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More home agony sends United to the wire - 19/4/08

A season full of ups and downs, of euphoric highs and of abject lows, will all come down to ninety minutes in east London next weekend, after United missed out on a golden chance to guarantee their Premier Division safety this afternoon, allowing a play-off chasing Ramsgate side to smuggle all three points away from the Pilot Field. That said, United had only themselves to blame for a second successive high scoring home defeat, failing to make the most of a dominant first half display, before gift-wrapping a goal for Ramsgate skipper Warren Schulz five minutes before the interval. Then, after Sam Adams had equalised from a questionable penalty, and Ade Olorunda had put them ahead just past the hour mark, United imploded by conceding a series of free kicks just outside their own area, two of which were devastatingly fired past Lee Worgan by second half substitute Stuart King. United will justifiably argue that the winning goal came as a result of another dubious refereeing decision, and will undoubtedly feel aggrieved at taking nothing from a game that they simply did not deserve to lose, but they were taught a harsh lesson in finishing today, as the Rams made it three wins out three against United this season.

After the immense performance at Carshalton last week, there was little likelihood of manager Tony Dolby making changes to his starting line-up this afternoon, and so it proved, with Sam resuming his more usual attacking partnership alongside Ade, following his impromptu goalkeeping effort at Colston Avenue. The one change in the sixteen man squad saw Danny Spice return after a lengthy injury lay-off, having played ninety minutes for the Reserves in midweek, with Matt Maclean missing out. Ramsgate named eight of the eleven that had started their 4-1 romp over United in north-east Kent at the end of October. Their squad remained largely based around the local players who had led the Rams to successive titles since their Kent League days, although striker Lenny Piper and keeper Paul Wilkerson were two notable exceptions from more of a journeyman mould. A run of five victories in seven league matches had kept Ramsgate in the hunt for a top five finish, and their desire to maintain that winning habit was perhaps epitomised by their attack-minded and flexible 4-3-3 formation.

Ramsgate took the opening kick off, and proceeded to pass the ball around for the best part of forty seconds, before midfielder Andy Hadden fired a twenty yard shot over the bar. It was pretty much as close as they came to disturbing Lee Worgan's peace for the best part of forty minutes though, as United went on to master the damp conditions with a crisp, passing display of their own, which should have brought them far greater reward than a one goal deficit at half time. Despite the impressive stature of the Rams' defence, United looked menacing from the string of early corners that they won, and even more so from open play, with Lee Carey's shot from the edge of the area diverted wide by Olly Schulz's outstretched left leg, and Sam seeing a close range volley blocked by the midriff of fellow centre half Nick Davis. The defender was then suddenly picked out by Dean Hill's tremendous left wing cross in the tenth minute, only for an offside flag to cut short his celebrations, once he had placed a fine right foot volley past Lee Worgan. United were quickly back on the offensive however, with Steve Elliott letting fly from long range, forcing Wilkerson into an awkward block, the rebound falling kindly for Schulz to clear, while Ade sent a looping header over the bar from the resulting corner. Ade then failed to connect cleanly with a near post effort from Steve's low cross, giving Wilkerson a comfortable save, but the keeper was a helpless spectator moments later, when Sam's twenty yard strike took a heavy deflection off Davis and span just wide of Wilkerson's left hand upright. The experienced custodian then did well to acrobatically punch clear a right wing cross from Sam, as Ade waited for a tap-in, with Russell firing the loose ball over the bar, and then dived bravely at Ade's feet to prevent him from connecting with Tim's through ball. After half an hour of almost relentless attacking, United went off the boil for a brief period as the interval approached, but it was still completely against the run of play that the visitors took the lead, as Rhys Whyborne contrived to miss his kick when attempting to clear Wilkerson's long punt downfield, allowing Piper to run on and play a simple pass to his right for the unmarked Warren Schulz to slot past Lee from just inside the area. For all United's pressing, they had been caught cold by a defensive error, and had handed the initiative to the visitors. A response was required.

