Cray Valley 3-1 Corinthian - I personally think we're underachieving, says Corinthian boss Michael Golding

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 3 – 1 Corinthian
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	23/03/2016 19:45

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS) 3-1 CORINTHIAN
Southern Counties East Football League
Wednesday 23rd March 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

CRAY VALLEY (Paper Mills) manager Paul Gross says he wants his side to get the best league position they can after beating Corinthian.

The Millers broke into the top seven in the Southern Counties East Football League table on 44 points from 28 games, one point behind fifth-placed Corinthian following their clinical finishing here tonight.

Corinthian had a sixth minute penalty from striker Michael Hagan – who was later withdrawn through breathing difficulties – saved by Rob French.

Corinthian were the better side during the early stages but Cray Valley grabbed the lead against the run of play through Byron Walker’s quality finish.

Walker then added his 12^th goal for the club this season with a close range finish, before right-back Taylor McDonagh flicked in his first goal of the season on the stroke of half-time.

Corinthian pulled a goal back through a debut goal from substitute right-back Jack Holland, 17, not the Bromley/England C defender with the same name but a home grown product at Gay Dawn Farm.

“It’s another good result,” said Gross following his side’s 13^th league win of the season.

“They obviously had the penalty, great save from the keeper.

“I asked the boys before the game, we’ve been dominating games and not taking our chances.  We started slow again today but I said if we can take our chances because we keep letting teams have something to hold onto and they’re staying in the games but today’s clinical finishing was brilliant.”

For Corinthian manager, Michael Golding, he was coming to terms with his side’s eighth league defeat of the season.

He said: “Disappointing! Two preventable goals in the first half. We probably had the lion share of the game but they’ve been more clinical so I don’t say they deserved to come away with the result but I’d say we come away disappointed.”

Corinthian, who were kicking down the slope, started the game on the front foot and will rue their penalty miss.

McDonagh attempted to play a dreadful back-pass back to French, which was intercepted by Luke Tanner and it was a borderline decision whether  the goalkeeper had chopped down the striker inside or outside the box.

French required treatment to a bruised right foot and was shown a yellow card by referee Olly Fyfe – Tanner was going away from goal at the time of impact.

Hagan stepped up and saw his right-footed penalty kept out by French, who dived to his right to palm the ball behind for a corner.

“It was an awful back pass but again it just summed up the start. We were sloppy, we started slow,” admitted Gross.

“I spoke to the ref. Look when you’re standing there you think it’s a 50-50. It could be a sending off. I’d want their goalie sent off in that situation but the ref said their player pushed it away from goal.

“Look, sometimes they make good decisions, sometimes it goes against you. I take that one all day long!

“What a penalty save as well, great save! That’s not a bad penalty, that’s a good save. Maybe they’ll feel disappointed he stayed on the pitch. For us, he’s done a job.”

Golding added: “I don’t want to talk about referees! Listen, if we score the penalty and go 1-0 up, I fully fancy us to go on and win the game. I know it’s early but it’s a good start yet again. We’ve had three big chances in the last three games in the first 5-10 minutes and we haven’t taken them.

“Red card? Does it change the game? It’s a goalkeeper getting sent off, yes, it’s just disappointing.

“For me (the foul occurred) inside. I know you don’t expect me to say anything different. For me it was inside. For me it’s a penalty, for me it’s a red card!

“Good save, a good goalkeeper, he’s played at a good level. Michael struck it quite well, but it wasn’t to be.”

It took Corinthian nearly 20 minutes to fashion the next chance of the game.

Left-back Josh Gilbert threaded the ball into Hagan’s feet, who cut inside to drill a right-footed drive out of the ground from 25-yards.

Golding said: “Yes, I thought the first 20 minutes we were really good. I thought they struggled to get out of their half. I thought we dominated the game.  We got the ball in the area a couple of times, the goalkeeper’s made another good save.

“If that early goal goes in it gives us a little bit more confidence, makes them chase the game a little bit more. As soon as they go a goal up, especially at home, they’re very good.”

Corinthian right-back Adam Cooper then threw the ball to Hagan, who cracked a dipping volley narrowly over the crossbar from 22-yards, before Cray Valley snatched the lead.

