Rams 1 Whitstable 2

Sadly the extra day’s rest after Christmas didn’t have the desired effect as the Rams fell to a belated Boxing Day defeat by local rivals Whitstable. With the hosts generally slower through the first half it was the Oystermen who showed their party spirit when they took an early lead through Scott Heard’s low shot from 25 yards out with just seven minutes played. In truth there was little in the opening period to entertain the festive fans and chances for Liam Quinn, again playing in an advanced position behind lone striker Ian Pulman, and recent scorer Ben Laslett punctuated a half where Whitstable’s possession wasn’t converted into goal-scoring chances and half time came with the score remaining 1-0 to the visitors.

With Rams’ manager Jim Ward having been reprimanded just before the interval for his constant barracking of the officials he certainly had plenty to discuss with them after the break as the match came alive. With Gareth Cornhill replacing the struggling Ollie Gray at right-back and Pascal Ebigbo taking the position in front of him in place of the quiet Dean Grant at half time, the hosts came racing out of the blocks. A particularly lively start was made by substitute Ebigbo whose cross-come shot in the 47^th minute brought gasps and a few cheers from the crowd, although the perceived goal was not so as the ball dipped just over the crossbar. Only a minute later his short match was over as he received his marching orders after being fouled by Dan Wisker. The referee saw the foul from Wisker and duly supplied a yellow card and whilst he missed the stamp on Ebigbo’s arm he didn’t miss the retaliation and the winger was back in the changing room after just three minutes on the pitch. Reduced to ten men for the remainder of the match Ward again shuffled his pack with Warren Schulz replacing recent signing Peter Wedgeworth – ‘Wazza’ actually taking Quinn’s advanced role with the captain returning to central defensive duties and Luke Wheatley pushing out to left-back – and it looked like the switch could pay dividends with Schulz taking his share of possession and a good shot burning the goalkeeper’s gloves and earning a corner from which Ben Laslett could have again added to his season’s tally had the box not been so crowded. With a numerical advantage the visitors started to take control but, fortunately for the Rams, they squandered possession on a number of occasions. That changed in the 69^th minute however when home ‘keeper Danny Twyman’s wayward clearance found the feet of advancing striker Damian Abel, who was only too happy to accept this gift and slotted the ball home to give Whitstable a two goal advantage. With twenty minutes to play, two goals and one man down the reds faced an uphill battle but they stared back at this adversity and had some of their best play of the match. Town were also reduced to ten men with thirteen minutes remaining when recent signing Shane Hamshare fouled the spritely Pulman and received his 2^nd caution of the match. With just 5 minutes remaining Pulman had another chance when more creativity from Schulz set him free on the right and with his shot beating ex-Ram Jack Smelt it was only the post that denied a deserved goal. Almost immediately Pulman found himself in a mirror image position from another ball from Schulz and whilst his low shot, this time from the left, again beat the ‘keeper the post had no say in the outcome as Ramsgate pulled a goal back and, now with ten men apiece a lively ending ensued. With six minutes of additional time signalled by the referee the home side pushed on for the equaliser with ‘keeper Twyman making appearances in the visitors’ box for corner after corner – and even getting a touch on from one of Simon Pettit’s long throws. Despite Danny’s last ditch efforts, and calls for a late penalty for hand ball, it was not to be and the Oystermen took all three points home with them.

None of the nine cards today were very festive (seven yellow and two red) but Ramsgate have a chance to return to winning ways before the year closes out when they return to Southwood on Saturday against another Kent side, Sittingbourne, with a one o’clock kick off.

Ramsgate  :  Danny Twyman, Ollie Gray (Gareth Cornhill 46), Peter Wedgeworth (Warren Schulz 57), Luke Wheatley, Liam Quinn (Capt), Ben Laslett, Dean Grant (Pascal Ebigbo 46 ), Joe Dolan, Ian Pulman, Simon Pettit, Steve O’Brien

Unused Substitutes  :  Joe Taylor, Brett Mills (GK)