Lordswood 2-2 Tooting Bec - Lordswood manager Callum O'Shea claims Rochester were 'morally wrong' to give Ashford players their debuts in play-offs but George Bentley gets League permission to play for Lordswood in Division One Cup Final 11 days later

Lordswood 2 – 2 Tooting Bec
Location	Flamingo Park, Sidcup-by-pass, Chislehurst, Kent BR7 6HL
Kickoff	09/05/2026 13:00

LORDSWOOD  2-2  TOOTING BEC
(Tooting Bec win 5-4 on penalties)
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Division One Cup Final
Saturday 9 May 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from Flamingo Park

LORDSWOOD manager Callum O’Shea says his young side threw away the chance to celebrate winning the club’s first major trophy after losing a poor Southern Counties East Football League Division One Cup Final on penalties.

James Parsons’ side finished in fourteenth-place in the First Division table, having picked up 35 points (8 wins, 11 draws and 15 defeats) and they defeated Croydon (1-0), Bridon Ropes (3-0) and Lewisham Borough (2-1) to reach the Flamingo Park Final.

Lordswood have beaten Lydd Town (4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw), SE Dons (4-2), Halls Athletic (4-3 on penalties after a 3-3 draw) and Staplehurst Monarchs (2-0).

Lordswood, meanwhile, finished their 34-match campaign in fourth-place, completing their League campaign with a 1-0 win at third-placed finishers Rochester United, before losing their play-off Semi-Final 4-0 against the same opponents just three days later.

Michael Betts’ side went on to lose the Play-Off Final after losing 4-2 to runners-up SE Dons four days later, as Antonio Gonnella’s side joined AFC Greenwich Borough in next season’s Premier Division.

Betts gave debuts to Ashford United players Gary Lockyer (who scored twice in the Final), Matthew Bodkin, Michael West and Harrison Hume and O’Shea put out this statement after the game to condemn Rochester United handing these players their debuts in the Play-Off Semi-Final, although their Medway rivals didn’t break any rules as they signed the non-contracted Ashford United players on dual-registration terms ahead of transfer deadline day in March.

O’Shea said: “I think the League have let themselves down and teams like us down if I’m very honest, not that Rochester have done anything wrong.  There’s rules for a reason.

“My kind of outlook on it is, to be able to field players that haven’t played a minute of football for your team at all during a League season, to be able to play in a game like tonight that has so much at stake, I think it’s morally wrong.  I think the League lets teams like us down that try to do things the correct way and it is what it is.

“We would’ve had the opportunity to go and sign players. We chose not to because we believe in the squad that we’ve got here so morally I don’t agree with it and I think it needs to be looked at…”

Fast forward 11 days and O’Shea’s comments seem rather foolish as he has done exactly the same as Rochester United and handed goalkeeper George Bentley, 25, his second debut for Lordswood in today’s Division One Cup Final.

Bentley, who made 56 appearances for Lordswood between July 2021-November 2022, made 38 appearances for Premier Division side Tunbridge Wells during this season (just finished) and the club were given written permission by the League to transfer Bentley from the Culverden Stadium outfit – after transfer deadline dayday, during the week - to play and get his first 90 minutes of the season for Lordswood.

O’Shea revealed his two first-team goalkeeper’s weren’t available for selection.

“Sam Grant actually done his ACL outside of playing for Lordswood, which obviously we weren’t overly pleased about but he was massive for us.

“We then brought Roman Hall in (from AFC Croydon Athletic in March) to replace him and Roman’s played the vast majority of the games since Sam’s Grant’s injury and unfortunately we had to write to the League because Roman Hall is away on holiday. It was a pre-booked holiday, couldn’t get out of it.

“I know in my interview after Rochester I made a thing about the whole ineligible players or eligible players, saying the League has kind of let us down a little bit – but we had to. We had no other option today.  We had no under 23s goalkeeper.

“We wrote to the League in good time. We also said to the League ‘look do put it past Tooting Bec and get their thoughts on it’, but luckily enough for us the League let us sign George and unfortunately it didn’t make no difference today.  Their goalkeeper saved two penalties and George saved one so yes, it is what is is, on the day.”

