A South East- and Cup- Saturday

FA Cup

Ashford Town welcome Herne Bay to the edge of the airport. The Tangerines haven’t managed to pick up a league point so far, but have been much more successful in the Cup having defeated Northwood and Uxbridge to reach this stage, whilst Bay are unbeaten so far- and defeated South Central opposition in the last round, Rayners Lane departing the competition after a replay.

Ashford United and Three Bridges already know each other well. Bridges won their last encounter, back in March, by three goals to two- but had lost the previous three. Both sides are without a league win so far, although the Nuts and Bolts do have two Cup wins, whilst their visitors defeated Saltdean United in the last round.

Broadbridge Heath are at home to Faversham Town, the visitors in third place and unbeaten in Southern Counties East Premier. The travelling Lillywhites are playing their fourth away match in a row, and they won the other three, including victory over the Bears Sussex rivals Littlehampton Town in the last round. Heath have defeated Horley and Horsham YMCA to reach this stage, and picked up their first League win of the season in midweek.

Burgess Hill Town welcome South East rivals AFC Croydon Athletic. Hill have won three of their four matches this season, including two wins over Eastbourne Town, whilst the visiting Rams are still looking for a first league win, but have been rather prolific in the Cup, scoring seven goals in their two ties so far.

Margate welcome Hayes & Yeading United in a South East v South Central clash. Gate have started their South East tenure with three draws, but they’ve also had three clean sheets in four matches so will be happy about that if hoping to find more potency in front of goal. United have had a fine start, four matches in all competitions, four wins, and twelve goals scored so far- so this might be an immovable object v irresistable force battle!

We’ve a Kentish seaside battle as Ramsgate play host to Folkestone Invicta. The Rams have been scoring goals for fun- fourteen in four matches- and have won them all, with Joe Taylor in his usual fine form having already claimed two match balls this season and scored eight goals. Invicta  have lost only once this season, and have played some good football, but may need to be at their best as the Rams hope for another Cup run.

Sheppey United have had a magnificent start to the season, top of the South East table with three wins from three- and another Cup win to add to that. The Ites defeated some West Londoners in the last round, North Greenford United, and will face another set, Hanwell Town travelling to Holm Park. The Geordies sit in seventh place in Pitching In Southern Premier South having won all of their home matches, but haven’t taken a point on the road- and the Ites will have fond memories of last season’s cup success and want another taste of that.

Sittingbourne are at home to Dover Athletic, another Kentish Isthmian battle. The Brickies are highly fancied in the South East promotion race and have won three of their four matches in League and Cup so far, whilst Athletic will have promotion pretentions at the top end of the Premier Division, and have scored almost twice as many Premier goals as anyone else so far, nineteen of them in five matches- nobody else has more than ten. The visitors will be favourites, but they might not have an easy ride.

Steyning Town are at home to Merstham for the second time this month, having lost one-nil to the Moatsiders on opening day. The hosts are yet to take a league point, but they’ve already won three cup ties so the quality is certainly there, and they’ll also have revenge as a motivation. Merstham have had a positive start to their season, with only one defeat and four victories. 

South East

Beckenham Town could return to the top of the table Sheppey United and Ramsgate in Cup action- but Becks will need to return from Sevenoaks Town with three points to do it. Our third place side are currently unbeaten- and indeed would have had a one hundred percent record had they not conceded a ninety sixth minute equaliser on Monday- and already look to have cast last seasons disasters into history. Oaks have had a mixed start to the campaign, and are three matches without a win, but they were two up before conceding two late goals to draw against East Grinstead Town on Monday and will expect to begin climbing the table. Both fixtures between the sides last season ended level.

Deal Town would need a massive win to hit the summit- and we suspect that East Grinstead Town, who are a point behind them, will have something to say about that. Deal have already picked up six points against Sussex sides this season, but were undone by Ramsgate on Monday- although we suspect many sides will have that problem this season. The Wasps have had an unbeaten start to the league campaign and will hope to extend that run to four matches.

Erith Town, in eighth place, are on the road to Lancing. The Dockers have had a mixed start to the season, but picked up a first league win on Monday when defeating Phoenix Sports in a local derby. The Lancers have played only one league match so far, and have lost each of their three matches in league and cup- but an ineligible player issue concerning Southall last weekend means they’ll get to play their FA Trophy match again. After a superb 23-24 and a big squad turnover in the summer we suspected that it may take time for the Lancers new squad to gel, and they’ll hope to pick up that first win this weekend. 

Phoenix Sports welcome Eastbourne Town. Sports are still looking for a first League win of the season- indeed a first win in any competition, whilst Town followed a first league victory last Saturday- at Merstham- with defeat against Burgess Hill Town on Monday.