I decided today it would be worth making the journey down the motorway to watch a Southern Counties East Football League (SCEFL) Premier Division relegation decider, with all the passion and fire that should bring. Having watched Lordswood FC relegated two weeks previously, I was intrigued to see how today’s fixture between Snodland Town, a side who recently won the SCEFL Challenge Cup with a convincing 5-0 win over Forest Hill Park FC and the hosts at the Homelands, Kennington FC, would play out.

The relegation permeations were complex, as usual, but at kick off, it looked as if one of four teams were still in danger of joining Lordswood FC in the drop zone. For Snodland Town, the task appeared clear, beat Kennington FC by three goals or more to relegate them, without worrying about results for Lydd Town and Stansfield. For Kennington FC the task was therefore not to lose by more than two goals, while a win or draw would obviously be enough for safety.

Stansfeld had their destiny in their own hands and a win or draw at Lordswood would save them, while Lydd Town needed to match Snodland Town’s result, whilst not winning or losing by more than a five goals difference to Snodland to stay up. Add into the mix that an FA charge against Lydd Town for the fielding of an ineligible player in a Sunday league fixture could see them being docked points, which would make all of today’s results meaningless. Confused? Well it’s the final day relegation conundrum so what would we have expected?

Snodland Town, managed by Luke Jessop since December 2024, came into the match on the back of a reasonable run of form, having won five of their last eight. However, last week’s home defeat to relegation rivals Lydd Town, who had also been reduced to ten men, would have really knocked the stuffing out of them. Stanley Oldfield’s 18 goals have often been the saving grace for an inconsistent Snodland Town this season, so today the whole team knew it was time to step up to the plate, as someone had the chance to become a hero.

Kennington FC have successfully battled relegation for some time now and manager Dan Scorer will have known exactly how to fire his team up for this game, despite the act their last win came away at Glebe in March, some six games ago. Goals this season have been hard to find, but Fin Dent (9 goals), Kimsley Gatakaka, Kyron Lightfoot and Rajan Sahni (all 5 goals) have ensured Kennington arrived at today’s final game with their destiny in their own hands.

The game opened cagily, with Snodland Town attempting to play attacking football but seeing most moves break down for want of an effective final pass. On 35 minutes the home side got a lucky break when a rebound off Joshua Fowler, in the Snodland Town goal, fell to the feet of Liam Middleton, who finished to ease the home side’s nerves, making it 1-0.

Just on the stroke of half time, it was two nil to Kennington. A strike from the edge of the Snodland Town area by Joe Fisher sunk itself into the corner of the net, to send the home team in with a two goal margin, at the break.

With 69 minutes on the clock, Snodland Town were awarded a penalty for a late challenge in the box. Stanley Oldfield stepped up with confidence to fire the ball home and reignite the away side’s hopes, making it 2-1.

Snodland Town threw everything at the opposition in the final twenty minutes, in a desperate hope that they would yield. Sadly the Kennington defence held firm and if anything, they themselves, on the break looked the most likely to score.

As the whistle blew it was Kennington FC who secured three points and justifiably celebrated retaining their league status.

Snodland Town’s management team and players looked absolutely exhausted as they took in their relegation. Lydd Town’s late winner in their match against Corinthian and their superior goal difference made the final table seem even more damning for Snodland Town as it would be unlikely the penalty for Lydd from the FA would be enough to push them into the relegation places.