TERRY CORDICE
believes Erith & Belvedere will encounter a very
different
Faversham
Town
when the two teams collide for a third time
this season on Saturday.
Lilywhites boss
Cordice has seen his side suffer back-to-back Kent
League Cup defeats to the in-form
North Kent
outfit who pipped Town
to top spot in Group B with a 2-0 win at
Park View Road
on Tuesday
night.
The Deres are flying
under the new management team of Paul Gorman
and Chris Cosgrove and will replace Faversham in eighth place in the
Premier Division with another victory over Town on Saturday.
But Cordice insists
his former league leaders can halt their slide
down the table with a first league success since mid-October.
He said: "We've
lost twice to Erith & Belvedere it's true, but we
fielded a mix of first and reserve team players in the first game
because we had already qualified for the knockout phase.
"We were
stronger on Tuesday night and we will be stronger still on
Saturday for the league game. Erith will find us a very different
proposition from the previous two matches."
Mark Nougher's quick
free-kick on nine minutes put Erith in front
only for Town to suffer a further blow when Mark Smith was dismissed
for a second bookable offence on the stroke of half-time.
Town were much
improved after the break and went close through
Graham Taylor and Anthony Pace but tired towards the close when Daryl
Wilson made it 2-0 with the last kick of the game.
Cordice explained:
"It was more about the performance than the
result because we haven't been playing well lately.
"And although we
were poor in the first half, I can't really fault
the lads after the break because they've done exactly what I asked of
them.
"We had two or
three chances and they showed heart, they showed
passion. We've played really well with 10 men and they were only able
to score the second when we tired near the close which is
understandable a man down."
The normally reliable
Gary Stock hit the self-destruct button as
Town went behind, opting to play his way out of trouble only to end
up fouling
Wilson
near the edge of the penalty area.
And Nougher seized
the initiative at the free-kick with a shot that
was past Jurgen Wild and nestling in the back of the net just as Town
were thinking about the make up of the defensive wall.
Cordice rapped:
""Ten minutes in and we're at the races but Gary
Stock makes a big mistake and we go into our shell.
"They've played
a long ball through and all Stocky has to do is
roll a pass back to Jurgen who can clear it but he tries to be clever
on the edge of our box and ends up giving away a free-kick which
could have seen him sent off because he was the last man.
"He did the same
at Tunbridge Wells earlier this season. Then to
make matters worse their fella has taken a quick free-kick and we are
a goal down.
"We should've
been clever enough to get someone in front of the
ball while we organised the wall but that didn't happen."
Mitch Crawley was
desperately unlucky not to double the home side's
advantage with a ferocious drive that smashed against the Town
crossbar.
Yet Town's main
concern was soon out-of-sorts Smith whose first
yellow card followed a dispute with the referee.
And there was only
going to be one outcome when the player made a
tackle that was a little high at the end of the first half.
Referee Mark Lehane
brandished the red card and Town were really up
against it although they went on to produce their best spell of the
match early in the second half.
Striker Taylor burst
through a tackle dropping deep before feeding
fit-again John Goodwin down the right on 55 minutes.
Taylor
continued his run into the middle and was unlucky to see his
header saved by goalkeeper Neil Murray after Goodwin picked him out
with a great ball into the near post.
More good work from
Taylor
released Pace five minutes later and he
almost produced an equaliser with a shot that flashed across the face
of
Murray
's goal and past the post.
Town survived a
penalty scare when the impressive Kris Parker was
adjudged to have brought down Steve White but danger was averted
courtesy of a lineman's flag for offside.
The Deres finished
strongly and the pressure on Town's goal
intensified when a great move involving Matt Bedford and Vinny
Durrant saw substitute Adrian Dean fire just wide on 88 minutes.
Faversham were
holding on and
Wilson
took full advantage with a
clinical finish past Wild from just inside the box in time added on.
Town's Top Man: Kris
Parker - TC's Mister Versatile was a vocal
presence at the back
Jurgen Wild 7, Mark
Smith 4, Brad Maguire 7, Wes Hammond 6, Kris
Parker 8, Gary Stock 5, Adam Hewitson 5, Steve Aslett 7, Graham
Taylor 7, Andy Martin 7, John Goodwin 7. Substitutes: Junior
Farrell
(for Stock, 45 minutes) 6, Anthony Pace (for Hewitson, 55) 7, Jason
Mills (for Maguire, 74) 6. Unused: Terry Cordice, Paul Copley
