Orpington Robbed Of Victory

Orpington Athletic were once again on the receiving end of some very questionable officiating this weekend, which saw them forfeit a 2 goal advantage to Petts Wood Ravens and leave the match with only a draw.

Orpington, buoyed by the signing of 3 new players in the January transfer window, were able to field a close to full strength side, with the boost of 4 substitutes to choose from this weekend. All 3 new signings - Nick Adamou, Terry Fowler and Tom Foster - started on the bench and Orpington fielded a strong first XI.

Orpington flew out of the blocks from the opening whistle, immediately piling the pressure on their opposition. Unable to get out of there own half, firm challenges from Laurence Downs and Joe Haden kept the Ravens at bay and produced early opportunities for Orpington. In less than half an hour, Lee Cordner produced some magic footwork to get the ball to Haden, who crossed the ball to Mike Adamou at the far post who tucked in this 8th of the season.

Orpington were relentless in their approach and Adamou added a second soon after with a fabulous strike from distance which the Ravens' 'keeper could not deal with.

Aside from an injury to Downs, the first half was a roaring success for Orpington, who came off ready to attack the second half in the same way. However, the game turned sour in the second half, when 2 yellow cards were shown to Haden in quick succession, one for apparent dissent and the other for a firm challenge. The sending off, with 40 minutes left to play, meant a reshuffle of the team and a need for some game management. Nick Adamou came on to sure up the midfield, and Foster made his debut at right back, replacing Anthony Knott.

Despite their best efforts and some phenomenal defending, Orpington were undone with a volley inside the 18 yard box, which crept in, beating Matt Utton at his near post. The second half then took a worse turn as a disgruntled gesture from Zubair Akhtar was wrongly interpreted by the referee as two fingers being raised. A straight red card was issued and Orpington were down to 9 men.

With depleted numbers, Orpington were unable to mark man for man and a Ravens' corner was subsequently turned in to the net to level the score line. Orpington were left with no choice but to settle for the draw and Utton brought on Fowler for his debut, to sure up the defence.

Orpington saw out the remaining minutes and were unlucky not to have the ball in the back of the net again themselves, but some awful officiating from the Ravens' linesman saw a constant stream of incorrect offside decisions being agreed to by the referee.

Orpington will no doubt have felt this more like a loss than a draw and Ravens will have known that they got away with a lucky result. Attentions will now be turned to next Sunday, where Orpington will face Division 3 strugglers, South London Doves at home.