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Match Reports by
Tony Rickson
Tuesday 18th August, Robert Dyas Isthmian
League Cup 1st Round. Merstham 1
Sittingbourne 2, att 84
Exhilarating Sittingbourne deservedly won
through to the next round of the Robert Dyas
League Cup by knocking out opponents from a
higher division.
This was no low-key cup-tie between
squad players with a result that didn’t
really matter, it was a full-on battle between
two first choice squads who are
still finding their feet this season.
Sittingbourne went into the match
boosted by their first win of the season,
2-1 over South Park on Saturday,
while newly-promoted Merstham
have yet to gain a point in the Ryman
Premier after three successive
defeats.
This win was a huge boost for Sittingbourne,
who were twice beaten by these opponents
last season, conceding eight goals in all.
And in at least one of those matches they
were very heavily outclassed, so it shows
how much the team has come on since then
under the impressive management of Nick
Davis.
The boss kept his place in defence for this
match but made three other changes – Adam
Williams and Fred Obassa coming in up front,
replacing Harry Smith and Miles Cornwell,
and George Crimmen returning in defence for
the unlucky-to-be-left-out Jack Steventon.
Sittingbourne made a storming start to the
game, really taking the match to Merstham.
Obassa, in his first start, used his extreme
pace to get a chance but shot wide, and this
was followed by Hicham Akhazzan putting a
free-kick wide, Tom Brunt volleying over,
Stefan Wright shooting well over after another
excellent build-up, and Oli Bankole having
a shot deflected just wide. And all this is the
opening 15 minutes.
Merstham, who always try to play football,
gradually got into the game but had a ‘goal’
chalked off for offside, and Adam Molloy
made a good tip-over from a shot from distance.
It was an excellent first half performance by
Sittingbourne, with the defence stiffened by
the return of Crimmen, the midfield working
hard, and the front two a constant threat to
Merstham with their energy and skill.
But Sittingbourne played well in the first half
on Saturday only to lose their grip on the
game after half-time.
This time it was different and two minutes
into the second half Sittingbourne were
ahead. Obassa won a free-kick which Jake
Beecroft curved in towards the first half.
Crimmen got to it first and his header took a
deflection off a Merstham defender on its
way into the goal.
Wright’s hard running created two great
chances for himself, but his finishing lacked
composure, and he had to be taken
off after getting himself
booked and running the gauntlet
of a red card from a less tolerant
referee for another overenthusiastic
challenge.
While Sittingbourne were adjusting
to their second half changes,
Merstham equalised. A 65th minute
free-kick out on the left was
driven in hard and low and Molloy couldn’t
hold on to it, Gunner netting the loose ball
from close range.
Sittingbourne responded magnificently to the
setback and drove forward again with Smith,
now on as a substitute, causing the
Merstham defence all sorts of problems, having
a header cleared off the line and seeing
another one roll along the top of the bar.
But just when a penalty shoot-out looked on
the cards, Sittingbourne won it. And what a
glorious goal it was, too. Steventon’s long
throws were putting Merstham’s defence into
a panic, and when they cleared it only fell to
captain Brunt 30 yards out. He raced to the
edge of the box, exchanged what we used to
call a wall pass with Akhazzan, and blazed
his shot first time into the top corner with a
goal fit to win any game.
No wonder Sittingbourne’s players celebrated
wildly. Back-to-back wins, a squad willing to
run themselves into the ground, and a nice
spirit and determination about them. It’s going
to be a long, old season, of course, but
these are encouraging times for Sittingbourne.
Sittingbourne: Molloy, Brunt, Lee, Davis
(Steventon 52 mins), Crimmen, Bankole,
Wright (Brown 64 mins), Beecroft, Obasa
(Smit 63 mins), Williams, Akhazzan.