MATCH REPORT
Faversham Town Reserves 2 v 1 Whitstable Town Reserves
Kent League Division 1&2 Cup
by Roger Bennett
It was a tense league cup encounter between these two sides. A win for Faversham would ensure their progress to the semi final, whilst Whitstable needed a win to realisticly keep their hopes alive. As it was, nerves seemed to get the better of both sides with the match a pale shadow of the exciting game between these two at Belmont a fortnight before.
If anything, Whitstable looked slightly the better in the first half with Harry Gower almost converting a cross followed by Stuart Fichie's faint touch which only went inches wide. Faversham meanwhile seemed to have lost any sense of touch with the ball being given away far too easily and dead ball situations wasted. Even a Dan Delaney throw went straight to a Whitstable player.
However, just as the first half seemed to have fizzled out, referee Mr Ayling signalled a penalty which neither side, nor the crowd expected. Apparently some shirt tugging in the area by a Whitstable defender on Tommy Hill had been detected. So Andre Marques calmly stepped up to despatch the spot kick giving the home side a somewhat fortunate half time lead.
Faversham emerged an improved side after the break, and enjoyed their best move of the match on 57 minutes when Vince Collis put Delaney clean through. The finish was clinical as he fired the ball under the diving keeper Craig Kennedy and Faversham now enjoyed the two goal cushion. Whitstable tried their luck with some long shots, but few of these gave keeper Lewis Craddock any kind of trouble. However, in the last 5 minutes, Whitstable rallied well and Faversham defender Lewis Pout had to head off his line with the ball goal bound. A Ben Smith corner then found its way to Chris Axford who hit it sweetly into the roof of the net to give the visitors hope. But although finishing the better side, it was too late and Faversham secured their place in the semi final.
The penalty decision featured in post match manager interviews. For Whitstable, Dave Fairclough expressed disappointment and lamented 'It knocked the stuffing out of us'. Bob Reardon meanwhile admitted the Faversham bench hadn't seen any wrong doing. However he enthused over his younger players. 'Six under 18s in the side today', and gave special mention to Tebbitt and Dawodu.
Faversham Town Reserves: Lewis Craddock, Sam Short, Lewis Pout, Rob Reardon, Mobolaji Dawodu, Keanne Lee, Dan Delaney, Jake Tebbitt, Tom Hill, Andre Marques, Vince Collis.
Attendance: 55
