It was touted as the biggest match of the weekend, and it did not disappoint.

New Ash Green III's took on the Swanscombe Tigers on Sunday, October 15, following a publicity stunt to increase attendance on the sidelines.

New Ash Green had been unbeaten until this weekend, but had an attendance record of just seven despite playing "like Barcelona".

The team donned balaclavas and plastered their village with posters advertising the match, which was met with a response from the Tigers who came to town to do the same thing.

The match was to be hotly contested, and with an average age of just 19 for the III's, captain James Belsey and his teammates were up for the challenge.

He said: "It was mental, we had 170 turn up. I drove down with my little boy, but I couldn't get parked. I had to walk in"

"It was fantastic, even though we lost we gave them a great game and hats off to them.

"There were mums and dads and just people walking past who then stayed and watched. It was well worth it."

Swanscombe retaliated to the Green's midweek stunt by plastering posters reading "the Tigers are coming" around the village dressed in masks.

The score was 2-4 to Swanscombe Tigers, who stuck around after the game to mingle with the opposition and take advantage of the free booze that most of the New Ash Green side could not legally drink.

New Ash Green were previously unbeaten, with top scorer James Howard netting 19 goals in three games at the age of 17.

A spokeswoman for Kent FA congratulated James and all involved for putting on a great game.

She said: "Kent FA is delighted that James and Old Green were able to make a success of their proactive approach to getting people along to their match on Sunday. It is volunteers, like James, who are the back bone of grassroots football, with over 45,000 in regular football activity in Kent alone.”

Mr Belsey, 33, said he was swamped with messages ahead of the game, but did not expect such a turn out.

He said: "I'm looking forward to the away fixture now. There was some great banter."

Captain of the Tigers Stuart Sutton said: "The crowd was the biggest I've seen for a Sunday league game, must be a division three record.

"Experience got us through. It was a good game to watch and the crowd got behind both teams."