Can the Urchins narrow the gap on the leaders

Hornchurch, six points behind the leaders with two games in hand, play the first of those matches tonight as they welcome Bognor Regis Town to Bridge Avenue. The Urchins have scored fourteen goals in their last four matches including five in victory over Herne Bay on Saturday, and have the deadliest strikers in the Division in Sam Higgins and Ade Yusuff, so the Rocks backline will need to be at their best. Bognor have seen their previous good run come to a halt, losing their last two, and with a seventeen point gap to the play off places and a thirteen point gap to the bottom four are firmly stuck in mid table. The Sussex side won their August meeting by the only goal of the game.

Fourth place Enfield Town have what looks to be a tricky trip as they head to the Kentish seaside to take on Folkestone Invicta. Town, seven points behind the leaders, will hope to bounce back after a three-nil defeat at Canvey Island, whilst Invicta are three unbeaten and won’t have given up on their chances of closing the eight point gap between themselves and the top five. The Towners haven’t managed to defeat Invicta since February 2019.

Hastings United, in seventh place, could make it into the top five if they can defeat Bowers & Pitsea at Pilot Field this evening. United have been in fine form, and welcome their visitors from Essex on the back of a five match unbeaten run, having won their last four of those and kept a clean sheet in their last three. Bowers, in contrast, have lost their last four- a run which sees them in the bottom four, although victory tonight would lift them out of the relegation spots. This is their first meeting of the season- and they meet again on the final day, a match which might be critical for both clubs.

Carshalton Athletic, rather like Hastings, start their day three points behind fifth place Canvey Island- although they’d need a club record win to lift them into the top five this evening given the Gulls vastly superior goal difference. The Robins are on the road to North London, where they take on Wingate & Finchley, who are five points clear of the drop zone and would like to extend that margin. The Robins have won their last two, whilst the Blues saw a three match unbeaten run come to an end on Saturday, missing a late penalty before two goals right at the end condemned them to defeat. The Robins are unbeaten in the last five meetings between the clubs, winning four of them.

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