Felixstowe and Walton United
Promoted alongside Coggeshall Town from the Eastern Counties Premier Division, the Seasiders not only managed to amass 109 points but also came in with an average attendance of 414- fit for our Premier Division and including an incredible 1541 for one home game. Perhaps they could be the new Dulwich Hamlet?! They warm up for their first ever Bostik North campaign as follows:
Heybridge Swifts pre-season
Grays Athletic
Athletic finished a slightly disappointing sixteenth in last season’s North Division, but manager Jamie Stuart has made a number of notable signings during the summer and his side would expect to be a force to be reckoned with during 2018/19. All but one of their pre-season fixtures is at Parkside, and the pick of the crop looks to be the visits of FA Trophy Finalists Bromley and an Ipswich Town XI.
Great Wakering Rovers
Rovers won only six matches as they departed the Bostik League just over a year ago, but they bounced back in some style last season, winning the Essex Senior League for a third time. Their pre-season looks like this:
Mildenhall Town pre-season
Heybridge Swifts
If we were to try to describe the success of Swifts last season we’d run out of superlatives, but ultimately they ran out of steam right at the end- rather unsurprisingly given the number of games they had to cram into a short period of time. Will they do even better in the forthcoming campaign? You wouldn’t want to bet against it.
We haven’t written out their pre-season fixtures, we’ve included their poster.
Grays Athletic
Maldon & Tiptree
The Jammers were somewhat overshadowed by their noisy neighbours last season, and they’ll want to do all they can to make sure that doesn’t happen two years in a row. New manager Wayne Brown has forged his managerial reputation by building exceptional youth and under 23 sides, so expect to see youth take a bow at Park Drive.
Home fixtures:
Away fixtures:
Romford captain Danny Cossington and team celebrate their great escape!
Mildenhall Town
Hall finished their first season in the Bostik League in 22nd place, but there were many highlights- perhaps chief amongst those victory at Kings Lynn Town in the FA Trophy. Matches against Cambridge United and Leyton Orient are pre-season highlights- see attached image.
Romford
The Borough’s last-gasp escape from relegation probably caused their supporters to bite their nails right down to their elbows, and they’ll be looking for far less stress this season. They’ll be playing in a different location, too- having moved in with East Thurrock United.
Pre-season is rather extensive, and looks like this:
Soham Town Rangers
Rangers ended last season in a comfortable 13th place, and gave many higher placed sides a fright along the way. Pre-season has a rather local flavour, and includes a trip to face departing Bostik Premier side Lowestoft Town.
Tilbury
The Dockers ended last season in seventeenth place and would hope to be more consistent in the forthcoming season. They seem to have kept the core of last season’s side, and added some quality new signings.
Witham Town
Witham ended last season in eleventh place, although very few Non-League sides got their level of media exposure- courtesy of the Non League Paper’s Supporter of the Year James Beardwell. Perhaps this season they might make as much noise on the field as he makes off it! Their pre-season schedule looks like this:
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