9 April 2022

Chatham Town                   10        Hayes pen 25, Butler 30, Osideko 33, 48,

 Bradshaw 45, 49, 77, Evans 55, 70, 90

Erith and Belvedere          1          Lear 66         

MURPHY PAYS HEAVY PENALTY AS DERES SUFFER CHATS BACKLASH

It was just what some feared after Chatham only drew at Punjab United the previous week, thus possibly throwing away the SCEFL title and still needing a point from this game to seal promotion.  The backlash duly came, and in spades – and the Deres were unlucky enough to be the team in the way of it.

This was a scoreline for the record books: the tenth league match (plus one cup-tie) in which they’d conceded double figures, and the third since the war following a 10-1 at Thurrock in 2014 and a 10-0 at Corinthian in 2020 in Del Oldfield’s first match in charge.  It also took place in front of the biggest crowd (836) to watch the Deres in a league match this century, not that the crowd were there to watch the Deres particularly!

If Chatham had any nerves at all, it might have shown in the opening 25 minutes, when they were putting on the pressure with no results, and indeed Danny Lear had a decent chance to open the scoring at the other end.  But when that dubious 25th-minute penalty was tucked away by Ryan Hayes, the floodgates were about to open.

Two minutes later Lekan Osideko, who was impressive all afternoon, had the ball in the net but was given offside, but on 30 minutes Reece Butler headed in a corner at the far post, and in the 32nd minute Osideko made amends by scoring a valid goal.  In first half stoppage time quick passing saw Dan Bradshaw on the end of a slick move from defence making it 4-0 with the last kick of the half.

Whatever Danny Murphy might have said at half-time had little effect as Chatham added three more in the first ten minutes after the interval: a 47th-minute piledriver from Osideko, a 49th-minute far post header by Bradshaw and a long-range effort by Jack Evans to make it 7-0 on 55 minutes.

The Deres didn’t stop trying to play football, and after having one shot well held by Andy Walker, Danny Lear scored his 18th of the season on 66 minutes.  But within six minutes of this, Evans got his second from a free-kick to make it 8-1, and Bradshaw completed his hat-trick in the 75th minute to make it 9-1.  Lear hit the bar in a rare Deres attack on 78 minutes, and just in time for the record books Evans completed the second Chats hat-trick of the day in the 89th minute.

As Chatham celebrated their first promotion in 30 years, the Deres licked their wounds.  Within 45 minutes of the final whistle a call from chairman Adrian Deane spelt the end of Danny Murphy’s tenure as Deres manager, albeit with the team in with a shout of a top-five finish.

CHATS: Andy Walker; Ike Orji, George Sheminant, Jordi Robins, Reece Butler, Dean Beckwith, Ryan Hayes, Jack Evans, Dan Bradshaw, Mikey Dalton, Lekan Osideko. 

DERES: Ted McDonald; Josh Leach (Ryan Penton 85), Ross Craig, Harry Maher,  Calum McGeehan, Reece Barrett, Luke Rooney, James Dyer, Danny Lear, Gavin Tomlin, Lee Lewis.  Subs not used: Freddie Cray, Teddy Green, Neil Spencer, Daniel Pepple.