Erith Town 1-1 Sittingbourne - I'm not going to chastise anybody, we've just come back off a history making game at Southend and there's many twists and turns to be had, says title-chasing Sittingbourne boss Ryan Maxwell

Erith Town 1 – 1 Sittingbourne
Location	Bayliss Avenue, Thamesmead, London SE28 8NJ
Kickoff	04/02/2025 19:45

ERITH TOWN  1-1  SITTINGBOURNE
Isthmian League South East Division
Tuesday 4 February 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Bayliss Avenue

SITTINGBOURNE manager Ryan Maxwell says he isn’t going to chastise anybody after throwing away three points in their hand with just moments to go.

The Brickies’ reached The FA Trophy Quarter-Finals for the very first time after pulling off a giant-killing act at Southend United at the weekend, thanks to THAT last-gasp Anthony Church winner at Roots Hall – but they were brought down to earth by a resilient Erith Town side at a muddy Bayliss Avenue.

Sittingbourne dominated for most of the game and finally broke the Dockers’ resilience when holding midfielder Ayman El-Mogharbel slotted in his first goal of the season in the 88^th minute.

However, Erith Town grabbed an injury-time equaliser when substitute central midfielder James Miles kept composed from the penalty spot – which was the home side’s only shot on target during this poor Isthmian League South East Division encounter.

“I think they’re a very good side, a bit different to how Ramsgate play.  They’re very much, I call them a bit of a throwback side. They’re very 80’s, they kick, b****ck and bite and I think we stood up to that,” said Erith Town manager Adam Woodward.

“We didn’t create a load of chances. We knew we were never going to do that. They’re a top side. I know people will say they had the Trophy on Saturday and that maybe taken a lot of out them.

“We’ve had Ramsgate, Burgess Hill (both 1-0 defeats) and Sittingbourne over the last three games. 

“If you look at our last 10 games, we’ve had Hythe, Margate, Ramsgate, Littlehampton, Ashford, Burgess Hill, Steyning, Ramsgate, Burgess Hill and Sittingbourne.  So, we’ve played Margate twice, Burgess Hill twice, Sittingbourne once, obviously Ashford away as well.

“Big sides that we didn’t think Erith Town would’ve dreamt to be with before the last couple of years and credit to the boys. I don’t think they’ve been outplayed out of those games.  Ashford, I felt we deserved to lose, but like I said we took Ramsgate to the 94^th minute for them to score against us with a free kick.  Burgess Hill was a corner and today I don’t think Sittingbourne really caused us too many problems to cut us open.

“Their goal, I felt was a little bit of luck but full credit to the boys to come back and get a point.”

Reflecting on the game, Sittingbourne boss Maxwell said: “I think it was a very difficult game on a difficult pitch.

“It was a big contrast from Saturday, a massive, flat pitch. We passed the ball and tonight was a different challenge, the mental side of it as well.

“We had a little bit of jaded legs too, saying that we did control 90% of the game and we made loads of chances and to be completely honest, the keeper’s made one great save, not enough for my liking.

“I think we were a little bit snatchy at times, not as fluent. We did control the areas and territory but we are probably a little bit shot-shy tonight in comparison to usual.”

Erith Town were without goalkeeper Nathan Edwards (illness), Tom Ash (holiday), Andrew Dythe (sore knee) and James Dyer (tight calf) and Queens Park Rangers loanee, goalkeeper, Conor Clark, 19, was handed his debut.

Sittingbourne were without holding midfielder Richard Hamill (family commitments) and they lost centre-half Jack Steventon to a knee injury during the second half and goalkeeper James Batt was recalled to make his fourth start of the season.

“He’s (Batt) been brilliant the previous couple of games. We opted not to play him in the Cup game, a huge game, away to Southend, huge crowd and it would’ve been unfair to throw him into that game. I felt the opposition would’ve highlighted that potentially, so I was protecting him,” revealed Maxwell.

Sittingbourne started the game on the front foot and left-back Henry Lukombo drove forward before cutting inside and slipping the ball through to 14-goal attacking midfielder Ryan Kingsford, who drilled his right-footed angled drive across the keeper and whistling just past the foot of the far post from 25-yards.

Erith Town goalkeeper Clark was called into making a comfortable save in the ninth minute.

Physically strong central midfielder Joseph Boachie flicked the ball into the path of 23-goal striker Mitchell May, who flicked his left-footed shot towards the bottom left-hand corner from 16-yards, and Clark dived low to his right to make a comfortable save.

