2023–24 Southern Counties East Football League


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The 2023–24 Southern Counties East Football League season was the 58th in the history of the Southern Counties East Football League, and the eighth year the competition will have two divisions, the Premier Division and Division One, at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system.

The provisional club allocations for steps 5 and 6 were announced by The Football Association on 15 May 2023.[1] Starting this season, the Premier Division (step 5) in the league promotes two clubs; one as champions and one via a four-team play-off. This replaced the previous inter-step play-off system. For this season only, there was only one club relegated from the division.[2]

Southern Counties East
Football League
Premier Division
Season2023–24
ChampionsDeal Town
PromotedDeal Town
Erith Town
RelegatedWelling Town
Top goalscorerStefan Payne (35)

The Premier Division comprised 16 clubs from the previous season, along with five new clubs after Erith & Belvedere and Phoenix Sports were promoted to Isthmian League South East Division and Canterbury City and K Sports were relegated to Division One.

The five clubs joining the division were:

Premier Division table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Deal Town (C, P) 40 29 5 6 96 45 +51 92 Promotion to the Isthmian League
2 Faversham Town 40 25 8 7 107 53 +54 83 Qualification for the play-offs
3 Glebe 40 24 11 5 87 48 +39 83
4 Erith Town (O, P) 40 25 5 10 91 52 +39 80
5 Corinthian 40 24 7 9 86 49 +37 79
6 Whitstable Town 40 22 7 11 79 52 +27 73
7 Bearsted 40 21 9 10 66 43 +23 72
8 Snodland Town 40 19 8 13 77 44 +33 65
9 Punjab United 40 18 11 11 69 58 +11 65
10 Lydd Town 40 19 7 14 78 64 +14 64
11 Lordswood 40 14 13 13 64 63 +1 55
12 VCD Athletic 40 13 11 16 61 64 −3 50
13 Tunbridge Wells 40 13 10 17 64 64 0 49
14 Fisher 40 14 6 20 70 85 −15 48
15 Hollands & Blair 40 13 8 19 61 76 −15 47
16 Holmesdale 40 11 9 20 59 77 −18 42
17 Kennington 40 9 10 21 50 80 −30 37
18 Stansfeld 40 6 7 27 42 99 −57 25
19 Rusthall 40 5 8 27 42 86 −44 23
20 Sutton Athletic 40 5 8 27 42 102 −60 23
21 Welling Town (R) 40 4 6 30 45 132 −87 18 Relegation to Division One

Source: The FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Semi-finals Final
      
2 Faversham Town 2 (1)
5 Corinthian 2 (4)
4 Erith Town 1 (4)
5 Corinthian 1 (2)
3 Glebe 1
4 Erith Town 2

Source: FA Full-Time Grid
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

  1. ^ Match awarded to Fisher in accordance with league rules, after initial match was abandoned at 2–3 due to unsavoury scenes between the Lydd Town players and Fisher fans.[3]
  2. ^ Match awarded to Tunbridge Wells in accordance with league rules, after initial match was abandoned at 0–0 due to the behaviour of Snodland Town's players and staff.[4]
Southern Counties East
Football League
Division One
Season2023–24
ChampionsAFC Whyteleafe
PromotedAFC Whyteleafe
Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers
RelegatedGreenways
Top goalscorerMatt Day (31)

2024–25 →

Division One consisted of sixteen teams, down from eighteen teams in the previous season. Teams that left Division One from the previous season were Snodland Town and Lydd Town who had been promoted to the Premier Division and Bermondsey Town who were relegated to the Kent County League

The two new teams that joined the division were:

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 AFC Whyteleafe (C, P) 30 22 5 3 84 35 +49 71 Promotion to the Premier Division
2 Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (O, P) 30 19 6 5 77 38 +39 63 Qualification for the play-offs
3 Staplehurst Monarchs 30 18 6 6 54 29 +25 60
4 Rochester United 30 19 2 9 72 41 +31 59
5 Lewisham Borough 30 15 7 8 57 38 +19 52
6 FC Elmstead 30 15 5 10 62 42 +20 50
7 Canterbury City 30 15 3 12 58 46 +12 48
8 Croydon 30 13 5 12 62 49 +13 44
9 Tooting Bec 30 10 7 13 48 46 +2 37
10 Bridon Ropes 30 9 9 12 41 57 −16 36
11 Faversham Strike Force 30 10 3 17 48 63 −15 33
12 Sporting Club Thamesmead 30 9 5 16 38 69 −31 32
13 K Sports 30 7 7 16 56 88 −32 28
14 Meridian VP 30 6 7 17 50 82 −32 25
15 Forest Hill Park 30 6 6 18 36 61 −25 24
16 Greenways (R) 30 4 3 23 45 104 −59 15 Relegation to the Kent County League

