Beckenham Town 2 (1) -v- Sittingbourne 3 (1)

Beckenham Town 2 (1) -v- Sittingbourne 3 (1)

Report by Mike Green

Saturday (23rd march) saw another away win for the Brickies that keeps their record of no league defeats away this season.

Beckenham though gave a good account of themselves on their very well-maintained pitch and actually took a 2-1 lead on 57 minutes. The Brickies had started brightly with the industrious Stefan Illic striking the Becks bar after just 3 minutes and Gabriel Piorkowski’s shot kicked off the Becks goal line 4 minutes later. It was all Sittingbourne in these early stages and on the quarter of the hour Illic had another effort this time Becks keeper Nick Blue tipped the ball over the bar.

The first Becks threat came on 17 minutes when Finley Roberts raced away and for a split second it looked as though he had plenty of room to trouble Bobby Mason in the Brickies goal but he appeared to run out of space and the ball was cleared.

Sittingbourne finally took the lead on 23 minutes when a classy turn by Joe Tyrie meant that he could race away, the ball was centred and the resulting shot was pushed out by Becks keeper Nick Blue, but only to Mitchell May who fired home to give the Brickies a deserved lead.

Sittingbourne remained on top and were winning a number of corners and so it was a surprise when 2 minutes from half time Louie Theophanous found himself in loads of space in the middle of the Brickies penalty box and he gave Brickies keeper Bobby Mason no chance with his shot to level the score. Becks almost had another one right on half time but Mason raced out to smother the shot.

There were two substitutes for the Brickies just before half time, both through injury, Chris Arthur and Alex Bentley being replaced by Chris Regis for his debut and Sergio Uyi. Chris Regis showed some deft touches in the second half and looks to be a great addition to the squad,

Becks had proved that they are no mugs with their excellent away win at Hythe Town in mid-week and they started the second half well with their efforts to get off the bottom of the league and give themselves a fighting chance to retain their place in the division.

This determination culminated in them taking a 2-1 lead on 57 minutes through Finlay Roberts, but there was an immediate response from Sittingbourne and from a corner to the far post Donvieve Jones was lurking to fire the ball into the net.

Becks substitute Steven Townsend fired straight at Mason as the home side sought another goal but it was the Brickies who took the lead on 77 minutes as this time they made a corner count when Mitchell May’s header from the corner found  Danny Parrish who produced a cheeky back flip of the ball which flew into the net to put Sittingbourne back into the lead.

Beckenham had one last effort to get something from the game but the shot was blocked by Joe Tyrie and the points belonged to the Brickies.

The Becks crowd of 435 was by far their highest of the season buoyed by the excellent travelling Brickies contingent who gave their team constant support throughout the match and also clapped the Becks players for their efforts.

Sittingbourne Played: Bobby Mason, Donvieve Jones, Bagasan Graham, Alex Bentley (Chris Regis 44 mins), Joe Tyrie, Gabriel Piorkowski, Stefan Illic (Chris Harris 72 mins), Harry Hope, Danny Parrish, Mitchell May, Chris Arthur (Sergio Uyi 45 mins). Subs not used: Josh Snell and  Ayman El-Mogharbel. 

 

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