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West Kent Sunday League Report – Sunday 29th January 2017
Well, here we are at the end of January and some of the issues are
almost decided! After last week's frosty hiatus, a full programme took
place. Monday night's Management Committee meeting had a couple of items
on the agenda, one which affected the Division One League table.
Rusthall Rangers failed to fulfill their fixture with Dormansland Rockets
on 18th December, three points have been awarded to Dormansland
Rockets. Other decisions were confirmations of awards already reflected in tables.
Surrey Lower Junior Cup
Dormansland
Rockets continued their march in the Surrey Lower Junior Cup. They
reached the last eight (quarter finals) with a fine 6-1 win over at
Epsom & Ewell Old Boys. Rich Wetton was the principal architect with
four of their goals. Ali Jones and Nick Elwood hit numbers five and
six. The quarter finals are scheduled for 19th February, the draw is yet
to be made.
Division One
Simla move to the top of the table having been awarded three points for the failure of Rusthall Rangers to fulfill their fixture. Tonbridge Origin lost the pole position after a heavy 6-2 defeat at Artois United.
Artois top scorer Stafford Browne hit a hat-trick, Tim Maynard two and
Josh Marshall one. Origin's and the Divisions top scorer Myles Lowden
added one to his tally, Chris Harbour hit the second. Insulators lingering hopes of honours took a blow when they went down 3-2 to Armada.
Jack Rusbridge (2) and Keith McCormack scored for the hosts. Insulators
were two early goals down before Kane Ramsell pulled one back but fell
behind again to a great goal. At half time it was 3-1 to Armada. Alex
Buxton scored after the break to reduce the deficit but, despite all
efforts, the equaliser would not come.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Simla # |
12 |
11 |
0 |
1 |
44 |
13 |
31 |
30 |
| 2 |
Tonbridge Origin |
13 |
9 |
1 |
3 |
52 |
26 |
26 |
28 |
| 3 |
Artois United |
12 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
49 |
22 |
27 |
25 |
| 4 |
Insulators |
12 |
7 |
1 |
4 |
41 |
19 |
22 |
22 |
| 5 |
Armada |
9 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
19 |
18 |
1 |
14 |
| 6 |
TW Foresters |
11 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
32 |
39 |
-7 |
13 |
| 7 |
Dormansland Rockets |
8 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
18 |
28 |
-10 |
6 |
| 8 |
Goudhurst United + |
10 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
10 |
67 |
-57 |
3 |
| 9 |
Rusthall Rangers |
9 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
2 |
35 |
-33 |
0 |
Division Two
Gardener's Arms take over as leaders thanks to a crushing 9-0 win at Langton Green, coupled with a surprise win for Brenchley at home to Pembury Sunday
that dented the latter's hopes. Gardener's big win featured a
hat-trick by Kane Joseph, two from their leading scorer Karl Smith, two
more from Andrew Grundy with Aaron Austin and Lee Cooper contributing
one apiece. Ben Carter in goal kept his ninth clean sheet of the season
and is well ahead of his rivals in that department.
Brenchley inflicted upon Pembury Sunday
their first league defeat of the season. After withstanding some early
pressure, Brenchley took the lead when Tom Lowe latched on to a Rich
Sutton pass to drill the ball into the far corner from a tight angle.
Pembury equalised on the stroke of half time with a glancing header from
Steve Harper. The second half was very even, with both defences
seemingly on top until the 82nd minute when Tom Lowe headed home a
superb cross from Mike Williams. Pembury pushed hard for the equaliser
and won a succession of late corners, but Brenchley defended superbly to
secure the three points. Final score Brenchley 2 Pembury Sunday 1.
Green Lane came out on top in the local derby at home to Paddock Wood,
ending the latter's chances of a top two spot. The goals in the 3-0 win
came from Robert Montandon, Josh Harris and James Donaldson. Matt
Golding kept his team's first clean sheet of the season in fourteen
WKSFL League and Cup outings.
South East Spitfires ended a run of three League and Cup defeats with a narrow 2-1 win over Hawkenbury Sunday.
It was Hawks sixth consecutive defeat. Spitfires scorers were Daniel
Lake and Daniel Clarke Findley. I do not have the Hawkebnbury Sunday
scorer.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Gardener's Arms |
11 |
9 |
2 |
0 |
48 |
9 |
39 |
29 |
| 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 |
SE Spitfires |
10 |
3 |
1 |
6 |
16 |
30 |
-14 |
10 |
| 7 |
Hawkenbury Sunday |
11 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
20 |
30 |
-10 |
8 |
| 8 |
Langton Green |
11 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
27 |
41 |
-14 |
8 |
| 9 |
Cassidy's Phoenix # |
12 |
3 |
2 |
7 |
20 |
34 |
-14 |
8 |
Division Three
The big game between Bricklayer's Arms and Crowborough Town
went the way of the home team who won 5-0. Bricks are now odds-on for
the winner's trophy, it would take a collapse of mythic proportions to
deny them.
With both teams at full strength, and the pitch quite playable in spite
of the weather, there were to be no excuses from either side. There must
also be a thank-you from both teams to Rob Reed, who stepped in to referee
the game with just an hour's notice when the appointed official dropped
out.
As local derbies usually are this was competitive, but it was fair and
deservedly won by Bricklayers Arms with Town unable to convert any of
the chances that came their way.
Crowborough Town came out firing. Brick's James Goold was caught on the
ball, which resulted in a long ball over the top to Matt Pickett who
went through on goal. Fortunately for Bricks, Alex Gunn in goal had
eaten his weetabix that morning, made himself big and stopped the shot.
