Tooting dropped to within four
points of the relegation zone after a bitterly
disappointing defeat to the divisions bottom
side. In a match reminiscent of Tuesdays defeat
by Carshalton, Terrors held possession for long
periods and created many chances, but were let down by
poor covering in defence, gifting breakaway goals.
Dave King returned from suspension,
but Chris Sullivan had not recovered from his midweek
injury. Aaron Goode moved into midfield with
Matt York joining the back line. Matt Howard
made a welcome return to the first XI as a sub. Heybridge,
whilst still propping the league up, have been quietly
accumulating points and their recent league record
showed only one defeat in five including, as their
last competitive fixture, a win at Ashford - no mean
achievement.
Playing with just Sansford up front
the Heybridge tactic was clearly to throw bodies
behind the ball and feed the speedy forward whenever
possible. For most of the opening quarter of an hour
this meant he was on starvation rations as the home
side dominated. Paul Vines had a couple of
chances, first shooting over from an Andrew Howell
cross and later winning a corner following a breakout
from Heybridges first attack. Jason Pinnock gave
Sanders his first task after sixteen minutes, but his
tame chip was directed straight into the keepers
hands.
Heybridge were now growing in
confidence and nearly capitalised on a moment of
defensive confusion, but Dave King calmly took control
and the danger passed. Michael Antonio had
started quietly, but switched on at the half hour mark
approached, leaving two defenders standing as he
powered down the left, Sanders safely gathered his
tidy cross. Next came two particularly nasty
incidents, both were studs up, two footed lunges
(they could not be described as tackles) and both
resulted in yellow cards for the offenders, where red
may well have been more appropriate. First,
Nelson scythed Andrew Howell down as he advanced
down the left wing and less than tem minutes later the
other full back, Hawes, performed a similar act on
Callum Crawley. Mr Harris' charitable streak
continued into injury time when Gillespie was allowed
to trample on several players without penalty.
Half Time: 0-0
Terrors continued to press after the
break and were finally rewarded when Paul Vines took
to ball with his back to goal on the penalty spot,
turned and slammed the ball home for the opening goal.
However, the celebrations were short lived, as three
minutes later Rochester broke through the Tooting
defence and thundered the ball into the top corner,
giving King no chance.
Around the hour mark chances were
created at either end when another Paul Vines effort
was bundled clear, quickly followed by the final
practice shot from Sansford, who would shortly turn
the game on its head. Before that though, Jason
Pinnock found space following some good passing moves,
only to slice his shot high and wide.
Fifteen minutes from time and it all
fell apart for the home side as Sansford skipped
through three tackles on his way towards goal and
demonstrated why Swifts were happy to let him lead the
line alone as his low strike settled in the net.
Two minute later and the smash and grab was completed
with an unnervingly similar raid and an identical
outcome.
Heads that had dropped after the
second goal seemed to lift with the third and almost
immediately Joe Vines, lurking on the edge of the
area, shot home to reward another decent attacking
move. From the restart Paul Vines almost
restored parity. The final ten minutes saw
several more chances of varying quality. Andrew Howell
directed a close range shot at the keeper. A 25
yard free kick by Antonio was fumbled by Sanders, but
he was able to regain control under pressure. A
good penalty shout was turned down in the final minute
and shortly before the end Joe Vines headed over. |