Erith Town’s centre-half turned right-back Jerome Jayaguru threw the ball into the right-channel and diminutive Ross Craig (a left-back playing holding midfielder) played the ball back to Jayaguru, who cut inside and flashed his left-footed angled drive flashing past the foot of the near-post in the 12^th minute.

Sittingbourne dominated the corner-count by 10-to-nil and Kingsford swung the ball in from the right with his left-foot and Boachie rose from within a crowd of players to steer his header across Clark and just over the top of the far post.

Both sides were direct, there was a lack of quality from both sides and the first half proved to be a cagey affair, as Sittingbourne found Erith Town a hard nut to crack.

“If you look at our team, we played four centre-halves in defence. I was a little bit worried about the diag’s coming over,” said Woodward.

“We set up for Richie Hamill to play centre midfield, obviously he didn’t, so we looked to nullify them putting the ball over the back lines.

“They’ve got very good wingers in Troy Howard and Henry Sinai, so we looked to nullify that with the big lumps across the back four and it worked.

“We’ve been resilient all season. I keep going back to the Ramsgate game, losing to a 94^th minute free kick. We were so resilient in that game, Saturday (at Burgess Hill) we were so resilient.

“We’re not going to be the most pretty on the eye and we do set-up sometimes to defend and put a block on but look, we know where we’re at as a club.  I’ve got a certain point to get to, points tally to get to and then once we’re there, we can maybe relax a little bit.”

Sittingbourne’s right-back Donvieve Jones played the ball inside to Kingsford, who found Lukombo in space.  The left-back took a touch before cracking a speculative left-footed drive sailing over the Dockers’ crossbar from 30-yards.

Dominant Sittingbourne were a lot closer with their next attempt, when the pacey left-winger Funsho (Henry) Sinai stroked a right-footed free-kick around the three-man wall and just past the near-post from 25-yards after holding midfielder Aaron Jeffery was penalised for bringing down Kingsford.

Steventon launched the first of his seven long throws into the Erith Town penalty area in the 44^th minute and his former Hythe Town team-mate, fellow centre-half Liam Smith found space at the near-post to steer his header over the Dockers’ crossbar – as Smith was the main culprit of drilling a high number of long balls forward from the heart of Sittingbourne’s defence.

“I think we dealt with the long throw. I watched them a few weeks ago when they played down at East Grinstead. They were very direct them and that’s what we identified tonight,” added Woodward, who got out of his sick bed to mastermind a great result tonight.

Steventon’s second long throw was cleared out and El-Mogharbel’s hooked right-footed volley from 25-yards only just cleared the crossbar.

When asked about Steventon’s injury, Maxwell revealed: “He’s hurt his knee big Jack and that was a big miss because Jack’s been an absolute colossal defender for us. He’s in amazing form as well, where he’s playing very well too but his knee moved a bit. It’s moved back in thankfully and we have to see how he is tomorrow and get it checked out.”

Maxwell hinted his side’s direct style of football was doing to the playing surface – which lacked grass and the worst it's been for many a year.

“I think the main thing is when you’re trying to pass the ball a little bit and play a certain way, you need to adapt to the pitch if it isn’t working and I don’t think we did that enough,” admitted Maxwell.

“It’s a very even game out there because of the surface and we did control the main of it in fairness to the boys.  We’ve had to completely adapt and play a completely different type of game from Saturday’s game, of course.”

The 178 fans inside Bayliss Avenue hoped for better quality in the second half.

“We knew that was going to be the case against some of these big sides. You’re not always to create things and sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit patient,” said Woodward, who was coming up against a side that have kept 20 clean sheets in their 41 games in all competitions this season.

“We just said ‘as long as we stay in the game, as long as it goes on, the game will open up’ and I felt it did.

“They’ve scored a late goal but I think we’ve defended resolutely tonight.  I said keep doing what you’re doing, defending really well.

“We conceded a set-piece at Burgess Hill. We came in nil-nil there on Saturday. I thought we might’ve nicked a point and maybe even all three with our second half performance but what people have got to realise as well tonight, the four players we had missing.

“Hopefully they might be back in a week or so but they’re four starters in our team that we didn’t have tonight. They’re players that have probably played every game for us this year so to take those four players’ out and have a make-shift back four.

“We’ve got young Finlay Williams playing on the wing, that was his third start, a 17-year-old from the under 23s, so it was a bit thrown together.

