Erith & Belvedere 4-0 Holmesdale - If the club decide they want to stick with me next season we will sit down and have a conversation and see what we can sort out, says interim Erith & Belvedere boss Andy Constable

Erith & Belvedere 4 – 0 Holmesdale
Location	Park View Road, Welling, Kent DA16 1SY
Kickoff	01/03/2023 19:45

ERITH & BELVEDERE  4-0  HOLMESDALE
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Wednesday 1 March 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road

ERITH & BELVEDERE interim manager Andy Constable says he wants to sit down and have a conversation with the club’s owners to become permanent manager next season.

The Deres are 16 points clear of Phoenix Sports (who have two games in hand) at the top of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table, having won 21, drawn four and lost two of their 27 games.

Erith & Belvedere went into this game on a four-match winless run, but they scored four second half goals to comfortably beat bottom-five side Holmesdale at a chilly Park View Road.

Striker Danny Lear lashed in his fourteenth goal of the season to hand the dominant hosts a 48th minute lead before right-winger Tyrell Richardson-Brown bundled in his tenth goal of the season to double the advantage.

Holmesdale left-winger Edward Sata chested in an own goal to make it three-nil, before Bradley Ryan tapped in his seventh goal of the season to seal the deal as Erith & Belvedere continue their march towards the league title.

“I thought it was a totally dominant performance by us,” said Constable, wo has won seven, drawn two and lost three of his games while in interim charge.

“We’ve not had the best of months in February, two defeats and two draws.  It is our worst run of the season so to come back tonight in a game that we knew was going to be tough because we had a very tough game at Holmesdale when we played them earlier on in the season and we expected the same tonight.

“To come away with a 4-0 victory is fantastic.  I thought we dominated the ball and we played some great stuff. 

“I thought we maybe got away with the second goal because there was probably a foul on their player and the referee hasn’t given it and we’ve played on and capitalised on that and that aside I can’t remember a save from our keeper.

“James Shields has had a shot at the end, which just went past the post, which was probably their only real attempt on goal. I’m delighted, absolutely delighted.”

When asked about having the manager’s role on a longer-term basis, Constable replied: “That might be one for the chairman.  It’s going alright.  I’ve not lost a league game so they’re all cup games that I’ve lost.  I’ve enjoyed it. 

“I said when I first took the job that it was important just to keep things consistent and carry on where we left off when Tony Beckingham was in charge and I think we’ve done that.

“We’ve had a little blip so I’m pretty certain I’ll be here until the end of the season, after that, who knows?

“We’ll see how it goes.  The priority at the moment is trying to get promotion from this league.  Obviously, the position we’re in we’d love to win the league and that is the target.

“Yes, if the club decide they want to stick with me next season, if we do then we’ll sit down and have a conversation and see what we can sort out but at the minute the focus is just purely on this season.”

Holmesdale boss Lee Roots likened this game to League Two Accrington Stanley coming up against Premier League big-spenders Manchester City, when comparing the Bromley based club’s resources to Erith & Belvedere’s.

“Listen, you play against top of the league you want to keep it as competitive as you can but I think for us we ran them ok in the first half,” said Roots.

“They probably haven’t had to work too hard to score their goals so I think for us we know where we’re at and what we’re trying to compete against and it’s disappointing really because for the first 45-50 minutes the lads put the game plan into pretty good action.

“Fair does but for us we can take lessons from it.  Lessons how to defend at the back post. Don’t chest the ball in your own goal will be another one.

“We’ve got some real tough run of games coming up but the main one is the lessons learnt.  We knew that the first five minutes of the second half will be important.  They showed why they’re top of the league.”

Fresh from their single-goal defeat at Punjab United at the weekend, Erith & Belvedere came out with all guns blazing and set the tone as they dominated the opening 15 minutes of this game.

The impressive Nathan Palmer – playing against his old club – tried to score with a right-footed chip from 45-yards, which appeared to be sailing past the right-hand post, only for goalkeeper James Boughtflower to step to his left and flick the ball around the post, after only 69 seconds.

“Give a bit of credit to my coach Grant Duff there. He’s basically set the boys a challenge that within 30 seconds of not having the ball, we get it back so it creates that high tempo press,” said Constable.

“We haven’t done that over the last four games, where we haven’t performed as well as we should.  We haven’t had that tempo and that was essential so that was a part of our game plan.”

Roots admitted: “It’s what we expected.  There’s periods of the game when you’re playing against a team like Erith & Belvedere, you’ve got to come up with some plan.  You’ve got to know when they can have the ball and when they can’t.

