First Team Vs Lordswood

1 February 2020

Erith and Belvedere          0

Lordswood                          4          Brown-Baupoe 6, Medley 18, 87, McKenzie 85

DERES LACK BITE AS WIND AND LORDS ARE WINNERS

For a period in this game the Deres more than matched their opposition and could have had two or three goals, but during the vital opening stages and right at the end Lordswood made them pay.

It was Deres’ first game since the resignation of manager Owen Jones and looked like being the last game for several players.  Caretaker manager Stuart Webb had to shuffle the pack following Reggie Yembra’s broken fibula, the departure of George Jones along with his father, and the unavailability of Chan Quan and Guyliano Mpungi.  In their places Bailey Cooke, Best Toke and Dominic Edwards made their first starts for Deres, and dual registration signings from Cray Wanderers Chris Alhassan and Max Gayle made their bow as substitutes at half-time and 70 minutes respectively.

Lordswood hammered the Deres 6-0 at PVR in the Kent Senior Trophy in October, and after 20 minutes it looked like another hammering was on the cards as the Deres looked overwhelmed playing up the slope with a bright low sun and biting wind against them, as well as a duo of giant strikers in Luke Medley and debutant Philip Brown-Baupoe. 

Brown-Baupoe struck first, threading the ball through a crowd of players after a half-cleared corner in the 6th minute, though three minutes later former Deres keeper Rilwan Anibaba was lucky to escape with a yellow card wrestling Kameiko Pope-Campbell to the ground.  The resulting free-kick came out to Pope-Campbell, who shot over the bar.  In the 18th minute a good move down the right wing resulted in Luke Medley adding a second for Lordswood.

A recurring theme was established in the 27th minute when Brown-Baupoe’s wayward shot hit a bus on Park View Road.  Several wayward shots and clearances throughout the game sailed out of the ground, and a late Deres free-kick actually smashed the windscreen of a car driving down the road, believed to be a first in the history of the ground!

Dan Teeley rode his luck when a Medley shot came back to him off a post, and as ever produced heroics in the Deres’ cause, with a point-blank save from Brown-Baupoe the highlight.

In the second half Deres fought back and had territorial advantage, although chances were few and far between.  Most notable was a very promising debut down the right by Chris Alhassan, who looked a real prospect and was unlucky to hit a post. Ramell Lake had a good chance held at the second attempt by Anibaba.  But as the light faded Lordswood hit two late goals to make the scoreline more convincing, an 85th-minute drive from Antwon McKenzie and a breakaway goal by Medley in the 87th minute.  Medley finished with six goals in three games against Deres this season.

DERES: Teeley; Cooke, Dobson, Towner (J Wade ht), Hill, Toke, Edwards (Alhassan ht), De Melo, Pope-Campbell, Lake, Muchenje (Gayle 70).

LORDS: Anibaba; Dasufanjo, Fisher, Miller, McKinlay, Gillman (Brefo 66), Williams, Brown-Baupoe (McKenzie 57), Medley, Price (Patterson ht), Pepple.