“At half-time we said ‘stay patient and make sure we stay in the game for as long as we can.’”

Maxwell added: “I thought we were pretty good first half, without being great, without working the keeper enough, probably didn’t put enough crosses into the box. We’ve got good enough numbers in terms of control. They had next to nothing in the first half, so I was pleased with that part of that.

“It just wasn’t a fluid performance but it wasn’t going to be on a pitch like that.

“We probably started the second half pretty well.”

Sittingbourne created their first opening with six minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Smith smashed a long ball out of defence and released Boachie down the left-channel before his flicked pass released May, who cut into the box from the left and beat four defenders before his left-footed shot was saved in Clark’s midriff at his near-post.

Sittingbourne went route-one in the 13^th minute when Smith drilled a long right-footed ball out of defence and right-winger Troy Howard sprung into life for the first time and cut into the penalty area and put it on a plate for May, who swept his right-footed shot towards the bottom right-hand corner, only for Clark to make a vital save, tipping the ball around the post with a strong left-hand.

When asked about his goalkeeper situation, Woodward replied: “Nathan Edwards has got a virus so he was a bit ill yesterday. We’ve brought Tommy Taylor back in tonight. He done the warm-up but I felt it wasn’t right.

“Tommy’s been on loan at Holmesdale this year and they’ve got a Quarter-Final tomorrow against Forest Hill Park and I didn’t want him to play tonight and get injured and put Holmesdale in a little bit of trouble. Maybe I should’ve been a bit shellfish.”

Clark was sent on loan at Lancing where he played three games, keeping a clean-sheet on his debut in a 2-0 home win over Herne Bay on 11 January, before letting in eight at Sittingbourne and then letting in three at Three Bridges.

“Conor became available. He’s signed on loan from QPR. He did play for Lancing this year. He did play in the 8-1 game against Sittingbourne so full credit to him to come in tonight and he got man-of-the-match. I thought he was absolutely outstanding!”

With the Dockers’ putting their bodies on the line, Sittingbourne were starting to suffer frustration – with Ramsgate centre-half Joe Ellul kicking every ball with the home side sat in the stand to watch their title rivals’ extend their impressive unbeaten run to 29 games.

Steventon cut the ball onto his right-foot and recycled the ball back into the Erith Town penalty area and the ball dropped down for May, who hooked his shot on the turn over the crossbar from inside the penalty area, before El-Mogharbel opted to try his luck from 35-yards, the ball rolling through a crowd of players before it was comfortably gathered by an untroubled Clark after another set-piece failed to work its magic.

Sittingbourne were to be denied by a brilliant save from Clark at the halfway point of the second half.

Craig and now holding midfielder Luke Leppard slammed the door shut on Sinai down the left but the ball broke for El-Mogharbel, who cut in from the left into a central position before unleashing a right-footed drive towards the top right-hand corner from 18-yards, only for Clark to fly high to his left and use both of his gloves to tip the ball over his crossbar.

“Unbelievable save! Unbelievable. He’s been really good tonight. His confidence could’ve been dealt with a little bit of a blow playing in the 8-1 game for Lancing but I thought he was superb. I thought his kicking was good. I thought he came for crosses really well – a really good goalkeeping performance,” added Woodward.

Maxwell added: “Great save! Fantastic save. That’s a great save. I thought that was in, so fair play to the keeper.”

Erith Town almost completed a smash-and-grab raid following a long throw of their own with 41:20 on the clock.

Jayaguru launched the ball into the box from the right and substitute right-winger Ollie Milton’s right-footed half-volley arrowed past the right-hand post from eight-yards.

Dominant Sittingbourne deserved their lead when it finally arrived with 42 minutes and 29 seconds on the clock.

Substitute Chris Arthur’s bullet header went up field and substitute attacker Codey Cosgrave latched onto the ball before slipping the ball through to El-Mogharbel, who placed his right-footed shot across keeper Clark to find the bottom far corner.

Maxwell said: “I brought Codey on to find a pass.  He created the opportunity. It was obviously finished well.  He made a good little impact when he came on.

“I felt as if the goal would come – I didn’t think it would take that long as it did – but we got there in the end.”

Woodward added: “I thought we switched off. We lost the four (El-Mogharbel) in the middle of the park, got played through.  We had a game plan, make sure we stuck to the lad.  We allowed him too much space.  I felt their geezer’s tackled the ball. It’s had a ricochet and it’s broken to them and I thought that was our luck tonight – but obviously it wasn’t.”

