stamford081005

Thursday 01st September 2005

Brickies hit for six as poor run against Stamford continues

Saturday 8th October 2005	Southern League Division One East	Peter Pitts reporting
Stamford	6	Pritchard 22,34,46,55 Holmes 44 Bird 67
Sittingbourne	2	Browning 6 Spice 75

Despite not changing the kick off time due to the televising of the England match Stamford still attracted the largest eastern division crowd of the day, writes Peter Pitts.

Unfortunately for Sittingbourne it was the home team that shined by extending their amazing run against the Brickies to 10 games without a defeat over the last few seasons, this defeat though being by the widest margin.

The game was notable for a woeful defensive performance from the Brickies and four goals from the Daniels Garath Pritchard.

Things started brightly for the Brickies with Lee Browning latching onto Jon Neal's pass and firing a cracking shot past the Daniels keeper Gary Hateley.

Two minutes later Bradley Spice ran down the right and had a chance to shoot but instead elected to pass but his touch was too strong and Mark Lovell just failed to get to the ball.

Sittingbourne were looking lively at this point but alarm bells began to ring on 15 minutes when Steve Williams in the Brickies goal missed the ball but a Daniels player blasted his shot over the bar.

Stamford were now pressing and a loose ball fell to Elton Holmes who seemed to have the goal at his mercy but in came Joe Dowley to whisk the ball away.

Stamford's equaliser was a bit of a comedy of errors as the Brickies defence had two attempts to clear the ball before Garath Pritchard stabbed the ball home.

Stamford took the lead on 34 minutes when the ball bounced off Williams straight to Pritchard who made no mistake with his shot.

The Daniels almost scored again five minutes later when a free kick bounced off the right hand post.

Sittingbourne were then dealt what was probably the fatal blow when a minute before half time a harsh free kick was awarded against the Brickies and from the kick the ball was crossed into the goalmouth and Holmes first time shot whistled past Williams and into the net.

The second half was just a minute old when Holmes, looking to be a good two yards off side, raced away on the left well clear of the Brickies defence and then passed inside to Pritchard who gave Williams no chance with his shot.

The Brickies were now pushing men forward in numbers in an effort to reduce the deficit but in doing so they were leaving themselves open for breakaways and on 55 minutes that's just what happened with Danny Hargreaves sprinting away, again down the left hand side, crossed infield to the far post where that man Pritchard was on hand to rifle the ball in the net to make the score 5-1.

Pritchard was having a field day as the Brickies defence just couldn't control him and on 61 minutes he had another effort, this time his shot flew over the bar.

Heads were well and truly down and on 67 minutes substitute Shane Bird was allowed to run through the Brickies defence and fired a great shot into the Brickies net to score number 6 for Stamford.

The now familiar pattern of the Brickies being caught way too far up-field happened again on 74 minutes and Jim Neil raced away but this time Williams pulled off a magnificent diving save to thwart the Daniel's captain.

Sittingbourne made the score slightly more respectable on 75 minutes when a
free kick just inside the Brickies half was headed past Hateley by Spice.

Sittingbourne then had a few more scares in the remaining quarter of an hour as Ashley Stevens and Bird had shots fly over the bar.

Sittingbourne: Williams, Spiller (Edwards 60), Dowley, Ainsworth, Campbell (C), Marsh, Browning (Taylor 60), Gooding (Sherwood 60), Lovell, Spice, Neal, Sub: Friend