Hollands & Blair 4-4 Ramsgate (3-4 pens) - They gave me everything, says proud Paul Piggott

HOLLANDS & BLAIR  4-4  RAMSGATE
(after extra time – Ramsgate win 4-3 on penalties)
Kent Senior Cup Sponsored by Portablefloodlights.com Second Round
Tuesday 6^th November 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Maidstone Road

TEN-MAN Ramsgate booked their place in the Quarter-Finals on a night when romance finally returned to the much criticised Kent Senior Cup.

Kent Invicta League side Hollands & Blair were making their debut in the competition after winning the Kent Senior Trophy for the first time last season with their shock victory over Sevenoaks Town.

The Gillingham-based outfit described this Second Round tie as their biggest game in their history, as they locked horns with eighth-placed Ryman League Division One South side Ramsgate.

And the 130 fans who came through the turnstiles for this floodlit game at Chatham Town’s Maidstone Road ground, witnessed arguably the greatest Kent Senior Cup tie in history on an exciting night that saw referee Mr Paul Yates award FIVE penalties in normal time.

Ramsgate went into the interval a goal up after Warren Schulz scored the first penalty of the night inside a dominant opening twenty minutes.

But the turning point came when visiting keeper Shannon Harris was sent-off for a professional foul and former Herne Bay player Michael Jenner scored the first of his hat-trick of successful penalties.

But Hollands & Blair were in dreamland as three goals in a devastating six minute spell gave them a remarkable 3-1 lead as Ben Brown and another Jenner penalty stunned their more illustrious opponents.

But step forward Schulz, who wore the green captain’s armband during the second half following the forced withdrawal of skipper Dean Hill with an injured foot, as the 34-year-old brought Ramsgate back from the death with two goals from normal play within eleven minutes

Schulz felt he had won the game for Ramsgate when he converted his second penalty of the night with 45:44 on the clock.

But Hollands & Blair immediately went up the other end and forced extra time when Jenner held his nerve to tuck home his third penalty of the game – with 47:20 on the clock.

Despite all of that drama there were no goals during extra time so the game was settled by another nine penalties during a shoot-out.

Ramsgate scored all four of theirs – with Curtis Robinson, Schulz, Sam Gore and Jon Eguileor, but two Hollands & Blair players, Jay Doe and Sean Hetterley, skied their attempts over the bar as Ramsgate booked a trip to either Thamesmead Town or holders Hythe Town in the last eight.

Ramsgate boss Tim Dixon, who won the Kent Senior Cup as Dover Athletic’s skipper back in 1991, said; “Absolutely cracking game. I’m proud of the lads because they went down to ten-men and we were 3-1 down and got back into it.

“Unfortunately we let a silly goal in, in the last minute of the game and I thought we could see the game out and win 4-3. Unfortunately they got the last minute equaliser to take us into extra-time.

“We didn’t really need the extra-time going into the weekend with a tough, tough FA Trophy game against Sutton United.

“But I’m very proud that we got through.  We showed a lot of resilience.  Hollands & Blair set-up really well and they looked very dangerous at times. 

“We missed a couple of chances first half.  Warren’s hit the post with two free-kicks. They’ve missed a couple of chances but overall a great performance from both sides and I think the crowd were entertained tonight. It was a good game of football.”

Hollands & Blair boss Paul Piggott, meanwhile, was a proud man at the final whistle after his side played their part on a magical Tuesday night.

“I’m probably as drained as the players to be fair,” said Piggott.

“But they’ve given me everything.  They’ve absolutely given me everything.  I mean I can’t ask no more from them. There’s a few tired bodies in there, I’ve got to tell you!

“When I spoke to the players’ before the game just us being in this game tonight speaks volumes of what the players’ have done over the last two or three years. There’s one thing that I said to them before today and that was don’t let yourselves down and don’t let the club down and they’ve gone beyond letting anyone down today!”

Ramsgate’s arrival in Chatham was delayed when their coach broke down en-route to the ground and the match kicked off at 8 o’clock.

