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West Kent Sunday League Report – Sunday 5th February 2017
A wet weekend resulted in all the games scheduled for pitches in
Crowborough and Paddock Wood being called off, but enough games were
played to bring some of the issues into focus. The league is still in a
position where the majority of League matches will be completed by the
end of February, barring something biblical in the weather. A Spring Cup
is on the horizon, as are the semi-finals of the various WKSFL cup
competitions.
Division One
It's close at the top! Simla, with four games remaining, are probably in
the best position but one of those games is against Tonbridge Origin.
Artois' three games are all against teams they would expect to beat, but there's no room for any slipups.
Tonbridge Origin moved back to the top of the table after a resounding 9-1 home win against Dormansland Rockets, who could muster only nine men for the occasion. Leading the way for Origin was Division One's
top scorer Myles Lowden who found the net four times and notched his
fifth hat-trick of the season. Jimmy Shepherd and Mike Jessop each
scored twice, while Andrew Jarvis added the ninth. Rich Wetton scored
Rockets consolation.
Artois United also enjoyed a goal fest, this time against Rusthall Rangers,
who we know have have been struggling on all fronts. A first half
hat-trick from Tim Thirlaway set the tone in what was to become a 12-0
rout. The long list of the other goalscorers reads : Connor Morrow (2),
Tim Maynard, Jak Cook, Ian Trim, Nathan Moseley, Robbie Arthur, Max
Carbone and Jack Funnell. Dave Holdstock kept the clean sheet, only his
second of the season. Big squad? Eighteen different players, including
Mr OG, have now scored for Artois this season.
It was a close battle at Chequer Field, but Armada just managed to overcome hosts Goudhurst United by a 2-1 margin. Stuart Andrews scored for United, for Armada it was Paul Oliver and Justin Staddon-Smith on the scoresheet.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Tonbridge Origin |
14 |
10 |
1 |
3 |
61 |
27 |
34 |
31 |
| 2 |
Simla # |
12 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
44 |
13 |
31 |
30 |
| 3 |
Artois United |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
61 |
22 |
39 |
28 |
| 4 |
Insulators |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
41 |
19 |
22 |
22 |
| 5 |
Armada |
10 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
21 |
19 |
2 |
17 |
| 6 |
TW Foresters |
11 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
32 |
39 |
-7 |
13 |
| 7 |
Dormansland Rockets |
9 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
19 |
37 |
-18 |
6 |
| 8 |
Goudhurst United + |
11 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
11 |
69 |
-58 |
3 |
| 9 |
Rusthall Rangers |
10 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
2 |
47 |
-45 |
0 |
Division Two
Pembury Sunday's game at Green Lane was one of those called off and they were no doubt disappointed by the news that Gardener's Arms gained three points wiithout playing. Their scheduled opponents, Hawkenbury Sunday, did not raise a team. The top two do have to play each other, on a date to be arranged, in what could be a title decider.
The game between Paddock Wood and SE Spitfires was also called off, leaving the only game of the day that between Langton Green and Cassidy's Phoenix.
Green recovered from last week's thrashing by Gardener's Arms to record
a 4-2 win. There were four different goalscorers, namely Carl
Wilkinson, Ed Thorn, Inigo Martin-Quirke and an own goal. I do not have Cassidy's goalscorers.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Gardener's Arms |
12 |
10 |
2 |
0 |
48 |
9 |
39 |
32 |
| 2 |
Pembury Sunday |
12 |
9 |
2 |
1 |
38 |
9 |
29 |
29 |
| 3 |
Paddock Wood + |
14 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
29 |
42 |
-13 |
22 |
| 4 |
Green Lane |
11 |
6 |
2 |
3 |
30 |
20 |
10 |
20 |
| 5 |
Brenchley |
12 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
25 |
38 |
-13 |
14 |
| 6 |
Langton Green |
12 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
31 |
43 |
-12 |
11 |
| 7 |
SE Spitfires |
10 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
16 |
30 |
-14 |
10 |
| 8 |
Hawkenbury Sunday |
12 |
2 |
2 |
8 |
20 |
30 |
-10 |
8 |
| 9 |
Cassidy's Phoenix # |
13 |
3 |
2 |
8 |
22 |
38 |
-16 |
8 |
Division Three
The table has been adjusted since last week in respect of a Management
Committee decision concerning the match between Rusthall Club Athletic
and Green Street Blues, which was played in 18th September and
abandoned. The matter was in the hands of the County FA for a long time.
