Monday night football returns to the Masher Brothers Community Stadium when SC Thamesmead host Staplehurst Monarchs in the Southern Counties East Football League Division One.

March was an incredible month for the hosts. They started it in jeopardy of finishing in the bottom three but collecting eleven points out of a possible fifteen including victories over second placed AFC Greenwich Borough and Rochester United gave them a buffer.

Bridon Ropes ended their unbeaten run at the start of April, maybe as a result of the manager of the month curse but they bounced back on Saturday with a one-nil win over Chessington and Hook United courtesy of a late goal by Asad Mohamed.

Their opponents, Staplehurst, are comfortable in eighth place with the top five out of reach. They played out an exciting three all draw with Banstead Athletic on Saturday. Having gone behind in the third minute, Steve Karkari levelled with a penalty three minutes later. The Monarchs again went behind, however, Jerome Lee equalised in first half stoppage time.

Another Karkari penalty put them ahead six minutes after the restart but they had to settle for a draw when conceding with twelve minutes remaining. 

When the two teams met at the Jubilee Sports Field in their first league encounter in August, a brace by Toby Sargeant was enough to give Staplehurst all three points. However, the two teams met again in Thamesmead in the Kent Senior Trophy and the Acre won four-nil. Jamie Williams scored the first two, then Wale Odedoyin added a third in the second period. The final goal was an own goal.

Despite their successful March, Thamesmead aren’t safe yet, so the match is far from a meaningless end of season encounter.