A grey and drizzly day brought me a first trip to the Guru Nanak sports ground in Gravesend to watch the Kent County League Division 1 – (Central and East) fixture between Guru Nanak FC and Whitstable Town Under 23’s.

Guru Nanak FC was founded in 1965 by a group of Punjabi students based in the Gravesend area. The club is named after the founder of the Sikh religion. Their ground sits in the shadow of the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) which is the largest temple in Europe and creates a uniquely majestic backdrop for sport.

Guru Nanak FC have three league games left this season and although a promotion place remains outside of their capacity, the team would have come into today’s match hoping to start a run of wins which could potentially see them finish as high as third.

Guru Nanak FC, managed by Dan Gibbs, have seen goals scored at a comfortable rate of two a game this season. These have largely come from Luke Pollard, with 25 goals from 22 games, Daniel Holness, 7 goals from 21 games, Luke Collett 5 goals from 9 games and Ellis Green, 5 goals in 5 matches.

Whitstable Town U23’s sat in the final relegation place coming into a last game of the season, which for them had become a must win, if they were to overtake and relegate Otford United.

The issue for Whitstable Town and manager, Paul Hill, has been that while they have scored goals at almost the same rate as their opponents today, they have leaked goals defensively, conceding 66 goals in their 23 games. Manny Cuttress (16 goals in 18 starts), Harvey Bridger (11 goals in 23 starts) and Gus Barnes (5 goals in 6 games) have all chipped in during the fight against relegation.

The game opened brightly for Guru Nanak, when they opened the scoring in the first minute, with Will Halliday heading home from a corner to put the home side 1-0 up.

Whitstable Town desperately sought the equaliser they needed to secure the point required to stay up. In the 36th minute it was 1-1 when Luke Harvey fired home a half volley to reignite hope for the visitors.

At halftime the teams went in with the scores tied. For Whitstable Town U23’s this scoreline would have given them the point they needed to survive in the division.

The second half saw both sides playing cautiously, with the closeness of the two sides enabling them to sense that one goal would probably win the fixture. Then, in the 78th minute Guru Nanak won a free kick just inside the opposition half, which was well delivered by Harry McIvor. The Whitstable Town keeper misjudged the jump and the ball flew over his head and into the net.

The Whitstable Town players realised that this goal put them firmly in the relegation zone, and so they then threw everything into trying to score.

Unfortunately for the away side they just couldn’t breach the Guru Nanak defence and it was the home side who took the three points, relegating the Whitstable Town U23 side.