Having been notified of their findings, the Management Committee
decided that the match would not be replayed as Rusthall Club Athletic
were at fault. Three points have been awarded to Green Street Blues and
the match recorded in the table as 0-0.
Back on the field, Bricklayer's Arms moved to within three points of securing the Division Three title with a 4-0 win against Ticehurst Village Club.
With the Goldsmith's pitches unplayable, this game was switched the
drier climes of Ticehurst and thanks to them for agreeing to do
so. Bricks scorers were Tommy Mulcahy, Craig Murphy, Ben Freeman
and Ollie Hyland. In goal, Alex Gunn kept his third clean sheet of the
season.
Tonbridge Invicta kept up the pressure on Crowborough Town, for the runners-up spot at least, with a 3-2 win at Speldhurst Rangers.
Sam Wing, Sam Wyles and Josh King scored for Invicta, Rangers goals
were both scored by Ollie Crees. Rangers are getting close to that
elusive first league win. They have lost three of their last four games
by a single goal, the other by two. Only two more games to go though!
Green Street Blues made it three wins in four matches with a narrow 2-1 win at home against St John's Yard. Goals from Matt O'Sullivan did the job.
The game between Crowborough Town and Rusthall Club Athletic was rained off.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Bricklayers Arms |
13 |
11 |
0 |
2 |
53 |
15 |
38 |
33 |
| 2 |
Crowborough Town |
15 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
46 |
29 |
17 |
31 |
| 3 |
Tonbridge Invicta |
14 |
8 |
2 |
4 |
49 |
25 |
24 |
26 |
| 4 |
Green St Blues |
13 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
29 |
20 |
9 |
25 |
| 5 |
Paddock Wood Reserves |
13 |
5 |
1 |
7 |
20 |
38 |
-18 |
16 |
| 6 |
Rusthall Club Athletic |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
28 |
19 |
9 |
14 |
| 7 |
Ticehurst Village |
15 |
4 |
2 |
9 |
32 |
44 |
-12 |
14 |
| 8 |
St John's Yard |
14 |
4 |
1 |
9 |
25 |
57 |
-32 |
13 |
| 9 |
Speldhurst Rangers |
14 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
21 |
56 |
-35 |
2 |
Division Four
With the top spot and trophy all but guaranteed to be in the hands of TW
Foresters Reserves, the fight is on for second place. FC Grinstead and
FC Hayward are the main contenders. The latter could only look on as
their game was called off, while FC Grinstead made the most of their visit to the synthetic pitch at Hayesbrook School, going back home with a 5-1 win over Tonbridge Casuals.
Charly Harris picked up his fourth hat-trick of the season, further
goals came from Joe Moulding and Connor Tobin. That's eight consecutive
WKSFL League and Cup games undefeated now for FC Grinstead. Casuals
leading scorer Paul Edwards was their only marksman.
Shock of the day was that only six goals were scored in a game involving
AFC Six In One! Only once before this season have fewer than seven
goals been scored in any of their WKSFL League or Cup games. That was
when they lost 3-2 to FC Grinstead back in mid November. But they made
it three wins in a row, much improved after a dreadful run of six
consecutive defeats.
In that game, home side Tonbridge United
scored twice, only the third time this season they have scored more
than once, the goals coming from Alex Underdown and Adam Saunders. For Six in One,
three familiar names were on the scoresheet, those of Ryan Smith, Dave
Cherry and Ross Billyard. Joe Brown scored the other. Smith now has 42
goals to his credit this season and is a hot favourite to make the trip
to the end of season Presentations and collect a much deserved trophy.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
TW Foresters Reserves |
13 |
12 |
0 |
1 |
68 |
21 |
47 |
36 |
| 2 |
FC Hayward |
12 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
41 |
22 |
19 |
23 |
| 3 |
AFC Six in One |
15 |
7 |
2 |
6 |
70 |
54 |
16 |
23 |
| 4 |
FC Grinstead |
11 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
39 |
26 |
13 |
21 |
| 5 |
Insulators Reserves |
13 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
39 |
36 |
3 |
21 |
| 6 |
Tonbridge Origin Reserves |
12 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
35 |
40 |
-5 |
15 |
| 7 |
Tonbridge Casuals |
15 |
2 |
5 |
8 |
28 |
53 |
-25 |
11 |
| 8 |
TW Youth (Ridgewaye) |
13 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
38 |
68 |
-30 |
10 |
| 9 |
Tonbridge United |
12 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
9 |
47 |
-38 |
4 |
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