Tunbridge Wells 1-1 Lordswood - I'm pleased where we are but we're not the finished product and there's still a long way to go, says Tunbridge Wells boss Luke Carpenter

Tunbridge Wells 1 – 1 Lordswood
Location	Culverden Stadium, Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9SG
Kickoff	09/10/2022 14:00

TUNBRIDGE WELLS  1-1  LORDSWOOD
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Sunday 9 October 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Culverden Stadium

TUNBRIDGE WELLS manager Luke Carpenter says his side are nowhere near the finished product after being held to a draw by Lordswood to miss out on the chance of climbing into the top six in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table.

Tunbridge Wells dominated the opening half-an-hour at Culverden Stadium but Lordswood snatched the lead through right-wing-back Joshua Reid’s left-footed half-volley at a set-piece, to score his fourth goal of the season, to give his side the first-half advantage.

However, Tunbridge Wells’ talisman striker Trevor McCreadie notched his tenth goal of the season just before the hour, finishing off a direct three-man move.

The Wells remain in eleventh-place in the table with 15 points from 12 games and are 15 points adrift of 100% league leaders Erith & Belvedere.

Lordswood, meanwhile, remain in thirteenth-place in the pecking order with 13 points from their 10 league games, five points clear of the relegation zone, which is currently occupied by Canterbury City and Fisher.

“Frustrated, very frustrated.  I think we’ve had so many chances that just need putting away,” said Carpenter.

“It’s not like half-chances we’ve had.  We’ve had the ball in the back of the net twice, ruled offside, could be, couldn’t be, I don’t know.  We’ll watch it back. 

“They were under so much pressure for the first 30 minutes, we’ve just not been able to convert. 

“They scored against-the-run-of-play and then they get the ascendancy from it, which is what commonly happens.  I just think that for the majority of the game we were the strong team and we probably should’ve won it – but at the same time we could’ve so easily lost it because in some parts of our defensive work today wasn’t good enough.  It was very much a Sunday game and maybe still asleep, I don’t know.”

Lordswood manager Richard Dimmock added: “A well-earned draw. I wouldn’t say we were at our best today.  I thought we were below par.  We got the goal, then all off a sudden we started playing a little bit of football in the last eight minutes of the first half.

“We were unlucky, we had a big chance just before half-time, which our forward could’ve set back and we could’ve gone in 2-0 up but then again we got away with a few chances with them in the first half.

“Second half, I thought we battled a bit better.  I wouldn’t say any real opportunities, one or two in the second half.  They battled well, we battled well. I think a draw was a fair result.”

Lordswood were without former Epsom & Ewell striker Richard Pingling through suspension, although he is back next Saturday, while club captain Callum O’Shea is expected to be out of action for another month, while Kyle McDowell was ill.

Lordswood arrived here with back-to-back wins over Stansfeld (3-1) and Bearsted (2-0), but Tunbridge Wells started the game on the front foot but lacked quality in front of goal.

The home side called visiting goalkeeper George Bentley into making a comfortable save inside the opening seven minutes.

Frank Griffin – who plays on the right of a three-man defence – played the ball out to right-wing-back Matthew Astle, who played the ball into striker Rhys Bartlett and a mix-up involving two centre-halves in Junior Baker and Dennis Agbudume let in Astle, but his right-footed dink was comfortably caught.

“I just feel we’ve had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the back of the net that we’ve just haven’t taken today,” admitted Carpenter.

With Lordswood fielding the oldest player in the division in centre-half Junior Baker, the back three off James Teodorescu, Baker and Dennis Agbudume were an organised outfit as the home side were caught in the offside trap on six occasions during the first half and a further three in the second.

“We were trying to work out if it was five or six offsides and we addressed that at half-time.  They were lazy offsides, so it was unnecessarily,” added Carpenter.

Dimmock added: “I’m not complaining. Defensively, we’ve been quite solid in the last four games.  We’ve altered a few things and it’s worked because we’ve lost twice in our last six so defensively, I’ve been happy.”

