A poor game played in pouring rain for long periods just about sums up a desperately disappointing afternoon at Woodstock.

In a game of few chances where neither keeper had a shot worthy of the name to save, the Bulls squandered the better chances as Miguel Carvalho blazed over with an open goal before Luke Campbell sent a hugely contentious penalty so high over the top that it cleared the trees behind the goal. 

The home side were denied by the officials all afternoon as a dubious offside flag denied Darnell Kithambo fine low drive into the corner and in the closing stages, two loud appeals for what appeared clear handballs for Sittingbourne penalties were waved away. 

Given the weather conditions, we shouldn’t really have expected much and in the end sadly the conditions more than prevailed as both sides struggled to make their mark. 

Early on Sittingbourne had the better of things with long balls into the Bulls box not being dealt with in a swirling wind that caused problems all afternoon. The home side indeed thought they’d taken the lead on seven minutes when Darnell Kithambo sent a brilliant low drive past Euan van der Vliet into the corner of the Jersey net. Celebrations though were cut short by the latest of late flags. 

Sittingbourne continued to have the better half chances but van der Vliet wasn’t troubled. Donvieve Jones was twice inches away from converting dangerous crosses before the ball fell to Carvalho at the other end, but with the goal at his mercy, he blazed high and wide. 

Just before the break, referee Pointer bewildered most of the crowd as he awarded a penalty presumably for hand ball, but if the supporters had thought Carvalho’s miss was poor, Campbell’s penalty disappeared into rural Kent. 

The second period was played in sheeting rain making any controlled football almost impossible and whilst the home side seemed shot shy, there were efforts from Lorne Bickley and Jonny Lequesne that disappeared into the fields next to Woodstock Park. 

The home side huffed and puffed and had two clear appeals for late penalties waved away by the increasingly fussy official as the game closed in on the final whistle. 

Ironically it was only a truly magnificent backpedalling save from Bobby Mason that kept the scoreline blank in the end as Campbell’s late blocked shot looped up and as the wind seemed to have taken out of the keeper’s reach, Mason preserved the status quo with a fine tip over. 

A goal so late would have been really tough to take for either side as neither deserved the right to progress on an afternoon where the Swale weather was the clear winner.

SITTINGBOURNE – Bobby Mason,  Donvieve Jones, Correy Davidson, Luke Woodward, Bagasan Graham, Joe Tyrie, Darnell Mawanga-Kithambo (Alfie Bloomfield), Gabriel Piorkowski, Mitchell May (Toch Singh), Bruno Tavares (Ayman El-Mogharbel), Jake Goodman 

Subs not used – Deo Curtis-Henry (GK), Casey Nolan-Samuels, Vincent Follea, D’Sean Theobalds 

JERSEY BULLS – Euan Van der Vliet, James Queree, Jay Giles, Ben Le Rougetel, Luke Campbell, Kamen Nafkha (Adam Trotter), James Carr (Robbie Scott), John Le Quesne, Lorne Bickley, Luke Watson, Miguel Carvalho (Juke Mulholland) 

Sub not used: Joe  Kilshaw 

REFEREE – Mathew Pointer (East Sussex,) Assistants: Ayden Gillespie, Stuart Nixon 

Att: 214

Images courtesy of Paul Golding