Lordswood were also without the 11-goal Harvey Welford (fractured ankle ligaments) and cup-tied pair Luis Dos Santos and Zack Manning, while Alfie Clark was suspended after picking up 15 yellow cards this season.

Bentley was at fault for Tooting Bec’s opening goal, scored by right-back Alimany Taylor-Kamara, before Lordswood lost their 19-goal striker Tom Davey to a broken humerus (shoulder) before winger Rameses Meseorias emphatically scored his sixth goal of the season to restore parity just before the interval.

Tooting Bec holding midfielder and captain Jack Martin scored an own-goal on the hour mark to grab Lordswood the lead but Chipstead (Surrey) based Tooting Bec levelled in stoppage time through a downward header from centre-half Sonny Harnett-Balkwill.

Tooting Bec held their nerve from the spot to win 5-4 after 12 penalties as Lewis Tristram (holding midfielder) and George Miles (left-back) missed for Lordswood.

“I generally believed that we dominated from start-to-finish today,” claimed O’Shea, 35, who has won 17, drawn 8 and lost seven of his 32 games since coming in for his first managerial job.

“As a group, we’ve been together since the 12^th of October. We’ve had a really good season as a group.

“How do I sum up today? It was a game that we threw away, in my opinion.  I felt like we dominated from start to finish. We had a bit of a sloppy start to the game. We had a bit of a sloppy end to the game. If we’re able to go and score that third goal, it’s potentially a different game.

“But this is what cup finals are all about. We’ve got a really young squad out there, we’ve got a couple of senior players and they’ll go and learn from this now, which is good – but it’s been a great season for us.”

Tooting Bec opened the scoring, courtesy of a mistake from Bentley, with only 140 seconds on the clock.

Martin pinged a diagonal from the Tooting Bec half of the field over to impressive left-winger Nile Waite, who twisted and turned Lordswood right-back Ellis Shadwell before going on the outside and drilling a low left-footed angled drive across Bentley towards the bottom far corner.

Bentley got down low to his left and stretched towards the ball and failed to hold it, which allowed Taylor-Kamara to pounce and stab his right-footed shot into the middle of the goal.

“Out on the left it was Nile Waite, the 11, good player. We did say before the game ‘with Nile you have to get tight on him, you can’t allow him to run at you’ and unfortunately first 10-15 minutes we allowed him too much space,” admitted O’Shea.

“It was a number of errors. We weren’t close to him out there. He’s bypassed past Ellis Shadwell and I think there was a bit of miss-communication between George Miles and George Bentley and the full-back’s rolled the ball in so yes, just a few errors lead to a very kind of weak goal.”

O’Shea was questioned why a right-back was in the position to stab the ball over the line, an example of Lordswood’s players lacking in desire.

“I thought to a certain degree, I think both their full-backs got on really well today and I think probably for the first 10-15 minutes they got a little bit more joy until we kind of sussed it out a little bit and relaxed on the ball and so on and so forth.

“I wasn’t overly pleased by what happened out on the left.  The number of errors through the middle in terms of miss-communication and then a full-back of all people being able to just tuck the ball away in our box. Not great, it’s one of those things, you’ve got to work on and move on from.”

Davey went down in the final third and received lengthy treatment and was stretchered off the pitch and taken to hospital by ambulance, which left the stadium just before half-time and could potentially put him out of the game for a very long time.

O’Shea said:  “It’s not looking good. It looks like he’s got a clean break to his humerus,  very potentially long injury.  It’s not looking great for Tommy, with that type of injury, he could be looking at anything up to a year (out of the game), so it all depends on recovery, it all depends how he gets on with it.

“He’s been someone for us this season who’s been outstanding. He’s our top goalscorer. I’m making no excuses today but to lose him so early into the game definitely upset our rhythm slightly, with regards to our previous games.”

O’Shea was forced into a tactical switch putting left-winger Timmy Babington in as central striker, with Nathaniel Murray coming off the bench to play wide left, Meseorias moving over to left-wing, after only 12 minutes.