“We knew we would have to defend shots, entries into the box. We’ve got a good goalie.  I don’t think he really had to work massively hard for the saves.”

George Monger – who offered a quality range of passing with his left-foot in open play during the game – swung the resulting corner in from the right, the ball was cleared out to Nathan Palmer, who powerfully hit a 25-yard drive was comfortably caught in Boughtflower’s midriff in the centre of the goal.

Nathan Palmer was causing a threat for Holmesdale’s right-back James Shield and he cut in from the left wing again before drilling a 30-yard angled drive which was comfortably caught by the Holmesdale goalkeeper in the ninth minute.

“I actually felt albeit we did dominate the ball, we never really had enough quality in the final third to trouble their keeper and he dealt with those crosses and the chip from Palms,” added Constable.

“I feel like we know Nathan pretty well. He’s a top man and I always wish him the best but every time we’ve played against him, he actually hasn’t scored against us and we’ve nullified him,” Roots said of the former Dale talisman.

Constable revealed he was without central defensive pair of Joe Denny and Ryan Johnson, who are both currently ruled out with knee ligament injuries, so former VCD Athletic centre-half George Snelling made his debut beside Rob Strachan at the heart of defence and they put in an outstanding performance so much so that Adam Molloy didn’t have to make a save.

Snelling hit a long ball in behind Holmesdale centre-half Louie Reid Newth to release striker Lear, whose right-footed angled drive from 15-yards brought a comfortable low save from Boughtflower at his near post.

“We lost Joe Denny to a knee ligament injury on Saturday and Ryan Johnson, our captain, is currently out with the same injury and Snelling delivered a very solid performance on his debut,” said Constable.

“He’s got the experience, he is vocal, which we lack a little bit without RJ (Johnson).

“I thought he was outstanding.  I thought George and Rob Strachan were fantastic.  Strachan has been unbelievable all season for us.  I thought the pair of them together looked very, very strong, so I’m very pleased about that.”

Snelling hit another long ball, which sailed over Shield’s head in the right-back position and Nathan Palmer cut into the box but Shield got back and pressed the attacker and the deflected shot from a tight angle was comfortably dealt with by the busy goalkeeper.

Holmesdale did well to weather the early relentless pressure from the home side and Clyde Semazzi was a threat down the right flank against Anthony Morrison, who was withdrawn in the 63rd minute with a back injury.

Roots said: “Clyde has been doing absolutely fantastic for us.  I don’t think it’s going to be too long before hopefully some clubs have a look at Clyde.  I worked with him last year and I want to help him take the next step.

“He’s developed into a central midfielder as well and he operated on the right today but I thought he was a real bright spark and showed real good levels of his game.”

Constable added: “Clyde played very well, he’s a very talented player. I thought he was probably their most dangerous player but we dealt with him ok really.”

Despite Semazzi’s impressive wing play, Holmesdale offered very little threat in attack, although they did create a half-chance on the half-hour mark following a set-piece.

Boughtflower hit a right-footed free-kick way outside his penalty area down the right wing, the ball was knocked on by holding midfielder Ryan Styles and seven-goal striker Fred Obasa prodded the ball with the outside of his right-foot across goalkeeper Molloy and harmlessly past the far post from 25-yards.

“It was a bit of a snap-shot more than anything,” admitted Roots, who was pleased with his players working their way into the game at that point.

“You’re coming in at 0-0 at half-time and you’re not being able to create but you’ve nullified them to a point.  You want to stay in the game for as long as you can.  We actually felt if we could stay in the game a bit longer and be patient, opportunities will open up.

“We know we can play at times as well.  Listen, these guys are spending, I don’t know what they are spending, so it’s a bit like Accrington Stanley against Manchester City.  You’ve got to stay in it for 45 minutes and I thought we actually did that really well.”

Constable said: ”We haven’t kept a clean sheet for a little while so it was good to get that tonight, so defensively it starts from those two centre-halves.  Ryan Palmer is naturally a winger but he’s doing a job for us at right-back, very well.

“Fraser Walker, who played at the weekend, couldn’t get here on time because of work commitments.  AJ (Morrison) was carrying a little bit of a knock but he battled through for us.

“We have a solid back four and we have Lewis Chambers in front of them who is very good at breaking up play and gives us that extra layer of protection, so I was very pleased with how we defended tonight.”

Erith & Belvedere created just one further chance before the interval, however.

Nathan Palmer cut in from the left before slipping a 10-yard pass in behind for Lear, who whipped in a low cross from within the left-channel and the ball was cleared out to Monger, who took a touch before drilling a left-footed drive towards goal from 25-yards, which Boughtflower held on comfortably in the centre of his goal despite there being plenty of bodies in front of him.

