Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Victory bid stalls in the mud
Fav Strike Force
Faversham Strike Force got bogged down in the mud and slipped to defeat at Hawkinge in their Kent County League Premier Division clash on Saturday.
With the wind gusting and conditions under foot unconducive to flowing football, the Force struggled badly and mustered just a solitary shot on target across the 90 minutes.
Some poor defending also cost them as a goal in each half condemned them to a meek 2-0 defeat.
“They were very difficult conditions and the home side dealt with them much better than we did,” said manager Gary Axford.
“We struggled to keep the ball and find any flow - several players were below par unfortunately.
“We’ll improve and go onwards and upwards from here.”
Strike Force Ladies progressed to the next round of the Divisional Cup with a welldeserved 1-0 victory against
Orpington.
Despite the difficult conditions, Faversham started the game strongly with confident and controlled passing.
The Orpington goalkeeper made several good saves to keep the home side at bay for most of the first half. However, she could do nothing about a very well hit corner from Millie Wallace that was flicked into the net by an Orpington defender.
The Force continued to dominate possession but they were unable to convert any of the several chances they created into goals – striking the bar twice in the second half. Stand-in keeper Grace Paget stood up well on the occasions when Orpington broke through and Faversham saw out the 1-0 victory.
Under-13 Thunder played a friendly against their age-group club-mates, Lightning, with both teams bonding over some excellent battling football. Will Church, Charlie Parker, Oscar Campbell and Archie May all found the target. There was an excellent display of passing from Under10
Lightning at Hythe Town Youth.
Charlie Hodgson and Oliver Jobe scored the goals while Toby Halls picked up the player-of-the-match award. Roman Lee put in a solid man-of-the-match display for under-9 Lightning and notched one of his team’s goals against Folkestone.
Austin Wanmer added another in very windy conditions. Thunder displayed some great football against Ramsgate FC with goals coming from Ethan Hickford’s precision shot, Edward Lambourn’s two confident strikes and Kailan Wallace’s typically composed finish.
Harry Wilson demonstrated outstanding positional play in defence and was composed on the ball – scooping the bestplayer award as a result. Under-7 Thunder played out a see-saw thriller against Deal at The Mount.
Ellison Gashi, Tyger Pharoah (two) and Kian Gardner – with the last kick of the game – all hit the target, as Freddie Parker was named top player for some fine saves in goal and a committed performance out on pitch.
Elliott Jones scored a quickfire second-half hat-trick against Thanet Colts, including another blistering free-kick. His corner also forced an own goal, while Zach Luong’s excellent teamwork and discipline saw him named player of the match.