Sutton Valence 3s travelled close to the new proposed Ulez Zone this week for a match against Burnt Ash 7s at Dartford in which they had to at least draw to guarantee winning the Division. After beating the same team 5-0 at home there was a confident feeling amongst the travelling players as they did the customary Sutton Valence warm up of chatting a bit and whacking a few balls at the keeper. The game started well with some good passing and exchanges from both sides however something seemed not quite right with the Valence team as the opposition seemed to have the edge. After 5 minutes Andy Bye was judged to have not retreated 5 metres during a free hit and the umpire signalled for a Burnt Ash short corner (harsh yet fair). The resulting good injection and rifle bolt strike into the bottom right-hand corner gave Croucher no chance and put the home side with the early advantage. A few minutes after the restart there was a shout of “we’ve only got 10 bloody players on the pitch haven’t we????” and the SV management team quickly mobilised one of the 3 substitutes who had previously been quietly contemplating life in general and marvelling at how much running their players were having to do….. With the sides now equal in numbers Sutton Valence began to grow in confidence with Andy McVarish handsome and firm in defence, John Edmed reliable and rugged and Mike Nettle short yet determined beside him soaking up pressure from the Burnt Ash attacking players and some well executed ariel balls into the danger zone to prevent any more chances for Ash. With some interplay between Darren Thompson and Stuart Edmed the ball was slotted through to the speedy Ross MacKay in the D who slotted home to make the scores level. 5 minutes later it was MacKay again who lurked on the far post and deflected the ball past the diving keeper from an Andy Bye cross making the score 2-1 to Valence at half time.
After some half-time refreshment Valence set out to increase their advantage and the Burnt Ash side had decided to get a bit more stuck in and not go down without a fight. Five minutes into the second half Julian Mills fought off a couple of defenders and got the ball through to Roger Fermor in the centre of the D who was robustly felled by a defender before he had a chance to shoot on goal. As Fermor was dusting himself off and retrieving his glasses he was a surprised to see the Umpire signalling for a Sixteen. The resulting unfortunate discussion resulted in Fermor being rested for the remainder of the match. Fortunately this played right into the visitors hands as the Valence management team had played a tactical masterstroke! The “mistake” of starting the match with only 10 men was actually practice for this eventuality, Genius! Valence went on the attack with McVarish pushing forward and the midfield controlling the game. After hitting the crossbar with a lob over the keeper Darren Thompson was rewarded for his hard work with a goal from about 1 foot out after a bit of a scramble. However after a fast break away the home side pulled one back after the defence failed to clear the ball from the danger area giving Croucher no chance after making 4 consecutive saves.
Valence pushed even more bodies forward deciding attack was much more fun than boring marking and stuff and the evergreen Paul Linaker powered in from the right-hand side and forced a short corner. Thompson’s resulting drag flick was well saved by the keeper but only into the path of Andy McVarish who slammed the ball past the man on the line to put Valence 4-2 up leaving Ash looking visibly deflated despite being a man up for most of the second half. And that’s how the score stayed giving Valence the win and with Herne Bay losing were left 6 points clear and Division 9 champions!
The friendly opposition and great selection of beer at Bexley Cricket club made up for any niggles during the game. Here’s to next season in Division 8 and another great season with a great bunch of players.

Goals: Ross Mackay (2); Darren Thompson; Andy McVarish

Team: Lee Croucher GK; Mike Nettle; Andy McVarish; John Edmed; Stuart Edmed; Andy Bye; Darren Thompson; Bob Sagrott; Paul Linaker; Julian Mills; Ross MacKay; David Turner; Roger Fermor. Nick Willson (Manager)
Umpires provided by Burnt Ash.

Match report by Darren Thompson.

The 3rd Xl have now completed their season, and though some of the lower teams have final matches still to play they will not stop Sutton Valence finishing as Division leaders. At this stage it is not clear whether this automatically means promotion to Division 8 next season.