Ramsgate FC 2-2 Burgess Hill Town
Ramsgate and Burgess Hill town played out a highly entertaining 2-2 draw, but the home side will feel they should’ve won the game despite coming from 2-0 down. The Hillians were superb early on, and raced into a two goal lead inside 25 minutes. The Rams were by far the better side afterwards though, and pulled it back to 2-2 by 57 minutes before visiting goalkeeper Slav Huk preserved parity after a string of saves.
Hill started the game well, and Ben Pope had two chances to open the scoring early on. Firstly, he shot straight at Tom Hadler after the ball was pulled back to him, before he then had a volley come back off the crossbar. Joe Taylor then intercepted a pass across the box before shooting wide from 20 yards, before Alfie Paxman did the same following good work by TJ Jadama to win the ball back high up the pitch.
Burgess Hill then took the lead on fifteen minutes. Pope beat Myles Judd to the ball and drove to the byline on the left hand side, and his cutback was slotted home by Oli Davies despite the best efforts of Jay Leader on the line. The Rams responded well as they looked to get back into the game, withJudd forcing Huk into a great save with a lobbed shot before Paxman had an acrobatic effort fall just wide.
Despite this good response, on 25 minutes the visitors doubled their lead. A corner from the right was headed into the back of the net at the far post by Alex Malins to make it 2-0. Chris Whelpdale then had a shot go wide from 25 yards before the Rams asserted their authority on the game. Judd and Benny Bioletti worked the ball well down the right before the former pulled back for Joe Taylor. The Rams number 9 swiveled and finished superbly with his left foot to make it 2-1. This was how it stayed until the interval.
Ramsgate dominated the early exchanges of the second half, and got the reward they deserved in the 57th minute. Hadler boomed a long pass forward, and Taylor did superbly to bring the ball under control before Huk obstructed him inside the box. Referee Simon Cutler was in no doubt, and a penalty was awarded. Taylor dusted himself off to confidently fire home the penalty to restore parity at 2-2.
Burgess Hill had a couple of efforts go close soon afterwards through Brannon O’Neill and Stefan Vukojie, but it was one way traffic after that. Ramsgate went in search of a winning goal to complete the comeback, and had several chances to do so. Taylor lobbed a Paxman pass over the bar from close range and a tight angle, before an almighty scramble on 70 minutes. A Lee Martin corner was flicked towards goal by a Hill player, only for Hamish Morrison to clear the ball off the line. Paxman’s follow up shot was well saved by Huk and Aaron Barnes just couldn’t force the rebound home. It was Barnes who then went close three minutes later with a header that Huk superbly tipped over the bar.
Substitute Josh Ajayi curled a free kick wide on 82 minutes as the Rams kept pushing. They then had two chances to win the game in stoppage time. Firstly, a Paxman corner was headed wide by Jadama, before Taylor rolled the ball into the path of Tom Clifford, who had a shot saved by Huk from ten yards.
Try as they might, the winning goal just wouldn’t come for the Rams, and 2-2 was how it finished – the points shared in a superb game for the neutral. Ramsgate are next in action this coming Tuesday with another home game, this time against Sevenoaks Town.
Ramsgate: Hadler, Judd, Barnes (Ellul), Leader, Clifford, Martin (Munday), Gard, Jadama, Bioletti (Ajayi), Paxman, Taylor. Subs: Deacon, Walters.