Kentish Football 
Match Reports: Ebbsfleet earn their Spurs
Some news in brief, including match reports from this weekend.
Sam Mott, Ebbsfleet United's 19-year-old goalkeeper, has joined Ryman Division One South side Croydon Athletic on loan.
Mott, who had a spell at Whitstable Town last season, goes to Athletic on a one-month deal.
Mott goes straight into the Rams squad for their game at Whitstable on Tuesday night (November 6th) and should make his home debut on Saturday against Ashford Town, now managed by former Fleet boss Steve Lovell.
Welling United have been drawn away to Wealdstone in the third qualifying round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.
The match at Northwood’s Chestnut Avenue ground takes place on Saturday, 24th November.
Meanwhile, the Wings entertain the Stones in the third round of the London Senior Cup on Tuesday night, and have announced the admission prices for the Park View Road clash.
Adult prices have been confirmed at £8, with concessions at £4 - with no extra charge for seating.
Ebbsfleet United 3-0 Tottenham Hotspur Ladies
Sunday 4th November 2007
Ebbsfleet United ladies continued their good run of league form, as they bounced back from last weeks disappointing women's FA Cup exit in fine fashion by trouncing Tottenham ladies 3-0.
Tottenham were previously unbeaten in the league this season so it was important for Fleet to claim the 3 vital league points to continue their top of the league push for this season.
Ebbsfleet United manager Shaun Edwards was delighted with the reaction of his players after the last couple of weeks offered disappointing results.
" I was really pleased with the team performance and delighted with the win,” he told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.
“The team dominated the first half without getting any reward as they attacked the Tottenham goal relentlessly, hitting the bar and post as well as seeing the ball kicked off the line, and the Tottenham keeper make a series of fine saves."
It may have been one of those days as the team went into the interval the score remained 0-0, but all credit has to go to the players second half performance.
Fleet ladies began the second half at a furious pace that saw a few strong challenges and clashes of players, and midfield dynamo Hannah Chambers received a booking after a scuffle with her Tottenham counterpart for her part in pushing the team forward.
After 60 minutes Fleet’s pressure finally paid off, when right midfielder Jules Teague produced a bit of magic down the wing and sent over a pin point cross for striker Kelly Campbell to meet with a bullet header giving the goalkeeper no chance.
To the delight of the manager the second goal closely followed as just 6 minutes later Campbell struck again meeting a corner from Lorraine Grinyer again with her head which was blocked but rebounded straight to her this time Campbell made no mistake as she gleefully crashed it into the net.
Fleet were now rampant and creating chances at will and it came as no surprise when Campbell completed her hat trick with 12 minutes to go with arguably the pick of the lot, a curling 20 yarder into the top corner.
The manager also offered praise to the Fleet Defence for their 5th clean sheet this season and a strengthening record of just 4 leagues goals against in 6 games.
Three points sees the ladies rise to second spot in the league, just a point behind the leaders.
Next week second placed Ebbsfleet travel away for a tough league fixture against London Colney, new to the league this season, it is an unknown tie for the ladies and London Colney are also unbeaten this season with a couple of games in hand, so another vital three pointer to play.
Chatham Town 2-3 Burgess Hill Town
By Neil Sanders
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 3rd November 2007
Shane Suter returned from suspension and made an instant impact by opening the scoring in the 10th minute.
He chased a through ball and charged down the keepers attempted clearance, leaving himself a simple tap in to an empty net.
Suter nearly set up a second for Chatham soon afterwards, doing well to keep the ball in on the left touchline before delivering a dangerous cross.
Gavin Schulz couldn’t get enough contact with a header and Mark Brooks shot at the far post hit the side netting.
Brooks then forced a useful save from Chris Winterton with a right foot shot.
Burgess Hill’s Steve Harper caused the Chats defence problems all afternoon. He started by getting the equaliser after 21 minutes, thanks to a good turn and shot from the edge of the 18 yard box which found the bottom corner.
