2023–24 Southern Counties East Football League

Southern Counties East
Football League
Division One
Season	2023–24
Champions	AFC Whyteleafe
Promoted	AFC Whyteleafe
Top goalscorer	Matt Day (31)
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

Southern Counties East
Football League
Premier Division
Season	2023–24
Champions	Deal Town
Promoted	Deal Town
Relegated	Welling Town
Top goalscorer	Stefan Payne (35)
	← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The 2023–24 Southern Counties East Football League season is the 58th in the history of the Southern Counties East Football League, and the eighth year the competition will have two divisions, the Premier Division and Division One, at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system.

The provisional club allocations for steps 5 and 6 were announced by The Football Association on 15 May 2023.^[1] Starting this season, the Premier Division (step 5) in the league will promote two clubs; one as champions and one via a four-team play-off. This replaces the previous inter-step play-off system. For this season only, there will be only one club relegated from the division.^[2]

Premier Division

The Premier Division comprised 16 clubs from the previous season, along with five new clubs after Erith & Belvedere and Phoenix Sports were promoted to Isthmian League South East Division and Canterbury City and K Sports were relegated to Division One.

The five clubs joining the division were:

Corinthian - Relegated from Isthmian League South East Division
Faversham Town - Relegated from Isthmian League South East Division
Lydd Town - Promoted from Division One
Snodland Town - Promoted from Division One
VCD Athletic - Relegated from Isthmian League South East Division

Premier Division table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Deal Town (C, P)	40	29	5	6	96	45	+51	92	Promotion to the Isthmian League
2	Faversham Town (Q)	40	25	8	7	107	53	+54	83	Qualification for the play-offs
3	Glebe (Q)	40	24	11	5	87	48	+39	83
4	Erith Town (Q)	40	25	5	10	91	52	+39	80
5	Corinthian (Q)	40	24	7	9	86	49	+37	79
6	Whitstable Town	40	22	7	11	79	52	+27	73
7	Bearsted	40	21	9	10	66	43	+23	72
8	Snodland Town	39	19	8	12	77	44	+33	65
9	Punjab United	40	18	11	11	69	58	+11	65
10	Lydd Town	39	19	7	13	76	61	+15	64
11	Lordswood	40	14	13	13	64	63	+1	55
12	VCD Athletic	40	13	11	16	61	64	−3	50
13	Hollands & Blair	40	13	8	19	61	76	−15	47
14	Tunbridge Wells	39	12	10	17	64	64	0	46
15	Fisher	39	13	6	20	67	83	−16	45
16	Holmesdale	40	11	9	20	59	77	−18	42
17	Kennington	40	9	10	21	50	80	−30	37
18	Stansfeld	40	6	7	27	42	99	−57	25
19	Rusthall	40	5	8	27	42	86	−44	23
20	Sutton Athletic	40	5	8	27	42	102	−60	23
21	Welling Town (R)	40	4	6	30	45	132	−87	18	Relegation to Division One

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2024. Source: The FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

