Do the South East shuffle

We had three sides win by four goals to one last weekend, leaving East Grinstead Town top of the table on alphabetical order! Don’t worry, we won’t be using that method at the end of the campaign.

The Wasps won’t be playing tomorrow as they would have been hosting Guernsey, so we’ll start at Whitehawk, who will hope to bounce back from defeat at VCD Athletic as they take on big winners Sevenoaks Town, who walloped Three Bridges on the opening day. The Hawks are highly fancied, but haven’t started well, with defeats in League and Cup, whilst Oaks also departed the cup at Corinthian in midweek.

Whyteleafe host Chichester City after scoring ten goals in their last three matches, winning them all, and conceding only one. City are also in today’s FA Cup draw after winning both of their cup matches, but fell to league defeat against Ramsgate last weekend.

The Rams are at home, welcoming Ashford United to the Southwood Stadium. The Nuts and Bolts have had a terrible week, losing to Phoenix Sports in the league before being hammered by Bracknell Town in the cup, so need to get back to winning ways, whilst the Rams will look to build on that victory against Chichester and cement their place at the right end of the table, having spent almost all of last season at the wrong end.

Sittingbourne started their cup campaign with a heavy defeat, but bounced back last weekend to defeat Whitstable Town three-two with goals from their big guns, Andy Drury and Kane Rowland. The Brickies have a difficult trip, as they travel to face Cray Valley PM, who have scored nine goals and conceded one from their three competitive matches so far.

Phoenix Sports, winners at Ashford last weekend, host Herne Bay. Sports have won two of their three matches so far this season, whilst Bay fell to a narrow cup defeat against Hastings United before being thumped by Whyteleafe last Saturday.

VCD Athletic have had a positive start to their league campaign, bouncing back from a big cup defeat to Cray Valley by beating Whitehawk last weekend. The Vickers are on the road to the seaside, where they will face Whitstable Town. The Oysterboys have lost both of their matches so far this season, but the first one was against Carshalton Athletic in the cup so they can’t really be judged on that.

Hastings United, our title favourites, have only scored one goal in three matches so far- but haven’t lost any of them, defeating Chesham United on penalties, Herne Bay by that one goal, and playing out a goalless draw with Cray Valley PM. They are on the road to Faversham Town, another side recently walloped by Carshalton Athletic, and for whom this will be their opening league match.

Finally, we’ve a Sussex derby as Burgess Hill Town host Haywards Heath Town. Neither have started well, the Hillians losing at Hythe last weekend and at Cray Valley in the cup, whilst Heath lost to Hanwell Town in a midweek cup tie and were heavily defeated by East Grinstead Town last weekend. A win for either would deliver local bragging rights so will be highly prized.