A Premier- and Trophy- weekend

The FA Trophy First Round kicks off this weekend, and a number of our Premier clubs are in action.

Carshalton Athletic have won their last three home matches by one goal to nil, and they’ll be delighted to continue to do that impression of George Graham’s Arsenal when Kings Langley arrive at Colston Avenue. The visitors are third from bottom of Pitching In Southern Premier Central and have only one win in their last nine, that coming against Ashford Town in the last round of the competition.

Chesham United are the hosts for Lewes, who have seen an uplift in their form of late, with seven points from their last nine. United are in third place in Pitching In Southern Premier South, and put four past Enfield Town in the last round- but they shouldn’t be too cocky about that because the Rooks delivered a similar result against the Towners earlier this month. United are, however, unbeaten at home this season.

Folkestone Invicta have hung out the ‘under new management’ sign for the first time in twenty six years after Neil Cugley’s decision to step away from the role and concentrate on his other responsibilities at the club. The stripes welcome Horsham to the BuildKent Stadium looking for a positive response after being less than their best of late- they’ve lost three of their last four in all competitions, and are in an uncustomary lowly position in the table despite Ade Yusuff’s eleven goals. The Hornets, who will be back here in the league next month, have also looked a little slapdash of late- with only two wins from their last eight matches. The visitors will hope they broke their Invicta hoodoo when they defeated the stripes last March, as they’d lost the previous eight meetings between the two.

Haringey Borough and Billericay Town meet at Coles Park for the second time in little over a month. The hosts will want a little revenge after the Blues won their last meeting by three goals to nil, whilst Billericay have lost only one match from their last ten and are in fine form. Borough have lost only once since that defeat.

Harlow Town may be five places from the bottom of Pitching In Southern Division One Central, but Bishop’s Stortford would do well not to read too much into that statistic. The Hawks have been excellent against Isthmian sides this season, and knocked former winners Hornchurch out of the competition in the last round. They’ve also defeated our sides Ashford Town, Great Wakering Rovers and Brentwood Town in cup competitions this season. The Blues may be tougher opponents, however, having gone unbeaten in ten matches across all competitions.

We’ve a Sussex derby as Hastings United welcome back Burgess Hill Town. United have six wins from eight- a run during which they kept six clean sheets- and will hope to quickly get back to wining ways after losing to Potters Bar Town in midweek, but they’ll undoubtedly remember that the last time the Hillians arrived at Pilot Field last season they left with a victory. Town are in their best form of the season so far, and travel on the back of a five match unbeaten run during which they’ve won four.

Uxbridge will perhaps wish that their match with Wingate & Finchley had taken place a couple of weeks ago, as the visiting Blues have really found form in their last two matches, scoring eight goals without reply. The hosts, however, have won four of their last five and won’t be short on confidence.

Weston Super Mare will hopefully be sunny as Bognor Regis Town make a long trip for a seaside derby. The Rocks have been very good on occasions this season but will have been rather frustrating to watch on others, and the travelling faithful will hope that they can finally begin delivering some consistent good form this weekend. They’ll need to be on good form, as Weston are in second place in Pitching In Southern Premier South, having lost only one league match. They did lose that at home, ten days ago against Chesham United, but they’ve won their other eight.

Pitching In Isthmian Premier

Because of FA Trophy commitments we have only four matches in Pitching In Isthmian Premier this weekend- but they do involve three of the top five.

Third place Hornchurch are six points off the top with three games in hand, and the Urchins will hope to narrow the gap as they hit the road for the second time this week, on this occasion travelling to Margate. They saw a five match winning run come to an end against Lewes in midweek, but will feel like they dropped two points in that draw as they missed an open goal in the first half and hit the post late on. The hosting Blues also played their last match at the Dripping Pan, but they lost it- ending a three match unbeaten league run. The Urchins won both meetings between the two last season, with four of the previous five ending in draws. The last Margate win against the Urchins came in March 2019.

Aveley, who start the weekend in fourth place, are six points behind the leaders with two games in hand. The Millers ended a run of two defeats with two victories in the last week, in League and Velocity Cup, and are on the road to Brightlingsea Regent. The hosts haven’t had a positive result in the league since August Bank Holiday Monday, and indeed have gone eight matches in all competitions without a win.

Enfield Town, who start the weekend in fifth place, welcome Herne Bay to the QEII Stadium. The Towners have two draws and two defeats from their last four matches and are looking for their first win this month, whilst Bay have won only one of their five matches this month, losing the other four.

Canvey Island know that they could go into the top five with a win over Kingstonian. The Gulls have hit a poor run, with one win in four, and looked a shadow of their usual selves in defeat to Wingate & Finchley last time out. In contrast, the K’s have looked much improved, winning two of their last three.

Follow the Pitching In Isthmian League on Instagram. Head here or search for theisthmianleague on your app. We're also on Facebook and Twitter.