Win, Lose and Draw

Our midweek fixtures generally disappeared under a deluge, and those that went ahead were subject to the whims of Storm Brendan, but we did manage three- one on Monday, one on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday. Here's hoping that by Saturday Brendan will have blown himself out and our fixtures will go ahead unmolested- look out for our previews of the weekend's matches, which will be published today and tomorrow. Anyway, here's our round up.

On Monday a rain-lashed Parkside saw Aveley take on Bury Town. The Millers had dropped down to third place whilst delivering more FA Trophy glory at the weekend, and there were concerns that a two day gap between matches might be a step too far for them, particularly as they were hosting another side with promotion pretensions. Those fears turned out to be entirely unfounded, as the Millers climbed back to second place with a three-one victory. Harry Gibbs got the only goal of the first half, but the visitors struck back shortly after the restart, Cruise Nyadzayo bringing them level.

Parity lasted only four minutes, George Sykes restoring Aveley's lead, and Wyan Reid made sure of the points with a third goal eleven minutes from time. The Millers close to within three points of leaders Maldon & Tiptree, but have played three games more.

On Tuesday Kingstonian made the long trek to Leamington for their FA Trophy Replay. The original match on Saturday ended in a one-one draw, and there was only one goal in the replay- but sadly it came to the home team, Jack Edwards scoring after half an hour. The K's have had superb runs in the Trophy and the FA Cup this season, but now they can concentrate on the league, where they are currently fourteen points off the final playoff place. They do have four matches in hand on fifth place Carshalton Athletic, however, and five in hand over many of the other teams at the top end of the table.

Finally, last night two promotion contenders met at Hayes Lane, as Cray Wanderers hosted Hornchurch. The Urchins bowed out of the FA Trophy at the weekend against Aveley, but showed no Trophy hangover as they took a first half lead- although it went down as an own goal. After the break Wands scored their second goal of the match, this time at the right end, as Ben Mundele got the equaliser. Hornchurch remain in fourth place, nine points from the top- but they have three matches in hand over the teams above them. Cray remain in sixth, but go level on points with fifth place Carshalton.