Sittingbourne kept up the pressure on leaders Ramsgate with quite possibly as comfortable a 2-0 win over Eastbourne Town anyone will see this season courtesy of a goal in each half from Troy Howard and Ade Azeez.
Howard put the home side in front following a fabulous ball from Bagasan Graham and the home side should have been out of sight by the time that Azeez netted the second in stoppage time at the end of the game as they struck the frame of the visitor’s goal on five occasions!
The home side dominated throughout the game with Eastbourne rarely threatening the Brickies back line with once again Liam Smith and Chris Arthur outstanding at the heart of the Sittingbourne defence.
Sittingbourne went in front early on as a fabulous ball from Bagasan Graham in for Howard, who first time drove the dropping delivery into the bottom corner for his fifteenth goal of the season as the Brickies took the game by the scruff of its neck!
The home side were relentless; Ryan Kingsford looped a header which came back off the bar and as the ball was recycled, Richie Hamill’s drive was brilliantly turned aside by keeper Chris Winterton; Mitch May couldn’t get his shot on target after rounding the keeper; Azeez was next to thump the bar with a crunching header and Anthony Church was denied by a post – Sittingbourne were dominant and Eastbourne just didn’t have any answers.
The second period began in similar fashion as Hamill curled an absolute beauty onto the bar with Winterton motionless, before Hamill’s next effort flashed past the right post. Howard was denied by a fine block from the keeper after Henry Sinai’s great run down the left, and in the home sides next attack as a long ball was played forward, Howard’s first touch just wasnt enough to divert the ball past the oncoming Winterton.
Sinai grew more into the game after the break, and form one mazy run he did really well to find Jean-Baptiste Fischer, but the Frenchman was denied a first goal since his comeback from more than a year out with a knee problem by a sensational Winterton save low to the keepers right.
Azeez had worked tirelessly up front and his link up play showed just why Brickies boss Ryan Maxwell was so eager to extend his loan until the end of the season.
And just as it seemed that this game would go down as one of the most one sided 1-0 home wins Woodstock had seen, Azeez raced clear in stoppage time only to be hauled down, and after dusting himself down, and with three penalty takers already substituted, the striker stepped up and drilled an unstoppable spot kick beyond Winterton into the bottom corner to give the final score a slightly more reflective look.
SITTINGBOURNE – Rees, Smith, Graham, Hamill (Jones), Church (Woodward), Arthur, Howard, Kingsford (Fischer), May (El-Mogharbel), Sinai (Morgan)
EASTBOURNE TOWN – Winterton, Leon Greig, Murphy, Harvey Greig (Hammond), Hover, Hull, Davies, Jenks (Walker), Ding, Ruda, Waters (Simmons)
Subs – Prodger, Cachimuel
REFEREE – Mr. Finnegan
Images courtesy of Paul Golding