Bearsted are through to the second round of the Kent Senior Trophy where they will be away to Fisher, Staplehurst for a while were a hard nut to crack but eventually they did & Bearsted won quite easily.

The game took a while to get going with both sides guilty of giving the ball away then in the 20th minute the first genuine chance of the game came when Jordan Ababio on the right wing crossed to the back post where Ollie Freeman was & his powerful header was pushed away for a corner by Steve Lawrence & from the resulting corner Ryan Blake headed over the bar.

Two minutes later a ball into the edge of the area found Eylon Marshall Katung who laid the ball into the path of Freeman & his shot from 18 yards was saved by Steve Lawrence.

Another chance came in the 26th minute when Freeman latched onto a loose ball & passed out to Robert Lawrence & his shot from 10 yards was pushed over the bar by Steve Lawrence.

Bearsted finally got the goal there dominance deserved when Robert Lawrence laid the ball back to Adam Turton who from 20 yards curled the ball into the top left hand corner.

In the 44th minute it nearly became two when Ababio got to the by-line & cut the ball back for Turton but his shot from 10 yards was deflected for a corner.

The second half saw Bearsted carrying on where they left off in the first half & in the 55th minute a ball into the area found Robert Lawrence & his shot from 15 yards went just past the post & then in the 62nd minute Bearsted got a contentious penalty when Marshall-Katung was fouled in the area by James Delaney although it looked very harsh, up stepped Phil Headley & he shot into the bottom right hand corner just before the penalty was taken Darren Smith was booked for dissent & was sent to the sin bin.

In the 70th minute Ababio was sent off for a bad foul which nobody moaned about it.

In the 75th minute Staplehurst had their first shot in anger when Pete West put Fred Bull in & from an acute angle was saved by James Savage. Two minutes later Bearsted wrapped the game up with a superb free kick taken by Omotunmise Akanni from 20 yards beat the wall & went into the top right hand corner.

The final whistle went & Bearsted kept up their good form & go into next week’s F.A.Vase game in good spirits.

BEARSTED:

J.SAVAGE 2. J.ABABIO 3. C.McCARTHY 4. A.TURTON 5. R.BLAKE 6. 7. D.MELVINE.MARSHALL-KATUNG (66) 8. P.HEADLEY 9. O.FREEMAN 10. R.LAWRENCE (75) 11. J.TINGLEY (81)

SUBS USED: 16. O.AKANNI (66) 16. C.WAIT 12. S.STACE (81)

SUBS NOT USED: 14. C.EDORH 17. A.SAUNDERS

BOOKINGS: NONE

SENT OFF: 2. J.ABABIO (70)

STAPLEHURST MONARCHS UNITED:

S.LAWRENCE 2. J.LEWIS 3. J.DELANEY 4. R.GILL 20. K.GARLINGE 5. D.SMITH 7. F.BULL 8. O.EL MANTALLY 9. K.PALLET (76) 10. D.BRANN (65) 11. G.GALLIE (45)

SUBS USED: 15. K.DEVLIN (45) 14. P.WEST (65) 12. S.WHEELER (76)

ALL SUBS USED:

BOOKINGS: 1. S.LAWRENCE (11) 5. D.SMITH (62)

REFEREE: Mr N.POLLINGTON

ASSISTANTS: Mr B.BREWSTER & Mr S.BEADLE

ATTENDANCE: 91