The new 2020-2021 season is under way. The league committee is delighted that football has restarted and are looking forward to seeing how the season unfolds. September has seen some excellent performances and really interesting results. Below is a division by division review of September.

Division Three

The bottom division of the league saw a host of teams moving up the league, with TNS, STC, Charlton Athletic Deaf and Matagalpa all moving to Division Two. The remaining teams were Teviot Rangers (now the only Teviot team, therefore the first team), Eltham Eagles Reserves, Slade Green Knights, Catford, Dulwich Village Reserves, FC Peak and South East Athletic A. They were joined by the newly formed Red Velvet A, a new side in Chelsfield, a Sunday side bringing in a Saturday team, Milldean and finally Beckenham Knights, who did not play in September.

New-boys Chelsfield , are looking really good, with a start that has seen them have an opening win snatched away with a late penalty against Teviot Rangers (3-3), before wins against Dulwich Village Reserves (6-1), South East Athletic (3-1) and Slade Green Knights (3-1).

With a 100% start after 3 games, Eltham Eagles Reserves are second, with wins against Slade Green Knights (4-1), South East Athletic A (3-1) and Red Velvet A (6-3). What a tremendous start for a club hoping for promotion for both their teams. James Seale leads the scoring charts with 4 in 3 games.

FC Peak struggled a lot in their first season, but have hit the ground running in 2020-21, with a hammering of South East Athletic A (10-4) followed by a defeat to Slade Green Knights (2-6), before another win against Catford (2-1) and a narrow defeat against Red Velvet A having led 3-0 (3-4). It took them to November to get 2 wins last season, so they will be happy. Dan Hooley has 8 in 4 games already.

Slade Green Knights have had an up-and-down start, with an opening defeat to Eltham Eagles Reserves (1-4) followed by impressive wins against FC Peak (6-2) and Dulwich Village Reserves (5-0), only to lose again to Chelsfield (1-3). They will hope for greater consistency to put a title challenge together. Kolade Giwa will help them get there, he has 8 in 4 games.

Red Velvet A have made a solid start to life in the league, with a win over Dulwich Village (2-1) preceeding a loss to high-flying Eltham Eagles Reserves (3-6), before getting back to winning ways with that comeback win against FC Peak (4-3).

Teviot Rangers had a tough opening fixture to Chelsfield, who they had lost to in pre-season, but they scraped a draw with a 94th minute penalty (3-3), then losing to Milldean, another strong new team (2-4), before getting their first win against South East Athletic A (3-0).

Milldean started late in the league after joining at the end of August. They have won in their only league game so far, against Teviot Rangers (4-2). They will be hoping to put up a promotion challenge.

Dulwich Village Reserves lost their first three fixtures - Red Velvet A (1-2), Chelsfield (1-6) and Slade Green Knights (0-5). Then gained a win against Catford to get their season started (2-1).

Catford are without a point, following narrow losses to FC Peak (1-2) and Dulwich Village Reserves (1-2). They will be sure to pick up their first points soon.

South East Athletic A  were the whipping boys last season, and have lost all 4 games so far this term - FC Peak (4-10), Eltham Eagles Reserves (1-3), Chelsfield (1-3) and Teviot Rangers (0-3). Performances have improved since the opening day defeat and I am sure they will improve further.

Beckenham Knights  are yet to play a game and I wish them well when they start their fixtures in October.