Rooks climb into the top five- whilst Scholars and Tags win five goal thrillers

Lewes, Folkestone Invicta and Hendon all had the chance of leaping into the Pitching In Isthmian Premier top five last night- but none of them actually did any significant leaping.

Lewes welcomed Dulwich Hamlet to the Dripping Pan. Striker Gianluca Botti has been in inspired form for the Rooks since his arrival from Whitehawk, and he made it four goals from seven matches when putting his side ahead on twenty one minutes. Midway through the second half he struck again, but fourteen minutes from time Danny Mills halved the lead and made the closing stages interesting. Just how interesting became apparent two minutes into added time, when Luke Wanadio’s fifteenth goal of the season earned the visitors a point. The Rooks sneaked into the top five, Hamlet are thirteenth. 

Image from James Boyes.

Folkestone Invicta headed north (to be fair, they head north for almost every match) to take on Potters Bar Town. Invicta saw a four match winning run come to an end with a narrow- and very late- defeat at Whitehawk ten days ago, and knew that another victory could lift them into the top five; whilst the Scholars got back to winning ways last time out after seven winless matches, and were aware that they would go level on points with their visitors with victory. 

David Hicks put the Scholars ahead after just seven minutes, but Invicta were quickly level, Tyler Anderson scoring on his debut, and soon a more familiar name, Daniel Smith, put them ahead- his fourteenth of the season. The Scholars have only beaten Invicta once in ten attempts, so their odds of changing that perhaps didn’t look too good, but they were level just before the hour, Hicks striking again- and within five minutes had made it three-two, Nana Kyei converting a spot kick.  Finally the goals stopped- and the Scholars are up to ninth. 

Hendon suffered the trauma of seeing their long-serving boss depart last week, and hoped that it wouldn't affect the team too much as they travelled to Aveley to play Hashtag United. The Greens, three points away from the top five at kick off, lost narrowly to Billericay Town last time out, but prior to that were four unbeaten with four consecutive clean sheets, so hoped to quickly return to that form. The Greens achilles heel, however, had been their form on the road, and the Tags had lost only two in ten, so we expected this to be tight- and so it proved. Niko Muir put Hendon ahead from the spot just before the break, but within four minutes of the second half commencing the Tags were level, Sakariya Hassan with the equaliser, and the hosts were quickly ahead, Matthew Wooldridge making it two-one. Within a minute Muir had levelled for the hosts, but on sixty four minutes Luke May-Parrott made it three-two Tags, and this time the lead held. United are fifteenth, the Greens slip to tenth. 

Chatham Town were beginning to look much more like the side that swept (almost) all before them last season- nine games unbeaten and scoring goals for fun as they headed to Cheshunt. Freddie Sears took only five minutes to put the Chats ahead, his twelfth of the season, and that’s where the goals stopped- Chatham up to seventh, unbeaten run up to ten, and the Ambers three points from safety. 

Cray Wanderers started the night three points clear of the bottom four, assisted by their narrow win at Bowers and Pitsea on Saturday. Wands were at their Flamingo Park, Chichester City the visitors- and Wands knew that they would go above City in the table if they could pick up three points. It looked like it might not be their night when Quade Taylor was dismissed on twenty seven minutes, but three minutes into the second half Ryan Davidson’s red card made it ten v ten. Thirteen minutes from time we finally got a goal, and it went to the hosts, Nathan Jeche with the goal- and it turned out to be the only goal of the game. Wands climb to sixteenth, City have one win from seven.

In the FA Trophy, Horsham made the long trip to the English Riviera to take on Torquay United. The Hornets had already defeated two National League South sides in cup competitions this season, but sadly they couldn’t repeat that a third time, two goals in the early stages of the second half easing the hosts through.