Sittingbourne 1-1 Ashford Town - De Bolla signing is our best one yet, says Abbott

Following a dour first half, Orlando Smith, a striker on loan from Blue Square South side Welling United, broke the stalemate, just 28 seconds into the second half, to give Ashford Town the lead.

But Sittingbourne levelled fourteen minutes from time, courtesy of Richard Brady’s sixteenth goal of the season, and the Brickies went on and could have snatched a winner, against an Ashford side that enjoyed the better of the first half.

First half chances were at a premium in a hard-fought battle, although second placed Ashford Town created the better chances of the two sides.

Matt Reed made a comfortable low save to prevent Charlie Glyde’s shot finding the bottom far corner after sixteen minutes.

Then, on the stroke of half-time, the former Tonbridge Angels stopper made a comfortable save from former Brickie, Mitchell Sherwood, who turned inside the box and stroked a right-footed shot, which rolled to the goalkeeper, after Daniel Brathwaite’s throw into the penalty box fell nicely to him.

But the game sprung into life inside the opening minute of the second half, courtesy of a mistake from Reed and a fine finish from Smith.

The goalkeeper’s punch, under pressure from Ashford versatile striker Craig Wilkins, following Jimmy Elford’s ball up field, fell straight to Smith and he guided a left-footed volley into the empty net from the edge of the penalty area.

Wilkins, partnering Smith due to the fact that leading goalscorer Paul Jones wasn’t risked, having suffered a hamstring injury in midweek, almost doubled his side’s lead but his angled left-footed drive flashed past the far post.

Sittingbourne debutant, Mark De Bolla, playing on the right of a four-man midfield, carved open a good chance for Sittingbourne after 54 minutes but a right-footed shot from half-time substitute Nick Reeves curled and dipped agonisingly just over the crossbar.

And just before the hour-mark, Sittingbourne striker Tom Bradbrook should have done better when he captalised on a mistake from Ashford skipper Sean Ray, but his shot cleared the far post.

Sittingbourne were by far the better side for the last half-hour and created numerous chances against an Ashford side that were hanging on.

Some of their football was slick and one move involved 12 passes, resulted in Reeves’ angled right-footed drive from 25-yards, whistling just past the foot of the near post.

But the introduction of striker Ellie Kayembe was a vital one, because within a minute of the former Ilford striker entering the field, Sittingbourne had equalised.

Kayembe was released down the left and although it appeared that he ran the ball out of play, he kept his composure and his pull back was met at the near post by Brady, who pounced on the ball before goalkeeper Seb Barton to stab the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box.

However, it was Ashford that almost grabbed a second, with five minutes remaining.

Glyde’s corner from the right was met by a thumping header from Sean Ray at the far post, and Reed made amends for his earlier error, by tipping the ball onto the top of his near post and Bradbrook was on hand to clear the ball off the line.

However, Bradbrook squandered an excellent chance to clinch the points for Sittingbourne at the other end.

Having been played in behind Ashford’s defence by a superb low pass from Brady, the former third-choice striker at Dartford, skied his shot high over Barton’s crossbar, with only the goalkeeper to beat.

And excellent goal-line defending from Jimmy Elford twice denied Sittingbourne in quick succession as the home side pressed for the winner.

Bradbrook cut in from the right and drilled his shot across Barton towards the far post and Elford’s sliding clearance diverted the ball off the line, only for Brady to see his drilled follow-up shot cleared once more off the line by the Ashford right-back - and then Colin Richmond skied the third shot over the bar.

“I mean, as they say, it was a game of two halves,” admitted Gary Abbott, the Sittingbourne manager, when speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“I thought Ashford came to us and to be fair took the game to us. They won the second balls, which is important, and they probably edged it first half.

“It was scrappy but it was always going to be a battle, Ashford and us, or whatever you want to say about it.

“It’s a local derby and I thought it was going to be like that; who was going to win the battle and to be fair to Ashford, they won the battle in the first half.”

Abbott felt Reed could have done better in the build up to Ashford’s goal.

