West Kent Sunday League News Report – 4th October 2020 - updated 6th October
The line-ups for the finals of the delayed 2019 - 2020 WKSFL Senior and
Intermediate Cups are now known following the last of those semi-finals.
The Junior Cup semi-finals are scheduled for next Sunday.
WKSFL Senior Cup 2019 - 2020
Artois United will meet Charcott in the Senior Cup Final after a comprehensive 4-1 win at Simla
in the second semi-final. Lucas Morrain scored twice, Regan Corke and
George Rogers once each. All Simla could muster in reply was a goal from
Harry Hudson. The Final will be at Rusthall FC on 18th October.
WKSFL Intermediate Cup 2019 - 2020
Both semi-finals took place. The Final will see AFC Valour match up with
St John's Yard on 25th October. The teams have already met in the
League, with the Yard having beaten Valour 3-2.
St John's Yard reached the final with a good 4-1 win at home to Artois United Reserves.
They scored the first goal with a perfectly placed free kick from Phill
Abbott in the tenth minute. Artois equalised through Adam Hardy
after twenty minutes and it remained 1-1 until the half time
break. Despite being one man down in the 'sin bin', Yard went back
into the lead through Josh Williams. Artois were then putting on a lot
of pressure in the second half, but made mistakes at the back. Williams
scored again, Reece Horsman was also on target as the game came to its
conclusion.
For their part, AFC Valour claimed a good 2-1 home win over Dormansland Rockets,
now of course a Division One outfit. Valour booked their place in a
third cup final in the clubs sixteen year history after coming out on
top in a highly contested match with Dormansland. After some stellar
pre-match efforts from Paul Revell and Dan Pierson lead to the pitch
being in top condition, Valour were keen to step up to the challenge
when hosting opponents from the division above.
Things couldn’t have got off to a better start for Valour who scored in
the second minute of the game after a Shane Hadaway corner crept in at
the near post. It was clear from the start that the game was going to be
a physical affair with some over zealous challenges from both sides.
Referee Dan Thornbom stamped his mark on the game early on with great
authority and ensured that none of the players over stepped the mark. It
was pleasing to see the majority of the players on the pitch take note
of this and discipline within the Valour ranks was superb for the 90
minutes.
Dormansland always looked threatening whenever the ball was with Rich
Wetton, who stands out as the one to watch within their side. His hold
up play and overall game is very good and Valour centre backs Jacob
Tyson and captain Craig Dobereiner needed to be at their best to stop
the free scoring frontman.
At 1-0 Valour had a chance to double the lead, but Hadaway opted to
square a pass close to goal which bypassed the onrushing Valour players.
The home side did double the lead around the half hour mark after a
great pass across goal from Johnny Connors found Joe Birch waiting to
pounce and slot in from close range. The remainder of the half was
played out with some half chances from Dormansland, but none to really
test goalkeeper Mark Taylor. 2-0 to Valour at half-time.
The second half got underway with Dormansland enjoying more possession.
Valour were sitting quite deep as the opponents looked to use the
attacking threats they have up top. Valour had to withstand a host of
long throws and corners all of which were expertly defended. Shane
Hadaway had a good chance on the breakaway, but his effort narrowly went
over the bar. Valour had a couple of injuries and needed to mix the
side up. Dormansland remained a threat and did eventually breakthrough
after a poor Valour clearance was capitalised on by a great finish by
Wetton into the bottom left corner. At 2-1 it was game on and Valour
needed to hang on to make it through the 90 minutes. Rhys Harvey-Little
had a glorious chance to put Valour 3-1 up but misjudged the pass and
his shot went over from close range. Valour were nearly left to rue the
missed chances when Dormansland were awarded a penalty after a cross
from the corner hit Jacob Tyson’s arm (think Eric Dier vs Newcastle),
the ref had no choice but to give a penalty. The ball would have dropped
to an opponent who would have had a simple tap in. So with under ten
minutes to go a penalty to the visitors. Fortunately for Valour, keeper
Mark Taylor in line with his MOM performance saved the spot kick and
then reacted to pull off a remarkable save to block the rebound. This
capped off a frustrating day for the visitors, who after the penalty
save struggled to mount any real threat on the Valour goal.
Final score 2-1 and on the balance of play a fair result. All the best from Valour to Dormansland for the rest of the season.
WKSFL Junior Cup 2019 - 2020
This has now reached the semi-final stage. Paddock Wood were already virtually certain to qualify and made it one hundred percent with a 3-0 win at Brenchley. Two goals from Adam French and one from Simon Hammond did the business, while in goal Dan McGuire kept the clean sheet.
Unfortunately, TW Ridgewaye Reserves could not raise a side to face Ticehurst Village in their final group match, therefore Ticehurst go through.
The two semi-finals will be played next Sunday. It's to be Paddock
Wood v Yalding & Laddingford and Goudhurst United v Ticehurst
Village.
Division One
Insulators finally got off the mark with a 3-2 home win against Charcott.
Without a win this season, but with some good performances, this was a
fine performance from the home side. The game couldn't have started
better, with a great shot from Reece Beecroft hitting the crossbar after
three minutes and Tommy Bridger knocking in the rebound. After ten
minutes a long range effort from Ben Ailles levelled the scores,
the ball flew in as the home 'keeper lost his footing in the wet
conditions.
Insulators regained the lead after half an hour with a goal from Martin Page-Mitchell and that was the half time score, 2-1.
The second half started much like the first with Insulators scoring in
the 46th minute. Cole Walsh smashed a shot in from the left that had too
much pace for the Charcott ´keeper. Charcott then had a sustained spell
of pressure, but couldn't find a way through until the 83rd minute when
a goal from Ryan Silvester set up a nervy finish for the home side.
