Kent Fall To Defeat Despite Gutsy Second Half Display

Kent FA U16 fell to a 2-1 defeat against their London FA counterparts in their final match of the season.

Recent heavy rain had made the pitch very difficult to play any form of passing game, meaning a change of tactics from the Kent FA coaching team. It was the hosts that started by far the brighter and Kai George sent an early warning to the Kent defence when he fired wide in just the second minute. London took the lead on five minutes, a ball over the top wasn’t collected cleanly by the Kent goalkeeper Ben Folkard and Josiah Jones gleefully tapped home the loose ball. Things got worse for the visitors when London doubled their lead just two minutes later, a free kick from Kai George was swung to the far post and Palace Francis rose highest to power home a header. Kent then had a let off when Tafari Jalil rattled the bar as London threatened to put the game out of Kent’s reach early on. Slowly the visitors found their feet and Joshua Ladlow found Jacob Grant in space on the edge of the box but he shot wide, buoyed by this chance the visitors looked more lively and were rewarded on 22 minutes as Dwayne Kattah scored his second goal in successive weeks to reduce the deficit. Kent then dominated the remainder of the half and thought they’d levelled the match but were denied by the offside flag and they headed into the interval trailing 2-1.

The second half began the way the first half finished, with Kent on top and it was Harrison Pont who tested the Home keeper out first with a long range effort. A glorious chance to equalise went begging on the hour mark as Harrison Pont played in George Hall and his lob went narrowly past the post. London had a chance to extend their lead but Tafari Jalil saw his effort well saved by Ben Folkard and then Harrison Pont spurned a chance for Kent after good work from substitute Eban Gurung and it was Eban who had the next chance for Kent but his effort went agonisingly past the far post. Kent were then thwarted by the Assistant Referee’s flag again as they had a second effort ruled out for offside as they threw everything forward in search of an equaliser. With time ticking down Brad Williams saw his spectacular volley go narrowly wide as London went for the killer third goal whilst at the other end the last chance of the match fell to Jacob Grant but he failed to hit the target.

A disappointing end to the season for the U16 squad but great character shown to fight back from going two goals down so early in the game and were unlucky not to have a share of spoils at the final whistle.

Kent Squad: Ben Folkard (Aylesford FC), Zach Collett (Dartford FC), Mali Emeka (Dartford FC), Joshua Coombs (Dartford FC), Luke Exall (Aylesford FC), Alexander Oketta (Greenways Aces FC), Jacob Grant (Folkestone Invicta FC), Joshua Ludlow (Bearsted FC), Dwayne Kattah (Dover Athletic FC), Harrison Pont (Aylesford FC), George Hall  (Bearsted FC), Jacob Gilbert (Bearsted FC), Wayne Everest (Faversham Strike Force FC), Samuel Aziaya (Bromley FC), Eban Gurung (Kennington FC), Zac Emmings (Aylesford FC).