Dixon made seven changes to his side that thrashed Crawley Down Gatwick 4-1 at Southwood Stadium at the weekend, as Gore, Hill, Robinson and Schulz maintained their place in the side against a Hollands & Blair side that are in third-place in the Kent Invicta League table, seven points adrift of unbeaten leaders Phoenix Sports.

Hollands & Blair were forced to make one change from their side that came away from second-placed Bearsted with a 2-1 win, which secured their fifth win on the bounce.

Seventeen-goal striker, Ricky Freeman, missed the Big One after injuring himself playing Sunday League football at the weekend.

Hollands & Blair created the first chance of this epic, inside the opening seven minutes when Jordan Gallacher cut the ball back to left-back Bryan Greenfield, who swept in a first time speculative shot from 40-yards, which dipped and forced the back-peddling Harris into palming the ball over the bar at the final minute.

Jenner then tried his luck with a speculative right-footed drive from 45-yards, which was comfortably saved low down by the Ramsgate keeper.

Gallacher, who was causing Ramsgate right-back Kyle Wisker problems, whipped in a cross from the left but Brown’s lashed over his left-footed shot on the turn from eight-yards.

Hollands & Blair almost punished a poor touch from Wisker in the eleventh minute but Brown stroked his shot narrowly wide of the foot of the near post after cutting in from the left.

Ramsgate recovered from their sluggish start and created their first chance three minutes later when Hollands & Blair keeper James Smith dived to his left to palm onto the post Schulz’s right-footed 30-yard free-kick.

But Ramsgate drew first blood, by taking the lead inside twenty minutes.

Maidstone based referee Mr Yates pointed to the spot after he adjudged Brown to have handled the ball inside the penalty area and Schulz stepped up to stroke his right-footed penalty into the bottom right-hand corner.

Dixon said: “It started well with us. I was pretty annoyed with a couple of goals we conceded.  After that we had our chance at 1-0 to make it 2-0 and we didn’t take that. Jon was through on goal. I felt at the stage of the game you could look to push on and get two, three maybe but they got back into it.”

Piggott said: “I mean the boys’ are a little bit disappointed, they don’t think it was a penalty to be honest with you.  I didn’t see it myself but there you go!

“That first 20 minutes I thought we stuttered a little bit.  We were a little bit stage-fright and what have you. We struggled to get into the game for the first 20 minutes but once that penalty went in we seemed to pass the ball. We seemed to relax a bit. A little bit of weight went off our players’ shoulders and we played a bit and I think we got back into the game.”

Schulz then turned provider when his precise through ball was latched onto by Spanish striker Jon Eguileor but he was denied by Hollands & Blair keeper James Smith, who spread himself big to make a crucial block.

Schulz, who was clearly Ramsgate’s colossus, cracked a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which was tipped over the bar by Smith as this game approached the half-an-hour mark.

But Hollands & Blair wasted a decent chance to claw themselves back into the game on the stroke of half-time but Jenner steered his shot straight at Harris from eight-yards.

Piggott added: “He just had a little stab at it, didn’t he?”

But Hollands & Blair didn’t look like a side two leagues lower than Ramsgate in large sections of this game.

“Apart from the first twenty minutes when I think they dominated and they moved the ball around and they were sharp,” added Piggott.

“I looked then and I thought crikey, we’re in with a game tonight, which I expected but that’s a compliment in itself that you couldn’t see there was two league’s difference in the two, but having said that at 3-1 up we shouldn’t be throwing the game away!”

Dixon was forced into making his first change when Hill was forced off through injury, so Schulz reclaimed the captain’s armband.

But Hollands & Blair came out for the second half and upped their game and panic began to creep into Ramsgate’s game.

Greenfield charged down the left and whipped in an excellent low cross towards the near post and Hetterley’s first time shot from eight-yards brought a crucial block from Harris inside the opening three minutes.

But the drama started to evolve in what was a crazy six minutes of pure brilliant drama.

