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West Kent Sunday League Report – Sunday 20th November 2016
A few games fell foul of the weather including unusually all three at
Tonbridge Farm, but so far this season we have generally been lucky.
Keep fingers crossed!
WKSFL Senior Cup Second Round
The final second round tie went the way of Division One side Armada, who comprehensively defeated Division Two's Cassidy's Phoenix
7-0. It was a very tight first half, where Armada dominated territory
and possession. It saw the visitors fortunately take the lead with a
deflected effort from distance recorded as an own goal. Cassidy's were
dangerous on the break and some good football by them created chances
resulting in two good saves from Armada's Larkin in goal. Then, right on
half time, a killer goal for Armada as Jack Rusbridge turned and found the bottom corner from 20 yards.
The next goal would be key and Armada scored two of them on the hour
through a Josh Matthews half volley, and then Rusbridge scored again
with a tap in from close range. To their credit Cassidy's continued to
play nice football and attack Armada, forcing Larkin into a couple more
smart saves. But this left gaps at the back and Armada added three more
in the final fifteen minutes with Mark Vivian curling in from distance,
and Rusbridge adding two more strikes for a total of four for the morning.
Deserved winners but a harsh scoreline, said Armada.
The complete Third Round draw now looks like this :
Armada
|
| v
|
| Artois United
|
| 11 Dec
|
Dormansland Rockets
|
| v
|
| Green Lane
|
| 11 Dec
|
Simla
|
| v
|
| Blackham & Ashurst
|
| 11 Dec
|
Tonbridge Origin
|
| v
|
| Rusthall Rangers
|
| TBA
|
WKSFL Intermediate Cup Second Round
Likewise there was remaining tie in the Intermediate Cup, which went the way of Rusthall Club Athletic. Having knocked Paddock Wood Reserves
out of the Junior Cup a fortnight ago, they repeated the effort but it
was closer this time with the Club coming off 4-3 winners. George
Webzell and James Scott each scored twice. Paddock Wood's scorers were
Russell Breden (2) and James Lawton.
Third Round Draw
Brenchley
|
| v
|
| Pembury
| 11 Dec
|
Gardener's Arms
|
| v
|
| Langton Green
| 4 Dec
|
Rusthall Club Athletic
|
| v
|
| Hawkenbury Sunday
| 11 Dec
|
South East Spitfires
|
| v
|
| Green Lane
| 4 Dec
|
Division One
Only two games took place. Tonbridge Origin moved into second place after a comfortable 6-1 win at Tunbridge Wells Foresters.
Foresters have lost form lately, this was their third game in a row
without a win. Origin's top scorer Myles Lowden scored three, Jack
Kinnear, Sam Moon and Ant Kent one each. Foresters only goal was scored
by Mark Inglis.
In the other game, Simla made up ground on the leaders with a good 3-1 home win against Insulators. Two competitive teams endured the very windy conditions to put on a good performance.
Simla took an early lead through Joe Fuller, before Insulators equalised
within ten minutes when Martin Page-Mitchell played a ball through to
Tom Bridger who finished well. Later on in the first half both
teams had further chances but the score remained 1-1 at the interval.
The second half was more of the same with Simla having most of the play.
They went into the lead from a David Blundell penalty on 53 minutes and
then five minutes later came the best goal of the match when a low
cross into Insulators goal area was cleverly flicked into the net by Ian
Parsons. Insulators gathered themselves and remained competitive
throughout although Simla had the balance of play. Both teams missed
chances to increase their score, so the final score was Simla 3
Insulators 1
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Artois United |
9 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
34 |
13 |
21 |
19 |
| 2 |
Tonbridge Origin |
7 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
26 |
11 |
15 |
16 |
| 3 |
Insulators |
8 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
24 |
14 |
10 |
16 |
| 4 |
Simla # |
7 |
6 |
0 |
1 |
36 |
9 |
27 |
15 |
| 5 |
TW Foresters |
9 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
27 |
28 |
-1 |
13 |
| 6 |
Armada |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
9 |
11 |
-2 |
8 |
| 7 |
Blackham & Ashurst |
8 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
16 |
32 |
-16 |
7 |
| 8 |
Goudhurst United + |
7 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
9 |
37 |
-28 |
6 |
| 9 |
Dormansland Rockets |
7 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
22 |
27 |
-5 |
4 |
| 10 |
Rusthall Rangers |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
22 |
-21 |
0 |
Division Two
The clash between the top two was called off, allowing others the chance to catch up. Paddock Wood did just that, beating Hawkenbury Sunday 2-1 with both goals from Scott McGuire. Hawks goal was claimed by Matt Olive.
