2003–04 Kent Football League

Kent Football League Division Two
Season	2003–04
Champions	Erith & Belvedere R
Matches played	156
Goals scored	570 (3.65 per match)
	← 2002–03 Div1 North; 2002–03 Div1 South 2004–05 →

Kent Football League Division One
Season	2003–04
Champions	Corinthian
Matches played	132
Goals scored	472 (3.58 per match)
	← 2002–03 Div1 North; 2002–03 Div1 South 2004–05 →

Kent Football League Premier Division
Season	2003–04
Champions	Cray Wanderers
Promoted	Cray Wanderers
Matches played	272
Goals scored	881 (3.24 per match)
	← 2002–03 2004–05 →

The 2003–04 Kent Football League season (known as the Go Travel Kent League for sponsorship reasons) was the 38th in the history of Kent Football League a football competition in England.

The League structure comprised three divisions: a Premier Division together with a Reserves Section comprising newly formed Divisions One and Two – the latter two made from teams featured in previous seasons Division One North and Division One South, with the six highest ranked teams from each division from the previous season placed in the new Division One and the remaining clubs into Division Two. Reserves teams were not permitted in the Premier Division. Additionally there were two league cup competitions: the Challenge Cup for the Premier Division clubs and another for the teams in the two divisions of the Reserves Section.

Premier Division

The league featured 17 clubs, 15 of which competed in the previous season together with two additional clubs:

Sevenoaks Town, joined from the Kent County League
Sporting Bengal United, joined from the London Intermediate League

At the end of the season Cray Wanderers were promoted to the Isthmian League Division One.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion
1	Cray Wanderers	32	22	4	6	88	35	+53	70	Promoted to the Isthmian League Division One
2	Thamesmead Town	32	22	3	7	72	38	+34	69
3	VCD Athletic	32	21	5	6	65	29	+36	68
4	Maidstone United	32	19	10	3	71	30	+41	67
5	Whitstable Town	32	19	5	8	77	52	+25	62
6	Hythe Town	32	17	7	8	51	41	+10	58
7	Erith Town	32	17	2	13	53	45	+8	53
8	Greenwich Borough	32	14	8	10	57	53	+4	50
9	Ramsgate	32	11	11	10	49	46	+3	44
10	Herne Bay	32	11	7	14	50	49	+1	40
11	Sevenoaks Town	32	12	1	19	40	57	−17	37
12	Beckenham Town	32	9	8	15	39	53	−14	35
13	Lordswood	32	9	5	18	34	68	−34	32
14	Tunbridge Wells	32	8	6	18	30	57	−27	30
15	Slade Green	32	7	8	17	42	47	−5	29
16	Deal Town	32	5	4	23	37	71	−34	19
17	Sporting Bengal United	32	1	2	29	26	110	−84	5

Source: FCHD
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	BEC	CRA	DEA	ERI	GRE	HER	HYT	LOR	MAI	RAM	SEV	SLA	SPB	THA	TUN	VCD	WHI
Beckenham Town		0–2	4–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–7	1–1	3–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	1–2	0–1	1–3
Cray Wanderers	3–1		4–0	1–0	1–3	2–1	3–1	3–0	2–3	4–1	2–0	2–0	10–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–3
Deal Town	0–0	1–5		0–2	1–3	1–2	0–2	1–3	1–2	2–4	0–2	2–1	7–0	2–5	0–2	0–1	0–3
Erith Town	3–0	1–4	2–1		4–2	2–0	1–1	0–2	3–2	1–4	2–1	2–1	6–0	1–1	2–0	1–3	3–0
Greenwich Borough	1–3	0–4	3–3	1–0		3–1	0–3	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2
Herne Bay	3–1	0–2	3–3	4–2	4–0		0–1	3–0	1–2	0–3	3–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2
Hythe Town	1–3	1–1	3–2	1–0	2–1	3–1		3–1	1–4	3–0	4–1	1–0	2–0	0–4	0–0	2–1	1–0
Lordswood	1–1	1–5	2–1	0–2	3–3	0–4	1–3		1–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	3–0	0–3	0–0	0–5	2–4
Maidstone United	0–0	2–1	5–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	4–0		2–2	1–1	3–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1
Ramsgate	1–1	1–2	0–3	0–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1		1–0	0–0	6–0	4–3	3–1	0–0	1–4
Sevenoaks Town	1–2	0–3	2–1	3–0	1–3	1–0	2–1	3–1	0–3	1–4		3–0	3–2	0–3	0–1	1–2	3–2
Slade Green	0–2	2–2	2–0	1–2	3–3	2–2	1–4	4–0	1–1	0–1	0–1		4–1	0–2	1–1	1–2	6–1
Sporting Bengal United	0–2	2–3	0–2	2–4	0–5	1–1	0–3	0–1	1–5	2–2	0–3	1–4		1–4	2–5	1–3	0–5
Thamesmead Town	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–0	3–0	4–0	4–2	0–4	2–0	4–1	1–0	3–2		3–2	1–0	2–4
Tunbridge Wells	3–2	0–3	0–1	0–2	1–4	3–2	2–1	2–3	1–3	1–3	1–0	0–3	0–4	0–1		0–4	0–4
VCD Athletic	4–0	1–3	2–1	5–0	2–0	2–5	5–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–0	3–2	3–2	1–0		4–1
Whitstable Town	6–2	4–2	0–0	3–1	4–2	2–3	1–1	2–3	3–2	2–0	4–2	3–1	2–0	0–4	1–0	1–1

Source: Herne Bay FC: team pages (archived)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Challenge Cup

The 2003–04 Kent Football League Challenge Cup was won by Thamesmead Town.

