Ramsgate. It’s a real shame we can’t play them away twice. Back to back away wins against them yet we are now winless in our last 3 home matches against Matt Longhurst’s men. A very good side they are, but the Hillians will be kicking themselves in the manner of the two goals.

The start? Bright. Breezy. Baltic. On the front foot early were the Hillians, fashioning a couple of early half chances, notably Lewis Finney slicing a shot over Gate custodian Jacob Russell’s crossbar. Ramsgate’s first chance almost ended up in the first goal. A soft free kick was conceded out wide and the resulting set piece was whipped to the far post where Jamie Coyle was completely unmarked; his left foot attempt went straight up in the air and fortunately for Hill, a combination of Huffer and his hurrying heathens scrambled the ball away to safety. Lewis Finney, before this game, had 6 Hill goals, all coming at the More Than Tyres. Well, after 16 minutes, he made it 7 for the season. You can be forgiven for missing the goal as it came out of absolutely nothing, but you’ll be cursing your luck for missing it live. Nic D’Arienzo launched a clearance downfield and in the swirling winter wind, Finney watched it drop over his shoulder, onto his wand like right foot and he volleyed it expertly past a stunned Russell to get the goal scoring underway in paradise. It took the Gate a while to regain a foothold after they had been stunned by Finney but a foothold they did regain. A corner from the right was pinged to the back stick where Jamie Coyle was, yep, unmarked but he headed straight at Will Huffer.. For the first 30 minutes the Hill did a good job of keeping the dangerous Joshua Ajayi quiet, but a delightful through ball from Bate sent Ajayi in behind D’Arienzo, thankfully Huffer was out very quickly to repel the danger man’s shot. The Rams were upping the ante as the half drew to a close and it wasn’t just Ajayi who was dangerous, Oliver Bate latched onto a long ball and gave Harry Pollard the run around before his effort was brilliantly blocked by that man Finney, the subsequent rebound fell to William Hoare but he fizzed his effort in to the hoard of Rams behind the goal.

HT: 1-0.

I suspect the visiting management team had a few things to say at half time, as the visitors started the second half with a real purpose. Unfortunately for the Hill, a simple ball into the box caused absolute anarchy in the Hillians back line and if it wasn’t for a quite tremendous double save from Will Huffer, the Rams would have been level straight away. Need fear not, you sheep like lovers. From the subsequent corner, they were level. It was all so avoidable from a Hill point of view, Martyn Box headed a corner away to the edge of the box, Jamie Coyle just aimlessly looped it back into the mix, Callum Emptage flicked it on and Oliver Bate nicked in front of Huffer and levelled proceedings. To say the Hill continued to be under the cosh would be a bit of an understatement as another glorious chance came and went. A corner was whipped in and Jake McIntyre got to the front post to flick it on and he was so unlucky that the ball flew across the face of goal and wide of the far post. A real let off for the Greens. It took 32 minutes of the second half but Hill did muster an effort on the Gate goal. Tom Chalaye picked out Lewis Taylor in the box but his header looped wide of Jacob Russell’s goal. This attacking lark seemed fun. Better than defending. So much fun that Hill almost went in front! 2 substitutes combined as Connor Tighe played a quick free kick to Tom Chalaye, he looked to curl one into the bottom corner, it got a deflection which left Russell rooted but it landed narrowly wide of the post. Another Hill chance? Oh go on then! A D’Arienzo long throw was hurled into the mix, Lewis Taylor flicked it on but unfortunately for Hill it fell to Harry Pollard who could only hook his shot wide of the goal. The Hillians have seen a a few different goalkeepers guard net for them this season and Will Huffer is keeping the tradition of them all being brilliant. A cross from the left was met by a thumping header by Mitchell Chapman, everyone in the ground thought it was in but Huffer somehow got down to his right and clawed it off the line. The last 5 minutes saw two sides gunning for victory, with not a lot of defending happening. Firstly, Josh Ajayi could have won it but fired wide from the edge of the area before down the other end, Lewis Taylor slipped in Tom Chalaye down the right and he was agonisingly close to winning it but his effort whizzed across the box and away from danger. As the 90 minute mark ticked on by, Rams thought they’d won it. Another corner caused havoc, Tijan Jadama got his head to it, it struck Josh Ajayi before he slammed home, luckily for Hill the ref had stopped it as it had hit his arm and the goal did not stand. With 5 minutes raised as time added on, the drama was still to come. Reggie Ward, who was booked in the first half for kicking the ball away petulantly, fouled his man and the ref showed absolutely no hesitation in brandishing a second yellow, which means red. You think it could get worse? Well. Allow me too explain how. From the resulting free kick we failed to clear, a cross was whipped to the far post, Jamie Coyle headed it back across goal and it looked like men queuing for a PCR test, lining up to wack the ball in, eventually it was Callum Emptage who did the Rams honours to seal the win in a cruel fashion for Hill.

FT: 1-2.

A late blow sees the Hill go away with nothing, against a good Ramsgate team.

Yesterdays match sponsors, M&W Finishing awarded the Man Of The Match to Nic D’Arienzo.

Next up, Jay Lovett and his troops will be desperate to get back to winning ways when we travel to Sevenoaks.