To see the match in pictures click here
A fine start to the new season with three points in the bag but Justin Luchford's Lilywhites made hard work of it against a Beckenham side keen to make amends for their poor showing during last season.
With Buster Smissen (holiday) and Dave Botterill (back injury) both unavailable for selection Luchford's summer signings Dan Larkin, Dale Skelton and Aaron Quainn all made the starting eleven.
Faversham started brightly pressurising the home side from the start with the pressure paying dividends after only 7 minutes with Dave Soutan outjumping the Beckenham defence to head the ball into the path of Dane Luchford who calmly fired home past Nick Blue in the home goal.
With the early goal to settle the nerves the Lilywhites dominated proceedings with the home side struggling to have any effect inside the Town half.
When Damian Abel was dragged down inside the box on 30 minutes by Danny Gorman Referee Amir showed little hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. Abel stepped up to take the spot kick which was well saved by Blue - diving low to his left to deny the Town number 8.
Undeterred the visitors continued to dominate for the remainder of the first period with Town Keeper Rob French having to wait until the 42nd minute before being forced into action.
Following the break and Town almost doubled their lead with Referee Emir's whistle still ringing, Luchford intercepting the kick-off before sprinting goal bound with the home side in complete dissaray. Whether he should have been greedier and gone for goal we'll never know but Luchford unselfishley square the ball for the incoming Abel who's strike flew the wrong side of Blue's left hand upright.
As the second half progressed Faversham appeared to ease off the gas somewhat and gradually allowed the home side to gain both momentum and confidence with French being forced into a string of fine saves.
Quainn made way for another debutante with Jack Tanner taking his place on 63 minutes with the hard working Abel making way for Craig Thompson on 75. Within minutes of his arrival Thompson found his way into Referee Emir's book picking up a needless yellow card for kicking the ball away.
Thompson very nearly made amends minutes later finding himself one on one with the keeper, as Blue dashed out from his goal Thompson's chipped ball beat the keeper only to narrowly miss the target.
At the other end French continued with his heroics to continue to deny and frustrate the Beckenham strike force making one double save from point blank range to ensure the clean sheet.
Town's final substitution came on 84 minutes with Luchford limping off the field to be replaced by the steadying influence of Lee Shearer for the final 6 minutes.
The last drama of the match came with almost the final kick - Thompson's clumsy challenge on Beck's Charlie McCarthy earning the Town striker his second yellow card of the afternoon.
Town hung on and were clearly delighted to have secured three points albeit that they made hard work of it during the second period.
The Lilywhites are next in action this coming Saturday when they travel to Hartsdown Park to face a Margate XI in the second leg of the 'Generation Challenge Cup' taking with them a 3 - 1 advantage from the first leg, kick-off is at 15:00.
|