A Premier Bank Holiday weekend

We have rather a lot of action over the weekend, with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we’re going to deliver a brief preview to help you plan your lives!

Our long weekend of Pitching In Isthmian Premier football starts on Friday, as Burgess Hill Town play host to Dartford. Hill are three unbeaten, whilst the Darts started the season with three wins but came unstuck against Welling United last weekend, so will want to bounce back. Hill took four points from the Darts last season. 

AFC Whyteleafe are still looking for their first win, and they will hope to get it on Saturday, as another side yet to record a victory make a trip to Flamingo Park. Cheshunt have proved difficult to defeat already, drawing three of their four matches, but will also be rather keen to get points on the board. 

Aveley started slowly but have picked up speed in style, wins over Whitehawk and Three Bridges propelling them up the table. The Millers face a third Sussex side in a row and will hope for a similar result, but Lewes are also looking for a third win in a row and will travel determined not to be pushovers- particularly given that last season’s meetings between the sides brought two Aveley wins and a nine-one aggregate score.

Brentwood Town have a much stronger squad than their seventeenth place would suggest, and they’ll need to show that as they travel to take on leaders Carshalton Athletic. The Robins have swept all before them in their first four matches, and are not only our only unbeaten side but our only side to hold a one hundred percent record, whilst Town have lost three in a row. They took six points from Athletic last season, however.

Chatham Town play host to Wingate & Finchley, fourth versus sixteenth. The Chats have won three in a row and scored three goals on each occasion, whilst their North London visitors picked up their first win of the campaign against Dulwich Hamlet last weekend, but as well as having only one win have only one defeat. The Chats have won six of the seven meetings between the sides, which includes all of their meetings at the Bauvill Stadium- and did the double over the Blues last season.

Cray Wanderers will new hoping to build upon their fine win over Eastbourne Borough as they travel to Maldon and Tiptree. Their hosts are in something of a crisis at the moment, but on the pitch the players have stepped up, winning two of their four matches. 

Dulwich Hamlet have had a mixed start to the campaign with two wins and two defeats, but they will be confident as Three Bridges make the trip to South London, their visitors having started their top flight life with four defeats. That doesn’t really tell the entire story for the visitors, as they’ve started the campaign with matches against four of our promotion favourites, Eastbourne Borough, Chatham Town, Dartford and Aveley- and apart from last Saturday against the Millers have competed well. They’ll be confident that they can get some points on the board. 

Eastbourne Borough will hope to bounce back from that Cray defeat as they welcome Leatherhead to the seaside. Borough start in seventh place with seven points, whilst the Tanners have an identical record to their hosts and sit in eighth spot. They won’t be afraid of making the trip- they were unbeaten on the road last season and have taken four points from six away from Fetcham Grove this time around.

Enfield Town welcome Whitehawk to Donkey Lane. The Towners start the weekend in second place, winning three of their four matches so far, whilst the Hawks have picked up only one point from their first four, and scored in only one of those matches, so will need to be sharper in front of goal. 

Ramsgate will be heading North- although to be fair they do that for almost every match- to take on third place Welling United. Wings start the weekend in third place after winning three of their first four, whilst the Rams have picked up two victories so far. The sides met three times last season, both League matches ending in away wins- with the Rams winning their final meeting of the campaign in the Velocity Cup.

St Albans City are at home to Stanway Rovers. City have had a steady but unspectacular start, with a 50/50 win/loss ratio, whilst Rovers have picked up only one point from their first four top flight matches and start the weekend second from bottom. 

Onto Bank Holiday Monday, which is- of course- derby day for many of our clubs. Brentwood Town bring Maldon & Tiptree to the Arena, whilst Cheshunt are at home to St Albans City. The Ambers defeated the Saints on the road in League and Velocity Cup last season, and their last meeting was a two-two Theobalds Lane draw in February. 

Cray Wanderers bring Welling United to Flamingo Park, the hosts hoping for a home win- both matches between the sides last season ended in away wins; and Dartford welcome Chatham Town in a battle of our promotion hopefuls. The sides have met four times since they were reunited in our top flight, and the Darts have won four out of four- the Chats will be more than keen to end that sequence.

Leatherhead bring Dulwich Hamlet to Fetcham Grove for a League match for the first time since 2018- although the sides did meet in the FA Cup two years ago, The Tanners eventually progressing after a replay. Another match which has been anticipated for quite a number of years sees Lewes host Eastbourne Borough. How many years? Seventeen! 

Ramsgate welcome AFC Whyteleafe to the seaside, whilst Stanway Rovers host an Essex derby, Aveley making the trip. Another newly-promoted club, Three Bridges, welcome the side topping the table as we write, Carshalton Athletic. 

Whitehawk and Burgess Hill Town renew acquaintances at the Enclosed Ground. The Hillians don’t tend to have much success in this fixture; indeed they have defeated the Hawks only once in their last nine attempts. Whitehawk took four points from their Sussex rivals last season.

Wingate and Finchley meet Enfield Town for the first time since a Play Off Semi-Final in May 2024, a match which the Towners won one-nil on the way to promotion. Wingate have won only one of the last ten meetings between the sides.