11 February 2023

Kent Senior Trophy semi-final

 

Punjab United                     1          Probets 45

Erith and Belvedere          0

 

DERES DRAW BLANK AS PUNJAB PARTY

 

Erith and Belvedere failed to score in a match for the first time since Sheppey at home on 5 March last year, and Punjab go through to the final to face Deal Town on 16 April at Maidstone.  The Deres barely laid a glove on the hosts in the first half and former Deres favourite Rilwan Anibaba kept out everything Erith (in particular Tunde Aderonmu) threw at him in the second half.

 

Deres began brightly and in the second minute Nathan Palmer had a shot tipped over by Anibaba but the corner came to nothing.  Play was aimless for a long while after this as the fluency of recent months was lacking.  Deres did not have much territory but picked up a little around the half-hour mark and on 32 minutes Ryan Palmer whipped in a cross that Tunde Aderonmu just couldn’t convert.

 

Aderonmu picked up a yellow card five minutes from the break then had three good chances as half-time approached: he turned on the edge of the box but couldn't get enough behind the shot to trouble Anibaba, played a one-two with Bradley Ryan but shot wide, then volleyed with Anibaba out of position but Steve Ratcliff intercepted. 

 

With all this late pressure it was a total shock when Punjab took the lead three minutes into first-half stoppage time, when Ashley Probets’ free-kick from outside the box bounced awkwardly to deceive Adam Molloy: a classically bad time to concede but Punjab were worth the lead on the overall run of play.

 

The next chance didn’t come until the 64th minute, when there was a mix-up in the Deres defence and Ryan Johnson had to clear off the line.  Three minutes later Ryan Palmer picked up a yellow card for a spot of “handbags”.  Going into the last 20 minutes and Deres piled on the pressure with Anibaba defying them.  On 71 minutes

Nathan Palmer worked hard to send a cross over but Anibaba held under pressure from Aderonmu.  Two minutes later there was a scramble in the box but the ball didn’t fall Deres' way and Anibaba tidied up.  Then in the 76th minute Anibaba made a superb save from Aderonmu on the right of the six-yard box.

 

Punjab sent a shot wide as 7 mins stoppage time started, but the Deres were unable to apply more pressure late on.  The single-goal defeat was disappointing on the day although Punjab had resisted everything thrown at them. They go on to face Deal Town in the final and Deres return in search of three points in a fortnight's time.

 

PUNJAB: Rilwan Anibaba; Theo McKenzie, Andrew Dythe, Jamie Watson, Steve Ratcliff, Jordan Campbell, Ashley Probets, Emiliano Hysi, Paul Vines, Arun Suman, Jayden Hussain. 

Subs: Marvin Okundalaiye, Chandler Kasai, Marcus Elliott, Hugh Samuels.

DERES: Adam Molloy; Ryan Palmer, AJ Morrison (Fraser Walker 82), Jerome Wade (George Monger 56), Ryan Johnson, Rob Strachan, Tyrell Richardson-Brown (Rory Ward 67), Lewis Chambers, Tunde Aderonmu, Nathan Palmer, Bradley Ryan.

Subs: Ben Wilson, Dom Emptage.