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Ward furious with Whyteleafe's approach
EXCLUSIVE

The home side started the stronger, in the first Ryman League fixture to be played at Southwood on a Saturday, and were rewarded when Steffan Ball lobbed James Wastell in the visitors’ goal on seven minutes to take the lead, writes Arran Ayres.

Whyteleafe clearly thought that a physical approach was the way to break up the Rams’ passing game, and Danny Oakins was lucky not to have been penalised more than a free kick for his scything tackle into the back of Shane Suter on 13 minutes.

Ramsgate maintained the pressure and, three minutes later, a rifling shot by Ball went just over Whyteleafe’s crossbar, whilst a minute later James Gregory released Michael Yianni, whose great pass to Ball saw the striker’s volley just over again.

Whyteleafe were managing occasional breaks and, although these had been failing to break through the Rams’ defence, in the 19^th minute a free kick was awarded to the visitors.

Former Cray Wanderers', Bromley and Erith & Belvedere winger, Mark Hammond’s free kick was precisely placed in the top right corner of Danny Twyman’s goal, beating both the wall and the ‘keeper, to level the score.

The half progressed in similar fashion, and in the 24^th minute Oakins finally received a caution for an elbow in Twyman’s face.

A few minutes later a slip by James Gregory gave Whyteleafe a corner, which called for a good save from Twyman.

The Rams responded and under pressure Whyteleafe’s Hamlin headed back to Wastell but almost put the Rams in front again.

Shaun Welford continued battling hard up front for the Rams, beating defenders but failing to find the back of the net.

On 32 minutes Whyteleafe’s Andrew Martin was shown the red card for kicking Gregory in the stomach.

Welford nearly headed home from a corner on 40 minutes, and a few minutes later received a lovely through ball from Mark Munday, but again failed to score.

As the half came to a close, Michael Yianni made a great run past two defenders and into the area, where Hamlin took him out, but referee Gavin Hoare failed to award what looked like a certain penalty.

At the interval it was all-square on goals, but not on cards, and Hamlin was added to the visitor’s tally as the teams walked off the pitch.

In the second half the Rams came out looking even more dominant, and five minutes later Gregory’s pass to Ball was crossed beautifully into the area, where Suter made no mistake with his header to put the Rams in front again.

Whyteleafe made a double substitution on 55 minutes, with Lewis Taylor replacing Bradley Drake and Kevin Lock replacing goalscorer Hammond. A minute later the Rams made their first change, with Warren Schulz replacing Ben Laslett.

A couple of minutes later Whyteleafe’s Chris Head also received a caution, and a minute after that Leafe’s manager Stuart Massey brought himself on in place of Oakins.

The change of shape helped Whyteleafe win another corner on 61 minutes, which Lee Sidwell put across well forcing Twyman to tip it over.

A minute later the already cautioned Head made a very late challenge on Welford, but only a free kick was awarded.

In the 63^rd minute a long throw from Liam Morris fell right in the middle of the goalmouth and whilst Welford and ‘keeper Wastell both went for the ball, both missed it.

Whyteleafe continued to battle however, and on 64 minutes Tony Martin fired over Twyman’s goal.

In the 68^th minute Ramsgate made their second substitution, with Stuart Vahid replacing goalscorer Suter. On 75 minutes a great run by Stuart Vahid was completed with an inch-perfect cross that was headed by Warren Schulz, which called for an equally great save by Wastell.

A minute later and a Yianni free kick was flicked on by Munday, which Vahid headed wide. A final substitution by the Rams on 81 minutes, with David Cory replacing Welford.

Two minutes later a good run by Edd Vahid ended with a brilliant cross to Ball, whose header went just over the bar. Then another cross from Stuart Vahid on the left wing was met by Warren Schulz, who headed the ball back into the danger area where Douce managed to head it into his own goal.

The score was not to remain at 3-1, however, and two minutes later Yianni ran through from 25yards out, beating two defenders, and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to give the Rams another.

Within a minute Yianni had collected the ball in the midfield again, and after a snaking run across the pitch, to the left and then right of two defenders, found Warren Schulz charging up from the left, who fired home into the top right corner from 25yds to make the final score 5-1.

In an EXCLUSIVE interview with www.kentishfootball.co.uk Rams' boss Jim Ward was not very happy with the way Whyteleafe went about things.

He said: "I was disappointed with Whyteleafe.  I was led to believe they were a bit of a family club and yet afterwards the committee were very good and all stayed to watch the England game and there was no sign of trouble whatsoever.

"But on the pitch, I'm not sure how many got booked, they had one sent off for violent conduct, and they should have had another two players sent off for the same reason.

"I am disappointed with the way they went about things.

"To be fair we bossed the game from start to finish.  We had sixteen attempts on goal to their five - statistics speak for themselves as ten were on target."

Ramsgate: Twyman, E Vahid, Gregory,  Morris, O.Schulz,  Laslett (W Schulz 56), Yianni, Munday,  Welford (Cory 81), Ball, S Suter (S Vahid 68). Subs: Cassar, S Pettit.