For my first visit to the Lindsey Field I met a friend who lives locally, to join me for this Southern Counties East Football League Division 1 fixture. It was apt to visit Lydd Town for this pre Christmas fixture as they have the most festive kit (red shorts and green shirts) of any team!

Lydd Town play at the Lindsey Field, which was opened in 1999, by the England World Cup winning full back, George Cohen. Lydd is a small town on the edge of Dungeness near Hythe in Southern Kent, lying on the Romney Marsh.

This was one of the friendliest grounds I have been too. When I arrived I was welcomed in the clubhouse by the Chairman and told all about the long history of the club and their efforts to create a community football club and sustain their place in the Southern Counties East League. I heard how lottery funding enabled the committee to build their own clubhouse and was shown photos of Lydd teams from byegone decades and told stories about the players. It’s a shame there weren’t more than the crowd of 37 here today as this is a well cared for and welcoming place to watch football.

The clubhouse is one of the cleanest and best looked after of any club I have visited. there were two covered and seated stands alongside the pitch and a refreshment stand attached to a well resourced club gymnasium.

Both Lydd Town and Meridian VP have had a tricky first half of the season. Meridian sit in 19th place, in the relegation zone, with fifteen points from seventeen matches. Lydd are in 15th place with twenty points from fifteen games.

Bradley Baker top scores for Lydd town with 14 goals, in just 15 games, coming into the fixture. Meridian VP’s top scorer was Darrel Thompson with 5 goals from 12 matches, which had included a hat trick at Staplehurst Monarchs, early in the season.

After just 17 minutes a well finished goal by Bradley Baker put Lydd 1-0 up. Meridian VP couldn’t compete with the accurate passing play of the home team.

In the 22nd minute a Ryan Smith header put Lydd 2-0 ahead.

The pressure continued and the game looked to be over as early as the 29th minute with a long range Bradley Baker goal putting Lydd Town three up.

On 37 minutes the score was 4-0 when Ryan Philpot slid in to tuck the ball in after a well placed through ball.

Philpot scored his second and Lydd’s fifth on the stroke of half time to send Lydd into the break with a 5-0 lead.

As the teams came out after the interval there was a clear shift in the approach of the Meridan VP team. They began to tackle with more energy and put some simple attacking movements together. This paid off in the 72nd minute, when George Jackson hit one home from outside the area to pull a goal back at 5-1.

A slight sense of panic developed in the Lydd team and a passing error by the keeper led to a simple chance, which Meridian VP’s Dan Olujumu slid home to make it 5-2.

The pressure seems to get to everyone as Lydd Town’s captain, Ryan Smith was sent off for the use of foul language towards a member of his own team, which seemed a little harsh, but the referee clearly wanted to be seen to stamp his authority.

After the dismissal the game quietened down and the final whistle came with Lydd Town taking all three points with a fine 5-2 victory. Once again the SCEFL League One had served up an attacking goal fest of entertainment.