Snodland Town earned early bragging rights in the A228 derby, after a comfortable victory over a lacklustre Larkfield & New Hythe at the Eden Estates stadium in the SCEFL Premier.

Town came into the match on the back of a couple of great results. Beating Isthmian South-Central side Harrow Borough in the FA Cup followed by a victory against a tough Corinthian side last week in the league that saw them rise to 4th in the fledgling SCEFL table.

The Larks meanwhile have lost their last three matches in the league. Two on the bounce at home, including a 3-0 reverse against one of the league favourites SE Dons last time out.

After a quite start to the match, it was the visitors who took control of the first half.

Nathanial Olewole was at the end of a couple of great passing moves on both wings. First missing to the left when in a good position in the area, then he failed to control a close-range header which again went wide of the mark.

Larkfield huffed and puffed but failed to create anything of note throughout the opening 45 minutes. Indeed, the most threatening moment was when Town keeper Frankie Leonard had to come for a long punt up field and ended up spectacularly clearing with an overhead kick outside his area.

Snodland continued their dominance, and mid-way through the half saw Kian Scott’s shot well saved by Connor Collins in the Larks goal. From the resulting corner, it was player-boss Conner Dymond who nearly caught out the home defence with a daisy-cutter shot that trickled just the wrong side of the post.

The visitors finally got their deserved reward on 33 minutes. A clever long-ball forward from keeper Leonard found the excellent Olawole on the left. His cross from the by-line was not cleared by the Larkfield defence, and the ball fell to Scott who fired in from close range to the delight of the large away support in attendance.

Six minutes later, Snodland made in two. From a Larkfield corner, the ball was cleared to Olewole. Despite having support to both his left and right, Olewole took on the last defender himself and lashed the ball past an exposed Collins with aplomb.

As the half drew to a close, Snodland continued on the front foot with Olewole and skipper Emmanuel Shoderu both going close to extending their advantage.

with the Larks mood matching the darkening clouds above, the match threatened to boil over early in the 2nd half.

A feisty challenge saw a kerfuffle in the middle of the pitch involving most of the outfield players. The result was a couple of yellow cards brandished by the referee, and then following consultation with his assistant, he meandered over to the home bench and seemed to invite one of the coaching staff to take an early bath!

With this and a flurry of substitutions, the second period didn’t come to life until the final quarter of an hour.

The Larks nearly broke through the defence with a long punt forward to Lauris Chin, but he was foiled by a superb last-ditch tackle by Ben Fitchett.

A couple of minutes later Snodland got a thoroughly deserved third goal. From yet another great run to the by-line by Olewole, easily beating his marker for pace, his cross resulted in an easy turn and tap in for substitute Chris Alhassen.

Larkfield finally managed to test visiting keeper Leonard 6 minutes from time. However, Tobe Uzor’s free kick from just outside the area was straight at Town’s number one.

There was still time for Snodland to increase their advantage late on, but Alhassen shot wide after running onto a through ball, and Shoderu fired straight at Collins.

In the end, the final scoreline did not flatter Town at all, such was their dominance over the ninety minutes. The win sends Snodland up to 2nd place in the SCEFL table, level on points with leaders Greenwich, having played a game more. They move on to the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round at the weekend and a visit to Isthmian South-East Margate. On this performance today, and confident that they have already beaten a step 4 team away from home in the previous round. Another cup upset wouldn’t be beyond them.

For Larkfield, it’s four defeats in a row in the league. A run that sees them drop to 10th, and a tricky tie to come at Beckenham on Saturday.

Larkfield & New Hythe – Collins, Kissi, Wright (Chin), Kwaku (Porter), Chiari, Fitzgerald (c), McKenzie (Gebor), McCann, Bademosi, Ageon (Uzor), Daly (Gallagher)

Unused Subs: None

Snodland Town – Leonard, Brand, Jackson, Bolarinwa (Benning), Fitchett (Cousins), Dymond, Dunn (Alhassan), Hudson, Olewole, Shoderu (c), Scott (Shepherd)

Unused Sub: Sayer

Attendance – 303