Bearsted 1-2 Southall - We thought we could turn Southall over here, not having to go back for a replay, let alone lose but you have to put your chances away and we didn't unfortunately, says Bearsted boss Kevin Stevens

Bearsted 1 – 2 Southall
Location	Otham Sports Ground, Honey Lane, Otham, Maidstone, Kent ME15 8RG
Kickoff	19/08/2023 15:00

BEARSTED  1-2  SOUTHALL
The Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round
Saturday 19 August 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Honey Lane

BEARSTED manager Kevin Stevens says naive defending and a lapse in concentration ensured Southall grabbed a place in The FA Cup First Qualifying Round for the first time in three years.

 

The unbeaten Bears went into this Preliminary Round tie sitting in sixth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with five points from three league games.

Stevens’ men went to Wembley (Combined Counties League Premier Division North), coming away with a 1-1 draw, before finishing off the job with a 3-1 win here at Honey Lane.

Southall defeated Isthmian League South East Division side Chichester City 1-0 a couple of weeks ago and opened their Isthmian League South Central campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Leatherhead seven days ago and arrived in fourteenth-place in the pecking order at this early stage of the season.

Bearsted were the better side during this flat encounter but Southall were more clinical when it mattered.

Max Howell’s men took an early lead through attacking midfielder Jaden Thompson-Brissett, finishing off a three-man move after Bearsted centre-half Ryan Blake gave the ball away while playing out from the back.

However, Bearsted striker Ollie Freeman drilled in his second goal of the season to restore parity eight minutes into the second half and with the tie heading towards a Wednesday night replay in Burnham in Buckinghamshire, Southall stole the victory inside stoppage time through a header from substitute midfielder Jack Roper following a set-piece.

Bearsted have opened their league campaign with a 2-2 draw at Punjab United, before beating Welling Town 5-1 and coming away from Gillingham-based Hollands & Blair with a point in a goalless draw on Tuesday night.

“Really disappointed in one respect, pleased in another.  The boys put in a good performance against a good Step Four side,” said Stevens, who has been Bearsted’s manager since 2013 and this was his 391^st game in charge.

“But yes, we were a bit naïve, which is a downfall season-in-season-out and it’s getting better but we can’t be naïve with some of our decision makings, hence conceding a goal in the 90^th minute.

“Yes it’s so frustrating, so frustrating.  I think both of their goals have come from us being a little bit clumsy.  We keep the ball well, the things we’re trying to do. We are going to give it away sometimes because it’s early doors what we’re trying to do but both goals, it is naïve.”

Bearsted missed a glorious chance to take the lead after 60 seconds.

Adam Turton, who sits in front of the back four, floated in a free-kick with his right-foot some 35-yards from goal and Freeman found a pocket of space inside the box to rise to send his header across the keeper and agonisingly past the far post.

“I had the same angle as you. I thought Ollie would bury that, absolutely bury it. A good leap, found the space, should’ve buried it but one of those things,” added Stevens.

Both sides packed the middle of the park and found it difficult to work the ball out wide, on a warm and sunny day.

Southall were caught offside on three occasions inside the opening nine minutes with Bearsted captain Blake and Colby Waite slamming the door shut with Southall striker Anthony O’Connor lacking service.

Southall were a threat from set-pieces and Luke Henneghan – who started the game on the right of a three-man attack – put in some high quality deliveries with his right-foot.

His first corner came in from the right and was hit deep and the ball was cleared out to attacking midfielder Jaden Thompson-Brissett, who cut in and on to his right-foot and his 22-yarder deflected past the near post.

Bearsted gifted Southall the lead, however, when it arrived with 13 minutes and 15 seconds on the clock.

Bearsted are a side that like to play-out-from-the-back and Blake was guilty of gifting possession along the pristine playing surface, straight to Henneghan, who
played the ball into O’Connor’s feet, who fed Thompson-Brissett, who cut onto his left-foot before drilling his shot into the roof of the net, despite goalkeeper Frankie Leonard getting his hand to the venomous drive.

“Ryan just doesn’t do that. He’s absolutely devastated because that gives them the first goal and he just doesn’t do that,” said Stevens.

“He’s such a good ball player, long, short balls, long balls, whatever, so he’s really disappointed with that but having said that, I thought we could’ve defended it slightly better maybe.  It’s gone in near post, which is slightly disappointing but it all happened very quickly.”