Hetterley was put through on goal and seemed destined to slot the ball into an empty goal but Harris sent him crashing down to the ground and referee Mr Yates had no option other than to show the eighteen-year-old keeper a red-card.

Substitute keeper Danny Twyman was rushed onto the pitch, but he could do nothing about Jenner’s resulting right-footed spot-kick, sending the 32-year-old the wrong way  to fire the ball into the right-corner in the 55^th minute.

Dixon said: “Obviously the turning point was when we got our goalkeeper sent off.  After that Shannon was a bit upset, but I think we didn’t help ourselves by the fall out letting the lad a free run on goal and he’s had to take him down.  He’s a bit distraught but he’ll learn from that but he’s only a young lad and he got his chance tonight.”

Reflecting on Harris’ sending-off, Piggott said: “It’s unfortunate. It’s one of those things. When you’ve got players with pace like Sean, as a goalkeeper you’ve got to make a decision early because they come on you quick and unfortunately the lad made the wrong decision. It’s a shame to see him go but unfortunately that’s the way it is.”

And on Jenner’s equaliser, Piggott added: “He showed composure because we were a little bit rattled at the time.  It wasn’t flowing freely for us but he should be playing at that level of football in my opinion anyway.  I couldn’t think of anyone better to step up and take a penalty to take the pressure off us.”

Hollands & Blair took the lead for the first time just four minutes later. 

Greenfield took a corner from the right to Tom Staff, who played the ball back to Greenfield, who clipped the ball into the penalty area and the ball fell for Brown, who unleashed a low left-footed drive through a crowd of players and into the bottom right-hand corner to spark wild scenes of celebration.

Piggott was full of praise for Brown, by saying, “Ben worked hard for us.  He hasn’t got natural pace or anything like that but he worked hard for the team today.  I’m really glad that the ball fell to him and he took the chance really well. It was a good finish by Ben.”

And when Hollands & Blair raced into an unthinkable 3-1 lead in the 61^st minute, Ramsgate appeared to be down and out.

Hetterley’s pace saw him burst into the Ramsgate penalty area and he was tripped by Robinson and Mr Yates inevitably pointed to the spot for the third time.

Jenner looped his resulting right-footed penalty into the left hand corner of the Ramsgate net – but Piggott knew there was still a long way to go.

Piggott said: “Crikey! I don’t know what I was thinking!  I don’t know what I was thinking when we was 3-1 up!  I know that it was still early in the game. I knew they had plenty to throw at us. I knew they wouldn’t go down without a fight and they seemed to get better and quicker as the game went on but there you go. That’s what good sides do.

“At 3-1 then you’ve got half a sniff thinking you’ll win the game but I haven’t been in the game that long but I’ve been in it long enough when you play against good sides you don’t start counting your chickens too early.

“We got sloppy with the two goals (in open play) we conceded.  Schulz (for the second goal) didn’t have anyone for five yards away from him in our box and that’s not good enough at any level of football so we’re disappointed with that but at 3-1 up you’re thinking we’ve got a chance here!”

When asked what he was thinking with his side 3-1 down to a side that are two leagues underneath his club, Dixon said: “It’s hard to put your finger on something like that because you have to put out the errors in your game if you’re going to have any success in football.

“Very disappointing with the way we defended against them in that period of time but we picked ourselves up. We had a good chat and we didn’t sulk.  We showed a lot of resilience and a lot of character.   I’m pleased with the way we’ve come back.”

Dixon added: “To be honest the ten men don’t help, but I think we still passed the ball. We still kept the ball and still tried to do the right things even with ten-men.

“At the end of the day Hollands & Blair are here on merit. They won that Kent Senior Trophy and they’re here because they deserve to be here.”   

Dixon immediately threw on substitute Tom Chapman after shipping the third goal and the attacker played a key role in bringing Ramsgate back into the game in the 69^th minute.

Chapman burst past Greenfield and reached the right by-line before cutting the ball back to an unmarked Schulz, who lashed home his right-footed shot into the top right-hand corner from ten-yards.

