Saturday 31st August 2019
By Tony Rickson
BetVictor Isthmian League South East Division
Sittingbourne (1) 2 (Campbell 40, Ako-Adjei 77) East
Grinstead Town (Miller-Neave (pen)
83, Smith 88), Attendance: 177
Sittingbourne: Tom Benham, Lewis West (Abdul Ndew, 80
min), Jason Fregene, Lewis Chambers, Cory Walters-Wright, Lex Allan, Enoch
Adjei, Chris Barnard, Roman Campbell, Tommie Fagg (Yellow card) (Johan
Caney-Bryan, 74 min), Festus Lori (Chris Webber, 34 min). Sub not
used: Tyrone Guthrie, Caleb Roberts.
East Grinstead Town: Brannon Daly, Ollie Boulding (Yellow
card), Karn Miller-Neave, Dan Pearse (Yellow card), Andrew Cooney, Jack Bray
(Yellow card), Curtis Gayler, Freddy Yao (Dan Mosby, 69 min), Robin Deen
(Orlando Smith, 58 min), O’Shaye Giraud-Hutchinson, Reece Batchelor (Kyle
Woolven, 15 min). Subs not used: Jack Meeres, Daniel Hogan.
Referee: Valentine Anekwe; Assistants: Kennedy Kikulwe,
Andrew Simmonds
Photographs by Ken Medwyn
It should have been a win, it felt like a defeat, but it
was actually a draw.
Two-up with less than 10 minutes to go, Sittingbourne
will have thought it was a victory thrown away as East Grinstead fought back
dramatically for an unlikely share of the points.
After two encouraging wins in the previous week, it
seemed as if Sittingbourne were well and truly up and running for the season.
And the first 80 minutes did nothing to dispel that.
Praise East Grinstead for the spirited way they kept
going, but Sittingbourne will have to look at their game management and ensure
they see out games when they get in front like this.
Both Lex Allan and Chris Barnard were back after missing
Monday’s exciting win at Ramsgate, and Sittingbourne began well enough with
Tommie Fagg firing in a 30-yard effort that would have been brilliant had it
gone in.
East Grinstead didn’t show much but tested Tom Benham
after 30 minutes as he made an excellent save diving to his right.
After losing Festus Lori to a first half injury,
Sittingbourne still took the lead when Barnard crossed low from the right, Enoch
Adjei cleverly dummied it, and Roman Campbell behind him turned beautifully to
smash into the net and maintain his record of scoring in every one of his games.
Benham impressed again when he took a free-kick solidly
and bravely under enormous pressure, so bad that the visiting player was booked
for his challenge, while Fagg hit the bar at the other end, Allan following up
to convert the loose ball only to be given offside.
Sittingbourne looked the better side in the second half
but needed the second goal to make their lead look secure. And they got it on 77
minutes when the speedy Adjei raced from the halfway line and couldn’t be caught
before crashing the ball past the keeper at his near post for his first
Sittingbourne goal.
Perhaps substitutions before and after the goal disrupted
Sittingbourne, but they still looked like holding out for the win even when Cory
Walters-Wright had a foul on the edge of the area given against him and the
resulting penalty was squeezed under Benham as he dived the right way.
Tails up, East Grinstead didn’t have to wait long for
their equaliser, Jason Fregene spoiling an otherwise impressive performance by
giving away the ball, and Smith’s shot going in via a deflection off an
attempted block.
A decent enough Sittingbourne show that deserved two
goals up after 80 minutes, but they need to do better over the whole game.
I always thought that old cliché about 2-0 up being a
dangerous scoreline was just that, an old cliché. Seems like I had it wrong.
Match Day Programme
