Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Strike Force bemoan lack of clinical touch in attack
Faversham Strike Force began life at their new home in Rochester with a frustrating defeat to New Romney in the Kent County League Premier Division.
Two first-half goals for the visitors were enough to give them a 2-0 victory despite a much-improved showing from the Force after the break. It leaves Gary Axford’s side on a single point after three games but the Faversham manager saw reasons for optimism despite another disappointing afternoon for his men.
He said: “Although we did everything but score in the second half it was still a very disappointing result.
“We need to be more ruthless in front of goal I’m afraid - we create plenty of chances but are not finishing them off. There are some promising signs, we just need to improve quickly.”
Strike Force Women also tasted defeat as they went down 2-1 at Betteshanger Women. The hosts scored twice to cancel out Emma Brown’s opener. Under-14 Thunder marked their return to league football with a fine 4-1 win over Whitstable Town.
Some late drop-outs left them with no substitutes on the day but goals from Oliver Nevitt and Charlie Parker were more than enough to see them home. Freddie Harrison was named best player for a great performance in defence and attack.
The crossbar and an inspired performance by the Thanet United Vikings goalkeeper threatened to leave Under11 Lightning empty-handed until Tom Martin scored in the dying minutes of an entertaining game. Alex Gerdzhikov and Archie Suter were joint players-of-thematch.
Under-10 Lightning enjoyed their opening league match against Thanet United. Roman Lee opened the scoring, with Albert Biscoe before Reggie Hughes sent a sublime chip over the keeper. Biscoe’s hard-working display earned him the honours as best player on the day. There was a great start to the season by under-10 Hurricanes at Betteshanger Welfare Colts. Dylan Mannall’s first-half goal was added to in the second period by Alex Debowski and two from Oscar Garsed.
There were outstanding performances at the back from Ashley Back and man-of-thematch Evan Pender. Under-8 Lightning produced more fine teamwork as they faced Tankerton at The Mount, with hat-tricks for Finn Crawley and Elliott Jones. Reuben Wilkinson provided multiple assists before claiming a goal of his own, as did Theo Hillis, while man-of-the-match Ellison Gashi scored a brace.
In a thrilling derby against Faversham Town, under-8 Thunder were in the goals thanks to Kian Gardner’s hattrick and further efforts from Zac Luong and Oscar Conner – who scored his first ever goal for the club.
A battling performance from under-8 Hurricanes against Eastry Ravens saw them score through Dylan Jones‘ double and a brilliant free-kick from tireless man-of-the-match Rupert Shackleford.