Stevens could be seen talking to his captain out on the pitch while the rest of the side were inside the home dressing room.

Stevens said: “He’s just really disappointed.  He’s won every header, he’s good on the ball, he doesn’t miss passes and the goal, he gave away and he gave away a couple others today.

“He hasn’t done that for the previous five games, so he’s just frustrated with himself. As skipper, he likes to lead the team and carry the team and just disappointed that he gave away that pass for the first goal.”

Bearsted were to be denied an 18^th minute equaliser, thanks to the crossbar.

Turton’s first time pass from within the final third saw Freeman lay the ball back to Turton, who cracked a left-footed drive crashing against the crossbar from 30-yards.

“On his wrong foot as well, superb,” added Stevens.

“When it left his foot I thought it was going to go in actually but it’s one of those. If it goes in, it’s fantastic but to hit it out there with his left-foot as well…”

Bearsted produced some well-worked moves on the deck, with Freeman pressing Southall centre-half Azeez Alabi in the final third before right-winger Robbie Roberts slipped in his fellow winger William Johnson-Cole, who took too many touches and Southall got bodies back to ensure the chance sailed harmlessly wide of the far post from 16-yards.

Southall offered very little going forward but they hit Bearsted on the counter-attack in the 40^th minute, with a header that easily cleared the crossbar.

The impressive Thompson-Brissett drove past Waite down the left to hung over a cross towards the back post which winger Anthony Mendy rose above Bearsted left-back Daniel Melvin but failed to keep his header down.

Stevens said: “We’ve worked hard on our defensive bits this pre-season, really hard and defensively we’ve conceded three goals in the league and that is the only chances we’ve given teams in the League and The FA Cup.

“We’re limiting teams to next to nothing, which is really pleasing but as I said to the boys there, we’ve just conceded two goals and limiting a team to next to nothing, which is frustrating. We’ve done that in every game.”

When asked about his half-time team-talk, Stevens added: “Keep going really. Believe in ourselves. We’ve just dominated them really for me, not being disrespectful to them.

“We’ve had them watched, we’ve had the video on them. We know they’re a decent side at that level and I thought we dominated them without quite being on it.

“We turned over the ball 14 times in the first half, which with the way we want to play, isn’t quite good enough. That was the only disappointment but we dominated a game of football, so there’s been a lot of plusses.”

Henneghan’s set-pieces were on the money and Southall came close to grabbing a second goal just 98 seconds into the second half.

O’Connor drew a foul from Blake and Henneghan’s right-footed free-kick from the right was met by O’Connor’s header at the near post and the ball rattled the top of the near-post.

“What a delivery that lad has got! Flipping ‘eck! That’s probably the best deliveries that I’ve seen in football, I think,” revealed Stevens.

“I think the frustrating thing for that is one, we gave the ball away straight away, as soon as we started the second half and the second one is we knew where the deliveries go – all front post and he’s got in and got that header, which is a little bit disappointing.”

Bearsted levelled proceedings with seven minutes and 41 seconds on the clock, with a ball that cut out Southall’s left-back Frankie Taylor and centre-half Alabi.

Goalkeeper Leonard played the ball short to Waite, who travelled over the half-way line with the ball at his feet before splitting open those two Southall players to play in Freeman.

It appeared that Freeman had made his angle even tighter but he drilled a stunning right-footed drive straight onto the postage stamp – into the top-right-hand corner giving Southall keeper Michael Edegbe no chance.

Stevens said: “It was good build-up play. We spoke about that at half-time.  We thought we could get in down there, down that side and you’re right, I thought Ollie had taken it a fraction too far but I think when you strike a ball like that, I don’t think any keeper is getting it, so we’ll done Ollie.

“We said at half-time about believing, keep the ball a bit better, don’t turn it over as much and we thought we could turn these over here, not having to go back to even a replay, let alone lose.

“We were on top for a large part but when you’re on top, you have to put those chances away and we didn’t, unfortunately.”

There were concerns for Waite, who screamed several times after being on the end of a bad challenge within the Bearsted defensive channel and despite a stretcher being called, the centre-half hobbled off with an injury to his right knee.

Stevens brought on Callum McCarthy to play at left-back, while left-back Daniel Melvin slotted in at right-centre-half beside Blake, with Dennis Agbudume staying at right-back.