However, Erith Town showed their fighting spirit – which got them out of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division via the play-offs - as they grabbed an equaliser with 47 minutes and 13 seconds on the clock.

Centre-half Calum McGeehan put a long ball into the Sittingbourne box where Jones headed the ball back towards Smith, whose poor back header let in Dockers’ 15-goal striker Harry Taylor and he was brought down by Sittingbourne goalkeeper James Batt.

Referee Scott Rudd pointed to the spot, booked Batt and Miles held his nerve to send the keeper the wrong way with a clinical right-footed penalty, which nestled into the bottom right-hand corner and you could hear all the cheers from the Kent coast as Ramsgate hold the favourites tag to go on and win the league.

“Credit to Milo, he’s had to be patient. He’s come back from travelling, hasn’t played as much football as he wants to this year,” added Woodward.

“We’ve had a seven-day approach (from second-placed Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division side) VCD Athletic for him. We’ve had a conversation tonight, hopefully he’ll be staying.

“He’s shown a pair of b*****ks really because he done that against Sheppey, last kick of the game he’s taken a penalty. He’s done it again tonight, full credit to him.

“You’ve just got to look back to last year, both Cup finals, we’ve come from behind late, play-off final we came from behind late. We’ve just got to keep going and keep plugging away to try to get certain points.”

Maxwell added: “The last two moments, particularly the goal itself, there were probably four little errors that lead up to the big error. It could be a number of things but they’ve got a penalty, converted it and we share the spoils.

“Having scored the first goal, I felt as it we were just looking a little bit tired, didn’t really manage the game well and the next few moments we’ve headed it back, do we need to head it back? I don’t think so. I think we should head that away and unfortunately the keeper’s come out and obviously caught the lad and they’ve converted the penalty.

“It’s not (the keeper’s) fault for the goal. He’s got to come, the header’s short. He’s coming, he’s not got there and that’s not his fault. I think it’s a poor header to him, it’s not his fault.”

Erith Town are now in eleventh-place in their first campaign in the eighth-tier, having picked up 37 points (10 wins, seven draws and nine defeats), while the title-race is still between Ramsgate and Sittingbourne with 15 games left to play.

Ben Smith’s Rams have picked up 74 points (24 wins, two draws and one defeat), while Sittingbourne (22 wins, two draws and one defeat) are now four points behind.

The other three sides in the play-offs are Burgess Hill Town (61 points from 26 games), Margate (57 points from 27 games) and Sheppey United (47 points from 28 games).

Ernie Batten’s Sheppey lost 2-1 at AFC Croydon Athletic tonight and Merstham have closed the gap to one point with three games in hand following their 3-2 home win over Three Bridges.

Erith Town welcome thirteenth-placed side Eastbourne Town (10 wins, six draws and 12 defeats) to Bayliss Avenue on Saturday, a side that are unbeaten in their last four games.

“We’ve got to get in on Thursday, recover and try to get ready.  We’ve got a lot of games in hand over teams. We’ve got to try to get some wins under our belt and try to push up that table and finish as high as we can,” said Woodward, who was asked how it’s been in the Isthmian League this season.

“It’s difficult. It’s tough. It’s hard. We’ve got a lot of boys, if you go through our side tonight, they were playing for me last year in Step Five. Some of them have not played Steps Four before so we’re just trying to get used to the level.

“But it’s a good League. It’s really good. It’s just taking its toll on our bodies a little bit so on Thursday, we’ll have a nice chill out, come in, a little bit of analysis, a little bit of TLC and some pizzas.

“We’ve had Eastbourne watched, so we’ll go through that on Thursday and let’s hope they’re not as direct as tonight!”

Sittingbourne, meanwhile, travel down to another newly-promoted side in Steyning Town Community on Saturday.

They climbed off the foot of the table with a 2-0 away win over fellow Sussex outfit Broadbridge Heath tonight and have picked up 16 points (four wins, four draws and 20 points).

Nick Davis’s Hythe Town are now at the foot of the table on 14 points with three games in hand, with Phoenix Sports (18 points from 27 games) and Littlehampton Town (18 points from 27 games) in a five-club shootout to avoid the drop with Lancing currently safe on 21 points from 29 league outings.

Both manager’s were asked about the title race.

“Listen, we don’t do anyone favours. We play for ourselves. We wanted to win the game tonight. Ramsgate is not my problem. Yes, we’ve just got to worry about us,” came Woodward’s natural response.