Green Lane's cup heroics last week could not be repeated and they fell at home to South East Spitfires,
who finally get a win on the board. Alec Saunders ad Daniel
Clarke-Findlay were the Spitfires goalscorers, it was Tom Welch for the
home side.
Brenchley and Langton Green
met at the Memorial Ground. Brenchley claimed their second high scoring
win in successive weeks with the 5-1 score. Dan Wood and Mike Williams
each scored twice, the fifth was a penalty scored by Rich Sutton.
Langton's only goal came from Pete Fairhurst.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Pembury Sunday |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
6 |
17 |
16 |
| 2 |
Gardener's Arms |
6 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
23 |
7 |
16 |
16 |
| 3 |
Paddock Wood |
8 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
20 |
21 |
-1 |
15 |
| 4 |
Cassidy's Phoenix |
6 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
14 |
12 |
2 |
8 |
| 5 |
Hawkenbury Sunday |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
16 |
19 |
-3 |
8 |
| 6 |
Green Lane |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
11 |
17 |
-6 |
8 |
| 7 |
Brenchley |
8 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
18 |
32 |
-14 |
7 |
| 8 |
Langton Green |
8 |
1 |
2 |
5 |
23 |
24 |
-1 |
5 |
| 9 |
SE Spitfires |
6 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
11 |
21 |
-10 |
4 |
Division Three
It's tight at the top, with both Crowborough Town and Bricklayer's Arms winning away from home and by the same score, 2-1. Town travelled to Speldhurst Rangers,
who have been having player availability problems lately, not heped by a
broken leg and dislocated ankle suffered by goalkeeper Ben Ashworth
playing for his Saturday team.
Speldhurst would like to wish a speedy recovery to him.
Injury miseries therefore continue for Rangers, but at least they
managed to put a competitive eleven out against Crowborough who had
comfortably beaten them in their previous game, three weeks ago, which
was the reverse fixture to this and resulted in a 6- 2 victory. For this
game Town had three regulars returning from injury, another from work
related absence, and a full strength squad of sixteen. Not surprisingly
they approached the game with confidence but Speldhurst had other ideas !
In spite of the awful overnight weather, the near perfect pitch gave
both teams a chance to play football. Crowborough started well with a
goal after fifteen minutes by Darren Nicol. Unfortunately for the
visitors that was as good as it was going to get and it was no real
surprise when Speldhurst equalised with just fifteen minutes of the half
remaining when Joe Hearndon got his first goal for the club from an acute angle.
A few stern words by the Crowborough manager during the break seemed to
have worked when, within sixty seconds of the restart a beautiful cross
from Nicol was driven home by Leon Fisher to put the visitors back in
front. Once again, however, it was a false dawn and with Speldhurst
battling hard, Town seemed unable to put their normal short, quick,
passing game together. Even when it did all came together and it
resulted in the usually reliable veteran of the side Chris Martin in
front of goal he slipped, went face down, and couldn't even appeal for a
penalty as he was all on his own ! Fortunately the Town defence
was a little more reliable and the final whistle came with no addition
to the score for either side despite many goalmouth scrambles.
Rangers take heart that over the next few weeks they will welcome
back a number of injured players.
Bricklayers's Arms took the long ride to Orpington where they beat Green Street Blues.
Green Street Blues began the game in the centre with both teams looking
up for a battle. The Bricks were badly needing the three points to keep
in contention for the league title. Six minutes in and the Bricks first
opportunity came with John Jo Mulcahy striking low and hard to the
bottom left only to be denied by both posts. There were chances for both
teams in the remainder of the half. The best for the Bricks was a shot
from Tommy Mulcahy deflecting of a defender onto the cross bar. So a
goalless half went by.
