sittverit181103

Erith trio stuck in a jam
Sittingbourne 3-1 Erith & Belvedere
Tuesday 18 November 2003
Dr Martens League Eastern Division
by Peter Pitts www.sittingbournefc.co.uk

This game was a sharp contrast to Saturdays exciting encounter last Saturday at Histon as Sittingbourne took a grip on this match almost from the off turning the game into a sedate affair.

Both sides were hit by suspensions, Ben Taylor and Joe Dowley were missing for the Brickies, whilst Erith had striker Darren Adams also suspended. To add to Erith's woes the Sodje brothers and Ray Aboagye all arrived at the ground late
and so started on the subs bench.

Sittingbourne's first chance came after just 3 minutes as a Bradley Spice free kick was tipped over the bar by Erith keeper Clark Hunt . From the corner the ball was kicked off the goal line, then the rebound was acrobatically tipped away by Clark. Four minutes later Bradley Spice headed a corner just over.
 
Erith had a brief flurry forward on 10 minutes and this time it was the Brickies turn to kick the ball off their goal line.
Sittingbourne continued to dominate and on 29 minutes the lively Darren Smith had a brilliant header palmed onto the bar by Clark.
 
Then Kieran Marsh had a shot which was going well wide but Clark still dived to tip the ball away for a corner. This manoeuvre proved foolhardy as from the corner the ball found Darren Smith who sent a pin point cross into the Erith
area where Michael Smissen was lurking completely unmarked and he headed beautifully past Clark to give the Brickies the lead.
 
Five minutes later from well within his own half Spice fed a marvellous through ball to Smissen who sprinted away and unleashed a tremendous shot past Clark to extend the lead.

The second half was more like a training session as the Brickies seemed content with their lead whilst Erith were finding it difficult to cause any problems.
 
On 71 minutes the Brickies sprung into life again this time Jon Neal feeding the ball through to Smissen who scored at the second attempt to complete his hat-trick.

Adam Morrish scored a consolation goal right on time as the Brickies defence went to sleep and allowed Morrish to crash the ball past Fewell.

No doubt Tonbridge will prove more of a test on Saturday!

Sittingbourne: Fewell, Ainsworth, Berry, D Smith, Campbell, Yorath (Ashmore 59 mins), Spice, Marsh, Neal, Smissen (Brooks 87 mins), Lye, subs not used: L Smith, Beeney.

Erith & Belvedere: Hunt, Gibson, Emerick, Penfold, L Morrish (A Sodje 46 mins), Briggs (S Sodje 59 mins), Winchcombe, Vercesi, A Morrish, Browning (Aboagye 55 mins), Tarrant, subs not used: Beard