Next up – Flackwell Heath
Saturday, 6th December at Wilks Park, Heath End Road, Flackwell Heath, Bucks. HP10 9EA
Pitching in Southern League, Divison One (Central); kick off 3pm.
The current resurgence of interest in non-league football means parking can be difficult at Wilks Park. There is space in nearby streets but please be considerate of the residents.
Admission
Adults £12, Concessions £6, under 18 free.
Our opponents
Formed in 1907 the Heathens played in junior leagues until the mid-seventies when they joined the Hellenic League. A switch to the Athenian League was soon followed by acceptance into the Isthmian set up. Relegation in 2007 took them back to the Hellenic League where they were champions in 2014/5. They declined promotion to the Southern League on the grounds of travelling costs after being placed in the south and west division. However, by now switched to the Combined Counties League, their 2023/4 championship was rewarded with a place in division one (central).
Their best performance in the FA Cup has been to reach the fourth qualifying round on three occasions. The most recent came this season when they lost 1-0 at Maldon & Tiptree who went on to meet Port Vale in the next round. They have also been quarter finalists in the FA Vase, losing 2-0 to United Services Portsmouth in 2021.
Form guide
Last season, their first back at Step 4, saw Heath reach the play-off final and though they were beaten 5-0 at Berkhamsted it was the mark of a very successful campaign. That good run in this season’s FA Cup suggested that they could be in the mix again but it’s proved something of a false dawn so far. The loss of last season’s top scorer Wiktor Makowski to Slough won’t have helped. They sit in mid-table but it’s four games since their last defeat so they’re not exactly struggling. In fact despite being below Ware in the table they have three games in hand to help close the ten point gap between us.
Ware have been buoyed by last week’s win that put a stop to a poor run and with a clean sheet. Maybe that was because there was no-one in the back four who who had been drafted in out of necessity rather than specific aptitude for a particular position. There are still injuries to be overcome but they are nearing the kind of levels that might reasonably be expected. The sense of desperation in some team selections is hopefully a thing of the past.
We will none the less be without Finlay Titchmarsh, Sam Mayuma and Johnny Allotey. Meanwhile Herbie Townsend’s shoulder problem has been dealt with by surgeons this week. We hope that the operation will be successful and wish Herbie the best but the recovery period is lengthy and he may not be available until late in the season at best.
Previous Meetings
There have been 26 meetings before this season with the first in 1984/5, all but last season’s have been under the Isthmian banner. We lost the first two games before we were separated between the north and south sections of division two. We didn’t meet again until 1997/8 by which time we were both in division three. We then met in every season, even being promoted to Step 4 together, until Heath were relegated at the end of 2006/7. We renewed meetings last season, drawing 2-2 away with goals from Johnny Allotey and Jon Clements and winning 2-1 at home (Joe Dearman and Johnny again). In all we’ve won 14 and lost 8 of the games so far. Our best win is by 5-0 (twice) and heaviest defeat by 3-1 back in 1985.
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be at Wilks Park. You can hear their commentary from 2.55pm at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/4689063
Match Officials
The referee for this match is Mudiwa Manyange who had charge of our 1-1 draw at Northwood at the beginning of November. The assistant referees are Nicholas Elliott and Louie Chaisty.
