A blistering opening first half saw Sittingbourne extend their winning run to nine wins in their last ten games as the Brickies hammered Ashford United 5-1 at Homelands.
A goal in each half from former Ashford man Danny Parish, two more for Mitch May and a fifth from Donvieve Jones eased the Brickies to the points as the Nuts and Bolts crumbled to a first half onslaught that saw Ryan Maxwells side 4-1 ahead at the break, Max Walsh initially had brilliantly equalised for Ashford before the wheels well and truly fell off.
The early exchanges set the tone for the afternoon – Stefan Ilic fired just past the Ashford post before Robbie Rees was magnificently denied an opener for the home side by a terrific save from Bobby Mason.
The Brickies went ahead on ten minutes as Parish turned provider for May to drill beyond Chris Lewington and into the bottom corner. Ashford though responded and as the visitor’s defence dithered, Walsh burst into the box and hammered home the equaliser.
From then on sadly for the home side, Sittingbourne upped the tempo and dominated until the break. They retook the lead when May turned provider as he drove the ball across the face of the face of the home goal for the arriving Jones to hammer home.
2-1 became 3-1 just past the twenty-minute mark as the lead was extended with the Brickies temporarily down to ten men. Luke Woodward was off the pitch (and about to be replaced by Alex Bentley) as Dsean Theobalds free kick was brilliantly headed back across goal by Joe Tyrie for Parish to bundle the ball home on his return to Homelands.
It was 4-1 just before the before the break as Ilic was felled by a clumsy challenge allowing May the chance for his sixteenth goal of the season which he duly accepted drilling the ball past Lewington and into the bottom corner of the net.
Ashford’s afternoon was summed up in the opening five minutes of the second period as Rees’s fine diving header beat Mason but crashed to safety off the bar whilst at the other end, Parish’s diving header from a brilliant May centre flew into the net past a despairing Lewington giving Parish a fine brace against his old side.
That may have been the end of the scoring, but the chances kept coming – Ilic curled a corker just too high; Parish was brilliantly denied by a brave Lewington and from the corner, Chris Arthur thumped a header just wide; Ayman was twice denied by the overworked Lewington after being brilliantly thread through by Theobalds.
It wasn’t all one-way traffic as home sub–Tolu Johan brought the save of the game out of Mason with a thunderous drive which the Brickies keeper did brilliantly well to touch onto the crossbar.
Theobalds had an effort deflect a yard wide with Lewington wrong footed before the keeper pulled off a great block to deny Ilic after he had weaved his way through.
Jordan Ababio hit Mason’s right post in stoppage time and Parish was denied his hat-trick by another fine Lewington save but by then the majority of those left in the ground were in Sittingbourne Red & Black (even though the Brickies wore their changed Yellow & Blue) and celebrating the fact that Ryan Maxwell’s side are now twelve points inside the Play Off places with ten games left and nine points behind leaders Ramsgate who the Brickies visit on Easter Monday.
ASHFORD UNITED – Lewington, Ossai, Simms, Ozobia (Jonah), Dymond, Penfold, Abadio, Brand, Carney (Draycott), Walsh, Rees (Azeez), Rees
Subs – Towens, Bayford
SITTINGBOURNE – Mason, Jones, Graham, Woodward (Bentley), Tyrie, Theobalds, Ilic (Piorkowski), Parish, Ayman, May (Hope)
Subs – Snell, Maxwell
REFEREE – Mr Langley-Fineing
Images courtesy of Paul Golding