The competition was contested by the 17 teams from the Premier Division, following a preliminary round there were four further rounds: the first two a single match knock-out followed by the semis-finals on an aggregate basis (home and away matches) and the final match played on a neutral ground (at Folkestone Invicta F.C. this season).

Quarter-finals, Semi-finals and Final

Quarter-finals		Semi-finals				Final

Deal Town	0

Herne Bay	1
		Herne Bay	1	2	3

		Cray Wanderers	4	0	4
Erith Town	0

Cray Wanderers	1
						Cray Wanderers	0

						Thamesmead Town	1
Thamesmead Town	3

Ramsgate	0
		Thamesmead Town	2	3^[a]	5

		Maidstone United	0	4^[a]	4
Hythe Town	0

Maidstone United	1

^ ^a ^b after extra time

First Round

Deal Town 6 – 2 Sporting Bengal United
Sevenoaks Town 1– 2 Herne Bay
Erith Town 1 – 0 Slade Green
Cray Wanderers 2 – 1 Tunbridge Wells
Greenwich Borough 1 – 0 Thamesmead Town
Whitstable Town 0– 1 Ramsgate
Lordswood 0 – 1 (aet) Hythe Town
Maidstone United 6 – 1 Beckenham Town

Preliminary Round

VCD Athletic 2 – 4 Herne Bay

Sources: Herne Bay FC: team pages (archived)

Reserves Section

The letter "R" following team names indicates a club’s reserves team.

The 2003–04 Reserves Section comprised two new divisions with promotion and relegation possible between them. They were formed from the previous seasons Division One North and Division One South, with the six highest ranked teams from each division from the previous season placed in the new Division One and the remaining clubs into Division Two. Promotion from the Reserves Section into the Premier Division was not permitted. There was a single League Cup competition for all teams in the section.

Division One

The newly formed single Division One featured twelve clubs, the six highest ranked teams from each of the previous seasons Division One North (Cray Wanderers R, Thamesmead Town R, Danson Furness, Corinthian, Erith Town R and Dartford R) and Division One South (Deal Town R, Herne Bay R, Dover Athletic R, Ashford Town (Kent) R, Ramsgate R and Hastings United R).

At the end of the season champions Corinthian and runners-up Dover Athletic R resigned from the league – the former were the only non-reserves team to have won a division in the Reserves Section.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Season End Notes
1	Corinthian	22	15	4	3	79	32	+47	49	Resigned from the League
2	Dover Athletic R	22	14	4	4	61	30	+31	46	Resigned from the League
3	Thamesmead Town R	22	11	4	7	42	25	+17	37
4	Hastings United R	22	11	1	10	47	53	−6	34
5	Herne Bay R^[a]	22	9	6	7	37	34	+3	33
6	Cray Wanderers R	22	8	6	8	33	34	−1	30
7	Ashford Town (Kent) R	22	8	3	11	29	37	−8	27
8	Erith Town R	22	7	6	9	32	42	−10	27
9	Deal Town R	22	7	2	13	29	43	−14	23
10	Danson Furness^[a]	22	6	5	11	30	49	−19	23
11	Ramsgate R	22	5	7	10	26	52	−26	22
12	Dartford R	22	5	4	13	30	44	−14	19

Source: FCHD (team pages) & Kent League: Danson Furness v Herne Bay (archived)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

^ ^a ^b Danson Furness v Herne Bay R ruled 0–0 draw, one point to each team

Results

Home \ Away	ASH	COR	CRA	DAN	DAR	DEA	DOV	ERI	HAS	HER	RAM	THA
Ashford Town (Kent) R		2–2	0–2	1–0	7–0	2–4	2–1	0–1	3–2	1–2	2–0	3–2
Corinthian	1–0		6–3	11–0	2–1	5–2	1–3	3–0	7–1	5–1	7–1	5–0
Cray Wanderers R	1–1	1–5		4–1	0–0	1–2	0–2	3–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–0
Danson Furness	4–0	2–5	3–4		2–1	0–3	1–2	2–2	2–1	–^[a]	0–1	3–2
Dartford R	4–0	1–1	1–3	2–1		0–1	1–2	0–0	6–0	0–4	4–1	2–2
Deal Town R	0–0	3–3	0–1	0–1	2–0		0–3	0–2	5–1	1–2	0–2	0–5
Dover Athletic R	2–0	4–2	1–1	1–3	3–2	3–1		2–2	5–2	3–1	10–0	1–1
Erith Town R	0–1	0–4	0–0	3–3	3–1	4–1	0–4		3–4	3–0	2–2	1–2
Hastings United R	1–2	6–1	2–1	3–0^[b]	1–0	1–3	3–2	5–1		3–1	4–4	3–1
Herne Bay R	1–0	1–1	3–3	1–1	1–2	3–1	5–0	4–0	2–0		1–1	0–1
Ramsgate R	4–2	0–1	1–2	1–1	3–2	3–0	0–5	0–2	0–2	2–2		0–3
Thamesmead Town R	3–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	5–0	1–0	2–2	1–3	3–0	5–0	0–0

