Bearsted 3 Tunbridge Wells 2

Match 126/21/1990 - Saturday, 16th April 2022 - SCEFL Premier

Bearsted (2) 3 Stace 5 Wakefield 45 Irvine 90+4
Tunbridge Wells (1) 2 Gething 23,47
Attendance: 130
Admission: £4
Programme: Included
Mileage: 15/7,254

Such was the lushness of the grass at Bearsted’s Honey Lane and the pleasant 20degC of warmth, it suggested this was the opening day of the season not a virtual dead rubber on Easter Saturday. But the game carried an intensity that was a credit to both sides right to the very end when, in the 94th minute, who else but a Tunbridge Wells Wembley 2013 legend, Andy Irvine, came from the bench to score a winner for the Bears.

I know of no better grass pitch in Non-League football, it truly is a thing of beauty that is far more suitable for a stately home, cream teas or a film set for Downton Abbey. As football clubs around Kent tear up their green, green grass of home for the artificial variety, I would imagine the committee at Bearsted will be the last to employ the diggers to their manicured lawn.

Two teams with very little to play for, bar pride, might just as well play with an entertaining freedom and this they did.

Both sides had early opportunities with Bearsted’s goalkeeper, Billy Johnson, saving with his feet from Fjord Rogers after four minutes and, a minute later, Aaron Lee Wharton also using his feet to deny Jonathan Rogers. But that reprieve was only to last seconds as Sam Stace was sent clear to tuck the ball home into the far corner.

The game also had a little edge to it that didn’t suggest end of season nothingness as Bearsted’s Joel Wakefield found his way into the referee’s notebook after a couple of challenges had gone unpunished.

Tunbridge Wells got themselves level after 23 minutes when a peach of a through ball from James Nurden found Matt Gething to run on and slip the ball past the advancing Johnson into the bottom corner for his 31st goal of the season.

Gething might have had his 32nd a couple of minutes later but the ball got stuck under his feet before it fell to Kyron Lightfoot who shot over.

The home side finished the first half in the ascendancy with a goal on the cusp of the break from Wakefield who capitalised, in much the same way as the opening two goals, a long ball forward and rolled home. It was a goal that had been coming as Jordan Ababio and Stace had previously tested Lee Wharton.

Only two minutes of the second period had elapsed when good work from Frankie Griffin was rewarded with Gething doubling his tally for the afternoon.

A draw would have been a fair result as the teams had equal chances to get their noses in front before Irvine’s intervention. For Bearsted, a 77th minute free kick saw Irvine narrowly miss and Tunbridge Wells had a great opportunity created by Regan Corke but substitute Jack Hope fired wide.

The winner came in the blink of an eye and one wonders if in a different time in the season game management would have avoided it. Tunbridge Wells were attacking, the move broke down and with one hefty clearance, Irvine was clear and, to be fair, he finished well and the celebrations also suggested much more than a mid-table win.

It had been a good afternoon’s entertainment but my abiding memory will be that beautiful green baize!

Bearsted 2 Canterbury City 2

Match 79/21/1943 - Monday, 3rd January 2022 - SCEFL Premier

Bearsted (1) 2 Irvine 38 Stace 57
Canterbury City (0) 2 Amgbaduba 80 O'Donnell 85
Attendance: 113

Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: Included
Mileage: 15/4,297

No disrespect to Bearsted but they were a last minute, third choice destination for a game on Bank Holiday Monday. Waterlogged pitches at Tunbridge Wells and Staplehurst (a novel reason for a postponement these days, rather than Covid) had led to the change of plan, but as is quite often the case, it brought an enjoyable afternoon with a entertaining game of football.

As I senior citizen, with £4 for entry that included a programme, I could hardly go wrong with a 15 mile round trip from home an added bonus.

The context of the game centred on Bearsted losing their goalkeeper, Tom Barns, after 10 minutes. Barns went down injured within the first five minutes but soldiered on for a few more until he needed to be replaced by Joel Wakefield, normally an outfield player. For 70 of the remaining minutes, Bearsted protected him and whilst he had been onfield for an hour before he needed to use his hands, he swept well behind his defenders clearing everything that got behind them.

It makes it hard to fathom that Canterbury barely produced a heart beat flutter for 80 minutes but then produced two goals, the equaliser a wonderful strike from Harry O’Donnell, in the last 10 minutes. It was almost as if it took them that long to realise Wakefield was a stand-in keeper who brought cheers from the home support with every clearance.

Bearsted had the best of the first half chances with City goalkeeper, Tom Benham, saving well from Jordan Tingley and Andy Irvine before Irvine rolled back the years on 38 minutes as he cruised through some pretty feeble defending to put the Bears a goal to the good at the break.