“The physio’s not sure yet (about the extent of the injury).  She’s hoping it’s not as bad as it looks but it swelled up and obviously when it’s swelling, she can’t tell. She’ll let it come down a bit and put a bit of ice on it and give it a few days and then look at it on Tuesday.

“Hopefully, he thinks it feels ok so when he was screaming like that I thought the worst. I thought it was a bad injury. I thought we were going to lose him for a long time, touch wood, it’s not.”

It was now Bearsted’s chance to create an opening from a set-piece but Edegbe was hardly troubled in the 65^th minute.

Turton floated a deep free-kick, which was knocked back across goal by Blake and Melvin knocked the ball towards goal, the ball bouncing into the hands of the Southall keeper.

An even better chance came Bearsted’s way at the half-way mark and Stevens felt Johnson-Cole should have scored.

Central midfielder Phillip Headley played the ball forward to Turton, who hit a hooked diagonal pass which released Johnson-Cole charging forward down the left and he cut inside but lacked composure as his weak right-footed shot from 25-yards rolled into the keeper’s hands at his near-post.

“As soon as Will cut inside I thought this could be putting us ahead,” said Stevens.

“He’s quality Will. Everyone knows him in this league, he’s a quality player. He does that time and again. It was a bit of a tame effort in the end but Will get plenty of those throughout the season and put them away.

“We had a young squad last year, we had problems off the field so the young squad suffered a little bit. I think we were better than a thirteenth-place finish but the table doesn’t lie.

“We thought we had to bring in a bit of experience and we’ve brought in four older players with a bit of experience. We knew we needed more goals and Will gives you that, so bringing those players in was massive for us really. They’ve added a bit in the dressing room as well as on the field, which is nice.”

Freeman whipped in a cross from within the left-channel, which was cleared out to Turton, who took a touch before unleashing a left-footed rasping drive from 30-yards, which was plucked out of the air by the keeper’s outstretched two arms as Bearsted looked like the side more likely to notch the winning goal.

“Turts will always do that, he’s got a great strike on him.  He’s been really good for us this season. We’ve played a lot of games in a short period yet again but he’s played a lot of minutes and he’s been so consistent. He’s a quality player, he’s a leader as well, fantastic,” said Stevens.

However, Southall had other ideas and in the 28^th minute, a long ball out of defence was flicked on by O’Connor and this released Thompson-Brissett on the counter-attack and in oceans of space down the left.

He easily cut inside and past Agbudume and once inside the penalty area his driven angled shot was comfortably parried by Leonard, low to his left, before pouncing on the ball low to his right, with no other Southall players inside the box ready to pounce on the loose ball.

“Listen, they hardly had a thing so any team – even if you play a team from a league below us – teams are going to have their moments,” said Stevens, who heaped praise on the former Larkfield & New Hythe and Meridian VP stopper.

“Frankie is a good keeper, young keeper, he’s 19, really good, young keeper. Superb with his feet, he’s got a lovely distribution and he’ll get better and better at this level.”

Bearsted were starting to tire, with this being their sixth outing in 21 days, but the most likely outcome appeared to be a second bite of the cherry on Wednesday.

Turton, substitute Omotunmise Akanni and Agbudume linked up well down the right and Turton’s first time cross from the right was glanced past the far post by Joel Wakefield’s header, inside the final seven minutes.

Southall won the counter count by four-to-two and grabbed an undeserved winner with 46:22 on the clock following their final flag-kick.

Bearsted were down to 10 men at the time as Freeman suffered a knock and received treatment on the sidelines and this opened the gate for Southall to grab the victory.

Henneghan’s right-footed corner from the left was on the money yet again and no one in a Bearsted shirt had picked up Roper at the near-post and the ball sailed into the top near corner, giving Leonard little chance with plenty of bodies around him.

“The biggest disappointment is one, Ollie coming off.  I’m not sure what that’s about. I’ve got to talk to him about that. It just beggars belief if I’m honest,” said Stevens.

“Again, the delivery, near-post, something we talked about. All of these deliveries (went towards) the near post. With that dip that he’s got, we knew that’s where we’ve got to defend it. A man down or not a man down, usually we deal very well with set-plays, so it was disappointing to concede in that manner.

