Kent County League

Division 2 West

Thursday 13th April 2023

Kick Off 18.15 Actual 18.17

Parkwood Rangers 2 Orpington 1, attendance 31

46’ 0-1

90’ + 1, 1-1

90’ + 5, 2-1

@ Bexley Park Sports & Social Club

Calvert Drive

Bexley

DA2 7GA

No Admission or Programme.

Neither club bothered to reply on Twitter to confirm where the game was being played, or whether it was actually still on, so I took a chance that the information on the F.A. Full-Time website was correct. The journey east along the M25 was eventful to say the least, going through a massive hailstorm near Clacket Lane Services, where the temperature dropped 8.5 degrees and visibility was very poor, even at 30 m.p.h. with the hail filling in the tracks of the vehicles in front within seconds and I doubted there was any hope of the game going ahead. Thankfully, a few miles on, the skies were blue and the roads were dry.

On arriving at the ground it was good to see players arriving. It wasn’t so good to see no goal posts set up on the railed pitch that runs widthways about 50 yards in front of the clubhouse. Instead, the game was played on a pitch away to the left, parallel to a rugby pitch. It looks at one time if this area may have been separated from the rest of the ground by a hedge, which has since been removed. Not sure if they ever use the railed pitch, or not, but at least the game was on.

It was a vital game for both clubs, as 3rd hosted 4th in the league table, with only the top two getting promoted. Fleetdown United Reserves started the day in second place on 31 points, but have completed their fixtures, whilst the unbeaten leaders Falconwood are a further three points clear at the top and still have four games left. Parkwood Rangers were on 30 points ( 4 games left) with Orpington on 25 points (5 games left), so still all to play for.

It was hardly a surprise that it was still goalless at halftime. There hadn’t really been much of note happening at either end. Within a minute of the restart though, the visitors went in front, beating the goalkeeper at his near post with a shot from the edge of the box. It looked like it would be enough to take the three points, but a minute into stoppage time Parkwood equalised, scoring from close range after the ‘keeper fumbled a ball in from the left. Seconds later the Orpington ‘keeper made up for his mistake, making a great save from a one on one chance, but five minutes into stoppage time the hosts did grab a winner, when a free kick was cleared, but the taker controlled the clearance before cutting inside to drill an unstoppable shot in at the near post.