And a response was exactly what United supporters got, although there was more than an element of good fortune about the goal that brought them back on level terms in the fifty-fourth minute. An error by Davis presented Sam with possession just outside the Ramsgate area, and he lobbed a pass towards Russell on his left, which dropped a shade awkwardly for him to get a clean shot on goal, his momentum seeing him collide painfully with the onrushing Wilkerson. The sound of the referee's whistle at first suggested that Russell had been penalised for clattering into the keeper, yet it suddenly became evident that United had in fact been awarded a penalty, the indication being that Sam Jones had pulled Russell back before he could get his shot away. Harsh as the decision may have seemed, the referee's failure to then show Jones a red card, when he had apparently denied Russell a clear goalscoring opportunity, compounded a somewhat bizarre situation, which was soon forgotten as Sam drove the spot kick past Wilkerson to restore parity on the scoresheet, netting his sixth goal in five games, and his third penalty in four outings. He missed a decent chance to score again a couple of minutes later, dragging a left foot effort wide from the edge of the area, while United then enjoyed a let-off at the other end, failing to deal with a Hill long throw, which fell to feet of Davis in the area, Nathan Russell curiously allowed to get away with hauling Davis to the ground, when an obvious chance for the referee to even up the penalty count seemed to present itself. United took full advantage of that escape by taking the lead just past the hour mark, Russell's deep corner picking out Tim Olorunda at the far post, and his header fell for Ade to ride a couple of challenges and to stab a shot into Wilkerson's bottom right hand corner from near the penalty spot. In between the goals, Ramsgate had made a double substitution, with King and Aaron Firth replacing the largely ineffective Piper and Dan Dolton, and the former went on to have the most telling of impacts on the outcome of an absorbing contest. Barely three minutes after taking the lead, Tim's foolish tackle on Ben Laslett presented the visitors with an opportunity for only their second shot on goal, albeit from twenty-five yards out, and King duly accepted, hitting a blistering drive that appeared to take a slight deflection off the top of United's defensive wall, wrongfooting Lee Worgan and sending the ball flying past his flailing right arm. Steve tried his luck from a similar distance as play moved straight back up the other end, but Wilkerson saved easily enough, while King was then offered a chance to repeat his free kick trick, only to attempt a defter chip that sailed harmlessly over the bar. Sam went close to restoring United's lead with a glancing near post header from Jimmy Elford's deep cross, but the game was starting to drift towards an honourable draw when disaster struck again for United with ten minutes remaining. Tim gave away yet another free kick for a clumsy foul on Warren Schulz, again about twenty-five yards from goal, with King once more lining up a powerful shot that was this time blocked effectively by the wall. However, despite the ferocity of the effort, the referee adjudged that a United arm had been deliberately employed to stop the ball in flight, and awarded the Rams another free kick on the edge of the area, even though the wall had been lined up just inside. But with King striking the ball so cleanly, the free kick was as good as a penalty anyway, and one left foot piledriver later, it was Ramsgate who had retaken the lead, safely withstanding United's late efforts at a further comeback.

With one game to go then, and in spite of this afternoon's setback, United's destiny remains firmly in their own hands. A win at Leyton in seven day's time will definitely keep United in the Premier Division, while a draw will be good enough as well, unless Folkestone enjoy an improbably huge victory over AFC Hornchurch in their game in hand on Monday night, and even a defeat wouldn't matter. as long as other results go United's way. The first part of that equation looks simplest of all though, win and stay up that is, not that United have necessarily been accustomed to doing things simply this season. There would be no time like the present to change that habit.

Match facts	Efforts on target	Efforts off target	Free kicks conceded	Corners won	Offsides against
Hastings United	7	5	17	7	2
Ramsgate	3	2	10	0	3

Hastings United (4-4-2)							Ramsgate (4-3-3)
1 Lee Worgan							1 Paul Wilkerson
2 Jimmy Elford (c)							2 Ashley Burton
3 Nathan Simpson							3 Dean Hill
4 Rhys Whyborne							4 Nick Davis
5 Nathan Russell							5 Olly Schulz
6 Lee Carey							6 Ben Laslett
7 Steve Elliott							7 Sam Jones
8 Tim Olorunda							8 Warren Schulz (c)
9 Ade Olorunda							9 Lenny Piper
10 Sam Adams							10 Andy Hadden
11 Russell Eldridge							11 Dan Dolton
Substitutes
12 Danny Leach							12 Stuart King (for Piper 58)
14 Frankie Sawyer							14 Simon Pettit (for Jones 89)
15 Tony Dolby							15 Aaron Firth (for Dolton 58)
16 Antonio Gonnella (for Simpson 86)							16 Dean Powell
17 Danny Spice							GK Shaun Alliston

Attendance 576

Referee Ian Fissenden (Gravesend)

Assistants Darren Eaton (Portslade) & Andrew Colwell (Eastbourne)