel and Jacob Kalonda both came on, two attacking midfield players who have got a good reputation in this league for scoring goals and ultimately twisting that way, he’s got us something out of the game.”

Ives added: “In fairness, it was a good delivery. Should the guy have a free header there? Probably not.  I didn’t think we were overloaded, so I guess we’ve switched off for a moment and that’s disappointing but that’s happened, what can you do?”

Bearsted complete their best ever campaign in the ninth-tier against thirteenth-placed Fisher at Honey Lane on Saturday (15:00).

“It’s nice to finish on a home game. Whatever happens we’re going to finish in the highest position the club has ever finished, records points total. I think it’s the second best defensive record in the league  (43 goals conceded, scoring 64).

“In terms of being a real serious outfit, you can see it on a night like tonight and you could probably see it against Rusthall actually and there’s been a few games when we’ve only scored the one or drawn.

“We’re well aware and we do need to add another 30 goals to the season, I think, to really be in the runners and riders for next year but the work that has gone in over the last two years has shown the club are on an upward curve, so no doubt the club will continue that rise.”

When asked about narrowly missing out on grabbing a play-off place, which will see Faversham Town (80 points), Glebe (80), Corinthian (79) and Erith Town (77) battle it out next week to see which side will join champions Deal Town in the Isthmian League next season, Wakeling replied: “We have to be honest, we had it in our hands about six weeks ago and lost grasp of it.

“Sometimes players need to go through that adversity and disappointment to break a new skin and develop and grow next year. They’ll be better off for the experience this year being relatively close.”

Looking ahead to their closing game, Wakeling added: “Ajay Ashanike will always get a side out that will always run through brick walls for him. I don’t think he won’t turn up as if it doesn’t mean anything at all and we’ll approach the game the say way.

“At home, you want to finish on a high and reward those supporters that have stuck by the side. Our crowds have gone up this year and we want to give them something to sign off with which is positive and Fisher want to do the same.

“Fisher will have a decent travelling support, so I expect that to have something on the game on Saturday, so we’ll definitely need to work on that mentality with the group that we bow out and finish strong.”

Tunbridge Wells, meanwhile, welcome sixteenth-placed Holmesdale to Culverden Stadium on Wednesday night (19:45), before completing their campaign at home to Kennington on Saturday.

“These end of season games, particularly with the schedule we’ve had, it’s really hard, who’s going to turn up in terms of personally and what the mindset of people is going to be and I’m talking about us and the opposition here,” said Ives.

“It’s been a long month for us. I just hope we’re competitive. All that you ask of the boys that you’re able to put out there is they’re competitive as they can be.

“In the overall scheme of things, there isn’t anything to play for other than pride and the fans and the badge and hopefully we can do that.

“We are walking wounded. You probably noticed tonight. We had Ronny Little from the under 23s making his debut. We had Max Lambert, Ned Lewis from the 23s as well, so the good thing is the 23s secured the league title at Rusthall last Thursday, so we can now use a few more of them, so we’ll give them more opportunities and see where it takes us.

“Zak Wolvey hasn’t played for us since before Christmas but I thought he done very well when he came on.  We’re hoping to get Luke Leppard back and give him a game.  We do have bodies but it’s just the core are running on empty now.

“We’ll get over the line. We’ve got the bodies to do it. From my perspective, I’d love to get over the line with six points.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Holmesdale. They’ve had some good results, they’ve had some strange results, a bit like us, so I guess it’s going to come down to personnel and mentality, which is what most football matches do come down to, I suppose.

“It’s 48 hours, it’s far from ideal. There’s no point moaning about it.”

The League have not stated the official outcomes of the abandoned games between Lydd Town-Fisher and Snodland Town-Tunbridge Wells, which will not be replayed.

“If I was a gambling man, I would say whoever’s making the decision will take the cop out and call it a draw but I’ve got to be honest, I feel like we had absolutely no contribution to that game getting abandoned (0-0 after 90 minutes).

“Even if the team’s involved needed the three points for the play-offs or to win the league or relegation, then I’ll be surprised. I think a diplomatic draw is going to be rewarded, which I’ll be pretty disappointed about.

“I struggle to see why if one team gets the game abandoned, the other team should be rewarded the win.  I like Snodland, they’re a good club, I’ve got some good friends there, but a decision was made.  If you’re going to make a decision, then you have to apply the Law. I just want consistency.  If the goalkeeper catches the ball outside his box that is a red card in the Laws of the Game.  If a team gets a game abandoned then surely the other team have to get three points but there is some baffling decisions.”

Tunbridge Wells: George Bentley, Matthew Astle, Ned Lewis (Morgan Vale 89), James White, Siji Akinlusi, Ronny Little (Daniel Tear 74), James Shield, Jack Walder (Zak Wolvey 72), Trevor McCreadie, Regan Corke (Max Lambert 84), Bradley Austin (Jacob Feasey 84).

Goal: Regan Corke 4

Booked: Jack Walder 20, Ronny Little 45

Bearsted: Frankie Leonard, Dennis Agbudume (Marvin Okundalaiye 90), Callum McCarthy (Conrad Lee 77), Adam Turton, Ryan Blake, Phillip Headley, Dieko Falade, Jack Palmby (Jacob Kalonda 77), Ollie Freeman, Eniola Hassan (Joel Wakefield 69), Robbie Roberts (Malachi Hudson 86).

Goal: Joel Wakefield 90

Attendance: 101
Referee: Mr Jack Owen
Assistants: Mr William Rough & Mr Stephen Luke
Observer:  Mr Stephen Down