Can the Urchins get back to winning ways- or will the Towners really open up the title race?

Leaders Hornchurch head to fourth place Enfield Town having become seemingly addicted to draws, a habit they may need to break if they are to retain their six point lead at the top of the table. The Urchins have drawn their last three matches- indeed, they’ve drawn four of their last five- and will be relieved that none of their closest challengers have really been able to capitalise on that downturn. That said, we can’t be too hard on them- they have lost only once all season!

The Towners are ten points behind their visitors, and also have one win from five, although unlike the Urchins the side from the QEII Stadium have two defeats from that number. The Urchins won the first meeting between the sides this season, back in November, two-nil- Ryan Scott up from the back to score both of them- and Town have taken only one point from the last three meetings between the sides.

Second place Chatham Town will welcome a bumper crowd to their Bauvill Stadium as Canvey Island make the trip to Kent. The Chats have won four of their last five and will be confident of another three points, but the Gulls are beginning to resemble last season’s promotion chasing side and have won three of their last four, so should pose a tough challenge. Canvey came from behind to defeat Town three-two at the end of November, a Bradley Sach double doing most of the damage.

Billericay Town, a point behind Chatham and seven behind Hornchurch, start the weekend in third place and in super form. The Blues are six unbeaten, and have won five of them, but they face a tough trip to another side who are doing rather well at present, Bognor Regis Town. The Rocks have lost only one of their last ten matches, have won their last four, and have closed to within five points of a top five spot. Billericay have won the last three meetings between the sides, including a two-one victory in November- and the last Rocks win in this fixture came back in 2016.

Fifth place Wingate and Finchley head to Cray Wanderers. The Blues have been our surprise package this season, and will be confident as they hit the road to Hayes, four games unbeaten and having won three of them- indeed they’ve lost only two of their last ten, and sit comfortably in the final play off place five points above the nearest side who would like to remove them from it. Wands, in contrast, have looked a shadow of the side who qualified for the Play Offs last season, and start the weekend down in seventeenth place, six points clear of the bottom four. They have only one win in ten, and lost heavily at Billericay last time out- although they’ve had a fortnight to get over that. Our hosts did defeat the Blues three-one at the Maurice Rebak Stadium in early November, so can take confidence from that- although the North Londoners, who played the majority of that match with ten men, will want some revenge, and they have won on their last two visits to Hayes Lane.

Sixth place Hastings United welcome Hashtag United to Pilot Field. Hastings saw a seven match unbeaten run end at Carshalton last weekend, and will hope to bounce straight back from that defeat; whilst the Tags were ending a five match losing streak and showing their resilience by coming from behind to draw with Enfield Town. Hastings triumphed two-one at the Len Salmon in November and will hope to do the double and narrow the gap on the play off places, whilst the Tags are looking to win for the first time this month.

Carshalton Athletic have found form once more, and the Robins could close to within four points of the top five if they could continue that with victory at Folkestone Invicta. With five wins and only one defeat from seven they’ve made real progress up the table over the past six weeks or so, and are finally resembling the play off chasers we thought they’d be. Invicta saw a four match unbeaten run come to an end at Canvey in midweek, and find themselves down in sixteenth, eight points above the drop zone and seventeen away from the top five- and they haven’t defeated the Robins in nine attempts, the latest of them November’s three-one defeat at Colston Avenue.

Lewes, hopefully having been able to repair the bits of their ground that blew away on Sunday night, welcome Margate to the Dripping Pan. The Rooks saw a seven match unbeaten run come to an end in a big way as they were walloped at Billericay last weekend, but will hope to quickly put that behind them. Gate, in contrast, are nearly three months without a victory, the last one coming on November 4th, when they defeated…Lewes. That was their first win against the Rooks in six attempts, and they badly need another, because another loss and a Cheshunt win would see them fall into the bottom four.

Dulwich Hamlet, down in twelfth place, welcome an enormous crowd and Haringey Borough to Champion Hill. Hamlet have become rather difficult to defeat, having lost only two of their last ten, but draws have become their achilles heel- indeed they are one of three sides who have drawn nine times this season, and five of those have come in their last ten matches. The two sides know each other well, as they’ve already met three times this season- twice in the FA Cup- with two draws and a Borough Cup win the outcome. Borough are six points from safety and will hope that Hamlet are generous once more.

Horsham have slipped down the table and start the weekend in thirteenth, but with eleven points between themselves and the top five and three or four games in hand over those occupying it, the Hornets won’t have given up on a play off spot just yet. Going five matches without a win looks very much like an FA Cup hangover, and they’ll hope that the alka-seltzer kicks in as Potters Bar Town arrive at the Camping World Community Stadium. The Scholars are two places and six points behind their hosts, and have lost two of their last three, but were in fine form prior to that and would probably point out that one of those defeats came against promotion chasing Billericay Town and the other saw them reduced to nine men before half time! Town have won only one of their last eight meetings with the Hornets.

Cheshunt will hope to get back on the winning trail- and perhaps lift themselves out of the bottom four- as Whitehawk come to call. The Ambers have lost their last five, each of them by an odd goal, whilst the Hawks have hardly been an example of consistency, winning two and losing four of their last six, a run which has seen them slip to fourteenth. The sides meet again on the South coast on February 6th.

Finally, Concord Rangers welcome Kingstonian, the two sides meeting for the second time this week and the K’s hoping that they can also swap places for the second time this week. The K’s haven’t won since October 21st, and their midweek defeat to Rangers made it eleven in the L column from thirteen matches and consigned them to bottom spot. The Beachboys, in contrast, have closed to within seven points of safety with six games in hand over eighteenth place Margate, and, although they’ve had their progress slowed by a number of postponements, have only lost two of their last eight so will hope that they’ve seen the end of their dreadful form from earlier in the season.

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