That warning fired the Bricks into life. Some slick passing from the
midfield three, some great hold up play and Bert Freeman was set free on
goal and coolly slotted past the 'keeper. Two minutes later Tom Mulcahy
was up to his tricks again down the wing, skinning the right back and
cutting the ball back for Rob Gordon to finish for two-nil.
Town tried to push back, the Bricks back three held up superbly. Just before half time Bricks
won a free kick just inside the Town half. An angled free kick taken by
Bert Freeman found Craig Bishop towering above everyone else to score
his first of the game and his team's third.
The second half started with both teams battling for possession. Bricks
broke down the right, the ball came into the penalty area where Danny
Lawrence was scythed down giving the referee no choice but to award a
penalty. Craig Bishop despatched the spot kick convincingly. As
the game rolled out, there was time for one more moment of magic from
Lawrence. After getting the ball on the left, he nut-megged his
first oppponent then used his trade mark scoop around the second to the
bye-line then, from the tight angle, thundered a shot into the top
corner for the fifth bricks goal.
The result was particularly disappointing for one Crowborough Town
player, Chris Martin known to everyone as Biffa, who was making his
400th appearance for the club. Not only is the total quite remarkable
but he reached the that figure in just sixteen seasons, averaging 25
games per season.
Tonbridge Invicta brought Rusthall Club Athletic's nine match League and Cup winning streak to a halt, holding them to a high scoring 4-4 draw. Adam James
scored twice for Invicta, Rob Runciman and Sam Wing numbers three and
four. Club's scorers were Rob Johnson (2), Ben Johnson and Geoff
Ashcroft.
Green Street Blues consigned Speldhurst Rangers
to a fifth consecutive defeat, a narrow 1-0 win in which the only goal
was scored by Matt O'Sullivan. In the Blues goal, Mattt Golding kept the
clean sheet, his team's first since the opening day of the season.
Paddock Wood Reserves crashed to a 7-0 home defeat at the hands of Ticehurst Village Club.
The Wood contributed the two own goals that were recorded, Rob Guile
hit a hat-trick, Adam Brotherwood and Josh Macnab the others. Calvin
Bull kept his and his club's second clean sheet of the season.
| Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Crowborough Town |
15 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
46 |
29 |
17 |
31 |
| 2 |
Bricklayers Arms |
12 |
10 |
0 |
2 |
49 |
15 |
34 |
30 |
| 3 |
Tonbridge Invicta |
13 |
7 |
2 |
4 |
46 |
23 |
23 |
23 |
| 4 |
Green St Blues |
11 |
6 |
1 |
4 |
27 |
19 |
8 |
19 |
| 5 |
Paddock Wood Reserves |
13 |
5 |
1 |
7 |
20 |
38 |
-18 |
16 |
| 6 |
Rusthall Club Athletic |
8 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
28 |
19 |
9 |
14 |
| 7 |
Ticehurst Village |
14 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
32 |
40 |
-8 |
14 |
| 8 |
St John's Yard |
13 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
24 |
55 |
-31 |
13 |
| 9 |
Speldhurst Rangers |
13 |
0 |
2 |
11 |
19 |
53 |
-34 |
2 |
Division Four
TW Foresters Reserves need just
one point from their three remaining matches to clinch the Division Four
title. FC Grinstead, who are behind with their fixtures, are the only
team that can even match their impressive poiints total. If Grinstead
win their game at Tonbridge Casuals next week, it sets up a good match when they meet Foresters on 12th February.
Foresters cleared the final fence with a five-nil win at Tonbridge Origin Reserves. Harry Hickmott scored twice, Simon Hammond, Ashley Collins and Anton Powell once each. Now for the final furling!
The remarkable statistic of around eight goals per game in those involving AFC Six in One was maintained when they won 5-3 at home against TW Ridgewaye.
The League's top goalscorer now has one hand and probably most of the
fingers of the other on the trophy, having scored four of Six in One's
five goals. His not quite so prolific colleague Ben Boodle scored the
other, which was his 26th of the season and putting him into joint
second spot across the league with Steve Harper of Division Two's
Pembury Sunday. Ridgewaye's youngsters fought them all the way, with two
goals from Matt Harman and one from Harry Emler.
Insulators Reserves stole a march on FC Hayward in the race for the runner's up trophy. There was a 4-1 win for the 'slators at home to Tonbridge United in which Jon Miller scored three and James Philpott one. United's scorer was Steve Causon.
For their part, FC Hayward slipped up badly at FC Grinstead,
going down four-nil. Grinstead are now on a run of seven games without a
defeat in League and Cup, while for Hayward it was their first defeat
in six. Grinstead's scorers were Luke Boakes (2), Micky Neatherway and
Jake Kashdan. Harvey James kept his goal clean.
| 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 |
Insulators Reserves |
13 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
39 |
36 |
3 |
21 |
| 4 |
AFC Six in One |
14 |
6 |
2 |
6 |
66 |
52 |
14 |
20 |
| 5 |
FC Grinstead |
10 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
34 |
25 |
9 |
18 |
| 6 |
Tonbridge Origin Reserves |
12 |
4 |
3 |
5 |
35 |
40 |
-5 |
15 |
| 7 |
Tonbridge Casuals |
14 |
2 |
5 |
7 |
27 |
48 |
-21 |
11 |
| 8 |
TW Youth (Ridgewaye) |
13 |
3 |
1 |
9 |
38 |
68 |
-30 |
10 |
| 9 |
Tonbridge United |
11 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
7 |
43 |
-36 |
4 |
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