Kent County League Division One West: Ide Hill 3 AFC Mottingham 0
Ide Hill strolled to a 3-0 win against AFC Mottingham without ever really getting out of third gear to extend their unbeaten start to the season.
The league leaders made a slow start to the game, misplacing passes with alarming regularity and constantly finding themselves a yard short of their encouraged opponents. Mottingham themselves have had a decent start to the season and were clearly spurred on by the sloppy beginning served up by the hosts.
However, Ide Hill seem to have developed the useful knack of eking out opportunities and goals even when not fully functioning and so they did again within 10 minutes. Callum Heath, returning to action with a Man of the Match performance, broke down the right with pace and squared to Matt Bunn who drew the foul in the box and won the penalty. Craig Jackson swept the penalty in off the post to give the home team a barely deserved lead.
Ide Hill quickly doubled their lead a few minutes later due to a simple route one goal. A long kick by the excellent Mike Mckay was inadvertently flicked on by a Mottingham midfielder straight in to the path of the onrushing Heath who side footed in to the bottom left corner beneath the advancing goalkeeper.
Ide Hill, still labouring slightly irrespective of the scoreline, coasted a little through the remainder and invited some uncomfortable pressure as the visitors sensed hope of clawing their way back in to the game. However, a clinical performance by the backline and a top class save from a 25-yard rising drive from Mckay at a crucial time kept Mottingham at bay and allowed the hosts to cruise to victory.
A final goal put the icing on the cake and gave the hosts more breathing space. A Ben Holder corner was met by Jack Edmeads in the 6-yard box with a towering header to make the lead unassailable. The victory retains Ide Hill’s four point lead at the top of the table, meaning they have now only lost once in their last 13 games stretching back to March of last season.
