Youngster fires Brentwood through

The youngest player on the pitch, Connor Witherspoon, was the 22nd to take a kick and he kept his head to find the net and clinch a 9-8 victory.

Dave Wareham put Maldon ahead after 17 minutes but Steve Butterworth (pictured, right, courtesy of Gavin Ellis/TGS Photo) equalised shortly after half-time.

That was the end of the scoring and the shoot-out went deep into sudden death before Witherspoon, the 17-year-old son of manager Steve, fired Brentwood through. They will be away to Reigate-based Step 5 club South Park, who are going well in the Combined Counties League.

After Whitehawk’s disappointing 5-0 defeat at Hitchin on Monday, that leaves Concord as the only Ryman team still hoping to progress. They visit Welling for their replay tonight.

There was plenty of action in the five league matches played last night, much of it in the Ryman North game at Cheshunt where the hosts beat Aveley in a match of six goals and four red cards.

David Hicks gave Cheshunt an early lead but Aveley were ahead by the 16th minute thanks to Shane Oakley and Paul Burnett. Ryan Wade equalised in the 25th minute and the game’s first flashpoint came shortly afterwards, resulting in dismissals for Courtney White and Aveley’s Scott Curley.

Worse was to follow for the visitors five minutes after the interval when Marc Sontag joined Curley in the dressing room. Hicks put Cheshunt ahead after 70 minutes and Lee Brennan made it 4-2 five minutes later. That was not the end of Aveley’s misery: a second yellow card for Ellis Sands meant that they had only eight men for the closing stages.

Potters Bar went to the top of the table with a 2-0 success at Needham Market in a clash of two unbeaten sides. James Gershfield continued his remarkable form by putting the Scholars ahead after 58 minutes, his ninth league goal and 12th in all. Liam Coles made sure in added time.

Soham continued their improvement with a 2-2 draw at third-placed Grays. They took the lead a couple of minutes into each half with goals from Jack Paxman and Frank Atangana, but on each occasion Grays replied quickly through Danny Bunce and Kenny Beaney. Then some inspired goalkeeping denied the hosts three points.

On Saturday Grays had been beaten 5-0 at home by Maidstone in the FA Cup, and Stones repeated the trick in Ryman South last night, netting five unanswered goals at Tooting.
The scoreline was harsh on the home side, who had plenty of the game, but Maidstone were sharper in both penalty areas.

Paul Booth put them ahead with a 28th-minute penalty but the real damage was done right at the end of the first half, when Booth converted another penalty for his 13th league and cup goal, immediately followed by a strike by Shaun Welford.

Welford made it 4-0 in the 70th minute, heading in the rebound after a good save by Darren Behcet, and Nicky Humphrey wrapped it with another header in the 85th minute. Since all Saturday’s scoring came in the game’s final quarter, that made 10 away goals in 107 minutes of playing time.

Sittingbourne, 21st in the table and with only three league goals to their credit, none of them at home, must have feared the worst when visiting Dulwich took the lead with a penalty by Erhan Oztumer deep into added time at the end of the first half.

But the Brickies at last found their scoring touch in the second half and rallied to pull off a 3-1 win which lifted them into mid-table. Ryan Golding equalised ten minutes after the break, Joe Taylor put the hosts ahead in the 77th minute and Golding struck again at the death as Dulwich slumped to their third successive defeat, the first time that has happened since November 2010.