A big night in the play off race

Third place Brentwood Town would perhaps consider themselves as still having an outside chance of the title, as they kick off against fifth place Bowers and Pitsea this evening nine points off the top with two games in hand. Whether they have title aspirations or not, the Blues have opened up an eight point gap between themselves and sixth place Heybridge Swifts so look fairly comfortable in their pursuit of a play off place, but with only a one point advantage over their fifth place opponents the two sides could swap places if the visitors take victory. Town have a fantastic eight wins from their last ten- both defeats coming against the top two- whilst Bowers have lost only one of ten and bring a four match winning streak to the Arena.

Brentwood won the first encounter between the sides this season, at the Len Salmon, by two goals to nil.

Fourth place Bury Town did the unthinkable last time out- they lost! That defeat, at Bowers and Pitsea, followed nine successive victories and a seventeen match unbeaten run, and they’ll hope to start a new run this evening, but they travel to take on one of the chasing pack, Basildon United. The Bees are ten points away from the top five, albeit with a game in hand, but have sen their play off chase falter after a period of inconsistency, five wins and five defeats from ten perhaps telling that story on its own.

Perhaps the best performance of the season for United came at Ram Meadow in November, a match which saw them win six-two after scoring five goals in the first half. Since then, however, Town have lost only once- last Saturday- and will be rather bent on revenge.

Heybridge Swifts, in sixth, take a long trip out East where they take on Wroxham. With a seven point gap to make up on the play off places, Swifts will know that anything less than three points is unlikely to be enough, but they do seem to have turned a corner, undefeated in four and with three victories, so shouldn’t be short on confidence. The Yachtsmen are down in twelfth, but will lok to extend their unbeaten run to three matches. The sides meet again at Scraley Road on April 20th.

Redbridge welcome Grays Athletic, fifteenth v sixteenth. Both sides look safe from danger, and neither will grace the play offs with their presence, but the Motormen will still be full of confidence after their Essex Senior Cup win last week, and play the first of five remaining matches on their current grass surface before it is replaced with 3G in the summer. Athletic have won two of their last three and looked far more composed, but were beaten at Heybridge Swifts at the weekend. The sides met as recently as ten days ago, Grays two-nil winners.

Finally, Stowmarket Town welcome Witham Town. With only five points from their first twenty eight matches- eight to go- and with the ball ending up in their net so often of late that we’re considering charging it rent, Stow look to be doomed to a relegation spot. The last three matches have seen them concede twenty goals, so their visitors must be confident of a victory which would be their first in three matches- particularly as they hammered tonight’s opponents eight-nil in November.

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