A stunning free kick from Danny Parish on his full debut for Sittingbourne extended the Brickies winning run to six games with a 2-1 win over Sevenoaks Town on a wet, windy, and bitter night at Woodstock Park.
Parish’s free-kick eight minutes after the break came following a cynical foul on Ayman El-Mogharbel, and after some discussion, the new-boy whipped the kick over the wall and into the corner of the net giving Dan Colmer motionless in the visitor’s goal.
The lead doubled the advantage that Harry Hope had given the Brickies early as he raced onto a great through ball from Alex Bentley to drill past a hopelessly exposed Cromer.
Overall, it was a very comfortable night for the home side although the last ten minutes were made more interesting than they should have been by Kieron Cadogan’s pile driver into the top corner of the net.
Sittingbourne came into the game off the back of a five star and five goal hammering of Burgess Hill Town at the weekend whist for the visitors they were looking to get back on track after a poor run and a 0-3 defeat at Horndean at the weekend.
Any hope either side had of playing any type of flowing football disappeared with a cold swirling wind and rain which hit the ground around an hour before kick-off and persisted throughout!
Indeed, Hope’s fine low drive from Bentley’s through ball was the only clear chance of the opening half that saw Sittingbourne have several corners none of which amounted to much which time and again the visitor’s forward forays stumbled on the blossoming central defensive pairing of Mike Turner and Chris Arthur. Both sides really struggled to come to terms with the swirling wind and as such flowing football was extremely difficult.
The home side were fastest out of the blocks after the break and before Parish’s free-kick, Mitch May and Ayman had both had efforts whistle just past and over the Sevenoaks goal. But when Ayman was fouled for the free-kick, Parish stepped up and hit a glorious dead ball into the net to continue a great of free-kick goals that the Brickies have now hit recently, with Parrish’s effort following equally as great strikes from Stefan Ilic at Herne Bay and Ayman himself at Broadbridge Heath.
The home side kept pressing with forcing Cromer into a save worthy of note whilst at the other end, Bobby Mason was having a quiet night in the home goal. That was until ten minutes from time when a poor defensive clearance fell to Cadogan who simply let fly from 30 yards and the ball was still rising and gathering speed as it flew into the top corner of the net.
Despite this the visitors were not really able to threaten the home in the remaining time and with increased space at the back as Sevenoaks looked for an unlikely equaliser, the home side had efforts from May and Stefan Ilic that were carried away by the elements.
SITTINGBOURNE – Mason, Jones, Graham, Woodward, Turner, Arthur, Bentley (Theobalds), Ayman, Hope, Harris (May), Parish (Ilic)
Subs – Snell, Tyrie
SEVENOAKS TOWN – Colmer, Aboagye (Thompson), Miller-Neave, Warren, Bray, Holder, Bennett (Osbourne), Carr (Diedrick-Robert), Mensah, Cadogan, Ajayi
Subs – Howlett-Mundle, Norburn
REFEREE – Mr Wood
Images courtesy of Ian Scammell