New Salamis started the strongest and Swifts keeper Callum Chafer had to save sharply from Taufee Skandari in the 6th minute. The home side took the lead in what appeared to be a clear offside as Derek Asamoah found himself clear and put the ball into the back of the net after just ten minutes.
Five minutes later they doubled their lead – again the experienced Asamoah was involved and his pass found Skandari who scored. During this action Callum Chafer went down injured and during a lengthy spell of treatment, there was concern amongst the travelling Swifts that he might not continue – young Joe Whitney preparing to enter the field of play if needed. Callum continued in some pain but thankfully he was able to maintain his record for his 56th consective game since joing Swifts.
Heybridge made a change after 33 minutes when Rhys Henry was injured and he was replaced by Kieran Jones. Swifts began to get back into the game after a terrible opening half-hour and gained a series of corners towards the end of the half.

Swifts started more brightly after the break and they pulled a goal back after 55 minutes when a ball through found Kieran Jones in space and he calmly stroked the ball beyond the advancing keeper into the net (much to the pleasure of “yours-truly” in one of the pictures captured by Alan Edmonds)for his first goal for Swifts.
The goal seemed to rock the home side and Jack Adlington-Pile went close to getting on the end of a Ben Sartain shot shortly after, with Andy fennell then also seeing his shot fizz narrowly over the bar on 63 minutes.
Swifts levelled in the 65th minute through Sam Carter – a corner from Ben Sartain seemed to evade the keepers grasp and in the melee amongst the six-yard box (and indeed a number in the goal) the ball ended in the net – many were unsure who had scored but the “goals-panel” and a review of the pictures from Alan Edmonds gave the nod to Sam (as did the New Salamis FWP operative) – the image shown being the likely touch for the goal – which Sam described as his claim for “his one goal” for the season!
Swifts now sensed a whiff of victory and continued to press forward but needed to be mindful of the threat of Asamoah and the impressive Skandari – who had been a constant threat all afternoon. There was almost a late drama as New Salamis claims for two penalties were turned aside by the referee.
Swifts were forced to make a late change when Quba Gordon was crudely taken out (with the referee seemingly looking elsewhere) and he was replaced by Alex Stephenson. Darren Phillips who had been the victim of a bad challenge from Asamoah (for which he was booked) then was given a yellow card for dissent and Kieran Jones then picked up a card in the second minute of injury time. Swifts also made a third change with Kyran Henderson making his debut for the Swifts replacing Sam Carter.

Leave a Reply