whitstable120205

Constable scores on his Whitstable return

LORDSWOOD came out of the blocks quickly against one of the best footballing sides in the league and almost opened the scoring after six minutes.

Whitstable Town goalkeeper Gary Arterton punched a free kick to Sam Colyer, who crossed the ball back into the area for Sean Hetterley, who controlled the ball and from six yards shot inches past the post.

Lordswood, however, took the lead three minutes later.  Doerr received the ball from a throw and turned and fired home from 15-yards.

The home side were now getting on top and in the 20th minute another chance went begging.  A cross to the back post was retrieved by Mike Cunningham who passed inside to Paul Brown whose shot from 18-yards went wide.

Matt Toms' visitors, however, were now slowly getting back into the game and with 34 minutes on the clock Andy Constable, making his return to Whitstable Town after his contract at Sevenoaks Town was cancelled by "mutual consent" two days prior to the game, received the ball and passed inside to former Dartford striker Tom Plank and his shot from 18-yards was tipped over by Lords player-boss Paul Piggott.

Lordswood had a great chance to increase their lead when Charlie Almond passed to Steve Sharp who dummied and Hetterley pushed the ball for Doerr to latch onto but his 15-yard shot was smothered by the on-rushing visiting goalkeeper.

Just before the break, Constable was put through and just as he was about to shoot Lordswood defender Aaron Burrett came from nowhere and deflected the shot for a corner.

However, Constable found the back of the net in the 42nd minute when he beat the offside trap and slotted past Piggott.

Lordswood started the second half well and after 49 minutes Almond's 40-yard lob went inches wide, having seen Arterton off his line.

Whitstable, however, suddenly woke up and for the next twenty minutes controlled the game.

In the 63rd minute they should have taken the lead when a cross from Shane Davis was met by a header from Constable which went over the bar.

Four minutes later they did take the lead when a Steve Aslett's free kick was blocked by the wall and the ball came back to him.  He lobbed the ball forward and Darren Gowler scored from six yards.

After beating three Lordswood defenders Plank 's shot deflected for a corner and a minute later a long punt forward from Arterton saw Plank and Constable compete for the ball but Constable was denied by Piggott.

The home side almost equalised when Andy Skinner's long throw into the box was met by Colyer's header which was tipped onto the post by Arterton.

Lordswood, however, did equalise in the 81st when another rocket throw from Skinner was back flicked by Doerr's head and into the net.

Steve Sharp almost nicked victory for the home side when he received the ball from another long throw but shot wide from 25-yards.

Lordswood: Piggott, Burrett, Russell, Brown, Colyer, Dengate, Almond (Skinner 73), Cunningham (Broad 68), Doerr, Hetterley, Sharp.  Subs: Crust, Lewis, Day

Whitstable Town: Gary Arterton, Ryan Davis, Darren Gowler, Shane Davies (Capt.) Rob Thomas, Steve Aslett, Marcus Perona, Lee Jones, Stuart Harrison, Andy Constable, Tom Planck