Fiive minutes of added time made it stressful, but Insulators held on
and picked up their first points of the season.
The game was played in an excellent, sporting spirit and well refereed
by Brian Shelton. Picture below Insulators FC with their 2018 - 2019
Intermediate Cup and Division Two winners shield.

Armada also broke their duck in
their second League game, having reached the final of last season's
Senior Cup in the meantime. They held leaders Green Lane to a 2-2 draw, with Scott Amos and Jimmy Denman scoring. For the Lane, the scorers were Ollie Hyland and Bayley Colbran.
Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
1 |
Green Lane |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
10 |
2 |
Simla |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
Artois United |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
4 |
Charcott |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
5 |
Insulators |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
-3 |
3 |
6 |
Dormansland Rockets |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
-4 |
3 |
7 |
Armada |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
-1 |
1 |
Division Two
Nomads made it four wins from four with a big win over Goudhurst United.
Five - nil was the final score, witha hat-trick by Kevin Carpenter
leading the way. Also on thescoresheet were Alex Bradford and Harry
Middleton. Lee Clark in goal kept the clean sheet.
TW Ridgewaye and Pembury Sunday
fought out a 3-3 draw at Yew Tree Road. Harry Demmon, Adam
Davies-Knight and Dave Hill scored for the home side, Yacine Marouani,
Lewis Puxty and Matt Rice-Tucker for the visitors.
Cassidy's Phoenix and Royal Oak
notched up their first points of the League season in 2-2 draw at
Bayham. (To be fair, this was only Royal Oak's second game!). Ollie
Muggeridge and Aaron Holmes scored for Phoenix, the Oak's goals came
from Ash Bell and Dan Lazell.
Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
1 |
Nomads |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
17 |
6 |
11 |
12 |
2 |
Pembury Sunday |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
14 |
9 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
Paddock Wood |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
6 |
6 |
4 |
TW Ridgewaye |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
8 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
Saint John's Yard |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
7 |
8 |
-1 |
4 |
6 |
AFC Valour |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
7 |
Goudhurst United |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
-4 |
3 |
8 |
Artois United Reserves |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
6 |
12 |
-6 |
3 |
9 |
Royal Oak |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
-1 |
1 |
10 |
Cassidy's Phoenix |
4 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
12 |
-10 |
1 |
Division Three
AFC Borough must already be favourites for Division Three having won their first five games.. OIn Sunday, Borough played Sedlescombe Rangers at Goldsmiths and won 5-1.
Sam Edmunds opened the account early in the game, getting on the end of a
cross. Luke Leppard (again) was left with what seemed like no options
until he produced a Messi-esque chip over the 'keeper just before half
time to make it 2-0 at the break.
Sedlescombe seemed to revive a bit in the second half, especially when
Borough went down to nine men for 10 minutes with two in the sin bin.
Borough tightened up and weathered the storm, only to concede from a
free kick struck by Zack McEniry as soon as the errant players rejoined
the game. Five minutes later, Luke Leppard fired across goal
finding Connor Bowesman at the back post for 3-1. Looking to kill the
game off, Jake Lorimer picked the ball up from about 25 yards and picked
out top bins, the keeper only managing a weak hand. Finally´, two
minutes from full time, Jack Holmes stole the ball from the fullback,
cut in on his right and finding the bottom right corner from the edge of
the box, topping off a flattering 5-1 performance and stretching the
distance at the top of Division 3. Benidorm Bound Borough. [I have
no idea what that is about!]
Speldhurst Rangers zoomed up the table, from 10th and bottom to fourth after a 4-2 win at Tonbridge United.
Speldhurst started the first half sloppily and gave away a goal at a
corner. A miscommunication at the back let in United's Emil Magallanes
to score. Rangers 'keeper Liam Baldwin then saved a couple shots down to
his right. Speldhurst fought back and after a goalmouth scramble
Andreas Theodorou managed to toe-poke home to bring the score level at
half time. The message at half time for Speldhurst was to carry on how
they finished the first half.
After a long kick from Baldwin, James Bennett won the header in midfield
to find Hall, who played in Theodorou. He was chopped down in the penalty
area. Dan 'The Badger' Kelly grabbed the ball and dispatched expertly in
the bottom right hand corner. Speldhurst were then on the front foot
and won the ball in the middle of the pitch. A ball by Harry Hopwood PhD
played a ball over the top to Marden, who crossed to Bennett,who side
footed a volley into the bottom right hand corner for 3-1. Andreas
bagged a brace with a fine finish into the bottom left hand corner to
make it 4-1. Tonbridge United's Reece Dangerfield scored from a free
kick to reduce the deficit, United applied late pressure but Speldhurst
won comfortably in the end.
Dunton Green moved into second place with a close 4-3 win over Yalding & Laddingford.
Rory Ward hit a hat-trick for the Green, the other being scored by
Marcus Lyne. Yalding's goals were marked by Dave McCall, Stefan Warner
and Jason Hinkson.
Pos |
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
GD |
Pts |
1 |
AFC Borough |
5 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
22 |
6 |
16 |
15 |
2 |
Dunton Green |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
13 |
11 |
2 |
9 |
3 |
Sedlescombe Rangers |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
10 |
12 |
-2 |
9 |
4 |
Speldhurst Rangers |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
17 |
-7 |
4 |
5 |
TW Ridgewaye Reserves |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
Ticehurst Village Club |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
7 |
Brenchley |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
Insulators Reserves |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
-2 |
1 |
9 |
Yalding & Laddingford |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
11 |
-3 |
1 |
10 |
Tonbridge United |
5 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
15 |
-8 |
1 |
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