It became a real day to forget as Crashalton Athletic crashed to a heavy defeat on the Kent coast, writes James Barrett
Ramsgate had the first real chance of the game on four minutes as striker Ian Pulman worked some space across our 18 yard line before cutting a shot back across goal and wide.
The greasy top surface, which caused players from both sides to slip over regularly throughout, meant we tried to utilise the pace of both Youssef Bamba and Mickel Miller early on; one such attack saw the former beat his man and knock in a bouncing cross which Moses Ashikodi just failed to fully connect with on the half volley.
But our hosts opened the scoring on 13 minutes after Tommy Bradford was dispossessed by two opponents near the centre circle and a through ball subsequently played. Pulman appeared to be in an offside position but the deeper run of Craig Thompson wasn’t tracked and it was he that lofted the ball over the approaching Luke Colquhoun and under the crossbar.
We were struggling to retain possession as Ramsgate continued, in particular, to win the majority of the contested aerial battles, but Pulman put their next best chance wide of our far post on 20 minutes.
But then we started asking questions of the home defence and Jordan Higgs had an effort deflected off target by an opponent before, following a quickly taken short corner, Ashikodi appeared to be chopped down inside their penalty area but our claims for a spot-kick were waved away.
Marshall then tried his luck with a 25 yard free kick that stung the hands of Luke Watkins, while Pulman improvised a close range back heel upon a loose ball inside our six yard box which we managed to smuggle away.
The game was now bubbling away nicely and two goals arrived in the space of two minutes.
Tom Loynes took advantage of a slip by Gordon to deliver a cross from their right and the unmarked Joe Taylor was on hand to convert a simple diving header at the back post.
We responded almost immediately however as Bradford flicked on a Bamba cross on 32 minutes and Ashikodi executed a perfect volley from around 10 yards to spectacularly open his account for the club and reduce the arrears.
The pace of play then settled for a while and it seemed we might get into the break only one behind but, on the stroke of half-time, another Loynes assist put Taylor clean through and his firm low shot gave Colquhoun no chance.
HALF-TIME: 3 – 1
The referee decided, following a chat during the break, to dismiss Matt Howard to the stand for the duration of the second-half and that shock was further compounded when our hosts extended their lead on 50 minutes, after Pulman was slipped in and he went round Colquhoun before slotting past the recovering Males.
Ashikodi almost hit back again straightaway but, although he displayed a nice touch and worked an opening, his eventual shot from 15 yards pinged off Watkins’ near post.
Males did well on the hour mark to clear a Taylor shot off the line, after Colquhoun appeared to be fouled going for a loose ball, but Tony Sinclair was harshly penalised two minutes later – our skipper’s ball-winning challenge on Pulman saw the forward go to ground very late on Sinclair’s trailing leg and Taylor converted the spot-kick firmly to Colquhoun’s left.
Both sides made a flurry of subs as the game wore on and we created a couple of chances; Ashikodi fired wide from a tight angle, while Watkins could only parry an in-swinging cross on 75 minutes, however the ball frustratingly fell behind the run of the incoming Kingsley Aikhionbare.
Gordon’s debut came to an abrupt end as he tussled with Kane Rowland inside our box on 78 minutes, eventually pulling the attacker down and receiving a second yellow card. No complaints with the penalty decision this time and Taylor scored with a carbon-copy of his earlier successful conversion.
Taylor grabbed his fifth of the afternoon with a cheeky chip over Colquhoun from 18 yards, after the home side broke forward from our corner and had four-on-three, while the last action saw Miller force Watkins into a fine save with a free kick in added time.
Next up: We host Chatham Town on Saturday 30th January before we head to Walton Casuals on Saturday 6th February.
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