WTFC 3 - Deal Town 0 in pre-season friendly

Tuesday July 23rd

Earlier this evening WTFC won 3 - 0 against Deal, at the Charles Sports Ground.

Deal started the brighter and will feel they had done enough to at least get on the score-sheet, Town however defended with some style and as the first half progressed came more into the game. Both sides were happy with nil-nil at the half time interval. Second half changes and with the slope at the Charles ground now in their favour Town stepped up a gear, Jake Gess knocking in the first after some good approach play, Tom Parkers shot come cross evading the keeper, before Graham Taylor added a third deflecting in a fierce Gess drive past Deal’s keeper.

Manager Mark Munday happy with the way his side had dug in when Deal were enjoying the better of the game.

“They started like we did on Saturday against Norton Sports and it took us a while to get the measure of them but at nil-nil you always start the second half with a clean sheet and they tired and we came on stronger in the last twenty minutes, another win and a clean sheet is the right way forward.

Deal 0 Whitstable 3:  Match report Per Laleng:

Munday must have been pleased yet again with what he saw. Whitstable mostly played with a calmness and confidence that has been missing for some time. About twenty players got a run out - a mixture of first team, reserves and trialists.

And most were keen to impress. Many succeeded. Whitstable started proceedings with flowing, sensible attacking play. Vahid and Elmes up front showed good understanding, and both had shots in the opening minutes,though Elmes' hooked shot landed fairly tamely in theDeal keeper's hands with seven minutes on the clock.

Deal, who had beaten Ramsgate 2-1 recently, did not show up simply to make up the numbers. With eleven minutes on the clock, they launched an attack which was only thwarted by a last ditch tackle by Gary Sayer playing at left back. As Cornhill was on holiday, Greg Smith deputised well at right back and soon developed a good understanding with Jack Tanner on the right wing.

On the quarter hour mark, new signing (and former Deal player) Stuart Vahid, broke through but pushed the ball too far ahead to convert a good chance. But ten minutes later, Whitstable got a bit sloppy at the back and after two goal-mouth scrambles, Fewell was forced to tip the ensuing shot over the bar.

Elmes took a knock on and was replaced by Wisker on the half hour. One of his first touches was an attempted spectacular overhead kick; having failed to connect properly, he did not give up and flicked on for Vahid who scooped his shot over the bar. Wisker looked like an individual pressing-machine for a while, but soon his team-mates followed suit to good effect. The tackling in midfield left a little to be desired although a returning Alex Hossick put in a couple of trade-mark crunchers.

He also attempted two pile drivers, both of which were blocked. One fell kindly to Jack Tanner whose crossing asked some testing questions.

Just before the end of the first half, Batten at left wing combined well with Wisker who set Vahid up - but his shot blasted well over the bar and in the dying seconds Sayer broke into the penalty area and came close, making up for a sloppy earlier pass.

Whitstable went in at half time wondering why they hadn't scored, but surely feeling confident it was just around the corner.

There were wholesale changes at half time with Fewell, Denly and Wisker the only players remaining on the pitch. Dan Tanner looks like he needs to shed some pounds, and in his place Steven Lloyd did pretty well: a goal-line clearance made up for a couple of dodgy moments. The second half also saw the introduction of the much praised Marco (I shall stick by the Brazilian nomenclature) although he didn't see much of the ball, perhaps feeling that the left wing was not really his natural place. But the player who made the real impact was Jake Gess in midfield. He bossed it and directed play both with the ball and his voice.

Barely ten minutes into the second half, Marco set up Wisker whose shot rebounded kindly to Gess who in turn slotted calmly past the outstretched Deal keeper.

The game then became quite scrappy and punctuated only by a freak goal either from Tom Parker or Marco - a bit like Koncheski's goal for West Ham against Liverpool in the 2006 FA Cup final. It must have come from the touchline 35 yards out. The linesman flagged for offside but the fans protested and the referee overruled him. How many times have you heard that said?

On 70 minutes Wisker set Jeffreys up nicely, but his air-shot troubled no-one. Jack Tanner came close with a swerving bullet with 8 minutes to go, but Whitstable wrapped it up just before full time when Jake Gess' powerful shot took the slightest of deflections from Taylor in the six yard box. The result did not flatter Whitstable who played some very good football indeed, and I remain quietly confident for the start of the season, notwithstanding Gillingham!

Oysterman of the match: Jake Gess.

And it always rains at Deal!

Match report Per Laleng: his website

http://www.theimagefile.com/web/perlaleng/