McDonagh launched a throw into the Corinthian penalty area, which was headed on by giant Junior Kaffo at the near post. The ball sailed across goal and was controlled by Walker, before caressing his volley into the top left-hand corner from six-yards with the clock showing 26:54.

Gross said: “We was poor, we started poorly. What mattered was when we got in their box, every time we got in their box we made the keeper work today.

“We scored three good goals and arguably their keeper’s come away with man-of-the-match second half with the saves he’s made.

“It was the first time we won the first and second ball,” Gross added.

“Apart from that we haven’t won one first and second ball. We get it in their box, win the first ball, brings it down, great finish! That’s what you get through following things up on the back post.  Win your first header, follow it up on the back post.  You get your rewards if you get into good areas.”

Golding added: “Disapointing from our point of view. He had a lot of time in the six-yard box. He’s brought it down with his thigh, turned, he’s shot past the young goalkeeper. It is preventable.”

Jordan Campbell swept the ball out wide to Cooper, who whipped in a great cross into the Cray Valley box but Tanner glanced his flashing header across goal and past the far post.

Corey Holder clipped a long ball out of the Millers defence to release striker Marcus Elliott through on goal and he dinked his shot past goalkeeper Billy Johnson but Marcus Evans showed the desire to get back to clear the ball off the line.

Golding said: “Just frustrating really, they’ve got in our box four times in the first half and they’ve scored three goals and we’ve had one cleared off the line. We can play all the pretty football in the world but they’re effective in what they do.  They get the ball forwards and they cause problems. They’ve got good runners up top.”

Gross added: “When we did go in behind them we looked dangerous. Everything we hit tonight went on target, everything! It might’ve been ten shots on target there. He’s done what he’s had to do, maybe he didn’t get enough on it. The pitch is a bit dry. If it had been a bit wet that probably would’ve skidded in. Full credit to the defender for getting back but Marcus will be kicking himself that he didn’t put enough on it, but again one ball can undo a defence.”

Cray Valley doubled their lead in the 36^th minute.

Central midfielder Jamie Miller played a lovely ball from the middle of the park to release winger Rory Hill down the left.  He cut the ball across the face of goal and Walker had the simplest task of sticking out his right leg and poking the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from very close range.

“It’s a good move because it cut their defence open,” said Gross.

“It’s a good quality ball. They’ve just swapped sides actually so Byron was on his weaker foot. A hell of a ball from Rory and a good finish.  Again, an easy move, it looks easy, it’s three passes but it cuts them open. That’s what we weren’t doing enough, we weren’t playing enough balls in behind them to cause them any problems. It was all in front of them and they were dealing with it.”

Golding added: “Again, they’re always a threat going forward, the players’ that they’ve got up front. Jamie Miller was probably the best player on the pitch, I thought he was quite good.

“Again, disappointing, a bit of a sucker punch with the young side that we’ve got. They want to get the ball forwards, they want to get early ball forwards and maybe we got caught chasing the game a little bit too early.”

Corinthian went close through Evans’ hooked volley, which dropped just over the crossbar after he met Josh James’ ball into the penalty area.

French pulled off a great save as the first half edged into stoppage time.

James played the ball into Tanner’s feet, the former Cray Valley striker hitting a right-footed shot on the turn towards the bottom near corner, but French dived low to his left to tip the shot just around the foot of his near post and behind for a corner.

Golding said: “A good chance for Luke. It’s just not quite happened for him at the moment for whatever reason. Again, a great save. You’d expect him to make it because he’s a good goalkeeper and probably earnt his money there.”

Gross added: “Good save! Apart from the penalty save we’re standing there saying he ain’t made a save and then he does that!

“Good from Tanner because they didn’t get in behind us or nothing. He’s back to goal, we’ve allowed him to turn, great strike, great save!”

Within a minute, Hill cracked a 30-yard right-footed half-volley towards the roof of the net, which was pushed over the crossbar by Corinthian’s jumping keeper Billy Johnson, 17.

McDonagh then hit a sublime diagonal ball to put Hill through on goal and after cutting in from the left his right-footed drive was pushed around the post by Johnson, getting down low to his right at his near post.

Golding said: “Billy’s a good prospect, he’s 17. He’s part of the under 18s, part of the Ryman set-up we’ve got here. He’s come through.

