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Match Reports by Tony Rickson
22nd November 2016
Ryman League Div 1 South
Ramsgate 1 Sittingbourne 2 Att 134
A second successive 2-1 away win, a third win
on the bounce, and up to seventh in the Ryman
South table.
Sittingbourne are flying in November and with
more than half the season still to go why
shouldn’t they dream about challenging for a
play-off place.
Not that this win was easy. Far from it, as
Ramsgate belied their lowly place in the league
and gave Sittingbourne a hell of a run for their
money.
Sittingbourne normally just have to turn up at
this ground to take home the three points, but
this was different though in the end it was a first
double of the season for the Brickies having
beaten Ramsgate 4-0 at home.
Not surprisingly after Saturday’s superb 4-0 win
over high-fliers Hythe Town, Sittingbourne kept
an unchanged team with Ramsgate fielding
three‘old boys’ – George Crimmen, Ollie Gray
and Luke Girt.
Away games on a Tuesday night often mean a
couple of late-ish arrivals and this one was no
different, so no wonder Sittingbourne made a
sluggish start.
And within two minutes they were a goal down,
though late arrivals or not it was a terrible goal
to concede.
They pushed forward for a throw-in up the left
touchline but Ramsgate gained possession and
broke quickly. Chapman ran from halfway, receiving
a lucky bounce back to him when he
tried to lay it off, and planted the ball in the far
corner.
Sittingbourne took an age to settle down and
get into the game against a lively Ramsgate
side buoyed by their early goal.
It was all of 39 minutes before attacking fullback
Tom Carlse forced a corner with a great
cross and when he got up in support again a
couple of minutes later he was brought down as
he raced into the area.
It must have been a penalty as Ramsgate managers
Jim and Danny Ward didn’t protest vociferously,
and Steven Ita comfortably
slotted home the equaliser. But it ended his
game as he pulled a muscle and had to go off.
The second half was much better by Sittingbourne
and again, as on Saturday, it was
their pace and tempo that the opposition found
hard to handle.
The hard-working Anthony O’Connor was only
prevented from scoring from about a yard out
by a dramatic save by keeper Watkins early in
the half.
And it was O’Connor who played a key role in
the winning goal after 79 minutes. He’d twice
controversially been flagged offside when other
Sittingbourne players raced past him onto the
ball from onside
positions, but this time the flag didn’t go up. And
when he crossed low from the left, the unlucky
Wheatley could do no more than divert it past
his own wrong-footed keeper.
Sittingbourne refused to sit on a one-goal lead
and sub Jake Embery twice blasted over,
Hicham Akhazzan had a couple of great chances
he would have been disappointed not to
score from, and Sam Welch raced clean
through on a mighty break from end of the pitch
to the other only for Watkins to save well in a
one-on-one.
Ramsgate frantically pushed forward in a helterskelter
finish and it needed all of skipper Jono
Richardson’s experience to steady the ship and
keep them out, with great support from Danny
Rumbol and excellent goalkeeping when called
upon by Simon Overland.
It was a tough battle at times, nowhere near as
smooth and smart as the win over Hythe, but
it’s three more confidence-boosting points for
Sittingbourne and a reward for an awful lot of
hard work they put into this game.
Sittingbourne: Simon Overland, Sam Welch,
Tom Carlse, Danny Rumbol, Jono Richardson,
Joe Loft, Ricky Gundry (Yellow card) (Stefan
Wright, 75 min), Conrad Lee, Steven Ita (Jake
Embery, 43 min), Anthony O’Connor,
Jordan Gallacher (Hicham Akhazzan, 66 min).
Subs not used: Dan Tanner, Nick Davis.
Thermal Printers, EPOS Equipment, Barcode Scanners.
Suite 110 St Georges Business Park Castle
Road Sittingbourne ME10 3TB. Tele: 01322 787837