“We unfortunately wasn’t clinical enough in the final third.  Yes, we had a lot of possession where we got into the final third but either the cross wasn’t good enough or it was too close to the keeper, or the shot that we got away was straight at the keeper,” said Constable.

“In a game like this against a team like Holmesdale, they want to stay in the game for as long as they can, so we’re having to go in at half-time nil-nil.

“I told the players (at half-time) to stay patient. It was to make sure we carried on with our individual battles. It was to make sure we carried on getting on the ball and being comfortable on the ball.

“One of the areas that I felt we could exploit a little bit was if we could move the ball across the pitch a bit more quickly, particularly through George Monger and then we could get maybe in behind with Danny Lear’s runs, so it was just a bit more of the same and a little bit more quality in the final third really.”

Roots added: “You don’t want to go into a half and be happy to accept chances or crosses into the box.  The threat of their chances wasn’t that much and no shots threatened us at that point.

“We weathered a good 25-minute storm then all off a sudden their long balls weren’t reaching their runners and we found ourselves growing into the game, which I think is the most frustrating part because there might have been a bit of frustration on them at half-time.

“We couldn’t stay in the same manner for another half. We literally said with the be all and end all of the tactics the next five or 10 minutes will prove the difference between us and them and why are where they are because the hardest thing is the players come in with their heart rates up and then you bring them down and then you have to go and switch it on.

“We knew we needed to have a really good 15 minutes. It was actually five and within seven minutes we were 2-0 down.”

Erith & Belvedere deservedly took the lead just 145 seconds into the second half, courtesy of Lewis Chambers’ second and final long throw of the game.

The holding midfielder hurled the ball in from the right, Snelling flicked the ball on at the near post and the ball deflected into Lear’s path, who lashed his right-footed shot on the turn into the roof of the net from eight-yards out.

“It was something that we’ve scored a few times from. It’s a good weapon to have with Lewis Chambers’ long-throws,” said Constable.

“It was a good flick from Snelling, Dan’s controlled it and he’s swivelled and smashed it on or whether it ricochet and fell to him but in a way sometimes you need little bits to fall for you at the right times and he’s finished it fantastically well.

“I felt at that point we just relaxed a little bit more and our confidence really went up and to get in front just takes that pressure off the boys.”

Roots said: “They’ve got great quality and even talking about Monger in the midfield, I thought he was outstanding.

“It’s come from a stupid re-set. We get half a winner on it and it’s bounced in the box and they’ve smashed it home, so when you actually break down the goals, that one especially, they’ve not had to work for it.  When you’re playing top of the league sides you want them to make them earn their goals.”

Holmesdale left-back Jamie Rawsthorne launched a right-footed free-kick from the halfway line towards the edge of the Erith & Belvedere penalty area but Styles steered his header, while under pressure, harmlessly wide of the target.

Erith & Belvedere controversially doubled their lead and killed the game off after six minutes and 59 seconds.

Semazzi was clearly fouled in the build-up – which was completely ignored by referee Samuel Hall – before Ryan’s deep cross came in from the left and sailed around 40-yards towards the back post where an unmarked Richardson-Brown got in behind Rawsthorne to bundle the ball into the bottom right-hand corner.

“I think it’s only fair to say there was a foul in the build-up to that on their 11,” admitted Constable.

“Sometimes you get those decisions, sometimes you don’t.  We got that one.  We were in an attacking position so we carried on and Brad’s put in a decent ball and Tyrell’s got around the back and I don’t know whether he headed it in or whether he just bundled it in. It doesn’t matter, it went in.”

A furious Roots said: “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life! I think unfortunately this year officiating has been well below the par.    I’m confused. I’ve been confused with the officiating all year.  They have to realise that at 1-0 down against top of the league clubs, if we can stay in it at 1-0 there’s a chance but to give away a goal like that, the game is almost dead and buried.

“That was a blatant foul!  For me, you can still stop a goal. It doesn’t mean you have to switch off with the defending, which is what we did but it was a definite foul.

“I don’t think there was anyone in the stadium that disagreed. The referee’s ended up calling treatment on for our player.”

The ineffective Holmesdale striker Luke Adams – who didn’t look like adding to his five-goal haul this season – launched the third of his four long throws into the box and Reid Newth hooked a first-time shot over the crossbar from 15-yards.

“We’ve got a lot of youngsters.  We gave a sixteen-year-old his debut tonight (Maxx Manktelow) and Louie is 18 and they’re going to get better.  No one is the finished article at that point,” said Roots.