Dixon said: “Tom has crucified the left-back and he’s had an end result as well.  It’s alright players doing that and going to the by-line and cutting the ball back.  There’s an awful lot of players these days that do that but don’t actually give you an end product but he did and Warren put it into the top corner and it was a great finish!”

Schulz almost scored his hat-trick when he ghosted in at the far post but glanced his header narrowly wide of the near post after Macauley Murray and Gore linked up well following Gore’s corner from the left.

Hollands & Blair went close too when Jenner played in Hetterley who cut the ball back across goal to Jenner, but the former Herne Bay player steered his shot past the near post.

With the amateur side tiring, Schulz levelled the game at 3-3 with his hat-trick with ten minutes remaining when he hooked his shot into the bottom right-hand corner after a sweeping move involving Murray and Eguileor.

Dixon added: “Cracking little finish again!  A slight deflection. He’s in the right place and he’s got his hat-trick, deservedly so and after that he’s finished it off with a penalty in the last couple of minutes and we thought we’re there!”

Hollands & Blair felt they had snatched a historic victory with seven minutes of normal time remaining.  Hetterley looked up and cracked a right-footed drive from 35-yards which sailed over Twyman but the ball bounced agonisingly against the top of the crossbar.

Piggott said: Cor, crikey! I was surprised he hit the crossbar! He’s normally putting them into row Z!  He had two great chances there with his pace he’s got himself into the box. He’s got himself into good positions but some you get, some you don’t!”

Ramsgate were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position after Eguileor was fouled.  Schulz curled his right-footed free-kick around the four man wall but the effort was poorly hit and allowed Smith to make a comfortable low save.

But Ramsgate felt they had won it inside the opening minute of time added on when Chapman broke with electrifying pace and his box-to-box run resulted in driving a shot towards goal, which was illegally blocked by Steve Dampier’s hand.

Schulz wrapped up a remarkable personal performance as he held his nerve and dinked his right-footed penalty into the roof of the net.

Dixon paid tribute to Schulz – has he had a better game for his beloved Ramsgate?

“He scored a penalty afterwards as well so he’s scored five and he’s hit the post twice. The guy’s phenomenal! I think people in football, you talk to most Kent managers and they all know Warren Schulz and what he can do.  Being his testimonial this year I’m going to support him as much as I can. He’s never let anyone down.  He’s Mr Ramsgate really and he deserves everything that he gets.”

Piggott added: “Was it a block? They’re unfortunate those ones. The referee has got to give them!

“Game over? You think so, don’t you, but not at our club!  We’ve had quite a few big games where we’ve come back at the death.  I used to think it was a little bit of luck but these boys have done it so many times now. They never give up. They never say die. They keep going until that whistles gone and they’ve proved it too many times.”

But Hollands & Blair never know when they’re beaten and a long ball put substitute Jay Dow through on goal and Twyman came rushing off his line to send the attacker crashing to the ground.

Jenner stepped up for the third time and held his nerve yet again and rifted his right-footed penalty into the roof of the net to force extra time.

Piggott said: “Again it’s about character, it’s having bottle. To take the third penalty knowing that was our last chance to stay in the game. Again, I wouldn’t want anyone else to be taking it. He’s got steel running through his veins that boy and he proved it out there today.

“Talk about composure!  Jenner himself took three penalties in the game and scored all three and their lad took a few. Even the penalties throughout the day I don’t think there was a bad penalty apart from the two we’ve missed but the penalties in the game and the shoot out there were some great penalties!”

When asked whether he’s been involved in a game with five penalties, Dixon replied, “Never, never!  To be fair their lad (Jenner) has got a hat-trick of penalties so fair play to him as well because you’ve got to come up, step up and hold your nerve.”

Remarkably, extra-time brought no further goals, but both sides still battled tiredness and created chances to win it.

Schulz’s left-footed shot on the turn from 22-yards was palmed over by Smith before the Rams’ longest-serving player saw his right-footed free-kick from 28-yards clip agonisingly against the right-hand post.