Source: Herne Bay FC: team pages (archived) & Cray Wanderers FC (archived) & Kent League: Danson Furness v Herne Bay (archived) & Kent League: Amendment to Division One Table – Hastings United v Danson Furness (archived) & FCHD (team pages)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

^ unplayed match; ruled as 0–0 draw, one point to each team
^ score of match abandoned after 82 minutes at 3–0 allowed to stand as final result

Division Two

The newly formed Division Two featured thirteen clubs, the six lowest ranked teams from the previous seasons Division One North (Chatham Town R, Beckenham Town R, Tunbridge Wells R, Lordswood R, VCD Athletic R and Erith & Belvedere R) and five (following the withdrawal of Margate R) from Division One South (Sittingbourne R, Folkestone Invicta R, Maidstone United R, Whitstable Town R and Hythe Town R) together with two additional clubs:

Sevenoaks Town R
Groundhoppers (a north Kent based club)

At the end of the season Erith & Belvedere R and Maidstone United R were promoted to Division One and Groundhoppers left the League after one season.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Season End Notes
1	Erith & Belvedere R	24	15	6	3	56	21	+35	51	Promoted to Division One
2	Maidstone United R	24	14	4	6	57	33	+24	46	Promoted to Division One
3	Beckenham Town R	24	14	4	6	51	30	+21	46
4	Whitstable Town R	24	13	6	5	50	36	+14	45
5	Sevenoaks Town R	24	13	5	6	45	39	+6	44
6	Groundhoppers	24	13	2	9	59	47	+12	41	Resigned from the League
7	Chatham Town R	24	10	8	6	54	37	+17	38
8	Hythe Town R	24	10	3	11	30	39	−9	33
9	Folkestone Invicta R	24	7	3	14	43	47	−4	24
10	Tunbridge Wells R	24	6	4	14	36	67	−31	22
11	Lordswood R	24	5	3	16	26	54	−28	18
12	Sittingbourne R	24	4	5	15	27	63	−36	17
13	VCD Athletic R	24	4	3	17	36	57	−21	15

Source: FCHD (team pages)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	BEC	CHA	EAB	FOL	GRO	HYT	LOR	MAI	SEV	SIT	TUN	VCD	WHI
Beckenham Town R		3–4	2–0	4–3	0–2	3–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	3–2	7–1	2–0	1–4
Chatham Town R	1–1		1–0	5–2	1–3	1–1	3–1	1–4	0–1	1–1	4–0	3–0	1–2
Erith & Belvedere R	2–0	1–1		1–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	4–2	2–2	5–1	5–1	1–0
Folkestone Invicta R	0–0	2–3	1–2		1–3	1–0	3–0	0–2	1–2	3–0	4–4	1–2	0–1
Groundhoppers	0–2	3–3	3–6	0–2		1–1	4–0	2–3	0–3	8–0	3–2	2–1	0–2
Hythe Town R	0–1	2–1	0–5	2–0	2–3		1–0	1–0	0–2	3–0	4–3	4–3	3–0
Lordswood R	0–4	3–3	2–1	1–4	1–2	3–0		2–3	1–3	2–0	2–0	0–2	1–4
Maidstone United R	1–1	1–2	1–1	5–0	5–3	2–0	5–0		2–3	4–1	4–1	1–0	2–2
Sevenoaks Town R	0–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	4–3	0–1	4–1	3–2		1–0	3–1	2–1	1–1
Sittingbourne R	2–3	0–0	0–1	0–5	1–2	1–0	1–4	0–0	4–2		3–3	3–1	1–2
Tunbridge Wells R	1–0	0–8	0–2	3–1	1–5	4–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	0–2		2–1	0–2
VCD Athletic R	3–5	1–4	0–5	1–4	2–4	1–2	0–0	2–4	4–0	7–0	2–2		0–1
Whitstable Town R	1–1	2–2	0–4	4–3	1–2	4–2	2–0	6–4	0–0	6–3	2–3	1–1

Source: Herne Bay FC: team pages (archived) & FCHD (team pages)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Reserves Cup

The 2003–04 Kent Football League Reserves Cup was won by Cray Wanderers R.

The competition was contested by all 25 teams of the Reserves Section over a total of five rounds: the first three were single match knock-out rounds, followed by the semi-finals on an aggregate basis (home and away matches) and then the final match played on a neutral ground (at Chatham Town F.C. this season).