Heath leave it late to secure 3 points at New Defence
Liam Benson won the visiting Blues a penalty inside the opening 20 minutes, but captain Byron Napper failed to hit the target, his effort went over the bar Then just 5 minutes later Lewis Finney won Heath a second opportunity to convert from 12 yards, and the man who drew the foul stepped up to take it, but it would be Nathan Carter’s lucky day from the spot, as Finney’s penalty went narrowly wide of the post with the keeper also guessing the right way.
To the surprise of most fans in attendance, the scores remained 0-0 at the break. Hayden Skerry replaced Abudiore at halftime, and then in the 72nd minute, Ben Connolly and James Rhodes replaced Benson and Blencowe. With a little over 10 minutes left to play in the match, Heath had to come up with something quick if they were to leave with the 3 points, and that’s exactly what they did when substitute Ben Connolly latched onto James Rhodes’ pass, Connolly’s gentle touch with the outside of his foot took the ball past the goalkeeper and to the byline, a tight angled delivery reached the head of Lewis Finney who nodded the Heath ahead.
The Heath fans took a moment to begin their celebrations as the Lingfield players argued that the ball had crossed the byline, but their protests were unsuccessful and the Heath had their lead! Then in the 87th minute, the game was put to bed, a sublime bit of hold-up play from Connolly let him slip Lewis Finney in on goal, and then the midfielder remained unselfish; playing the ball into the path of the arriving Connolly to complete a sublime one-two and let the super sub tap into the empty net.
But there would be one final seasoning of drama before the full-time whistle. A coming together between Tom Gilbert and David Heaton of Lingfield created a face-to-face, the squabble between the players was a short one as the referee showed both players a straight red card. The Heath banked all 3 points on Non-League Day, a loud and proud Heath away following singing from the first minute to the very last.
