Rams 0 Corinthian-Casuals 1

Tonight the Rams welcomed Corinthian-Casuals to Southwood and, after suffering their first defeat of the season at Whitehawk on Saturday, the Rams were looking to get back to winning ways (especially as before the game, the Casuals had won 2 and lost 3 so far and sat in 13th spot, 5 places before the Rams).

The game didn’t quite go to plan however, with the Casuals getting down the Rams’ wings and having ore chances on goal than had been expected, and whilst Mark Lovell and Joe Taylor were working hard up front they couldn’t find the back of the net. A great chance for the Casuals before the interval was missed as ‘keeper Daren Hawkes saved a penalty, but he looked the worse for wear by the half-time whistle having earlier collided with a Casuals forward that saw play topped for a period.

Hawkes continued in the 2nd half but in the 59th minute had to be replaced in goal, with the gloves being handed to left-back Luke Wheatley and James Brown coming on to take Wheatley’s place.  The game continued without goals, despite Pascal Ebigbo and Joseph Afusi replacing Lovell and Taylor in the 71st minute, the fresher legs of the Nigerian duo causing additional problems for the Casuals’ defence. A cruel blow in stoppage time when Wheatley, who had done sterling work as stand-in ‘keeper, was caught near the edge of the area and Kane Sergeant stormed in from the left flank to snatch all the points.

Attendance 144

Rams: Daren Hawkes, (James Brown 59), Gareth Cornhill, Luke Wheatley, Ollie Gray, Liam Quinn (c), Simon Pettit, Mitchell Sherwood, Aaron Beech, Mark Lovell (Joseph Afusi 71), Joe Taylor (Pascal Ebigbo 71), Steve O’Brien. Unused Subs: James Gregory and Warren Schulz.