“We’ve been giving bad goals away, not lately, but we have been earlier in the season and we thought we’ve stopped all that,” said Abbott.

“Matty’s done well to punch it, he’s punched it down, he couldn’t get under it enough, it’s just a reaction and we didn’t react to the second ball and to be fair (Smith) volleyed it straight in - a good goal, within thirty seconds, which is not good.”

Praising Kayembe and Brady for their deserved leveller, Abbott felt his side should have gone on and won the game.

“Brady’s in there to score goals and that’s what he’s doing,” said Abbott. “He should have a few more but he’s got in there, near post, before the keeper and put it in.

“We could have nicked it in the end, I say we could have nicked it, we should have nicked it really.”

And Abbott hailed the signing of De Bolla from Croydon Athletic as his best yet.

“I thought Mark De Bolla today was probably our man-of-the-match, although he only played for 75 minutes,” he said.

“The quality that he’s got is there for everyone to see - he’s so composed.

“It’s probably the best signing or the biggest signing that we’ve got so far so hopefully there might be another couple of other signings coming so we’ll wait and see on that one.”

For Ashford Town boss Steve Lovell, he too, was content with a point at his former club.

“The first half performance and up until they scored their goal, I was very, very happy,” the Welshman told www.kentishfootball.co.uk afterwards.

“We had control of the game and never looked in any danger, but then obviously they get a goal and they’re tails are up and to be fair to them, the last 10 minutes, 12 minutes, they had a couple of chances when they could have won the game.

“But saying that, we had chances before that, so I think at the end of the day, the first half I thought we had, the second part of the second they had, so a draw, I think, everyone goes home happy.”

Lovell contested Sittingbourne’s leveller, saying Kayembe had rolled the ball out of play before centering for Brady to tuck home.

“Well, apparently the ball went out of play,” bemoaned Lovell. “We spoke to the linesman (Ben Wright) but he couldn’t see anything. He was a long way away, the referee didn’t give it (a goal-kick) but our players are adamant the ball did go out.

“I spoke to Gary Abbott and he said he thought the ball was out by three foot!

“I’m not going on about it. In all honesty they had the chances that they did have perhaps had taken one and got a draw out of it, fine, but for them to get a goal like that, it is poignant but in the end a draw was a fair result.”

Lovell, was, however, pleased with the point, and explained why he didn’t risk Jones for this Kent derby.

“We’re on a fifteen-game unbeaten run, it wasn’t going to be easy coming here under the circumstances,” said Lovell.

“Sittingbourne are a very good organised team but first half we had a lot of the ball and I thought we played very well, scored (early) in the second half and I thought we were worthy of it.

“But they did come back well and fair play to them, they battled hard and got a point.”

And speaking about Jones, who picked up a hamstring concern in Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Godalming Town, Lovell added, “He felt a lot better today, but I didn’t want to risk him today. He’s a big player for us and I would have liked to have him out there today but Craig Wilkins went up front and did a great job and Mucu (Smith) scored a good goal.

“We need all the bodies, as we can, around us. We haven’t got a big squad, we’ve only got sixteen players now.”

Sittingbourne: Matt Reed, Ryan Andrews, Joe Dowley, Matt Bourne, Ian Varley, Rio Alderton, Mark De Bolla (Ellie Kayembe 75), Colin Richmond, Tom Bradbrook, Richard Brady, Hicham Akhazzan (Nick Reeves 45).
Subs: Kieran Marsh, Mark Cleary, Joe Horlock.

Goal: Richard Brady 76

Ashford Town: Seb Barton, Jimmy Elford, Daniel Brathwaite, Elliott Brathwaite, Sean Ray, Ryan Briggs, Mitchell Sherwood, Danny Lye, Craig Wilkins, Orlando Smith (Bradley Spice 85), Charlie Glyde.
Subs: James Humphreys, Jimmy Bottle, Ian Batten, Darren Ibraham.

Goal: Orlando Smith 46

Booked: Mitchell Sherwood 84

Attendance: 337
Referee: Mr Robert Allum (Croydon, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Neil Baker (Welling) & Mr Ben Wright (London, SE17)