Saturday 22nd August
SATURDAY 22nd AUGUST
Banstead Athletic 3-1 Greenways
Bridon Ropes 1-4 Hythe Town
Lordswood 2-0 Stansfeld
Lydd Town 2-2 Welling Town
Minster 1-0 Tooting Bec
Rochester United 3-1 Halls
Sheppey Sports 3-3 FC Elmstead
Staplehurst Monarchs 1-0 Lewisham Borough
Rochester United and Staplehurst Monarchs maintained their 100% records on another entertaining afternoon of SCEFL First Division action, while Hythe Town also made it two wins from two.
Rochester remain top of the table after making it four victories from four with a 3-1 success against Halls AFC at Rede Court Road.
The game saw both teams reduced to ten men after just 23 minutes, with Baciro Bari dismissed for Halls and Tom Webb seeing red for Rochester.
Despite that early drama, Rochester took control either side of half-time. Mack Reilly opened the scoring in the 43rd minute and added his second three minutes after the restart. William Currie made it 3-0 on 51 minutes before Stephen Gbopo grabbed a late consolation for Halls.
Rochester now have a maximum 12 points from four games and lead the First Division by three points.
Keeping pace immediately behind them are Staplehurst Monarchs, who have now won all three of their league fixtures. Manny Cuttress’ 15th-minute goal proved enough to secure a 1-0 victory over Lewisham Borough and move the Monarchs onto nine points.
Hythe Town are another side yet to drop a point. Two goals from Jake Embery, alongside strikes from Josh Byford and Harry Maher, earned the Cannons an impressive 4-1 victory at Bridon Ropes. Tadi Nago scored Bridon’s late consolation.
Hythe have six points from their two league outings and move up to fourth.
Lordswood are also on six points following a 2-0 home victory over Stansfeld. The game remained goalless until Harvey Welford struck five minutes after the restart, with Callum Peck sealing the points in stoppage time.
There was a landmark afternoon for Minster, who celebrated their first SCEFL victory by beating Tooting Bec 1-0. After collecting their first league point at Lydd in midweek, Fin Waddell’s 61st-minute goal secured another piece of club history for the newcomers.
Banstead Athletic also collected their first points of the season with a 3-1 victory over Greenways. Luke Danby struck twice for the hosts, either side of an Emeka Okakpu penalty. Simon Walton had levelled for Greenways early in the second half.
There was plenty of drama at the Lindsey Field, where Lydd Town and Welling Town drew 2-2.
Fin Dent twice put Lydd ahead, firstly after 13 minutes and again six minutes into the second half. On both occasions Welling responded, with Abimbola Ogunyemi scoring their first league goal of the season before Tommy Foster’s 56th-minute penalty earned the visitors their first point.
The result also means Lydd remain unbeaten, having collected six points from their opening four matches.
The highest-scoring game of the afternoon came between Sheppey Sports and FC Elmstead, where the points were shared following a thrilling 3-3 draw.
Elmstead looked in complete control after Jamie Fearn and a Kanan Fitton double put them 3-1 ahead shortly after half-time. Sheppey had pulled one back through Jack O’Neill in first-half stoppage time before completing their comeback after the break, with Joe Skinner and Joe Ganiwa finding the net to rescue a point.
After Saturday’s action, Rochester United lead the way with four wins from four, while Staplehurst sit second with their own perfect record intact. Croydon are third, Hythe fourth and Lordswood complete the early top five.
There is still a long way to go, but Rochester and Staplehurst have certainly set the early pace in the First Division.