On 57 minutes, Sam Stace curled a beauty from 25 yards to double Bearsted’s advantage and they were looking very comfortable with it.

Bearsted should have put the game to bed with chances for Jon Rogers who struck a post and then, in the 76th minute, clipped the top of the bar.

After an hour of barely dirtying his mate’s gloves, Wakefield was brought into serious action and he excelled making a couple of decent saves before, in the 80th minute, a poor clearance from Wakefield went straight to Eniye Amgbaduba in a clear shooting position and he gave Wakefield no chance with a unerring finish.

Canterbury sensed that there was something to be had from this game and with five minutes to go, O’Donnell, who had looked City’s most likely outlet for a goal, latched onto a loose ball on the left hand side of the six yard box and volleyed in a fine strike into the far corner.

City might well have gone on to win the game and it took a save from Wakefield that any goalkeeper would have been proud of to preserve a point for the home side.

Bearsted 2 Crowborough Athletic 2

Match 14/21/1879 - Tuesday, 3rd August 2021 - SCEFL Premier League

Bearsted (1) 2 Stace 5 Majoyegbe 82
Crowborough Athletic (1) 2 Lambert 6 Bartlett 89 (pen)
Attendance: 80

Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: With entry
Mileage: 15/727

One of the more satisfying aspects of being involved with Academy football (nothing more than driving the minibus!) is seeing 13/14 year-olds grow into young men and into senior football. So, with a collection of past and present Tonbridge Angels Academy players turning out for Crowborough this season, the short trip to Bearsted was a welcome opportunity to view their progress.

Jacob Lambert has already received very favourable reports from acquaintances who regularly watch the Crows whilst in this evening’s team was also Harrison Mayhew and Rhys Bartlett with Joe Tyrie on the bench.

The game got off to an electric start that threatened a goal fest. In the first minute Bearsted’s Giorgio Russo fired over the bar and from a third minute corner, Daniel Melvin’s header was saved by Cameron Hall. So it hardly came as a surprise that Bearsted opened the scoring after five minutes when Sam Stace was sent clear to lob the advancing Hall from 20 yards.

The lead was to last barely 60 seconds when Lambert received the ball and coolly stroked into the bottom corner.

Bearsted dominated the half and had several chances to restore their lead with a headed opportunity for Lekan Majoyegbe the best, but the game got to the break with the same scoreline as it had after six minutes.

The second half started with a tetchy period that saw three bookings, two for Crowborough, in the space of three minutes.

Once it settled down, it was Bearsted that continued to have the momentum but were wasteful with their chances. A great move opened up the Crows after 57 minutes but only ended with Jason Dawson’s shot clearing the bar and further chances for Andy Irvine and Harrison Hatfull failed to find the target.

Eventually, it took some poor defending from Crowborough who allowed a harmless looking free kick find its way through to central defender Majoyegbe to stab the ball past Hall.

But the came was not lost to Crowborough and a through ball saw Bartlett sprint clear only to be brought down just inside the box. Bartlett, himself, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to secure a point for the visitors.

It wasn’t quite Roy of the Rovers stuff, but Crowborough’s red and yellow away kit certainly resembled the famous strip worn by Melchester Rovers.

Bearsted 0 Chatham Town 1

Match 44/19/1766 - Tuesday, 12th November 2019 - FA Vase 2R

Bearsted (0) 0
Chatham Town (0) 1 Vines 82
Attendance: 141

Admission: £4
Programme: Free
Mileage: 15/3,403

Bearsted website report: This Bearsted result was probably an injustice as for much of the game they were much the better side and constantly putting their opponents onto the back foot. Certainly the highlights of the first half saw great opportunities for Nordirbek Bobomurodov, Peter Williams and Lucian Scarlat and on two occasions Chatham goalkeeper Jordan Carey came to their rescue. At the other end the possibility of being caught on the break was always a threat, but most of all when Scott Andrews diving low to his right to turn the ball around the post to deny Mikey Dalton from opening the scoring just before the half time break.
After the resumption, play for a while remained the same with the hosts on the offensive pitched against the possibility of being punished in return as the half wore on so the balance of play began to even up and seeing the home side . However having to suffer losing a player sent to the sin bin. Although they managed to survive this period of play the stalemate was eventually broken when after 82 minutes following a run and cross into the box, set Paul Vine was able to find the opportunity to score from close range and to take his team through to the next round.

Bearsted 1 Gillingham Under-23 7

Match 5/19/1729 - Monday, 15th July 2019 - Pre-Season Friendly

Bearsted (1) 1
Gillingham Under-23 (3) 7 Derry 59 McKenzie 67 (pen)
Attendance: 118

Admission: £3 Senior
Programme: None
Mileage: 15/293

It was interesting to hear from loyal, lifelong supporters of the Gills that they felt that both hearts and minds were softening towards Steve Evans.