Brooks then showed his worth in defence for Chatham by heading clear whilst under pressure from two attackers.
Towards the end of the half Chats keeper Miroslav Oravec made saves from a Danny Gainsford header and a Jamie Howell shot, to ensure the scores were level at the interval.
Chatham regained the initiative at the start of the second half. Good work on the left by Suter, Matt Solly and Tom Davey eventually led to a cross which Craig Govey thumped into the roof of the net after the first attempt had been blocked.
Chats had further half chances from Govey and Steve Best, before Burgess Hill pulled level again in the 73rd minute.
Harper latched onto a ball over the top and picked his spot with a lob over Oravec.
After that the visitors looked the more likely to snatch a winner and they did so with seven minutes left on the clock. Shaheen Sadough got in at the near post to apply the final touch to a low driven cross.
Chatham’s league match at Horsham YMCA which was scheduled for this coming Tuesday, has now been rearranged for 4th December as their opponents have a Westview Cup match against Folkestone Invicta.
Next Saturday Chats entertain Leatherhead. Hopefully by then the grass at Maidstone Road may have been cut.
Chatham: Oravec, Binks, Davey, Groombridge, Tedder (Best 37), Solly, Smith, Brooks, Schulz (Ascheri 77), Suter, Govey (Finn 87). Unused subs: Goodger, Whitehouse.
Scorers: Suter, Govey.
Thamesmead Town 1-1 Erith & Belvedere
By Thomas Hawes
Kent League Cup Group B
Saturday 3rd November 2007
Erith & Belvedere ensured that they stayed in second place in Kent League Cup Group B after drawing 1-1 with Kent League leaders Thamesmead Town at Bayliss Avenue.
Prior to the match, Group B looked as if it was all about whether Erith & Belvedere or Deal Town were going to qualify for the quarter-finals. The Deres had other ideas, as they took the game to the home side and dominated the opening quarter of an hour.
The Deres side featured all five of the club’s centre-backs, including John Farley who returned from injury to take his spot in the side at left-back.
Lee Morgan was in excellent form in the middle of the park, as he and Matt Johnson ran the show for the Deres.
The tough-tackling line-up not only stopped the Mead from playing their “total football” whilst also keeping the tempo high, but outplayed Thamesmead for the opening 20 minutes.
Although much of the Deres best play came down the right hand side, with Ricky Hardie and Matt Bedford linking up well on numerous occasions, the opening goal came after some good work down the left.
Nick Smith embarked on a mazy run and forced the Thamesmead defence further and further back without actually getting past a player and he eventually sidefooted the Deres ahead from 8 yards out, to continue his remarkable goalscoring record this season.
Thamesmead haven’t lost to Kent League opposition all season and despite their dodgy start, they hit back straight away. Curtis Williams whipped in a fine cross from the right. Richard Dimmock pulled away from Paul Gross and guided the ball past Grant Wallis to level the scores.
Mead are experts of scoring on the counter attack and they almost did it again on 40 minutes when Curtis Williams forced a save out of Wallis.
The first half still belonged to Erith though and they were unlucky not to be ahead at the interval after Nick Smith was put through on goal after some excellent one touch football. Fortunately for Thamesmead, Woodward was on hand to diffuse the situation.
Erith started the second half excellently; winning a corner just seven seconds into the first half! Matt Johnson forced a top quality save out of Woodward on 49 minutes, whilst Smith headed a glorious opportunity over the crossbar.
This was as good as it would get for the Deres as Thamesmead took control of the game as the visitors began to tire.
On 65 minutes, Rikki Cable reacted to a foul on him by Michael Gonzague by kicking out at the defender and was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card.
When Cable was put through on goal just five minutes later it looked as if Thamesmead were going to steal all three points and virtually seal a quarter-final berth but Cable fired wide.
Thamesmead had further chances to snatch all three points, but in the end a draw was probably a fair result.
In part two of this double header, Kent League points are up for grabs and after today’s result the match at Park View Road should be a cracker.