Semi-finals		Final

2	Faversham Town

5	Corinthian



3	Glebe

4	Erith Town

Semifinals

30 April	Faversham Town	v	Corinthian	Faversham
15:00				Stadium: Salters Lane

30 April	Glebe	v	Erith Town	Chislehurst
15:00				Stadium: Foxbury Avenue

Final

v

Results table

Home \ Away	BEA	COR	DEA	ERT	FAV	FIS	GLB	H&B	HOL	KEN	LOR	LYD	PUN	RUS	SNT	STA	SUT	TUN	VCD	WEL	WHI
Bearsted	—	1–0	2–4	3–2	1–2	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	4–1	3–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	5–1	0–0
Corinthian	1–3	—	3–0	2–1	3–2	4–1	1–2	2–2	2–1	5–1	4–1	3–1	5–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–1	3–1	4–1	4–0	3–1
Deal Town	2–0	2–1	—	2–0	2–2	3–0	4–2	4–0	4–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	1–2	7–3	0–3	3–0	3–1	3–0	0–2	1–0	3–0
Erith Town	4–0	3–4	2–3	—	2–3	5–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	4–2	2–1	2–1	2–1	5–1	1–0	4–1	5–1	2–1		4–2	0–1
Faversham Town	4–0	4–0	2–4	3–4	—	5–0	0–2	5–2	6–1	2–1	2–3	2–4	3–1	2–2	2–1	8–0	5–1	2–2	2–0	4–1	2–1
Fisher	1–0	0–3	3–1	4–2	1–4	—	3–3	4–2	0–2	0–0	0–1	1–3	0–3	3–1	2–5	2–2	1–2	3–1	3–2	4–0	3–4
Glebe	2–0	3–1	1–3	2–2	2–2	3–2	—	3–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–3	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–2	5–0	3–2	4–0	1–1	2–0
Hollands & Blair	0–0	0–0	1–3	1–3	1–2	1–5	1–2	—	0–4	4–3	4–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	4–2	10–1	0–3
Holmesdale	1–6	1–2	1–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–1	—	1–2	4–2	1–2	0–2	2–0	2–2	2–3	1–1	0–2	2–2	4–2	0–4
Kennington	1–1	0–3	0–3	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–3	1–1	2–0	—	1–3	1–2	2–1	1–1	2–3	3–0	2–0	4–3	2–2	2–2	2–4
Lordswood	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	5–0	2–2	4–0	—	0–0	1–4	1–0	0–3	3–2	5–0	1–0	2–4	1–0	0–4
Lydd Town	1–2	0–3	0–2	2–1	4–1		0–4	2–1	0–3	2–1	0–0	—	3–0	4–4	2–0	3–2	3–0	2–2	2–3	5–2	4–0
Punjab United	2–2	2–0	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–0	1–3	0–1	1–1	0–0	2–3	3–1	—	2–0	0–4	2–1	4–2	2–1	3–2	4–0	4–2
Rusthall	2–0	2–4	0–2	0–2	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–3	2–4	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–2	—	0–2	3–1	3–4	0–2	3–1	0–3	0–3
Snodland Town	0–2	0–0	3–3	0–1	1–1	5–2	3–1	0–1	6–2	4–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	—	2–0	3–0		1–2	5–0	0–1
Stansfeld	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–3	0–2	1–3	2–2	0–4	2–1	2–0	0–2	1–3	0–3	1–2	0–4	—	1–0	0–2	1–4	2–1	1–4
Sutton Athletic	1–2	0–3	1–2	1–2	2–5	1–1	0–2	2–3	0–2	1–2	2–2	0–3	1–3	1–1	0–2	2–0	—	4–4	1–1	2–1	0–3
Tunbridge Wells	1–1	2–3	1–0	0–2	0–2	0–1	3–4	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–2	2–2	0–1	2–1	1–3	3–3	5–0	—	2–1	2–2	3–0
VCD Athletic	0–1	2–0	0–3	0–2	0–3	2–2	1–4	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	4–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–0	—	4–0	0–1
Welling Town	2–5	1–2	0–2	0–6	0–2	2–1	2–3	1–3	0–4	1–3	1–3	0–7	2–2	0–0	3–5	3–2	2–6	2–6	1–1	—	0–3
Whitstable Town	2–1	2–0	2–3	2–0	2–2	0–4	1–1	2–0	3–0	3–0	3–3	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	5–0	0–0	2–1	2–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2024. Source: FA Full-Time Grid
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Division One

Division One consisted of sixteen teams, down from eighteen teams in the previous season. Teams that left Division One from the previous season were Snodland Town and Lydd Town who had been promoted to the Premier Division and Bermondsey Town who were relegated to the Kent County League

The two new teams that joined the division were:

Canterbury City - Relegated from Premier Division
K Sports - Relegated from Premier Division

Division One table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	AFC Whyteleafe (C, P)	30	22	5	3	84	35	+49	71	Promotion to the Premier Division
2	Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (Q)	30	19	6	5	77	38	+39	63	Qualification for the play-offs
3	Staplehurst Monarchs (Q)	30	18	6	6	54	29	+25	60
4	Rochester United (Q)	30	19	2	9	72	41	+31	59
5	Lewisham Borough (Q)	30	15	7	8	57	38	+19	52
6	FC Elmstead	30	15	5	10	62	42	+20	50
7	Canterbury City	30	15	3	12	58	46	+12	48
8	Croydon	30	13	5	12	62	49	+13	44
9	Tooting Bec	30	10	7	13	48	46	+2	37
10	Bridon Ropes	30	9	9	12	41	57	−16	36
11	Faversham Strike Force	30	10	3	17	48	63	−15	33
12	Sporting Club Thamesmead	30	9	5	16	38	69	−31	32
13	K Sports	30	7	7	16	56	88	−32	28
14	Meridian VP (R)	30	6	7	17	50	82	−32	25	Possible relegation to the feeder leagues
15	Forest Hill Park (R)	30	6	6	18	36	61	−25	24
16	Greenways (R)	30	4	3	23	45	104	−59	15

