Sittingbourne continued their rise up the table with this victory against an East Grinstead Town side fighting for their lives at the foot of the BetVictor South East Division table.
This was a rugged East Grinstead side buoyed by a new manager Leigh Dynan in just his second game in charge and some new players.
East Grinstead have yet to claim a victory in the league this season however they had drawn against Sittingbourne at Woodstock earlier in the season, with just two of the current East Grinstead starting line up in that game.
The Wasps started well winning the midfield in the early stages and they took the lead following a corner for Sittingbourne, the ball was cleared to Lex Allan who had a shot that bounced off a Wasps player and ended up at the feet of ex Brickie Gil Carvalho.
Carvalho raced down the middle of the pitch, out running the Brickies chasing defender and he fired goal-wards, Jordan Perrin in Sittingbourne’s goal got a hand to the ball but couldn’t stop it ending up in the back of the net.
Sittingbourne didn’t let this setback get them down and were back on level terms 13 minutes later when a cross ball was struck against the East Grinstead bar by Josh Oliver. The ball bounced off the bar where Johan Caney Bryan was lurking and he headed the ball into the net, echoes of his opening goal against Ramsgate last week.
Caney Bryan had another effort on 36 minutes but the ball went wide. East Grinstead were still dangerous, however, and Steven Smith who wasn’t afraid to use his strength throughout the game, headed the ball goalwards, but Perrin turned the ball round a post.
With just three minutes to go to half time another chance fell to East Grinstead’s TJ Bramble but he failed to connect correctly with the ball which trickled wide.
The second half was a feisty affair at times, the East Grinstead management team not helping matters when they appeared to throw the ball at Cory Walters-Wright which caused a mini melee.
There was plenty of effort from both sides but chances in the second half were few and far between.
Young Sam Stace came on as substitute for Harry Taylor who himself had been a substitute earlier on for Kane Phillip, Taylor having picked up an injury.
Stace had been on the pitch for just 8 minutes when he got onto the end of a cross and fired the ball past Brannon Daly in the Wasps goal to give Sittingbourne the lead.
The final minutes were a frantic affair with the Wasps sometimes losing their heads in the reality that their winless run was continuing. A final effort by them fell to Jeffrey Gyamfi with seconds to go but he fired over the Brickies bar.
Sittingbourne now move up to 11th, 6 points from a play-off place, whilst East Grinstead remain at the bottom of the table, but they are in no worse a position than they were at the beginning of the game as the four teams above them all lost.
East Grinstead Town: Brannon Daly, Ollie Boulding (Yellow), Andrew Musungu, Zak Henry (Yellow), Simba Kudyiwa, Drew Cooney, Michael Uwezu, (Jeffrey Gyamfi 69 mins), Reece Wiliams Bowers (Robin Deen 61 mins), Stephen Smith (Yellow), TJ Bramble (Shawn Clenment-Peter 57 mins), Gil Carvalho (Yellow).
Subs not used: Jonathan Moanda, Reece Batchelor.
Sittingbourne: Jordan Perrin, Jack Smith, Jason Fregene, Chris Webber, Lex Allan, Cory Walters-Wright, Chris Barnard (Yellow), Tom Fagg, Johan Caney-Bryan, Josh Oliver (Enoch Adjei 55 mins), Kane Phillip (Harry taylor 60 mins, Sam Stace 75 mins).
Subs not used: Ikechi Eze, Jay Hards.
Referee: Jack Oxenham
Assistants: Fabian Le Houezec, Steven Scott
Attendance: 176