“Dan Bygrave, our goalkeeper, he’s got a broken knuckle at the moment so he’s been out for a few games so Billy’s probably played seven or eight first team games this season and I thought he done alright.  I thought he made a good three or four saves in the second half as well, so I’m pleased with Billy tonight.”

“That kid made some saves tonight. He looked very young to me. I’ve never come across him before but he made five or six excellent saves and that was just one of them,” added Gross.

But Cray Valley killed the game off by scoring their third goal, timed at three minutes and 15 seconds into time added on.

Hill played in the resulting corner from the left and McDonagh flicked his near post shot into the bottom near corner.

Gross said: “Just previously to that Rory’s put in a ball, no-one’s done their runs and it’s dropped in the six-yard box.

“Taylor’s made his run, flicks it in. I think they were a bit surprised to be honest. They were doing well in the game, they were 2-0 down, they were a big shell-shocked and we took advantage of it.”

Golding simply added: “A bit of a sucker punch conceding the third on half-time.

“We’ve got to learn and re-group and if we go in 2-0 down, I fancy us to come out second half and get something out of the game. Three-nil effectively kills the game at half-time.”

Both managers were asked their thoughts at the break.

Gross said: “Just have to do what they do. We needed better quality.  We just said that to them at the end as well. Everything we do had to be with better quality. The one side of our game which has maybe not been great recently was the finishing and that was unbelievable, our finishing, tonight.

“Three-nil up sometimes it’s hard to keep teams focused but they’re a good set of lads. You just have to tell them to keep on their toes and do what was giving us joy, put balls into good areas, turning them round and as you can see we’ve had a flurry of shots second half as well.”

Golding said: “Just to give them a bit of encouragement, to tell them to keep playing. We probably had 30 minutes of the first half in terms of good quality possession.

“We were very, very good in the first 20 minutes. We just have to be a little bit more streetwise in terms of our defending. They got in our half four times and they’ve scored three goals from it.”

There were fears towards the end of the first half that Corinthian left-back Josh Gilbert had pulled his hamstring.

But Golding revealed: “It was more the way he fell to be honest. It looked like a hamstring at first. I was quite worried but we’re hopeful it’s not as serious as it first looked.

“Michael Hagan wasn’t feeling too well. He said he had a couple of problems with his breathing so Conor Johnson was an able replacement. He’s done really well. He’s one of the under 18s, same as Jack, who came on. They’re both doing really well this year.”

Cray Valley’s left-back Adam Gross swept a deep free-kick into the Corinthian penalty area but Brad Potter came up from the back to direct his header wide, 11 minutes into the second half.

Hill was then released down the right but drilled his drive past the near post when he only had Billy Johnson to beat.

But the Corinthian keeper pulled of a brilliant save just past the hour-mark.

Charles Ofusu-Hene swept the ball out to Hill on the right, who cut inside and played the ball inside the Ofusu-Hene, the central midfielder hitting a firs time right-footed drive from 20-yards, which was sailing into the right-hand corner, but for an outstretched left-hand from Johnson, diving to his left.

Golding said: “Very good save, outstanding save. I’m disappointed for Billy because I thought he did really well. He’s always disappointed to concede goals because he sets himself high standards and I can say he’s got a lot of potential. He can go quite far in the game if he applies himself, which so far he has and he will.”

Gross said: “You can’t blame Charles, he’s done everything that you want him to do but a yard either side of him, he’s not saving that!

“But again you could stand here and talk about him (the keeper) all night. We could do a ten minute talk on him because he was unbelievable, their goalie!”

Billy Johnson then used his right hand to tip over Adam Gross’ left-footed free-kick from 30-yards just 81 seconds later.

The Cray Valley manager said: “That was a bit more central. That was a bit of an easier save for me than Rory’s or Charles’ one, but he’s a young kid, he’s got to save them. He was making save-after-save, normally you put it on a young boy and they’ll maybe melt – but he didn’t!”

Corinthian pulled a goal back with 19 minutes remaining through Holland’s debut strike – and what a strike it was!

Minter swept the ball out wide to Holland, who charged forward and was given time and space to drill a right-footed dipping drive towards goal from 35-yards.  The ball bounced just in front of the diving French and looped up to find the top right-hand corner.

