Bracken pleased with “comfortable” win as Corinthian-Casuals progress to play-off final

It was a repeat of last year as Corinthian-Casuals knocked out Greenwich Borough at the semi-final stage of the Bostik South play-off semi finals.
First half goals from Josh Uzun and Gabriel Odunaike put the Casuals on course for victory before Odunaike doubled his tally seven minutes into the second half to secure a place in Saturday’s final.
After the game Corinthian manager James Bracken told the club’s official website, “No disrespect to Greenwich but that was comfortable tonight”.
Bracken continued, “Last year, we came here and played with ten men for 70 minutes. This time, with eleven on the pitch, we took a grip on the game early doors, put ourselves in the driving seat and finished it off at the start of the second half.
“However, you’ll find that was probably the most upset I’d been at a half time interval this season. Even with the games we’ve lost in, I never went as mad as I did at Greenwich. Why? We didn’t do certain things that well, despite being 2-0 up against a very good side. I felt we could’ve been much better. Second half, they done everything I asked them to do. Be responsible. Don’t go and hide, don’t disappear. We done that in the first half. You can’t do that in semi-finals and certainly cannot do that on Saturday.
“Saying that, I thought our boys were phenomenal in the second half. We denied them anything. They fought for it. Gareth didn’t need to make a save. We were fantastic.”
Bracken’s side will now face Walton Casuals for a place in the Bostik Premier next season after the Stags secured a convincing 5-2 victory at Cray Wanderers.
Looking ahead to Saturday’s clash, Bracken admitted that his side will be in for a tough game.
“We’ve earned ourselves a home tie against Walton Casuals but we were ready to take on anyone at any venue. We’ll be ready. They’re a decent side who likes to play good football but we’ve beaten them at home this season so we’ll take confidence in that.” said the Corinthian boss.
He continued, “What does earning Bostik Premier football mean to me? It’s another step up the ladder.
“It’d also be a fantastic achievement to do it with our resources, playing with no budget. Everyone knows our situation. And with the amount of injuries we’ve had, we’ve been pulling up trees. Absolute trees.
“To get promotion with a fully fit squad, we’d have been doing the unbelievable. To do it with the amount of players we have injured would be something I couldn’t have even told you was possible. If you’d said to me at the start of the season, ‘James, you’ll go into the last two games of the season with the nine or ten players we have missing and you’ll go on and win it,’ I’d have called you crazy.”