13/10/2023
Its fair to say that its not been the fairy tale start to life for the veterans of Old Smardonia as the men led by certified club legend Pete 'Loppy' Naden (he even has an award named after him) have struggled to find their feet in a perhaps unexpectedly competitive county league.
Pre season was a baptism of fire as a rampant young Smarden 1sts side ran them over whilst trying to impress incoming manager Arch and division winners Snodlands were too organised for a thrown together side but as Twiggy coined it that day "the band were back together"
And thats the spirit weve focused on as the off field positives outweigh the onfield negatives.
A 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Holland and Blaire followed in our inaugural league game but when you consider they dropped down from the top division, already look favourites for the title and despatched MPE 12-0 its not as bad as it sounds.
Our first home game against Grain resulted in a 5-2 loss but the majority of their goals were our mistakes. However the after party with the charity cricket match showed the solidarity and spirit in the club and I think the grain lads enjoyed it too.
4-1 away to Rubicon in the cup, the previous years winners and boasting two current semi pro players in their ranks, we struggled to get a foothold in the game against a strong side but it should be noted we thought about calling it off in the morning due to lack of players. A game that will be remembered for the unearthing of Robbie Ovenden who was literally plucked from cornes meadow in the morning of the game and celebrated his debut and first game in 6 years with a well taken goal that gave us hope at the time but ultimately turned out a mere consolation.
APM united away in the DBS cup felt like our best chance of a result but again we started poorly, went 2 down and despite a mid game recovery we were ultimately out thought, outworked and outplayed.
So thats the negatives out the way - some tough games behind us, arguably the toughest we'll face and all we can do is look forward.
With what looks on paper a more favourable fixture list in front of us were the only ones who can change our story. Most importantly its been great to have the old guard back together and we look forward to more adventures (particularly in west malling high street)
