Essex Senior League
Clapton welcome Premier Division leaders Great Wakering Rovers to the Old Spotted Dog on Saturday. Rovers come into this game on the back of four league wins on the bounce and are favoured to win this one, however Clapton have shown flashes of the form they had last season when they finished runners-up so the leaders may have to work hard to get the points.
If Great Wakering mess up then Basildon Town could be in position to take the leadership for themselves. They will have to beat Woodford Town (2017) away in which to do that but winning away hasn’t been a burden for the Bees so far this campaign and on Wednesday evening they made progress in the Errington Challenge Cup after a 5-0 win at West Essex. A repeat of that result would be impressive but their opponents did ship five in their midweek Errington Challenge Cup encounter.
Takeley need the points to keep them involved in the top three; Enfield 1893 need the points to move them away from the bottom three. It’s a classic top v bottom clash with the points not guaranteed if Takeley don’t take the game seriously. They were not guilty of that when they beat bottom of the table Wadham Lodge in midweek and its hard to see them not winning this game on their own patch.
Redbridge, lie in fourth place and have won their last six league games, with last weekend’s abandoned game over Southend Manor possibly being allowed to stand as a 3-0 Redbridge win, pending a league decision. In any case they have been finding the net recently with Calvin Poku and Brian Moses both finding goals easy to come by this term. Sporting Bengal United provide the opposition at the Oakside Stadium and they also know how to score goals – as well as concede them. Redbridge for all their goal scoring have failed to keep a clean sheet this season and there will be goals in this one.
Down at the bottom Wadham Lodge will hope that fifth-placed West Essex continue their losing streak. The visitors have last their last two but will be looking to bounce back themselves and secure a win at the ESL strugglers. However the hosts have a new management team in place and were able to briefly haul themselves off the foot of the table after a win against fellow-strugglers Burnham Ramblers. Since then they have lost to Redbridge and Takeley meaning that they go into this game on a losing run of two themselves and have to now take on another of the ESL’s top sides.
Saturday 14th October
Premier Division
Barkingside v Ilford
Clapton v Great Wakering Rovers
Hullbridge Sports v Hackney Wick
Redbridge v Sporting Bengal United
Sawbridgeworth Town v Southend Manor
Stansted v Waltham Forest
Takeley v Enfield 1893
Tower Hamlets v FC Romania
Wadham Lodge v West Essex
Woodford Town (2017) v Basildon United