Lordswood’s first chance, however, came following their first of five corners, in the 27^th minute.

Victor Aiyelabola put in a quality delivery from the left with his right-foot and Baker found a pocket of space in the box but was off-balance and the ball skimmed off his head and screamed past the far post.

“I don’t think he realised how much time he had.  He’s got away from his marker and he could’ve put that in the bottom corner,” Dimmock said of the former Whitstable Town man.

Tunbridge Wells were to be denied a goal following a set-piece on the half-hour mark.

Griffin launched a free-kick from inside his own half, the ball was flicked on by striker Rhys Bartlett and McCreadie latched onto the ball and drilled a low left-footed drive across the keeper, only for the ball to clip the outside of the far post from 16-yards.

“That’s another one we addressed at half-time. It’s on his left-foot, his weaker foot. He’s hit the target, there’s not a lot more you can do,” said Carpenter, although a shot that hits the woodwork is classed as off target.

“The thing that was disappointing for me, as play progressed to that point there was a player I was looking at and was thinking why are you still standing still?  He should’ve been moving on and then the rebound comes to them and they finish it.”

Lordswood grabbed the lead – totally against the run of play – with 32 minutes and 4 seconds on the clock.

Left wing-back Lewis Tristram looped in a throw from the right, the ball was flicked on at the near post by striker George Acland and came out to Reid, who lashed a left-footed half-volley screaming into the top right-hand corner from 15-yards, leaving goalkeeper Jason Tibble rooted to the spot.

Dimmock said: “I think it came into George Acland, who chested it off to Josh Reid and a great left-footed strike and that gave us a kick, livened us up a bit and then we started playing our football right up until half-time.”

Carpenter added: “It was a great finish to be fair to him.  This is one we’re still trying to dissect.  We’ll look at the video because that’s someone’s man ultimately but at the same time we talk about how we defend our box a lot and I felt we had two players there who could affect it.  It happened so quickly but it’s preventable, so we’ll have a look at that but it’s a hell of a strike to be fair to him.”

However, Tunbridge Wells responded to that set-back and were to be denied by Bentley’s legs.

Connor Pring drove through the heart of the pitch before he was tackled by last-defender Baker inside the box. The ball rolled out to Bartlett, whose left-footed drive from 15-yards brought a vital save from the goalkeeper.

“That’s Reece’s bread and butter normally. He’ll score that in his sleep on another day,” said Carpenter.

“Reece probably gets two or three goals himself just from bog standard shots that he’ll take.

“You play at this level because you don’t consistently execute everything. It just so happens we’ve had too many people that have had that inconsistent day today.”

Dimmock added: “George made a couple of decent saves today. He’s made a few decent saves over the last few weeks as well, so he’s been phenomenal.”

Lordswood had a chance to double their lead but winger Kamieko Pope-Campbell went to pieces on the edge of the box, skying his left-footed shot over the crossbar.

Lordswood had an even bigger chance to take a two-goal lead into the interval, but striker Acland chose the wrong option with 44:15 on the clock.

Zachary Jacubowski stole the ball off Robbie Bissett beside the by-line and corner flag down the right hand side and cut into the box and he had two bites of the cherry to put a low cross into the corridor of uncertainty.

Acland had his back to goal and his ambitious back-heal went straight at Tibble to make a comfortable save in the centre of his goal.

Dimmock said: “Zach ran down the right flank, he’s kept it in, cut the ball back to George. Instead of setting it off for someone to strike it, he’s gone for a back heal and I wasn’t too happy about it.”

Carpenter added: “Their bench was fuming with that and to be fair to the nine, in that situation you’re never normally got time on the ball to turn and spin so I can kind of see what he’s gone for but I’m the opposition manager so if he was my player, I’d be screaming at him as well. I think that’s a good chance for them.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts at the interval.

