Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 2-3 Deal Town - A top eight finish for a club like us will be quite an achivement, says Deal Town boss Derek Hares

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 2 – 3 Deal Town
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	21/04/2016 19:45

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)  2-3  DEAL TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League
Thursday 21^st April 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

DEAL TOWN manager Derek Hares hailed his side’s great performance after bettering last season’s points total.

Deal Town go into their last two league games of the season lying in tenth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League table with 47 points in the bag, after claiming a victory at Cray Valley for the first time at the third attempt this season.

Man-of-the-match, central midfielder Joe Anderson opened the scoring for Deal Town, before Cray Valley scored twice inside six minutes through striker Marcus Elliott’s 11^th goal of the season and a counter-attacking raid from central midfielder Charles Ofusu-Hene.

Anderson scored his second goal of the night to draw Deal Town level just before the hour before winning it through attacker Rene Rivera, who notched his 21^st goal of the season.

“I thought, to be fair, the first half-an-hour we played really well.  The last quarter-of-an-hour after they got the goal they got on top of us for the last quarter-of-an-hour of the first half but I was really pleased with our reaction in the second half,” said Hares after his side’s 14^th league win of the season that sees them leapfrog over AFC Croydon Athletic into the top ten.

“I thought we were excellent. We had to make quite a few changes tonight, several players were unavailable and I thought the commitment of the team as it’s been really for the last few weeks was excellent.”

Cray Valley manager Paul Gross admitted to be feeling disappointed as their 36^th and final league game of the season ended in their 14^th league defeat of the season.

He said: “It’s not good enough! It hasn’t been good enough for the last seven games now. Disappointing way to end the season.  Now we hope others lose so we hold seventh-position, otherwise we find ourselves in a bad position in the league.”

Cray Valley should be finishing higher than seventh, eighth or ninth (depending on Saturday’s results).

“That’s the same team really baring the goalie that went on an unbeaten run in 13, didn’t lose in 13, now we haven’t won in seven,” said Gross.

“They’ve gone from now losing in 13 to not winning in seven. It’s not good enough for that group of players!”

A crowd of only 51 watched Cray Valley’s final game as landlords at Badgers Sports Ground at Middle Park Avenue in Eltham as newly-promoted Greenwich Borough take over the ownership of the ground next month.

Hares said: “It is (our first win here) in our third attempt. We did beat them at home (on 9 April).  I think that’s one defeat in our last nine so it’s been a really good end to the season as it was last year.”

Deal Town started the game on the front foot, creating their first opening inside the opening three minutes.

Set-piece specialist Kristian Gregory swung in his first corner from the right and Anderson’s downward header from ten-yards was saved by former Bromley Academy goalkeeper Brad Morgan, low to his right.

Anderson then released the impressive Rivera, who hit a right-footed drive towards goal from 22-yards, which was saved by Morgan.

Anderson danced towards the edge of the Cray Valley penalty area and Gregory laid the ball into Rivera’s path but the former Hythe Town winger skied his shot over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Cray Valley took just over 10 minutes to create their first opening when Ofusu-Hene fed quiet striker Byron Walker, who took a touch before dragging his left-footed shot past the right-hand post from 25-yards.

Talented Rivera was given a chance to stroke a right-footed drive towards goal from 22-yards, which was comfortably saved by the busy Millers keeper.

Central midfielder Luke Bigginton launched a long throw into the Millers penalty area from the left and the ball was cleared out to Anderson, who cracked his half-volley straight into Morgan’s hands from 30-yards.

Gross said: “If you’re going to come all this way on a Thursday night from Deal, they’ve not here to mess about. It’s a horrible, horrible journey and they’ve come here and they wanted it a bit more.  Yes, they’ve started alright but once we settled in and we changed our shape we got back into a good position.”

“I thought the first half-an-hour we were good. We were in control of the game,” added Hares.

Cray Valley’s second chance then arrived when Rory Hill delivered a free-kick from the left, the ball was headed out to Corey Holder, who took a touch before striking his volley past the post from 22-yards.

Therefore there was no surprise when Deal Town took a deserved lead, the goal timed at 23:48.

Gregory swung in his second corner of the game from the right and Anderson powered his free header at the far post into the top left-hand corner from six-yards out.

Hares said: “Great header! I thought he was our best player tonight if I’m honest. Joe got the second goal and I thought his all-round performance was excellent.”

Gross added: “As I just said to you, they wanted it more. We had three players around that header, no-one got near it!”

Hares felt his side should have been awarded a penalty when keeper Morgan clattered into Anderson inside the penalty area after Rivera clipped the ball in from the right by-line.

“I thought we had a penalty when we were 1-0 up, the goalkeeper came out and took Joe Anderson out! I thought it was a blatant penalty to be honest, but we didn’t get it and from then they went up and made it one-all when it probably could’ve been 2-0 to us!”

