Holmesdale 0-1 VCD Athletic (From News Shopper)

Holmesdale 0-1 VCD Athletic

10:20am Monday 16th March 2009 in

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VICKERS Crayford Dartford swept aside fellow challengers Holmesdale to stay firmly in the race for the Kent League title.

In their first season in the top tier, Holmesdale have surprised everyone so far and before Saturday’s game were in the heady heights of second position.

VCD were sitting pretty in sixth with three games in hand on most of their rivals above and only a 12 point difference.

They also have a Kent Senior Cup final to look forward to next month.

In a scrappy first half, both sides found it tough to get a handle on the game.

Stray passes and wild efforts on goal were the order of the first half hour before a rather comical foul in the 38th minute, which got a huge cheer from the crowd.

Holmesdale keeper Danny Harwood was calmly seeing a long ball run out of play when VCD forward Dave Hassett gave Harwood a huge shove.

The big shot stopper fell through the orange netting, much to the amusement of the paying punters.

Harwood fortunately escaped with only a warning from referee Kevin Welsh.

Leroy Huggins powered VCD in front moments before the break after a big penalty claim was turned down by Welsh.

A great cross from Kane Rice was headed back across goal by Gary Cook, when it appeared to hit the arm of Holmesdale centre back John Maloney.

No penalty was given but from the resulting corner, Huggins’s bullet header gave Harwood little chance.

The second half proved as scrappy as the first, as seven bookings and few clear cut chances saw VCD hang on for what could turn out to be a vital win.

Holmesdale: Harwood, Nicoli, Maloney, McQuade, Duo, Thompson, Springett, Semakula, Chick, White, Greaves.

VCD Athletic: Tedder, Winchcombe, Rice, Ward, Cook, Hunt, Maskell, Penny, Huggins, Hegley, Hassett. Att: 50.