And in the second period, Hetterley put the ball into the Ramsgate box but substitute right-back Jack West sent his towering header wide.

And the unlucky Hetterley struck the crossbar for the second time in the game in the 111^th minute after cutting in from the left and cracking a shot that had Twyman counting his lucky stars.

Ramsgate could have won it when Gore played in Eguileor, but his low shot rolled across Smith and across the face of goal, which allowed the Blair keeper to collect the loose ball.

Reflecting on extra-time, Dixon said: “I think both sides wanted to win the game to be fair.  We wanted to win the game in normal time.  We didn’t want extra-time.  A couple of good free-kicks from Warren again, they were unlucky on a couple of occasions. 

“It was a proper Kent Cup tie really. Irrespective of what league they’re in and what league we’re in, it was a nice meaty little performance from both sides.  I think the crowd go away tonight seeing a good game of football.”

Reflecting on extra-time, Piggott added: “The boys’ were getting a little bit tired by then on both sides. They were down to ten so they had to work harder. We’re not used to playing at that pace so of course it got a bit open so it was a surprise there were no goals in that time.”

Jenner, again and Cliff Eldridge scored in the shoot-out for Hollands & Blair, but Doe skied his right-footed penalty over the bar after Twyman used his experience and rolled the ball to him.

Greenfield scored Holland & Blair’s third penalty but Hetterley skied his effort and referee Yates blew his whistle at a quarter-to-eleven to bring this epic to a climax.

Dixon was relieved that his side held their nerve from the spot.

The Rams boss said: “I thought our penalties were superb.  We’ve scored four, they’ve missed two.  When I went into the centre circle after extra-time and asked who wanted penalties there were six or seven players who wanted a penalty. You can’t buy that!  You’ve got six or seven people who want to take a penalty in a cup tie, that’s different class! They’ve got a great attitude.  I could only pick five of them to take the penalties and they all done a job.

“I’m just disappointed that it had to go to extra time to be honest with you.”

Unfortunately someone has to lose a penalty shoot-out and Piggott said: “They both missed the target, they’ll be disappointed with that but I’ve always said you’ve got the nuts to go up there and take one, you’ll get a pat on the back from me.  It is a lottery but I’ve got to say there were some good penalties in that shoot-out but there you go. It’s a lottery and it wasn’t our day today.”

But Hollands & Blair can be immensely proud of their players on a special night.

Piggott said: “I can’t ask for no more from them.  A bunch of players’ that are playing two leagues below Ramsgate and they gave me everything.  I don’t want to say it’s a Cup Final because it’s not. It’s only the Second Round.  It was a big occasion for us and what I didn’t want them to do was embarrass themselves and I didn’t want them to go short and we were far beyond that today.”


Hollands & Blair: James Smith, Steve Dampier, Bryan Greenfield, Michael Jenner, Billy Johnson (Jack West 39), Tom Staff, Cliff Eldridge, Ross Brookes (Sam Gutteridge 112), Sean Hetterley, Ben Brown (Jay Doe 81), Jordan Gallacher.
Subs: Lee Preston, Lewis Flisher

Goals: Michael Jenner 55 (pen), 61 (pen), 90 (pen), Ben Brown 59

Booked: Ross Brookes 52, Bryan Greenfield 77

Ramsgate: Shannon Harris, Kyle Wisker (Tom Chapman 62), Sam Gore, Macauley Murray, Dean Hill (Joe Hickman 46), Curtis Robinson, Michael Yianni, Warren Schulz, Jon Eguileor, James Sherman, Jake Regan (Danny Twyman 54).
Subs: Ian Pulman, Luke Alexander

Goals: Warren Schulz 20 (pen), 69, 80, 90 (pen)

Sent Off: Shannon Harris 53

Attendance: 130
Referee: Mr Paul Yates (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Dan Bonneywell (Herne Bay) & Mr Steve Brown (Ashford)