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2024. Source: The FA Full-Time
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of matches won; 5) head-to-head results
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

Semi-finals		Final

2	Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers

5	Lewisham Borough



3	Staplehurst Monarchs

4	Rochester United

Semifinals

30 April	Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers	v	Lewisham Borough	New Hythe
19:45				Stadium: Larkfield & New Hythe Sports Club

30 April	Staplehurst Monarchs	v	Rochester United	Staplehurst
19:45				Stadium: Jubilee Sports Ground

Final

v

Results table

Home \ Away	WHY	BRI	CAN	CRO	ELM	FAV	FHP	GRE	KSP	LAR	LEW	MER	ROC	SCT	STM	TOO
AFC Whyteleafe	—	7–1	2–1	2–2	3–0	4–1	1–0	8–3	2–0	2–3	3–1	4–1	2–2	7–0	1–1	1–1
Bridon Ropes	A/W^[a]	—	1–1	0–5	0–2	3–2	1–0	4–1	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	1–2	0–5
Canterbury City	2–3	4–1	—	2–1	1–5	1–3	6–1	4–1	2–1	2–1	3–1	3–2	0–1	3–2	0–1	3–2
Croydon	2–2	1–2	2–3	—	1–0	1–2	4–1	1–1	7–1	1–2	3–4	2–2	3–1	2–0	0–2	3–1
FC Elmstead	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–0	—	2–1	3–1	4–1	0–2	1–3	0–1	2–0	2–3	2–2	0–1	1–1
Faversham Strike Force	1–6	2–2	2–1	2–3	2–4	—	0–2	5–1	0–3	2–1	0–0	3–0	2–0	0–2	1–3	2–0
Forest Hill Park	0–3	0–4	1–0	3–3	1–4	0–3	—	2–4	2–2	1–1	0–2	4–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	1–1
Greenways	1–2	0–1	0–2	2–0	2–6	0–4	0–4	—	2–3	0–9	2–5	3–4	0–4	1–4	1–2	1–3
K Sports	3–4	3–3	1–2	1–3	1–3	3–3	2–2	3–4	—	1–4	1–5	2–1	0–8	4–3	1–1	0–2
Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers	1–0	1–2	3–0	6–3	2–4	4–0	2–0	1–1	3–1	—	1–3	4–1	1–0	3–3	3–1	2–1
Lewisham Borough	1–2	3–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	—	1–1	4–1	0–2	2–2	2–1
Meridian VP	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	6–3	4–2	1–1	4–1	2–5	1–2	1–4	—	0–8	3–1	0–0	2–2
Rochester United	3–2	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–2	1–0	1–4	5–1	6–1	0–4	1–0	7–2	—	2–1	0–1	3–1
Sporting Club Thamesmead	0–1	0–0	0–7	0–3	0–3	3–2	1–0	1–7	3–3	2–2	0–2	2–1	2–0	—	0–2	0–2
Staplehurst Monarchs	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–0	3–1	4–1	4–1	2–3	1–2	4–2	1–2	4–0	—	1–0
Tooting Bec	1–2	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–2	2–0	2–1	4–2	3–3	1–3	3–1	4–1	0–3	1–2	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 27 April 2024. Source: FA Full-Time Grid
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.
Notes:

^ Match awarded to AFC Whyteleafe in accordance with league rules, after initial match was abandoned with AFC Whteleafe leading 3–1 due to two members of the Bridon Ropes coaching staff refusing to leave the technical area having been sent off.^[3]

League Cup

The 2023–24 SCEFL Challenge Cup saw Hollands & Blair enter the competition as defending champions, having defeated Fisher in the previous season's final.

Calendar

Round	Dates	Matches	Clubs
First round	2 October to 4 October	5	37 → 32
Second round	31 October to 21 November	16	32 → 16
Third round	29 November to 9 January	8	16 → 8
Quarter-finals	16 January to 10 February	4	8 → 4
Semi-finals	20 February to 27 February	2	4 → 2
Final	29 March	1	2 → 1

First round

Ten clubs participated in five first round ties.

