A story of the Blues

With the gap between Pitching In Isthmian Premier leaders Hornchurch and second place Chatham Town sitting at nine points at kick off, Town’s match at Wingate and Finchley looked to be critical to their chances of catching the Urchins- and if it was, Hornchurch fans everywhere would have been wearing big grins at full time. Indeed they’d have been wearing big grins at fifty five minutes, as by that point Wingate and Finchley were four goals to the good, and it was certain that not only would Hornchurch maintain that lead, they’d have two games in hand, too.

After thirty nine goalless minutes at the Maurice Rebak Stadium it looked as if we’d get the close match we expected- but the next fifteen minutes would throw that theory out with the rainwater. First, Elliot Long’s seventeenth goal of the season gave the Blues a half time lead, a tap in from a Ben Frempah header- and then, four minutes after the restart, Long turned provider, setting up Ruben Carvalho to finish easily. On fifty two minutes Long was at it again, making it three-nil, and three minutes after that it was the Carvalho show once more, as the number eight turned in an Ahmet Biler free kick to make it four- his seventeenth of the season, by this point one goal behind Long in the scoring charts.

Finally the Chats roused themselves. Jamie Yila put away a penalty just after the hour, and right at the end Kareem Isiaka got their second to make the scoreline a little more respectable, but the Blues are up to fourth- their fantastic campaign continues.

Third place Billericay Town travelled to Sussex, tenth place Lewes the hosts. Both sides were looking to get back to winning ways after defeats at the weekend, and the Rooks were particularly desperate for a win, having lost three of their previous four and fallen to seven points behind the top five- but they weren’t really in the match after a wind assisted own goal gave the Blues the lead on twenty seven minutes. Frankie Merrifield made it two just before the break, and any respite which half time might have brought for the hosts was tempered by the fact that Ronnie Vint was dismissed shortly beforehand. The ten men held out for fifteen minutes of the second half before Adam Leathers got the third, and that was that- Billericay in third, ten points behind the leaders having played a game more. The Rooks are eleventh, seven points behind fifth place Hastings United- albeit with two games in hand. Image from James Boyes- more here.

It’s ten years, two months and ten meetings since Lewes last took three points from Billericay.

In fourth place at kick off, Hastings United hosted a Sussex derby, Horsham the visitors- a match between two sides with promotion aspirations. United had won their previous three matches and lost only one of ten, but an own goal on eight minutes saw them fall behind, and a fine Jack Mazzone free kick doubling their advantage on sixty four minutes. What they had, they held- and Hastings dropped to fifth, whilst the Hornets are tenth, six points behind their hosts with five games in hand.

Carshalton Athletic, in eighth at kick off, made the trip to Potters Bar Town. The Robins saw a six match unbeaten run end with defeat against bogey team Cray Wanderers on Saturday, and it looked like they’d fall to another defeat until a late penalty rescued a point. Town’s Brandon Adams has been superb of late, and he added an eleventh goal of the season- in eighteen appearances- just after the half hour. It was a lead the hosts held until four minutes from time, when the visitors were awarded a penalty, and Bradley Williams kept his cool to earn his side a share of the spoils.

whilst the Scholars saw a two goal lead slip against Concord Rangers on Saturday, falling three-two behind before somehow finding two goals in the dying moments to take a four-three win. Athletic have only two defeats from their last ten, Town have only three, and this looks to be too close to call. The last ten meetings between the sides have seen seven Robins wins and three wins for the Scholars- and the last meeting between the sides saw Athletic win five-nil.

Folkestone Invicta welcomed Cray Wanderers to the seaside, fifteenth v sixteenth- although by the end they were sixteenth and seventeenth. It looked very much as if the hosts had the game wrapped up, David Smith giving them the lead six minutes before half time and Seidou Sanogo making it two-nil with seventeen minutes remaining, but a crazy last few minutes saw the visitors somehow snatch a point. First, with two minutes remaining, Sanogo saw red- nobody, even the visiting fans, seem entirely sure why- and a minute later Ellis Brown got the visitors back into the match. Eight added minutes were signalled, to the frustration of the home fans, and just before the end of them Anthony Cook sent a header into the net to earn Wanderers what had seemed an unlikely point.

Finally, Whitehawk welcomed Cheshunt to the east side of Brighton, and the Hawks got back to winning ways after three consecutive defeats.

The opening goal took sixty eight minutes to arrive, and it went to Joey Taylor, a- perhaps wind assisted- free kick from thirty five yards out finally defeating Woody Williamson in the Ambers goal. The second goal for the Hawks arrived five minutes later, and it came to a far more frequent scorer, Rob O’Toole finishing after an assist from Charlie Lambert, the ball in the bottom corner and the match won. Whitehawk climb to fifteenth, and Cheshunt are eighteenth, only goal difference keeping them out of the bottom four- although the side in nineteenth, Margate, have played two games more.

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