First Team Vs Deal Town

28 September 2019

Erith and Belvedere          1          Quan 59

Deal Town                            2          Biggington 27, Coyne 76

DERES EXIT WITH A BAD DEAL

It’s now four games without a win for Erith and Belvedere since their 9-2 FA Vase rout of Oakwood – but manager Owen Jones can take heart from the performance even if the finishing fell short.  There was a club landmark at stake as Eric De Melo was looking to score for the 6th consecutive game - he hit the bar twice as Deres cursed their luck.

After a quiet opening, an off-target free-kick by Tony Hill on 14 minutes was the first chance of the game.  Deres were playing nicely out of defence, with new signing from Stansfeld Joe Bannan bossing things, in particular with an immaculate tackle on Ben Cardwell.

After Dan Teeley did well to hold a deflected free-kick by Macaulay Murray, Deres created a couple of good openings – Jacob Kalonda volleyed wide after a good setup move, and Connor Dobson intercepted a pass to power into Deal’s half and centre from the right, only for Chan Quan to balloon the chance.

But it was Deal who broke the deadlock in the 27th minute.  Teeley made a superb save from Nick Treadwell’s header, but the corner fell to Luke Biggington who found the net from ten yards out.  Deal threatened more goals as Teeley pulled off a double save from Ben Chapman and Sam Wilson, and late in the half Wilson exploited a gap left by Tony Hill venturing upfield to progress down the left, only for Cardwell to put his cross over the bar.  Just before this Romayle Wade had been booked for what the referee decided was a dive inside the box.

The second half began with a point-blank save by Teeley from Cardwell, and a thrilling sequence at the other end on 53 minutes when Quan’s free-kick hit the post, rebounded across the face of goal and a pinball in the goalmouth ended with Kameiko Pope-Campbell’s shot being saved by James Tonkin.  Six minutes later a typical mazy run by Quan ended with him hitting the same post, but this time the ball rebounded into the far corner to level the scores.

With half an hour to go Deres were dominating, and more chances came.  Pope-Campbell cut in from the right and shot wide; De Melo worked his way through challenges but hit the bar; Pope-Campbell had another penalty shout but the referee decided the defender had touched the ball first.  Eventually on 67 minutes Romayle Wade was brought down inside the box and Deres had their penalty – only for Connor Dobson to hit it too close to Tonkin’s right and the spot-kick was saved.

On 73 minutes De Melo hit the bar for the second time in the game, and Deres’ inability to convert was to cost them dear.  Three minutes later George Jones’ unusually poor touch in the box saw the ball fall handily for Deal sub Connor Coyne, who volleyed home giving Teeley no chance.  The burly Coyne was a concern for the rest of the game, and only a snap shot by Jacob Kalonda wide of the far post on 89 minutes gave Deres hope of a point.

The defeat took Deres down to 12th in the table, with a wee bit of pressure on next week’s trip to Crowborough, who have lost their first five home league games with an aggregate score of 3-25.

DERES: Teeley; Hill, Baines, De Melo, Bannan, Jones, Kalonda, Quan, Pope-Campbell, R Wade (Adeniran 70), Dobson (Ngegba 82).

DEAL: Tonkin; Reeves, Penny, Biggington, Smith, Hark, Treadwell (Munday 65), Murray (Howd 74), Wilson, Chapman, Cardwell (Coyne 65).