Cray Valley were to be denied an equaliser on the half-hour mark.

Tommy Osborne and Rory Hill exchanged a couple of one-twos and Osborne put Hill in behind the Deal defence and John Sparks got down low to his left to parry the ball and Alex Coyne was behind him to poke the ball off the line on the near post.

“A good bit of play in spells, the last 20 minutes of the first half,” said Gross.

“We played some good football. To get ourselves in front we’ve got this habit of getting in front and giving his chances and we don’t kill teams off.

“There were numerous chances after we went 2-1 up, a couple cleared off the line and that but we don’t kill teams off, we’re not cut-throat enough.”

That chance appeared to kick-start Cray Valley, as they equalised with 30:57 on the clock.

Rory Hill swung in a corner from the left and striker Elliott rose with Sparks (who tried to push the ball away) to plant his header into the top far corner, pleasing his manager.

Gross said:  “I don’t know, I think you’re doing him a dis-service there. He won the header from where I was from my angle. He gets a good header and he heads it in.

“Again, it shows what you can do at set-pieces. It took us until the last game of the season to get on a few of the set-pieces, we’re probably got two of the best set-piece takers in the league.”

Hares added: “I thought we could’ve defended that goal. “I thought both of their goals we could’ve defended better.”

Cray Valley turned the game upside down when Ofusu-Hene scored his first goal for the club with the clock showing 36:09.

The Millers broke at devastating pace as Ofusu-Hene rode a challenge from Deal Town’s left-back Lee Scott, who tried to barge the Millers player into assistant referee Ashley Barnes.

Ofusu-Hene broke free from the right flank, cut into the penalty area to drill his left-footed over Sparks’ outstretched right hand into the back of the net.

Gross said: “Great finish! That was quite decent. That was from their corner so we’ve hit them on the counter. A great counter-attacking attack, quick flowing football from one half to another. In two passes and we score a goal.”

“Our lad had a chance to kick it out, he tried to back the guy out, he got around him and obviously finished the move off,” said Hares.

“I thought the last quarter-of-an-hour was probably our worst period of the game and their best period and they went 2-1 up.

“To be honest, I don’t think they deserved to go in 2-1 up.  I thought we had the best of most of the half but the way we responded second half was excellent.”

Cray Valley finished the first half on top and wasted chances to kill off Deal Town.

Left-back Adam Gross swung in a corner from the right towards the far post where Brad Potter came up from the back and hung his towering header towards goal, which was palmed over by Sparks’ left hand.

Gross admitted: “We should’ve gone in three or four-one and that would’ve been them dead and buried. They would’ve been looking for their journey home but no we carried on and gave them a lifeline.”

Taylor McDonagh, who started the game out wide before moving inside, played a lovely through ball for Elliott, who dragged a good chance bobbling past the far post when he only had the keeper to beat.

McDonagh then floated in a cross from the left and Rory Hill was left unmarked inside the Deal penalty area but he directed his diving header past the far post from 10-yards.

Both managers were asked their thoughts at half-time.

Gross said: “Go and enjoy it! You’ve got 45 minutes left in each other’s company. Who knows where anyone’s going to be next year? Go and enjoy your football, keep doing the right things that got you the lead and turn it around.”

Hares said: “We just said to them, Steve King our coach done most of the talking at half-time to be fair, he just said to them first half-hour was good, the last quarter-of-an-hour wasn’t good enough, go out there and get back to what we were doing at the start of the game really.”

Cray Valley keeper Brad Morgan pulled off a fine save, stretching low to his left to ensure Anderson’s left-footed drive from 22-yards didn’t nestle inside the bottom right-hand corner inside the opening three minutes.

Deal Town levelled though with 13:36 on the clock through Anderson’s finish.

Bigginton played the ball inside to Gregory along the edge of the penalty area, who laid the ball off for Anderson to bend his low shot into the bottom right-hand corner from 10-yards.

Hares said: “It was a good goal. He took it well and I thought once we made it 2-2 then we’d come on stronger really. It looked like we’d go on and win the game, which we did.”

Gross said: “Yes, I’ll be honest mate, I don’t know how the goal’s come?!

“You get frustrated standing on the side when a team does well and you’re doing something good and for some reason you stop doing it! That’s down to a lack of leadership on the pitch.

“All you can say at half-time is keep doing it. You must hear me on the sidelines?

“If people aren’t going to take that on board on the pitch you’re going to give the other team a chance and all the time you’re giving them a chance they’re going to eventually take it.”

Deal Town rode their luck when Ofusu-Hene unleashed a curling left-footed drive which hit the outside of the base of the near post from 25-yards as the Millers kicked down the slope for the second half.

Gross added: “Good shot, again he worked some space for himself, good shot, again it ain’t gone in!”

