Rams 0 Merstham 1

Ramsgate welcomed Merstham for the last home League game of 2010 and will regret not converting their two or three good chances in the first half, with 3 shots on target and 4 corners to their visitors’ ducks, as Merstham snatched all three points with a goal at the death.

The Rams’ first real chance came in the 8^th minute, when Aaron Beech’s freekick from 45yards landed in the danger zone and, after initially being half-cleared, came back to Mark Lovell at the far post, but highly experienced ‘keeper Ian Chatfield moved sharply to smother the ball. Five minutes later a cross from the right found Lovell in the middle and his header from the edge of the area almost beat Chatfield but the ‘keeper managed to fumble what looked a simple catch over the bar for a corner. In the 17^th minute a neat one-two with Lovell saw Warren Schulz through, but Chatfield just managed to block Schulz’s shot although he had been sent the wrong way, and scrambled forward to reclaim the bal at Schulz’s feet. Merstham’s best chance of the half came 3 minutes later, when a long forward ball from the left fell into Harry Ottaway’s path, but ‘keeper Jack Smelt got there first and Ottaway had to vault over the Ramsgate goalie.

In the second half Merstham became much more involved, although Schulz had another good chance five minutes in, but his header from 6 yards went straight into Chatfield’s arms. In the 68^th minute Merstham had a good chance to score, when Smelt had to come out of his area to head clear of the approaching Ottaway, and although the ball seemed to fall sweetly to the feet of Michael Corbett, the defender launched the ball over the empty goal from the edge of the area. The midfield battle continued, with each side probing their opponents’ area, and with 10 minutes to go a Simon Pettit long throw was knocked over to Schulz on the edge of the box, and although his volley was well placed to go through the sea of legs, it didn’t have the power to beat Chatfield. Perhaps the Rams’ best chance came five minutes from time from their two teenage substitutes, when a failed short corner by Merstham was intercepted by 18 year old Gary Lockyer, who streaked up the middle of the pitch to the Merstham area, where he put it across to George Amber, the 17 year old going past one defender and then putting the ball in the opposite side of the goal to Chatfield, only for a defender to clear it off the line. But Merstham had the last laugh when, in the 90^th minute, a great dive by Chatfield stopped Lockyer’s rocket of a freekick just inside the post, and his clearance to the left flank ended up with another cross into the path of Ottaway, but this time he just beat the defender and stabbed the ball just inside the right hand post with his left foot.

Ramsgate: Jack Smelt, Mitchell Sherwood, Ryan Harker, Luke Wheatley, Liam Quinn, Ben Laslett (c), Aaron Beech, Warren Schulz, Mark Lovell (George Amber 77), Simon Pettit, Paul Axon (Gary Lockyer 62). Unused Subs: James Gregory, Ollie Gray and Brett Mills.