A proverbial game of two halves ended with Tenterden edging the afternoon by the odd goal in five.

City deservedly led at the break by two-nil with the visitors not really helping themselves with some profligate finishing, but they re-emerged from the dressing-room early and looking far more determined, they dominated the second-half with a seven-minute three goal burst that turned the game completely around.

Tenterden started spritely enough and should have scored in just the second minute when Jake Redmond battled his way down the right and set Connor Samson up to score but inexplicably he lifted the ball up and over the bar from four yards out right in front of goal. Just a couple of minutes later they should have scored again when the lively Redmond rolled the ball in low and invitingly from the left this time, but Dale Horton – running in, missed his kick in front of an open goal allowing the ball to run across and away from him to safety.

A worrying looking start for City and soon-after their keeper George Pipkin was called into action diving down low to his left to push away a distance effort from Alex White. City rode their luck a little though and on eleven minutes actually took the lead. Some dogged work by Harvey Caldwell won the hosts a corner which was sent in by Oscar Weight. Harry Uttley had a couple of efforts both blocked before the ball ran loose and Harry Linford pounced to ram it home from close range for 1-0.

Linford then nearly doubled the lead when, after a tidy City build up through the middle, he turned cleverly on the edge of the box and sent in a rasping shot that forced visiting keeper Hayden Wigston into a cracking diving save to tip the ball out for a corner – from which Caldwell saw an effort well blocked.

Suddenly the momentum had shifted towards City – but Tenterden were quick to respond. Harry Linch cut in from the left only to be denied by Pipkin who was quickly out to make a good spreading block with his leg before a downward header from Samson was well claimed down low by Pipkin from a tangle of an attacker’s legs.  

Mafany Makoge then went flying down City’s left but was completely taken out by a late tackle – a challenge he didn’t recover from and needed to be replaced soon-after. When the resultant free-kick was sent in, Wigston made a complete flap at the ball and was somewhat fortunate to see it fall to a defender to clear rather than to a City player to score!

City then went close minutes later when Taj Oliva burst forward and after a clever one-two with Linford, he sprinted into the box but Wigston flew out to just bundle the ball away off his toes a split second before Oliva could poke it home. City then survived a scare of their own down the other end when a menacing run by Linch down the right was brilliantly thwarted by Uttley at the expense of a corner which City scrambled away.

With just a couple of minutes of the half remaining. City doubled their lead. A forward ball seemed to hold up in the stiff breeze as Wigston came to try and claim, and put under pressure by Linford, he failed to take it and the City player managed to stab the ball past him allowing Brooklyn Blandford to charge in and thump the ball into an empty net for 2-0.

City were working well and getting in some solid and vital defending with Uttley making another super block as the half was ending and then Jacob Couzens excelled with another to deny Redmond. That all left City two up at the break and so far looking reasonably good value for the lead.

However that quickly changed after the restart. Tenterden were out early from the break and they looked revved up and raring to go and they now had the stiff breeze and the sun behind them. They could have snatched a goal back almost immediately as well but Frank Godfrey’s hooked in ball was carelessly headed up and over the City bar by Horton when well placed.

With just three minutes played, City then curiously chose to make three changes having already made a couple in the first-half and whether that was relevant or not is difficult to say but Tenterden then went on to dominate proceedings. Although a rather optimistic long-range effort from Blandford rolled tamely through to Wigston and Josh Goldfinch almost latched on to Jake Lemar’s clever ball in, it was Tenterden that were suddenly doing all the attacking pinning City back in their own half as they determinedly sought to reverse the score-line.

Some nice footwork by Godfrey saw an effort from around thirty yards roll just wide before the same player then saw another shot deflected out for a corner. Pipkin was forced to claw this out off his line and as Tenterden kept the pressure up, the ball bobbled about aerially in the City box before eventually being scrambled away to safety. A well worked ball in from Linch was then blocked away by Ronnie Gawler as the visitors kept up the pressure with a succession of high balls that were catching in the wind and causing City some bother.

A shot from Linch was then well blocked by Lemar, but as fast as City were clearing the ball it was coming back in. A well placed free-kick for Tenterden, right on the edge of the box, was driven low into the wall by White taking a huge blocking deflection and fortunately running low through to Pipkin.

On seventy-four minutes, the visitors deservedly got a goal back as a long-throw from the right by Samson was flicked on and Jack Goldsmith guided the ball home with a clever backward glancing header for 2-1.

The pressure had told and continued to build as Tenterden went searching for more goals. Just a minute or so later another long-throw from Samson was flicked on again and this time it fell to Godfrey who swung the ball home from inside the box for 2-2.

Pipkin then got down well to scramble away a shot from Godfrey at the expense of a corner, but City’s relief was short-lived as Tenterden duly scored their third from it. Swung in high from the left, the ball dropped down among a throng of players and despite Pipkin getting a hand to it on the floor it squirmed away and Joe Wilson pounced quickest to slam it home from three yards out and 2-3 to Tenterden.

They finished strongly as well as an attacking free-kick was hurriedly knocked out for a corner by Pipkin before Redmond battled his way through the City ranks and with just the keeper to beat somehow slid the ball wide when he really should have scored.  

With seconds remaining, City couldn’t do anything with an injury time free-kick and the final whistle came shortly after and not for the first time this season, City had unfortunately relinquished a two-goal lead. The form guide would probably have pointed towards a straightforward victory for Tenterden, but City’s young side can certainly take heart that they gave them plenty to think about for three-quarters of the game before succumbing to a couple of classic long-throw sucker punches that set the visitors up for victory!

Final score: Canterbury City 2 Tenterden Town 3.