Fifth v fourth and seventh v sixth the highlights on North Tuesday

Fourth place Bowers and Pitsea have the chance to secure their play off spot- and indeed to go second- with victory this evening, however their hosts, fifth place Brentwood Town, will have something to say about that!

Bowers are eleven points clear of sixth place Heybridge Swifts- who also play this evening- with both sides having four matches to go, so a Bowers victory will secure their play off spot no matter what, whilst Brentwood start the day four points behind their visitors and seven points ahead of Swifts, albeit with a game in hand over both sides, so will also be rather focused on three points. Bowers have won their last seven matches, whilst their opponents have lost only one- and won six- of their last eight, so the sides look fairly evenly matched and could even be competing in a Play Off rehearsal. Town won the first meeting between the sides at the Len Salmon by two goals to nil, although that was way back in October.

The sides in sixth and seventh, Heybridge Swifts and Walthamstow, meet in East London with their play off hopes hanging by a thread. Walthamstow have an eight point gap between themselves and fifth place with three games left- so need to win each of those whilst hoping that Brentwood lose their remaining five fixtures and that Swifts also slip up, something which looks rather unlikely. Swifts, who start one point ahead of their hosts, have a seven point gap between themselves and the Blues so they’ll be saying similar prayers, although they could reach sixty eight points which means that their chances are slightly better- but you’d still have to say, rather improbable. That said, we suspect neither side will give up on their dreams until the maths tells them they are unattainable.

Essex Senior Cup winners Redbridge are back on their own patch as they start a run of four home fixtures in a week! The Motormen welcome Basildon United to the Oakside Stadium, looking to improve upon their fifteenth place- and with one defeat in five will believe they have every chance of doing so. The Bees have had a fine season, but a run of one point from their last four matches has seen their play off hopes as good as come to an end, and they start tonight’s fixture fourteen points away from the top five with only fifteen points still available to them. That said, they’ve still got much to be proud of, and could yet deliver their highest ever League finish.

Poor Stowmarket Town are still to win a league match this season, and another failure to win tonight would see them relegated- although in truth with a goal difference of minus eighty one, four matches remaining and a twelve point gap to make up, that relegation is already rather certain. Stow welcome Maldon and Tiptree, the Jammers season ending with a whimper after eight defeats from nine.

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