FAVERSHAM
TOWN
were due to play VCD Athletic in their first home game
back in the Kent League last August only for a freak storm and flash
floods to sink the party.
But it was a wash-out of a very
different kind as Terry Cordice's
stuttering Lilywhites plunged to a third successive Premier Division
defeat in the return game at Oakwood on Saturday.
Town enjoyed great chunks of possession
only to run out of ideas in
the final third and were ultimately undone by schoolboy errors from
skipper James Holder and Adam Hewitson in either half.
Holder - making his first appearance
since recovering from a
shoulder injury - failed to deal with a harmless ball forward on 35
minutes and was robbed by Steve Hogg.
The VCD substitute made ground down the
left before delivering a
great ball to the far stick where Leroy Huggins fired past Tony
Diment from 10 yards with a clinical finish.
But if that was bad, then there was
worse to come with the much-
improved Hewitson passing up the chance to make a regulation near-
post clearance from a corner after hearing a call of "leave
it" -
presumably from a VCD player.
The ball flew straight past the
unfortunate Diment and Ashley
Probets was celebrating the unlikeliest of goals in the bottom corner
as VCD went 2-0 up with 66 minutes gone.
But the madcap errors do not tell the
full story of a match that
passed Town by at the hugely impressive Oakwood stadium, revamped at
a cost of more than £100,000.
For just like that late summer day when
the heavens opened at
Salters Lane, Town never got started.
Some 84 minutes had passed before Town
seriously threatened the
goal of Grant Wallis with substitute Lee Whitehead sending a right-
foot shot past the post.
Holder almost made up for his
first-half blunder with a terrific
header just 60 seconds later but goalkeeper Wallis produced an
outstanding save at full stretch.
Yet those late efforts were the sum
total of Town's attacking
endeavour on a disappointing trip to the capital.
Cordice knows the Lilywhites are not
firing on all cylinders going
forward and opted for a safety first approach here.
So you can understand his frustration
at coming unstuck following
two such bad defensive errors.
He said: "It's disappointing
really. We made two mistakes and they
scored two goals. For the first, James Holder has had a bad touch and
the lad has gone round him and the second goal, Adam Hewitson has
heard a call to leave it - the oldest trick in the book - and the
ball's gone straight in.
"He could have cleared it, James
could have cleared it - the pair
of them could and should have cleared it."
Cordice said his side were making the
wrong choices when it matters
most, insisting: "It was a game of few chances. We are having
alot of
possession, but it's the final ball - the quality is not there.
"That's what I have said to them.
We have battled hard and played
ok but only up until the final third.
"I am struggling to remember our
keeper having to make a save -
we've given them two goals with two big, big mistakes. Teams like
VCD, Thamesmead and Whitstable will punish you in those circumstances.
"You can't give anything away at
places like this. At 1-0 we were
still in with a chance to nick something but then a second error has
put paid to all that.
"We were looking to defend
strongly but our gameplan has been
undone by these two mistakes. I was determined for us not to concede
sloppy goals but that is exactly what has happened. We wanted to
counter attack but the second goal has killed us."
Town's Top Man: Mark Smith - Another
dependable display
Marks (out of 10): Tony Diment 6, Mark
Smith 7, Michael Seager 6, Wes
Hammond 7, James Holder 6, Gary Stock 7, Adam Hewitson 6, Steve
Aslett 6, Graham Taylor 5, Andy Martin 7, Kris Parker 6. Substitutes:
Junior Farrell (for Seager, 59 minutes) 6, Lee Whitehead (for Parker,
78) 6, Richard Gamble (for Aslett, 80) 6
