Midweek Round-Up

A round-up of the pre-season games featuring SCEFL sides this midweek.

Tuesday night gave us some of the most impressive pre-season results so far for our SCEFL Clubs and with just a week to go before the FA Cup kicks-off the timing of this good form could not be better.

Corinthian will host Sheerwater in that competition and warmed up for that one by welcoming the other Corinthians to the Farm for a PSF that the hosts took a far from casual approach to. Despite the two Step gap between the Clubs it was the SCEFL side that ran out 5-1 winners showing that once again the Hoops are sure to be a force in the Premier Division promotion race once more.

Many are predicting that Chatham Town will be the Champions this year and after another strong pre-season performance, this time against a young Millwall side, it’s not hard to see why. The Chats announced Luke Rooney as a new signing before the game and he pulled the strings from his midfield role in front of a decent crowd inside the ground and further viewers via their Facebook feed. We all saw as a bundled Dan Bradshaw effort give the hosts the lead before Millwall came back strong with a goal in each half to take the lead. Shortly before the end a stunning effort from Moses Abioye made it 2-2 earning Chatham a draw plus earning them many new admirers at the same time.

Sheppey United also turned a few heads with another eye-ctaching scoreline against higher level opposition. Following friendly wins over Sittingbourne and Margate the Ites added Ramsgate to that victim list with Jack Midson getting a couple in a 3-1 Sheppey victory.

In other games against teams from above, Ezekiel Eboda scored the only goal of the game for Rusthall against Eastbourne Town, Billy Lewins smashed home a ‘Screamer’ for Canterbury City against Faversham Town and Troy Howard netted a late winner for Deal Town at Hythe Town. The task for Punjab United was much to hard though and they lost their local derby to Ebbsfleet United 8-2.

Kent Football United left it late but came away winners from their match-up against Isthmian South Central side Staines Town. Ryan Townrow and James Owolabi with the goals in the final ten minutes earning a 2-1 win against the Paul Barnes led Step 4 outfit. Next-up for KFU is a game against Sittingbourne.

Croydon kept up their fine pre-season run with another win and another clean sheet as they beat Farleigh Rovers 4-0. Martin Smith and Jubril Adamson both netted twice as the Trams made it 5 wins in a row, all without letting in a goal.

The spotlight was on another of our sides last night as a few hundred Maidsone United fans tuned into a live YouTube stream to watch their under 23’s host Bearsted at the Gallagher Stadium. They would have seen a decent performance by their own team but a better one from the Bears who scored first and last to take a 2-1 win.

Kennington also took on an u23 team, this time from Gillingham but the result was similar, with the ton running out as 3-0 winners. Gary Lockyer opened the scoring while Gary Clarke added two more giving Kennington the perfect preparation for their FA Cup debut next week.

There were two all-SCEFL ties with Beckenham Town edging out FC Elmstead 2-1 and Erith & Belvedere winning 3-1 at Greenways.  George Humber and Henry Dasofunjo among the goals for the Deres with Adam Cooper netting for the Greens.

Main Photo Credit: Kennington FC

On Wednesday we had four pre-season games to keep us entertained with Stansfeld coming out as top scorers, firing 7 past OBDSFL side FC Bickley. Billy Parkinson netted a hat-trick and Macey Malyon scored twice as Stansfeld warmed up nicely for their first ever FA Cup tie next week.

Sutton Athletic and Fisher squared off at Lower Road with honours finishing even in a 1-1 draw. Christian Udo gave the Fish the lead just before the break with George Acland heading the leveller for the hosts in the second half. 

In the other two games Rochester United fell to a 4-3 defeat against ground sharers Faversham Strike Force and Hollands & Blair lost 2-1 to Phoenix Sports, with Luke Harvey grabbing the goal for Blair.

Thursday night was a bit of a washout with Beckenham Town having to postpone their game with Whyteleafe because of the bad weather while AFC Croydon only got to see 45 minutes of action before their game at Farleigh Rovers was abandoned due to the state of the pitch.

Snodland Town did get to complete a game though and they provided us with plenty of goals as they took on their own Reserve side at Potyns. The First Team ran out as 5-1 winners with Sam Winch getting a hat-trick and Omar El Mantway and Dan Ashton getting the others.