Kentish Football 
Erith & Belvedere 3-2 Cray Valley (Paper Mills) - Our class showed in the end, says Micky Collins
Tuesday 01st November 2011
ERITH & BELVEDERE 3-2 CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)London Senior Cup (Sponsored by Coventry Scaffolding) Third Round
Tuesday 1st November 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road
ERITH & BELVEDERE manager Micky Collins says he is taking the London Senior Cup seriously after his side scraped through to the fourth round with a win over their spirited Kent Hurlimann Football League rivals Cray Valley (Paper Mills).
Cray Valley (Paper Mills) started the Third Round tie on the front foot, but Erith & Belvedere grabbed the lead against the run of play through Andy Constable’s nineteenth minute header, but Cray Valley levelled through captain Jamie Miller, who converted an excellent strike from outside of the penalty area thirteen minutes later.
Cray Valley regained the lead through long-serving striker Mark Knuckey, 32, just past the hour, but Erith & Belvedere will host either Haringey & Waltham Development or Hanwell Town in the next round after right-back Lee Coburn and striker Constable scored in the final ten minutes to knock out last year’s London Intermediate Cup winners.
“Poor performance from our boys’ tonight, three goals, but we’ve conceded two poor goals in my eyes,” admitted Collins afterwards.
“I thought Cray Valley deserve a lot of credit, they came and played really well. They had a really good go. They wanted it more than us, I thought, and maybe the little bit of class that we’ve got showed in the end.”
Cray Valley (Paper Mills) manager, Steve Chapman, meanwhile, was disappointed that his club’s first ever campaign in the London Senior Cup has come to an end.
“I thought we really, really played well and I thought we deserved a little bit more out of the game than what we got,” he said.
“Just a few errors in the last ten minutes, but they are an experienced team but I am really pleased with the performance.
“The last two results have brought us down to earth a little bit in the Kent League but I’ve started to re-build and re-mould the team with the emphasis on youth and you could see out there tonight that there was a lot more vigour. We competed better and we played some good football as well.”
One of the assistant referees for this game was Michael Brown, 43, aka Micky Brown, a striker who played for Bromley in the George Wakeling era in the 1990’s. One of his most famous goals for Bromley came on this ground when his bullet header sealed Bromley a 2-1 win over then Conference top-flight club Welling Untied in a Second Qualifying Round Second Replay back in 1995.
Cray Valley started the game well and should have taken the lead inside the opening seven minutes.
Jason Dolby played Knuckey through on goal, but he was denied by the advancing debutant goalkeeper, Sam Tanner, who spread himself well to block with his chest.
But Erith & Belvedere opened the scoring, against the run of play, after 19 minutes.
James Evans released Rikki Cable down the right flank and he left full-back Steve Springett in knots before whipping in an inch-perfect cross for Constable at the far post, who jumped to steer a looping header across visiting goalkeeper Jack Carthy and into the far corner from an acute angle.
“A lot of teams come here and obviously want to get at us early and have a go on the pitch that we’ve got,” said Collins.
“It’s a great surface and teams like that and they thrive on playing on our pitch so they’re going to have a go early.
“It was a great bit of skill from Rikki Cable, a fantastic and Andy scored. Five minutes later, exactly the same has happened and Andy’s shouldered it over and then two minutes after that we’ve had exactly the same and Rikki Cable’s missed an open goal!”
Chapman added: “It’s been the story of our season so far! If you speak to most of the managers of the team’s we’ve played against, we start really brightly and a lack of firepower up front and creating opportunities and then one lapse of concentration we seem to go behind and that’s something that we’ll hopefully going to address in the second half of the season.”
Constable should have scored a second within two minutes when he met an in-swinging free-kick from Adam Gross’ left-foot, but the ball bounced off his shoulder and looped over from similar distance.
Cray Valley failed to test Tanner at the half-way stage when Springett’s free-kick found Billy Parkinson at the far post, but he glanced a weak header into the Erith & Belvedere’s keeper’s gloves.
Erith & Belvedere missed a gilt-edged chance on the half-an-hour mark.
Evans released Marcus Cassius galloping down the right channel and the winger whipped in an excellent chance for an unmarked Cable at the far post, who sliced a left-footed volley across goal and agonisingly wide of the far post.
Erith & Belvedere were to pay for that miss as Cray Valley levelled in the 33rd minute.
Full credit must go to left-back Springett, who burst into the penalty area and his initial low centre clipped the heel of a defender at the near post and the ball flashed into Miller’s path, who lashed a right-footed drive into the roof of the net from 25-yards.
Chapman said: “A good run by Steve Springett as well, which he created the opportunity. I’ve just made Jamie Miller my new captain as well and I think by giving him the armband he will hopefully mature and be a better player for it as well. It was a good strike though!”
Cray Valley went agonisingly close to taking the lead just 94 seconds later.
Callum O’Shea’s inch-perfect diagonal pass released substitute Robbie Bryant through on goal and with only Tanner to beat he stroked a right-footed shot across the keeper but looked on in despair as the ball bounced off the far post and was caught by the relieved Tanner.
Chapman added: “A little bit more luck and it goes the other side! I’ve got no complaints really. They created chances as well. I thought we just played really, really well on the evening.”
Collins, meanwhile, explained his debutant goalkeeper’s background.
He said: “Sam’s come in, we’re having a look at him. He’s not available for us on Saturday because of the League Cup rules. He’s a good lad, he’s got a great pedigree. We’ve got Richard Stroud on board as well so it’s an area we’ve looked at and we look to strengthen all the time if people come available.”
“He started at Chelsea, went all the way through to under 18s and was released from there. He’s been on trial at Villareal in Spain. He’s played for Walton Casuals and a few others.”
