VCD Athletic 3-1 Brentwood Town - Players' can't deal with our movement, says Tony Russell

VCD ATHLETIC  3-1  BRENTWOOD TOWN
Ryman League Division One North
Thursday 20^th February 2014
Stephen McCartney reports from Oakwood

VCD ATHLETIC manager Tony Russell says it’s frustrating that his eye-catching brand of passing brand is not enticing people through the turnstiles.

The Crayford-based club reclaimed their place at the top of the Ryman League Division One North table with 60 points from 26 games.

Brentwood Town, who are jointly-managed by former Dartford pair Adam Flanagan and Danny Dafter, deserved to go in at the break a goal up as winger Junior Luke capped a fine first half performance with a goal.

But the introduction of James Duckworth inspired Vickers back into life and Michael Power levelled from the penalty spot early in the second half, before Duckworth curled in his fourteenth goal of the season, before Power headed home a late third.

Russell made a couple of changes from the side that defeated Thurrock 2-0 in their last game on 4 February, with Duckworth (knee) replaced by Karl Dent and Joe Matthews slotted in to partner Nick Reeves at the heart of defence due to Ben Payne’s four match ban.

Brentwood, who arrived in Kent sitting in 20^th place in the table with 26 points from 29 games, eight points clear of the relegation zone, were the better team during the first half.

“That first half was possibly the worst half of football in terms of us I’ve ever seen – it was horrendous – just baffling,” said Russell, 35, after his side’s nineteenth league win of the season.

“I don’t usually go mad at them but today I did. I was so livid, literally livid and second half we went back to what we do.

“In the end we probably could’ve scored a few more but once we turn it on I haven’t seen many teams that could deal with it.”

The Essex side created their first chance inside the opening 11 minutes when left-back Louis Baucott clipped his left-footed free-kick from 20-yards over the wall and ever-present keeper Nick Blue made a low save.

Brentwood striker Tony Martin then curled his right-footed free-kick past the near post from down the left-channel, before flat VCD Athletic created their first opening.

Dent delivered a deep free-kick in from the left for Matthews to ghost in unchallenged at the far post to hammer his header behind from a tight angle.

Despite Vickers getting the ball down and playing from the back, Brentwood resulted to route-one football in the 23^rd minute.

James Love pumped a right-footed ball over the top of the defence to release Alex Akrofi through on goal, but Blue rushed off his line and was relieved when the striker stabbed his shot harmlessly wide from fifteen-yards.

VCD Athletic’s best chance of the first half arrived when right-back Barney Williams ventured into Brentwood’s half to clip the ball to Power, who brought the ball under control before stroking his right-footed drive just past the foot of the left-hand post from 25-yards.

“There’s nothing from the first half that I can come up with any positives,” admitted Russell.

“I’d love to spin something for you but I’ve got absolutely nothing!  I was sitting there in disbelief. I was moaning to Razor (assistant Ray Powell) and I was asking him why because I did the warm-up and I usually get a feel if they’re going to start slowly.

“What he put it down to was we haven’t played for two and a half weeks and we’re stop-start, stop-start and were a bit rusty.

“We haven’t done any friendlies. We thought about friendlies but you’re just playing more games. We know we’ve got so many so we just kept them ticking over on the training pitch doing small-sided games but maybe in hindsight it wasn’t best.”

Williams then penetrated his way forward before the ball fell to Dent, who swept his left-footed shot into the gloves of visiting keeper Dean Neil.

Brentwood created a decent chance to double their lead when right-back Christopher Mbula made progress down the line to send over a cross towards the far post which was knocked down by Martin for Luke to curl his shot around the far post from 25-yards.

But Brentwood Town deservedly lead with six minutes before the break.

A VCD Athletic attack broke down when Dent went down under a challenge and seconds later the ball was played long to release Martin down the right.  The Brentwood striker reached the by-line and cut the ball back and although the ball was behind Luke, the winger swept his right-footed shot across the diving Blue for the ball to nestle into the bottom far corner.

Russell said: “You can sit there and say it was a foul (on Dent), but they deserved it!

“We were horrendous! That nothing away from Brentwood, they were the better side. They had more desire, work-rate. Unfortunately we didn’t and they took a deserved half-time lead.”

Russell admitted afterwards that he wasn’t happy with his side’s first half performance but the introduction of Duckworth was the inspiration that they needed to claim the three points to leapfrog over Soham Town Rangers.

