On This Day – 30th March
On This Day – 30 March – 2016
SCEFL Premier Division
Holmesdale 1-0 Erith & Belvedere
Lordswood 5-0 Erith Town
Five years ago today Lordswood put on a five-star performance to beat Erith Town 5-0 at Martyn Grove.
The hosts raced into a 4-0 lead at the break with goals from Malik Ouani, Bode Anidugbe and a Richard Hamill double before Aaron Jeffery wrapped it up in the second half giving Lordswood the 3 points that helped them to a 4th placed finish.
There was only one goal at Oakley Road and it went to the hosts with Quentin Conteh netting to give Holmesdale a win against Erith & Belvedere.
On This Day – 30th March – 2018
SCEFL First Division
Lydd Town 3-2 Meridian VP
Lewisham Borough 1-8 Holmesdale
On this day in 2018 Holmesdale went goal crazy at the Ladywell Arena, coming away with an 8-1 win.
Adam Toubal scored a hat-trick, Andy Constable notched twice and Kam Pope-Campbell, Jamie Richards and an own goal made it 8. Holmesdale would finish the season in 7th with Lewisham ending in 18th place.
Lydd Town came out best in a 5-goal classic with Meridian VP. Ryan Taylor scored twice for the Lydders and Ben Charlesworth got the other before the visitors piled on the pressure with a late Mo Adisa double.
On This Day – 30th March – 2019
SCEFL Premier Division
Bearsted 5-1 Punjab United
Chatham Town 1-2 AFC Croydon Ath
Crowborough Athletic 1-1 Canterbury City
Deal Town 2-0 Croydon
Erith Town 1-0 Rusthall
Fisher 4-0 Beckenham Town
Glebe 3-2 Lordswood
Hollands & Blair 3-2 Cray Valley PM
K Sports 3-4 Corinthian
Sheppey United 1-2 Tunbridge Wells
There were a couple of curveballs thrown in the title race today as two of the contenders saw their hopes heavily damaged with surprise defeats. Chatham Town now look to have a mountain to climb if they wish to spend next Season in Step 4 as AFC Croydon Athletic raced in to a 2-goal lead and held on, despite a late scare, to leave Maidstone Road with the points. Cray Valley PM saw their 12-game winning run come to an end at Star Meadow and now have to hope others slip up if they are to have any chance of completing a unique double. Hollands & Blair took the lead through Steve Ratcliff before Francis Babalola collected his second brace of the week before the break, giving the Millers the lead. Early in the second half Rob Denness levelled then Jack Simon got the winner giving Blair the surprise victory and a much-needed 3 points in their quest for survival in this Division. Those results mean that the win for Fisher at home to Beckenham Town has left them with a bit of breathing room below their current 2nd position. Until today no team have outclassed Beckenham in a game this season but that is exactly what the Fish did as they dispatched their opponents 4-0 in a very impressive display. Matthieu Ramsamy got the first 2 goals which Trey Small then added to prior to half-time. Late-on Rob Brown completed the rout leaving the hosts firmly in the fight for the title and after results here and elsewhere their chances have increased in acheiving that dream. Favourites for the main honour are still Corinthian though but K Sports pushed them all the way at Cobdown and the hosts almost got something from the game. Shaun Brown, Jack Bath, Jamie Billings and Emmanuel Oloyede were all on the scoresheet for the Hoops and they needed to be as Matt Gething and Ashley Cooper both netted before the match eventually went to the visitors by way of a 4-3 result.
Croydon are now just a further defeat from confirmed doom after they left the Charles Sports Ground empty handed with Deal Town running out 2-0 winners today. Early goals by Dave Pilcher and Kane Smith were enough to see off the Trams moving Deal up to the hotly contested 7th position. Lordswood lost their grip on that place after becoming the latest victims of the most in-form side in this Division, Glebe. Peter Sweeney’s side are now unbeaten in 7 games as they collected their 3rd win of the week, albeit narrowly in a tight contest with the Lords. Scott Kinch came up from the back to head the hosts into the lead at Foxbury before Ryan Cheek equalised in similar fashion. In the final 10 minutes Abdi Salamabad and Luke Miller both scored for Glebe and although Alfie Bates pulled one back in the final stages it was just too late and the run continues for the Chislehurst-based side.
At the bottom end of the table Punjab United and Rusthall look to be battling it out for the second relegation place as both fell to defeats away from home. A Steadman Callender goal for Erith Town was enough to see the Rustics defeated while Bearsted ended a poor run by winning 5-1 against Punjab with David Baranowski and Peter Williams among the scorers for the 14th placed Bears.
Elsewhere Canterbury City drew 1-1 at Crowborough Athletic with Jordan Casey getting the first and Luke Wetton equalising for the Crows.
On This Day – 30th March – 2019
SCEFL First Division
Bridon Ropes 4-4 Snodland Town
Erith & Belvedere 2-1 Greenways
FC Elmstead 5-1 Meridian VP
Holmesdale 0-1 Forest Hill Park
Lewisham Borough 4-3 Stansfeld
Lydd Town 2-2 Kent Football United
Phoenix Sports Res 0-4 Sutton Athletic
Welling Town 0-0 Kennington
The top of the First Division is even tighter after the results today as 3 of the top 5 picked up just the 1 point while the other 2 contenders both picked up important wins.
Welling Town and Kennington shared the honours in a goalless game at Bayliss Avenue leaving the leaders 3 points ahead of the pack with just 4 games remaining. Bridon Ropes remain second but had to fight for their point in a topsy-turvy game with Snodland Town. Nathan Simpson scored a hat-trick for Ropes in the 4-4 draw, with Aaron Sharp, Jack Mayhew, Dave Sherwood and Ollie Freeman all netting for 12th placed Snodland. Erith & Belvedere now have it all in their own hands once more as their win at home to Greenways means they are 4 points off first place with two games in hand. Chan Quan and Jo Jo Ogunbiyi both scored in a 2-1 win for the Deres while Brad Cross scored late for the visitors. Sutton Athletic were impressive once more when leaving the Mayplace Ground as 4-0 winners over Phoenix Sports Reserves. James Sutherland, George Bryan, Eli Graham and Conor Evans were all on the scoresheet as Sutton kept this as a 5-horse race for honours.
6th and 7th met at Oakley Road and with Forest Hill Park narrowly winning 1-0 the gap to Holmesdale is now much smaller. Julian Amaya scored early as Forest closed the distance to 4 points while opening up an even more breathing room behind them. FC Elmstead had been involved in 3 0-0 draws before their home game with Meridian VP but this game made up for that lack of goalmouth action as the hosts ended up as 5-1 winners. Alvin Turytemba hit a brace with Ahmed Deen, Stephen Kukari and Antonio Gonnella grabbing the others as Elmstead moved up to 11th while handing their visitors a 6th successive loss. There were even more goals at the Ladywell Arena as Lewisham Borough almost certainly confirmed their survival in this Division with a 4-3 win over Stansfeld.
Omari Hibbert scored first and last for Lewisham with Emilin Bennij and Laurent Mingle scoring in-between. Ryan Hassan, Freddie Cray and Joe Minter all scored for the visitors as they staged a late comeback but it was not quite to be for them. Lydd Town twice came from behind to eventually draw with Kent Football United 2-2 at the Lindsey Field. Gareth Jones got both of the visitors goals but Lydd levelled each time, firstly through Tom Barton and then late on thanks to their top scorer Dale Horton. Kent Football United look to be a win away from guaranteed safety while the Lydders can worry no more.