Erith & Belvedere keeper Tanner caught O’Shea’s right-footed stretching effort towards goal after right-back Healy floated the ball into the penalty area just before the break.
The first corner of the game arrived ten minutes into the second half, but Parkinson - who has signed for Cray Valley on dual-registration terms with Cray Wanderers, along with midfielder Chris Barnett - glanced his header wide of the near post after O’Shea delivered a right-wing corner towards the far post.
Chapman explained why he has brought the pair in following discussions with Cray Wanderers boss Ian Jenkins.
“I think we needed to bring a bit more experience into the team,” he said.
“Billy has been around quite a bit already even though he’s 19 and you can see from his performance tonight he’s added some value to the team.
“Chris Barnett also did extremely well. He’s been out of the team at Cray Wanderers for quite a while because he’s had a bad groin injury so I’ve got him down here for a while to give him a run out and I thought he did extremely well for me tonight.”
When asked the timeframe the pair will be at the club, Chapman replied, “I’m not too certain at the moment. Billy Parkinson, only probably a month. I might be able to keep Chris a little longer but that’s up to Jenko.”
Cray Valley forced another corner, which they nearly scored from. O’Shea cut the ball back to Knuckey, who cut inside before smashing a left-footed shot towards goal, but Tanner was at the near post to turn behind with his legs.
Cray Valley deservedly took the lead in the 62nd minute.
Healy pumped the ball straight down the middle of the pitch but central defender Paul Gross inexplicably allowed the ball to slide under his foot and Knuckey latched onto the error and delicately sent a right-footed chip into an empty net from 30-yards.
Chapman has now seen the club’s longest serving outfield player score his seventh goal of the season.
He said: “Very good finish! That’s what’s Matt’s all about! He plays on the shoulder of the last defender and feeds on mistakes.
“If anything, I think we maybe scored a little bit too early. We knew they were going to throw the kitchen sink at us after that and they did!”
Collins said: “It was a ball played through and it went straight under our blokes foot! At the end of the day that’s a human error. Paul’s put his hands up in the changing room. He’s had one! He’s ball watched and the ball’s gone under his foot! It happens unfortunately and at the moment it’s happening too much, not just from him, but from other individuals, which is something we need to address.”
Erith & Belvedere began their fight-back during the final twenty minutes as Cray Valley lost their way a little bit.
Constable issued a warning when he steered a low left-footed shot just past the foot of the near post, before Carthy came out to block Cassius’s shot after a mistake inside the penalty area by Joe Matthews.
But Erith & Belvedere levelled in the 80th minute, through a quality dead-ball delivery from Adam Gross.
The left-back whipped in an excellent inswinging corner from the right and right-back Coburn powered his header into the corner of the net.
Collins said: “Another great delivery! We’ve worked on it and we’ve spoken about it before the game and we said we’re good on set-pieces but we haven’t been attacking the ball as well as we should and we’ve done that and it’s great to get another goal from it!”
Chapman added: “Very good header! Very good run! Difficult ball to defend. I won’t be too harsh on our defenders in that circumstance because when the ball’s played in like that and someone’s running across you, they get first run. It was a very, very good header!”
And Constable’s tenth goal of the season marked Erith & Belvedere’s winning goal with only six minutes left.
Evans clipped a free-kick into the left-hand side of the penalty box, which was flicked across goal by Paul Gross and Constable stooped down to glanced his header into the far corner of the net.
Collins said: “I know for a lad that takes a lot of stick because apparently he doesn’t move! He’s in the right place at the right time. He could’ve had four or five tonight and he knows that and he’s disappointed with that, but another two important goals. He’s got ten now this season. He’s doing ok for us!”
Chapman added: “We spoke about Andy Constable having played against him earlier on in the season and he scored then.
“I thought we did very well but again he’s a very experienced centre forward and he’s very, very good in the air. You give him an inch and he’ll get the ball on target and that’s the difference between Erith and us at the moment. Their chances are going on target and ours are going over the bar or hitting the post!”
The home side could have scored a flattering fourth late on when Cassius released substitute striker Badar Mohamed, but Carthy tipped the right-footed snap shot around his near post.
Erith & Belvedere should get through their next challenge in this competition, before travelling to Ryman League Division One South leaders Dulwich Hamlet in the Fifth Round (the last 16).
“We had a great run in it last year and we got knocked out eventually by Wingate & Finchley in the last minute of that game and we played really well that evening and to be fair they went on and won the Cup so we’d like to go as far as we can this year,” said Collins.
“You take every game seriously. We don’t get enough games in a season for a club of our stature so every game’s serious.”
Erith & Belvedere: Sam Tanner, Lee Coburn, Adam Gross, James Evans, Paul Gross, John Wilfort, Jamie Wood (Huseyin Budak 46), Marcus Perona, Andy Constable, Rikki Cable (Badar Mohamed 66), Marcus Cassius.
Subs: Mike Azzopardi, Lee Radford
Goals: Andy Constable 19, 84, Lee Coburn 80
Booked: Marcus Perona 39, Lee Coburn 42, Adam Gross 60, John Wilfort 68
Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Jack Carthy, Ben Healy, Steve Springett, Joe Matthews, Jason Dolby, Billy Parkinson, Chris Barnett (Kris Hollidge 87), Jamie Miller, Matt Knuckey, Luke Tanner (Robbie Bryant 28), Callum O’Shea.
Subs: Stewart Back, Alex Prall, Tom Martin
Goals: Jamie Miller 33, Matt Knuckey 62
Booked: Jason Dolby 25
Attendance: 69
Referee: Mr Alex Gray (Westminster, London SW1)
Assistants: Mr Michael Brown (Bellingham, London SE6) & Mr Mark Edwards (Sutton, Surrey)
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