Faversham Town 3 Erith & Belvedere 2

Faversham Town made it three wins on the spin as they overcame a determined Erith & Belvedere side at Salters Lane in front of a home crowd of 112.

Jamie Sparks returned to the starting eleven for the Lilywhites to what was an, otherwise, unchanged side whilst Salters Lane welcomed back former Town players Ross Cable and Richie Radbourne for the visitors.

The opening 10 minutes saw both sides appearing to be equally matched as they sounded each other out but a moment of magic on 12 minutes saw the home side take the lead courtesy of leading goal scorer Damian Abel.

A long ball to Craig Thompson was helped on to the feet of Abel who turned and ran for goal before firing the ball over the head of 'Dere's keeper Matt Bromby in what was, possibly, the best goal seen at Salters Lane this season.

Although stuuned by the strike the Dere's could offer little in return with Town Keeper Carl Hodgson remaining a virtual spectator for the remainder of the opening period, the only sign of danger came after 22 minutes with Sam Prett breaking into the box to fire against the woodwork.

After the break a tired Town side seemed content to sit back and see what the Dere's had to offer, former Town favourite Ross Cable found the back of the net on 62 minutes following a nice on-two with Prett only to have the goal ruled out for an off-side decision against Cable.

Manager Justin Luchford rang the changes after 63 minutes replacing Dave Botterill and Craig Thompson with Chris Oyebanjo and Dave Soutan respectively.

Oyebanjo almost made an immediate impact as he fired only inches wide of Bromby's goal, the clearance finding Huseyin Budak whose pass found Adrian Deane on the right of the Town area - Deane's low driven shot beating the unfortunate Hodgson.

With the visitors confidence bouyed Lee Shearer came off of the bench to replace Jamie Sparks in an effort to steady the ship.

A handball seen by everyone at Salters Lane with the exception of referee Keith Stone on 80 minutes should have seen the home side awarded a penalty, instead a long clearance found the ever dangerous Cable in space, the seasoned striker making no mistake as he rounded Hodgson to slot home for his 18th goal of the season.

On another day the Lilywhites could have dropped their heads and conceded the points as the visitors now had the upper hand but, to their credit, the home side dug deep and battled - Oyebanjo seeing another strike narrowly miss the target.

A Dane Luchford corner kick on 87 minutes was floated into the area which the Dere's defence failed to deal with allowingr Wednesday night's two goal hero Liam Wybraniec to head home for his third goal in as many days.

Not content with a point Town quickly regained possession from the restart, the ball played to the right side of the Dere's box - Bromby reacted quickly but could only get a hand to the ball which fell to the feet of Oyebanjo who calmly slotted the ball home to secure all three points for the home side.

The visitors may well have felt hard done by but a dogged and determined performance by the home side paid dividends - much to the relief of the Salters Lane crowd.

The Lilywhites have little time to sit on their laurels as they travel to Oakley Road to face Holmesdale this coming Tuesday evening, kick-off at 19:45.

Town's Star Man: Damian Abel, a tireless performance with a top class goal.

Faversham Town: Carl Hodgson (7); Jamie Sparks (6); Kris Richardson (7); Tom Hickman (6); Ashley Brown (7); Liam Wybraniec (7); Shane Hamshare (7); Damian Abel (c) (8); Craig Thompson (7); Dane Luchford (7); Dave Botterill (6).

Substitutes: Dave Soutan (for Thompson 63 minutes) (6); Chris Oyebanjo (for Botterill 63 minutes) (7); Lee Shearer (for Sparks 76 minutes) (6). Unused: Joe Dart; Sean Hetterley.