East Thurrock Utd 5 Rams 1 – LCup

Ramsgate tonight travelled across the Dartford Crossing in search of cup progress but it was the Essex side, with Lakeside on their doorstep, who completed their Christmas shopping with this convincing score-line. Although the hosts took an early lead when Petrit Elbi fired them ahead after only four minutes it didn’t always look like being as one sided as the final result implies. Neither side managed to dominate the first period, which, whilst sometimes patchy, was played out at a lively pace fitting of a cup tie. In fact if Warren Schulz’s speculative overhead kick prior to the opener or more of their other moves, often including the recently returned Paul Axon, had tested the home ‘keeper it could have been a different story altogether. As it was neither team carved out too many clear chances andEast Thurrocktook the one goal advantage into the break.

Although closely matched so far,East Thurrockdoubled their lead as Elbi added to his personal tally for the night, slotting past the oncoming Danny Twyman within ten minutes of the restart. All was not lost however as, despite James Gregory being denied by the ‘keeper, the lively Axon was felled scrambling for the loose ball and Schulz stepped up to thump the ball confidently into the net and reduce the lead. Despite some confident individual performances, notably from the still improving Tom Chapman, whose energetic runs and ability to drop deep when required had earned him another starting berth, this was the end of the road for the Rams’ cup dreams this season. Soon after the Reds’ solitary goal Reiss Gilbey struck the ball past Twyman who was injured in his efforts to prevent the goal and immediately replaced by substitute goalkeeper Dave Parker. The new custodian was the first of three players to make their first team debuts tonight for the Rams and unfortunately his first action of the night was to pick the ball out of the net afterThurrock’s Kris Newby put a strong penalty past him to make the score four-one. Fellow debutants Andrew Johnston and Daniel Gonzalez-Bello made good first impressions for the reds, with the changes to personnel and positions including a very advanced ‘in the hole’ position for captain Liam Quinn who looked as comfortable here as he did leading the back line. Although Ramsgate did have chances, including a good header from recent goal hero Ollie Gray and runs from the advanced Quinn, it was Sam Collins who scored the fifth and final goal for the home side with a thirty yard screamer which again gave Parker no chance. Despite being reduced to ten men for the final four minutes when defender James Cook was sent off for an extremely high and solid foot through Axon, in the end the Rooks’ Ryman Premier League status showed through and they progress to the next round whilst the Rams faced a cold journey back to Kent. On Saturday the Rams again travel to Walton, this time to Walton & Hersham, as they now focus solely on improving their league status over the remainder of the season.

Rams: Danny Twyman (Dave Parker 64), Ollie Gray, Steve O’Brien, Luke Wheatley, Liam Quinn (Capt), Ben Laslett, Paul Axon, Warren Schulz (Andrew Johnston 79), Simon Pettit, Tom Chapman, James Gregory (Daniel Gonzalez-Bello 64)

Rams’ Goals  :  Schulz 57 (pen)

ETU Goals  :  Elbi 4, 54, Gilbey 63, Newby 68 (pen), Collins 80

 Attendance 61