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West Kent Sunday League Report – Sunday 8th January 2017
WKSFL football resumed after a two week break for the Christmas and New
Year holidays. Most teams were back in action as the good weather continued. Only one game was called off.
Division One
Tonbridge Origin maintained their slender lead at the top of the table following an 8-1 victory at Goudhurst United.
Will Mantle scored for hosts, but they couldn't stop the tide coming
the other way. Seven different names are on the Origin scoresheet. Rich
Donaldson scored twice, there was a goal apiece for Rob Littlejohn, Sam
Jenner, Dave Saxby, Chris Harbour, Ant Kent and Alex Williamson. Origin
will be pleased with that performance as a good warm-up for their tough
match next Sunday in the Kent Sunday Premier Cup, when they travel to
meet the holders, the powerful Chatham based side Quested. We all wish
them the best of luck.
Simla meanwhile scraped past Artois United
4-3 to climb above them into second place. Top scorer Ian Parsons added
two to his season's tally, with a lucky sounding goal by Alex Carey winning it late on.
Simla got off to a great start when Parsons scored within the first five
minutes. Then Artois equalised when a Simla player (guilty player not
named!) put the ball in his own net. Artois were pressing hard at this
point and earned a penalty which Stafford Browne converted to give them a
2-1 lead. It got worse for Simla when Artois scored again through Ethan
Zimmerman to go 3 - 1 ahead. Then, just before the end of the first
half, Simla pulled one back through Steve Smith.
The second half started well again for Simla when Parsons managed to
scramble the ball over the Artois goal line to make it level at
three-all. The next thirty minutes saw good play from both teams and it
looked like ending in a draw. But then, five minutes before the end of
match, Simla were awarded a free kick just outside the Artois penalty
area. The shot by Alex Carey bounced just in front of the keeper, over
his body and into the net for the winner.
Insulators were gifted three points when Blackham & Ashurst failed to fulfill the fixture, while the game between Dormansland Rockets and TW Foresters was called off.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Tonbridge Origin |
12 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
50 |
20 |
30 |
28 |
| 2 |
Simla # |
11 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
47 |
14 |
33 |
27 |
| 3 |
Artois United |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
48 |
21 |
27 |
25 |
| 4 |
Insulators |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
36 |
17 |
19 |
25 |
| 5 |
TW Foresters |
12 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
37 |
40 |
-3 |
16 |
| 6 |
Armada |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
12 |
18 |
-6 |
8 |
| 7 |
Dormansland Rockets |
9 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
31 |
28 |
3 |
7 |
| 8 |
Blackham & Ashurst |
9 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
17 |
41 |
-24 |
7 |
| 9 |
Goudhurst United + |
11 |
1 |
0 |
10 |
16 |
67 |
-51 |
6 |
| 10 |
Rusthall Rangers |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
2 |
30 |
-28 |
0 |
Division Two
I did sort of say in my mid-term report that the game between the top two of Gardener's Arms and Pembury Sunday
might be a 0-0 draw and so it turned out to be! Hardly surprising
perhaps, with the two best clean sheet 'keepers and the two meanest
defences involved. As a consequence, Pembury keep their three
point lead over Gardener's Arms, but the latter have a game in hand. Ben
Carter in the Gardener's goal and Charlton Farrell with Pembury
respectively claimed their eighth and sixth clean sheets of the WKSFL
season.
Paddock Wood lost valuable ground in their now slim chance of catching the top two by going down 5-1 at home in the local derby against Green Lane.
It's now three League games without a win for the Wood, whose solitary
scorer was Stef Draper. For the Lane, Josh Harris scored twice, Robert
Montandon, Matt Brown and Michael Wakely-Smith once each.
Jon Donoghue hadn't scored since the end of October, having been out
through injury, but he is back in style. His hat-trick pushed Langton Green to a 3-1 home win over SE Spitfires.
Spitfires are finding it hard to score recently. For the fourth game in
a row there was just the one, this time scored by Sean Ludlum.
Brenchley hadn't won for three League and Cup games, but made up for it with a 3-2 home victory over Cassidy's Phoenix,
whose own form is somewhat inconsistent. Brenchley's goals were scored
by Steve Marsh, Mike Williams and James Woods. Matt Ferris scored both
for the Phoenix.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Pembury Sunday |
10 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
31 |
6 |
25 |
26 |
| 2 |
Gardener's Arms |
9 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
33 |
8 |
25 |
23 |
| 3 |
Paddock Wood |
12 |
6 |
1 |
5 |
28 |
33 |
-5 |
19 |
| 4 |
Green Lane |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
23 |
19 |
4 |
14 |
| 5 |
Cassidy's Phoenix |
11 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
19 |
30 |
-11 |
11 |
| 6 |
Brenchley |
11 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
23 |
37 |
-14 |
11 |
| 7 |
Hawkenbury Sunday |
9 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
18 |
22 |
-4 |
8 |
| 8 |
Langton Green |
10 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
27 |
32 |
-5 |
8 |
| 9 |
SE Spitfires |
9 |
2 |
1 |
6 |
14 |
29 |
-15 |
7 |
Division Three
Bricklayer's Arms were without a game, Crowborough Town took advantage to move to the top of the table with a win over Green Street Blues, but Bricks have two games in hand.
Previous games between these two teams have been close and well fought
but always in the 'old spirit' of Sunday football. This one was no
exception.
A Crowborough side that was back to full strength came into the game
full of confidence but then found that, for some, the Christmas
indulgences continued to be a problem. For the first ten minutes the
visitors ran the game and it was no real surprise when they took the
lead with a lovely chip by Tom Wilken over the Crowborough keeper's head
from just outside the penalty area. This proved to be the wake-up
call that Town needed and they started to put some attractive football
together. After just five minutes of being behind, this resulted
in their leading goalscorer Matt Pickett making the score 1 - 1. For the
rest of the first half, although Crowborough looked to be the more
likely to add to the score, they were indebted to their stand-in keeper
Richard Neve for a couple of excellent saves that kept the 'Blues' at
bay. Half Time 1-1.
