Lingers Had Six Appeal

The game began with pressure from Rochester, but it was resisted well by our defenders. However within 10 minutes Rochester had a goal, as a long free kick unfortunately slipped out of the grasp of Rob Hambly and into the back of the net. Much like Tuesday’s game this did nothing but encourage the players and they stepped up their game, attacking well on the counter and looking dangerous. It was only 5 minutes later that some good play down the right hand side lead to Kane Wilson equalising for the Lingers.

Encouraged by the equaliser, the team maintained their momentum and shortly after there was a second goal, again through Kane Wilson. We looked to be taking control of the game and stopping Rochester’s counter attacks well. The wings were where most of the chances were coming from, and this was shown again as Harry Sintim showed great speed to run in from the right and score our third. However Rochester pushed from kick off and won a free kick on the left flank, which was whipped into the box and headed home by Ricky Gundry. This gave them the momentum and after hitting the side netting James Alderman converted their next chance, drawing the game at 3-3.
The game became much more end to end and Kane Wilson had a chance to complete his hat-trick, but after rounding the keeper his effort was put wide by Rochester’s defence. For the rest of the first half most of the chances seemed to be coming our way, but we went into the break still tied.
The second half saw Kisa Kutsuwada come off on his last appearance for the Lingers, replaced by Curtly Shallow. Rochester came out after the break with some strong forward pressure and put themselves ahead from a set piece, but we still looked the stronger side and were attacking well. Some fantastic Barcelona-like passing play left Curtly Shallow through from a wonderful back-heeled through ball, but he was brought down inside the area.
The referee ignored the calls of the crowd and players and waved play on, and did so again to another Lingfield penalty call shortly after.
We kept the pressure on and a succession of corners lead to Alfie Dean scoring a thumping textbook header, bringing the scores level once more. We were arguably the dominant side but Rochester were dangerous on the counter, and after Rob Hambly was carded for allegedly handling the ball outside his area they converted the resulting free kick, James Alderman’s second and Rochester’s fifth.
After a short break in play for a Rochester player with cramp, we continued our forward pressure and eventually (after some dubious decisions by the officials) the ball fell to Alfie Dean outside the area to volley home a great goal and bring us level once more.
Kane Wilson came off for Simon Wallace as we searched for our winner, and Rochester desperately scrambled to stop us. More great wing play and a succession of corners and free kicks showed our attacking threat, and two quick yellows showed their struggle to stop us scoring. It was late in the game that we finally got our winner as Simon Wallace finished off a rebound from a free kick, sealing our victory.
We continued to look dominant to the very end and spent the remainder of the game in Rochester’s half, and as the final whistle blew the crowd and the team celebrated a hard fought and well deserved victory

Sam Freebody