Fourth v first and fifth v second- it’s a crucial South Central Saturday

Farnham Town have a four point lead at the top of the Pitching In Isthmian South Central table, and a difficult match in prospect as they head around the M25 to take on Harrow Borough. Borough are unbeaten at home, have only two defeats from ten, and will be rather bent on revenge after losing four-nil to Farnham in September, whilst their visitors have won six of their seven away matches this season and, after suffering a mini blip in the middle of last month, have bounced back to score seven goals without reply in their last two matches. There are nine points between the sides, although Borough have two games in hand- but a home win would be a massive statement to the rest of the Division, and a massive boost to Borough. It certainly won’t be easy, though!

Second place Kingstonian laboured to a win over Moneyfields on Wednesday night, but win they did, and that made it five victories in a row and two clean sheets. They head to fifth place Hartley Wintney, the Row looking to get back to winning ways after losing three in a… row. They have won five of their last six at home.

Raynes Park Vale, five points behind the K’s in third place, and with Jordan Gallagher scoring goals by the bucketload, have won four of their last six and indeed six of their last eight, with Gallagher on seventeen from seventeen matches. They welcome Rayners Lane, slowly climbing the table after wining their last two, and with skipper Frank Keita their talisman, on fourteen goals already- including two in a County Cup win in midweek. Lane are twelfth, and victory could lift them into the top half.

Hayes and Yeading United have four points to make up to climb into the top five, so they won’t do it this weekend, but they do have two or even three games in hand over most of the sides above them, and they have lost only one of their last six. United look for a third win in a row as they welcome Horndean, the Deans behind them only on goal difference and also searching for a third win in a row, and looking impressive- they defeated Westfield three-one in midweek.

The two sides drew one-one two months ago.

Hanworth Villa will be leaving on a jet plane, the Villains looking to get back to winning ways as they head to Guernsey. Villa were five unbeaten until losing to narrowly to Rayners Lane last weekend, and defeated the Green Lions by the only goal of the game in September. Guernsey haven’t yet managed a home win, and indeed have only one win all season. 

The boys in blue play the boys in…yella…as Ascot United travel to take on Met Police. Met are only one point above the drop zone and have only one win from eight, whilst United have two defeats from seven and were impressive when defeating Hartley Wintney three-nil on Tuesday evening. The Yellas beat the Blues three-nil in September.

Bottom side Badshot Lea host Uxbridge. The Baggies are nine points from safety and have yet to win a match, with only three draws to show for their season- although they have looked to be climbing out of their malaise of late, losing narrowly against South Park Reigate after a draw with Moneyfields. Uxbridge, in contrast, have won six of their last nine, drawing two of the others, and could climb as high as sixth with another victory. They defeated the Baggies four-nil in mid September. 

Westfield are rather struggling for form, with two wins from their last eight, and will hope to get back to winning ways as they host a side who have gone six without a win, Sutton Common Rovers. Both sides have played some decent football this season, but having lost four of their last five the visitors, in seventeenth, are rather more desperate for points, as they could end up in the bottom four if results go against them. Field won one-nil at Rovers in September. 

Binfield saw a long winning run come to an end in midweek, six victories in a row followed by a manager of the month award and defeat in Uxbridge. The Moles will want to quickly shake off that loss, whilst their visitors, Southall, are ahead of them only on goal difference and have won three of their last four. The All defeated the Moles two-one in September.

Leatherhead travel to Ashford Town. The Tangerines are four points from safety after a run of two wins from ten, but they did end a five match losing streak with a draw against Sutton Common Rovers last time out. The Tanners season has been rather stop-start, but they were five matches unbeaten before defeat to Raynes Park Vale last weekend and must surely begin to climb the table shortly. It’s less than three weeks since the sides last met, Leatherhead winning that one four-nil.

Finally, Moneyfields, in nineteenth, welcome sixteenth place South Park Reigate to Portsmouth. The Moneys played well in narrow defeat at Kingstonian on Wednesday, but they have gone seven matches without a win, whilst the Sparks have won two of their last three and are under new management, but have been dreadful on the road, still without a win despite being unbeaten on their own patch. The Moneys, who lost two-one to the Sparks on October 22nd, will hope that travel sickness continues.