Carpenter said: “It was a real difficult one because on the ball I thought we were fantastic! I didn’t think they were dealing with us. We were having so much joy. We were building up play very nicely, cutting them open, getting in behind, creating chances.

“We were kind of Jekyll and Hyde.  We were saying to them that the first thing we addressed was get your heads out of your, because defensively we were switching off and exposed a little bit.

“We almost wanted to do the pretty stuff and the good stuff and didn’t want to do the dirt, so we kind of addressed that.  We made a chance with personnel and we kind of identified their weaknesses where we can get success in our attacks.

“We had to keep positive.  We had to realise we were actually on top and we were creating chances and we knew a goal would come.  I felt we could get more today, that’s the disappointing thing.”

Dimmock added: “I just told them we’ve got to step up another 15-20%, because I said we haven’t turned up yet, it’s not the way we play. It’s not how I like us to play and it’s taken us 33 minutes from the goal to liven up, so I had a bit of a moan and said ‘look, pull your fingers out of your backside!”

Tunbridge Wells were kicking down the slope during the second half and were to be denied an equaliser with 89 seconds in.

Ezekiel Ebooa drew a foul from Baker in a central position and Bissett’s left-footed free-kick from 25-yards forced Bentley to dive to his left to palm the ball straight to Astle, who was in an offside position by the time the ball deflected over the goal-line.

Dimmock said: “That’s straight after half-time and we were so slow coming out of the blocks second half.  I thought once we got into our stride, we got more into the game.”

Carpenter added: “There were a few of them today. George has made some good saves and we’ve not followed up.  If you want me to summarise the game, look, we’ve not read the game very well and that’s not normally like us.”

A slip by Griffin opened the door for Pope-Campbell down the left but a low right-footed angled drive was comfortably held by Tibble at his near post.

Pope-Campbell had a second chance but his weak first-time shot from 25-yards was swept harmlessly past the far post, with Dimmock insisting it was “a terrible shot.”

Tunbridge Wells produced some good patterns of play on the deck – on a vastly improved playing surface which suits Carpenter’s passing game – but they resulted in route-one football as they equalised with 12 minutes and 15 seconds on the clock.

Goalkeeper Tibble kicked the ball long and into the right-channel where substitute striker Jacob Feasey latched onto the ball and put it on a plate for McCreadie, who got in behind Agbudume, to sweep a left-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from eight-yards.

Carpenter said: “The most pleasing thing for that is that I had a chat today with Jacob Feasey because he didn’t start and I’ve got to credit his mentality because he hasn’t scored yet and it’s so easy for a striker to get down, lose confidence and be frustrated.

“He’s got a very good shot. I think nine out of 10 strikers shoot there but he’s had the awareness, the calmness and the selflessness to pass that to Trev to get a tap in.  I think Feasey has got to take a lot of credit for that goal.”

Carpenter added: “Trevor’s doing well isn’t he? He’s a handful, he’ll score all sorts and you take your eye off him for one second and he’ll punish you for it!”

Dimmock added: “I’m disappointed with that, that’s one route one.  We’ve been done by a route one ball, haven’t defended it and you get punished.”

Lordswood’s second corner came on the hour-mark.  The ball was delivered deep by Aiyelabola and Baker throw himself at the ball but his header was straight at Tibble, who caught the ball at his near post.

A poor clearance from goalkeeper Bentley allowed Jack Palmby to stride forward but the swerving low drive from the central midfielder was pushed away by the goalkeeper, low to his left.

“We can list the chances all day, there’s a lot of them.  I think we’ve got to double digits.  There’s ones that can be classed as half-chances, they’re beyond half-chances, they’re clear-cuts,” added Carpenter.

Dimmock made a triple substitution for the final 22 minutes and another chance went begging from the home side.

Palmby split open the Lordswood defence to put McCreadie though on goal and once again Bentley was equal to it, beating the ball away to his left.

