Beavers waste no time

By Peter Butcher

RYMAN Premier leaders Hampton were quickly into their stride at East Thurrock yesterday (Saturday).

James Simmonds and Joel Ledgister put them two up after only eight minutes and they held on to win 2-1.

The Beavers had been beaten at Wealdstone in midweek after going two up and East Thurrock certainly tried hard to repeat the feat. But, reverting to their normal form, Hampton defended strongly (pictured above by Mikey Cartwright) and it was the 86th minute before Reiss Gilbey put Rocks on the scoresheet.

Whitehawk took over second spot with a 3-1 victory at Bury. The damage was done in a ten-minute spell soon after half-time: Sam Gargan scored twice in three minutes, with chest and head, and Jed Wallace saw his inswinging corner go in off the far post. John Sands had put Bury in front in the seventh minute. The hosts had Jordan Patrick sent off near the end.

Wealdstone moved up to third, making the most of their hosts’ misfortunes with a 3-0 win at Cray, who lost goalie Andy Walker in the warm-up and centre-back Joe Vines after ten minutes. Richard Jolly had already netted for Stones before Vines hobbled off. The outstanding Alex Dyer made it 2-0 on 20 minutes and Jolly struck again midway through the second half, reclaiming his familiar position at the top of the division’s scoring chart with his eighth league goal.

Managerless Wingate, whose long-serving boss Dave Norman resigned after their midweek FA Trophy exit, pulled off a 1-0 victory at Kingstonian. Mark Henry scored the decisive goal 11 minutes after half-time and K’s dropped from second to fourth in the table.

Bognor are up to an unlikely fifth place – unlikely because James Crane’s goal on the stroke of half-time was only their second in seven home league games. It was enough for a 1-0 victory over bottom club Thurrock.

The day’s thriller was at Canvey, where a Liam Hope hat-trick led Enfield Town to a 4-3 win. Enfield lost keeper Noel Imber to injury after 18 minutes. Defender Lee White took over and got an immediate boost when Hope opened the scoring with a penalty.

Rob King equalised on 34 minutes but, three minutes later, he made the mistake which handed Hope his second. A minute after that, however, Kevin Dobinson made it 2-2, only for Joe O’Brien to cap a hectic spell of four goals in seven minutes by putting Town ahead again.

Hope gave his side breathing space with his third goal on 55 minutes and, although King rallied the islanders with his own second ten minutes later, that proved to be the end of the scoring.

Carshalton climbed out of the bottom two thanks to a pair of late goals which earned them a 2-0 home win over Lowestoft. It looked as if their chance had gone with a bizarre incident on 73 minutes. Lewis Taylor converted a penalty but the ball clipped his standing foot as he kicked it and the goal was disallowed because he had touched the ball twice.

Then, with 88 minutes on the clock, Hakeem Adelakun rifled in a 35-yard drive to put Robins ahead. Nathaniel Pinney added another four minutes into added time, though home keeper Nick Hamann still had to preserve his clean sheet by saving Chris Henderson’s penalty.

There was a predictable draw at Leiston. The home side have drawn five of their six home games and Lewes, though still without an away win, have drawn four times on the road. Chris Breach nodded the visitors ahead in the 25th minute and Leiston wasted a number of chances before sub Nathan Stone headed home a cross from Emmanuel Osei to level it with 12 minutes left.

At almost the same time Harry Elmes converted a penalty to give Concord a 2-1 victory at Harrow. Nicky Cowley’s header put the Essex side in front after 53 minutes and Simeon Akinola drove home from the edge of the box to level it 20 minutes later. Ruddock Yala, who conceded the decisive penalty, was shown a straight red card four minutes later.

Where next?

Ray inspires Hastings comeback AFTER going six years without winning a game in the FA Cup, Hastings United have certainly made up for lost time.
Monthly awardwinners announced THE Ryman League’s monthly awards for October have been announced today, with the six prizes going to six different clubs.

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