A titanic top two tussle!

Six points sit between leaders Ware and second place Hanwell Town at the top of the South Central Division, but by 5PM on Saturday that gap could also be three, or it could be nine! With the Geordies having two games in hand over their rivals this is indeed a critical encounter, an away win might give them the upper hand, a home victory will put the Wodson Park side firmly in the driving seat. Ware are unbeaten in nine matches, but on the odd occasion they struggle it seems to be against the sides around them; they lost to the Geordies in the previous fixture between the two and also suffered defeat against Tooting and Mitcham United, Waltham Abbey and Westfield, all of whom were in the top five at the time.

Town were in great form until last weekend, when they were walloped by Tooting. They will want to put that right at Wodson Park.

Uxbridge have climbed to third place, and could go level on points with Hanwell Town if they can defeat Hertford Town. Four consecutive victories- and indeed only one loss in ten- has seen them climb the table, and they will be favourites to add to that winning streak depending on which Hertford turn up- the ones who defeated Chipstead a fortnight ago or the ones who have only won twice away from home.

Another side in fine form- nine matches undefeated- are Chertsey Town. The Curfews are nine matches unbeaten and have won seven of them, including last weekend’s three-nil win over Westfield. They host Chalfont St Peter, who would have been boosted by their win over Staines Town last weekend, when they came back from two goals down to take all three points. That followed a win over Harlow Town, and they’ll hope to make it three in a row.

Westfield drew one-one with Tooting and Mitcham United on March 3rd, so it’s a quick turnaround for them as they travel to Imperial Fields for a rematch. That draw and their defeat to Chertsey has seen them slip down the table, and they’ll want to get back to winning ways against the Terrors- but it’s unlikely to be easy, the hosts coming out of their slump in style when walloping Hanwell Town five-two last weekend.

Seventh hosts sixth as Waltham Abbey take on our form side, Bracknell Town. The Robins have been superb, winning nine of their last ten- drawing the other- and scoring goals for fun, with five against Harlow last time out and seven against Staines the game before. The Abbots will hope that last weekend’s thrashing of FC Romania will have seen them over their mini-blip and that they are ready to restart their assault on the top five. Both sides could go into the Playoff places with victory.

Barking travel to face Staines Town, who last picked up three points in a period when we still had a minority government and there wasn’t a nationwide toilet roll shortage. The Swans have gone sixteen games without victory, whilst Barking are having rather an up and down season, with a number of narrow victories and a number of narrow defeats. They’ve won five, drawn one and lost four of their last ten, but only once during that period have they lost by more than one goal.

Chipstead will hope to get back to winning ways against Northwood. Two defeats in their last three have halted their climb up the table, whilst Woods have only one defeat in four, which is far better than their form prior to that period. The Chips lost to relegation-threatened Ashford Town last time out, so they won’t want a repeat at the High Road.

The Tangerines are back at home again, where they will try to build on that victory by defeating the usually miserly defence of Marlow. One defeat in four have given Ashford a six point gap over bottom place, whilst Marlow have uncharacteristically only won one of their last four matches.

Bedfont Sports, in twelfth, travel to face Harlow Town with a five point advantage over their hosts, who have had a torrid time of late with five consecutive defeats. Sports saw a four match unbeaten run put to an end by Uxbridge last time out.

Finally, South Park entertain FC Romania. The Sparks will hope to finally play, as postponements have given them three of even four games in hand over the teams around them, and they have six consecutive defeats which need to be put right- although they are still thirteen points clear of danger. The Wolves have only a two point gap between themselves and the dumper, and will want to take something from the match after getting only one point from their last four games.

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