A very windy and painfully cold November evening brought me to the Aquatherm Stadium, home of a Faversham Strike Force FC of the Southern Counties East Football League (Division 1) for their Kent FA Senior Trophy fixture, with West Wickham FC of the Southern Amateur Football League Division 1.

Faversham Strike Force are having a frustrating season in the SCEFL Division 1. They are currently sitting in mid table, eleventh place, with 16 points from 12 games. Manager, Gary Axford, has relied on goals from Marshall Wratten (8 goals) and Tom Barton (6 goals) and would be expecting them to fire his side through tonight, with home advantage.

West Wickham, in contrast, are top of their league, with six wins and a draw from their seven games. Charlie Kallas has been in fine scoring form this season, with Josh Tutt also proving to be a real threat.

The game opened with West Wickham applying constant pressure on the Faversham Strike Force goal. The opening goal, when it came on 22 minutes, was no surprise, with Josh Tutt scoring from the seventh corner of the game.

The remainder of the half saw more heavy West Wickham pressure but as the half wore on the home side began to put together some chances of their own, with Tom Barton being foiled on 40 minutes by some last ditch defending. At the break it was West Wickham who went in a goal ahead.

The second half was fought just as hard as the opening 45 minutes had been. When it looked as if West Wickham would have secured a fine away win, Tom Barton, true to form, popped up to add a final touch and secure a poacher’s finish to level the scores at 1-1, with five minutes left!

At full time the sides remained locked together. The game then moved into extra time. The first half the added time saw both sides cautiously aiming to keep possession, without making any errors which would have proved to be fatal at this stage of the game.

The final half of added time had just begun, when suddenly all of the floodlights failed. After a lengthy wait, the referee made the decision to abandon the game. It seemed cruel to players and fans that after such an investment of time on such a cold evening, the game would need to be replayed, however the failure wasn’t the fault of either team.