Ryman League Division 1 South Table Table is up to and including Tuesday 2nd February 2016
Saturday 23rd January 2016 Ryman League Div 1 South Sittingbourne 0 Tooting & Mitcham 3 Att 137 Match Reports By Tony Rickson Some compensation for Sittingbourne, who ended up well beaten by impressive opponents, was that none of the five teams below them in Ryman League South won either. Momentum is a big deal in football, and Sittingbourne had lost theirs going into this game after having their last five matches postponed. They’d previously only lost once in six games but all that seemed a long time ago, especially against an in-form Tooting and Mitcham side who had played through the rain and frost of the last few weeks. Sittingbourne had to make three enforced changes for this first home match of the New Year with Tom Brunt and Billy French missing from the defence and striker Miles Cornwell suspended. Back came George Crimmen, taking the captain’s armband as well, and Dan Hughes, while Callum Naessens stepped up for his full debut after making an appearance as a substitute earlier in the season in the match at Whyteleafe. And, after a nervy start, he did very well at right-back. Sittingbourne looked understandably rusty to start with as Tooting stamped their mark on the game, though when they eventually began to get forward a few right-wing crosses were whipped in that came to nothing. Tooting had the ball in the net midway through the half but were penalised for a foul and ex-Spurs youngster O’Neil, who was quite a presence in midfield, shot wide and then headed wide from two chances in quick succession. In fact, Tooting were making full use of midfield domination, where by playing only one up front they had a spare man, and Sittingbourne weren’t getting much of a look-in. When they did get forward, the referee rejected appeals that Tooting keeper Cessay had handled outside his area, and with the keeper still stranded, Ollie Bankole shot just past the post. Tooting ended the half dominating possession but Sittingbourne defended determinedly and when the visitors did get the ball in the net it was disallowed for offside. Sittingbourne worked hard throughout the second half but, despite the efforts of the again-impressive youngster Josh Wisson in midfield, they weren’t clinical enough with some of their passing. And Tooting made them pay dearly for it. The second half was only three minutes old when they took the lead, a clearance from halfway bouncing through the middle of the Sittingbourne defence for Baxter to nip in and lob cleverly over the advancing Adam Molloy. Chances for Sittingbourne were few and far between and Tooting made it 2-0 just after the hour when Molloy did well to block Baxter’s shot but was powerless to prevent Makofo scoring from the loose ball. Substitutions didn’t really give Sittingbourne much more attacking impetus and they ended up second best as Tooting got a third near the end when sub Price took on the defence and squared for Wilson to score with a low shot. 3-0 equalled Sittingbourne’s second heaviest defeat of the season, and was the fourth game in a row against Tooting & Mitcham, whose league position always seems less than it should be, in which they’ve failed to score. It also ended a little run of home successes, and now that the season’s back up and running again Sittingbourne need to get this out of their system and get back to where they were a few weeks ago. Sittingbourne: Molloy, Naessens, Richardson, Steventon, Crimmen, Wisson, Wright (Lee 69 mins), Bankole (Akhazzan 65 mins), Wells (Kedze 63 mins), Hughes, Ita. Sponsors of the Woodstock stadium—www.dma-group.co.uk