Can the Blues bounce back- as Town and the Millers breathe down their necks?

Our leaders, Bishop’s Stortford, are off to the seaside for the second time this week, although hoping for a better outcome after their midweek loss at Bognor Regis Town. The Blues, two points clear at the top and well aware that anything other than a win could see them replaced there by Enfield Town or Aveley, will face another set of Blues- an improving Margate side who are now four matches unbeaten and have opened up a nine point gap between themselves and the bottom four. Margate haven’t defeated Stortford since 2016, but three of their last four meetings have ended all-square.

Second place Enfield Town welcome Wingate & Finchley in a derby match, and are offering free entry to public servants- see the Towners website or social media for more details of how you can take advantage. Town are in fine form, with six wins from seven, and their last four matches have seen them score fourteen goals and concede only two. They will know that victory could send them back to the summit, although their opponents ended a five match winless run by defeating another of the promotion chasers, Cray Wanderers, last time out- and with only a two point gap between themselves and the bottom four will have plenty of motivation of their own. Town have only lost two of their last twelve meetings with the Blues, and will be hoping to complete a double after Lewis Knight and Jake Cass gave them a two-nil win in November.

Third place Aveley are on the road to a Kingstonian side who are under new management, Simon Lane stepping up from Pitching In Isthmian South Central side Westfield yesterday. The Millers have won their last three- and indeed have only one defeat from their last six- so are gathering momentum once more; whilst their hosts have won only one of their last thirteen matches, a run which has seen them fall into the bottom four. Remember, this match will be played at Tooting & Mitcham United’s Imperial Fields.

Hornchurch have games in hand over the rest of the top five- indeed, they have games in hand over the rest of the top fourteen, as if that was a useful statistic! The Urchins welcome Potters Bar Town to Bridge Avenue, and will be buoyed by their win at Folkestone last time out. The Scholars also seem to have turned a corner, having taken four points from their last six and progressed to the Semi-Finals of the Velocity Cup on Tuesday night. Hornchurch have won the last three meetings between the clubs and scored eleven goals in the process, including five when they won at the Lantern Stadium in November- a Liam Nash hat trick and two from Sam Higgins doing the damage.

Fifth place Canvey Island could climb as high as third if they win and other results go their way- but the Gulls will have to win an Essex derby against Billericay Town to do so. Canvey boss Brad Wellman picked up a Vita Risk Solutions Manager of the Month award for January so will be keen to avoid a curse- his side five unbeaten, and having won four of them. Town’s form, in contrast, has fallen away of late, and they travel on the back of three successive defeats which have seen them fall to twelfth, seven points behind their hosts having played two games more. A Matt Price goal won the first encounter this season for Billericay.

Cray Wanderers have slipped out of the top five after failing to win their last two matches, but will hope to climb back into the play off places as Carshalton Athletic come to call. The Robins, however, have play off aspirations of their own, and will also be looking to bounce back after taking only one point from their last three matches. An away win would take them above Wands, but they haven’t managed a victory over these opponents in their last three attempts and may be haunted by their last visit to Hayes Lane, a match which saw them go two-nil, three-one and four-three up only to lose five-four!

Lewes take their fine form to Essex, where they face Bowers & Pitsea. The Rooks have a possibility of going fifth with victory, and have lost only two of their last ten. They’ve scored eight goals without conceding during their last two matches, both against relegation candidates, and fifth bottom Bowers will want to avoid that happening at the Len Salmon because defeat could see them plunged back into the bottom four. The hosts saw a three match unbeaten run come to an end at Aveley last Saturday, but have only lost once in six matches against the Rooks- although it should be pointed out that three of their last four meetings have ended in draws.

Horsham have closed to within five points of fifth place, and have games in hand over the four sides directly above them. With an eight match unbeaten run to build on the Hornets are in their best form of the season, and will hope to add to Folkestone Invicta’s recent woes as the stripes arrive at the Camping World Community Stadium. Invicta have seen their good run come to an end with three consecutive defeats, but have a very good record against the Hornets, winning ten of their last eleven meetings; indeed they’ve already defeated them in league and FA Trophy this season.

Hastings United got back to winning ways against Folkestone in midweek. Our tenth place side are on the road to relegation-threatened Corinthian-Casuals, the hosts having slipped to six points from safety and having played more matches- significantly more in some cases- than their rivals. Casuals have lost their last seven matches, whilst their visitors are only six points shy of fifth place and won’t have given up on their promotion hopes just yet. United have already defeated Casuals twice this season, in League and Velocity Cup.

Haringey Borough and Bognor Regis Town meet at Coles Park, fourteenth v fifteenth. The last time they met, back in November at Nyewood Lane, Borough got an early goal and stuck to it like limpets to claim all three points, but the Rocks will be confident of revenge after finally finding form- and of course defeated leaders Bishop’s Stortford in midweek. Striker Nathan Odokonyero is In magnificent form for the visitors, having scored in his last five matches and notched twenty three for the season. Borough have won only one of their last four, but have had some fine moments this season and will hope to add more of those tomorrow.

It may be strange to call a relegation battle our biggest match of the day, but the game between Brightlingsea Regent and Herne Bay looks vital for both sides. Regent are two points ahead of their bottom placed visitors, and five points from safety- although they do have two games in hand over fifth bottom Bowers & Pitsea and they have looked much improved of late, with only two defeats from six. Bay have lost their last two after winning their previous two, and are seven points from safety- albeit with three games in hand. The two drew one-one on the Kent coast in November, but you have to think that another draw won’t be the best result for either of them.

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