Croydon 0 Thamesmead Town 1

Saturday 19 January, 2008

Kent Premier Division

Croydon 0 Thamesmead Town 1

By frustrated Mead reporter Steve Brown

Thamesmead arrived at the Croydon athletics track on quite a nice day, not as much rain had fallen as expected, and the wind was gentle compared to last time we were here, where the dug outs had been blown onto the pitch!!

I have thought about this long and hard and have come to the conclusion that this was the worst game that I have seen in 6 years of KL football. This is one of three pitches now in the league where you are so far away from play that it feels remote. The pitch held up well but what spoilt it for me was the returning of the ball when it goes out of play. As early as the first minute the home crowd were crying out for a ball, obviously aware of what was to follow. Croydon had ball boys, but they were about 5/6 yrs old and after 15 minutes the novelty of running off after the ball and bringing it back soon wore off (they were also too small to kick it back) and I don’t remember them coming out for the second half!. Calls from the managers and players alike for quicker ball return fell on deaf ears, with the ref apparently not interested.

So here is a question for you, with all so much ball out of play, four stoppages for the Croydon goalkeeper (who seemed to need treatment every time he touched the ball) Twice for the diminutive center half, once for each winger and for treatment to Scott Mulholland, three lengthy talking to`s from the ref to players making late challenges and speeches from Brown, Dimmock and Coburn about the failure of the ref to do anything to stop them happening, one caution to croydon, and two to us, how long did the ref add on to the first half? 3 MINUTES!! I made it that the ball was in play for about 23 minutes in the whole of the half and as a consequence hardly any football was seen and no rhythm was established. High-lights ? Well, o On 18 minutes the Croydon keeper came for about the fith time to claim a high ball into the centre. He caught it and for the third time he landed on someone underneath as he flew through the air. However this time he dropped the ball on the way down and Williams kicked it into the net. The referee, from six yards away facing was happy, but the linesman from 30 yards away signalled a foul, but how you foul a goalkeeper who is falling on you I do not know. Following the caution of the skinhead Croydon player in the forty second min for a bad challenge, (that looked fair to me), having not learnt our lesson of this confident flying goalkeeper, we sent in another poor high ball for him to collect. As he went to make a quick clearance up field, the wiley Dean Kearley flicked the ball out of his one hand and promptly put it in the net. This time the linesman was happy but the ref was not amused and cautioned Dean. He also did not like Mr Dimmock telling him where he was going wrong and he was also cautioned also and that ended the half.

The second half was better , as it has been. Seeing no real threat from the opposition Keith moved Brown into midfield and we created four to five good half chances before Mulholland found the net on 75 mins. A wayward ball to the edge of the box, meant for Mulholland, was first contested by Tarrant, who looked to have fouled the opponent as the ball squirmed around. Pedro Knight made a telling block as Croydon tried to clear, which resulted in the ball falling to Mulholland and with his back to goal he seemed to pivot around the ball and strike a fine shoot just inside the post for the goal. Having got the goal all we wanted then was for the tedium to end, which it finally did with no other real incidents. We are still on course, but we will have to play a lot better next week against Erith+Belvedere.

Thamesmead line-up (with player ratings)

Connealy 7 never troubled

Kearly 7 Solid, booked

Coburn 6 looked out of sorts

Brown 7 Solid

Watts 6 wayward passing

Mulholland 7 passing off, got goal

Tarrant 6 passing off, didnt get goal

Pedders 8 Work horse (in the nices possible way)

Cable 6 Quiet game

Dimmock 6 Going was against him, booked

Williams 6 off day for Mr reliable

Bing 7 held up play for final 15 so mins

Marlon 7 slotted in ok

Next match at Bayliss Avenue

Thurs 17th July 2008

Pre-season friendly

Thamesmead Town

Vs Welling United XI

K.O. 7.45PM