By Darius Sarrafan
Ramsgate returned to winning ways by seeing off Eastbourne Town 4-0 on a sunny afternoon at the WW Martin Community Stadium. In front of a huge crowd of 1421, the highest non league attendance in Kent on the day, manager Ben Smith made two changes to the side that narrowly lost at Merstham in midweek. Aaron Barnes replaced Joe Ellul in defence and Lee Martin came into the midfield for the suspended Lewis Gard.
The first chance of the game fell to the visitors in the fifth minute, with a corner from the left headed just over the crossbar by Dan Hull. Three minutes later the hosts created their first chance, with Alfie Paxman beating Tom Vickers to the ball to play in Joe Taylor, who put a lofted shot just over the bar from fifteen yards. Tom Hadler had to make a smart save from a James Waters free kick shortly after as the game had an even flow to it early on.
Tom Clifford shot over from outside the box on 19 minutes, but the game bogged down at times during the first half as the visitors worked hard to restrict the Rams to relatively few opportunities. Benny Bioletti went close eight minutes before the break when he latched onto the end of Paxman’s cross, but Chris Winterton stood his ground well to make a good save to deny him.
The visitors were reduced to ten men on the stroke of half time, with Hull shown a second yellow card for catching Bioletti in the face with a flailing arm. It took only three minutes of the second half for the Rams to make the man advantage count, with Taylor touching the ball round the corner for Paxman. The left winger kept his cool to finish low past Winterton into the far corner from the left side of the area.
Martin fired a shot just over the crossbar on the hour, and in reality it was one way traffic as the home side used the extra man to their advantage. Billy Munday forced Winterton into a fine one handed save with a shot from the edge of the area shortly afterwards, before the Rams doubled their lead in the 63rd minute. TJ Jadama drove with the ball to the byline, and his cross was turned home from six yards out by Taylor for his 42nd goal of the season.
Four minutes later and it was 3-0, with Clifford sending a low shot into the far corner from the left side of the penalty area to notch his first goal for the Rams. It was a wonderful moment as every player ran over to celebrate with the Rams’ left back, who has had an outstanding season. Bioletti dragged a shot just wide two minutes later and the rampant Rams went on the hunt for more goals, with no letup in pressure for the away side.
To the visitors credit, they continued to battle – and Barnes had to make two superb blocks to deny Eastbourne a consolation goal after some pinball in the penalty area. Taylor headed a Roarie Deacon cross straight into Winterton’s arms before the Rams’ number nine bagged his second goal of the game five minutes from time. Sub Kai Garrett played a lovely throughball, and Taylor kept his cool to slot past Winterton to make it 4-0.
That was how the scoreline remained as Ramsgate extended their lead at the top of the table to ten points over nearest rivals Sittingbourne. The Rams are next in action with a trip to Lancing this coming Saturday, with kickoff at 3pm.
Ramsgate: Hadler, Deacon, Barnes, Leader, Clifford, Martin, Munday (Todd), Jadama, Bioletti (Garrett), Paxman (Ajayi), Taylor. Subs: Ellul, Newcombe.
Star man: Tom Clifford
