Saturday January 31

FIRST DIVISION

Bridon Ropes 1-2 Halls AFC

Croydon 3-2 Sheppey Sports

FC Elmstead 1-1 Banstead Athletic

Greenways P-P Staplehurst Monarchs

Lewisham Borough 0-2 AFC Greenwich Borough

Lydd Town 4-1 Welling Town

SC Thamesmead 0-2 Lordswood

Tooting Bec 2-2 Chessington & Hook

 

Lydd Town delivered the result that really shook the table, hammering Welling Town 4–1 to climb out of the relegation zone. It looked uncomfortable at the break after Sacha Gibson had given Welling a 37th-minute lead, but the second half was pure Lydd.
Charlie Gill turned into an unstoppable force, scoring a ruthless hat-trick (60’, 73’, 76’), with Tyler Sterling adding another just two minutes after the equaliser. Welling drop to second-bottom and suddenly look in real trouble.

Down at Tooting, Chessington & Hook showed real fight in a breathless 2–2 draw with Tooting Bec. They raced into a 2–1 lead through Danielius Burbulis and Thomas Lyons before Bec hit back via Donte Degannes-Fidyk and Joe Martin. Bec sit 9th after letting another opportunity slip, while Chessington remain 12 points from safety — but at least stopped the bleeding.

Banstead Athletic earned a valuable point away at FC Elmstead, though it wasn’t quite enough to lift them out of the bottom three. Fraser Page struck early for the hosts, but Ethan Cassie’s stoppage-time leveller made it 1–1 — notable as Elmstead’s first home draw and Banstead’s first away draw of the season.

At the top, AFC Greenwich Borough did exactly what they needed to do, winning 2–0 at Lewisham Borough to close the gap on leaders SE Dons. Oghosa Williams reminded everyone why he tops the scoring charts with goals in either half, keeping Greenwich’s perfect away record intact.

Lordswood also enjoyed a productive afternoon on the road, seeing off SC Thamesmead 2–0 to strengthen their grip on fourth place. Second-half goals from Tadiwanashe Nago and a stoppage-time strike by Artem Kuchkov sealed the points.

Halls AFC picked up a solid 2–1 away win at Bridon Ropes, with Zack Manning and James Bayford putting them in control before a late Leo Onye goal made things nervy. Ropes remain uncomfortably close to the relegation line.

The game of the day came at Croydon, where the Trams edged Sheppey Sports 3–2 in a lively contest to climb into 6th place. Tom Barton opened the scoring, before late goals from Kieran Rufus and Neil Spencer sealed it — despite Sheppey fighting back and losing Joe Ganiwa to a red card late on.

And finally, no football at Greenways, where a waterlogged pitch ruled out their clash with Staplehurst Monarchs.

Bottom battles intensified, play-off races tightened, and the table is starting to show real pressure lines now. This division is very much alive.

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