Staplehurst marched on in the Kent Junior cup with a comfortbale 3-1 win over Addington to set up an away tie at Insulators.
In heavy conditions the home side managed to play their passing game and overcome a lively Addington team. Addington thought they had taken the lead early on but the linesmans flag pulled play back for an offside after the striker had cooly dispatched a perfect through ball.
Staplehurst took the lead in the first half through Richard Taylor, a clever through ball from Mark Fitzgerald was raced onto by Taylor in the box and he got his foot to it just before the advancing keeper, the ball bobbled free and Taylor was alert enough to prod the ball home from a prone position.
Chances were few and far between for both sides but Addington managed to draw level when a hopeful cross into the box was nodded home by their number 9 although how he managed to shake off Dan Savage to find the space no one knows!!
The second half brought an improved performance from Staplehurst and the introduction of Peter Snepp livened the game up considerably. It was Snepp himself who diverted a shot from Adam Prior past the keeper and into the net to give Monarchs their deserved lead and then a penalty soon after made the game safe. Dan Savage scored his third goal in two games from the spot to complete the scoring.
Steve Barnard came on late on and looked lively while Ben Croucher stole the show at the back to scoop the man of the match award. Ben is looking extremely solid in the heart of defence and the smart money will surely be on him to collect an award at the end of the season if his form continues in the same vein.
The performance was solid enough to win the game and the team will remain relatively unchanged for the visit to Thurnham.