Cressing Road, home of Braintree Town – Credit: @BraintreeTownFC
As the Vanarama National League South starts this week, let’s take a look at how the Essex sides in the division could get on this season.
Aveley
A new member of this season’s National League South, Aveley, secured promotion from the Isthmian Premier Division last season through the play-offs. The Millers have been on a meteoric rise in recent seasons – plying their trade in the Isthmian North Division as recently as 2021/22.
Danny Scopes’ main job for the forthcoming season will be to solidify Aveley’s place in the division.
He has done so by keeping hold of 11 players from last season’s squad and has added an additional six to his ranks.
Harry Gibbs agreed to extend his stay with the Millers for another season and Jonathan North, Siju Odelusi and Kenny Aileru followed suit. Ex-Salford City wideman Manny Ogunrinde will be back for the 23/24 season and so will full-back Jason Ring, captain Connor Witherspoon and Garrett Kelly. They were not done there as Congolese defender Jon Nzengo and left-back Tom Stephen put pen to paper on new deals at Parkside.
Some of their departures include Benas Vaivada who signed for fellow Essex outfit Bowers & Pitsea and their top goal-scorer in the league last season, George Sykes, who joined National League North side Bishop’s Stortford. Ryan Scott, Brendon Shabani, Jamie Dicks also departed.
Exciting playmaker Alex Hernandez was first through the door and Lionel Ainsworth joined from AFC Sudbury as player/assistant manager.
Defender Tommy Davis and striker Matt Rush, formerly of Southend United, were next to be new at Parkside. Nana Kyei signed and then Jalen Jones, who was at Cray Wanderers last season, signed for the forthcoming campaign.
One of their best pieces of business though was keeping hold of attacking midfielder Jon Benton who joined permanently from Southend after impressing whilst on loan last season.
An exciting adventure lies ahead for the Millers.
Braintree Town
Braintree Town finished in seventh place last season but were denied promotion via the play-offs after a 2-1 loss to Worthing in the play-off eliminator.
Angelo Harrop has changed the Iron’s fortunes around having finished in 19th in the two seasons before last. Not to mention that Harrop put together an excellent side that were only defeated on two occasions at home last season – a key reason why they scraped into the play-offs.
The Iron have certainly struck gold with their recruitment this summer.
Nnamdi Nwachuku arrived from AFC Sudbury following his incredible campaign, netting 43 goals in the Isthmian North Division as he guided them to promotion. The 28-year-old has been quick to announce himself to the Cressing Road faithful having scored eight goals in pre-season so far.
A few more joined from Sudbury as well – Reggie Lambe and Joe Grimwood signed on the dotted line.
Harrop recruited another striker who knows where the back of the net is in the form of Leiston’s Will Davies. He scored over 30 goals for the Southern League Central Division side last campaign.
Furthermore, defenders Josh Dawodu and Toby Stevenson joined Braintree.
In addition to this, the Iron have retained the services Jack Sims, Chris Regis and Alfie Payne. Also staying put in North Essex is John White, captain Kyran Clements and last season’s player of the year Leon Davies.
With these new additions and retentions, the Iron will be looking to build upon last season’s play-off finish this season.
Chelmsford City
The play-off curse struck again for Chelmsford City last season after being defeated by St. Albans City in the play-off eliminator. It dampened what was a very good season at the Melbourne Stadium, securing a fifth-place finish, as in the season prior, they narrowly escaped the drop by finishing in 20th.
The Clarets will need to quickly get over their play-off disappointment as they look to challenge at the top for consecutive seasons.
Callum Jones, Ben Brookes, Louis Dunne, Anisius Lewis and Reggie Gregory all put pen to paper on new deals. Goalkeeper Jacob Marsden also signed a contract extension alongside Saint Vincent and the Grenadines International Jazzi Barnum-Bobb.
James Blanchfield and Guy Norton both left the Clarets and joined Billericay Town and Maldon & Tiptree respectively, while Liam Trotter hung up his boots after an illustrious career.
Adam Mills was the first new signing which was made two by Eze Ebuzoeme’s arrival.
Samir Carruthers, who made the 22/23 National League South Team of the Season, rejected new terms with the Darts to become a shrewd acquisition for the Clarets.
Captain Dave Winfield and Cameron James agreed to remain in Essex, but Ade Oluwo opted to fly the nest by joining Barnet of the National League after an impressive season.
Mohamed Bettamer signed on loan from Hayes & Yeading United and Anthony Wordsworth, Charlie Ruff and Mohammad Dabre all arrived as new signings. Frankie Terry re-signed on loan from Colchester United after a spell with the Clarets last season.
After a successful trial period, Luke Jenkins signed for the new season and so did Callum Watts who joined from Grays Athletic. Josh Castiglione was brought in having had a wealth of experience in midfield at Hemel Hempstead Town, with Josh Oluwayemi coming in on loan from Portsmouth.
