Friday night football is always fun, with the joy of winter evening games being played under floodlights alongside the feeling that you have made it through to the weekend, that comes with any Friday night fixture. Tonight was no different as I made my way to Martyn Grove, home of Lordswood FC, to watch the Southern Counties East Football League (SCEFL) Premier Division match, between the home side and Kennington FC.

The heavy rain and wind, combined with terrible roadworks between Maidstone and Lordswood did try to dampen my spirits but a good welcome, on the gate, at Lordswood put that right! The ground has really good and what seemed effective floodlighting, a nice clubhouse and a decent sized main stand.

Lordswood occupied twelfth place in the SCEFL with twenty points from seventeen games. Lordswood came into today’s game on the back of four straight defeats. Their top scorer to date, is Junior Baker, with three goals. Manager, Richard Dimmock, who joined at the end of 2021, with Lordswood sitting in the relegation zone, will be happy that in twelve months at the helm, he has been able to keep them up and ensure mid-table safety. However Dimmock will also know that a victory tonight, would elevate the home side towards the top half of the table, above much fancied sides, like Whitstable Town and Glebe FC.

Kennington currently sit, just a place behind Lordswood, in 13th, with nineteen points from their 13 games. The away side came into the tie on the back of three straight away wins, two in the league and one in the SCEFL Challenge Cup. Manager Dan Scorer would be confident approaching this game, that his side could make the run four straight wins. Three players are sharing the top scoring for Kennington this season, with three goals each, Mitchell Harman, Rahana Sahni and Tom Scorer.

The first half was begun in a torrential downpour. Both teams did very well to continue to pass and play with confidence with the wind and rain blowing so hard at them and on such a slippery surface.

Kennington had the best opportunities with an early goal being ruled out for offside. Lordswood had much of the ball but looked less dangerous in the final third.

The remainder of the first half saw three key events. To begin with the tropical monsoon style rain stopped, then Kennington saw a shot fly over the keeper before rebounding off the inside of the post.

Then, finally, just as fans expected the half time whistle to blow, the floodlights failed, plunging the ground into darkness with the interval score locked at 0-0. After a short wait the tannoy announced that due to the floodlight failure, the game was abandoned.

It was a frustrating way to end, especially as the game could have gone either way in the second half. What was disappointing was that despite the fans waiting for 15 minutes, no refunds were offered. As it had been cash only on the door tonight I would have thought it quite simple to get a refund back to those who had paid and got to see just 40 minutes of football, or to have offered them a free ticket to the replay.