Whitehawk 2-2 Faversham Town

Two goals deep in second half injury time saw Whitehawk fight back to draw 2-2 against Faversham Town.

The Lilywhites had the opening chance of the game after 8 minutes with Lewis Chambers having a shot blocked with the ball falling to Aaron Ibe who then proceeded to have his shot blocked on the line by John Paul Kissock. Just four minutes later Faversham took the lead with Stefan Wright doing well to beat the offside trap to go one on one with the keeper and he made no mistake to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

It could and should have been 2-0 a few moments later with a defensive error allowing in Michael Hagan though his tame shot was smothered by James Broadbent. Faversham were dominating the Hawks and after 25 minutes they doubled their lead with Osman Proni getting the better of the Hawks’ defence to pick out Josh Dorling who headed home. The Hawks tried to respond 10 minutes before the break with Lucas Rodrigues doing well down the far side to shoot across goal with Duane Ofori-Acheampong just failing to convert in the centre. Faversham should have been out of sight and 3-0 up, but Broadbent made another fine save to deny Proni.

Second half action was lacking, but it came to life after 70 minutes as in the space of two minutes, the Hawks were denied two penalty appeals after what looked like consecutive handballs by Faversham defenders. Every Hawks player in the area appealed as did the fans behind the goal – yet the referee was unmoved.

Spurred into life, Hawks and began to dominate as the Lilywhites sat deeper and deeper, though their defence did just enough to hold on. With five minutes to go and the Hawks running out of time, Lucas Rodrigues went for the spectacular with an overhead kick, though unfortunately it went just wide.

Despite a half filled with stoppages, only five minutes was indicated as added time and in the 93rd minute the Hawks got a goal back with a clever finish from Ofori-Acheampong after the ball had bobbled around in the box. Urged on by the fans behind the goal the improbable then happened in the 95th minute when Charles Banya was allowed to advance to the edge of the box and find the bottom corner with a skimming shot for his first goal for the club.  Hawks scored with their only two efforts on target, to seal a point which at one stage seemed unlikely, but could be crucial.

Hawks: Broadbent, Walsh, Banya, Kissock, Christie, Hamilton, Rodrigues (c), Unwin (Martin 66’), Ofori-Acheampong, Tighe, Ovenden (Abdulla 46’)

Subs Not Used: Emberson, Ramsis, Torres

Lilywhites: Watkins, Loynes, Maxted, Taiwo (O’Leary 78’), Ibe, Dorling, Chambers, Wright, Hayes (c) (Adebayo 82’), Proni (Khanye 47’), Hagan

Subs Not Used: Springett, Griffiths

Goals: Ofori-Acheampong 90+3’, Banya 90+5’ (Whitehawk); Wright 12’, Dorling 25’ (Faversham)

Yellow Cards: Walsh, Kissock (Whitehawk), Dorling, Wright (Faversham)

Referee: Greig Walker

Attendance: 259

Hawks Man of the Match: Charles Banya