Lordswood put in a lacklustre first-half performance, playing in a flat tempo and both teams put in a poor Cup Final for the 432 sun-kissed crowd in Chislehurst.

“I think we had a lot of the ball but the tempo wasn’t great. They were quite happy, once they scored their goal, they were quite happy to sit in their shape. We managed to have good possession of the ball but to not do much with the ball and it probably wasn’t until the last 10 minutes where we actually grew into the game.

“We got our full-backs on a little bit. We asked our wingers to tuck themselves in a little bit to help Timmy (Babington) up top, who’s not a natural striker and then we saw that gaps were opening and that’s where the goal came from.”

Babington, Tristram and Jonathan Harris allowed Tooting Bec centre-half Daniel Farrow to pick up the ball on the half-way line and beat three men but lacked quality inside the box as his left-footed angled drive rolled into Bentley’s gloves for a comfortable save (25:21).

Bentley pulled off a great save to prevent Tooting Bec from doubling their lead with 30 minutes and 51 seconds on the clock.

The impressive Waite curled a sublime cross in from the left with the outside of his right-foot, winger Anthony Ogbanufe knocked the ball down while unmarked inside the box and holding midfielder Aidan Sanfelice hooked a right-footed volley towards the right-corner, only for Bentley to dive to his left to tip around the post.

“This is why we had to go and get George in. We had to sign a goalkeeper for moments like this,” said O’Shea.

The very same reason why Rochester United brought in Lockyer for their two play-off ties – where he scored twice in the Play-Off Final to make it 2-2 just before half-time against SE Dons.

“We knew Tooting today, from wide areas, could go and deliver balls in the box. We knew that Tooting had the players in the box to go – with their height to go and dominate in our box.  Yes, there were two occasions where he pulled off some good saves and that’s the reason why we brought him in.”

Tooting Bec – who won the corner-count by 9-6 - delivered the resulting corner in from the right by Martin towards the back post where Farrow found space to send his free-header towards the roof of the net, which Bentley used his outstretched right-hand to push away.

Sublime skill in midfield from attacking midfielder Abioseh Davies saw him play the ball out towards the touchline and Shadwell couldn’t be bothered to win the ball on the half-way line. Instead he was left embarrassed by Waite, who easily skipped past him, cut into the box before going to pieces and placing his low right-footed shot across Bentley and past the far post.

Lordswood showed signs of life, however, creating their first chance with 43:20 on the clock.

Tristram launched the fifth of six long throws into the box, the ball was flicked on by centre-half Freeman Rogers at the near post and there were plenty of bodies inside the Tooting Bec penalty area.

The ball was recycled back into the penalty area from the left towards the back post where Rogers’ right-footed rasping drive from the edge of the six-yard box flew towards goalkeeper Dominic Oakes, who flicked the ball over his crossbar.

“We’ve been ok at that this season. We’ve been ok at getting balls into the box, towards the back end of the season, being able to score some goals out of nothing and that could’ve been one of them today,” said O’Shea.

“I think if a different player on the ball – no disrespect to Freeman Rogers – if the balls in the air for Freeman to header, that probably goes in the goal. It landed to his feet and I think he got too much height on it and obviously the goalkeeper’s made a terrific save.”

Lordswood grabbed the equalising goal with one minute and 21 seconds into stoppage time, as Tooting Bec left-back Jerry Antwi opened the gate.

Nago was some 35-yards from goal and his threaded through ball split open Antwi to put Mesorisa through on goal and his initial touch inside the box was poor but he held composure to emphatically drill his right-footed drive to beat Oakes at his near-post from four-yards.

“Tad’s ball, Tad’s work-rate today was great. His articulation at times with his forward passing is brilliant. He was a little bit off it today,” added O’Shea.

“He fed a nice ball through to Rams and Rams is very clam and collected in those situations and he has been for us this season on many occasions, so yes, you couldn’t want that ball falling to anyone but Rams and he took it very well.”

