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The1988–89 Kent Football League season (known as theWinstonlead Kent League for sponsorship reasons) was the twenty-third in the history of theKent Football League, afootball competition featuring teams based in and around the county ofKent in England.
The League structure comprised two divisions: Division One and Division Two with the latter known as the Reserves Section (reserves teams were not permitted in Division One). Additionally there were two league cup competitions: the Challenge Cup for the Division One clubs and another for the teams in Division Two.
| Season | 1988–89 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Hythe Town |
| Promoted | Hythe Town |
| Matches played | 380 |
| Goals scored | 1,225 (3.22 per match) |
1989–90 → | |
The league featured twenty clubs, nineteen of which competed in the previous season together with one additional club:
The league was won, for the first occasion byHythe Town[2] - whose reserves team completed a Division Two league and cup double.
At the end of the season championsHythe Town were promoted to theSouthern League Southern Division[3] and both bottom clubs,Chatham Town andHerne Bay, were re-elected to continue their membership of the division.[4]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Season End Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hythe Town | 38 | 29 | 3 | 6 | 133 | 41 | +92 | 90 | Promoted to theSouthern League Southern Division |
| 2 | Deal Town | 38 | 24 | 4 | 10 | 80 | 35 | +45 | 76 | |
| 3 | Faversham Town | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 68 | 36 | +32 | 73 | |
| 4 | Darenth Heathside | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 69 | 44 | +25 | 68 | |
| 5 | Sittingbourne | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 59 | 43 | +16 | 66 | |
| 6 | Alma Swanley | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 66 | 46 | +20 | 64 | |
| 7 | Cray Wanderers | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 67 | 53 | +14 | 64 | |
| 8 | Whitstable Town | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 75 | 42 | +33 | 63 | |
| 9 | Ramsgate | 38 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 66 | 61 | +5 | 63 | |
| 10 | Slade Green | 38 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 60 | 59 | +1 | 61 | |
| 11 | Tunbridge Wells | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 58 | 57 | +1 | 56 | |
| 12 | Kent Police | 38 | 16 | 5 | 17 | 61 | 74 | −13 | 53 | |
| 13 | Crockenhill | 38 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 52 | 51 | +1 | 45 | |
| 14 | Danson | 38 | 12 | 5 | 21 | 55 | 67 | −12 | 41 | |
| 15 | Metropolitan Police (Hayes) | 38 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 50 | 83 | −33 | 40 | |
| 16 | Greenwich Borough | 38 | 8 | 15 | 15 | 53 | 56 | −3 | 36[a] | |
| 17 | Beckenham Town | 38 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 41 | 68 | −27 | 34 | |
| 18 | Thames Polytechnic | 38 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 44 | 83 | −39 | 34 | |
| 19 | Chatham Town | 38 | 3 | 8 | 27 | 41 | 105 | −64 | 17 | Re-elected |
| 20 | Herne Bay | 38 | 3 | 4 | 31 | 27 | 121 | −94 | 13 |
The 1988–89Kent Football League Challenge Cup was won, for the only occasion in their history, byAlma Swanley.[5]
The competition, contested by all twenty clubs in Division One, comprised five single match tie rounds (with the first round featuring four ties) culminating in the final which was played on a neutral ground (atSittingbourne F.C.[6] this season).
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | |||||||||||||||
| Whitstable Town | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Hythe Town | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Whitstable Town | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma Swanley | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma Swanley | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Tunbridge Wells | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alma Swanley | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Ramsgate | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Deal Town | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Greenwich Borough | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Deal Town | 0[a] | ||||||||||||||||
| Ramsgate | 1[a] | ||||||||||||||||
| Ramsgate | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Danson | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
Sources:
The letter "R" following team names indicates a club's reserves team.
Division Two featured mostly reserves teams (which were not permitted in Division One) from clubs from Kent and the adjacent area whose first team played in Division One and other higher ranked leagues. There was a League Cup competition for the teams in the section.
| Season | 1988–89 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Hythe Town R |
| Matches played | 342 |
| Goals scored | 1,209 (3.54 per match) |
1989–90 → | |
The league featured nineteen clubs including one non-reserve team,Snowdown Colliery Welfare for their final season in the league; sixteen of the clubs had competed in the division the previous season together with three additional clubs:[1]
The division was won by a resurgentHythe Town R[7] - who had been re-elected to the league after ending the previous season in the bottom two – part of a league and cup double.
At the end of the season:Chatham Town R,Deal Town R and championsHythe Town R withdrew from the division;Snowdown Colliery Welfare, who were founder members of the league in 1966, had their registration cancelled by the League as the club no longer held the league requirement of Senior status - theKent County FA had, owing to the club's long spell of ten seasons in Division Two, ruled the club of Intermediate status;[4] bottom clubHerne Bay were re-elected to continue their membership of the division.[8]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Season End Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hythe Town R | 36 | 27 | 4 | 5 | 112 | 31 | +81 | 79[a] | Resigned |
| 2 | Ashford Town R | 36 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 67 | 32 | +35 | 76 | |
| 3 | Dover Athletic R | 36 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 102 | 45 | +57 | 73 | |
| 4 | Hastings Town R | 36 | 21 | 6 | 9 | 83 | 49 | +34 | 69 | |
| 5 | Sittingbourne R | 36 | 18 | 11 | 7 | 84 | 52 | +32 | 65 | |
| 6 | Sheppey United R | 36 | 19 | 6 | 11 | 89 | 45 | +44 | 63 | |
| 7 | Cray Wanderers R | 36 | 19 | 3 | 14 | 75 | 61 | +14 | 60 | |
| 8 | Ramsgate R | 36 | 16 | 7 | 13 | 65 | 60 | +5 | 55 | |
| 9 | Faversham Town R | 36 | 14 | 10 | 12 | 62 | 57 | +5 | 52 | |
| 10 | Thames Polytechnic R | 36 | 12 | 11 | 13 | 50 | 54 | −4 | 47 | |
| 11 | Greenwich Borough R[b] | 36 | 15 | 5 | 16 | 65 | 72 | −7 | 47[c] | |
| 12 | Snowdown Colliery Welfare[d] | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 61 | 60 | +1 | 44[e] | Registration cancelled |
| 13 | Folkestone R | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 56 | 77 | −21 | 37 | |
| 14 | Beckenham Town R[f] | 36 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 43 | 67 | −24 | 35[g] | |
| 15 | Deal Town R | 36 | 9 | 7 | 20 | 37 | 99 | −62 | 34 | Resigned |
| 16 | Thanet United R[h] | 36 | 7 | 9 | 20 | 48 | 79 | −31 | 30 | |
| 17 | Whitstable Town R | 36 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 38 | 74 | −36 | 30 | |
| 18 | Chatham Town R[i] | 36 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 43 | 91 | −48 | 24[j] | Resigned |
| 19 | Herne Bay R | 36 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 29 | 104 | −75 | 18 | Re-elected |
The 1988–89Kent Football League Division Two Cup was won byHythe Town R[10] part of a league and cup double.
The competition, contested by all nineteen clubs in the division, comprised five single match tie rounds (with the first round featuring three ties) culminating in the final (played atHythe Town F.C.).[11] this season).
Sources: