Rams take charge

Ramsgate and Chatham Town started the New Year separated by three points, the Chats with a game in hand- so a home win was crucial for the Rams as they welcomed their closest rivals, and they delivered exactly that. The goals all arrived in the last twenty one minutes, and they all went to the hosts, Ben Fitchett opening the scoring and Ashley Miller finishing things off in the last minute. Six points is now the gap, and the Rams have a better goal difference, too. One thousand, two hundred and seventy one watched on.

Cray Valley PM have been our form side of late, and the Millers extended their unbeaten run to ten matches with a comfortable victory at VCD Athletic. Vickers had only one defeat from their last five but were swept away by their visitors, who got two goals in each half to win by four goals to nil. Adam Coombes got the opener from the spot just before the half hour, with Ade Adeyemo doubling the advantage soon afterwards. Just before the hour Daniel Bennett made it three, and right at the end Denzel Gayle added a fourth – a result which lifted the Millers to third place.

Ashford United had seen their promotion push falter with only three wins from their previous ten matches- and they fell to another defeat at Sheppey United to fall to fifth place. Danny Parish scored for the third match in a row to put the Nuts and Bolts ahead, but Warren Mfula immediately struck back for the hosts, and they delivered victory with ten minutes to go, Connor Wilkins sending them up to eighth.

Beckenham Town, in fourth at start of play, made a difficult trip to Sevenoaks Town- and it turned out to be extremely difficult as Oaks hit them for four. The goals all came after the break, Fumnaya Shomotun opening the scoring on fifty five minutes and opening the floodgates, as within the next twenty five minutes the home side added three more, Solomon Baugh with two of them, Freddie Parker getting the other. Oaks are up to seventh- five points behind their now sixth place visitors.

Whitehawk had slipped out of the top five courtesy of their worst run of the season- a run which had seen them lose four of their last five matches- but they climbed back up to fourth with a last-gasp win over Haywards Heath Town. They had a terrible start, Alahady Ibrahaim Jalloh opening the scoring for Heath after just three minutes, but former heath player Hamish Morrison equalised midway through the first half. Just when it looked as if the points would be shared, another former Heath player, Luke Robinson, popped up with a last minute winner.

At Culver Road we had another Sussex derby, as Lancing welcomed Littlehampton Town. The Lancers found themselves four from the bottom at kick off despite boss Dean Cox’s fine start- a win over Ashford United in their last match on December 17th- but they moved up a place and ensured Cox maintained his one hundred percent record when Kyle Callum O’Brien got the only goal of the game with twenty two minutes left. Right at the end Jake Legrange for the hosts and Dion Jarvis for the Golds both saw red. Image from Kyle Hemsley, for all you nephophiles out there!

A third Sussex derby- of four- saw East Grinstead Town host Chichester City. The Wasps got back to winning ways, emerging victorious by the odd goal in five- Sam Williams grabbing it from the spot with six minutes left. Grinstead had earlier let slip a two goal lead, Matt Daniel and Ryan Green’s goals being cancelled out by Ben Pashley and Josh Clack. City are on their worst run of the season so far, with only one win from their last eight matches.

Burgess Hill Town should have been hosting Three Bridges, but due to burst pipes and a fire damaging their clubhouse the fixture was reversed. Given Bridges home form that might not have been good news for the Hillians, but as it turned out neither side could manage a goal.

We had a crucial match between the sides in nineteenth and eighteenth as Corinthian welcomed Sittingbourne. Seven points separated the two at start of play, but the gap has narrowed to four after the Hoops recorded their best win of the campaign, firing home three goals without reply. Oscar Housego opened the scoring on the stroke of half time, making no mistake from the spot, and shortly after the restart Josh Leach made it two. Jack Godfrey rounded things off just before the end, and the Brickies have now taken only three points, all from draws, from their last ten matches.

Faversham Town find themselves fourteen points from safety at the bottom, and having already used a rather incredible sixty one players this season. The Lilywhites will have hoped to finally achieve some upward momentum as Hythe Town came to call, but it was the Cannons who took the points, Jason Fregene getting the only goal of the game just before the hour. Hythe climb to twelfth.

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