Erith & Belvedere 2-0 Sittingbourne - Deres stun over confident Brickies

ERITH & BELVEDERE 2-0 SITTINGBOURNE
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) First Qualifying Round
Saturday 13^th September 2008
Thomas Hawes reports from Park View Road

GOALS from Matt Johnson and Nick Smith ensured that Erith & Belvedere will go into the hat for Monday’s FA Cup Second Qualifying Round draw, whilst also extending the Deres unbeaten run to seven games.

The match was certainly a game of two halves and the first half belonged to Sittingbourne.

Brickies striker Hicham Akhazzan twice forced Matt Bromby into making excellent saves inside the opening ten minutes, and although Nick Smith had a goal correctly disallowed at the other end, the first quarter was dominated by Sittingbourne.

Nick Reeves went close for the visitors on 19 minutes and Akhazzan had a goal chalked off for offside seven minutes later.

After making a nervous start, the Deres came more into the match as the half wore on and were unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty on the half hour when Nick Smith was bundled over in the penalty box.

The Deres were happy to go in at 0-0 given the fact that they had been second best.

Whatever was said in the Deres dressing room at half-time worked as the second half was a totally different kettle of fish.

Sittingbourne though started the second period well and should have been ahead inside 30 seconds of the restart when Elie Kayembe slid the ball to his strike-partner Akhazzan who, stretching for the ball, missed an open goal.

This proved to be the turning point. From that moment onwards, the Deres fully controlled the game and showed why they had gone six games unbeaten in all competitions.

On 48 minutes Johnson fired half a yard wide from the edge of the area, but he was to get his second of the season just five minutes later.

Sittingbourne nearly gifted a goal to Erith & Belvedere when, on 51 minutes, substitute Tarik Ozreseglobu forced his own keeper into tipping the ball over the bar for a corner with what appeared to be an attempted header away for a corner-kick.

It was to be a Dere who would break the deadlock though. Johnson latched onto Joby Thorogood’s chip over the Sittingbourne defence and after controlling the bouncing ball, Johnson lobbed onrushing Brickies keeper Matt Reed and, fortunately for the Deres, the lob was perfectly weighted and bounced on the goal-line before nestling in the back of the net.

The goal provoked ecstatic scenes from everyone connected with the Deres, especially Deres boss Chris Cosgrove who treated the 133 crowd to one of his trademark celebrations.

Sittingbourne still posed a threat at the other end though and Bromby was again called into action by a vicious Nick Reeves shot.

A minute later though, the match was sealed. Johnson fed the ball to Nick Smith who stumbled to the ground seven yards out from goal under pressure from a Brickies defender. Smith managed to get up, retain possession, go past his man as if he wasn’t there and fired the ball past a helpless Reed to double the Deres lead.

Aiden Pursglove had a chance to make it 3-0 on 60 minutes and Smith tried to beat one man too many on 73 minutes with the goal at his mercy.

To add to the visitors’ misery, they were reduced to 10 men after 74 minutes when Billy Manners was stretchered off. As Sittingbourne had made their third and final substitution two minutes beforehand, they had no choice but to play on with 10 men.

The Deres had further half chances through Johnson and Pursglove, but a third goal would have been harsh on the visitors considering their first half dominance.

Sittingbourne had a couple of corners later on, but the Deres defence dealt with the problem comfortably to record just their second clean sheet of the campaign.

The Deres match against VCD Athletic on Tuesday has been postponed as Vickers face Hythe Town at Oakwood in an FA Cup replay instead.

Therefore, the Deres next game is on Sunday; against Sussex League Division Two side Sidlesham in the FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round, kick-off 3pm.

Erith & Belvedere: Bromby, Crawley, Penny, Lott, Adcock, Radbourne, Thorogood, Johnson, Pursglove (Browne 89), Smith, Gallagher.
Subs: Budak, Ceesay, Gross, Webb.

Attendance: 133