Two teams from different Isthmian League divisions meet in the London Senior Cup second round when Cray Valley PM host Welling United in a local derby for charity.
Both teams are prioritising their respective league campaigns but will still want to put on a display in this tournament. After the weekend’s matches, the Wings sit second in the Isthmian League Premier Division table, behind leaders Enfield Town by one point. Meanwhile the Millers are in nineteenth place in the South East Division, a league so tight that they are just three wins adrift of the play off zone.
On Saturday, Cray Valley visited Sheppey United and were hampered by having Marvel Ekpiteta dismissed harshly in just the twenty-first minute. Ogosha Williams put the Ites ahead eight minutes before half time but Chris Dickson levelled ten minutes into the second half. Just ten minutes remained when Sheppey were finally able to make their one man advantage count through Shaquille Gordon’s goal.
Meanwhile, the Wings were extending their run of home league victories to nine out of nine this season with a comprehensive four-nil victory. Lekan Majoyegbe put them ahead and Sam Smith scored a second for a two goal half time lead. After the break, the visitors tried to pull themselves back into the game but failed to get a shot on target. Fifteen minutes remained when Demaray Anyadike scored Welling’s third and Nahum Melvin-Lambert rounded off the scoring in the last ten minutes.
When the Millers hosted Welling in the Kent Senior Cup back in September both teams played a mixture of youngsters and first team players who needed minutes. Youth team player Santino Norris opened the scoring for the visitors in the twelfth minute and substitute Melvin-Lambert added a brace in the last quarter of an hour.
It is expected that Kevin Lisbie will again put out a mixture of youth and Cray Valley first team players. Ryan Maxwell confirmed that his team will be young. He said “It will be a youthful team. There’s some really, really good youngsters at the club. They’ve been coming in to training. More of them will feature in this game. There will be a few of our first team here as well but it will be a very, very youthful side. I want to look at the lads, give them a chance and see where they’re at.
“Kevin (Rivera) and Micah (Anthony) will be in it. The youngsters need a little bit of know how, nous, game management and that and I won’t just leave them out there to dry. There’ll be a few that need the minutes and they’ll get it.”
Although the London Senior Cup match should have been played at Welling, Erith and Belvedere will be playing a league game so the two clubs arranged to switch it to Eltham. Both clubs also agreed to donate their share of the proceeds of the game to the Freddie Farmer Foundation Charity supporting disabled children.
Picture supplied by Romana Rule.