Ramsgate 2-1 East Grinstead Town - The chairman has got to take a lot of the plaudits for creating this juggernaut, what we've done is start pushing the snowball down the hill and we've just sped it up a little bit, says Ramsgate boss Ben Smith

Ramsgate 2 – 1 East Grinstead Town
Location	WW Martin Community Stadium, Prices Avenue, Ramsgate, Kent CT11 0AN
Kickoff	22/02/2025 15:00

RAMSGATE  2-1  EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 22 February 2025
Stephen McCartney reports

RAMSGATE manager Ben Smith says he’s feeling excited to see whether his side can really take it up another gear after extending their lead at the top of the Isthmian League South East Division table to nine points.

 

The Rams have tasted just one league defeat in 31 games – a 2-1 defeat away to East Grinstead Town on Tuesday 3 December.

Drew Cooney’s sixteenth-placed side (34 points from 27 games after today) grabbed the lead through a clinical counter-attacking goal from striker Connor Tighe, who scored his ninth goal of the season, nine minutes before half-time.

However, Ramsgate winger Josh Ajayi notched his seventh goal of the season to restore parity just 58 seconds into the second half, before centre-half Jay Leader headed in the home side’s 15^th of 17 corners to seal the deserved victory.

East Grinstead Town were reduced to 10 men for the final five minutes when attacking midfielder Charlie Harris was sent off for violent conduct.

“It was one of those, we knew they would be a hard team and a hard nut to crack, as we saw down at their place,” said Smith.

“They didn’t show a lot of adventure, expected us to get onto them, which we were going to do and the familiar story that we’ve had against East Grinstead, we had all the ball, all the possession, all the chances and then suddenly, bang, we’re 1-0 down!

“I give them credit because they’ve stayed in two games with us.  They’ve stayed in it even though we’ve dominated the game. Whether I like their tactics or not, it’s something else we have to deal with.  I’m pleased today that we’ve overcome that and found a way to win.”

Ramsgate dominated the corner count 17-1 and Smith said: “We spoke about set-pieces. That was one of the things we spoke about because we were getting a lot of first contact but we were getting wrestled all over the place and it was just allowed (by the referee).

“As we’ve just said in there, it’s a day where JT (Joe Taylor) has been way below his best and someone else has stepped up and that’s maybe a question mark  that maybe people have put to us for some time really. If JT doesn’t score what’s going to happen?  We’ve shown that we’ve got other ways to score.

“I’m really pleased with Jay Leader because it was frustrating for centre-halves Jay and Joe (Ellul) were getting a lot of first contacts and it was either great saves, off the line or they were getting pulled down as they were heading the ball.  I’m delighted we’re scoring goals from all over the pitch.”

A crowd of 1,208 saw Ramsgate create their first opening following their first corner after 67 seconds.

Right-back Roarie Deacon floated the ball in from the right and centre-half Joe Ellul’s downward header from within a crowd of players was blocked.

Adajyi picked up a loose ball in midfield and drove at the heart of the East Grinstead defence and his right-footed dinked shot sailed over Matte Pierson’s crossbar from 25-yards with four minutes and 48 seconds on the clock.

However, East Grinstead Town missed a glorious chance to grab the lead with nine minutes and 47 seconds on the clock.

Right-back Ricardo Thompson looped in a throw from within the channel, Warren Colman helped the ball on before winger Alex Andrade Filipe teed up Tighe, who swept his left-footed shot past Tom Hadler and just past the foot of the right-hand post from 12-yards.

“It was an early warning shot,” admitted Smith.

“We must’ve had 80 percent of the possession but they had some good players there. I think people underestimate East Grinstead. People think they’re just going to roll over.  They’re a good side.  They’re a better side that finished last year, they’re a better side than they are in the league this year. What they’ve got to do, they’ve got to treat every game like that.

“They’re a tough nut to crack and I give them full credit.  I think people underestimate people, think teams coming here are just going to be common fodder. 

“You probably thought before the game they had half an expectation on what was going to happen here today and people would predict certain scorelines but make no bones about it, my players, myself, we knew this would be a tough nut to crack.”

Ramsgate were often patient and slow in their build-up play with Ellul seeing plenty of the ball as the home side played out from the back.

Ramsgate’s 41-goal striker Joe Taylor played the ball inside to central midfielder Lewis Gard, who fed Ajayi, in behind East Grinstead’s left-back Tom Cadman and centre-half Matthew Weaire but goalkeeper Pierson dived to his left to push Ajayi’s right-footed shot around the post in a one-v-one in the 18^th minute.

“Josh played really well (during our 5-1 win at Broadbridge Heath) on Tuesday night and Josh in training, I’m seeing the old Josh Ajayi that everyone was raving about a few years’ back,” revealed Smith.

“It’s all mindset with Josh. I’ve got so much belief in him and it’s tough for him because he’s been out of the side. 

“You’ve got Benny (Bioletti), who has been flying down that side so it’s been hard for him playing second fiddle.  Tuesday night Josh stepped up when Benny had a knock and Josh was outstanding. He done all the off the ball bits that we’ve asked him to do and the level of concentration we’re expecting off him, he did it.

“Benny’s back today fully fit and Jefferson (Aibangbee) came on midweek, played really well and Josh deserved his start.  He could’ve literally given up when I signed Jefferson and gone ‘no, that’s me done’, but he’s knuckled down and he’s worked hard, not against anyone else but for the team and that’s what we’re about, we’re a team and we expect people to do the bits and pieces. The cogs that make it work.”

A dominant Ramsgate wracked up their corner count to 10 by the halfway mark of the first half.

Deacon floated the ball in from the right towards the edge of the six-yard box and Leader’s header was tipped over the crossbar by Pierson.

Smith said: “We were getting loads of first contact. We looked a threat from set-pieces.  We’ve had a number there. We felt that we could score but it didn’t look like it was going to happen because you’ve had bodies on the line, the keeper has had a great day hasn’t he? As he did at their place, he had a great night that night, he’s had a great day.”

Deacon played the ball along the deck to Tom Clifford, who cut the ball onto his left-foot to stroke a 30-yard drive, which bounced once and into Pierson’s midriff for a comfortable save.

East Grinstead Town grabbed the lead with 35 minutes and 21 seconds on the clock, with a clinical counter-attacking raid.

Right-winger Luke Harrison was inside his own half when he played a sublime ball over the top of Ellul to put Tighe through on goal and after taking a touch, the 27-year-old striker stroked a right-footed half-volley across Tom Hadler to find the bottom far corner from 12-yards.

“A great finish, a great finish, a great finish,” came Smith’s reply.

“That was what I was warning the players about before the game. We had a little warning sign with their first attack and then that happened second attack, so absolutely full credit to them.  As I say, they’ve got quality when they go forward.”

When asked what threats East Grinstead posed his men today, Smith replied: “You know in terms of boxing styles, make fights and yes for whatever reason they made it difficult for us.

“Threats? Not many. They didn’t pose many threats but we knew they had the quality, when if they did go and nick a chance, we knew they have got quality where they can go and score. They don’t need loads of chances to go and score goals.

“It sounds derogatory me saying they were no threats absolutely but it wasn’t like you need to watch this, you need to watch that. It was a case they could nick one the other end if we’re over expansive.

“In that half we were over expansive. Players’ were making movements that were absolutely not what I asked them to do and they’ve gone off on their own script and left us very open and that is something at half-time we certainly addressed and something that I won’t accept.”

Ramsgate produced a slick move involving Ellul, Billy Munday, Deacon and Tijan Jadama, before Deacon played the ball down the side for Ajayi, whose right-footed chip sailed over the advancing goalkeeper and past the far post as the Ramsgate winger lacked composure on the very edge of the penalty area.

East Grinstead Town created a chance to double their lead just 15 seconds before stoppage time.

Attacking midfielder Will Hoare hit a long ball over the top, Harris and Harrison linked up well before Tighe played the ball into Harris, who cut onto his left-footed to crack his shot over the crossbar in a central position from 22-yards.

“Stay patient. We were getting a little bit frustrated out there, stay patient. You look around the dressing room, look at the players we’ve got. Someone’s going to step up, I’ve got no doubt about that,” said Smith.

“We’ve got goals in us. We’re creating a lot of chances. We’re banging on the door. It didn’t feel like we couldn’t create anything, so for me there’s no big War of the Roses speeches.

“At some points you’ve got to be calm, even if inside you’re pulling your hair out or whatever it may be.  You’ve got to stay calm at half-time. We were calm, we spoke for about a minute and then left the players’ to it.”

Ramsgate equalised with just 58 seconds on the clock, following a patient move within the final third.

Deacon and Munday linked up well within the final third in the middle before Jadama fed Lewis Gard, who played a sublime 10-yard through ball to put Ajayi through on goal and the winger swept his first time right-footed shot across Pierson to find the bottom far corner from six-yards.

“I thought Lewis Gard was exceptional second half and that pass is to die for isn’t it – it’s a great pass,” said Smith.

“Again we spoke about they were sitting off but they had a high line so they were really restricting us playing through the lines, so we spoke about movement in behind and fair play.  Josh has absolutely listened at half-time, a little reverse movement, bang, he’s in between the full-back and the centre-half and he’s scrapped it over the line.”

Ramsgate went close following their eleventh corner of the game, swung in by Deacon’s right-boot from the left and Munday found a pocket of space at the near-post to steer his header past the left-upright.

East Grinstead Town were keen to play the ball in behind Ellul and they were to be denied the lead in the 51^st minute.

Tighe rolled a fine 15-yard pass in behind Ellul to put left-winger Filipe through on goal but Hader rushed off his line and used his legs to make a big save in a one-on-one situation.

“Good save – he’s done well with that.  Got bodies on the line there but familiar, they’ve scrapped one and cleared it and suddenly we are throwing bodies forward at that point to go and get the winner,” added Smith, who revealed Hadler suffered a niggle on his hamstring when he went down for treatment in the 71^st minute.

Deacon’s quickly taken corner came in from the right and Munday swept his shot across the keeper and past the far post on the angle from 16-yards, as Ramsgate’s dominance continued going into the hour-mark.

Pierson pulled off an excellent save in the 64th minute after left-winger Alfie Paxman had recycled the home side’s 13^th corner of the game.

Paxman whipped in a great cross from the left towards the penalty spot where the unmarked Jadama glanced his header across the keeper, who dived to his left and pulled off a great save to tip the ball around for another flag-kick.

“You’re not seeing many better saves than that one are you? It’s a great header, a great header, unbelievable save,” added Smith.

Deacon chipped the corner in from the right and Leader flicked the ball on and Ellul steered his header past the right-hand post.

Leader headed home his sixth goal of the season as Ramsgate notched following their 15^th corner of the game, the goal coming with 23 minutes and 31 seconds on the clock.

Deacon (who took all but one of the home side's corners, Taylor took the final one to waste time in the corner) floated the ball in from the right with his right-foot and Leader jumped up at the near post to bury his free-header into the right-hand corner from six-yards.

Smith said: “We’ve got some separation in the box and at half-time I said it felt like a matter of time before we score a set-piece.

“We’ve got to not get involved in their wrestling and just focus on attacking the ball and doing the basics well and low and behold we do that. It’s a great header, the ball from Deacs is bang on the money.”

Ramsgate switched to three-at-the-back with Ellul (right), Deacon (central) and Leader (left) for the final 14 minutes and substitute right-winger Benedict Bioletti was often a threat for Wasps’ left-back Cadman.

Bioletti reached the by-line and cut the ball back, a poor clearance from Wasps’ right-back Thompson gave Clifford his chance to score his first goal of the season but he lacked composure inside the box and cracked his right-footed half-volley high and wide of the far post from 12-yards.

Taylor endured a frustrating afternoon and he latched onto a header from substitute winger Jefferson Aibangbee and jumped out of Weaire’s pocket for the first time in the game.

However, Pierson came off his line and made himself big to make the 83^rd minute save.

“Look, JT was a threat all game.  He’s human. He’s still a massive threat in the game. We expect him to score every time he gets it in and around the box and it doesn’t always happen,” said Smith.

“What people don’t necessarily know about JT is that he will be absolutely hurting today and I think that’s a good thing for us. There’s nothing about a drop in confidence because I don’t know any one more confident than him but he’ll be hurt today and I think that’s a very good thing for Ramsgate Football Club.”

Referee Richard Joss pulled out a red card from his pocket to send off Harris (39:20) for a bad foul on Clifford on the half-way line.

“Look, I don’t think he’s one of those type of players to go and do that. He did it. I think he slipped personally. He’s saying he’s slipped. I’m probably going with that but nonetheless it’s knee high and he has to go.  Tom’s fine, he’s just got a nasty gash, a little gash on his leg.”

Ramsgate created the last chance when Jadama played the ball down the right channel, Deacon fed Taylor, who laid the ball off to Aibangbee, who sprayed the ball over to Deacon, who swept his left-footed shot across Pierson, who grabbed hold of the ball to frustrate Taylor once again inside the penalty area.

