A North Division Saturday

AFC Sudbury welcome Heybridge Swifts to the MEL Group Stadium tomorrow as they look to crown an excellent season with promotion- but the Yellows probably couldn’t have more difficult opponents.

It has been a marvellous season for Sudbury. With only five defeats to their name, only champions Hashtag United scored more goals, and nobody conceded fewer- and yet we suspect that if they could have chosen their opposition then swifts would have been the last names on their list. Steve Tilson’s side ended the Yellows unbeaten start to the season on November 15th, goals from Kieran Jones, Sam Carter and Darren Phillips enough for three points despite two for the phenomenal Nnamdi Nwachuku at the other end- and when they met again in mid February a late goal from Rob Harvey earned the side in stripes a two-two draw, a result which meant that Swifts became the only North Division side not to lose to Sudbury this season.

The Yellows have won seven of their last eight and came from behind to defeat Grays Athletic in the Semi-Final in midweek, whilst their visitors are eight games unbeaten and knocked out Lowestoft Town at the seaside.

It has been six years since Sudbury last graced our top flight, a one-season visit following a North Division title win in 2016; whilst Swifts have been away since relegation in 2009, but will argue- justifiably- that their break should have been considerably shorter. In 2019 they reached the Play Off Final, defeated local rivals Maldon & Tiptree on penalties, and were denied promotion on points-per-game because an FA restructure meant that there was one fewer promotion spot than was actually being competed for. We’re sure that the supporters- and perhaps striker Matthew Price, who played in that Final- will consider this a chance to right that wrong.

It is another striker who comes into this match with plaudits, however, Nnamdi Nwachuku has an incredible FORTY NINE goals so far this season- he’s like an Isthmian Erling Harland. You wouldn’t want to rule out him reaching that half century on Saturday afternoon.

Image from Clive Pearson.

At the other end of the table, Coggeshall Town welcome a set of rather unfamiliar opponents in their quest to stay up, as Winterton Rangers head to Essex. Winterton are from North Lincolnshire- near Scunthorpe- and finished in second place in the Northern Counties East Premier Division, fourteen points behind runaway champions North Ferriby. They finished fourth in the two previous completed seasons, and have never played at Step Four, and are having a fine season, losing only one match this year. Indeed, they are in the League Cup Final, and back in February defeated the champions four-nil.

The Seed Growers have won only two of their last ten, but have played some decent football in the second half of the campaign and have been unlucky on a number of occasions not to pick up more points. Here’s hoping that luck is on their side for once this weekend.

Great Wakering Rovers welcome Quorn in the other play off. The visitors travel down from Leicestershire, and finished in second place in the United Counties Football League, eleven points behind champions Anstey Nomads, who they defeated on the final day of the campaign. They’ve lost only one match since the start of February, a battle for second spot against Loughborough Students- but it didn’t matter as the victors from that day finished a point behind them in third!

Quorn have never previously reached Step Four, whilst Rovers have the chance to stay there following a much improved end to their season, four wins, two draws and four defeats from their last ten- and a last day victory over AFC Sudbury- hoisting them out of the bottom two and giving them this shot at survival.

All matches kick off at 3PM on Saturday.

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