19 February 2022

Erith and Belvedere         2         Palmer 14, Rooney pen 70

Crowborough Athletic     2         Lambert 2, 90+1

DERES FRUSTRATED ON A BLEAK AFTERNOON

Yet another late goal denied the Deres points on a frustrating afternoon in front of their smallest crowd for three years.

It was always going to be a bleak affair on the day following Storm Eunice.  The pitch was damp but playable, a number of advertising hoardings had to be cleared away, and in the corner by the Welling turnstiles a number of bricks from a collapsed wall had encroached near the pitch and were cleared away by the Deres players during their warmup.  The light during the second half was poor enough for the referee to ask for the floodlights to be switched on, but thankfully the rain held off.

Deres gave a debut to 17-year-old Bristol Rovers loanee goalkeeper Airidas Vilinauskas, who had a nightmare start when Jacob Lambert scored from close range to put Crowborough ahead in the second minute.  But the Deres fought back and had a couple of decent efforts - Nathan Palmer firing inches wide and a Lee Lewis free-kick well held by keeper Cameron Hall – before a beautiful equaliser in the 14th minute.  Luke Rooney picked out Palmer with a fine through ball and Palmer picked his spot in the top right corner.

On 18 minutes Stefan Cox sent a great ball out to James Dyer on the wing, but his cross was not converted, and a neat Dyer/Palmer one-two late in the half nearly came off.  Then on 38 minutes Vilinauskas had his chance to redeem himself and saved well from Charlie Watkins to keep things level at the end of a well-balanced first half.

The second half began as a tight affair with few openings at either end, but 20 minutes from time the Deres seemed to have the advantage when a handball in the Crows’ box was penalised.  Luke Rooney tucked away the spot-kick while Regan Bowden was sinbinned for protesting too vociferously.

Both sides had late chances, substitute Neil Spencer making a determined run in the 86th minute and creating an opening for Nathan Palmer, whose shot was well held, but at the other end Crows besieged the Deres goal as the 90 minutes were up, and after a series of last-ditch blocks, when home supporters thought the barrage ahd been survived, Lambert found a gap and equalised.

DERES: Airidas Vilinauskas; Lee Lewis, James Dyer, Harry Maher, Calum McGeehan, Reece Barrett, Nathan Palmer (Sid Morgan 90), Luke Rooney (Neil Spencer 80), Danny Lear (Tommy Brown 74), Stefan Cox, Josh Leach.