Sittingbourne vs Gresley Rovers
Colin Loss chose the perfect moment to score his first goal for Gresley Rovers at Central Park last night.
The young midfielder's 77th minute strike direct from a free kick gave Rovers a shock victory over the big spending Kent side and delivered a timely tonic to boss Steve Dolby after a dismal run of defeats.
The result plunged Sittingbourne into a mini-crisis of their own. The Brickies have now lost four of their last five games and seen their title bid falter.
They began last night determined to get back on the rails and with debutant Martin Buglioni, a £10,000 signing from St Johnstone, making his debut in attack Rovers weren't given much of a look in, in the early stages.
Sittingbourne, with the benefit of their full time training, looked quicker all over the rain-sodden park than Rovers and it took a timely clearance by Mark Blount to deny Carlton Wynter a goal after just six minutes when Matt Stock and Lee McRobert had sliced open the right side of the Rovers defence.
Gresley battled manfully but Bourne's grip on the game had become a stranglehold when they went ahead on 18 minutes , Buglioni climaxing a long period of pressure by bursting onto Wynter's prompt on the edge of the box and thumping the ball past an exposed Bob Aston.
The last thing anyone expected was a Rovers equaliser but within four minutes the Moat men were level.
Aston relieved more pressure with a long kick up field and Mark Hurst neatly exchanged passes with Martin Devaney before running clear into the box and, holding off a defender, firing across keeper Lee Harper and in off the post.
Sittingbourne responded in predictable fashion and Aston had to be at his best to keep out a far post header by Tim Hulme from ex-England international Mark Barham's cross as the home side sought to restore their advantage.
The keeper dealt well with crisp efforts from Buglioni and McRobert before Barham set up the new boy with a glaring chance on the stroke of half time only for the striker to this time fire wide. Aston came to the rescue again on 55 minutes, palming away McRobert's shot and Blount clearing a loose ball from a crowded goalmouth. Then full back Murray Jones sent a swirling cross against the bar.
Still Rovers held on with Aston again denying McRobert and full back Simon Beard squandering a great chance when set up by Stock. But with 13 minutes left Rovers suddenly found themselves on the brink of a sensational victory.
Hurst, not for the first time, was upended as he tried to hold the ball up on the edge of the box and when Loss fired a low free kick into a crowded goal area the ball somehow found its way into the far corner of the net.
Rovers' joy was unbounded but Sittingbourne were merely stung into more aggression with Aston again saving at the feet of McRobert then looking on as Buglioni headed narrowly off target.
Bourne launched a final blitz as the game entered stoppage time but when substitute Jeff Ross's corner finally found its way past the Gresley keeper Blount hacked the ball off the line and Aston clutched McRobert's fiercely driven return to ensure a happy journey back north for the Moatmen.
Sittingbourne (1) 1
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Scorers: Buglioni 18 (Sittingbourne); Hurst 22, Loss 77 (Gresley Rovers)
Sittingbourne: Harper, Beard, Jones (Kelly 60), Day, Hulme, Wynter, Borne, Stock (Ross 73), Buglioni, McRobert, Barham.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Blount, Rigg, Loss, Evans, Stanborough, Moore (Weston 58), Denby, Hurst, Devaney, Elliott. Sub not used: Swainston.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Bob Aston
Referee: B J Forman (Stroud, Kent)
Attendance: 763