A long ball out of Tooting Bec’s defence released Tooting Bec striker Seye Okunlola, who held the ball up and allowed Lordswood’s flat-footed defenders to get back and he cut the ball back for Taylor-Kamara who looped a first-time cross over Bentley’s fingertips and on to the top of the crossbar from outside the penalty area.

“It was a good time to score but I think half-time came at the wrong time,” admitted O’Shea.

“We gained, over that last 10 minutes of the first half, I think we gained a lot of momentum but we basically said to them ‘don’t change a thing, don’t change a thing, we’re very much on top.’

“We made a thing about our full-backs getting higher. They were quite happy Tooting sitting in a shape and we probably thought in the first 10-15 minutes they would come out and do the same thing and I didn’t feel that, especially on our left-hand side with George Miles.

“I thought we got in some really good areas, whether that was through long balls or whether it was to feet. I thought we got in to some really good areas and had some chances to score.”

Tooting Bec created an opening after only 176 seconds into the second half where Davies hit a long diagonal, which wasn’t cut out by Shadwell on the edge of the Lordswood box and this let in Waite, who cut inside and drilled his right-footed drive, which was comfortably saved by Bentley in his midriff.

Lordswood were gifted the lead, however, with 14 minutes and 42 seconds on the clock, which summed up the poor quality on show.

The gangly Murray played a first time left-footed pass to send Babington on his way down the right and he fizzed in a low cross from within the channel.

Oakes dived to his right to flick the ball away but the ball bounced off the shin of Martin and trickled apologetically into the bottom far (left) corner of the goal.

“I thought we got the ball into a good area down the (right). As everyone knows when you put the ball in the box, you’ve got the opportunity to go and score,” said O’Shea.

“There was a little bit of, like us in the first half, a bit of miss-communication between their goalkeeper and I think their four (Martin)… and it gets us in the lead with the opportunity to then put the game to bed.”

Tooting Bec missed a glorious chance to force an equaliser (16:51) following their fourth corner.

Martin’s deep corner was recycled back into the box by Waite and his chipped cross was met by Davies’ free header, which he knocked over the crossbar from six-yards out.

O’Shea said: “The game started to open up a little bit for us.  There were a few towards the back of the game probably more so, they had the opportunity to put the ball in the box and they did and I think for us it was just a matter of time of just being able to deal with what went in the box.

“We dealt with it. I probably wasn’t too pleased on the second phase. I felt that we managed to, not necessarily we didn’t win the first ball, they’ve then knocked the second ball into a decent area and luckily for us it went over the bar.  Again, it’s one of those that could’ve been a different story.”

Both sides created a chance apiece in the space of 15 seconds as there was a brief moment of excitement for the crowd as this game was played at a slow tempo.

Tooting Bec threw bodies forward before Lordswood’s Meseorisa smacked his clearance upfield and burst his lungs in an attempt to support Nago, who chose the wrong option on the counter-attack.

Nago drilled a low left-footed angled drive across Oakes, who dived low to his left to hold onto the ball, which left Meseorisa frustrated and unmarked at the back post ready for a tap-in.

Davies then swiftly released substitute targetman Kai Udondem, who drilled his right-footed shot towards the roof of the net, only for Bentley to palm the ball up by using his right hand before gathering the ball unopposed as he stepped to his right.

“We’re very good at that. We’ve got pace in the team, whether that’s out wide or though the middle,” said O’Shea.

“We’ve made a big thing with Rams, especially over the last couple of months of him just being very positive, especially when he gets into the final third. That was an opportunity for us to go and put the game to bed.

“It didn’t happen but yes it was another opportunity and one we were quite grateful off.”

Lordswood lacked quality to get it over the line and they were punished as Tooting Bec took it to penalties by restoring parity, one minute and 18 seconds into stoppage time, as Miles couldn’t be bothered to come out and stop the source.

The impressive Waite took a touch before whipping in a great cross from the right touchline into a crowded penalty area and Harnett-Balkwill buried a free downward header past Bentley into the left-corner.