Substitute Jonathan Shea played the ball into McCreadie, who teed up strike partner Feasey, but his weak shot while finding space just inside the Lordswood penalty area was gobbled up by Bentley, who was the busier of the two goalkeepers.

Ineffective substitute striker, the towering Rami Halloufi, latched onto a diagonal pass from holding midfielder Bode Olajide, before cutting into the box and his angled drive from a tight angle was held by the Tunbridge Wells stopper at his near post.

“It’s frustrating, because we got into so many good positions and nothing came off them,” admitted Dimmock.

Tunbridge Wells centre-half Daniel Tear had two headers from two Griffin corners fly off target inside stoppage time before Lordswood squandered a great chance to win it at the death.

Substitute William Marsh clipped an intelligent ball over the top to put in Aiyelabola, who cut into the box down the right and drilled a shot straight at Tibble at his near post when he had better options.

Dimmock said: “I’ve literally just moaned about that. Any other striker puts that across the box 100%.  I’ve just said to them back in the days if that was me, I would’ve put the ball straight across the six-yard box but he hasn’t. He said he’s been selfish and gone for a shot. I just said, ‘it doesn’t happen again!”

Carpenter added: “Wrong decision wasn’t it but I was happy with it.  It turned into a basketball game in the last 10 minutes.  This is why I say we could’ve so easily had lost today.  I don’t know how we haven’t won but we could’ve easily had lost.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts on their league position going into two cup competitions this week.

Carpenter said: “It’s still a case of needing time to fine tune.  You’ve looked at the way that we played today (playing it on the deck).  That’s not something you can just work on and get overnight. There’s still a long way to go.  Don’t get me wrong but that does take time.

“I’m pleased with where we are but we’re not a finished product and there’s still a long way to go. It’s going to be that way, it’s a completely new side. We’ve kept seven players from last season, that’s a massive turnover of players to bring in and to blend with each other, get used to how we’re playing and get used to us as people, so it’s a massive thing that needs to happen.

“We’re nowhere near where our finished product is going to be yet. We’re still putting in some very good performances and we’re not losing as much now, which is a positive.”

Both sides are in Cup action in the next six days, with Tunbridge Wells travelling to sixth-placed Sutton Athletic in the Challenge Cup Second Round on Wednesday night, before travelling to Sittingbourne to tackle Canterbury City in the DFDS Kent Senior Trophy First Round on Saturday.

Lordswood, meanwhile, have two home ties, playing First Division Faversham Strike Force on Wednesday and Erith & Belvedere on Saturday.

“I think once we get everyone back fit and we can go on a run, I’d like to see us in the top half,” said Dimmock.

“I’ll be giving a few players a game who haven’t been playing, so that’s an opportunity for them to come in and show me what they’ve got.

“Hopefully, we can progress though those rounds and hopefully get a bit of silverware this year so I won’t be going light in either of the games. I want to try to get some silverware this year so there’s positives going into them.”

Tunbridge Wells: Jason Tibble, Matthew Astle, James Nurden (Johnny Phillips 79), Daniel Tear, Robbie Bissett, Frank Griffin, Jack Palmby, Connor Pring (Jack Walder 65), Trevor McCreadie, Rhys Bartlett (Jacob Feasey 46), Ezekiel Ebooa (Jonathan Shea 68).
Sub: Tommy Smith

Goal: Trevor McCreadie 58

Lordswood: George Bentley, Joshua Reid (William Marsh 68), Lewis Tristram (Phillip Makinde 68), Junior Baker, James Teodorescu, Dennis Agbudume, Victor Aiyelabola, Bode Olajide, George Acland (Rami Halloufi 68), Zachary Jacubowski (Nathaniel Murray 60), Kamieko Pope-Campbell.

Goal: Joshua Reid 33

Attendance: 518
Referee: Mr Richard Myers
Assistants: Mr Daniel Roberts & Mr Stuart Beadle