On Wednesday evening Cray Valley Paper Mills entertain Erith Town in a South East Counties Football League Premier Division local derby.

Both teams come into the game on the back of a victory and a defeat week. Last Wednesday Cray Valley had a comfortable win against Bearsted. Gavin Tomlin put them ahead early on after Francis Babalola’s effort came back off the post then Babalola made it two with a good header back across the face of the goal. Soon after he made it three before coming close to a hat-trick in the second half when his shot came back off the inside of the post.

That put them in the driving seat to win the league but they suffered a surprise defeat on Saturday at Holland and Blairs. The hosts opened the scoring with a 25 yard free kick by Steve Ratcliff but Babalola levelled on the thirty minute mark. He scored his fourth goal in two games on the stroke of half time and all looked good for the Millers.

However the lead only lasted two minutes. Although a Rob Denness penalty came back off the post it came back into the middle and Deness finished clinically. Twelve minutes remained when Holland and Blairs claimed the winner through Jack Simon.

It was the complete opposite for Erith Town. Last Tuesday it looked as though they were going to leave Glebe with a point at the end of a dour game but with three minutes remaining the hosts were awarded a dubious penalty. Jack Clark fired it home but worst was to come for the Dockers when after the match two players were shown red cards for their comments made towards the referee and will start their bans at Cray Valley.

Things were a lot better for Erith on Saturday. They hosted Rusthaoll and beat them one-nil courtesy of a goal from leading goalscorer Steadman Callender. That took them back into the top half and on course for their best league finish for a number of years.