Saturday February 14

 

FIRST DIVISION

Croydon 11-0 Chessington & Hook

Greenways P-P Bridon Ropes

Halls AFC 0-1 FC Elmstead

Lydd Town 3-1 Sheppey Sports

SC Thamesmead P-P AFC Greenwich Borough

SE Dons 3-2 Welling Town

Staplehurst Monarchs P-P Lewisham Borough

Tooting Bec 2-2 Banstead Athletic

 

Three games fell victim to the weather — but the five that survived delivered goals, drama and an extension to the lead at the top.

We can only start in Croydon.

For the first time this season, a side hit double figures — and the Trams didn’t mess about. Eleven goals, three points and a serious boost to the goal difference as Croydon move to within a point of the play-offs.

Cameron Macmillan led the charge with a hat-trick, Kanan Fitton added a brace, and there were further goals from Red Jenkins (pen), Edward Dwyer, Pat Ward (2), Tom Barton (pen) and Stacey Petrou in stoppage time.

For Chessington & Hook, the outlook is bleak. Thirteen points from safety and no real signs of a turnaround — the gap is widening.

The league leaders SE Dons were made to work for it but extended their advantage at the summit to 12 points with nearest challengers not in action.

Aaron Watson struck twice either side of an Andre Coker effort to give the Dons control, but Welling showed real fight to claw their way back into the contest with goals after the break from Thomas Ngegba and Harvey Roberts. In the end though, fortress Bauvill stood firm again and the Dons march on.

FC Elmstead climbed into fourth place with a narrow but valuable win in Dartford.

In-form Fraser Page struck on 81 minutes against Halls, and Elmstead are building momentum at exactly the right stage of the season.

Lydd Town are another side finding form at the perfect time. A third strong result in recent weeks lifts them to 13th and eases relegation concerns.

After falling behind to a Sheppey Sports opener, Lydd responded impressively with goals from Charlie Gill (pen), Leo Dodds and Rob Lawrence to turn the game around. A far cry from the 8–1 reverse fixture earlier in the campaign.

An entertaining draw in South London won’t satisfy Tooting Bec, who are now winless in nine and drifting further from the play-off picture. Dan Farrow and Buruk Tedros were on target, but it wasn’t enough.
Banstead Athletic, meanwhile, may value the point far more. Goals from Luke Danby and Sam Haughey earn them a draw that nudges them out of the drop zone.

Greenways v Bridon Ropes, SC Thamesmead v AFC Greenwich Borough and Staplehurst Monarchs v Lewisham Borough were all postponed due to waterlogged pitches.

With the leaders stretching clear, the play-off race tightening and the bottom clubs scrapping for every point, the First Division table is beginning to take shape.

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