“Let those two fight it out at the top. I think it will be those two at the top. I think you can probably nail on Burgess Hill and Margate being in the play-offs and there’s on spot to play in the play-offs and we have to try to get down and try to aim for  that.

“If we win some games in hand and we’ve got teams that are in and around us now, your Herne Bay’s, your Eastbourne’s and we can get some points on the board against them and try to just go along minding our own business – exactly what we done last year, there’s no reason why we can’t get in those play-offs.

“I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re going to get them. Last season, I was very confident we get them. This season, we’re going to need some luck but we’ve just going to keep plugging away.”

When asked whether he can bring in fresh blood for a play-off push, Woodward revealed he is being priced out of the market.

“It’s tough. We’ve put approaches in for players, who are in the bottom three of the SCEFL who are still earning more money playing in the SCEFL, so it’s tough. It’s tough to get people in. It’s got to be the right fit for the group as well.

“It’s good to play against some good managers. Ryan is a top manager. He kicks every ball on the sideline, he’s very intimidating.  We’ve been to Ramsgate and played in front of a thousand people there – you don’t get that in the SCEFL and we’ve just got to make sure we stay Step Four.”

Maxwell replied: “We’re still unbeaten in god knows how many games, 29 unbeaten. I’m not going to chastise anybody! We’ve just come back of a history making game on Saturday. They boys showed loads of fight still. We just switched off a bit in the last couple of minutes and we got caught.

“The players are very disappointed, that’s obvious. We had three points in our hand with just moments to go. We’re a very resilient group and we will pick ourselves up and go again.

“it is what it is. It’s such a long way to go. I wouldn’t have been too high if we would’ve won and not too low had we lost. There’s so many points to play for. I’ve been in these before, there’s many twists and turns to be had.

“Listen, Ramsgate getting beat on a Tuesday night by East Grinstead, so you look at results like that. We haven’t lost tonight. We’ve only drawn but ultimately it’s a marathon isn’t it and (winning a league) is the hardest thing to do.

“The Trophy’s great, the League is the bread and butter and to be competing on both fronts still is tremendous but the League is number one.”

“I’ll turn my attentions (to Steyning) to that tomorrow. My attention was on Erith tonight and I’ll get stuck into Steyning tomorrow and find a plan and approach it like you always do.”

Sittingbourne play league games against Steyning Town Community, Margate, Beckenham Town and Hythe Town before welcoming National League side Aldershot Town in The FA Trophy Quarter-Finals on Saturday 1 March.

“I just enjoyed the win. It was a bit of a dream on the Saturday and Sunday it kind of sunk in a little bit. I think it sunk in properly yesterday. We had to focus on tonight, so the games are coming thick and fast.  I’m not allowed to enjoy it too much. I’ve got to move on to the next game.”

When Maxwell was asked to pick just the one – winning the League or winning the FA Trophy at Wembley Stadium, Maxwell replied: “Win the League because I think it’s the hardest one to do, that’s not true, it’s not the hardest, it’s the one I’d prefer.

“The Trophy is phenomenal, don’t get me wrong. I think it would be a history making achievement. No one at Step Four has won it, I’m sure of that, so look it’s not a tough question for me – I want to win the League.”

Erith Town: Conor Clark, Jerome Jayaguru, Tom Hanfrey, Ross Craig, Calum McGeehan, George Goodwin, Luke Leppard, Aaron Jeffery (James Miles 55), Harry Taylor, Bradley Ryan (Leo Mazzone 90), Finley Williams (Ollie Milton 46).
Subs: Bertie Valler, Theo Osinfolarin

Goal: James Miles 90 (penalty)

Booked: Aaron Jeffery 31, Luke Leppard 38, George Goodwin 53, Jerome Jayaguru 71

Sittingbourne: James Batt, Donvieve Jones, Henry Lukombo, Ayman El-Mogharbel, Jack Steventon (Chris Arthur 75), Liam Smith, Funsho Sinai (James Bessey-Saldanha 77), Joseph Boachie, Mitchell May, Ryan Kingsford (Codey Cosgrave 87), Troy Howard (Jay Beckford 77).
Sub: Harley Earle

Goal: Ayman El-Mogharbel 88

Booked: Liam Smith 29, James Batt 90

Attendance: 178
Referee: Mr Scott Rudd
Assistants: Mr Ayden Gillespie & Mr Alex Gordon