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Match Reports by Tony Rickson
Saturday 21st October 2017
Bostik League South
Sittingbourne 1 Chipstead 1 att 156
Praise Sittingbourne’s players for never giving
up, and – again – getting a very late goal, this
time to rescue a point.
They’re still second in the league, they’re now
unbeaten in the last eight league and cup
games, and their resilience and never-say-die
determination will take them a long way this
season.
They were far from at their best in this game,
but there were two teams out there and Chipstead
handled them well and were able to slow
the game down and defend deeply once they’d
taken a precious early lead.
That set piece goal was the first conceded by
Sittingbourne in seven games, but they’ve now
got to put that run behind them and get on with
things from here. Cray Wanderers and
Merstham at home in the next two games will
test them to the full on that.
There were two changes in the team that won 4
-0 at Shoreham the previous Saturday, new
signing Salvyn Kisitu coming in and ‘Lawson’
Okimeji returning in midfield, with popular duo
the ever-present Chris Webber and Ollie Brown
missing.
Storm Brian was never quite the factor it had
threatened to be, but it may have been the
cause of Sittingbourne defenders failing to clear
a seventh minute Chipstead corner. All they did
was flick it across goal and defender Martin
was on hand at the far post to smash it in.
Sittingbourne responded positively and Tom
Loynes had a good effort tipped over the bar,
and Bola Dawodu and John Coker just failed to
convert chances while Ben Gorham headed
over. The best chance of the half came right at
the end of it when Dawodu timed his run beautifully
to meet Loynes’ cross but could only volley
it too high.
But the approach work sometimes failed
through poor passing, and it all got a bit too
frantic too soon, as Chipstead did well to nullify
what’s traditionally a great Sittingbourne
strength of attacking down the wings.
Sittingbourne started the second half strongly,
with Dawodu just wide, Gil Carvalho having a
good opening blocked and Kane Rowland
heading just over the bar.
The only time Sittingbourne have lost in the
league this season was at Faversham, where
they conceded a first half goal and then couldn’t
find room or space to get the ball behind an ever
deeper defence and create chances in that
way.
Chipstead were playing the same tactics and it
looked like working as the second half went on,
particularly in a couple of rare attacks when
Twum’s shot was deflected just wide and Bell
brought out a good diving save by Daren
Hawkes.
As always, Sittingbourne’s attacking substitutions
threatened to shake things up and Chipstead
must have known they were going to
have to pull out all the stops to keep their slender
lead as time ticked on and it all got pretty
fraught.
Full-back Chris Elliott’s set pieces – long throws
and left-footed free-kicks and corners – created
continual mayhem in the six-yard box and Sittingbourne
finally equalised from one of them.
It was a minute into added time when Dawodu’s
header was cleared off the line, Carvalho got
the ball back in and Rowland side-footed it over
the line from a couple of yards out. It was the
young striker’s third successive Saturday on the
scoresheet.
The rejuvenated Sittingbourne crowd roared
them forward in search of a late winner, but it
ended messily with another melee in front of
goal ending in a minor fracas. Skipper Gorham
was singled out from Sittingbourne for his role
in it, and having been harshly booked earlier,
he got his second yellow card and was sent off.
Funny that Sittingbourne’s only other red card
this season was also in injury time and also
against Chipstead, Brown getting sent off there
in the opening match of the season.
As mentioned earlier, Sittingbourne now face
fourth-placed Cray and in-form Merstham at
home in the next seven days – what an opportunity
to recover from the disappointment of
dropping two points in this game.
Sittingbourne: Daren Hawkes, Salvyn Kisitu
(David Smith, 76 min), Chris Elliott, Jide Okimeji
(Tyrone Guthrie, 61 min), Ben Gorham
(Two yellow cards), John Coker, Tom Loynes,
Bola Dawodu, Kane Rowland, Miles Cornwell
(Kane Phillip, 61 min), Gil Carvalho.
Subs not used: Lex Allan, Harry Brooks.