Tuesday 11th October 2016 ko 19.30

Kent County League Division One West

OTFORD UNITED 1 (Duff 45)

HALSTEAD UNITED 1 (Spears 11)

Att 36

Entry FREE

No Programme

Even if the names hint at League 1 and the Eastern Counties League surely noone could mistake Otford for anything other than the Kentish town near Sevenoaks? The ground is rather intriguing, set as it is at the back of Otford Recreation Ground, but why does a club playing at the 8th level of non-league football in England have floodlights?

The club have never played higher than this level, and the KCL isn’t a league where lights are required, or even fixtures planned with lights in mind. The best guess is that the club shares its clubhouse with the cricket, so it may well be that at some stage that that pitch was shared. Even now though, the football and cricket can’t play simultaneously, so it may well be that the lights were provided as compensation for football not being able to start here until September each year.

Except that those lights seldom get used. Apparently the last floodlit game (except for finals) was around 5 years ago, and on the buses arriving principle there’ll be more this season, due to the KCL’s expansion in membership.

What we got was a club slightly regretting scheduling against the England game, but those who opted to stay at home missed a highly entertaining game that rather belied the level we were watching.

It’s just a shame those lights aren’t used more often.