“I wasn’t overly pleased with the way we didn’t react to the ball going out to the winger, to Nile. We spoke about him probably being the one, if someone was going to go and provide a little bit of magic for them, it was him, so there was no pressure on the ball that went out to him. It was far too easy to put a foot on the ball and whip the ball in and unfortunately we lost the header in the box and that kind of flattened us really, changed the game for me completely, especially towards those last couple of minutes.

Tooting Bec showed desire to try to snatch the victory in stoppage time but Parsons’ side ran out deserved winners over the piece as Lordswood failed to turn up and their search for a first trophy continues.

Lordswood did reach the Kent Senior Trophy Final back in April 2013 but Martin Larkin’s Tunbridge Wells claimed the 2-1 win over Jason Lillis’ side in Tonbridge.

“Penalties is always a guessing game. We’ve had three penalty shoot-outs in this Cup this season, so we were quite confident,” said O’Shea.

“Obviously the boys, we had a number of leggy boys but we were quite confident that we could go and win the game on the penalty shoot-out. We were confident in George in goal.

“Penalty shoot-outs are a complete and utter lottery and unfortunately we were on the loss.”

O’Shea was asked whether his players practiced penalties during training.

“From time to time we do. Obviously at this level (the tenth-tier of English football), you don’t get to train that much. We’ve had a lot of games that were off in January. We have probably had Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday for the last couple of months so we’ve been very limited in our training sessions and also as you’re probably under no illusion, penalty shoot-outs at times are one of the last things you have a chance to work on, so to answer your question, no.

“But we were quite confident with the boys that stepped up but ultimately we’ve come on the back end of a loss.”

Man-of-the-match Waite capped off an impressive showing by placing his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-corner, sending Bentley the wrong way.

Murray levelled, riddling his right-footed penalty into the top right-hand corner, despite keeper Oakes going the same way (to his left).

Taylor-Kamara sent Bentley the wrong way, his right-footed penalty nestling into the right-hand corner.

There’s always a thing with left-footed penalty takers in non-league shoot-outs – they usually miss.  Tristram’s effort saw Oakes dive to his right and produced a two-handed save.

Davies stepped up and sent his emphatic right-footed penalty into the right-hand corner, over Bentley, who guessed the right way, to give Tooting Bec a 3-1 lead after five spot-kicks.

Meseorisa placed his right-footed penalty into the left-corner, although Oakes was very close to getting to it as he dived to his right.

Tooting Bec made it 4-2 when substitute Sirak Negassi rolled his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, although Bentley was very close to getting to it as he dived to his right.

Lordswood substitute Shaquon Williams held his composure to roll his right-footed penalty into the bottom right-hand corner, sending Oakes the wrong way.

Tooting Bec’s substitute attacking midfielder Buruk Tedros saw his right-footed penalty saved by Bentley, who dived to his right to make a comfortable save.

A very lucky Babington took it to sudden death as his right-footed penalty went underneath Oakes, as the ball nestled into the bottom right-hand corner.

Tooting Bec scored their fifth in the shoot-out as Bentley went the other way again as Martin’s right-footed penalty nestled into the right-corner.

Miles went to pieces as his awful right-footed penalty brought some saving practice for Oakes, who went slightly to his right to smother comfortably.

“Lewis and George have been brilliant for us all season and this no way defines their seasons,” insisted O’Shea.

“Lewis is someone I brought in with me when I got the job, he’s been brilliant for us, whether he’s played at left-back or whether he’s played through the midfield.

“We always say to the boys is ‘pick a side, go with it.’ If the keeper saves it, he saves it. If you score, you score.

“George Miles missed his but he’s a right-footed left-back. He’s done us a massive favour for the vast majority of time I’ve been here, playing left-back for us. He’s a brilliant right-back. I’ve asked him to choose a side. He did what he could do. He hasn’t missed on purpose and it is what it is.”

With big-hitters AFC Greenwich Borough – the artist formerly known as Welling United Academy – and SE Dons – now in the Premier Division – the First Division is open for anyone next season.

“It’s been a good season for us. We’ve got a group now and I say it quite a lot in my interviews, we’ve got a real group that are together. There’s a lot of unity in that side,” said O’Shea.