Erith & Belvedere: Wallis, Hardie, Farley, Morgan, Gross, Gonzague,Bedford, Johnson, Smith, White (Dunkley 80), Deane.
Subs: Button, Prett, Pursglove.
Attendance: 65
Folkestone Invicta 0-0 Ashford Town (Middlesex)
By Richard Murrill
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 3rd November 2007
Folkestone Invicta’s poor home record continued as they missed out on the chance to go sixth in the Ryman Premier League table when they could only draw 0-0 at home to Ashford Town (Middlesex) at the Buzzlines Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Invicta have only won one of their seven home league matches so far this season and scoring goals is clearly a problem as the Folkestone side have only found the net twice in their last five home matches in all competitions.
Saturday’s game might have been different had Invicta gone ahead early on when visiting goalkeeper Craig Ross made an excellent double save.
But after that Ashford grew in confidence and had the more of the chances as Invicta had to wait until the 76th minute to win their only corner of the game.
The home side welcomed back captain Roland Edge (cut forehead) in place of Samuel Kola Okikiolu (calf), with wide men Damian Abel and Ben Sly keeping their places in the starting line up after the midweek 1-1 draw at home to Margate.
A Paul Johnson shot was blocked by Invicta defender Liam Friend with an early half chance for the visitors after seven minutes.
But Invicta were desperately close in the 13th minute when 18-year-old Ross touched Edge’s far post volley onto the post and then kept out Leigh Bremner’s close range rebound.
The visitors had two chances themselves in the 22nd minute as Symon James headed over at the far post when the ball came in from the left hand bye line and Scott Weight fired wide when Johnson played the ball out to him on the left hand side of the penalty area.
Weight then blasted over when the ball broke to him in the middle of the penalty area seven minutes later.
James Everitt and Sly both went up for the same ball when Kevin Watson played it in from the right hand side after 34 minutes and it was headed over.
But the visitors were more than holding their own as right back Vinnie O’Sullivan shot wide from the edge of the penalty area after 38 minutes and defender Stuart Bamford headed just over when Johnson played the ball in from the right two minutes later.
Johnson was involved again when he headed over at the far post with a good 48th minute chance after centre forward Jon Palmer had met Scott Todd’s corner from the right hand side.
Goalkeeper Ross came to his side’s rescue again when he saved with his feet to deny Bremner after 51 minutes, with the Invicta striker injured in the process and replaced by Ellis Remy.
Invicta threatened again seven minutes later when Abel nodded the ball on for James Corbett, but centre half George Hardy got across to block and also picked up an injury for his troubles.
At the other end, Palmer hit a low 64th minute shot at Charlie Mitten from the edge of the penalty area.
Mitten then touched a well-struck Palmer shot over the crossbar four minutes later.
The closing stages saw Invicta hanging on somewhat as Weight volleyed over from the right hand side of the penalty area after 81 minutes following a move involving strikers Palmer and Todd.
Mitten saved from substitute Scott Harris in the 84th minute after initially throwing the bal to Gavin Bamford and then saved from Harris again in two minutes later following a good run down the left from Jason Milletti in a move also involving substitute Ricky Wellard.
A challenge by Ashford captain Gavin Bamford on Corbett prompted a 50th minute melee involving players from both sides in front of the dugouts which resulted in bookings for Invicta’s Corbett and Ashford’s Stuart Bamford.
Folkestone Invicta: Mitten, Watson, Edge, Chappell, Friend, Sly (Briggs 66), M. Everitt, Abel, J. Everitt, Bremner (Remy 53), Corbett.
Subs: Saunders, Burchell, Stonebridge.
Ashford Town (Middlesex): Ross, O’Sullivan, Milletti, S. Bamford, Hardy, Weight, Johnson, G. Bamford, Palmer (S. Harris 81), Todd (Wellard 81), James (W. Harris 66).
Subs: Logie, Burgess.
Attendance: 301.
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd