After the great away win against Ashford we are back at TPF against
Sittingbourne are currently the number 16 in the table with 17 points out of 17 games.
They scored 24 goals and conceded 29 goals. Top scorer Loynes with 6 goals.
They lost 7 of their last 8 games but lost only 1-2 against leaders Cray on December 23th.
Remember - sadly - our last game against them last season:
Hastings United ended their 2017/18 Bostik Football League Division One South season with a home defeat.
Chris Agutter’s side was beaten 2-1 by Sittingbourne at The Pilot Field on Saturday, ending its eight-match unbeaten run.
The result also meant Hastings dropped a place to ninth because Whyteleafe overtook them on goals scored following their 5-2 win away to Horsham.
Whyteleafe and Hastings, incidentally, both ended with 20 wins, 13 draws and 13 defeats, and a goal difference of +17. The only difference was Whyteleafe scoring 87 goals to Hastings’ 84.
Hastings made three changes to their starting line-up from the previous Tuesday’s 2-0 win at home to South Park. Louis Rogers was given an opportunity in goal with regular number one Charlie Horlock carrying a knock, and with Adam Lovatt injured and Jack Dixon suspended, Tom Climpson and Dayshonne Golding returned to the XI.
Hastings didn’t start the match particularly well and Sittingbourne took an eighth minute lead. A loose ball wasn’t cleared and Dan Parkinson turned it home at the far post. Sittingbourne goalkeeper Harry Brooks is beaten for the Hastings goal.
From that moment onwards Hastings controlled the play and fashioned a number of opportunities, but Sittingbourne goalkeeper Harry Brooks had a good game and an equaliser proved elusive.
Brooks tipped a Davide Rodari shot around the post and Rodari then blasted over. After Tyrone Guthrie fired over from six yards for Sittingbourne, Sonny Dullaway slipped in the act of shooting at the other end and Antonio Walker drive narrowly wide from just outside the box.
In added time at the end of the first half, Rodari was foiled by Brooks from close range and the away goalkeeper then produced a terrific save from a Sam Adams shot.
Into the second period and Rogers thwarted David Smith from close range before Sam Cruttwell forced a good stop from Brooks at the other end. Rodari and then Golding were then denied in the Sittingbourne area. Hastings United full-back Sam Beale on the attack. Sittingbourne went close to a second when Smith shot wide and they did double their lead in the 80th minute. Hastings failed to clear during a chaotic few seconds in their penalty box and Fabrice Blewordah slid the ball past Rogers.
Hastings didn’t give up and pulled one back in the 90th minute when Ansu Janneh, who had only been on the pitch seven minutes, headed home from a corner.
The home side almost pulled off a dramatic late rescue act as 14th-placed Sittingbourne needed a goal-line clearance in added time to hold on for their third win in four games.
Although neither team had a huge amount to play for, both played the match as if it was a play-off final and a couple of melees reflected the widespread desire to end the campaign on a high.
On the whole it was a pretty good performance from Hastings, but they struggled to put the ball in the net in front of their largest crowd for a home fixture since the visit of Lewes in August. Some 540 people - nearly 200 more than average - took advantage of the club’s admission offer.
Hope we are able to keep the same side although it must be difficult to keep Sam Adams out of the starting line-up. So far so good with our new formation. Jahmal, Jack Tucker and Tom are looking very impressive and it is encouraging that players like Tom Climpson, Adam Lovatt, Jamie and Ollie are all continuing to improve. Thought Daniel was excellent on his return and I wonder if he will benefit from having more space on the left and right to run into now that we are not playing 4-3-3. He and Jordy looked a good combination upfront. Seem to remember Sittingbourne playing quite physically against us in the last game of the season so hope our pace and skill can come out on top. Wonder how long we have got Jack for-he was excellent against Ashford as were the rest of the team.
Hastings United
1
Charlie Horlock
2
Ollie Black
3
Jack Tucker
4
Tom Climpson
5
Jahmal Howlett-Mundle
6
Sam Cruttwell
9
Daniel Ajakaiye
10
Sam Adams
11
Jordy Mongoy
15
Jamie Fielding
18
Jack Dixon
12
Antonio Walker Barth
14
Youssouf Bamba
17
Lanre Azeez
19
Sonny Dullaway
20
Cameron Williams
Excellent performance today, especially the first half.Bit of an anti-climax in the second half but well in control for the whole 90 minutes. No doubt Chris will also be pleased with a clean sheet.
Well done also to the 30 or so Sittingbourne supporters who cheered their team for the whole game.
In truth, it was a much tighter game, even in the first half, than the scoreline suggested and Sittingbourne defended pretty well in open play. But since Jack Tucker's arrival and the switch to a back three, we have a presence in the box at set pieces which means that it's actually worth delivering the ball directly rather than playing it short.
Sittingbourne's total inability to deal with Tucker, and the quality of the deliveries to him, caused absolute chaos. That effectively accounted for four of the goals, as they were reduced to a nervous shambles by the time Dixon scored the four and fifth with free headers. It makes for a pleasant change to have some cheap goals; it makes defending against us that much more difficult if you have to do more than stop our passing game.
And we defended really well ourselves. True, Sittingbourne weren't up to much, but we've tended to be very open even against inferior opposition. We conceded next to nothing in the way of chances here, and all of the back three were absolutely excellent, as was Jack Dixon ahead of them. There have been clean sheets earlier in the season which were more by accident than design; this was entirely by design, a properly solid, diligent, disciplined defensive performance. Tom Climpson will captain this side one day, I think.
So, all in all, a victory for doing the less thrilling things really well. Less one-dimensional, less gung-ho, less fragile. There's a lot to build on here.
Well done also to the 30 or so Sittingbourne supporters who cheered their team for the whole game.
Totally agree with that Phil...their fans were fantastic...you would have thought they were the team winning 5-0 at half time !!
Don't know if it was just me, but considering we won comfortably, I thought the atmosphere was a little odd around the ground yesterday ...quite quiet... except for their fans
His goals aside, I thought Jack Dixon was fantastic yesterday ...he gets better as the season progresses. The back 4 were not really tested but its still nice to have a third clean sheet on the trot. I think young Tom Climpson is getting better by the match
Any idea where Ibrahim was yesterday ...wasn't even on the bench was he ? Injured ? suspended ? not sure myself .
Fabulous win, some great movement and set piece deliveries Sittingbourne didn't know what hit them in that first half but respect to them in the second half they defended passionately for their team. Really proud of the way we controlled the game and another clean sheet 👏 👏 👏
Ibrahim was suffering from food poisoning, Adam was at the ground but was unwell and Sam Beale is out for a few more weeks. Chris gave us this info before the game and we spoke to Adam who looked poorly.
against Ashford hopefully will give the team a big boost!
and another clean sheet 👏 👏 👏
