18 December 2021

 

Tunbridge Wells                 1          Cray og 90

Erith and Belvedere          1          Flack 46

 

LATE OWN GOAL FRUSTRATES DERES

 

An excellent match of the classic two halves variety was produced by two teams in the mist and fog of rural Kent, in front of a festive crowd of 227. 

 

Erith and Belvedere led by a mile in terms of goal attempts (14-2 first half, 8-3 second half) and should have been out of sight by half-time.  Their good breakaway and counter-attacking style, ably supported by Rilwan Anibaba’s excellent distribution, should have produced plenty of goals, but the finishing was high, wide and far from handsome.

 

In contrast Tunbridge Wells lacked conviction going forward, being content to defend en masse, relying on long punts up to their “Peter Crouch style” centre forward.  Erith & Belvedere coped very well with this tactic as Reece Barrett marshalled his defence superbly.

 

Regretting their first half misses, Deres soon made amends as Ryan Flack whacked in an unstoppable shot and celebrated with the lone E&B supporter on the far side [David Bone].  Defending well, Erith gave Tunbridge Wells few chances until the 6th minute of added on time.  Following a series of lucky rebounds, Wells managed to force Freddie Cray into an unlucky own goal and the referee called time immediately.

 

On this performance it was baffling how Tunbridge Wells had reached the latter stages of the FA Vase – however when you realise that their opponents last week were at the level below, comparisons are easy.  This was a hard-earned point for E&B, should have been three, but a big thanks go to the team and their supporters who made the effort to prove that Christmas shopping was not missed.

 

DERES: Rilwan Anibaba; Lee Lewis, Kazzeem Richards, Freddie Cray, Luke Rooney, Reece Barrett, Ryan Flack, Tom McNamee, Danny Lear (Drew Allassani 70), James Dyer, Henry Dasofunjo.

 

(from the Non League Paper's Diary of a Groundhopper)

Choices, choices.  The world is my oyster today.  I fancy a real blow out pre-Christmas and Folkestone Invicta fits the bill nicely.

 

The Fox and I are on the road early to take into account holiday traffic around the M25.  A sign warns of a two-hour delay on the M20 so we decide to dart into Thurrock services to formulate a plan over a cup of coffee.  In the meantime Tunbridge Wells is picked as the new destination as they host Erith and Belvedere in the Southern Counties East.  There are several back-up matches close by in the event of Omicron-related postponements in the area.

 

Culverden, home ground of our chosen club, is accessed through the “Royal” town and out into the sticks.  The Fox scuttles off to buy the programmes (£2 each).  Today’s issue is nice and weighty but there’s very little in it to read.  I pay £8 to the polite young lady on the gate, “enjoy your game”.  Inside, the programme seller clocks me as a non-native and helpfully points out where all the facilities are to be found.

 

I emerge at the back of the steep terrace decorated by colourful flags.  The clubhouse and a burger van are to my right and the tea hut to my left.  A long seated stand stretches down the right touchline, while the opposite side is open to the elements.  The area behind the goal is inaccessible to fans.  I like the stadium a lot.

 

I duck into the clubhouse for a looksee.  It’s a typical sports-type bar.  My main interest is the large board propped up on a chair with today’s teams written on it.  There are also some nice club pennants pinned up above the bar from many clubs I still need to visit in the area.

 

Observing the warm-up on the pitch, is soon becomes obvious that neither side could hit a cow’s backside with a banjo.  This assessment proves to be entirely accurate, as both teams manage to put the ball out of the ground when faced with chances to shoot.  It’s a shame because the football leading up to these comical misses, especially by the visitors, is quite good.

 

Almost from the restart Ryan Flack whacks in an unstoppable shot.  The visitors continue to miss sitters for the rest of the half and then start to waste as much time as they can.  This awful tactic hilariously (and deservedly) comes back to bite them on the backside when an own goal in the fourth minute of injury time allows the Royals to equalise.  To Erith I say the following (in a Nelson Muntz accent): “Ha, Ha!”