Saturday 26th September 2026
FA Trophy, Third Qualifying Round – Ramsgate (H) 2-2; Tanners win 6-5 on penalties
One of these days, the Tanners will serve up a routine, fairly uneventful one or two-nil win,
but today was not that day. Settle in folks, this is a long one…
Niran (holiday) and Cam (starting a three-game ban, and on co-comms with Fin in the
stands) were unavailable, so Bobby and Kemall (a player I am pleased to be sponsoring this
season) started as centre backs. Harry was back in midfield, and after his two-goal debut
from the bench on Tuesday, Tom started up front. Meanwhile, the club welcomed Redhill
fan Sam Peyton (AKA The Football Hipster) and his dad, Gregg, who covered the match for
their YouTube channel. After the game, Sam interviewed former Redhill hero, Nathan
Hogan. When you go to watch our highlights, do give their vlog a watch, a like and a
subscribe – you’ll also see interviews with David Pope, a certain match reporter/’author’,
and the lad-and-dad duo’s thoughts on what must be the gold standard for a ‘game for the
neutral’…
We beat Ramsgate comprehensively at this same stage of last season’s competition, and we
repeated the trick at their place on the opening day of this season. It was looking good for
three in a row on thirteen minutes, when Tom collected Kofi’s in-field pass and opened the
scoring with a sublime curled finish from the ‘D’. He might have doubled his tally on thirty-
two minutes, but he couldn’t quite nick it past the keeper having latched onto a ball over
the top.
Looking uncomfortable with an apparent foot injury, Harry left the field to be replaced by
Nathan, and it was he who had Tanners’ next meaningful chance with halftime approaching.
Sonny’s long kick travelled all the way to the edge of the opposition box, where Anas did
well to hold it up before playing it to Nathan. He raced across the box before checking back
on to his right, sending a bending shot just over the bar. In the meantime, the visitors had
been far from idle themselves – they went close on several occasions in a tight first half.
Two headers drifted just wide, and Sonny had two saves to make. One was helping to clear
up a defensive mix-up after a Ramsgate man nipped in; the other was out of the top drawer,
diving full length to keep out Alfie Paxman’s curling effort before smothering the attempted
follow-up.
Halftime – Tanners 1, Ramsgate 0.
The second half started in much the same way as the first – Tanners had the majority of the
ball, but didn’t carve out any clear chances.
Anas made way for Marcel on fifty-eight minutes, and moments later, there was a strong
shout for handball when the latter’s long throw was headed down by Tom, clearly hitting
the number six’s outstretched arm. No penalty this time, but if it’s penalties you want, then
it’s penalties you shall have. Read on, I’ve got you covered…
The five hundred and eighty-three in attendance greeted Matty warmly as he came on for
an injured-looking Dicko, holding his right thigh, in the sixty-sixth minute. Ramsgate went
dangerously close to an equaliser when a low ball in from the right failed to find a touch
from the man in the centre, but on seventy-five minutes, Marcel appeared to have made
the game safe with a superb individual goal. Tom flicked on Sonny’s free kick for Marcel to
collect. He then proceeded to hurdle a number of challenges before burying it past the
keeper at his near post.
If “Marcel appeared to have made the game safe”, Ramsgate did not get the memo. Alfie
Paxman swung in a cross from the left on seventy-nine minutes. Backpedalling, Sonny
couldn’t reach it with his outstretched left hand, and Solomon Ogunmomoju slid in to make
things interesting. A minute later, we really could have put it to bed. Marcel went for a fifty-
fifty with the keeper, came out with the ball, but an invisible sniper had seemingly slotted
the Ramsgate custodian somewhere in the mix, and the ref had no choice but to stop play
for the apparent head injury. As is so often the case, the keeper miraculously recovered
moments later…
Ramsgate thought they’d equalised in the eighty-fourth minute, but a foul on Kemmal in the
build-up saw it ruled out. Tanners looked nervy in defence, a corner coming after a
communication breakdown between Louie and Sonny. Then, in the first minute of six added
on, they eventually got their goal, a towering header from Billy Munday after a corner that
really should never have been. Louie had gone down in the centre circle with a head injury
moments before the ball went out for the fateful corner. Play should have been stopped –
them’s the rules, the same ones the ref managed to apply just minutes earlier at the other
end. Consistency please!
And so on to the lottery of the penalty shoot-out, and what a shoot-out it was… Ramsgate
were put in to bat first, and the scoring initially went with serve (I am also available for
cricket and tennis write-ups…) After the initial two rounds of kicks, it was Tanners two,
Ramsgate two, with Mark and Louie converting without issue. Ramsgate missed their third,
the ball hitting the bar and bouncing behind Sonny, but crucially, not over the line. Nathan
and Kofi then scored their pens. The last Ramsgate kicker needed to score to keep his team
in it, and that’s exactly what he did. Four-all, and the stage was set for Matty to execute the
coup de grace. Sadly for him, his home comeback was not to be marked with the romantic
ending we’d all have loved for him – the keeper smothered the kick at his left post. Credit to
the keeper for the save, but also for his diligent shift as assistant groundsman – he made it
his job to ‘repair’ the turf around the penalty spot at every opportunity…
Sudden death, then… Sonny saved the first three Ramsgate kicks in a row, while Bobby had
his saved, Tom rolled his past the post, and the keeper/groundsman denied Charlie. By this
stage, my voice recording was made up of the odd player name and the current score, but
mostly sighs and profanity, all of which cranked up a notch as Ramsgate retook the lead.
This meant that Marcel needed to score, which thankfully he did. The pressure was then too much for the next Ramsgate kicker – Sonny didn’t need to save this one; it rolled wide,
leaving Kemall to step up to finally put us all out of our misery. He jogged up almost lazily,
sending the keeper the wrong way to make the score six-five after ten kicks each. I was
looking forward to seeing Sonny take one – maybe next time…
Fulltime – Tanners 2, Ramsgate 2 – Tanners win 6-5 on penalties.
That win means we’re now in the next rounds of both the FA Cup and the Trophy, and
Tuesday will see us back in the Surrey Senior Cup, at home to Farnham Town. We’re
unbeaten in that competition since last October – after a series of postponements pushed
the next round ever backwards, we chose to withdraw after beating Chertsey Town three-
one on penalties. Farnham have got used to having things pretty much their own way these
last few seasons, flying largely unopposed up the leagues, and even now, they occupy a
respectable ninth place in the National League South. Whatever happens, let’s hope it’s a
good game, that we get to play in the next round if we get through, but most importantly –
please – no penalties… COYT!
