A Premier Thursday

Potters Bar Town host a second match of the week at Haringey Borough, and rather like the first, which was crucial to Horsham’s promotion hopes, this one also comes with added away nail biting. Margate make the trip from Kent hoping to narrow the six point gap between themselves and Cheshunt.

The ‘hosting’ Scholars are entirely safe from any danger, and have lost their last three- each of them against sides chasing promotion (although Dulwich Hamlet’s hopes seem to have taken a nosedive since their victory on March 26th). They’ll want to get back to winning ways, and they don’t yet seem to have taken a mental excursion to the beach- certainly they gave Horsham a battle on Tuesday- and they’ll also want a little revenge after Margate defeated them at Hartsdown Park back in September.

The travelling Blues are very much in last chance saloon. Both they and the Ambers have four matches left, and victory tonight would pile the pressure onto Cheshunt, who travel to take on play off hopefuls Billericay Town on Saturday; not that Gate will be able to relax at the weekend, either, as they approach the challenge of champions Hornchurch at Hartsdown Park, boss Mark Stimson facing his former club! Defeat tonight would leave their chances hanging by the slimmest of threads, so we suspect that a few Cheshunt fans may make the short trip down the road to support the Scholars!

Margate are on their best run of the season, four games unbeaten- two wins and two draws.

The final four matches of the season perhaps suggest that tonight is the (and this is meant with no disrespect to Potters Bar) ‘easiest’ challenge the Blues will face in their quest to catch Cheshunt.

The run in for both sides looks like this:

Margate: Potters Bar Town (A), Hornchurch (H), Wingate & Finchley (H), Billericay Town (A)
Cheshunt: Billericay Town (A), Canvey Island (H), Horsham (H), Hashtag United (A)

And, of course, Canvey Island technically need a win to be safe, although given their goal difference a point would probably do it. The Gulls have a game in hand- rather conveniently also on a Thursday, and also against Potters Bar Town- and their run in looks like this:

Dulwich Hamlet (H), Hornchurch (H), Potters Bar Town (A), Cheshunt (A), Hastings United (H)

The last ten matches between the sides have seen Potters Bar win five, Margate four, and one draw- although the Blues have won two of the last three.

So long as the rail network doesn’t fall over, we’ll have a report on this one soon after the final whistle.

Kick off is at 8PM.

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