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	SC Thamesmead (FD)	0–3	Lewisham Borough (FD)	75
2	Deal Town (PD)	8–2	Faversham Strike Force (FD)	370
3	Canterbury City (FD)	1–2	Snodland Town (PD)	67
4	Bridon Ropes (FD)	0–2	Croydon (FD)	40
5	Sutton Athletic (PD)	2–3	Welling United (PD)	37

Second round

Sixteen clubs competed in eight second round times.

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	Bearsted (PD)	0–2	Deal Town (PD)	73
2	Erith Town (PD)	3–1	Tooting Bec (FD)	53
3	Holmesdale (PD)	3–3 (4–2 p)	Fisher (PD)	38
4	Kennington (PD)	3–3 (5–4 p)	Hollands & Blair (PD)	125
5	Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (FD)	2–2 (4–3 p)	Rochester United (FD)
6	Meridian VP (FD)	2–0	Croydon (FD)	20
7	Rusthall (PD)	4–0	Forest Hill Park (FD)
8	Stansfeld (PD)	2–6	Corinthian (PD)
9	Whitstable Town (PD)	5–2	Lordswood (PD)	172
10	Lewisham Borough (FD)	3–0	Welling Town (PD)
11	Greenways (FD)	1–3	Snodland Town (PD)
12	Faversham Town (PD)	3–1	Lydd Town (PD)	186
13	Punjab United (PD)	1–0	FC Elmstead (FD)	77
14	Tunbridge Wells (PD)	2–0	Glebe (PD)
15	K Sports (FD)	0–4	Staplehurst Monarchs (FD)
16	VCD Athletic (PD)	2–2	AFC Whyteleafe (PD)	80

Third round

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	Snodland Town (PD)	0–1	Tunbridge Wells (PD)	104
2	Erith Town (PD)	3–0	Rusthall (PD)	53
3	Larkfield & New Hythe Wanderers (FD)	0–1	Faversham Town (PD)	60
4	Meridian VP (FD)	1–3	Corinthian (PD)	30
5	Punjab United (PD)	1–1 (4–5 p)	Holmesdale (PD)	84
6	Kennington (PD)	1–0	Whitstable Town (PD)	102
7	AFC Whyteleafe (FD)	2–0	Lewisham Borough (FD)	168
8	Deal Town (PD)	5–1	Staplehurst Monarchs (FD)	256

Quarter-finals

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	AFC Whyteleafe (FD)	2–1	Tunbridge Wells (PD)
2	Corinthian (PD)	2–1	Faversham Town (PD)	80
3	Kennington (PD)	0–5	Deal Town (PD)	151
4	Holmesdale (PD)	1–3	Erith Town (PD)

Semi-finals

First leg

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	Corinthian (PD)	3–0	AFC Whyteleafe (FD)	78
2	Deal Town (PD)	2–1	Erith Town (PD)	473

Second leg

Tie	Home team (tier)	Score	Away team (tier)	Att.
1	AFC Whyteleafe (FD)	2–2 (agg. 2–5)	Corinthian (PD)
2	Erith Town (PD)	4–2 (agg 5–4)	Deal Town (PD)	171

Final

29 March 2024 (2024-03-29)	Corinthian (PD)	1–1 (3–5 p)	Erith Town (PD)	Gillingham
13:00 GMT	Hagan 30'	Report	Dyer 85' (pen.)	Stadium: Star Meadow Attendance: 452

References

^ "The FA releases National League System club allocations for Steps 1-6 in 2023-24 term". The FA. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
^ "Step 5 to 4 promotion/relegation update". The FA. 16 March 2023.
^ "League Statement – AFC Whyteleafe". www.scefl.com. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.

[table_note_1_BRI_WHY0.78330387770352-4] Match awarded to AFC Whyteleafe in accordance with league rules, after initial match was abandoned with AFC Whteleafe leading 3–1 due to two members of the Bridon Ropes coaching staff refusing to leave the technical area having been sent off.^[3]

[1] "The FA releases National League System club allocations for Steps 1-6 in 2023-24 term". The FA. 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.

[2] "Step 5 to 4 promotion/relegation update". The FA. 16 March 2023.

[3] "League Statement – AFC Whyteleafe". www.scefl.com. 23 April 2024. Retrieved 24 April 2024.

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