“Louie’s got a goal in him.  Centre-halves these days, they all seem to play like Rio Ferdinand, give me Terry Butcher or a John Terry.  He’s going to go forward and have opportunities.  I think he was being a bit optimistic but good luck to him.”

Nine substitutes came off the bench between minute 63 and minute 81 and Erith & Belvedere continued to create chances.

As the game approached the final 20 minutes, substitute Rory Ward whipped in a cross from the right and moments later Nathan Palmer’s right-footed angled drive from 30-yard was gathered at the second attempt by Boughtflower.

Constable brought on striker Tunde Aderonmu for a 15-minute cameo role and he was denied a goal with his first touch just 36 seconds after coming on.

Ryan Palmer – who switched from right-back to left-back after Fraser Walker came off the bench – floated a corner in from the right and Aderonmu’s gentle header from eight-yards was tipped away by Boughtflower, diving to his right.

“I said to Tunde to go on, Danny Lear worked very hard tonight.  Tunde is a little bit of a different striker. He can hold the ball up very well and he done that and he can cause problems aerially as well.  With Tunde it’s very important to manage his minutes so it was to give him a rest today and it paid off,” said Constable.

Roots added: “A nice save. James knew the cameras were on at that point. It’s a bit of a Hollywood moment for him at that point. James deserves the plaudits, he’s been a fantastic keeper.

“The league has been so cutthroat this year where everyone’s got to perform and a couple of wins can take you here and there. He’s been really good and he’s really disappointed with the result, he always is, but he makes a couple of outstanding saves every game and never fails to deliver.”

Holmesdale gave Erith & Belvedere a helping hand with their third goal when it arrived with 32 minutes and 17 seconds on the clock.

Holmesdale’s 16-year-old sub Maxx Manktelow gave the ball away in the build-up before the outstanding Nathan Palmer whipped in a deep cross from the left, Richardson-Brown was left unmarked at the far post and knocked the ball down towards Aderonmu but Sata’s attempted chest back towards his goalkeeper bounced over the line from a yard out for an own-goal.

Constable said: “Tyrell got around the back.  Nathan Palmer didn’t score but he’s created a lot of problems and I think Tyrell’s done brilliant to get that one back across goal and Tunde does what any good striker does and gets himself in the right place at the right time and the ball ends up in the back of the net.

“I was much more comfortable when that one went in and I think that was game over.”

Roots said: “There’s been a long ball, again similar to the second goal and Ed’s tried to chest it back to the goalie and it’s gone in, which is really annoying.

“Edward is 18, came to us as a centre-midfielder on a trial and he’s been playing left-back or left-wing-back, so you do a deal with the devil and you play kids’ and they will make these mistakes but two similar goals.  They’ve not had to work for that.”

Ward’s sublime through ball put Aderonmu through on goal and the former Beckenham Town title-winner skipped past Boughtflower but steered his left-footed shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

Constable said: “I thought Wardy, when he came on, done really well.  George Monger felt his hamstring a little bit so wanted to rest him and Wardy came on and got on the ball and looked confident and he’s put a great through ball for Tunde.

“It was a great touch and a great run in behind and I actually thought he got clipped and he probably should’ve gone over but any striker, who has an opportunity to try to put the ball in the ball in the back of the net, he will (try to score).

“He just couldn’t get it back across goal from the angle has was at.  It was a nice bit of play but unfortunately it didn’t end up with a goal.”

Dominant Erith & Belvedere were playing some impressive football here tonight and they sealed the deal with their fourth goal with 41 minutes and 28 seconds on the clock.

Styles had his pocket picked by Nathan Palmer in the right-back position and another deep cross was put on a plate for Ryan, who stabbed his shot into the bottom right-hand corner from eight-yards.

“Nathan Palms won it back from their player and then he’s put a good ball in behind and I actually though Brad missed because it bounced straight back out off the hoarding behind the goal.  I may have slagged him off slightly on the bench but obviously it went in, so happy days,” said Constable.

Roots added: “That’s probably their most legit goal.  I really like Bradley Ryan, he’s a really good player and a tremendous talent and I hope he goes on far.”

The Holmesdale gaffer refused to point the finger of blame at the hands of the former Rusthall defender.

“Lenny Styles is absolutely fantastic. He is one of the most outstanding players that I’ve worked with. The kid can do everything. That’s the first time he’s given the ball away all season and they score from it.

“I’ve got no complaints with Lenny.  He did us a job today playing central midfield as well, while we’re short. 

“The only disappointing thing at that point is some of the lads collapsed but listen they’ve got great quality and they haven’t really gone for the jugular at that point and it’s just a tap-in.”

