Kentish Express Ashford & District
Hastings makes sure of victory
Southern Ct East Lge
Kennington extended their unbeaten run to nine games with a 2-1 win over FC Elmstead in Division 1 at Homelands on Saturday. It was a dominant display from the hosts despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise. The visitors took an early lead through Alvin Turyatemba in the 18th minute before secondhalf goals from Tom Scorer and Josh Hastings secured the win for the third-placed hosts. A slight defensive mix-up led to Elmstead taking the lead in what was the only mistake made by Kennington in an otherwise faultless defensive display. The one weak point in Kennington’s performance was their failure to put the ball in the back of net, with chance after chance being squandered. That was until great movement and turn of pace from Brad Jordan led to him gliding past the Elmstead defender before driving the ball low across goal for Tom Scorer to tap home the opener in the 50th minute. Forward Gary Lockyer came close on several occasions, hitting the bar and forcing the keeper to make a spectacular stretching save. It was Lockyer’s free kick that led to the second goal after a fantastic effort forced the keeper into making another fine save, only for midfielder Hastings to drive the rebound low across a crowded area and into the bottom right-hand corner.
Lydd Town slipped to their 11th league defeat of the season, going down 4-1 at SC Thamesmead. The hosts took the lead in the 19th minute through Josh Patrick, but a Tom Barton effort five minutes later had Lydd back on level terms. Tom Youngs put Thamesmead ahead again on the half hour mark, and second-half goals from Jed Smith and Patrick sealed the win for the home side. Lydd Town, in 14th place in the table, are at home to Rochester United on Saturday, while Kennington travel to Snodland Town.