Can the Urchins maintain their place at the top?

Our leaders, Hornchurch, face a tough task as they travel to face fifth place Aveley. Three points- and a hefty goal difference- separate the two before kick off, so even if the Millers win they would need a record score to have any chance of supplanting the Urchins at the top of the table, but this has the makings of a cracker. The last time Hornchurch lost a league match was way back on August 27th, whilst the Millers will hope to bounce back following a late defeat at Cray Wanderers last weekend.

Second place Potters Bar Town welcome Bowers & Pitsea to the Lantern Stadium. The Scholars fell to defeat at Horsham last weekend, but find themselves only one point off the top and will be confident; confidence which will only be enhanced by the memory of their two wins over Bowers last season. Bowers have only one league win all season- right back on August 20th- but aren’t particularly easy to beat, having drawn almost half of their matches so far. Firmly in the bottom four, however, they are in dire need of points- and are already nineteen behind their hosts.

Bishop’s Stortford saw their long, long unbeaten run come to an end at Canvey Island last weekend, but the Blues can’t blame the Manager of the Month curse as they were only notified of that honour two days later! They welcome Kingstonian, in a match that kicks off at 2PM to save on electricity. The K’s last six matches have a W-L-W-L-W-L pattern, each of those defeats coming away from home, the latest a five-two hammering at Haringey Borough in midweek. The last four meetings of these two sides have ended in an away win, so the K’s will hope that continues.

Enfield Town travel to take on one of our form sides, Carshalton Athletic their hosts. The Towners are five unbeaten in all competitions (including a shootout victory), whilst the Robins bucked a trend at Margate in midweek, winning three-two after their previous five victories had been by one goal to nil. Three wins in a row for Athletic has seen them climb to the fringes of the top five, and another win will take them above their visitors- but the Towners won both encounters last season.

Fresh from halting Stortford’s unbeaten run, Canvey Island travel to face managerless (at the time of writing) and second bottom Herne Bay. The Gulls are having a fine campaign, their first since promotion, and seem to be over their mini-blip, having won their last two games without conceding a goal and whilst scoring five. Bay, conversely, have lost their last five, the last two against sides beginning with C. Canvey will want to make that third time unlucky.

Lewes and Cray Wanderers meet at the Dripping Pan. Former Wands striker Joe Taylor seems to have hit top form for the Rooks, and is on fourteen for his side, who are seven games unbeaten and climbing the table. They start the day two points behind eighth place Wands, who are playing as if last season was no more than a (bad) dream sequence. Five games unbeaten, they’ll be full of confidence as they hit the road, and- of course- won three-one on their last visit to the Pan, spoiling the debut of their former boss Tony Russell as he took charge of the Rooks for the first time.

Billericay Town have suddenly hit a bump in the road, the last seven days seeing their five match winning streak come to an end with defeats against Kingstonian and Potters Bar Town (the latter in the Velocity Cup). The Blues welcome a Horsham side who ended their own poor run by defeating Potters Bar Town last time out and are four places and two points ahead of them in the table.

Haringey Borough have had a tremendous last seven days, putting three past Folkestone Invicta last Saturday and following that by scoring five against Kingstonian in midweek. Those results have lifted the North Londoners to tenth in the table, a point ahead of this weekend’s hosts, Hastings United. Hastings have narrowly lost their last three in the league, but got back to winning ways in the Velocity Cup in midweek and will probably have the biggest home support in the league to roar them on- they’ve averaged more that a thousand for their home matches so far.

Wingate & Finchley, one place and three points above the relegation positions, welcome a side six points better off, Margate. The hosting Blues have now lost their last three matches in League, Trophy and Velocity Cup- two against lower level sides- and will want to quickly discover the form that saw them thrash Canvey and Brightlingsea last month; whilst the visiting Blues seem to have put their own poor run behind them with wins over Bognor Regis Town and Chichester City over the last week. The last four matches between the sides have ended one-nil- three times in favour of Gate.

We didn’t expect to see Bognor Regis Town and Folkestone Invicta occupying sixteenth and seventeenth places, but that’s where they are at start of play. The Rocks welcome bottom side Corinthian-Casuals, who are seemingly rejuvenated under new management and recorded their first win since the opening day last Saturday. Bognor have won only one of their last five league matches, which perhaps explains their predicament.

Invicta welcome Brightlingsea Regent to the Kent coast. The stripes have lost their last four in the League- indeed, they’ve lost seven of their last eight; whilst Regent’s predicament has been even worse, nine games without a league win- but they did look much improved when drawing with Lewes last weekend. Regent haven’t beaten Invicta in their last five attempts.

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