Kent County League

Division 1 West

Saturday 9th December 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.05

Langley Sports 3 Danson Sports 1, attendance 8

17’ 0-1

45’ + 2, 1-1

55’ 2-1 (pen)

75’ 3-1

@ L.A. Sports Club

St. Dunstan’s Lane

Eden Park

Beckenham

BR3 3SS

No Admission or Programme.

With the amount of rain once again overnight, my main aim today was to try and get a game in on grass. I contacted Langley Sports via Twitter and received a prompt reply that there was to be a pitch inspection and shortly afterwards another to confirm that it was game on! There was no further rain forecast, which actually turned out to be correct, for a change. There were even spells of blue sky and sunshine, as well as a cool wind, especially late on.

Langley Sports play at the L.A. Sports Club. There is a clubhouse/changing room building, which looked to be under renovation, with three small size pitches in front. Beyond those, running widthways, are two full size pitches, with today’s game being played on the nearer of the two. The walk across was rather wet underfoot, but the pitch was certainly playable. Spectator access is limited to the majority of the near side and the right hand goal end only.

The match was a relegation battle, as fourth bottom hosted bottom. Langley had managed just three wins from their opening ten games, whilst Danson had lost all thirteen of their games, scoring just 8 goals, whilst conceding 74. At least today was a game that both teams would see as a good opportunity to pick up a win. Danson went in front after seventeen minutes. The Langley ‘keeper had been injured following a challenge at the near post when defending a corner and within seconds of the restart, he was beaten with a shot from the edge of the box that found the bottom corner. He only lasted another four minutes before being replaced by an outfield player taking over in goal. Langley equalised two minutes into stoppage time, when a defender was dispossessed on the edge of the box and a first time shot found the bottom corner. Ten minutes into the second half Langley went ahead, scoring with a penalty. Minutes later, they hit the post with a header, but finally made the game safe when they made it 3-1 with fifteen minutes left, when a long ball saw a mix up between ‘keeper and defender, allowing a striker to nip between the two and finish from a tight angle.