Lydd Town win 4-2 at Faversham Town to complete Southern Counties East Premier Division double over the title favourites

An explosive start to the second half helped Lydd to victory at title favourites Faversham to become the first team to complete the double over them this season on Tuesday night.

Four goals came in 11 minutes after the restart as the Lydders took control of the Southern Counties East Premier Division affair, beating Sammy Moore’s Lilywhites 4-2 after Lydd had won 4-1 at The Lindsey Field in August too.

An evenly-contested first period in front of a crowd of 238 saw winger Malachi Hudson - facing his old side - curl wide and fellow wideman Troy Howard test Town’s on-loan Gillingham goalkeeper Taite Holtam.

Midfielders Billy Bingham and Billy Bennett also went close while Stefan Payne was thwarted by away keeper Connor Collins.

Inside 30 second-half minutes, Lydd went ahead when Charlie Webster scored and it got even better when Hudson converted a 53rd-minute penalty he had won himself when his goal-bound effort was adjudged to have been blocked by a Faversham hand by referee Kieran Williamson.

Two minutes later, a stunning Payne strike appeared to have put the Lilywhites back in the contest, only for midfielder Ronnie Dolan to somehow score out wide as his corner was only half-cleared.

There was much more entertainment in the second period and Bingham hit the post for Town and Faversham skipper Connor Essam cleared off the line to deny Dolan another goal.

Another ex-Lilywhite, left-back Charlie Dickens, found Howard to seal the Lydders’ victory and, although home frontman Warren Mfula got on the scoresheet in stoppage time, it was no more than a consolation.

Town manager Moore conducted his post-match team-talk on the pitch as their nine-match winning run ended. They were replaced at the summit by Glebe.

After scoring,