Pitching In Isthmian Performance of the Month Awards, December 2021

So that’s it- another year over. We didn’t get as much football as we might have liked, but we were blessed with a number of memorable matches, and December was no exception. Here are our deserved winners of the Pitching In Isthmian Performance of the Month Awards.

Pitching In Isthmian Premier

Lewes have scored goals for fun this season, and the Dripping Pan faithful must have expected more of the same when Potters Bar Town came to East Sussex. Well they certainly got plenty of goals, but nearly all of them went to the visitors, as the Scholars triumphed by five goals to one. It was three-nil at half time, Luke Joyce-Dwarika with a brace and Samson Esan with the third, but when the Rooks got one back just after the restart it looked like the start of a comeback. It truly wasn’t. Esan got another, and then Joseph Boachie rubbed salt in the wound with another seven minutes from time, to silence most of the eight hundred and thirty two present.

Congratulations to the Scholars, who now know that big performances don’t just mean points, they mean prizes!

Pitching In Isthmian North

When Dereham Town arrived at Canvey Island on December 4th, the Gulls hadn’t lost a league match all season, and indeed were on a run of eight consecutive league victories which saw them score twenty nine goals and take a substantial lead at the top of the table. The Magpies, however, were in good form and, caring not a jot for reputation, delivered that first defeat of the campaign- Shaun Bammant scoring the only goal of the game. Well done to all those in black and white.

Pitching In Isthmian South Central

When Northwood arrived at Chertsey Town on December 4th nobody who wasn’t of a Woods persuasion gave them much chance. After all, the Curfews were at the right end of the table and winning matches for fun- seven in a row in all competitions- whilst the Woods were, not to put too fine a point on it, having the opposite problem, with one win in eleven. Yet form is only temporary, as Northwood showed in abundance that afternoon, Micah Jackson, Ryan Young, and a Sydney Ibie double giving them a four-two victory and our December prize. Congratulations to all at the club.

Pitching In Isthmian South East Division

When Phoenix Sports welcomed Burgess Hill Town on the Saturday before Christmas it was thought unlikely that the Hillians would arrive bearing gifts. The hosts were without a league win since August 28th, whilst the Hillians were in fine form and storming up the table- but this was the day when Sports put the wheels firmly back on their survival bid, hitting their visitors for five. Calvin Poku, making his second Sports debut some years after the first, was the chief architect of the victory, and indeed could probably do with an award of his own, grabbing four of the five goals! Steve Carvell got the other one, and although the visitors got two late consolations it didn’t really matter a great deal.
Congratulations to all at Mayplace.

Pitching In is a Grassroots Sports Investment Programme launched by GVC, the multi-national sports-betting and gaming group which owns Ladbrokes and Coral. The partnership covers all three leagues that make up Steps 3 & 4 of the National Leagues System.

Pitching In has been set up with the objective of supporting, protecting and encouraging grassroots sports in the UK through a range of initiatives.

In addition to financial support, a key focus of the partnership will be to facilitate and encourage members of the community to become volunteers, and do some pitching in of their own. A Pitching In volunteering scheme will be established to link GVC’s Ladbrokes and Coral shop colleagues with their local clubs.

For more information on Pitching In please visit the website here.

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