Rams 1 Walton & Hersham 1

Today the Rams welcomed Walton & Hersham to Southwood, for the return fixture of the opening game of the season, and sought to extend their run of unbeaten in 2011 . The Swans were quite a different outfit from that first game however, with ex-Godalming coach Chuck Martini now in charge as well as many of his former players moving across to the Swans.

It turned out be be a very lively game of end-to-end football, although it was the Rams who looked most likely to score early on, and in the 5^th minute centre forward Mark Lovell connected well with a cross from Mitchell Sherwood but the ball went just wide of the post. The Rams maintained the pressure and in the 34^th minute a short corner from James Gregory to Warren Schulz saw the latter cross the ball into the danger area, but the defence managed to head it clear as far as the edge of the area, where Paul Axon collected it and brought it back past two defenders before rifling it beneath Gareth Williams. The Rams continued to push and a few minutes later felt a penalty should have been awarded when Gregory was hauled down in the area, but the referee waved play on. Just before the interval the Swans equalised when a corner came in from the left and, after the Rams’ centre half Ollie Gray slipped and ‘keeper Jack Smelt failed to connect properly with his punch, the ball bounced across to Jean-Michel Sigere who stabbed the ball inside the right hand post.

In the 2^nd half the Rams continued as before, while the Swans seemed to play a greater part. Lovell had another good chance with his head 5 minutes after the restart, but a good save by Williams kept the scores level. A minute later and Sherwood, who had been tearing up the flanks all game and had already had a couple of chances, exchanged well with Simon Pettit in midfield before breaking through the defence on the right, but with only Williams left to beat his volley flew just over the bar. On the hour mark Sherwood worked his way into the danger area again, and cut the ball back to Schulz, who shot wide from 3 yards. The game continued end-to-end, although the Ramsgate defence dealt with the Swans’ attacks much better than their visitors did, although with 15 minutes to go the Swans felt they should have had a penalty when Ashley Quashie ended up on the ground after a challenge from Gray. But it was a great save by Williams that helped earn the Swans the point, when in the 80^th minute Gregory’s freekick from the right found Schulz near the far post, and his bullet header was palmed wide by the ‘keeper at full stretch.

Ramsgate: Jack Smelt, Ryan Harker, James Gregory, Luke Wheatley, Ollie Gray, Simon Pettit, Mitchell Sherwood, Warren Schulz (c), Mark Lovell (Zack Thomas 65), Aaron Beech, Paul Axon. Substitutes: Curtis Winnett, Sammy Cliff, George Amber and Brett Mills.