Chatham Town 1 Erith and Belvedere 1

Match 61/13/1088 - Tuesday, 25th February 2014 - Ryman North

Chatham Town (1) 1 Yusuff 27
Erith and Belvedere (1) 1 Christian-Law 13
Att. 84

Entrance: £5 Senior
Programme: £1
Mileage: 33/5,942

Match Report

Just when we thought Noah had dry-docked his ark and the weather would be set fair for a hectic last couple of months of the football season, along comes another deluge causing the postponement of the always eagerly anticipated visit of Dover Athletic to Longmead Stadium. After working to clear overnight rain during the morning another heavy rainfall around midday once again left the pitch with standing water and the match referee declared a early postponement.

So, for my Tuesday evening entertainment, it was back to my new go-to club, Chatham Town and my stalking of Alfie May. The visitors, Erith and Belvedere, have taken some heavy beatings this season, notably a 10-1 mauling at Thurrock a fortnight ago and it would be fair to say that I expected a bit of a goalfest with young Alfie running riot. If nothing else, football is rarely predictable and Chris Cosgrove's side, drawing some confidence from a home win over Heybridge Swifts, thoroughly deserved their point from their visit to Maidstone Road.

One look at the pitch and it was a proper Jumpers for Goalposts pudding that, you have to say, the groundsmen did remarkably well to get a game on. Young Alfie made an instant impression and Deres' keeper, Ashley Bourne was asked to make a parrying save in the very first minute. However it was Erith that took the lead after 13 minutes when Tyler Christian-Law angled a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner. The visitors might well have quickly doubled their lead when a corner was spilt by Chats' keeper Jack Bradshaw, who needed a defender's intervention on the line to save his embarrassment.

Chatham equalised on 27 minutes, inevitably May was involved, laying off a pass into the path of Ade Yusuff, who scored from a tight angle on the edge of the six-yard box. Just before half-time the referee, who hailed from the Ukraine (he didn't travel on the night presumably) waved away a penalty appeal despite the flag-waving of the linesman.

Everybody got just a little bogged down as the pitch became heavier still in the second half and the real action took place in the time added after the 90 minutes had expired. By this time, Erith and Belvedere were struggling with 10 men after full back Laurence Collins needed to be carried from the pitch following a seemingly innocuous challenge from May that, nevertheless, brought a ticking off from the Ukrainian, who was to turn away another penalty appeal from the Chats in the dying moments.

The Deres can be well pleased with their evening's efforts, they more than deserved their point, kept the lad May relatively quiet and will be hoping that they can now build on the four points gained in their last two matches.