A dismal performance from the Badgers leaves them heavily embroiled in a relegation battle, after O&G United smashed them at Wish Park 4-1.
After CCK's impressive victory over Southern Rangers fans could be forgiven for believing that the Badgers had turned a corner and would rise to the higher echelons of the Brighton Premier League. Their optimism was brought to an abrupt end in the opening stages of the home clash with O&G United. A ball over the top allowed the United striker to fire past Paul Muzzall in the CCK goal after just four minutes. The goal shocked the Badgers players, who did little to recover from the it. Stray passes, positional wandering and a real lack of bite saw few passages of note worthy football. The rare times CCK got the ball down and combined with synchrosity the finishing let them down. Dave Sewell missed a good opportunity from a corner which seemed bad enough until the 25 minute mark, when Dave Jones made Sewell's effort look pretty good. Great play by Ben Tucker down the left was followed by a driven cross that picked out Jones at the back post, only for him to sky the ball over from 2 yards out, with the goal gaping. The forwards misery was further compounded when O&G went up the other end a grabbed a second goal. The CCK defence simultaneously decided to play hide and seek. The only problem being that it took them until the striker was clean through for them to realise that they hadn't appointed a defender to seek. The football failed to improve on CCK's part as United continued to dominate. It was in the closing minutes of the first half that the game was put realistically beyond CCK's reach. Another lapse of concentration was the catalyst. A quick free kick down the left allowed a simple through ball to completely defeat the Badgers defence and put the United striker through. The central defenders were both out of position as Dan Shotton ran across to challenge from left back. The referee Darren Eaton adjudged Shotton's tackle to be unfair and awarded a penalty. The spot kick was converted to Paul Muzzall's left and the half time score was a discouraging 3-0 to O&G.
The half time teamtalk from Tim Rose seemed to inspire the yellows as they came out with renewed vigour. Their determination was rewarded when Dan Harnden's far post cross was met by the head of Ben Tucker who found the net via the upright. The goal gave the Badgers faithful hope. At the other end, goal line clearances from Dan Shotton and Tim Rose helped CCK avoid going behind. However, the hope of a second half shut out was extinguished as the fragile defence self destructed again minutes later. A move down the right saw a cross find an unmarked black and white shirt. The header was simple and the lead was back to three goals. Shortly after the goal Tim Rose made way for Matt Carvel who went up front after a re-shuffle. His introduction made a positive improvement to the football as he stretched the back line and allowed more space for the attacking midfielders to get on the ball. Chances for Mike Morrison, Dave Jones, and Matt Carvel followed but with no goal. Doug Reid replaced Dan Shotton, before Mike Preston's introduction for Tim Virgo. Spells of neat football couldn't materialise into a foothold back in the game for the yellows. The game came to a conclusion and CCK hoped to erase the memory of such a poor performance.
The future of CCK Manager Tim Rose was expected to be the biggest talking point during the post match press conference, however, it emerged that a changing room bust up reportedly occured causing many a murmur amongst the media. It is believed that a scuffle broke out between Captain Dave Sewell and defender Dan Shotton. A source close to Shotton has since told Heat Magazine that Dan was "hugely offended" by comments made by Sewell. The source went on to state, "Dan has told me that his captain questionned his ability to lead a family and even questionned his baby making abilities. Dan is a normally such a calm person, but the personal attack sparked a bit of a coming together." Sewell later emerged from the changing rooms with a baseball cap pulled down to hide his supposedly battered face. He refused to speak with the media as he walked directly to the parking lot. Manager Tim Rose also refused to speak to the media, further adding to the speculation of his departure from the club. Instead Man of the Match, Dan Harnden was sent to speak with the press, "It was a reality check for us all. After the win we felt we could really go up the league, but nothing is easy in this league and like it or not we are in a relegation battle. We need to fight for every point now." Asked about the reported scuffle Harnden responded, "I didn't see it. If anything did happen I'm sure the gaffer would deal with it in house anyway." Rose may now see the offer from Churchcentral FC as a nice escape route, should the rumours of a rift between some players be true. CCK fans will hope that off-pitch matters get cleared up soon so they can focus on football and another relegation 6 pointer against Southern Rangers next week.
