A heroic display from Sittingbourne earned a 1-1 draw against FA Cup Second Round participants Chichester City.
A valiant defensive display in the second half and a man of the match performance from goalkeeper Jordan Perrin ensured the Brickies left Oaklands Park with a deserved share of the points.
Sittingbourne travelled to Oaklands Park for their first away trip in the Isthmian League South East Division since the Brickies 2-1 defeat at Ashford on the 17th September.
The Brickies started the game on the front foot, winning several free kicks in dangerous areas but couldn’t find the back of the net in the early exchanges.
Centre back Lex Allan fought through the entire match despite feeling an injury to his shoulder in the opening 10 minutes, which set the theme of the afternoon for a tough and resilient Sittingbourne side.
Josh Oliver got in behind the Chi’s defence in the 12th minute but unfortunately overran the ball for goalkeeper Steven Mawthorpe to collect comfortably.
The hosts’ best chance in the opening 15 minutes fell to Josh Clark who rattled the Sittingbourne woodwork from a free kick. The free kick seemingly sparked life into the Chi’s as they started to find their feet in the game. A flurry of chances in the 25th minute could have seem the scores levelled had it not been for a combination of good reactions from Jordan Perrin, an alert Brickies defence and the Chichester attacker not being able to get the ball out of his feet.
Sittingbourne took the lead in the 33 minute through midfielder Tommie Fagg after some quick and clever footwork in the Chichester box, wrong footing two defenders before calmly slotting home past Steven Mawthorpe.
Sittingbourne could have doubled their lead ten minutes later when Sid Sollis found himself one on one with the goalkeeper but Steven Mawthorpe stood his ground and pushed his effort wide for a corner.
Chichester could have got themselves back in the game on the stroke of half time but Jordan Perrin was equal to the efforts yet again.
The second half was a more scrappy and physical encounter. Chichester had the Brickies on the ropes at times and made their pressure count in the 58th minute through Connor Cody who found himself free at the far post and he fired a good shot past Perrin .
Harry Taylor came on for Josh Oliver for the final 20 minutes in a difficult game for the former Millwall striker who has been offered a contract by Swedish first division club Ostersund.
A midfield battle perused and things got heated in the 73rd minute when Sittingbourne’s Sid Sollis took down Rob Hutchings on the halfway line. Handbags followed and Sollis was eventually shown a deserved yellow card for a late challenge.
A minute later the referee pointed to the spot and awarded the hosts a penalty for a challenge on Scott Jones. Matt Axell steps up for Chichester but Jordan Perrin won the battle of wits and saved from the spot kick.
The final 15 minutes were backs to the wall at times for Sittingbourne but the Brickies showed their resilience and mental strength to see the game out and bring home a share of the points.
Chichester City: Steven Mowthorpe, Ryan Davidson (yellow), Robert Hutchings, Emmett Dunn (Matt Axell 64 mins), Connor Cody, Corey Heath, Josh Clack, Jamie Horncastle (Jimmy Wild 80 min), Scott Jones, Lloyd Rowlatt, Gicu Lordache (Kaleem Haltham 59 min)
Subs not used: Rory Biggs, Ryan Peake
Sittingbourne: Jordan Perrin, Ben Fitchett, Chis Webber, Adam Woollcott (Yellow) (Jack Smith 61 min), Cory Walters-Wright, Lex Allan, Enoch Adjei, Tommie Fagg, Sid Sollis (Chris Barnard 88 mins), Josh Oliver (Harry Taylor 67 min) , Kane Phillip (Yellow).
Subs not used: Harrison Pont, Liam Miiddleton.
Referee: Alex Bradley
Assistants: Domonic Barrow, Tim Godfray
Attendance: 256