Saturday, 17th August 2019
By Tony Rickson
BetVictor Isthmian League South East Division
Whitstable (0) 1 (Jadama 70 Mins) Sittingbourne (1) 1 (Campbell 27 (pen))
Attendance: 318
Whitstable Town:
Dan Eason, Jake Mackenzie, John Walker, Luke Girt, Marcus Evans, Tom Bryant,
Liam Gillies (Tarik Ibrahim, 63 min), Tijan Jadama, Marcus Elliott (Alex
Anderson, 63 min), Aaron Millbank, Osman Proni. Subs not used: Josh Spencer,
Danny Patterson, Muhammed Cham.
Sittingbourne:
Tom Benham, Lewis West, Abdel Ndew, Lewis Chambers, Cory Walters-Wright, Lex
Allan, Enoch Adjei (Shaun Brown, 45 min), Chris Webber (Tyrone Guthrie, 59
min, Yellow card), Roman Campbell (Two yellow cards, one red), Tommie Fagg,
Chris Barnard (Festus Lori, 74 min). Subs not used: Jason Fregene, Johan
Caney-Bryan.
Referee:
Graeme Ions; Assistants: Joshua Smith, Bo Wang
Photographs by Ken Medwyn
Signed in the morning. Scored in the afternoon. Home in the early evening after
getting sent off in the first half.
Young on-loan striker Roman Campbell had a day to remember/forget as
Sittingbourne drew their opening game of the season in the newly-named BetVictor
Isthmian League South East Division.
Playing with 10 men for more than half the game was a tough proposition but
Sittingbourne were resilient and determined and thoroughly deserved their point
from this Kent derby.
Campbell had given them a huge boost by joining on loan from Gillingham for a
month just hours before the game – Sittingbourne know all about him as he spent
the final part of last season with them and ended up sharing the golden boot
award for top scorer with Tom Loynes.
(Incidentally, Loynes was watching the match at Whitstable on crutches, three
days after his knee operation, and hopes to be playing for Sittingbourne again
in a couple of months’ time).
But while Sittingbourne know what Campbell can offer, so too, apparently, did
Whitstable and he was goaded into two yellow card offences and sent off after
just 41 minutes.
Sittingbourne had given four new players their debuts – goalkeeper Tom Benham,
defenders Lewis West and Cory Walters-Wright and winger Enoch Ako-Adjei – with
other newcomers on the bench.
It was the Brickies who had all the spirited singing support from the crowd, but
it was Whitstable who started strongly, going close twice early on before Benham
had to make a good diving save from a header after 16 minutes.
Sittingbourne gradually got a foothold in the game and went in front on
27 minutes after Chris Barnard was pushed over in the area following Campbell’s
pass. Just as he did in the last game of last season, Campbell comfortably
converted the penalty and Sittingbourne were in front and in control.
Campbell was booked soon after, on the insistence of the assistant referee, who
drew the referee’s attention to an off-the-ball incident with a Whitstable
defender.
And not long after it got worse, Campbell getting involved in another
off-the-ball clash with Whitstable captain Bryant, and was spotted by the
referee kicking out in retaliation to the provocation.
Understandably, he got another yellow and was sent off, albeit by a referee who
had missed one of the incidents that cost Campbell a booking and had clearly
only seen half the incident that cost him the other one.
Much, though, for the youngster to learn from allowing himself to be wound up,
as playing 10 v 11 for all the rest of the match was a huge burden to leave
behind for his teammates.
Not surprisingly, Sittingbourne had to defend for much of the game after that,
but they did it well, forcing Whitstable to rely too much on the long ball
forward and shots from distance that were way off target.
Lex Allan and the impressive Walters-Wright were at the heart of the resistance,
but they couldn’t prevent Whitstable levelling on 70 minutes when Benham stopped
a shot from the edge of the area but allowed the ball to momentarily squirm free
for Jadama to nip in and score.
Sittingbourne looked threatening in the occasional counter-attack and sub Shaun
Brown was narrowly wide after a good move and Lewis Chambers and Tommie Fagg
will be disappointed that their finishing didn’t match their approach work.
They finished with a couple of dangerous corners into the six-yard box, the
second one ending disappointingly with the referee penalising them for a push.
Also disappointing was the booking for a foul by sub Tyrone Guthrie which seemed
identical to one by a Whitstable defender on Enoch Ako-Adjei in the first half
that warranted just the free-kick.
In the end, this was a point gained by Sittingbourne, rather than two lost, and
will give them plenty of optimism that they can improve on last season’s 16th
place finish. Playing with this amount of commitment and passion is a pretty
good starting point when all’s said and done.