Four minutes into the second half Tommy Mulcahy made a blinding run into
the box which ended in him being brought down by a defender, penalty
awarded. Simon Munday stepped up to the plate opting to take the spot
kick. He fired the penalty straight at the flailing keeper, who only
managed to direct it to a waiting Rob Gordon to coolly finish. It was
only a few minutes later when the Bricks were awarded a free kick just
inside their half. Craig Murphy looped a ball forward to Rob Gordon, who
chested it down to Danny Lawrence to fire past the keeper. Green Street
Blues reacted quickly with a corner a minute later headed by Matt
Heathcote past Alex Gunn at his near post ,destroying his dreams of his
first clean sheet. With both teams creating further chances it was the
Bricks who held out for the 2-1 win and to grab the valuable three
points
Tonbridge Invicta's game against Ticehurst Village was one of those called off.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Crowborough Town |
9 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
30 |
19 |
11 |
18 |
| 2 |
Bricklayers Arms |
8 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
24 |
14 |
10 |
18 |
| 3 |
Tonbridge Invicta |
8 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
25 |
13 |
12 |
15 |
| 4 |
Green St Blues |
7 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
21 |
11 |
10 |
13 |
| 5 |
Paddock Wood Reserves |
8 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
14 |
21 |
-7 |
10 |
| 6 |
St John's Yard |
8 |
3 |
1 |
4 |
19 |
29 |
-10 |
10 |
| 7 |
Rusthall Club Athletic |
5 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
16 |
13 |
3 |
7 |
| 8 |
Ticehurst Village |
8 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
13 |
25 |
-12 |
7 |
| 9 |
Speldhurst Rangers |
7 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
12 |
29 |
-17 |
1 |
Division Four
With TW Foresters game also called off, the three chasing teams all gained ground with good wins.
Insulators Reserves put eight past TW Ridgewaye.
The Ridgeway team started the better and deservedly took the lead
through Ted Thomson. But Marc Scott, an own goal and a Ben Johnson
strike put the hosts in a lead at halftime and they never looked back.
Ryan Hesmer scored two in the second period, Grant Leslie made a double
save from a penalty, then Jordan Angus and Kieron Pattenden also netted
followed by Marc Scott getting a second. Credit to Ridgeway, they never
gave up and Richard Hill scored after a fantastic counter attack
to give them a deserved consolation goal.
FC Hayward recovered from a run of three successive defeats to beat Tonbridge Casuals
4-1 at Hayesbrook School. Casuals have yet to win in ten League and Cup
games this season, of which they have drawn five. Zak Pollard was the
main cause of the damage, getting a hat-trick wth the fourth scored by
Jamie Skilton. Paul Edwards was the Casuals scorer.
And AFC Six in One, after last week's comparitive lull, went back on the rampage against Hadlow United,
scoring thirteen times at Williams Field. Ryan Smith, the League's top
scorer, added six to his total. Ben Boodle scored four, Dave Cherry two
and Jason Carver's goal made up the thirteen. Somehow amid the
mayhem Hadlow United's Jimmy Smith scored to avoid the whitewash.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
TW Foresters Reserves |
9 |
8 |
0 |
1 |
42 |
14 |
28 |
24 |
| 2 |
Insulators Reserves |
10 |
6 |
3 |
1 |
36 |
21 |
15 |
21 |
| 3 |
FC Hayward |
8 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
29 |
13 |
16 |
18 |
| 4 |
AFC Six in One |
10 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
59 |
29 |
30 |
17 |
| 5 |
FC Grinstead |
7 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
25 |
19 |
6 |
11 |
| 6 |
TW Youth (Ridgewaye) |
9 |
2 |
0 |
7 |
18 |
52 |
-34 |
6 |
| 7 |
Tonbridge Origin Reserves |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
13 |
18 |
-5 |
5 |
| 8 |
Tonbridge Casuals |
9 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
11 |
26 |
-15 |
5 |
| 9 |
Tonbridge United |
7 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
6 |
24 |
-18 |
4 |
| 10 |
Hadlow United |
8 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
14 |
37 |
-23 |
4 |
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