31st October – Premier Division
Saturday 31st October
Premier Division
Balham 5-2 Bearsted
Beckenham Town 3-0 Lordswood
Chatham Town 6-0 Hollands & Blair
Corinthian 2-1 Deal Town
Erith Town 4-0 Tunbridge Wells
K Sports P-P Glebe
Punjab Utd 0-1 Crowborough Ath
Tower Hamlets 5-5 Canterbury City
At an average of almost 5 goals per game today the seven Premier Division matches gave us the usual entertainment, drama and value for money.
Hollands & Blair had only conceded 6 times in their previous 10 league games before turning up at the Bauvill to take on the top scorers in the Division. That tally has now doubled after Chatham Town hit them for a further 6, taking their own scoring total up to 60 from their 11 games played so far.
Jack Evans, Dan Bradshaw, Luke Rooney and Ryan Hayes were all among the goals today with Evans moving on to an incredible 15 for the League season, a total that is more than 5 of the teams in the Division have managed and the same amount as the now 7th placed Blair have scored.
Chatham Town remain top but are on the same points as Corinthian, who needed a last minute penatly to beat Deal Town 2-1.
Emmanuel Oloyede got the opener for the hosts, which was levelled by Troy Howard early in the seocnd half. The Hoops of Corinthian were not to be denied a 10th win though and they earned it thanks to Oscar Housego’s 90th minute spot kick.
Erith Town produced one of the results of the day as they sent Tunbridge Wells home as 4-0 losers.
Russell Bedford, Steadman Callender, Danny Gannon and Michael Power all scored for the Dockers keeping them firmly inside the top 8 while heavily damaging Wells promotion hopes.
Beckenham Town are 5th following a 3-0 win at home to Lordswood.
All 3 goals came in the final 20 minutes at Eden Park Avenue, with Jamie Brown, Tunde Aderonmu and Steve Townsend all finding the net.
Balham continued their impressive start to life in the SCEFL with a 5-2 home win over Bearsted.
Tom Read claimed a double for the hosts alongside goals from Jake Henry, James Murphy and Cam Gordon as Balham moved up to 6th having won half of the 12 games they have played so far.
Without a clean sheet between them we always expected the Tower Hamlets v Canterbury City match to produce goals.
We didn’t expect 10 of them though with the sides sharing the points in a thrilling 5-5 draw.
The point was a second of the season for Hamlets, who remain bottom while for City it sees them move up into 16th place.
Finally, Crowborough Athletic scored early and held on as Rhys Bartlett’s 2nd minute goal gave them all 3 points at Punjab United.
The match between K Sports and Glebe was postponed.
Match Programmes
Tower Hamlets v Canterbury City
Photo Credit: Sam Reed