Stansfeld FC v Snodland Town

   Stansfeld/Eltham Palace moved up to 11th place in the SCE Division 1 table after this hard fought draw against Snodland Town on Saturday.
   Chances were few and far between on a day when neither team showed too much quality, as possession was given away cheaply by both sides time and again.
   Snodland's prolific scorer Dave Sherwood came close early on, when he flashed a shot across the face of the goal that just cleared the far post with Stansfeld stopper James Bradley well beaten.
   At the other end Billy Shinners on his return to action after his latest injury setback, had a close range shot well saved by Snodland keeper Dan Stevens, with the rebound being scrambled away as Harry Gamble closed in to finish.
   Shinners had a better chance soon after, but he managed to pull his shot wide of the post with Stevens out of position.
   But the best chance of the half fell to Sherwood, after Bobby Holley's miss-timed clearance fell perfectly to the Snodland striker in the box, but fortunately for the hapless Stansfeld defender he put his shot over the bar as Bradley quickly closed down the angle.
   The second half followed the same pattern as the first with neither team taken control of the game. Both defences looked more and more confident as the game wore on and it was only set pieces, where either team looked like scoring.
   The deadlock was finally broken in the 84th minute when Sherwood ghosted in at the far post to volley home Tom Cackett's tempting cross. 
   This goal looked to have won the game for Snodland, but all credit to Stansfeld who threw everything at their opponents with the clock running down. There efforts were eventually rewarded in the 87th minute, when in form striker Ryan Hassan came off the bench to equalise with a low shot, that went in off the far post.
   This certainly wasn't a classic for the sprinkling of fans who turned up on a miserable afternoon, but both teams could not be faulted for their effort and a draw was a fair result, with the 2 goals possibly the only bits of quality in the whole game.