Source: The FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Semi-finals Final
      
2 Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers 0 (13)
5 Lewisham Borough 0 (12)
2 Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers 1
3 Staplehurst Monarchs 0
3 Staplehurst Monarchs 1
4 Rochester United 0

Source: FA Full-Time Grid
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
Notes:

  1. ^ Match awarded to AFC Whyteleafe in accordance with league rules, after initial match was abandoned with AFC Whteleafe leading 3–1 due to two members of the Bridon Ropes coaching staff refusing to leave the technical area having been sent off.[5]

League Challenge Cup

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The 2023–24 SCEFL Challenge Cup was contested by all 37 clubs from both the Premier and First divisions (indicated by '(PD)' and '(FD)' respectively in the results listings below).

Defending champions Hollands & Blair (who defeated Fisher in the previous season's final) were knocked-out in the second round.

The cup was won by Erith Town for the second occasion in their history (having previously been winners in the 2007–08 season). The final match was played at a neutral venue, this season at Star Meadow the home of Hollands & Blair F.C.

Round Dates Matches Clubs
First round 2 October to 4 October 5 37 → 32
Second round 31 October to 21 November 16 32 → 16
Third round 29 November to 9 January 8 16 → 8
Quarter-finals 16 January to 10 February 4 8 → 4
Semi-finals 20 February to 27 February 2 4 → 2
Final 29 March 1 2 → 1

Ten clubs participated in five first round ties, with byes for the other 27 clubs.

Thirty-two clubs competed in sixteen second round times.

Sixteen clubs competed in eight third round times.

  • First leg
Tie Home team (tier) Score Away team (tier) Att.
1 Corinthian (PD) 3–0 AFC Whyteleafe (FD) 78
2 Deal Town (PD) 2–1 Erith Town (PD) 473
  • Second leg
Tie Home team (tier) Score Away team (tier) Att.
1 AFC Whyteleafe (FD) 2–2 (agg. 2–5) Corinthian (PD)
2 Erith Town (PD) 4–2 (agg 5–4) Deal Town (PD) 171

sources:

The 2023–24 SCEFL Division One Cup was contested by the sixteen clubs of Division One.[6] This was a re-introduction of a cup competition for the league's second tier clubs, previously contested as the Reserves Division cup in the 2012–13 season.

The competition was organised with an initial phase comprising four groups of four teams who played on a home and away basis with the group winners progressing to the semi-finals. Lewisham Borough were the cup winners.

  • Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Lewisham Borough 6 4 1 1 12 7 +5 13 Progressed to semi-finals
2 Tooting Bec 6 3 0 3 8 10 −2 9
3 Croydon 6 2 2 2 10 6 +4 8
4 AFC Whyteleafe 6 1 1 4 7 14 −7 4
  • Group B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Meridian VP 6 5 1 0 15 5 +10 16 Progressed to semi-finals
2 Bridon Ropes 6 3 1 2 13 7 +6 10
3 Forest Hill Park 6 1 3 2 9 11 −2 6
4 SC Thamesmead 6 0 1 5 7 21 −14 1
  • Group C
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers 6 4 1 1 17 7 +10 13 Progressed to semi-finals
2 K Sports 6 3 0 3 8 16 −8 9
3 Greenways 6 2 1 3 7 9 −2 7
4 FC Elmstead 6 2 0 4 8 8 0 6
  1. ^ Walkover, win for Greenways
  2. ^ Walkover, win for K Sports
  • Group D
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Faversham Strike Force 6 2 3 1 12 10 +2 9 Progressed to semi-finals
2 Canterbury City 6 2 2 2 9 9 0 8
3 Staplehurst Monarchs 6 1 4 1 10 10 0 7
4 Rochester United 6 2 1 3 10 12 −2 7

Source: "Division One Cup – 2023/24 Season". SCEFL. Retrieved 10 May 2024.

  1. ^ "The FA releases National League System club allocations for Steps 1-6 in 2023-24 term". The FA. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  2. ^ "Step 5 to 4 promotion/relegation update". The FA. 16 March 2023.
  3. ^ "League Statement – Lydd Town v Fisher". SCEFL. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  4. ^ "League Statement – Snodland Town v Tunbridge Wells". SCEFL. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
  5. ^ "League Statement – AFC Whyteleafe". SCEFL. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  6. ^ "SCEFL First Division Cup Rules 2023-2024" (PDF). SCEFL. Retrieved 10 May 2024.