Hares added: “It took a deflection actually, it was going, it was going and then it just took a deflection. Yes, we was a bit fortunate.”

That miss proved costly for Cray Valley, as Deal Town clinched the game through Rivera’s 21^st goal of the season with 18:57 on the clock.

Bigginton played a sublime through ball through the heart of the Millers defence and Corey Holder lost a foot race with Rivera, who kept his composure to skip past keeper Morgan to slot his shot into the bottom right-hand corner.

“I thought he started off really well and it looked like he was running at the defence and second half he caused them a lot of problems and I thought he took his goal really well,” said Hares.

The Deal manager also praised Bigginton, saying, “Luke works hard. What he’s good at is breaking the play up, winning headers and that’s what he does well. We’ve got some good lads there.”

Gross said: “We were vulnerable to the long ball tonight weren’t we? They caught us with the long ball a couple of times and they could’ve had a couple of goals on the long ball.

“The keeper’s on the edge of the box, decides to go backwards. Corey gets overstretched by the 11 (Rivera), good finish, yes.”

Alex Coyne and skipper Dean Hill shut the door in Cray Valley’s face, who couldn’t find the equaliser.

Adam Gross whipped in a cross from the left into Deal’s box but McDonagh’s looping header dropped into Sparks’ hands, who plucked the ball out of the air above his head.

“Too little too late,” came Cray Valley’s manager’s reply.

“We huffed and puffed. As a player you know, you start to feel down because you know you should’ve been in front anyway and to come from behind again, you can’t keep coming from behind. We’ve done it once, you can’t keep giving team’s chances. It’s not good enough!”

Deal Town wasted a great chance to increase their lead with 12 minutes remaining.

Rivera used his pace down the left and once inside the penalty area he cut the ball back for striker Connor Coyne, who scuffed his woeful shot across goal which was picked up by Morgan.

Deal Town’s last two games are against the bottom two sides.  They host relegated Holmesdale on Saturday, before travelling to Tunbridge Wells seven days’ later.

Hares said: “That could be dangerous! Take nothing for granted in this league because every team can beat each other. 

“Our aim at the moment is to get six more points and finish the season. 

“We’ll go there (Tunbridge Wells), we want to win the game if we can and if we can win our last game and look forward to next year.

“I can’t really knock our players because we’ve had a lot of travelling over the last few weeks.

“Our aim was always to beat last year’s points tally, which we’ve done tonight. We’ve got two games left and that can take us to over 50 points and hopefully maybe the top eight in the league and I think for a club like us that’s quite an achievement.”

Cray Valley’s campaign finished tonight and Gross will sit down with the club to discuss next season.

“Greenwich have made their changes, it’s their own ground now, not ours so I don’t know what that brings, there’s a long way to go until next season,” said Gross, who has been in charge for two seasons.

“I don’t know. I’ve got to sit down and talk to the committee. I need a break. I’m looking forward to a break.  It’s been hard, you think you’ve found it. At one stage we’re top of the form table and we’re heading to fourth and you think you’ve found a remedy.

“Losing in that Cup Semi-Final to Erith & Belvedere really took the wind out of our sails. It’s been a struggle ever since to be honest. 

“The boys are turning up, I’m not saying the boys aren’t trying, but it’s been hard with nothing to play for, hard to motivate.  Listen you turn up to play a game of football, that should be motivation enough. Every time you turn up you want to win at everything that you do, surely in life, but we couldn’t find! that remedy and towards the end of the season the season’s just fell apart really.”

When asked if he’ll be in charge next season, Gross replied: “Look, we’ll take stock over the next couple of weeks and see how we feel from there. Can anyone truly answer that? Can anyone? I don’t know! We’ve got to sit down and talk so you never know in football, you never know!”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) Brad Morgan, Tommy Osborne, Adam Gross, Charles Ofusu-Hene (Jordan Sandiford 88), Brad Potter, Corey Holder, Rory Hill, Junior Kaffo (Jamie Miller 68), Marcus Elliott, Byron Walker, Taylor McDonagh.
Subs: Nick Harvey, Paul Gross, John Wawrzewski

Goals: Marcus Elliott 31, Charles Ofusu-Hene 37

Booked: Corey Holder 51, Byron Walker 90

Deal Town: John Sparks, Liam Hark, Lee Scott, Alex Coyne, Dean Hill, Luke Bigginton, Sam Carpenter (Josh Thomson 56), Joe Anderson, Connor Coyne, Kristian Gregory, Rene Rivera.
Subs: Sam Short, Andy Miller

Goals: Joe Anderson 24, 59, Rene Rivera 64

Attendance: 51
Referee: Mr Sikiru Idris (Camberwell, London SE5)
Assistants: Mr Thomas McCourt (Greenwich, London SE5) & Mr Ashley Barnes (Bromley)