Johan Carey-Brown was the saviour for ten-man Sittingbourne with a double strike in four second half minutes after they gifted Littlehampton Town an unlikely two goal lead just past the hour.
Two horrendous defensive errors early in the second half had allowed Shay Wiggans and Joe Benn to seemingly gift the Sussex sides passage next round draw especially as the home side had been reduced to ten men with Michael Akin’s very harsh red card as Darren Blackburn’s side suffered a nightmare first twenty minutes of the second period.
But after bossing, and creating the better chances in the first half, the Brickies rallied in the true tradition of the Greatest Cup Competition in the World – courtesy of a terrific low strike from the edge of the box and a magnificent header from Taylor Fisher’s deep cross – the Brickies managed to get out of jail and stay in the Cup. But it could still have been so different had Littlehampton sub Wiggans not somehow missed a driven ball across the face of the Brickies goal late on!
After a cagey start, the Brickies thought they’d taken the lead when a corner was bundled over the line in a big scramble, but referee Cox – sadly for the first of what was to be numerous occasions – upset the home faithful and disallowed the “goal”.
Sam Flisher and Akin were causing the visitors countless problems down the right and just past the half hour, another charging Akin run was crudely ended! Toby Ajala’s brilliantly flighted free-kick caused mayhem; Ahmed Abdulla had a shot which brought a desperate last gasp block and as Ajala dinked a sublime ball back into the box, somehow a defender got in between Caney-Bryan and George Crimmen as either of the two Brickies seemed certain to score.
Shortly before the break, Abdulla was inches away from converting a great Akin cut back as his shot whistled past keeper James Binfield’s right post with the keeper nowhere before the opening stages of the second half were nothing short of a horror show for the home side!
The half wasn’t two minutes old when Littlehampton literally “nicked” the lead as Wiggans poked the ball past Magnus Lewis after the Brickies back line made a real mess of possession. Moments later it got worse as Akin clashed with defender Packer and with the Littlehampton man rolling on the pitch, referee Cox again angered the home fans with a straight red card.
And if that wasn’t bad enough for boss Darren Blackburn, it was to get even worse as from a hurried Lewis clearance – when the keeper was given no time from a back pass – Benn was on hand to double the advantage.
Halfway through the second half, two goals down, a man down and staring an FA Cup shock exit in the face, the Brickies ten men rallied – and how!
Almost immediately though Abdulla – skipper in place of COVID sufferer Kane Rowland – won a fine block tackle on halfway and threaded a great through ball for Caney-Bryan, who raced clear and fired past Binfield from the edge of the box.
Sittingbourne had a lifeline – one they grabbed in their very next attack as Fisher hit a fabulous ball into the box from way out on the left and somehow Caney-Bryan got away from his marker and was able to place his header in the bottom corner to incredibly level things up with nineteen minutes left.
The ten men almost didn’t make it into the next round draw though, as in the closing stages, the visitors went close to winning the tie as three times Wiggans went close – on one only he will know how he didn’t poke in Benn’s driven centre – but fortunately for Blackburn’s Brickies, the Littlehampton sub failed to convert any of them and so it’s off to the Sussex coast for the replay on Wednesday.
SITTINGBOURNE – Lewis, Flisher, Fisher, Taylor (Loynes), Rogers (Aziamale), Crimmen, Akin, Abdulla, Caney-Bryan, Ajala, Bancroft (Monger)
Subs – Afriyie, Emm, Lott, Connor
LITTLEHAMPTON TOWN – Binfield, Hunt (Wiggans), Packer, Duncan, Clark, Peake, Pattenden, Humphreys (Herbert), Benn, Layton (Hegarty), Jarvis
Subs – Jenkins, Litterick, Gaskin, Askew
REFEREE – Mr Cox
Images courtesy of Ken Medwyn