After ending their winless streak last week with a victory away at Crowborough, Fletching were eagerly anticipating the arrival of an in-form East Court for their first home league game of the campaign. It was also the first time this season that manager Clive Hyland was able to pick his strongest squad thanks to the return of strikers Davidson & Unwin, as well as playmaker Chris Hyland. There was no doubt about the importance of this fixture, especially as The Archers were soundly beaten 4-0 at East Court last year in the cup.

The early exchanges were cautious and there was very little between two quality teams, as The Archers showed little respect for the formbook and league placings, gradually starting to take the game to their opponents. Fletching were playing some superb simple football, keeping the ball on the ground, allowing full backs Duff & Holford to overlap. Captain Darren Wolvey and Marten Leeves were battling well against ‘Courts three central midfielders, whilst Bradford and Funnell were marshalling the back line well, snuffing out any threat from their dangerous looking front two. The home side got the break through on thirty minutes when Hyland played a delightful slide rule pass for Davidson, who took the ball and finished with aplomb for his first goal of the season. Both teams had clear cut chances before half time, Leeves and Burchett could have extended the lead, whilst ‘Minty’ Phillips was kept busy, in particular making one outstanding save, as Hyland’s men went in one up at half time.

The high tempo action of the first half continued straight into the second with both teams deciding that the best form of defence was to attack. The home fans thought hard done by when ‘Court struck the first blow of the second half after only a couple of minutes. A promising Fletching attack fizzled out and the Oranges were caught on the break with the pace of the visitors, which saw a defensive mix up between Duff & Phillips resulting in East Court’s striker slipping it home for 1-1.Cheered on by an expectant crowd, The Villagers got right back at opposition, and obtained their reward ten minutes later. Roberts, who was causing all sorts of trouble down the right hand side won a corner for the hosts which Leeves swung in where it was met by Neil ‘Nails’ Bradford to rise unchallenged at the near post and head past the keeper for his first goal in Fletching colours since his return. More was still to come, as East Court equalised again midway through the second half. A thirty-five yard free kick was hit perfectly into the wind by the visiting dead ball specialist and it flew into the top corner, despite Wolvey’s shout of ‘safe’! Fletching responded yet again, as Burchett put through the on fire Davidson to finish clinically past the on-rushing keeper only a minute or so after East Court had equalised. This time The Archers sat deeper as they tried to sure things up at the back, determined to hold out for the last fifteen minutes, however East Court leveled yet again. After excellent work from their winger, the ball was scrambled into the net for 3-3, despite the best efforts of Duff who lashed it in on the line! This was the third time the lead had been relinquished and uncharacteristically Fletching heads were down but this didn’t stop them battling for a winner, which came ten minutes from time when man of the match Davidson, sporting his distinctive dodgy looking Mohican haircut, yet again swooped from a corner to drill the ball home, as Fletching hung on in the closing stages for a vital win.

View From The Dancefloor with Billy Elliot (a.k.a Chris Hyland)
“After a game which will surely be remembered as the match of the season, the lads are delighted with the victory. Considering this was our first game at home in seven league outings, it was a big scalp to take. The visitors, who were admirable in defeat, have not lost a league outing since February, which shows what a great performance it was, as well as highlighting the potential we have with a full squad available. The league is incredibly tight, with us being two points above eleventh and only three points behind East Court, who lie second. We only missed out on promotion by two points last year, and I think we have finally got through the hangover from last season to kick on and go on a long unbeaten run. Despite this, we must look no further than our next game where we host our local rivals Wealden for the second time this season after previously beating them 2-1 in a tight cup game. There is no doubt they will be up for this encounter, but hopefully we can continue are recent resurgence and gain another three points.”