First Team Vs East Preston F.C. (FA Vase First Qualifying Round)

East Preston                        0

Erith and Belvedere          9          Palmer 10, Hudson 16 pen, 48, 82,

Aderonmu 29, 40, 54, Sawyer 69, Ward 87

DUAL HAT-TRICKS AND A CENTURY-OLD RECORD

In the sixth match of their first season Erith and Belvedere won 9-0 in the Amateur Cup first round at Orpington on 30 September 1922.  99 years and 11 months later, in the fifth match of their 101st season, the modern-day Deres equalled that record.  They’ve only had one bigger cup win in peacetime (11-0 home to Aylesford Paper Mills in 1926) and one bigger away win (10-0 at Ramsgate in 1981).  What’s more, they recorded the first instance of two Deres players scoring hat-tricks in the same game since Adam Burchell and Richmond Kissi clinched the Kent League title in 2013.

On a warm though not heatwave day on the south coast, the Deres had three decent early chances, a shot too high by Fraser Walker, Nathan Palmer not quite meeting Tunde Aderonmu’s centre and another Palmer shot just wide.  It was Palmer who converted his third chance in the opening ten minutes, latching onto a long ball out of defence and finishing neatly.

Malachi Hudson netted two minutes later but was pulled back for offside, but in the 16th minute a spot of wrestling off the ball at a corner between Ryan Huckle and Abdul Karim-Kamara led to a Deres penalty, which Hudson buried confidently.  Just two minutes later Karim-Kamara went down in the Deres box but was not awarded a spot-kick.  Having been indignant about the Deres penalty, the East Preston No 9 blew his top at the referee and was shown a second yellow card.  The home bench joined in, and red cards were issued to a coach and a player.  They were already two down, but the incident knocked the stuffing out of them and soured the afternoon.

After that it was largely one-way traffic, with the ten men barely able to mount an attack and defending doggedly against a side in top form.  Catching the eye was Bradley Ryan, who had played a couple of games and scored as a 16-year old under Owen Jones’ management in 2019, and now returned after a spell at Chelsea’s academy.  In the 29th minute he sent in a cross as delicious as the paella your reporter had at the East Preston Food and Drink Festival before the match, and Aderonmu helped himself to a diving header to make it 3-0.

Aderonmu got his second five minutes before half-time after persistent work down the left by Hudson, and Ryan Johnson was oh so close to flicking home Ben Wilson’s corner just before the break, leaving Deres leading 4-0.

It took three minutes of the second half for Deres to add to the lead, Hudson meeting Walker’s cross, and on 54 minutes Aderonmu capitalised on a wayward back-pass to stroke the ball home to complete his hat-trick and make it 6-0. 

Tony Beckingham made three changes, Aderonmu and Tyrell Richardson-Brown being replaced by Frankie Sawyer and Rory Ward, followed by the golfing substitution – Arnold for Palmer! – and the new boys wanted a piece of the action.  Sawyer sent a peach of a header into the net but was given offside, but on 69 minutes Deres had another penalty for a foul in the box, Sawyer’s kick was parried by home keeper Maciek Kason but he followed it up to make it 7-0.

Ten minutes from time East Preston worked a good move down the left and threatened to pull one back, at which point Kason was heard to shout “Next goal wins!”  We liked his style.  Instead with eight minutes to go Hudson completed the second hat-trick of the day and five minutes later Ward hit home Ryan’s knockdown to make it 9-0.

Away from the statistics, it was just a superb display by a team that is gelling nicely under Tony Beckingham.  Quality passing, invention, teamwork and a ruthless touch.  It’s a long way to Wembley and many tougher challenges lie ahead in the league, but the signs are good.

EAST PRESTON: Maciek Kason; Josh Ramsden, Dominique Brown, Idris Gbadamosi, Matt Woodward, Alfie Moss, James Mansfield, David Olaonipekum (Sam Brice 58), Abdul Karim-Kamara, Carl Bennett, Lucas McGaw.

DERES: Adam Molloy; Fraser Walker, Ben Wilson, Jerome Wade, Ryan Huckle, Ryan Johnson, Tyrell Richardson-Brown (Rory Ward 59), Bradley Ryan, Tunde Aderonmu (Frankie Sawyer 59), Nathan Palmer (Henry Arnold 67), Malachi Hudson.