Hastings hit back to go ten clear, whilst Ashford slip up

Leaders Hastings United saw their title credentials face a severe test, as they travelled to face Cray Valley PM, but they came through it after a battle at the Artic Stadium. Ali Tumkaya gave the Millers a first half lead, and they held on to it until just after the hour, when an own goal drew the visitors level. Fourteen minutes from time Jack Dixon made it two-one to United, and they held out to go ten points clear.

Image from the match courtesy of the always excellent Brownie Photography and Media- although how he managed to shoot these whilst also creating video highlights, who knows? Perhaps he has discovered the secret of human cloning?

Ashford United looked to be the only side likely to have the chance to challenge Hastings for automatic promotion, but that now looks even less likely, as strugglers Phoenix Sports left Homelands with all the points. A goal in each half for the visitors, Malaki Toussaint after a quarter of an hour and Byron Walker with twenty minutes left, did Sports chances of escaping the bottom two a power of good. They are now just a point behind third bottom Sevenoaks Town and three behind seventeenth place Three Bridges.

Ramsgate welcomed Lancing to Southwood, but weren’t all that welcoming, scoring four goals without reply. Ashley Miller got the first two, and then right at the end Oliver Bate made it three, and Bobby Dunn got the fourth. The Rams are twelve points behind Hastings, but only two behind the Nuts and Bolts- and have a game in hand.

Haywards Heath Town climbed to fourth with victory over Hythe Town. The game at reachfields had just one goal, and it went to Tom Cadman, ten minutes before the break.

Herne Bay hosted a Kent derby as Faversham Town came to call. Bay have found form difficult to come by at perhaps the worst time, only winning three of their last ten, and yet have had moments where they have been very good indeed- and they had another of those today, moving to within two points of fifth place Cray Valley. Both goals came after the break, Dan Johnson with the first on fifty seven minutes, Rory Smith with the second seventeen minutes from time.

Burgess Hill Town have seen their promotion charge slow down a little, the Hillians having lost four of their last six, and it didn’t speed up much against Whitstable Town, neither side managing a goal.

VCD Athletic welcomed relegation-threatened Whitehawk, but you wouldn’t have known the Hawks were in trouble as they emerged three-two winners. The Hawks were without a win in ten matches, and fell behind to a Kevin Lisbie effort on thirty seven minutes, but drew level just after the hour, Ashley Wadhams with the equaliser. Javaun Splatt then gave the Hawks the lead with five minutes to go, only to see Jeff Duah-Kessie equalise almost immediately. The winner came with one minute to go, Splatt getting his second and seeing his side climb to fourteenth.

Sittingbourne travelled to face one of our form sides, Three Bridges. The two had already met twice, in league and cup, and had only been separated by a penalty shootout- and still that statistic remains after Kane Rowland got an eighty ninth minute equaliser. Charlie Lambert had earlier opened the score for Bridges, a lead they held for seventy five minutes.

Chichester City welcomed a resurgent Sevenoaks Town, but they were less resurgent after Josh Clack got the only goal of the game. It came after only nine minutes, and it sees City end the day in tenth place.

East Grinstead Town travelled to Corinthian without a win in six, with one point from the eighteen available, and having with every defeat coming without them scoring a goal. They did get a goal this time, the opener- Kie Douglas scoring it- but it didn’t help much as their hosts hit back to score three. Lekan Majoyegbe equalised on twenty five minutes, and after the break Harvey Smith stuck two fingers up at the visitors by scoring two goals.

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