When asked why Duckworth sat on the bench during the first half, Russell revealed: “Just because he’s got a slight knee problem.  We’ve got 20 games (in under ten weeks). We’ve got a game Saturday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday so it’s the way it’s going to be now. We’ve got to take people out and put them in.

“It’s a shame. It takes away what we’re about because we work so hard on things in training so I can’t always put my best side out.  We just got to try to put a side out that can win that particular game.”

However, Brentwood Town were guilty of a glaring miss after only 25 seconds when Matthews lost possession inside the penalty area to Akrofi, who was denied by Blue, who was alert to the situation to rush off his line to block the shot.

“It will take time. We’re doing things different to what he’s done before,” Russell said of Matthews.

“The best way to learn is get them out there. I was pleased he still carried on passing the ball at the back, that’s all we ask them to be, nice and brave. When he done it (gave the ball away), you didn’t hear me screaming at him. It’s one of those things, just a little bit too casual.

That save was vital for Russell’s side because VCD Athletic clawed themselves back into the game in the 48^th minute.

Williams played a low ball in from the right and Dent wriggled his way into the penalty area only to be brought down by Dafter and referee Stuart Franklin pointed to the spot.

Power stepped up and rifled his right-footed penalty into the roof of the net – middle left – after Neil dived to his right.

“We spoke about it at half-time,” added Russell.  “There was no movement in the first half. No-one wanted to have a bit of desire to go and support their mate and all off a sudden three minutes into the second half boom.  We got in around the corner, all off a sudden they run late in the box a player’s come over and brought him down.  It was the first bit of movement in the whole game.

“I said this and I say it all the time, players at this level can’t deal with movement. If you’re passing and moving the ball they struggle.

“Like I said to them, individuals win you games of football. There’s no doubt about it. I’ve seen it over the times but teams win you things if you play as a team.

“The first half we decided to forget everything that we spoke about and done and just played as individuals and that didn’t work so we tried the other thing second half.”

Brentwood squandered a chance to regain the lead when Luke played the ball into Jacob Cleaver, who played the ball out to the unmarked Akrofi, who lashed his right-footed drive over from the right-hand side of the penalty area.

But VCD Athletic went on to dominate the rest of the game, with Brentwood goalkeeper Neil outstanding.

Uche Ibemere played the ball inside to Peter Smith and the midfielder stroked his right-footed drive towards goal from 30-yards, which Neil dived low to his right to hold on to the ball.

Smith, Dent and Power linked up well for Dent to be denied by a low save from Neil from 25-yards.

Reeves slammed his right-footed free-kick from 25-yards through the Brentwood wall for Neil to dive low to his right to make the save.

Brentwood should have done better on the hour mark when Beucott delivered a free-kick from inside Vickers’ half but Dafter planted his header wide from six-yards.

Dean Carpenter played the ball into Power, who flicked a first time right-footed drive flashing wide of the near post from 25-yards, before game changer Duckworth cracked a right-footed drive on the turn from 30-yards, which was tipped over by Neil.

Russell said: “I said to the boys forget about the result, I don’t care about the result. Just get back to what we do. Let’s just put on a little something for the 66 people watching.”

And on his side’s eye-catching brand of passing football, Russell added: “You’ve watched me over the years. It’s just the way I want to do it. I believe in it. When you do it right it’s good and it’s good to watch it and it must be good to play in it as well.

“We pinned them in. Once we started passing it they couldn’t get out and they kept on giving it back to us and we were pinning them in turning and screwing. 

“Once we got going I was always pretty confident it was going to come and maybe if you’re being ultra-critical we could’ve scored a few more in the second half.”

But Neil was at fault for VCD Athletic taking the lead with 69 minutes on the clock.

Blue kicked the ball out to left-back Lee Craig, who stabbed the ball to Reeves, who clipped the ball forward which was flicked on by Power.

Duckworth latched onto the ball and cut inside before curling his right-footed shot towards goal from 18-yards, which dipped in front of the diving keeper and bounced into the far corner.

Russell said: “Shame on the keeper because he was probably their best player in the end. He made some unbelievable saves but I said to him after it’s the joys of being a goalkeeper.

“He’s made five or six stunning saves and then one bobbles.  That’s just being a goalkeeper. They’re crackers for being a goalkeeper in the first place!”

Dent turned provider for Power through the middle, who cracked a left-footed shot towards goal from 12-yards, which was pushed over the bar by the busy Brentwood stopper.

Power received a square pass from Williams and his left-footed shot on the turn from 22-yards brought a routine comfortable save from Neil.