“No one would’ve backed us to finish top four this season and actually we had SE Dons in this Cup and probably no one backed us to get to the Final in this competition, so we’ve had a group since October. A lot of teams in this League have had their management teams for one year plus, so what I say to them to our fans is we want to come back fighting next season.

“Next year is a season I look at with SE Dons gone, with Greenwich gone. I say this very loosely, I don’t see us having too many payers vacating the club, so I’m hoping we can really have a go next season and look to be really competitive in this League.

“Me and the chairman (Ray Broad) speak daily. There’s a lot of plans going on behind the scenes at the club with regards to a potential 3G pitch.  These are all things kind of in the future.

“From what I gather the chairman is very happy with the job we’ve done. It was always a gamble him bringing me in as manager. I’m still a young manager (at 35), this is my first job, so there were a number of managers that wanted the job that had far more experience than I did.

“When I got the job the chairman wanted two things. He wanted to gain play-offs and he wanted a cup final. The club haven’t had a Cup Final in 13 years, so I know we haven’t won today but we have given the club a day out. We’ve got the club to a Play-Off Semi-Final and we look to beat those expectations next season.”

When asked about his initial plans for next season, O’Shea replied: “Listen, it’s probably a season so that you expect to go and compete. We’ve actually done very well against SE Dions this year. I get on really well with (their manager) Antonio Gonnella, obviously congratulations to them for getting up through the play-offs, which is a tough task in itself.

“I’m sure no-ones under illusion that them two going out of the League does make it slightly easier but this is a tough level of football now. I don’t think people quite understand.”

The Football Association will sit down on Monday to discuss League allocations, which are expected to be released towards the end of next week.

Stansfeld (second-from-bottom Premier Division finishers) may be given a reprieve due to relegated Isthmian League South East Division side VCD Athletic going out of business later this month.

"You've obviously got Hythe that are going to come down, you've got Stansfeld who are going to come down, two really good clubs," said O'Shea.

“Rochester will want to compete, Croydon will want to compete, Greenways will want to compete and we are. We put ourselves in that category and yes we will set up a team next season to go and compete at the levels to go and win the League.

“They’re gutted to lose a Play-Off Semi and obviously to lose a game in the way we did. I think sometimes you can probably handle it more if we were outclassed and outplayed today.

“I think we could’ve gone and put the game to bed and that was the most gutting thing for the boys is that we had the chance to really put the game to bed at 2-1. It’s fine margins but we’ve got a young squad, everyone’s been absolutely superb in there for me personally. They’ve brought into what we wanted as a management team and a young management team and I think there’s very exciting prospects for next season.”

But on this lacklustre performance, Lordswood are a million miles away from spending two season’s back in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, having lost their ninth-tier status in April 2025.

Lordswood: George Bentley, Ellis Shadwell, George Miles, Lewis Tristram, Freeman Rogers, Jonathan Harris, Timmy Babington, Vinnie Medhurst, Tom Davey (Nathaniel Murray 12), Tadiwanashe Nago (Shaquon Williams 83), Rameses Meseorisa.
Subs: Sam Wright, Jack Wright, Charlie Plummer

Goals: Rameses Meseorisa 45, Jack Martin 60 (own goal)

Booked: George Miles 77, Jonathan Harris 90

Tooting Bec: Dominic Oakes, Alimamy Taylor-Kamara, Jerry Antwi, Jack Martin, Sonny Harnett-Balkwill, Daniel Farrow, Nile Waite, Aidan Sanfelice (Buruk Tedros 64), Seye Okunlola (Kai Udondem 64), Abioseh Davies, Anthony Ogbanufe (Sirak Negassi 75).
Subs: Donte Degannes-Fidyk, Oliver Skibinski

Goals: Alimamy Taylor-Kamara 3, Sonny Harnett-Balkwill 90

Booked: Sonny Harnett-Balkwill 86

Attendance: 432
Referee: Mr Darren Kempson
Assistants: Ms Katie Allen & Mr Jack Matthews
Fourth Official: Mr Jack Smith