STAPLEHURST MONARCHS 1 – 2 CROYDON FC

Croydon moved up to tenth place after winning against a tough Staplehurst side.

The home side had a good start, with an opening shot that went wide of the post followed by a chance from close range that was saved by George Kamurasi. He also made another save after facing opponents from all directions. A Monarchs free kick went to Chin, who went down the wing and passed to Ulrich Fischer,  who passed back to Chin only for his chance to be blocked by an opponent.

There was increasing pressure from Croydon, and after a throw in, a chance from David Green went wide of the post. A goal kick from Kamurasi went to Sammy Morgan who passed to debutant Tom Hazzett only for Monarchs goalkeeper Steve Lawrence to go down to make a save. After another save from Kamurasi, Morgan took a free kick, which went above Lawrence’s hand but was wide of the far post anyway.

Soon, Monarchs got a corner which Kamurasi palmed out towards an opponent, but luckily for Croydon the subsequent chance went over the bar. There was then another corner that Kamurasi tipped away, and was cleared by Morgan, who unfortunately got a yellow card afterwards. After passes from Chin and Green, Morgan then had an attempt which was cleared by Lawrence. Then Fischer passed to Hazzett, whose cross went wide of the post.

 As half time approached, Fischer passed to James Fray, who was taken down. Croydon got a penalty, but sadly for the Trams, Chin’s shot was saved by Lawrence. 

The start of the second half saw some good passing between Fray and Chin before a pass went to Fischer only for his shot to come off Lawrence. Cameron McGovern was taken down and Croydon got a free kick. He took it and passed to Chin then to Hizzett only to shoot past the far post.

Around the hour mark, one of the Monarchs was taken down, only for the subsequent penalty to go over the crossbar. Following a Morgan chance that went towards goal before it was cleared, came a series of corners for Croydon. One went to Jordan Anderson who was aiming for the near post, whilst the next corner was cleared by Staplehurst. Jahquan Springer on the wing kept the ball in play and passed to Fischer and received the ball back before another corner, when the ball was cleared.

The breakthrough came after 77 minutes when Fischer, going through the middle, finally got the ball past Lawrence to put the Trams ahead. However, the lead was short lived as only four minutes later, after several crosses amongst the home side, Brad Large equalised for the Monarchs.

Then came several Croydon corners. The first was punched out by Lawrence and cleared. The best of the bunch was the fifth one which reached Freddie Merrett that missed the target. Two more corners were cleared by the opposition before Morgan passed to Springer but then Morgan was taken down by an opponent.

The Trams got a 90th minute free kick that Springer blasted past Lawrence, putting the Trams back in the lead. There was a nervous six minutes stoppage time before the whistle blew, with only a missed chance from Staplehurst wide of the far post to worry about. 

Croydon: Kamurasi, White, Morgan, McGovern, Anderson (C), Merrett, Fray (Ayetime 83), Fischer, Hazzett (Springer 72), Chin, Green (Allen 60).

Subs (not used): Brown, Noiki