Dover go five clear- and Hendon hit NINE!

Despite the awful weather, all of our Pitching In Isthmian Premier matches got the go ahead. 

Dover Athletic, with a three point lead at the top, were on the road to Bowers and Pitsea. Athletic had a seven match unbeaten run in the league to protect, winning six of those, so were in fine form; whilst Bowers were hoping to avoid a third consecutive defeat- and to pick up three points which would lift them out of the bottom four. Athletic went ahead midway through the first half, Francis Mampolo the scorer, and, after weathering both Bowers pressure and the actual weather, fifteen minutes from time Luke Baptiste gave them some degree of comfort, making it two-nil. That was that, but a draw for Cray Valley and defeat for the rest of the top five saw them go five points clear. 

Wingate and Finchley in second place at kick off, welcomed Horsham, the Hornets in a lowly fifteenth place- albeit with a significant number of games in hand due to their cup exploits. Cup matches aside, Horsham have been superb at home this season and rather less successful on the road, and had only a draw to show for their previous four away matches in League and Cup- but they got back to winning ways when Joel Daly got the only goal of the game five minutes into the second half. The Blues slip to third. 

Third place Cray Valley PM welcomed Potters Bar Town, who had slipped to eleventh after a run of six matches without a win. The Millers were seven unbeaten and were looking for a fourth successive victory, and a fifth successive win at home, but it was the Scholars who opened the scoring, David Hicks giving them the lead on twenty seven minutes. The Millers were level eleven minutes into the second half, Matthew Vigor with the equaliser, and went ahead with only six minutes remaining, Tom Beere making it two-one. Surely that was that? It wasn’t. With a minute left Ben Ward-Cochrane levelled for the visitors, and that was how it ended- the Millers up to second but five points behind the leaders. 

Billericay Town were on the road to Chichester City. The fourth place Blues knew that they could climb as high as second with victory, and they had lost only one league match all this season, whilst City had slipped to fourteenth after a run of one win in six, and fell behind in this one after only thirteen minutes, Tyrell Miller-Rodney scoring for the Blues. City were level on twenty six minutes, Jimmy Wild doing what he does best for the sixteenth time this season, and within two minutes the hosts were ahead, Ethan Pritchard making it two-one. Just before the hour mark Pritchard made it three-one, and that was how it ended- Billericay now eight points behind the leaders, City up to thirteenth. 

Lewes travelled to Dartford. The fifth place Rooks got back to winning ways in their last league match, hammering Bognor, but had lost two cup matches since then- so the travelling faithful will have hoped for a reaction. The Darts were looking for a fifth league match unbeaten, but three of the previous four had ended in draws. 

Dartford opened the scoring in first half added time, Olly Box with the goal, and on fifty seven minutes they made it two, George Whitefield doubling the lead. A red card for Ethan Kaiser with fourteen minutes left made a Rooks comeback even more unlikely, and the Darts held on comfortably to climb to twelfth. 

Carshalton Athletic were in fine form and had their eye on fifth place, which was three points away at kick off. The Robins hoped to get those three points from visitors Cheshunt, who had lost four of their previous five in League and Cup, and looked to bounce back from Velocity Cup defeat at Billericay in midweek- and the Ambers started brightly, going ahead after six minutes through Tobias Braney. The Robins were level seven minutes into the second half, David Smith taking his tally to five goals in six matches, but there were no more goals. Athletic drop to seventh, Cheshunt are seventeenth. 

Dulwich Hamlet welcomed Hashtag United to Champion Hill, three weeks after the Tags defeated them at the same venue in the FA Trophy. Hamlet had seen their previous six matches bring three wins and three defeats, but were only three points away from the top five; whilst the Tags found themselves in the bottom four and maddeningly inconsistent- but they took the lead after a quarter of an hour, Sakariya Hassan with his sixth goal of the season. Hamlet fought for an equaliser, but two minutes from time substitute Josh Osude got his first Tags goal since returning to the club, ensuring that his side climbed to sixteenth. 

Canvey Island welcomed Cray Wanderers to the land where there is always a view of an enormous container ship if the football gets boring (which, of course, it never does!). The Gulls had been on a fine run, and started the afternoon four points away from the top five, having won four of their previous six. The difficulty for home fans was that their side had been far more effective on the road than on their own patch, which perhaps gave Wanderers a bit of a boost, given they’d picked up more points away from their own Flamingo Park. The Gulls went ahead just before half time, Bradley Sach scoring from the spot, and the same player confirmed victory in second half added time, two-nil and sixth place for the hosts- but it might have been different had a Wanderers penalty in the early stages of the second half not been squandered. Image from Nicky Hayes. 

Folkestone Invicta played host to another set of Seasiders, Bognor Regis Town making the trip. Invicta had climbed to ninth after winning their previous two, and indeed it was suggested that their victory over Dulwich Hamlet in midweek was their best performance of the season. Good performances had been at a premium for the second bottom Rocks, and they had only one win on the road so far- and they were quickly on the back foot, Ian Gayle putting Invicta ahead on ten minutes. The Rocks were level on twenty four minutes, Tommy-Lee Higgs scoring from the spot- his twelfth goal of the season- but just before half time Dan Smith restored the advantage for the Stripes. Smith scored again- his thirteenth of the season- eleven minutes from time, and he rounded off victory and claimed the match ball by making it four-one in added time. Invicta continue their progress up the table, into eighth place. 

Tenth place Hendon welcomed Hastings United to Silver Jubilee Park, five points and seven places separating the sides. The Greens had only one win from six coming into the match -although three of those were draws- but had been very strong on their own patch, with only one defeat at home in any competition this season. United, conversely, had won only once on the road in the league, and indeed had only two wins from ten, and they had a poor start, Niko Muir putting the Greens ahead after only nine minutes. Muir was quickly on target again, a penalty on thirteen minutes making it two-nil, and it was three-nil only six minutes later, Kai Brosnan leaving the travelling faithful contemplating a miserable afternoon. It got even more miserable five minutes before half time when Sam Adenola made it four, and the misery certainly wasn’t over, as Muir added a fifth on forty eight minutes to claim the match ball, and then scored number six five minutes later. Still Hendon weren’t finished, and neither was Muir, scoring his fifth of the afternoon and his sides seventh on sixty seven minutes, and four minutes later Brosnan made it EIGHT. At this point we were beginning to wonder whether Hastings had actually turned up, and eleven minutes from time Ethan Light made it NINE! Finally, the torture stopped for the Sussex side. 

Chatham Town were at home to bottom side Whitehawk. The Chats were on a seven match unbeaten league run, whilst the Hawks were on an eight match run which had seen them pick up only two points and score only one goal, which is why they found themselves at the bottom as we kicked off- and they had the worst possible start, as Freddie Sears scored for the Chats in the very first minute, his eighth goal of the season. Seven of our matches hadn’t even kicked off when that goal went in, timed at twenty seconds! The hosts doubled their lead seven minutes before half time, Jack Evans scoring from the spot, and Sears made it three eleven minutes into the second half. Ten minutes from time John Ufuah added a fourth, and Ufuah soon had another to make it five, the Chats up to eleventh.