Kentish Express Ashford & District
Underdogs on top in semi-final ties
ASHFORD SUNDAY LEAGUE: DIVISION 1 GUARANTEED ONE SIDE IN FINAL
Sunday Charity Trophy
Division 1 teams Kennington and Iden Park both pulled off surprise results with wins against Premier Division opposition to go through to the semi-finals.
They will face each other in the last four with the winners going through to the final against one of Market Hotel, Willesborough Athletic or AFC Locomotive.
Kennington won 4-1 at Mersham Sports, with Mitchell Punt hitting a hat-trick for the visitors, while Steve Rice added a fourth. Mersham’s goal was scored by Matt Gray.
Two goals from Ben Heffernan and a Barney Osbourne strike saw Iden Park through, 3-1 against Aldington. Danny Lang pulled a goal back for the visitors.
Division 3 League Cup
Ashford United Colts are through to the final after beating Givaudan 2-1 at Pitchside.
Two early penalties, converted by Kyle Galea, saw United go ahead as they held off the works side before the visitors pulled a goal back late on through Mark Hopkinson to set up a tense finish.
Premier Division
AFC Locomotive moved four points clear at the top with a 3-0 win at Ashford Dynamo.
Striker Steve Harris netted his 11th goal with the game’s opener before both Tom Scorer and Andrew Trott also hit the target to help claim all three points for the pub side.
Division 1
Jon Driscoll’s strike was all that separated the sides as Sandgate AFC moved above opponents Charing Sunday into the second promotion spot with a 1-0 success at the Moat.
Fellow promotion rivals Stanhope & Beaver Rangers dropped points as they were undone by Cheriton, losing 5-2 at South Road. Stanhope, playing only their second league fixture in just over four months due to the wet weather, scored through Lee Hollingsby and Dan Cornell but were comfortably beaten by an impressive Cheriton team.
Top scorer Ashley Boyd added two more goals to his tally, while additional strikes from Ben Ashton, Joe Morley and Teddy Easthorpe sealed the win.
Division 2
Prince Albert continue to set the pace, collecting another three points with a 4-1 win at home to Charing Reserves.
The unbeaten leaders are now four points clear of second-placed Lolzors having both played 10 games.
Albert went ahead through Danny Bell-Hughes and added to their tally thanks to strikes from Jordan Griffin, Kirk Howard and Stuart Watson, with Steve Tanner replying for Charing.
Third-placed Willesborough Reserves missed out on the chance to close the gap between themselves and the top two as they were beaten in the league for the first time since September, 4-2 by Appledore.
Willesborough went ahead through strikes from Ashley Slingsby and Matt Burdon but the Smugglers hit back with a Rhys Hodges double and further goals from Ben Ross and Leigh Simmons. Their comeback was made even more difficult when goalkeeper Carlos Candau was shown a red card with 20 minutes left but the villagers held on for a first league victory in 2016.
Goalkeeper Brian Meachair was the match-winner as Burton Grove won a thrilling contest, beating Ashford Cavaliers 5-4.
The young goalkeeper’s late free-kick from his own half flew into the top of the net to seal all three points and a first league victory since the opening weekend of the season.
The scores were locked at 4-4 before Meachair’s winner, with Matt Kirby, Richard Long, Justin Day and Jack Boorman all on target on the Grove, while Cavaliers replied with Andy Ward and Matt Gomez scoring twice.
Division 3
Leaders Mersham Reserves were beaten in the league for the first time this season as they went down 3-1 to Ashstone Galacticos.
Top scorer Adam Bellman was on target for the villagers but that wasn’t enough to claim any points as an excellent team performance from Galacticos earned them a deserved victory.
Stand-in keeper Dan Carter impressed between for Galacticos as goals from Shaun JenningsMcArdle, Dan Pinder and Mark Howells wrapped up a third league win in four games.
Will Lawrence scored the only goal as an injury-hit Ashford Spartans side beat Troggs Reserves.
Kingsnorth Pilgrims came back from going behind to beat Stour Valley 3-1 to move further clear of the bottom of the table.
Tom Brumbridge put Valley ahead in the first-half only for Pilgrims’ player-manager Matt Jackson to level before the break.
Jack Bushell then scored to put Kingsnorth ahead for the first time before Jackson scored his second and Pilgrims’ third to seal a deserved win.