Rams 1 Crawley Down 0

Today the 2011/12 season kicked off with a home win aganst Ryman new boys Crawley Down. The Anvils are well prepared for life at Step 4 and, after winning the Sussex League Championship to gain promotion, beat Sussex League Cup winners Three Bridges on Tuesday to lift the Norman Wingate Trophy.

The Rams have added a few new faces during the close season, with a couple more still being looked at, whilst two have departed and a couple have gone out on loan. Overall the squad looks stronger and tighter than that which ended last season chasing the play-offs, so expectations are high.

As expected, the Anvils started briskly and in a workmanlike manner, but for all their possession they did not really bother the Rams too much. The first real chance fell to the Anvils however when, in the 17^th minute, a cross from left back Brannon O’Neill was volleyed over by Aaron Watson. A minute later and the visitors had another good chance, when Sam Cane’s cross found Roy Pook, but his free header was well held by ‘keeper Daren Hawkes. In the 20^th minute Watson broke through but was intercepted by Rams’ skipper Liam Quinn, but the ball ran free to Cane, whose shot was blocked by Hawkes. By the half hour mark the experience of the Rams was starting to show, and Mitchell Sherwood’s freekick was cleared as far as Mark Lovell on the edge of the area, but the striker’s volley cam off the bar. In the 43^rd minute Ramsgate were forced to introduce Warren Schulz for Aaron Beech, who had been struggling with an injury for most of the half, and in stoppage time Ramsgate broke the deadlock when Joseph Afusi’s cross was headed home by Lovell.

In the 2^nd half the Rams looked much stronger, and after 10 minutes a Schulz shot was deflected off Afusi to Lovell, whose shot on target was well blocked by Michael Hunter. Five minutes later and a sharp back-heel from Afusi, who was surrounded in the box, found Sherwood running through the middle, and his chip nearly caught Hunter out, but the ‘keeper got back on his line to tip the ball over. With 20 minutes to go Gareth Cornhill found Afusi wide left, and his cross ended up with midfielder Ben Laslett, who turned left and right in front of the goal but couldn’t find an opening for a clear shot through the pack of defenders, and his effort was blocked on the line. The Anvil’s best chance in the half came in the 72^nd minute when Hawkes blocked Cane’s effort on the edge of the box, and the ball ran wide to Tom Burton, but he screwed his shot well wide of the left upright. With 6 minutes to go Sherwood’s corner found Joe Taylor clear at the far post, and although the striker did everything right Hunter got down well to block the shot. Taylor was denied another good chance to extend the Rams’ lead by Hunter’s blocking in the 90^th minute, when after good build-up play by Sherwood and Pascal Ebigbo found the striker with enough space to let fly.

Ramsgate: Daren Hawkes, Gareth Cornhill, Luke Wheatley, Ollie Gray, Liam Quinn (c), Ben Laslett, Mitchell Sherwood, Simon Pettit, Mark Lovell (Joe Taylor 72), Joseph Afusi (Pascal Ebigbo 72), Aaron Beech (Warren Schulz 43). Unused Subs: Ryan Harker and Brett Mills.