City remain top of SCEFL Division One for now at least, despite what would have to be seen as two points dropped away at Tooting Bec.
With closest rivals Forest Hill Park / SE Dons having their match at Soul Tower Hamlets postponed, City’s draw moves them just a point clear but having played six games more than the second placed Dons.
This was a tough game on a tricky, undulating surface which made close control and accurate passing a challenge for both sides but although Tooting played for an hour with ten men – after a first-half sending off, City were unable to make their man advantage count and then actually had to come from behind after conceding the lead.
To be fair there wasn’t too much to shout about in the first-half – the note-worthies of which were two or three good chances for the hosts plus the sending off.
The first chance came in the eighth minute when Dan Farrow made the most of his height to get a freeish header but directed the ball well over the bar, before their second came just four minutes later when, from another corner the ball was speared in much lower but a first-time volley struck from the edge of the box narrowly cleared the City bar.
City had a couple of corners of their own but were looking fairly ineffective in attack and struggling to get a clear sight of the Tooting goal. A home free-kick sent into the their box was eventually cleared – after a bit of ‘all hands to the pump’ scramble, but Tooting worked the ball well back over to Nile Waite on the left and he moved inside before sweeping it across the face of the City goal before seeing it roll wide of the far post.
The sending off came in the thirty-second minute after a lunging tackle by Liam Smith on Zack Jobe over the far side and there weren’t too many complaints either as the challenge pretty much ticked all the red card boxes: forceful, late and high.
Not surprisingly City had their best spell of the half immediately after that and going on right up to the break. Home keeper Michael Van Walsom needed to be out smartly to snaffle the ball away from Mo Cham after the striker had been cleverly put through by Rob Lawrence, before Liam Hark’s ball forward picked out Cham but he stumbled in trying to bring the ball under control when well placed and the moment was lost. Cham then almost set up Lawrence for the opener with some clever play in the box, but after being well set-up, the latter struck a powerful effort just over the bar – all of which left the game goalless at the break.
City restarted a bit tentatively seemingly not quite knowing whether to stick or twist and in the opening minutes only had an unsuccessful corner and a Cham shot go wide – just as the flag went up so it might have been chalked off anyway – to show for their efforts.
Then, despite their man disadvantage it was the hosts that actually took the lead in the fifty-eighth minute. A move through the inside-right channel by Benjie Robinson found Joe Martin just inside the City box and after a neat touch and turn, he scooted the ball wide of City keeper Dan Smith, and almost in slow motion, it rolled along and nestled inside the far post for 0-1.
Waite then saw a shot blocked as a sudden injection of belief and confidence seemed to burst through the Tooting players but City had the perfect response when Harry Sikirwayi levelled the match. Substitute Sean Aromolaran had only just come on and he was soon in the action, moving through the midfield and finding Khavarn Williams who in turn picked out Sikirwayi who stroked the ball low and home past the diving Van Walsom for 1-1.
With twenty minutes or so still to go, the onus was really on City to press on but to their credit, ten man Tooting dug in and defended doggedly and thoughtfully to keep their opponents at bay and not only that, but had a chance or two to steal all three points themselves before the end of the game.
City, for their part, kept plugging away but couldn’t quite find the quality to unpick and therefore unlock the massed ranks of the home defence. Jobe had a low shot comfortably saved and then skewed a cross-shot into the side netting, while in-between, Williams and Lawrence both had shots blocked before Van Walsom did well to punch clear a dangerous City free-kick under some pressure.
The home side certainly believed they could win it as well and were being spurred forward by their bench. Eventually they won a free-kick just outside the City box which needed to be blocked twice by defenders before Ali Taylor-Kamara turned neatly but saw his less than firm effort smuggled clear.
Deep into seven added minutes, Martin could have won it for the hosts but he shot straight at Smith under crucial pressure from Luka Radojevic, while City finished the game on the attack with Jobe’s well worked cross defended out at the near post as the final whistle blew.
A long trip but undoubtedly a missed opportunity for City who don’t play now until March 8th when they travel again this time to visit Meridan VP in London.
Final score: Tooting Bec 1 Canterbury City 1