Erith & Belvedere   6          Parker 5, 35, 60, Gurr 7, Novis 20, 70

Royal Naval Depot 0                     

Kent Amateur Cup semi-final, 22 March 1947 (at Bromley)

Continuing the series counting down the 100 most memorable games in our history.  Today, the more memorable of the two semi-finals we’ve won by six clear goals.

The second post-war football season saw the Deres comfortably in mid-table in the Corinthian League, but not so comfortable with our neighbours and biggest rivals down at Hayes Lane.  No fewer than seven E&B players moved to Bromley in the close season, and supporters were unsurprisingly disgruntled: “we might as well take over officially the title of Bromley’s nursery team,” one supporter complained.

Fixtures were heavily hit by one of the worst winters of the century, with no game from 25 January to 15 February, but victories either side of the big freeze against Sidcup United and Sheppey United took us to the semi-final of the Kent Amateur Cup, at the home of the arch-rivals.  And it was a good day:

KENT AMATEUR CUP – Deres’ 6-0 Path to Final

Erith and Belvedere outplayed Royal Naval Depot on Saturday to win 6-0 in the semi-final of the Kent Amateur Cup at Hayes-lane, Bromley, before a crowd of 1000.  They play either Dover or Bromley in the Final.  The Deres won the Kent Amateur Cup in 1923-24, and were finalists in 1933-34 and 1934-35.

The first goal, after only five minutes, was a good header by V Parker from a centre by J Novis.  Almost immediately H Gurr added a second after some good midfield play.  The Deres kept pressing and Novis, from a pass by J Cullum, scored a third with a terrific shot which gave the goalkeeper no chance.  Parker made the half-time score 4-0 with a good shot 10 minutes before the interval.

RN Depot took control of the game for the first 10 minutes of the second period and had the Deres’ defence troubled, hitting the post and crossbar.  The Deres soon regained their superiority however, and Parker and Novis added two more to make the final score 6-0.

Novis played his best game for some time and always had the RN defenders worried.  L S Dunn (RN goalkeeper) played a magnificent game and prevented the Deres getting double figures.  Other honours go to J Smith and Townsend.

Erith and Belvedere: Bill Pearson; Pat O’Brien, John Smith; John McCullough, Arthur Warboys, Jim Townsend; Jack Novis, Jim Cullum, Vic Parker, Harold Gurr, Len Farthing.

So the Deres reached the Kent Amateur Cup Final, where they were to meet … Bromley.  And that game will feature later in the series.  The other semi we’ve won by six goals was at Tooting Bec in the London Senior Trophy in 2018.  We won 7-1 in front of a crowd officially given as 8.