CCK impressively withstood the pressure from title challengers Hikers BHA as their opponents lost their cool, and walked off the pitch. CCK had shown great resilience to cope with the physical approach of Hikers, and were winning 3-1 when BHA decided to give up.
The atmosphere was intimidating, with a capacity crowd at Stanmer Park. The home support was vocal and from the early stages it was clear that they were targeting CCK players with torrents of abuse. The Badgers were also on the receiving end of some nasty tackles and verbal abuse from their opposing players. The men in yellow didn’t shirk the challenges and tried to play football. The pitch conditions didn’t help and Hikers BHA saw most of the chances in a scrappy opening quarter. Paul Muzzall made several fine saves, as the CCK defence also excelled. Mike Spence and Jacob Fortescue showed great strength and timing with some last ditch tackles and aerial dominance. Galen Abraham made his full debut at right back, working hard to thwart BHA attacks. Ben Tucker was committed to the cause with some tough tackles. Chances at the other end were few and far between. Dave Sewell almost profited from a Dave Jones corner but couldn’t keep his effort down. Chris Yeo, returning from his loan spell at Churchcentral FC, was providing a great outlet up front and threatened to go through regularly. The Badgers midfield worked tirelessly to protect the back four, whilst also trying to make runs forward. Mike Morrison showed good vision with some neat through balls almost setting Matt Carvel and Chris Yeo through. Carvel was getting on the ball and trying to whip some crosses in, as was Pete Coggan on the right. As the first half drew to an end it was noticeable that Hikers players were getting frustrated at their failure to breach the CCK goal. Tackles were becoming increasingly late and dangerous. This allowed CCK to have a spell of set pieces, from which they found the net. Dave Jones whipped a corner kick to the back post where Dave Sewell headed the ball back across goal, Chris Yeo sharply put the ball home from two yards out. Half time shortly followed as the Badgers reflected on a hard fought first half.
The second half showed no signs of becoming any less challenging for the yellows as the Hikers came out with even more aggression. Rash tackles, and disgraceful abusive language ensued as the blues intended to win ugly. The referee Paul Rowe attempted to lay the law down by brandishing the yellow card to a handful of guilty BHA players. This only riled the players and supporters further as frustration got the better of them. CCK continued to focus on the football and didn’t entertain any of the taunts or abuse. Paul Muzzall was called into action a few times and made some good saves. The central defensive partnership of Spence and Fortescue was particularly strong withstanding the pressure magnificently. CCK then added to the Hikers frustration by doubling their lead. Chris Yeo was hacked down inside the area and the referee had no doubts that it was a penalty. The Hikers players however, disagreed and they swarmed around him. One player directed foul and abusive language at the referee who showed him the red card. After a long wait for the player to leave the field of play and for the Hikers players to calm themselves down momentarily Dave Jones stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way. The Hikers responded in determined fashion, and their 10 men managed to grab a goal just after the hour mark. Paul Muzzall did well to save a close range effort, but couldn’t prevent the rebounded header from going into the net. The blues hope was to be short lived as Mike Morrison picked up a loose ball and dribbled into dangerous territory before unleashing a wonderful strike into the bottom corner from 25 yards out. The game then took a bizarre twist after 70 minutes, with the Hikers manager ordering his players off the pitch blaming the referee for his sides’ poor showing. A melee of players and supporters from BHA attempted to confront the referee who was fortunate to have several bodyguards, in the form of CCK players, at his side.
ESPN caught up with Club Captain Dave Sewell after the match and the skipper was keen to show how proud he was of his team, “One team came to play football, one team came to have a fight, and I’m so pleased with our lads for standing up to it, and letting the football do the talking. We really deserve the win as we worked so hard. It’s never nice to be involved in a match like this one, but we did ourselves proud with our conduct today.” Matt Carvel also spoke with the media after the match and was less than impressed with his visit to Stanmer Park, “The conduct of their players and fans was awful, I can’t remember playing in a match with so much foul play. Perhaps the FA should introduce some sort of anger management programme for players like them.” Chris Yeo chose to see the funny side of the clash, “It was a funny game, they obviously lost their rag and it cost them. I just loved being back in this side and to score was great, the bruises not so great.” Yeo was then asked about his future, “I made the loan move to Churchcentral for family reasons and those reasons haven’t changed. The gaffer is aware of that and has said that he’ll sort out loan arrangements with Churchcentral until the situation changes. I have been and will be keeping an eye on the results back here, and hope that winning becomes a habit for us.” CCK FC will be looking to grab another three points when they face AFC Stanley next week.
