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| Saturday, 22 November, 2003: Dr Martens League Eastern Division. Sittingbourne 0-2 Tonbridge Angels Two second-half goals from Ray Powell were enough to secure the three points for Tonbridge, which extends their unbeaten run to 16 matches and maintains their 100% away record. This was my first ever trip to Sittingbourne. Back in 1990/91 the club remained unbeaten throughout their entire Kent League campaign, a notable achievement which was recorded in “The European” newspaper as the only senior football club in Europe to remain undefeated in their own respective league. In 1992/3 the club won the Beazer Homes League Southern Division during a season in which their ground attendance record at Central Park was broken on no less than five occasions. Tottenham Hotspur were the visitors for a friendly which attracted a record gate of 5,951. In those heady days, Sittingbourne were even described on BBC Television as “the Manchester United of Non-League football” during a full-length feature on their club. Thereafter, the club fell on hard times. Swale Council locked the Club out of the ground, which was also used for Greyhound Racing and still is to this day, arguably the best track in the whole country, so I am reliably informed. The club were finally saved from extinction when Roger Cearns bought the lease on the ground from Swale Council and he in turn allowed Sittingbourne to sign a seven-year lease for use of the facilities. However, in 2002 the management committee made the decision to move out of their Central Park stadium due to the fact that televised greyhound racing made it impossible to guarantee that the club could continue to use the stadium on a Saturday afternoon. They now play their matches on the training pitches leased by Caernsport, just a stones throw from Central Park. The club now anxiously await the decision on a grant from the Football Foundation, which will enable them to improve their facilities and safeguard the future of Sittingbourne Football Club. Under leaden skies, with the backdrop of an industrial park, the visitors began in confident mood. In the sixth minute, the home defence failed to clear a left wing cross from Ray Powell and the ball fell invitingly to Nick Barnes on the edge of the area, whose left shot flashed inches wide of the post, with Kevin Fewell in the home goal scrambling to cover. With captain and centre half James Campbell in commanding form for the home side, the visitors were restricted to few chances in the opening period. Indeed, the Brickies settled well, far from overawed by their high-flying opponents and it was they who came close to opening the scoring twice within a minute, midway through the half. The lively Buster Smissen, on loan from Dover, was a handful for the visitors defence all afternoon. Firstly, his outstretched foot stabbed the ball wide. Then, he wriggled his way through and tried a spectacular long-range effort, which nearly caught Jamie Turner out in the visitors goal. At this stage of the proceedings, it was difficult to separate the two sides - the Brickies were more than matching their more illustrious opponents. On the half hour mark, after a spell of concerted pressure, the Angels forced the first corner of the match. From the resulting kick, Hamid Barr linked up well with skipper Peter Overton. Two shots were blocked by the home defence, before Overton fired over the bar. Two minutes later, the visitors came close to taking the lead. A left wing cross from Barr found Powell who laid the ball into the path of Luke Piscina, whose goalbound shot from point blank range was blocked by Yorath. The second half began in driving rain. Once again, the visitors started brightly. Barr shot into the side-netting after creating the opportunity with his pace and trickery down the left flank. The Brickies responded positively with a fine, driving run from Jon Neal and a pass to Smissen, whose shot was blocked. The same pair linked up again five minutes later. This time, Smimsen did manage to get in a shot, from 25 yards, which was well saved low down by Turner. Powell was looking dangerous up front for the Angels and in the 56th minute he fastened on to a hopeful long ball down the middle but fired over the bar, under pressure from a defender. Then, in the 62nd minute, the visitors took the lead. Overton burst into the area down the left, advanced to the by-line, found Barr with a short pass inside, who helped it on to Powell, who slid the ball in under the body of Fewell for the opening goal. Not downhearted by this setback, the Brickies fought back well. They should have equalised twice within the space of sixty seconds, and on both occasions the culprit was Smissen, who had previously scored five goals in three games in his loan spell. Firstly, a deep cross from Danny Lye, wide on the right found Smissen at the far post but he hesitated and the opportunity passed. Then, from a Lye corner on the right, Smissen found himself completely unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box but he placed his header disappointingly wide of the far post. Such profligate finishing was always going to be costly against the league leaders and so it was. After a flurry of substitutions, the visitors sealed their victory with a fine goal. Substitute Brendon Cass broke away on the half way line and found Powell in acres of space wide on the right. Powell crashed a superb, angled shot low into the far corner, a goal which Mike Green on Radio Kent later described as reminiscent of the goal scored by Carlos Alberto in the 1970 World Cup Final. With time running out, Kieran Marsh shot over when well placed, after Bradley Spice had chased an apparently lost cause. It was not to be their day but certainly the Brickies had their chances and Manager Mark Beeney will take heart from the fact his team have competed well against both Tonbridge and Histon, the two unbeaten teams, in the last week. The Angels may have finished the game with dirty faces but they have now kept a clean sheet in eight of their last ten league games. The evolving story, worryingly, is that Manager Alan Walker may decide to leave the club in the near future, if reports are to be believed. Now without a sponsor since their main backers pulled out in October, Chairman Paul Dainty has intimated that there will be budget cuts, a situation which has left Walker somewhat disillusioned. Whilst the Club are urgently seeking a new sponsor, it now looks increasingly likely that the Angels will still be at the top of the tree at Christmas. Paul Minister reporting for Pyramid Football. |
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