It’s tough at the…bottom

It’s tough at the…bottom

At the top end of the table we already know who the four sides chasing promotion via the play off’s will be, we just don’t know in which order they will finish. At this point it looks as if Bishop’s Stortford will host Cheshunt and Hornchurch and Enfield Town will meet, but it’s also possible that it could be Hornchurch v Cheshunt and Bishop’s Stortford v Enfield Town. It’s also possible that Enfield could be hosting Hornchurch. We’ll know by 5PM!

Today, Stortford welcome Cray Wanderers, Hornchurch host Wingate & Finchley, Enfield Town welcome Bognor Regis Town and Cheshunt are on the road to Corinthian-Casuals. The only result that won’t matter a jot in the promotion race is that of the Ambers, who will finish fifth regardless.

The intrigue is at the bottom, where there are both knowns and unknowns. The known is that Merstham and Leatherhead, who welcome Carshalton Athletic and Potters Bar Town respectively, absolutely have to win to have any chance of staying up- and even if they do, it might not be enough.

Kings Langley of the Pitching In Southern Premier are in the relegation mix with the Moatsiders, the Tanners, East Thurrock United and Cray Wanderers. Either our third bottom side or Kings Langley will be relegated, and we’ll find out who by five o’clock. The Rocks, currently third bottom of our Premier Division, have a point advantage over Kings Langley in their fight to avoid going down, but the Rocks will need to equal or better the results of our bottom two and Kings Langley to ensure they stay up. They welcome Horsham today, and the Hornets, our Velocity Trophy winners, have nothing to play for yet are in fine form, defeating the champions on Bank Holiday Monday.

Rocks fans are pictured at Cray in midweek.

Cray Wanderers put themselves in a positive place by defeating the Rocks on Wednesday night, and will stay above the bottom two no matter what happens today- but could end up third bottom and behind Kings Langley on points per game, therefore going down. Wands travel to Bishop’s Stortford, who will want to ensure third spot by taking at least a point.

We don’t normally preview matches from other leagues, but Kings Langley are on the road to face mid table Salisbury. Their hosts haven’t won in five matches- although their opponents were in similarly unimpressive form until beating Hendon on Monday. We’ve included a table drawn up by Cray Wanderers History folks on Twitter, which simply sticks Kings into our league table, which makes it all a little easier to understand!

Elsewhere, Haringey Borough welcome Folkestone Invicta, Lewes host Bowers & Pitsea- managed by Rob Small for the very last time- Margate see Kingstonian arrive at Hartsdown Park, and Worthing welcome Brightlingsea Regent and the title trophy.

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