Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Boyne’s men miss opportunity
Canterbury 1sts’ player-coach Craig Boyne admits his side were disappointed not to take advantage of a depleted Teddington on Saturday. They suffered a 1-0 defeat to the Division 1 South leaders after conceding a Kyle White goal in the 59th minute. Boyne said: “I think we did deserve to get a point out of it, we let ourselves down a little bit in the last quarter.
“Our finishing wasn’t quite where it should and could have been, saying that, we spent 10 minutes of the last quarter a player down due to a yellow card so the guys did actually get stuck in pretty well to negate the loss of a player.
“We had opportunities to take the game away but we also had opportunities to lose it so it was similar to last week (against Oxford Hawks, when they drew 2-2).
“Their team was suffering the loss of seven players so it was the best opportunity to take points from them so it was annoying not to make the best of it.
“Although they’re sitting top of the ladder they aren’t the best team in this competition, we just need to make sure we’re getting better each week.” Canterbury now have a twoweek break before they visit Havant on November 10 in search of their second win of the season.
By then Boyne is hoping to have a squad somewhere close to full strength again, in light of two new arrivals and players returning from knocks. He added: “We’ve got an Aussie keeper and an Aussie midfield forward coming in next week, they’re in their early 20s but they have performed at very high levels in Australia so I’m more than confident they’ll be a significant factor. “We’ll have people back from injury as well so it will be a different team in two weeks. “That should give us more potency going forward and more confidence to add top what we’ve done so far.
“I think it’s still a work in progress, they’re moving the ball really well through defence and midfield but failing to connect the last line of players. “It has been getting better but I’d like it to get better quicker, our circle entry is not particularly flattering.
“If you look at the opposition they had similar amount of entries but they had seven short corners whereas we had two,
‘We just need to make sure we’re getting better each week’
that’s a big one for us.”
■ Matt Lea scored a brace alongside goals from Chris Ellis and Shane Godwin as the 3rds won 4-2 at home to Herne Bay, with Chris Figgis taking manof-the-match honours.
The 4ths won 3-0 away to Holcombe 2A thanks to a brace from Glenn Prebble and one from Charlie E, while the 2nds beat Old Bordenian’s 3-1 Canterbury Friars were beaten 1-0 at Holcombe 6ths after seeing Phil Dowling limp off with a calf injury just 10 minutes into the game.
The Millers also lost 6-0 away to Gore Court 3rds having gone in five down at half-time.