Pitching In Isthmian League South East Division
Littlehampton welcomed high flying Sittingbourne to The Sportsfield on Tuesday evening with both sides in search of three points for very different reasons. Golds have been nearly men in recent weeks and have twice squandered two goal leads in a run of four winless matches, which has left them uncomfortably close to the relegation zone.
In contrast the visitors were on a long unbeaten run that has seen them close in on leaders Ramsgate and they would have seen this visit to the West Sussex coast as an ideal opportunity to apply more pressure at the top.
It was a cold and damp evening in BN17 and a very heavy pitch meant both sides struggled to get any fluidity going. Understandably Golds paid the visitors plenty of respect and were happy to defend with discipline rather than commit too much going forward. As a result Sittingbourne struggled to create much themselves.
The two best chances of the first half did fall their way, both times to Troy Howard who would have been disappointed not to hit the target on either occasion.
It didn’t take the Kent side long to remedy this after the break though. Littlehampton did well to block an initial shot but the rebound fell kindly to James Bessey- Saldanha who rifled home from the edge of the box in the 51st minute .
A difficult task became even harder just after the hour when a couple of strong tackles saw Howard booked and in the aftermath Golds Dion Jarvis saw Red for his reaction to the visiting supporters.
From then on the visitors were content to hold on to what they had rather than go for the jugular. They did have one effort that crashed off the crossbar but otherwise Littlehampton continued to defend well without ever managing to make a serious threat at the other end. Ultimately it was a pretty comfortable victory for Sittingbourne and with Ramsgate losing surprisingly at East Grinstead it turned out to be a very satisfactory evening for them.
Littlehampton can take some comfort from staying in the game and making it an awkward evening for a good side . Points are what they need now though as they turn their attention to another difficult match on Saturday with the visit of leaders Ramsgate.