Bearsted 3 Tunbridge Wells 2

Match 38/18/1631 - Tuesday, 2nd October 2018 - SCEFL

Bearsted (1) 3 Collins 11 Garner 70 Baranowski 90
Tunbridge Wells (1) 2 Beecroft 27 Diau 52
Attendance: 86

Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: With Entrance
Mileage: 15/2,583

Tunbridge Wells fielded their rash of new signings and produced a better performance but, ultimately departed Bearsted without any points. There has been an influx of four new players, some well known to supporters, Lewis Mingle, Rhys Bartlett and new faces Tom Pearson and Brandon Diau. Whilst Diau opened his account with a goal, Bartlett and Pearson suffered injuries and didn’t last the evening.

Diau is an archetypical big target man that does encourage a one-dimensional long ball game that has its obvious positives but, for me, it negates the influence of the best player in a Tunbridge Wells shirt, Jake Beecroft.

Despite a bright opening from the visitors it was Bearsted that opened the scoring after 11 minutes. Lucien Scarlat was sent clear but was brilliantly denied twice by Cameron Hall only for the ball to fall to Reece Collins to score.

Tunbridge Wells responded to the setback and equalised on 26 minutes when a free kick conceded centrally was superbly converted by Beecroft whose curled effort could only be helped into the net by goalkeeper, Scott Andrews.

Bartlett, who had looked inhibited by an injury from the opening minutes, finally called an end to his evening following the goal.

Hall was once more called into action making a great save at the feet of Constantin Scarlat with the rebound being cleared from the line by Alexx Kendall.

A minor bout of handbags brought a couple of bookings with the referee quickly turning it into a rash issuing another three before the break.

The Wells were quickly on the ascendancy in the second period. After six minutes, a flowing move involving Beecroft and substitute Tresperderne whose cross from the left exacted all the rewards of the big man up front as Diau was able to nod the cross home from close range without barely jumping.

Bearsted were stung into a response and efforts from Jonathan Rogers, Collins and Cameron Croucher were dealt with by Hall.

Pearson, who had an electrifying start to the game with his pace exposing the right hand side departed the scene having taken a heavy knock before Diau might have put the game to bed heading wide from Tresperderne’s cross.

This was to prove costly as, after 67 minutes, a cross into a goalkeeper’s corridor of uncertainty, travelled to Matt Garner at the far point who applied the finish.

The last 20 minutes became backs to the wall stuff for the Wells with Bearsted substitute, David Borowski missing a sitter before five minutes from the end he got onto a right sided cross to score.

It was one of those games whereby if you are at the right end of the table, you scratch out a result of some sort but at the bottom you don’t. Whether the Wells deserved anything, is open to debate.

Bearsted 1 Crowborough Athletic 0

Match 124/17/1574 - Tuesday, 24th April 2018 - SCEFL Premier

Bearsted (1) 1 Ryan Croucher 45+1
Crowborough Athletic (0) 0
Attendance: 52

Admission: £4 Senior
Programme: Inclusive
Mileage: 15/8,191

Any lingering hopes of promotion harboured by Crowborough supporters were extinguished at Bearsted as the home side found a goal with a great strike and then defended resolutely through the second half.

As the fixture backlog has taken its toll there are many clubs virtually running on empty with the Crows among them.

With only a win of any use to the visitors they naturally started on the front foot and had a good opportunity after seven minutes when Henry Muggeridge jinking run ended with him firing over when a pass inside might have been a better option. Tom Phipp put a header from a corner over the top and Sam Cole shot over as Crowborough continued to take the game to their hosts.

On the half-hour the referee started preparing himself for a long night on his report with the booking of Bearsted’s Cameron Croucher, quickly followed by that of Reece Collins and Crowborough’s Phipp.

Bearsted went ahead in the first minute of time added when a cross from the right found Ryan Croucher who drove the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

The first action of the second half saw Crowborough’s goalkeeper, Ryan Burbridge, acrobatically claw away Tom Boddy’s misdirected header that was goal bound.

After 55 minutes Muggeridge’s corner directly struck the near post and a great saving tackle from Edas Vannonis denied Adrian Stone.

Crowborough’s frustration with their own efforts and the referee led to a foul by Cole that sparked a 20-man melee from which Cameron Croucher and Crows’ Jack Walder saw red.

Bearsted had the ball in the net going into the final 10 minutes after Reece Collins' shot had been saved by Burbridge’s feet with the follow-up deemed offside.

Another melee ensued after Zak Attwood had kicked out but he amazingly avoided a caution after the referee had gone into overdrive booking three in quick succession.