Brentwood went close when Akrofi was released by a long ball and stroked a right-footed drive around the far post from 22-yards.

But VCD Athletic wrapped up the game with a third goal with seven minutes remaining, courtesy of Power’s fifth goal for the club.

The home side were awarded a free-kick down the right channel and Duckworth floated in the ball with his right-foot. Power was not picked up at the near post and the 30-year-old planted his header into the top right-hand corner from six-yards.

“Shaggy’s got beautiful feet but he’s six foot one, six foot two, he’s a lump and to me he hasn’t got a weakness,” said Russell.

“To mark him must be an absolute nightmare. He got across the front, a beautiful ball as well. I tell Duckers sometimes he whips them in too hard and that close you just need to float it to give him a chance to get there. 

“We spoke about it in training. We switched the floodlights on a few weeks ago and went out there and done set-pieces.  The boys hate them because their boring but I was speaking to them the areas they should put it in, good areas as well. It was a nice goal.”

Russell is delighted that Power’s hard graft in training is paying off and he’s getting back to his best.

“He’s been superb since he’s come here. I can’t speak highly of him. He’s one of my good friends,” said Russell.

“Since he’s been down here we are getting him fitter.  What I’m doing to him is almost not right. The other night we ran down here, we done so much running with him. All the boys had gone home and we ran up the hills and we kept doing it and he was wobbling and he was going to be sick.

“I know how good he is.  He never, never fulfilled his potential. I was with him at Thamesmead when he was 17-18. He should’ve gone on and played ridiculous levels and he hasn’t for whatever reasons that may be but all the while he’s with me I’m going to get him as fit as I can and get him playing.

“To me he was the best player on the pitch by a mile and I said that to you last time against Thurrock.  That is the minimum requirement of him to be the best player on the pitch. It’s criminal that he’s even playing at this level.”

Russell gave striker Sherwin Stanley a late cameo, but he was wasteful on both occasions inside injury time.

VCD Athletic have 20 games of the season to cram in before the 26 April deadline.

When asked about returning to the summit, Russell replied: “It means nothing to me. I’ve got 20 games in ten weeks, it’s the least of my worries where I am in the league but I suppose the chairman might like things like that but not me.  I just think we’ve got 60 points and we’ve got 60 more points to play for,”

But Russell wants more than 66 people to watch Saturday’s home game against sixth-placed Dereham Town on Saturday.

“We went down there and beat them 2-1. They’ve got some good players. They’re going to be hard to beat, very workmanlike and they work hard and shut you down so we’ve got to be a little bit clever.

“But we’ve played tonight so we’ll see how we recover so I’ll talk to Razor about the team on Friday.

“They are going to be a test. Sometimes these games are harder because everyone expects you to win so if you haven’t scored after 20 minutes everyone’s getting anxious. 

“They’ll come and have a right go at us.”

Russell feels his team should be watched by more people to help out chairman Gary Rump.

Russell said: “It is frustrating. It’s frustrating for the club as well for Gary.  The chairman’s superb. He was down here today. He left work and he was forking the pitch. There’s not many chairmen who would do that. He worked his nuts off to get this game on today.

“It’s a little bit sad when 66 people turn up.  There’s not much we can do as a club. They may look at the prices – I don’t know what they are to get in?

“I think we play decent football and we’re not thugs, we don’t kick people. I’m not into this recruitment, marketing. I have no idea. But it is a shame. It’s a lovely club as well. It’s run by superb people.”

VCD Athletic: Nick Blue, Barney Williams, Lee Craig, Nick Reeves, Joe Matthews, Peter Smith, Dean Carpenter, Karl Dent (Sam Gent 81), Ishmail Kamara (James Duckworth 46), Michael Power (Sherwin Stanley 87), Uche Ibemere.
Subs: Billy Manners, Brad McNamara

Goals: Michael Power 48 (penalty), 83, James Duckworth 69

Booked: Karl Dent 58

Brentwood Town: Dean Neil, Christopher Mbula (Shadrak Ngandu 80), Louis Baucott, Danny Dafter (Matthew Rose 76), Ryan O’Rawe, Connor Witherspoon, Junior Luke, James Love, Jacob Cleaver, Tony Martin (Oliver Dingli 81), Alex Akrofi.
Sub: Connor Hogan

Goal: Junior Luke 39

Attendance: 66
Referee: Mr Stuart Franklin (Wickford, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Martin Osborne (Leigh-on-Sea, Essex) & Mr Peter Wilson (Chelmsford, Essex)