Tues 24th March 2015

0-0

HT 0-0

Although some goal-less draws can be boring, this was an entertaining game between Sittingbourne and a much changed Tooting team. Of the team that started on Saturday, David Graves, Nathan Gordon, Lewis Gonsalves and Sol Pinnock were all missing. Alex Filipe deputised for Nathan Gordon and Francis Quarm played as a central defender alongside Harry Knock. Joel Sebuilba continued at right back for the injured Sam Charles. The surprise of the night was the inclusion of Assistant Manager Adam Moriarty in a midfield role.

Tooting started quite brightly with Leon Lalor-Dell looking threatening on the left wing. The first real chance came when Adam Moriarty broke through the tall Sittingbourne defence but his shot under pressure cleared the crossbar. Tooting were having some success on the wings and a right wing cross found the head of Dan Summers whose effort was comfortably saved by Adam Molloy in the home goal. A jinxing run by Lalor-Dell took him past two defenders but again Molloy saved comfortably. At the other end Alex Kozakis was rarely troubled and it seemed that one goal might decide the result.

Sittingbourne started the second half well and Kozakis made a fine save from a header which looked a goal all the way. We should have taken the lead however when a superb ball from Moriarty put the returning Billy Marshall in on goal, but his delayed shot was cleared by the Sittingbourne defence. Dan Summers had the ball in the net in the 75th minute, following a pass from Lalor-Dell, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Two minutes later Leon Lalor-Dell running from deep broke through the home defence but his shot was well saved by Molloy.

We came under severe pressure in the last ten minutes when the home side peppered our goal with high crosses hoping to make their height advantage count. We have been susceptible recently to set pieces particularly late in games, but this time we held out to earn a draw, that on clear cut chances alone, was the least we deserved.

Overall this was a fine performance. Special mention must go to Francis Quarm who marshaled the defence really well, and Adam Moriarty who was superb in midfield. Bash Alimi gave his usual assured performance. Dan Summers worked very hard playing in the difficult one man upfront formation. In truth everybody played well and made the journey on a bitterly cold night worthwhile. One also wonders how many points we would have accumulated if Alex Kozakis had been in goal for us all season.

Team: Alex Kozakis, Joel Sebuilba, Alex Filipe, Bashiru Alimi, Harry Knock, Francis Quarm (captain),Saidou Khan, Adam Moriarty, Billy Marshall (Howard Newton) Leon Lalor-Dell, Dan Summers.

Report by: Chris Jackson

Sat 28th March 2015

1-1

Summers(P)

HT 1-0

For the third home league game in a row the points were shared with both teams ending up with ten men. We had to make a early change when after a clash of heads Bashuri Alimi had to be substituted and in the 12th minute we were reduced to ten men when David Graves was deemed to be the last man after a foul on the edge of the visitors box and was shown a straight red card. Hastings edged the opening half and man of the match Alex Kozakis made a smart stop to deny Steve Brinkhurst and in the 33rd minute made a brilliant save to foil Marlon Patterson who was through on goal. However it was the Terrors who went in front after 39 minutes when Nathan Gordon was tripped in the box and Dan Summers blasted home the spot-kick.

After the break we had a chance to increase our lead but Stefan Cox saw his effort beaten out by Josh Pelling in the Hastings goal. In the 70th minute the experienced Ade Olorunda rifled in a fierce shot but Alex Kozakis was equal to the task. However the Sussex side were not to be denied when Tyrell Richardson-Brown scored with a looping header in stoppage time to secure a vital point for Hastings in their fight against relegation. A minute later the visitors were reduced to ten men when Richard Rose was shown a second yellow card.

Team : Alex Kozakis, Harry Knock, Alex Filipe(Saidou Khan), David Graves, Lewis Gonsalves, Bashuri Alimi(Francis Quarm), Stefan Cox, Billy Marshall, Dan Summers, Sol Pinnock, Leon Lalor – Dell(Nathan Gordon). Other subs Howard Newton, Max Noble.

Report by: Ian Bullock