Ramblers 0 vs 1 Sharpness

Ramblers 0 vs 1 Sharpness

Sharpness continued their winning streak with another hard fought victory away at Ramblers. For the first time in along time Sharpness were able to select the same starting eleven as the previous week and also welcomed Frank ham and Hawes back from injury.
This was always going to be a difficult fixture and this proved to be the case with the home side having plenty of possession. Sharpness worked hard and limited Ramblers to pot shots from distance while also looking dangerous on the break.
Sharpness took the lead on the half hour mark when they were awarded a free-kick 10 yards in the oppositions half. Paterson struck the ball and sent it high and long towards goal, the ball eluded everyone including the keeper and dropped under the bar into the net.
Ramblers put the pressure on before half time and felt they should have been awarded a penalty on two occasions. Firstly from a
Free kick which they believed struck the hand of Paterson in the wall and secondly when a good run from their midfielder ended up with him shooting in the box which hit the arm of Captain Tim Thomas from a yard and the referee deemed it accidental. The midfielder was booked for dissent which proved costly later on.
Second half Sharpness defended brilliantly and keeper Marklove had little to do. Sharpness created the better chances and had good opportunities to score when Hawes broke through and shot narrowly wide, Watkins also was off target after beating the offside trap and Hawes again came close volleying at the back post.
The game turned sour late on with a couple of late challenges flying in and Ramblers were reduced to ten men with 10 mins left to play and were reduced further five mins later, both players sent off for dissent. Sharpness still had to work hard to see the game out and came under pressure from a number of set pieces but remained resolute to take all 3 points to ease pressure in the relegation dogfight.
Team: - Marklove, Stutter, Webber, T Thomas(C), Swift, Gardner, Paterson, Sherman, Jack Higgs (Hawes 63), Watkins, Bennett (Frankham 80)
Goal: - Paterson 29
Man of the Match: - T Thomas