Can the Rams hold on to top spot?

Our leaders Ramsgate welcome Three Bridges to the Kent coast. The Rams haven’t been their usual consistent selves of late, winning three and losing two of their last five, but they did pick up three hard-earned points on the road at Burgess Hill Town last weekend and will be hoping for three more against the Hillians Sussex rivals. Bridges walloped Haywards Heath Town four-one last weekend, and will be delighted with that, but need to find the consistency they’ve been lacking this season. The Rams took four points from six from their encounters against Bridges last season, but today’s visitors had won their two prior engagements.

Out match of the day is undoubtedly the meeting of second place Chatham Town and third place Ashford United. The two sides are currently separated only by goal difference, and both have the chance of going top with a victory should Ramsgate fail to win. The Chats haven’t lost a league match since August 13th, and would be top of the table now had they not conceded a late, late equaliser against Sheppey United in midweek; whilst the Nuts and Bolts last league defeat was on August Bank Holiday Monday. The two have already met this season, a two-two draw in the Kent Cup which was won by Chatham on penalties- we suspect this one may well be similarly close (but we won’t allow a shootout!).

Whitehawk, our only unbeaten side, could also top the table at 5PM if the Rams slip up and the two sides immediately above them cancel each other out. The Hawks welcome Hythe Town, and looked mightily impressive in hammering VCD Athletic four-nil in midweek. The Cannons have gone three matches without a win, but they have drawn with expected promotion candidates Ashford United and Cray Valley Pm during that run (we’ve been asked not to mention their six-one defeat at the hands of Chatham Town, so pretend we didn’t mention it).

Sevenoaks Town have been nothing short of superb of late, moving from the bottom four to the top five over the last three weeks courtesy of four wins and a draw from their last five matches. Oaks are on the road to Sussex, where they face East Grinstead Town, the Wasps on a poor run which has seen them lose their last five in League and Velocity Cup.

Chichester City, outside the top five only on goal difference, travel to face an out of sorts Haywards Heath Town. Of the two sides it was Heath who were expected to hit the heights this season, but they start the weekend third from bottom having won only one of their last six matches in League and Cup; whilst City’s only defeat since the end of August came at the hands of second place Chatham Town- and even that was a close run thing.

VCD Athletic seem to have hit the buffers of late. Five successive defeats has seen them slip out off the top five, and seventeen goals conceded in those matches tells its own story. Vickers welcome a much changed Faversham Town side, the Lilywhites having brought in almost an entire squad full of new players over the last few weeks as they try to climb the table. They’ve only one win from their last eight league matches, but that came last Saturday and they came close to taking something from upwardly mobile Sevenoaks Town in midweek.

Cray Valley PM are only one point behind the side in fifth place, and will be hopeful of climbing the table as they welcome Littlehampton Town. The Millers look to be approaching their best once more with seven points from their last nine, whilst the visiting Golds were three unbeaten until coming unstuck against Sheppey United last weekend- but they did bounce back to win a county cup match seven-nil in midweek.

Sittingbourne and Beckenham Town meet in a mid table clash- although both aspire to be further up the table and a win for either side could see them break back into the top five. Becks are only a point behind fifth place Sevenoaks with two games in hand, but have hit a rather inconsistent run- to the extent that you wonder which version of themselves will turn up. They have won only one of their last five league matches. The Brickies are in similar form, and also have only one win from their last five- whilst taking only one point from their last four.

Lancing saw their three match winning streak come to an end against Sevenoaks last weekend, so will want to put that right as Burgess Hill travel to Culver Road. The Hillians also had an unbeaten run end when they lost to leaders Ramsgate, and they know that a victory will take them above their hosts on goal difference. The Lancers took four vital points from the matches between the two last season.

Finally, Sheppey United welcome Corinthian. The Ites have had a very good week, a win at Littlehampton followed by a last-gasp draw with Chatham; whilst Corinthian’s win over VCD Athletic last time out saw them climb off the bottom. Both sides need the points, we’ll soon see who gets them!

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