25 January 2022

Erith and Belvedere          1          Cray 11

Tunbridge Wells                 2          Wells 69, Carlton 70

DERES SUNK BY THE OLD ONE-TWO

Erith and Belvedere slumped to a third consecutive home defeat on Tuesday night as they dominated the opening phases but were sunk by two goals in two minutes midway through the second half.

Coming in off a convincing 4-0 win at Punjab United three days earlier, the Deres started confidently, although with perhaps too much fire in the case of James Hawkins, who was booked in the second minute having lost the ball and gone in too hard on Wells skipper Jack Hope. 

Danny Lear, looking to improve on his 9 goals in his last 8 games, volleyed wide in the fourth minute, but then on 11 minutes good work on the left by Hawkins set up Freddie Cray, whose shot from outside the box squirmed through the arms of Aaron Lee-Wharton to give Deres the lead.

In the next 20 minutes the Deres had half a dozen good chances.  Cray had another shot wide; Lear’s 20th-minute run, reminiscent of George Best’s legendary goal against Sheffield United, ended with Lee-Wharton managing to tip the ball around the post; Hawkins didn’t quite control a volley set up by Ryan Flack; Greg Benbow set up Dyer for a shot easily held; Calum McGeehan had an effort parried with nobody to follow up; and Lear just failed to finish a bout of head tennis.

Wells’ first effort of note was a volley from former Dere Josh Froggatt three minutes before the break which was superbly saved by Rilwan Anibaba.  Deres had looked outstanding but were to pay the price for not converting chances.

More early pressure from Deres in the second half saw Cray send a shot high and wide and Stefan Cox, newly signed from Kent Football United, have a shot on target with his second touch in a Deres shirt.  But then on 69 minutes a snap shot from Jordan Wells levelled the scores, and less than a minute after the restart Anibaba didn’t manage to hold on to a shot and Tom Carlton was able to follow up and put Wells ahead.

In the closing minutes Calum McGeehan moved up front to add height to the attack and Cox set up Tyler Anderson-Parr for a far-post header that went just wide, but the damage had been done.  Deres went down to sixth in the table as their next opponents Deal Town overtook them with four games in hand.

DERES: Rilwan Anibaba; Lee Lewis (Tom McNamee ht), Greg Benbow, Drew Allassani, Calum McGeehan, Reece Barrett, Ryan Flack, Freddie Cray, Danny Lear, James Dyer (Tyler Anderson-Parr 72), James Hawkins (Stefan Cox 65). WELLS: Aaron Lee-Wharton; Jack Hope, James Nurden, James Huggins, Ryan Cheek, Robbie Bissett, Regan Corke, Jordan Wells (Connor Pring 85), Richard Atkins, Tom Carlton, Josh Froggatt (Johnny Phillips 67)