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Brickies overwhelm Aveley after interval

After missing six games through injury Kieran Marsh came back with a bang to bag a brace as Sittingbourne overwhelmed Aveley in the second half of this game at Bourne Park.

Steve Nolan shuffled the pack, bringing in Toby Ashmore to midfield whilst Adam Douglas and Jack Tanner sat on the bench. Also on the bench was Paul Ainsworth as with the welcome return of David Cory Jamie Coyle could give up his temporary striker role to go back into defence.

Aveley, however, fielded just two of the starting eleven that they fielded during the Brickies 5-3 away victory back in September.

Both teams started hesitantly and this led to a dull first half in which although the Brickies had the edge they didn't have the spark to open the scoring.

Jamie Coyle  almost engineered an early goal for the Brickies with just five minutes on the clock when he went up with Aveley goalkeeper Michael Collier  forcing him to spill the ball which went straight to Bradley Spice but the Brickies player blasted over the bar.

Aveley had to wait 36 minutes for their first strike at the Sittingbourne goal which came from a Steve Jones free kick which he won himself after some tricky play. The effort though curled wide. 

This near miss inspired Aveley for a short while and Jermain Hughes crashed an effort into the side netting.

This spell of Aveley pressure was brief and Sittingbourne quickly retook the initiative as Marsh had a shot deflected for a corner.

Right on half time Sittingbourne were unlucky when Spice spotted Collier out of his goal and
tried to lob him but the keeper raced back well and just palmed the ball off the line.

Sittingbourne started the second half well and on 55 minutes took the lead as good build up play led to Ashmore finding Marsh in the area and Marsh curled the ball to the right of Collier and into the net to give the Brickies a deserved lead.

Aveley again woke up briefly and Fewell made a good diving save. Then Aveley had their best chance of the match when  Simon Thomas beat Fewell to the ball but in attempting to curl the ball into the net he struck the side netting.

Sittingbourne  took the initiative again and on 65 minutes they scored a superb second goal which came courtesy of  a glorious through ball from the rejuvenated Clint Gooding which fell at the feet of David Cory. Cory  ran forward and fired in a tremendous shot that arched over Collier's head.

With the  vocal support from the Brickies Barmy army ably supported by a contingent from Westland School, Sittingbourne now took complete control of the game and another defence splitting ball from Gooding found Ashmore but he was just off target with his  shot.

Sittingbourne tied up the game on 78 minutes when they won a free kick which was only cleared as far as Marsh who then fired in an unstoppable shot past Collier.

Right on time a Douglas / Tanner move led to a chance to the lively Spice but the shot whistled over the bar.
 
Sittingbourne : Fewell, Coyle, Dowley, Gooding, Campbell, Hill, Ashmore, Marsh (Douglas 84), Cory (Tanner 78), Spice, Browning, Subs: Ainsworth, Nolan, Tucker