A big match at the top- and a bigger match at the bottom

With only one defeat from ten- and five consecutive victories, third place Lowestoft Town have a stuttering second place AFC Sudbury in their sights. There is a six point gap between the sides, but a Trawler Boys win on the road tonight would narrow that considerably- and, of course, assuming neither the Yellows or Town are able to haul in leaders Hashtag United second place may turn out to be very valuable when the play off’s come around. Brentwood Town stand in their way this evening, the Blues seeing their eight match unbeaten run come to an end in defeat against Great Wakering Rovers at the weekend. The two sides meet again at the seaside on April 1st.

At the other end of the table we have a battle royale. Hullbridge Sports, in nineteenth place and nine points from safety, welcome Tilbury, who are one place and one point better off. Both sides are in the unfortunately unique position of having lost nine of their last ten, and neither can afford defeat tonight. It also looks like a draw would do neither side much good. It isn’t quite winner takes all, but three points for either side certainly wouldn’t do their opponents much good.

Including this evenings fixture, only two of Sports final eight opponents are in the top half of the table- and only one of those two, Grays Athletic, are likely to have anything to play for. Again, including tonight’s fixture, four of their relegation rivals are in that line up. For the Dockers the outlook is very similar- five of their relegation rivals are in the mix, with only Heybridge Swifts from amongst the promotion chasers to come. On that basis, and despite the gap between themselves and safety, both sides have significant opportunities to influence their own destiny- but both will want to start tonight!

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