ORPINGTON FAIL TO PROGRESS

Orpington Athletic missed the opportunity to progress to the next round of the Ted Holder trophy, losing to league rivals FC Bellingham, 3-2.

Having beaten Bellingham convincingly in pre-season, Orpington were expecting to repeat the feat and progress from the first round of the cup, however a poor first half left them with too much to do in the second half.

Orpington set up in their familiar 4-1-4-1 formation, however manager Matt Utton opted to move Harry Utton out of his established CDM role and into the midfield and deploy Dean De Cabral in the unfamiliar role. Orpington struggled to find a rhythm in the match and after having their left side exploited, a well delivered cross was turned in at the far post by Bellingham’s talismanic midfielder.

In a rare first half attack, Anthony Knott found himself well up the pitch and was able to steer home an equaliser from James Lefley’s rebounding shot. However, Bellingham responded just before the break when a looping header from the Bellingham attacker caught Utton off guard in goal and the ball drifted in off the upright.

Utton opted to enhance the attack at half time and moved to a 4-4-2, bringing Tom Braithwaite on for De Cabral. The change spurred Orpington on and they were a much improved side in the second half, but chance after chance was either well saved by Bellingham’s ‘keeper or was spurned following good build up play. Orpington chalked up multiple opportunities, but could not make them count and then with Bellingham’s first proper attack of the half, the score line was increased to 3-1.

Orpington finally managed to get a goal their play had been promising, when Harry Utton converted Tom Smart’s throw in with his head. However, with only a minute of time remaining, Orpington could not find the equaliser which would have forced extra time.

A learning curve for both the manager and the team in the importance of setting up and delivering from the start of the match, Orpington will have been disappointed to see this one slip out of their hands. The mistakes will have to be eradicated before this coming weekend’s meeting with South London Doves and Orpington will be foolish to assume a nailed on result against a team they beat only 3 weeks ago.