Kennington 1 v 0 Erith Town

Sunday 20th September 2020
FA Vase Preliminary Round
The Homelands, Kingsnorth
Admission: £6.00 (including 15p booking fee)
Programme: £1.50
Attendance: 190

Sunday does tend to be my "day of rest" from groundhopping, preferring to spend quality time with my partner instead. But as she had to work today, I scoured the fixture lists for a bonus game today, not wanting to pass up any good opportunities to take in games right now, and not knowing for sure how much longer we will be able to. Not fancying too long a day out today, I chose a revisit to The Homelands, six years after my most recent visit.

                                  

A visit to The Homelands is certainly not a convenient proposition for those relying on public transport, located over three miles south of Ashford and out in the open countryside, and whereas on both my previous visits I drove, today I decided to take advantage of the warm, sunny weather and walk from Ham Street train station, a very pleasant and mostly flat walk through the Ham Street National Nature Reserve and then across farmland, and for the return trip, for most of the way I walked along the Greensand Way, about four and a half miles in each direction, taking about an hour and a half. It is nice to see Kennington making themselves at home at The Homelands, also home of landlords Ashford United, with a club board by the main road, with another by the turnstile. Fundamentally, the ground is unchanged since my visit in 2014, but it is nice to see that the ground has been spruced up with some new signage. A long and imposing all-seater stand stretches about two thirds of the distance of one length, with corporate boxes and the club bar along the top, and a tea bar in one corner on ground level. There us just hard standing around the rest of the ground, but with stands covering the areas behind each goal. Surrounding trees and the rural location give the ground a nice background, although the concrete perimeter fencing is not particularly easy on the eye. It was strongly encouraged to purchased tickets online in advance, for an additional 15p admin fee, although a limited quantity of tickets were allowed at the gate. Hand gel dispensers and a QR code for track and trace was available just past the turnstiles, and everyone was instructed to wear face masks when moving around the stadium - although this was generally ignored. An excellent 20 page printed programme was available, very well designed, in full colour and professionally produced and offered a good preview of the game. Once again at a ground where produced, it sold out on the day, yet again proving there still very much is a market for decent programmes. An online version of the programme can be viewed here

Both clubs have had decent starts to their season's. Kennington, who play in the division below Erith Town, were top of the Southern Counties East League Division One last season at the time of abandonment, with ten points breathing space in the promotion spots. And they have won both of their opening games this season, 0-6 at Sutton Athletic and 4-2 at home to Holmesdale, but they did now out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle. 0-1 at home to Erith & Belvedere. Erith Town were in tenth place in the Premier Division last season, and have opened this season with two wins and a defeat, and bowed out of the FA Cup in the Extra Preliminary Round.

On a gloriously warm and sunny afternoon - by the looks of it the last weekend enjoying such weather - this was a surprisingly comfortable win for the underdogs, a lot more comfortable than the final scoreline would suggest, as Erith just never seemed to be able to get going in this game. Kennington opened the scoring on 19 minutes, a threaded ball through the defence found Gary Lockyer, and although his cross shot was parried by the keeper, the ball fell at the feet of Robbie Dolan, who tapped the ball home. And they had a couple of chances to extend their lead in the first half, first Lockyer managed to block the keeper's attempted clearance, with the ball spilling wide, Lockyer crossing but Craig Calvert could only steer his shot just over the bar. Then, on 35 minutes, the same combination saw Calvert's volley from the edge of the area go over the bar.

The game continued in a similar pattern after the break. On 51 minutes, a Kennington free kick right on the line of the penalty area in a central position saw the ball struck powerfully but well saved low to the keeper's left. Erith then had a decent chance on 68 minutes, when a cross flicked off the top of a defender's head to a player beyond the far post, but he drilled the ball into the side netting. And within a minute, Kennington had the ball in the net when the ball was headed home in a crowd following a cross from the left, but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the keeper. On 78 minutes, the home side came close again, a Harry Stow header forcing an excellent reflect save by the keeper. But they didn't need to score again anyway as they quite comfortably saw the game out - as comfortably as a one goal lead can be, and they can now look forward to another home tie in the next round against Southern Combination League Division One outfit Shoreham - which on paper, and based on what I saw last Wednesday at Bexhill, looks very winnable.