Two second half goals from Chris Harris gave Sittingbourne the point that guaranteed play-off football for the first time in the Club’s history.
The Brickies did it the hard way however as goals from Destiny Ojo and Lukas Franzen-Jones gave the visitors a cushion inside the opening fifteen minutes.
But the sending off of Ojo on the stroke of half time for simulation turned the game the Brickies way and when Harris lobbed home two minutes after the break, the home side sensed a way back in.
Despite hitting the woodwork three times, they had to wait until stoppage time for the historic point as Harris headed home Correy Davidson’s cross.
The home side were slow out of the blocks and Oji took advantage of defensive hesitation to steal in and poke the home side ahead on ten minutes.
Oji then turned provider moments later as he burst into the box and squared for Franzen-Jones to tap home. It could have been even worse for Sittingbourne as keeper Bobby Mason made an excellent save to keep out Alex Plummer’s shot.
Harry Hope thought he had given the Brickies a lifeline when he stabbed home Harris’ knock down, but the referee ruled it out for hands.
Harris went even closer moments later from a corner when he crashed a header off the Lancing bar and from the follow up, Lancing keeper Louis Rogers made a wonderful finger tipped save to divert the ball onto the bar again!
Just when you thought the day could not get any worse came two red cards for the home bench. Firstly, boss Ryan Maxwell was sent to the “stand” as he kicked the ball back onto the pitch to enable the visitors to take a free kick. Problem is that the ball hit a Lancing player and the referee deemed it deliberate and in the “discussions” that followed, Luke Woodward was also sent to the stands for presumably something the injured midfielder had said!
The game though was to turn the home sides way on the stroke of half time as Ojo went down in the box and referee Langley-Fineing, who had already booked the Lancing goal scorer for kicking the ball away showed a second yellow card and the visitors were down to ten men for the whole of the second half.
The home side roared out of the traps at the start of the second period and Harris gave them renewed hope as he raced onto a long ball from Chris Regis, holding off a defender before brilliantly lifting the ball over Rogers and into the net.
The home side sensed blood – Davidson’s ball in caused a mad scramble that ended with Rogers’s acrobatics to deny sub–Mitch May. Donvieve Jones then became the third Brickie to hit the frame of the goal as he prodded an effort against the left post. Regis then fired a drive that flashed narrowly wide of the post with Rogers motionless as the minutes began to tick away.
Just as many had given up hope, Davidson’s great ball in from the left was met by Harris and the header flew into the net to salvage the most crucial point in the Brickies history…
SITTINGBOURNE – Mason, Bentley (May), Graham, Piorkowski (Ayman), Tyrie, Uyi, Regis, Jones, Harris, Hope (Ilic), Davidson
Subs – Black, Snell
LANCING – Rogers, Scott, Bull, Briggs, Meeres, D’Arienzo, Plummer (Erskine), Ojo, Pope (Leon Fisher), Franzen-Jones, Noel Fisher (Gibson)
Subs – Matthews, Knight
REFEREE – Mr Langley-Fineing
Images courtesy of Paul Golding