Ramsgate FC 1-1 Sevenoaks Town
Sevenoaks win 7-6 on Penalties
An impressive 355 supporters at the WWMartin Community Stadium, the largest crowd of the night in Kent saw a heavily rotated Rams side maintain their unbeaten start to the season whilst bowing out of the velocity cup after a penalty shoot out.
The Rams came into this match having won all 9 previous games. Their best ever start to a season and club statisticians also believe it to be an all time record breaking run of wins for any stage of a campaign.
Ultimately the tie was decided on a penalty shootout with Sevenoaks coming out 7-6 victors but the turning point came as early as the 20th minute when referee Scott Judd showed Lee Martin two successive yellow cards in the space for 10 seconds.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, Ramsgate continued to dominate possession and were almost rewarded in the 30th minute when TJ Jadama found himself in space in the area but the Sevenoaks defence managed to make successive blocks to deny the Rams taking the lead.
The breakthrough for Sevenoaks came in the 71st minute after good work down the wing from Jefferson Aibangbee. It appeared that he pulled down TT Walters in the build up but the referee waved play on and his touch found Majekodunmi in the 6yd box to prod home.
However Ramsgate weren’t going to let their record fall easily and were back on level terms within 3 minutes. The tireless TJ Jadama played a one-two wit Vance Bola and weaved his way through the Sevenoaks defence to cut back and find a grateful Bola to slot home.
Chances were few and far between for the final 20 minutes and the tie petered out to a stalemate and penalties.
Early penalties were slotted home well but the first miss came from Ramsgate’s Medy Elito who tried an audacious shot with his leading foot that was read by the Sevenoaks keeper. Parity was restored immediately though as Newcombe got down well to even up the contest. That is how it stayed until the seventh round of penalties and it was Myles Judd that unfortunately missed first meaning Sevenoaks advance into the next round of the Velocity Cup.
Special mention goes to Seth Brock, who signed first-team papers this week and earned a place in the senior team squad against Sevenoaks. His progress is a testament to his hard work and dedication, and it’s great to see his development recognized at the higher level.
