A South Central Saturday

The Preliminary Round of the FA Trophy occupies eight of our Pitching In Isthmian South Central sides, so we’ll start by looking at the League encounters.

Horndean had a fabulous start to life as a South Central club, a four-nil win over Binfield perhaps making up for a Cup departure earlier in the month. The Deans welcome Hanworth Villa, the Villains positive after scoring eight cup goals so far this season, four of them in a hammering of Abbey Rangers last weekend- after starting the League season with a one-one draw against Raynes Park Vale. 

Metropolitan Police departed the Cup at the first hurdle but bounced back in style to hit Moneyfields for four on opening day, playing some fine football in victory. They welcome Sutton Common Rovers, the visitors having lost three-one twice so far, defeats in the Cup to South Park Reigate and League to Hayes & Yeading United. Both sides have had a fortnight off, time for Rovers to reminisce about their last visit to Imber Court, a four-nil win this time last year. They also defeated the Boys in Blue two-nil at home, so Met will hope for some revenge. 

Hartley Wintney travel to take on one of our promotion favourites, Leatherhead. The Tanners started their campaign with a draw against Southall, but were victorious in the Cup at Sevenoaks last weekend; whilst The Row will hope to get back to winning ways after a cup departure on Saturday. They had won their previous Cup and League matches, however, so will hope that their result last weekend was a one-off. The sides actually met in the last game of the regular 23-24 campaign, Leatherhead winning three-nil. 

Harrow Borough are on the road- and then the plane- travelling to Guernsey and looking for a quick response to their midweek Cup defeat. This will be their first match against a side not named Ashford, after an opening day win over Town and two cup ties against United, and this seems to be the first time the sides have ever met, so we’re sure their fans will enjoy their trip to the seaside, whatever the outcome. The Green Lions started the season with narrow defeat at Hartley Wintney- their only match so far. This one kicks off at 2.15 PM.

Raynes Park Vale welcome Badshot Lea to their corner of South West London. Vale haven’t had the best of luck against the Baggies in recent years, their rivals winning both encounters last season and both of their meetings in 22-23, when both sides won promotion from Combined Counties Premier South. The Baggies took four points from six during 21-22, too- so we suspect that Vale will be rather determined to bring that poor run to an end. The Baggies have won two Cup ties this season but were heavily defeated in the League by Farnham Town in between those victories, whilst Vale started the season with a draw and were victorious against Bedfont Sports in the Cup last saturday. 

Uxbridge and Westfield will be hoping for a first League win of the campaign as the two sides meet at Honeycroft, and Uxbridge will also be hoping for a bumper crown after designating the match as a ‘Pay What You Like’ event. 

The sides have a history of being rather evenly matched- five of their last nine meetings have ended in draws- but last season saw both sides take three points, both matches between the two ending in away wins. Westfield were hammered five-nil on their own patch in September, and later got a semblance of revenge by winning two-one at Honeycroft on New Years Eve Eve!

FA Trophy

We’ve an all-South Central tie between Ashford Town and Ascot United. The Tangerines will be boosted by winning for the first time this season in midweek, a victory over Uxbridge in the Cup; whilst the Yellas are still looking for that first win, having started the campaign with a draw against South Park Reigate but followed that with two defeats, the last of them against Step Five opposition in the Cup last weekend. The two meetings between the sides last season saw four points turn tangerine. 

Another South Central ‘derby’ sees Hayes and Yeading United make the trip to Portsmouth to take on Moneyfields. The hosts lost their opening two matches of the season but did warm up for this one by winning a Hampshire Cup tie in midweek, whilst United have played twice and won both matches three-one, defeating Sutton Common Rovers in the League and Epsom & Ewell in the Cup. We think this might be their first ever meeting- certainly we can’t find record of another. 

South Central Farnham Town did the unthinkable last weekend- they lost! They’ll be looking to put that right as they welcome Erith Town, a South East opponent. Farnham started the campaign with two decent victories, wins which brought them eight goals and saw them concede only two, before falling to late defeat against Sittingbourne in the Cup. Their opponents, the Dockers, were also falling to cup defeat, in their case against Merstham, and have delivered plenty of entertainment this season. Their three matches have seen them score ten goals and concede seven, so they’ve entertained the neutrals even if they’ve left their own fans biting their nails!

We’ve another South Central/South East tie as Lancing welcome Southall. The Lancers were one of last season’s surprise packages, but have lost both of their fixtures so far, defeat against Deal Town followed by another against Step Five opponents in the cup last weekend. The All started their campaign with a draw against Leatherhead but were hammered five-nil by a Joe Taylor inspired Ramsgate last weekend. 

Our third South East v Central tie sees Littlehampton Town welcome Rayners Lane. The Golds have built an impressive squad this season but, after starting the campaign with a narrow cup win against Tooting and Mitcham United, have lost their last two matches three-two, the last of those against Step Five opposition. One of the sides who defeated the Golds was Herne Bay, and Rayners Lane also have experience of defeat against Bay as they were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Kent seasiders in a midweek replay. That was their fourth match of the campaign, and their only defeat. 

One more South Central v South East tie- we’ll stop now- sees South Park Reigate welcome Steyning Town Comunity. The Sparks remain unbeaten after two Cup wins and a league draw, whilst Town have two Cup wins and a league defeat to their name, but have scored seven goals whilst conceding only two.