“Jack’s got that in his locker. He’s seventeen, another one from the youth team. All three subs who have come on tonight are all 18, all playing under 18s football,” revealed Golding.

“Jack’s done that a couple of times for the youth team this year. They don’t always fly into the back of the net but he’s got the confidence to do it. I thought he came on and he done really well tonight. I thought he was one of the bright sparks for us tonight.”

Gross added: “I’ll be honest with you, it’s a foul in front of us on Rory and then it breaks. We’ve switched off, which is what we do too many times if you ask me, but I think Frenchie would like to think – he makes the hard saves – I think if you ask him he’d might’ve though he’d done a bit better with that from where I was but I’m not going to moan, he’s a better keeper than I’m ever going to be.

“But there was a long time to play so we could’ve gone under, we didn’t, so full credit to us.”

Cray Valley’s last chance saw Adam Gross swing in a corner from the right and Kaffo’s downward header from inside the six-yard box was blocked by a crowd of yellow-shirted players.

Corinthian squandered an excellent chance to make the final 11 minutes interesting.

Minter swung in a corner from the right, the ball was flicked on by Evans at the near post but substitute Conor Johnson sent his header over at the far post.

“Again, Conor, similar to Luke Tanner, it maybe isn’t coming naturally to him as what he did earlier in the season. That probably hits him and goes in the back of the net but it wasn’t to be tonight,” said Golding.

Gross added: “That’s the only time they looked threatening, a lot of throw-ins.  I kept saying to the boys, screaming at them, get on their toes. We were too sloppy, two slow to react when the ball was going dead so that’s something that we have to address as well.”

Cooper hit a late right-footed dipping drive over French’s crossbar from 30-yards at the death.

The Millers have eight more league games left to play, starting with a trip to Erith & Belvedere on Easter Saturday, followed by the visit of Deal Town on Easter Monday.

Gross said: “Look at our neighbours have recently said, our groundsharers (Erith Town) have recently said, it’s been a bit stop-start down here with games  being cancelled but fortunately it’s fallen to our benefit.   We’ve just cracked on and got on with it. 

“I think we’ve lost two in 14 games in the league and we’re just plodding along and that puts us one point behind Corinthian with a game in hand so we can only keep going and keep trying to pick up points on the way and keep trying to do things right and get in the best league position we can.”

Corinthian are proving that you can be a top five club in this league without a budget.

“We try to not make too much of the club without a budget,” said Golding.

“We know all the teams around us have got money, we accept that, that’s not what we’re about.  We’ve got an honest group of lads that turn up, they do their training twice a week, they turn up on a Saturday, they work hard for each other so I’m not overly bothered about budgets.

“I personally think we’re underachieving. I think we’ve dropped points where we shouldn’t have had this season, especially in the last six games, where I think we’ve won one.

“We’re probably looking at it, to be fair to the boys, that’s probably a mark of how far we’ve come. We’re disappointed to have lost to Ashford at home, to draw with Tunbridge Wells at home.  We’re disappointed with those results now. That’s not to say we don’t respect those teams but I feel as team we’ve come on now over the last couple of years and we feel we’re better than what we are at the moment.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Rob French, Taylor McDonagh, Adam Gross, Charles Ofusu-Hene, Brad Potter, Corey Holder, Rory Hill (Chandler Kasai 89), Jamie Miller, Marcus Elliott, Junior Kaffo, Byron Walker.
Subs: Jamie Lawrence, Ali Tumkaya, Paul Gross

Goals: Byron Walker 27, 36, Taylor McDonagh 45

Booked: Rob French 6

Corinthian: Billy Johnson, Adam Cooper, Josh Gilbert (Jack Holland 46), Jack Bath, Marcus Evans, Ryan Sawyer, Jordan Campbell, Joe Minter, Luke Tanner, Josh James (Ryan Styles 87), Mike Hagan (Conor Johnson 49).
Subs: Sam Groombridge, Michael Golding

Goal: Jack Holland 71

Attendance: 53
Referee: Mr Olly Fyfe (Orpington)
Assistants: Mr Michael Begley (Battersea, London SW8) & Mr Dan Doyle (Walderslade)