Holmesdale’s best chance of the night came 12 seconds into stoppage time when subs Gabriel Ntomba and Herve Mbongue linked up well in the final third and the ball was worked short to Shield, who bent a right-footed first-time shot around the diving Molloy and just past the foot of the far post from 22-yards out.

“We kind of know where we’re at and we wanted to get something from the game. There’s probably bigger games that can maybe be a bit more achievable so once it went to two or three-nil it was about getting minutes into the lads and getting them prepared for the weekend,” added Roots.

Erith & Belvedere sit proudly at the summit with 67 points from their 27 (of 38) league games, with Phoenix Sports 16 points behind them but with a couple of games in hand.

Erith Town (where Beckingham has since joined Adam Woodward’s management team) are in third-place with 49 points from 25 games, while Deal Town (48 points from 26 games), Rusthall (48 points form 28 games) and Whitstable Town (42 points from 28 games) are all vying for a place in the promotion play-off.

The Deres, meanwhile, welcome ninth-placed Sutton Athletic here on Saturday.

“That will be a tricky one.  We went there and had one of our best results of the season when we went there and beat them 3-0 at their place. I think it was their first defeat in over a year at home and we played some really good stuff there,” recalled Constable.

“I like Sutton, I think they are a really good side.  I think Dan Kelly has them set-up really well.  Arlie Desanges and Conor Evans are threats so we need to be on it and carry on the form that we’ve shown tonight into that.

“It should be an entertaining game, I think.  Two teams who like to play football so it should be good.”

Johnson and Denny are both rated as being a couple of weeks away from action, while Jerome Wade misses the next two games as he is on holiday and Constable revealed he is looking for an understudy to Molloy.

“We’re looking alright.  The only thing I might consider is look at potentially a back-up keeper because we haven’t got anyone and if we lose Adam Molloy, we’ve got a problem, so that’s something that’s probably high on the priority list at the moment.”

Holmesdale, meanwhile, remain in the bottom five with 30 points from 26 games and beneath them are Bearsted (30 points from 26 games) and Welling Town (23 points from 28 games), while K Sports (22 points from 28 games) and Canterbury City (16 points from 28 games) remain in the relegation zone.

The Dale welcome Deal Town to Oakley Road on Saturday and Roots is not concerned with the threat of suffering relegation.

“Never in a million month of Sundays will we fail, not on my watch. There’s still 36 points to play for,” said Roots.

“What was missing tonight was a little bit of maturity. It’s knowing where you’re at. It’s being realistic. We’re working with a lot of young players. 

“We want to achieve a better league position than last year. We don’t have any issues or any concerns about the league positions. We’ve got a couple of games in hand, we’ve got a really good goal-difference compared to others, our losses are even lower, so we’ll be fine.

“We’ve had to rebuild.  The club hasn’t got a lot of resources to offer. We don’t have youth sides all the way from the bottom so we’ll just keep going up and I think we’ll creep a couple more places and we’ll stabilise again for another year.”

Roots added: “I like Steve King down at Deal.  Our pitch and ground is not easy and the travel from Deal is not easy.  They’ve got a cup final; they’ve got second place up for grabs. I don’t think they have given up on that yet at all so we know what to expect.

“We know they’re probably a back-to-forward team, maybe not looking to play through the thirds, so we’ll adopt an approach for that.

“Unfortunately, we have two days to dust ourselves down and get ready for it again.  We’ll have a crack at it and we know there’s big games to come.  We’ll be fine.  If we can pick up another 10 points we could end up four or five places above, which wouldn’t have happened last year.”

Erith & Belvedere: Adam Molloy, Ryan Palmer, Anthony Morrison (Fraser Walker 63), Lewis Chambers, George Snelling, Rob Strachan, Nathan Palmer, George Monger (Rory Ward 66), Danny Lear (Tunde Aderonmu 75), Bradley Ryan, Tyrell Richardson-Brown (Rashid Tijani 79).
Sub: Andy Constable

Goals: Danny Lear 48, Tyrell Richardson-Brown 52, Edward Sata 77 (own goal), Bradley Ryan 86

Holmesdale: James Boughtflower, James Shield, Jamie Rawsthorne, Ryan Styles, Marvin Emmanuel, Louie Reid Newth (Gabriel Ntomba 81), Edward Sata (Caleb Bearman-Dyce 79), Emmanuel Oduguwa (Maxx Manktelow 63), Luke Adams (Herve Mbongue 67), Fred Obasa (Kameiko Pope-Campbell 79), Clyde Semazzi.

Attendance: 69
Referee: Mr Samuel Hall
Assistants: Mr Matthew Pollington & Mr Stephen Hughes