Saturday December 6
FIRST DIVISION
Croydon 0-1 Staplehurst Monarchs
Greenways P-P Bridon Ropes
Halls AFC 2-0 Rochester United
Lewisham Borough 0-3 SE Dons
Lordswood 1-1 Tooting Bec
Lydd Town P-P AFC Greenwich Borough
Sheppey Sports 1-1 FC Elmstead
Welling Town 3-1 SC Thamesmead
The weather did its best to wreck the schedule again, wiping out two fixtures, but the six survivors served up drama, goals and a couple of statement wins.
Halls AFC produced the shock of the day, handing Rochester United their first league defeat of the season. Five wins on the spin tells you Halls are flying, and this 2-0 victory – courtesy of Sam Bayford on 34 minutes and Zack Manning just before the hour – launches them up to 10th and firmly into the conversation.
SE Dons move into second after a ruthless 3-0 win at Lewisham Borough. The Dons stretched their unbeaten league run to nine with early control from Brandon Barrance (4’), the ever-lively Palace Francis (27’), and Aaron Watson finishing things off at 50’. Professional, confident, and true title challengers.
At the other end of the table, Welling Town finally breathed out after climbing out of the bottom three with a much–needed 3-1 victory over SC Thamesmead. Goals from Herve Mbongue (21’), Fred Aikon (45’) and a bonus-time clincher from Sacha Gibson (90+7’) did the job. George Dennis struck for Thamesmead, but it wasn’t enough.
Staplehurst Monarchs grabbed their first away league win of the season with a tight 1-0 victory at Croydon. Sam Sharp struck on 47 minutes to nudge Monarchs up to 9th and, in the process, kept the Trams out of the play-off spots. Fine margins, big consequences.
The other two games ended level. Sheppey Sports and FC Elmstead shared a goal in each half – Jamie Fearn with a 2nd-minute opener for Elmstead before an 80th-minute own goal squared things up. Lordswood and Tooting Bec, meeting in a heavyweight 4th v 5th clash, also finished 1-1. Joe Martin converted a 76th-minute penalty, only for Ethan Stewart to fire back on 80 minutes. With so much on the line, both sides ended with ten men.
A messy weekend weather-wise, but the table definitely feels a little tidier after it.