Sittingbourne 0 Wivenhoe Town 2

Sittingbourne have still to gain a point against Wivenhoe Town after three competitive meetings between the teams, writes Peter Pitts.

 

Although they had what should have been a great chance of breaking this duck on 28 minutes when Wivenhoe captain James Wignall elbowed Lee Hockey in the face and was shown the red card by referee Mr Mason.

However, Wivenhoe went on to score two second half goals to keep their play off hopes alive and to start Sittingbourne looking at the teams below them in case they get even deeper embroiled in the relegation struggle. 

This was a strange looking Sittingbourne line up with a recruit from Junior football, Tommy Price, drafted into the forward line as a strike partner for Bradley Spice after Mark Lovell and Jon Neal were declared unfit to play. With James Campbell serving a one match suspension and Kieran Marsh recovering from injury Tristan Knowles was drafted in and Ricky Spiller and Dan Tanner also played. Lee Browning was on the subs bench.  

Whether it was these changes or a combination of other factors Sittingbourne never got going and ended up giving their worst performance of the season.

Their midfield was dire giving almost no service at all to the strikers. Things got marginally better when Lee Browning and Clint Gooding came on but even then there was very little passion in the football served up by Sittingbourne.
Wivenhoe started the brighter of the two sides with Sittingbourne rarely able to venture over the half way line in the first quarter of an hour.

Ollie Sanders, in the Wivenhoe goal, was largely a spectator in the early stages but it has to be said that even though Wivenhoe were having the majority of early possession they too were hardly troubling Steve Williams in the Sittingbourne goal.

On 12 minutes a defence splitting ball through to an unmarked Simon Thomas looked dangerous but Thomas’s control was poor and his first touch sent the ball racing away from him.

Sittingbourne at last managed to make progress and on 18 minutes Price tried to find Bradley Spice but Sanders just got to the ball first.

A rare Wivenhoe shot on target followed but it was from a long way out and Williams held the ball comfortably. Then followed the sending off and it looked as though Sittingbourne would go on to get a result.

 

On the half hour Spice and Mitchell Sherwood were on different wavelengths and between them lost the ball in the Wivenhoe area when a shot on goal beckoned.

 

Two minutes later Williams made the first real save of the match when Thomas outran the static Brickies defence and forced Williams to tip his effort round the post for a corner. From the corner the ball eluded everyone and ended up at the far post on Chris Bourne’s toe but he slipped as he shaped up to shoot and the ball sailed over the bar.

 

Injury time in the first half saw the next action as Paul Ainsworth for Sittingbourne set up a chance for Price which Sanders held at the second attempt. From Sanders kick out the ball made its way to Jeff Shepherd who forced a diving save from Williams.

 The first action of the second half came with an acute angled shot from Spice which was comfortably held by Sanders.
 

Two minutes later Wivinhoe took the lead when Shepherd raced away along the right wing, cut inside and unleashed a great shot that sped past Williams and into the Brickies net.

 

Sittingbourne then made two substitutions, replacing Price and Joe Dowley with Browning and Gooding.

 On 71 minutes Sherwood found himself with a good chance in the Wivenhoe area but he hurried his shot and fired over when he should have done better. 

However, the Brickies were to rue this miss as six minutes later Paul Hillier ran from just inside his own half into the Brickies area where Williams tried to intercept him but Hillier kept his head, rounded Williams and fired into an empty net.

 

Unfortunately for the Brickies supporters Sittingbourne seemed to be incapable of staging any kind of comeback, that is until a minute to full time when Spiller’s free kick was palmed round a post by Sanders, but by then it was too little too late.

 

Sittingbourne’s game at Berkhamsted on Tuesday evening is looking like a must win game.  The good news is that Marsh, Mark Lovell, Campbell and possibly Neal will all be available and surely Lee Browning will start this time!

 

Sittingbourne: Williams, Ashmore, Dowley (Gooding 64) , Ainsworth, Tanner, Knowles, Spiller, Hockey, Price (Browning 61), Spice, Sherwood (Taylor 74), Subs: Belcher, Deveraux