Canterbury Friars made the early morning trip to face Sutton Valence 3rd XI, with the teams not having met in a clash for a number of years.

Both teams looked fairly even from the start of the game, both fielding a more experienced team, with small flourishes of youth.

Sutton Valence took an early lead when Cullen Elson cleared up a loose ball at the back post, much to the disappointment of Canterbury.

Nevertheless, Canterbury battled on in a very even, end-to-end half, managing to claw an equaliser back not long before half-time from a short corner.

The availability of a sub this week did help Sutton Valence with players able to roll on and off the pitch freely after putting in hard shifts.

The second half saw Sutton Valence take the lead once more from a quickly taken free hit by Bob Bartlett, injected straight into the D for Rob Cockayne to glance into the top right-hand corner of the goal. However disappointingly Canterbury soon equalised again.

With not long left on the clock, the game got more frantic with both sides desperate to claim the winning goal. This soon came after Rob Cockayne collected an arial and managed to charge into the D, slip the ball past the sole defender to Cullen Elson, who slotted in a lovely shot pass the keeper.

Game won. Or so we thought, until Canterbury equalised just before the end of the match. Despite this, both teams continued to attack hard with energetic performances put in from Ryan Page, Alex Stanford, Andrew Lee and Julian Mills.

A fair (albeit frustrating) result, which was battled by both sides in an enjoyable gentlemanly fashion.

Team: Rob Cockayne; Ryan Page; Cullen Elson; Bob Bartlett; Julian Mills; Mike Nettle; Zak Blanchard; Andrew Lee; Andy Bye; Alex Stanford; David Turner; Rod Harcourt; Duncan Wills.

Goals: Cullen Elson (2); Rob Cockayne

Match report by Rob Cockayne.