Whyteleafe claimed a narrow victory over the Brickies largely thanks to some gamesmanship from Ryan Gondoh.

The Leafe striker  managed to Con referee Mr Conn and his assistant in awarding a penalty when a video of the incident clearly showed that Jordan Perrin was pulling out of the challenge and that he didn’t pull Gondoh down.

Gondoh had a good game and I suppose you could say that it wasn’t his fault that a penalty was awarded but the incident did mar the Whyteleafe performance and robbed Sittingbourne of a deserved point.

This was the first game since Lex Allan went to pastures new and so Darren Blackburn had to shuffle the pack. Cory Walters Wright returned and had a decent game and both Harry Goodger and Johan Caney-Bryan started, a rarity this season. Goodger was another to have a decent game helping out in defence and looking menacing up front.

Sittingbourne got off to the best possible start when straight from the kick off Caney-Bryan strode down the pitch and sent in a decent shot that flew into the Whytelafe net. I timed the goal at just 40 seconds which must be some sort of a record for Sittingbourne. 

Caney-Bryan was having a good game but unfortunately his time on the pitch was brief as injury forced him to be substituted after just 18 minutes.

6 minutes after Caney-Bryan’s goal an Andy Drury free kick was headed on by Goodger to Drury who had charged forward and he fired in an effort that went just over the bar.

It was an even first half with neither side troubling the keepers again in the half.

Leafe threatened in the early part of the second half and Omari Hibbert fired them level on 53 minutes then 4 minutes later the contentious penalty decision was given.

Sittingbourne weren’t causing many problems and on 68 minutes Hibbert scored a second when he  rifled the ball home from a Gondoh cross. Kane Rowland narrowed the gap on 75 minutes when a shot bounced off the keeper back to him and he had a simple tap in.

The referee ignored a hand ball in the area appeal with minutes to go for the Brickies  but they were unable to trouble Tyler McCarthy in the Leafe’s goal and the game ended in a Leafe victory.

Sittingbourne: Jordan Perrin (Yellow), Sam Flisher, George Monger, Harry Miller, Cory Walters-Wright © (Yellow),  Freeman Rogers, Kane Rowland (Yellow), Daniel Stubbs ( James Witt 68 mins), Harry Goodger (Vance Bola 60 mins), Andy Drury, Johan Caney-Bryan (Enoch Adjei 18 mins),

Subs not used: Michael Freiter

Whyteleafe: Tyler McCarthy, Olu Olurinnisomo, Ojemen Biggs, Bentley Graham (Yellow) (Courtney Clarke 51 mins), Jamie McGeoghegan, Antone Douglas (Yellow), Ricardo Thompson (Zahui Orome 82 mins), Emmanuel Mensah, Omari Hibbert (Valentino Carpen (72 mins), Aaron Watson, Ryan Gondoh.

Referee: Peter Conn, Assistants: Piotr Zachwieja, Joseph Dann-Pye

Images courtesy of Ken Medwyn