Faversham Town 6 Tunbridge Wells 2
By Glenn Pearson
Faversham Town and Tunbridge Wells served up a goal feast at Salters Lane but it was the league leaders that preserved their seven-point lead at the top with a thumping win.
They didn’t have it all their way though, as Wells took a shock 2-0 lead after 23 minutes – and richly deserved it was – but Town are made of sterner stuff these days and they made the visitors pay for their inability to defend set-pieces.
Some poor Faversham defending allowed Carl Cornell to ghost in at the back post before getting off a shot that goalkeeper Rob French did well to parry, but only into the path of Benji Agana who made no mistake from close range to give his side the lead on five minutes.
Damian Abel fashioned two good chances for himself that were well saved by Wells goalkeeper Michael Czanner, before the visitors – with midfielder Andy McMath pulling the strings from the centre – extended their lead on 23 minutes. An innocent looking ball was played into the Faversham area but wasn’t dealt with by the Town defence or the goalkeeper, allowing Cornell to nip in to score.
That led to some sustained Faversham pressure and although the corner count reached double figures, Wells’ desperate defending and goal line clearances kept them at bay. The home side managed to put one away two minutes before the break when Lee Shearer scored his ninth of the season from a Jack Tanner corner.
As poor as they were in the first-half, Town were equally as good in the second as they seized the initiative and wore their opponents down with well rehearsed set-piece routines.
The sides were level 10 minutes into the second-half when Dave Botterill headed in Dane Luchford’s corner and the writing was on the wall for the visitors when, on the hour mark, Shearer’s volley was helped on its way to the top corner by Shane Hamshare. Luchford then got on the score sheet on 70 minutes, seizing on some poor defending from a Dan Larkin corner, and six minutes later Botterill slammed home his second from the edge of the box after another Luchford corner was played out to the former Chatham midfielder. The scoring was complete with 12 minutes to play when a Luchford cross from the left was flicked past Czanner by Town skipper Tom Hickman.
Boss Justin Luchford, whose side were at Deal Town last night, felt his side’s quality eventually shone through after a poor start to the game.
“I keep hearing that we’re all long ball, but there was some great football at times out there and we opened them up,” he said. “But set-pieces are crucial and you have to make them count, it doesn’t matter how you score goals, it’s about how you put them in the back of the net.
“I was big time worried at 2-0 but getting that goal before half-time helped and I knew they would cave at some point as they made enough errors in the first-half to show that we would be given chances.”
POSTED: 08/02/2010 16:17:01
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