Sat 7th September 2013

5-1

Leatherhead 5-1 Terrors

Tooting fell apart in the second half, following the loss of  defender Josh Turner. Having inflicted the league leaders first home conceded goal, through a powerful Aaron Dalhouse header from a corner midway through the first half, Terrors were undone just before the break by another set piece, this time a free kick that found a head to loop over the defence into to top of the net.

Tanners started the second half with purpose, forcing Paul Smith into frequent action. Passing became sloppy as the home side started to work the flanks as well as their more usual central routes, yet another corner move put them in front followed by a deluge of three more in the final quarter of an hour to produce a scoreline that would never have been predicted at half time.

Team: Smith, Wilson(J Cheadle), Gordon, Alimi, Turner (Osei), Dalhouse, Palmer, Quarm, Pinnock, Simpson, Wedgeworth(Hall) Not used: Nkoma, H Cheadle

Tues 10th September 2013

2-0

Colin Hartburn returned, partnering Jordan Cheadle in the centre of defence. Sol Pinnock was at his marauding best and in the seventh minute broke from the half way line, drawing defenders with him and making space for Ryan Palmer who, on receipt of the ball, had time to pick his spot to score the opener.

Francis Quarm lead from the front throughout and almost made onto the score sheet on more than one occasion, most notably during a final five minute first half flurry when his rasping shot was finger tipped over the crossbar. In what was a busy spell for keeper Thorp, Ryan Palmer was denied his second of the night.

Crawley had a chance to turn things around  ten minutes after the break, but were denied by a stunning double save by Paul Smith. Almost immediately they were punished for failing clear their lines, the ball only reaching Jordan Cheadle on the edge of the box, who hooked it into the top corner of the net.

Crawley tempers started to fray, resulting in their main attacking threat, Jordan Johnson, being removed before a very likely dismissal.  Quarm cam close again and Cheadle stung Thorps finger tips again with a 30 yard free kick.

As Tooting defended from the front the keeper was caught in possession outside the box and was almost embarrassed by Quarms slotted shot that just missed.  It would have been a well deserved reward for the captain, but is was a night where every player contributed and deserves a mention - so here they are:

Smith, Moriarty, Gordon, Alimi, Cheadle, Hartburn, Palmer, Quarm, Pinnock(Hall), Swayer(Nkoma), Wedgeworth (Nobel) Not used (but still worth a mention): H Cheadle, Zenio Aiken-Simon

Sat 14th September 2013

3-4

Ramsgate took the points in a action packed game at the KNK Stadium although the match was marred by a bad injury to Ramsgate defender Luke Wheatley who suffered a broken leg in two places and we wish him well for a speedy recovery.

The visitors dominated the first half  and only some super saves from Terrors keeper Paul Smith kept us in the game at the interval. Ramsgate opened the scoring in the 9th minute when the dangerous Ian Pulman latched on to a through ball and slotted home. In the 25th minute Ramsgate went close when Macauley Murray hit the woodwork with a fierce drive and soon after the unfortunate Luke Wheatley had a effort pushed over by Paul Smith. In the 31st minute Ian Pulman was brought down in the area and stepped up to take the penalty but Paul Smith produced an excellent save to beat out the effort. In the 37th minute Luke Wheatley conceded a corner in a tackle with Francis Quarm but suffered a serious injury  in the collision and was in a terrible amount of pain and the game was suspended for over 30 minutes whilst an ambulance arrived and tended him on the pitch  before taking him to hospital. In the lengthy amount of stoppage time James Everitt added a second heading home a Macauley Murray corner.

After the break Tooting responded well and in the 48th minute Sol Pinnock brought us back into the game with a brilliant strike and eight minutes later Frankie Sawyer made it 2-2 with a scrambled effort. Ryan Palmer then had a chance to put us in front but fired just wide.  Back came Ramsgate and in the 74th minute Aaron Millbank broke free and Paul Smith made another outstanding block but the ball rebounded into the net of the Rams player to make it 3-2 and three minutes later James Everitt scored with a fine  free kick which went off in off the post . We  then put on a lot of pressure and Jordan Cheadle reduced  the arrears scoring for the second successive game this time with a fierce free-kick but it was too late to salvage a point for the Terrors.

Team: Paul Smith, Jordan Binns, Nathan Gordon, Bashiru Alimi, Jordan Cheadle, Colin Hartburn, Ryan Palmer(Tinashe Nkoma), Francis Quarm, Sol Pinnock, Frankie Sawyer, Peter Wedgeworth(Max Noble). Other subs Aaron Dalhouse, Lee Hall, Harvey Cheadle.

Match report by Ian Bullock

Sat 21st September 2013

2-0

A bright opening quarter of the match saw chances at both ends and a half time score of 3 or 4 all would not have been unreasonable. Sadly however for Terrors' supporters, the only chance converted in the first half came in the 24th minute after a defensive error from Jordan Cheadle, calling for a header he failed to make, which then allowed the Brickie's Joe Taylor to home in on the Tooting goal and slot the ball home past the advancing keeper.

This was Sittingbourne's first real chance of the game that came in an end to end first half that saw plenty of endeavour and forward movement from a bright looking Tooting side. However despite several surging runs down the right hand side by both Jordan Wilson and Ryan Palmer, all too often we ended up being the team having to defend after their failure to keep control of the ball time and time again. The only real goalscoring opportunities for Tooting in the first 45 mins all came courtesey of some very hard driven cross from the left put in by Sol Pinnock. Two of which Frankie Sawyer came within a hair's breadth of getting his head to and in between those two chances TJ Nkoma did manage to connect with one however on the stretch and falling backwards, he could only launch the ball skywards over the cross bar from about 8 yards out.

The reality however was that if it weren't for the heroics of debutant 'keeper Gareth Williams, deputising for the injured Paul Smith, Sittingbourne could easily have notched up a further 2 or 3 goals before the referee blew for half time.

Half time Sittingbourne 1 Terrors 0

Sadly, the brightness that Tooting had shown during the opening 25 minutes of the game did not re-appear for the second half and the following 45 minutes were somewhat lack lustre to say the least. A fairly early substitution saw Jordan Wilson replaced at right back, Colin Hartburn moving across the back line to take up that position while Aaron Dalhouse came on and slotted in alongside Cheadle at centre back. Dalhouse had an almost immediate impact, rising at the back post to meet a corner, only to see his powerful header soaring just over the bar. That was probably the highlight of a disappointing second half which saw the defence continue to give up opportunities as Tooting pushed forward in search of a goal that they never looked likely to get.

Peter Wedgeworth looked increasingly uncomfortable on the retreat playing in the left back position rather than in the left sided midfield role he had played in his previous two appearances and we continued to make life very comfortable for Sittingbourne by continuing to hand them the ball on a plate from midfield. It was therefore no surprise when Sittingbourne doubled their lead in the 66th minute as a result of Joe Taylor's second goal of the game.

Ryan Palmer was replaced by Troy Williams for the last quarter of an hour however despite a couple of good runs down the left hand side the Terrors never looked like troubling the pink clad Brickies goalkeeper

Positives to take from the game - The non stop running up front of both Frankie Sawyer and young TJ Nkoma (and in the first half Sol Pinnock too) and an excellent debut performance from stand in keeper Gareth Williams

Tooting line up; Williams, Wilson (Dalhouse), Wedgeworth, Hartburn, J Cheadle, Palmer (Williams)., Alimi, Quarm, Nkoma, Pinnock, Sawyer. Unused subs: H Cheadle, Hall, Simpson

Match report by Tim Marcus