“I think having Ollie out of there, I don’t think it was Ollie’s men who scored the goal but it was just that rotation that they had, that we didn’t go and pick up.  We should’ve had everyone back and we didn’t. We left one up, we were trying to nick it ourselves, just a lapse of concentration really.”

Bearsted embark on their FA Vase First Qualifying Round campaign with a trip to lower-league side Mile Oak, who are second-from-bottom in the Southern Combination League First Division table with one point from their opening four league games.

“It’s a competition that’s always has excited me from when we went to the Last 16 when we lost 2-1 to Abbey Rangers up there after extra time in 2019,” recalled Stevens.

“It’s a competition that every club at our level wants to do well in. and thinks they have a chance of doing well in.

“I’ve just said to the boys, listen, we’ve had five games undefeated, we probably should’ve won one or two of them, rather than draw them but it’s been a good start.

“We’ve just played a Step Four side off the park and we said we’re going down to Mile Oak next Saturday and there’s no need to be down, let’s really get back on it, heads up. We’ll have two training sessions next week and we will work on things and it’s a chance to put that behind us against Mile Oak.”

Meanwhile, there is a sense of pride at Honey Lane that ‘one of their own’ Alessia Russo, 24, has played a big part in England reaching the Women’s World Cup Final, where they’ll face Spain on Sunday morning.

Growing up in East Farleigh, Russo played for West Farleigh before moving to Bearsted, playing for the boys’ and girls’ team, before leaving for Charlton Athletic, aged eight or nine, and the rest, they say, is history.

“It’s probably a bit closer than normal because Giorgio, her brother, played for us. He might even still come back to us this season. He’s out there in Australia watching Alessia, but it’s unbelievable,” said the proud Bearsted manager.

“I turned up here for the semi-final. We had a Charlton Soccer School up here last week and I was selfish and watched the first half at home and drove the 17 minutes it takes me to get here for the second half and you had 38 boys and girls and everyone was queuing up at the door waiting for me to open up so they could watch the football in the clubhouse.

“It’s so exciting to see one of your own doing what she’s doing – fantastic!”

Stevens, who is also groundsman at the club, announced that the club have plans to lay a 3G playing surface at Honey Lane at the start of next season.

“It’s in the pipeline and hopefully a new clubhouse.  We spend an awful lot of money (£45,000 a season) out for all of our teams to go out training, 31 teams training at other places.

“It will hopefully bring a bit more money into the club.  A new clubhouse will be nice to get rid of this old building so hopefully exciting times ahead.”

When asked about Bearsted’s aspirations for this season, Stevens is looking much higher than normal.

“We’ve set our goals, which I don’t really want to say where we think we’re going to get – but I’m looking at me and the management, it’s a good team and what we’re trying to do.

“The management team put an awful lot of work into scouting teams, having videos on teams, scouting reports. We put an awful lot in and analysis and it’s a good mix of youth and older players now so we’re expecting to do a lot, lot better. A lot, lot better than last year.

“I know we’ll be in the bottom third of budgets, for sure, but we put an awful lot into our coaching and all of our analysis and everything so we’re expecting to do really well but I’m not going to mention play-offs, like everyone does.”

Bearsted: Frankie Leonard, Dennis Agbudume, Daniel Melvin, Adam Turton, Ryan Blake, Colby Waite (Callum McCarthy 60), William Johnson-Cole, Phillip Headley (Omotunmise Akanni 77), Ollie Freeman, Joel Wakefield, Robbie Roberts (Beau Cook-Bartholomew 84).
Subs: Marvin Okundalaiye, Alex Brown, Alfie Saunders, James Savage

Goal: Ollie Freeman 53

Southall: Michael Edegbe, Alexander Nolan, Frankie Taylor (Jaiden Celestine-Charles 71), Dimitris Savva, Carl Pearce, Azeez Alabi, Anthony Mendy (Jack Roper 77), Ryan Hope, Anthony O’Connor (Dylan Kearney 85), Jaden Thompson-Brissett, Luke Henneghan.
Subs: Kevin Diomande, David Amate, Abdulrhahman Nurein, Kevin Songolo

Goals: Jaden Thompson-Brissett 14, Jack Roper 90

Booked: Anthony Mendy 45, Anthony O’Connor 56

Attendance: 136
Referee: Mr Stephen Hughes
Assistants: Mr Rodney Davies & Mr Tommy Fleming