The door is now absolutely wide open for Whitstable Town to join Sevenoaks in Bostik South next season needing just one more win from their last three games including a visit to already relegated Rochester on Wednesday.

Bearsted 0 Lordswood 1

Match 60/17/1510 - Wednesday, 15th November 2017 - SCEFL Premier

Bearsted (0) 0
Lordswood (1) 1 Griffin 35
Attendance: 63

Entrance: £4 Senior
Programme: Included
Mileage: 15/3,930

Bearsted are my local club, just 7.5 miles from home, so it is probably a little shameful that this was just my second visit. This was also a visit that was not scheduled but a delay leaving home, plus a 19:30 kick-off put the intended game at Bridon Ropes out of reach.

The visiting hopperatti swelled the attendance to 63 and their tales of where they had been; this ground and that helped pass a first half of very few chances.

Bearsted’s Reece Collins had a couple of efforts that didn’t test Lordswood’s goalkeeper, Ryan Chandler before Frank Griffin put the visitors in front with a shot into the bottom corner from the defensively unmanned right side of the box after 33 minutes.

The second period was one of frustration for the cluster of Lordswood supporters as their side wasted chance after chance to put the game to bed.

Bearsted goalkeeper, Scott Andrews excelled as Helge Orome, Jack Mahon and Charlie Plummer contrived to keep the game alive for the hosts.

In one instance, eight minutes from time, Andrews saved three times with his feet to deny Mahon twice and Plummer in the space of around 10 seconds.

Bearsted's Honey Lane is not an easy place to find, it is actually in Otham, and the long track to the ground tests the car suspension to the limit, but once there it has a rural charm that makes the visit worthwhile. Added to that, I was home in 15 minutes!

Bearsted 0 Cray Valley PM 4

Match 76/16/1383 - Tuesday, 10th January 2017 - Macron Challenge Cup

Bearsted (0) 0
Cray Valley PM (3) 4 Youngs 33, Smith 35, McDonagh 45, Thompson 56
Attendance: 46

Entrance: £3.50 Senior
Programme: Free with entry
Mileage: 15/5,445
New Ground: 301

Unable to make Needham Market for Tonbridge's Ryman League Cup Quarter Final, to keep my Tuesday football night sacrosanct, a groundhop was in order. It came as something of a surprise that Bearsted actually play at Otham, a mere 7.5 miles from home, making them easily my nearest senior club.

Once you have ignored the satnav's assertion that you have reached your destination and negotiated the pot-hole strewn lane to the ground there is a decent sized car park. My concession priced entrance fee of £3.50 included the programme and, evidently, the parking spot, so it was indeed a bargain.

Inside there is the almost obligatory 125-seater Atcost stand that some seasoned hoppers can get quite sniffy about. Personally, for a club of Bearsted's size that mostly struggle to attract a hundred people they are perfectly adequate. The side from where you enter the ground is the only side populated with any facilities and I didn't walk around to observe whether the hardstanding featured on the other side. Although I didn't partake, I'm reliably informed that the refreshments on offer were good.

The match was a curious one in which the visitors, Cray Valley, failed to register a shot in anger for the first half-hour but managed to go into the break with a 3-0 advantage. Bearsted stretched the Cray keeper, Jordan Carey, on four occasions before, after 32 minutes, in only their second attack, Tom Youngs was allowed to run across the face of goal and strike from 15 yards into the roof of the net.

Two minutes later, a heavy deflection left the Bears' keeper, Greg Owen, flat-footed, leaving Peter Smith to argue with his team-mates later as to whether he can claim the goal.

Bearsted's heads quickly dropped and by now their visitors were creating chances almost at will. The third goal came in highly controversial circumstances when the evergreen Leigh Bremner ran clear with the home side appealing for offside, which certainly appeared to be the case. Bremner's shot sailed over the bar, but much to the Bearsted's disgust, the referee doubled his error by awarding a corner, from which Taylor McDonagh rose, unchallenged to head home.

Whilst the Bearsted support harangued the officials leaving the pitch for the break, one wise man offered the comment that no matter how many bad decisions go against you, the ball is still there to be defended. So true.

After 10 minutes of the second period, another poor decision went against the hosts, with Cray substitute Tom Fitzgerald racing clear before crossing for Youngs to bring a save from Owen only for Jason Thompson to score from the rebound.

The arguments went on for a long period without the referee brandishing a card, but after 71 minutes he showed a red to Bearsted's Rob Lyall for a professional foul.

The game was becoming farcical as minute by minute the hosts were more aggrieved by the hapless official who proceeded to book two players for sarcastically clapping the linesman when he raised a flag in their favour.

My evening was a groundhopper's tick, along the line was a referee's assessor. His notes would make far more interesting reading.