Ramsgate are on course of claiming the league title, having picked up 86 points (28 wins, two draws and one defeat) from their 31 (of 42) games.

Sittingbourne (77 points, 24 wins, five draws and one defeat) have played 30 games and are joined in the play-off zone by Burgess Hill Town (69 points from 30 games), Margate (63 points from 31 games) and Merstham (49 points from 29 games).

Beckenham Town – who humiliated Lancing 9-0 at Eden Park Avenue today – are in sixth-place with 48 points from 26 games, Sheppey United are in seventh with 47 points from 32 games and then it’s Three Bridges with 45 points from 30 games.

Smith takes his side to Burgess Hill Town next weekend – a side that extended their unbeaten run to 14 games after coming away from Steyning Town Community with a 3-0 win today.

“At the minute, I can’t even look at the compliments and the achievements because I know that’s more than a record at the club but it means nothing now – it’s Burgess Hill next Saturday,” said Smith.

“I can’t affect what Sittingbourne do. All we can do is win our games and points on the board. Of course, we’d rather have the points on the board than chasing but who knows what they will do in those games. We just have got to focus on ourselves.  If we’re constantly looking at what they do and thinking about the fixtures ahead, who’s got who, I think you get caught up in someone else’s game and someone else’s season. We’ve got to focus on our own season  and I’ve said it a couple of times, it’s tunnel vision and already we’ve had a great season. We’re three points off the total that we had last year.

“We want all of our efforts, not just this season, but this hasn’t just been built on this season.  We want all of the effort that everyone at the club has done and the chairman (James Lawson) has got to take a lot of plaudits really for setting this off and creating this juggernaut. What we’ve done is start pushing the snowball down the hill and we’ve just sped it up a little bit, that’s all we’ve done.

“What we’ve done is we’ve added a style of football that’s keeping people coming back and excited to see us and now it’s not about the style of football, it’s about getting over the line.

“I’m excited, excited, excited to go, we’ve got Burgess Hill, then Merstham (away on Tuesday 4 March).  It’s exciting time in the league, really is, I’m excited.  I’m excited to see whether we can really take it up another gear.

“We were great at Broadbridge Heath, today we had to solve a puzzle. I said to the boys in there, by the way we haven’t played badly today by any stretch of the imagination, we haven’t played badly.  They’ve scored a goal on the break.

“I said to the boys afterwards, just because you haven’t won 5-1, don’t feel like you haven’t had a good game. We’ve had a good game today but teams aren’t going to make it easy for you, so you have to solve the puzzle.

“People keep asking me about Sittingbourne. I don’t really care about Sittingbourne. It’s about Ramsgate Football Club.  It’s about us focusing on the next game. I can’t influence what Sittingbourne can do.  I can’t influence what anyone else does. What I can influence is us continuing how we’ve been going this season.

“Forget the wins, etc. that dressing room is an amazing place to be in and I’ll be honest the closest it gets to finishing, it’s a little bit sad because we’re just having a great time, really are enjoying each other’s company and I’ve never felt a dressing room as together as we’ve got now.”

Ramsgate: Tom Hadler, Roarie Deacon, Tom Clifford, Billy Munday, Jay Leader, Joe Ellul, Alfie Paxman (Jefferson Aibangbee 76), Lewis Gard, Joe Taylor, Tijan Jadama, Josh Ajayi (Benedict Bioletti 61).
Subs: Aaron Barnes, Kai Garrett, Jack Robbens

Goals: Josh Ajayi 46, Jay Leader 69

Booked: Joe Ellul 25, Joe Taylor 43, Roarie Deacon 85

East Grinstead Town: Matte Pierson, Ricardo Thompson, Tom Cadman, Warren Colman, Matthew Weaire, Glenn Wilson, Alex Andrade Filipe, Will Hoare (Michael Wilson 80), Connor Tighe (Camron Lawson 72), Charlie Harris, Luke Harrison (Finlay Lovatt 89).
Subs: Matthew Daniel, D’Jean Spencer

Goal: Connor Tighe 36

Booked: Glenn Wilson 25, Alex Andrade Filipe 54

Sent Off:  Charlie Harris 85

Attendance: 1,208
Referee: Mr Richard Joss
Assistants: Mr Luke Morley & Rhys Jeffery