The usual stern few words from the Crowborough manager once again made
the difference and the team began to play their more normal, composed,
football. Ten minutes into the half a well worked move down the right
saw Matt Pickett put a fierce cross across the visitors goal area to
find Darren Nicol in the right place to put the ball into the net. The
visitors continued to defend well and when they broke forward to create a
chance to equalise, they once again found Richard Neve in fine form in
the Crowborough goal. It was midway through the second half that Town's
pressure told and, once again, it was Matt Pickett that, at last,
managed to beat the visitors keeper. At 3 - 1 it looked comfortable for
Crowborough, but their opponents had other ideas and the game
became more of an even contest. Eventually Green Street Blues managed to
beat Neve with a strike from Dean Jarman and for the last five minutes
it was 'game on'. In fact neither side looked like adding to the score
and both defences held firm to keep the points in the bag for the home
team.
Third placed Tonbridge Invicta trounced Ticehurst Village Club
7-0. Chief among the scorers was Alex Wellbelove with a hat-trick. Cuan
Walsh, Sam Wing, Sam Wyles and Rob Runciman found the back of the net
once each. Sam Collard in goal recorded his fourth clean sheet of the
season.
Rusthall Club Athletic continued their long march towards the top of the table with a 3-0 win at home to St John's Yard.
Ben Jonson (2) and Josh Brewer scored the goals, Michael Dirilimis kept
his goal intact. Yard can be pleased a little bit, in that the three
they conceded was the fewest scored by Rusthall in any of their last
seven WKSFL league or Cup games.
In the day's other game, winless Speldhurst Rangers came close to a point, but lost at home to Paddock Wood Reserves
by a single goal. Jolyon Weller scored both for the hosts, Russell
Breden, James Hall and and Grant Allen were Wood's scorers in the 3-2
win.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Crowborough Town |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
46 |
24 |
22 |
28 |
| 2 |
Bricklayers Arms |
11 |
9 |
0 |
2 |
44 |
15 |
29 |
27 |
| 3 |
Tonbridge Invicta |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
42 |
19 |
23 |
22 |
| 4 |
Green St Blues |
10 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
26 |
19 |
7 |
16 |
| 5 |
Paddock Wood Reserves |
12 |
5 |
1 |
6 |
20 |
31 |
-11 |
16 |
| 6 |
Rusthall Club Athletic |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
24 |
15 |
9 |
13 |
| 7 |
St John's Yard |
13 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
24 |
55 |
-31 |
13 |
| 8 |
Ticehurst Village |
12 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
25 |
40 |
-15 |
11 |
| 9 |
Speldhurst Rangers |
12 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
19 |
52 |
-33 |
2 |
Division Four
With five games remaining, TW Foresters Reserves are looking dead certs for the title, but were taken all the way by the young men of TW Ridgewaye
st Skinner's on Sunday. Simon Hammond, who has been turning out for the
Reserves of late, scored twice with Russell Skinner and James Culmer
adding a goal each in a 4-2 win. Josh Higgins and Daniel
Kommu were on the mark for the hosts.
Second placed FC Hayward kept up the pressure with a 7-2 win over AFC Six in One.
Dave Fowler has his shooting boots back on, scoring his fourth
hat-trick of the season. The other goals came from Dylan Thomas, Zak
Pollard, David Proudlock and Matthew Wheeler. The almost absurd number
of goals scored for and against in AFC Six in One's league matches now
stands at an average of exactly 8.5! Unfortunately for them, they have
been very much on the receiving end lately. It's now four consecutive
league defeats, despite the familiar name of Ryan Smith (who remains the
league's top scorer) on the scoresheet. Dave Cherry netted their other
one.
FC Grinstead will have a say in
matters to come as the final third of the season begins. They have
already drawn with FC Hayward, still have to play then again and TW
Foresters twice. On Sunday they recorded a 2-0 win over bottom outfit Tonbridge United,
thanks to two goals from Chris Neatherway and a clean sheet from Harvey
James in goal. Useless fact - in all their WKSFL League and Cup games
every score has been different, not one scoreline repeated. I am not
going to go through all the rest to see if this is unique!
Tonbridge Origin's Reserves made it a good day for the club, winning their clash with Insulators Reserves
5-2. A hat-trick by Dean Larter was instrumental, the other two goals
were by Levi Caruana. Insulators had taken an early lead through James
Philpott, then sloppy defending allowed Origin to score twice and regain
the lead. Ryan Hesmer scored for 'slators to make the scores level at
half time. Origin dominated proceedings in the second half and
deservedly ran out winners, scoring three unanswered goals.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
TW Foresters Reserves |
11 |
10 |
0 |
1 |
55 |
21 |
34 |
30 |
| 2 |
FC Hayward |
11 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
41 |
18 |
23 |
23 |
| 3 |
Insulators Reserves |
12 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
35 |
35 |
0 |
18 |
| 4 |
FC Grinstead |
9 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
30 |
25 |
5 |
15 |
| 5 |
Tonbridge Origin Reserves |
10 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
33 |
32 |
1 |
15 |
| 6 |
AFC Six in One |
12 |
4 |
2 |
6 |
56 |
46 |
10 |
14 |
| 7 |
TW Youth (Ridgewaye) |
12 |
3 |
1 |
8 |
35 |
63 |
-28 |
10 |
| 8 |
Tonbridge Casuals |
12 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
21 |
41 |
-20 |
8 |
| 9 |
Tonbridge United |
9 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
6 |
31 |
-25 |
4 |
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