Saturday 8th April 2023, 3 PM
BRENTWOOD TOWN v THE BRIDGE
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE NORTH
BRENTWOOD CENTRE ARENA, BRENTWOOD

About Brentwood Town

Nickname The Blues
Founded 1954
Ground Brentwood Centre Arena, Brentwood
Capacity 1,000 (50 seated)
Manager Craig Shipman
League Isthmian League North Division
2021–22 Isthmian League North Division, 3rd of 20

History
A Brentwood Football Club was established in the 19th century, and played in the FA Cup several times, reaching the quarter-finals in 1885–86, where they were beaten 3–1 by eventual winners Blackburn Rovers. They were also briefly members of Division One of the South Essex League for the 1896–97 season but left after finishing bottom of the division. The club were later replaced as the town's main club by amateur club Brentwood & Warley. Brentwood & Warley joined Division One A of the South Essex League in 1921 and were runners-up in their first season in the league. They finished bottom of Division One in 1926–27 but were runners-up the following season, after which they joined Division One East of the Spartan League.

League reorganisation at the end of the 1928–29 season saw Brentwood & Warley placed in the Premier Division, where they remained until leaving the league at the end of the 1933–34 season. They rejoined the league in 1948 and were runners-up in 1948–49. In 1951 they were founder members of the Delphian League and were its inaugural champions. The club went on to win the league again in 1958–59 and 1959–60. In 1963 they joined Division Two of the Athenian League after the Delphian League was disbanded.
In 1965 the club turned professional and became Brentwood Town. Playing at the Hive on Ongar Road, the renamed club left the amateur Athenian League to join the Metropolitan League. After two third-place finishes and a League Cup win in 1966–67, the club moved up to Division One of the Southern League in 1967.

In 1968–69 they won Division One and were promoted to the Premier Division. In the same season, the club also reached the second round of the FA Cup, where they lost 10–1 at Southend United. The following season the club reached the third round of the cup; they beat Football League club Reading 1–0 in the first round, before defeating Hendon 2–0 in the second round. The third round saw them drawn at home against Northampton Town, with a record crowd of over 4,000 seeing the club lose 1–0. In the league, the club briefly topped the table in September, and eventually finished ninth. However, at the end of the season, the club directors decided to merge the club with Chelmsford City. The club's ground was sold for housing.

Modern club
After Brentwood Town were dissolved, Manor Athletic changed their name to Brentwood Athletic. Manor Athletic had been established in 1954, and joined the Essex Olympian League in 1967, winning the League Cup in their first season. In 1974 the club was renamed again, becoming simply Brentwood, and joined the Essex Senior League. They went on to win the League Cup in 1975–76, 1978–79 and 1990–91.

In 2000–01 the club won their first Essex Senior League title, although they finished third from bottom of the league the following season. In 2004 the club adopted its current name. After winning the Essex Senior League for the second time in 2006–07, and also winning the League Cup, the club was promoted to Division One North of the Isthmian League. In 2008–09 they finished third and qualified for the promotion play-offs, but lost 4–1 at home to Waltham Abbey. In 2010–11 the club finished fifth and qualified for the play-offs again. After defeating Needham Market 3–1 in the semi-finals, they lost 3–2 to Wingate & Finchley in the final. They qualified for the play-offs again after a fourth-place finish in 2014–15, and after beating AFC Sudbury on penalties in the semi-final, they defeated Thurrock 5–0 in the final to earn promotion to the Premier Division. However, the following season saw them finish in the relegation zone, resulting in relegation back to Division One North.

Ground

Manor Athletic played at King George's Playing Fields until moving to Larkin's Playing Field in 1957. In 1992 they were required to leave the ground in order to maintain senior status and ground shared at East Thurrock United's Rookery Hill. The following year they moved to the Brentwood Centre, with the opening match played on 9 October 1993. Initially, the only spectator facility was a covered area adjacent to the clubhouse; seats were later installed in one half of the stand. Floodlights were installed in 1999. A new record attendance was set in August 2004 when a crowd of 472 watched a friendly match against a West Ham United XI.

Recent results & form
Brentwood Town are currently 9th in the division with 47 points from 33 matches played and have won 13, drawn 8, and lost 12 of the 33 games. They have scored 45 and conceded 40 for a goal difference of +5. Their home form is 6 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats. They are currently 5th in current form (last 6 matches) with 3 wins. 2 draws, and 1 defeat in those 6 matches. The Bridge currently reside in 20th place in the form guide.

The results have been:
Witham Town (Away) Drew 1-1
Grays Athletic (Home) Won 2-0
Lowestoft Town (Home) Drew 2-2
Great Wakering Rovers (Home) Lost 0-1
Maldon & Tiptree (Away) Won 2-0
Bury Town (Away) Won 2-0

Last Season:
In April The Bridge suffered a blip in the middle of their Great Escape and lost 1-4 at Lower Road with goals coming from Rob Harvey, Matt Cripps, Jai Reason, and Ashley Nzala before George Smith replied in the 80th minute. Prior to that, in January, The Blues won their home fixture 3-1 with two goals from Tom Richardson and another one from Matt Cripps. Albert Levett had made it 2-1 before half-time before Cripps made it 3-1.

This season:
On Tuesday 31st January, Brentwood visited Lower Road and won comfortably 3-0, taking the lead in the first minute with a goal from George Craddock. Jack Adlington and Chris Dickson completed the scoring for the visitors leaving most of the 134 crowd to go home and kick the cat.
Please note: No animals were harmed in making this match preview.

Watch out for:
Recent goal scorers for The Blues have been Connor Hogan, Matt Cripps, Solomon Ogunwomoju & Flavio Jumo, so watch out for all of them and probably more. George Craddock is the top scorer with 6 and scored his last one against Grays on March 25th.

GEORGE CRADDOCK
Experienced midfielder who started his career at Northampton Town. He has also represented Welling United, Margate and East Thurrock at Conference South level. The last few seasons saw George at Heybridge Swifts, where he was club captain.

ROAD TRIP

It’s a short one says Google, 33 minutes and 22.2 miles, time to take in the match and see what the Easter Bunny has brought you too.

The Blues v The Bridge
It’s an Easter eggs-travaganza down at the Brentwood Arena where the three points are all that matter. Let’s hope The Bridge hop off with all three!

COYB

Monday 10th April 2023, 3 PM
THE BRIDGE v MALDON & TIPTREE
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE NORTH
LOWER ROAD, HULLBRIDGE

About Maldon & Tiptree

Nickname The Jammers
Founded 1946
Ground Park Drive, Maldon
Capacity 2,800 (155 seated)
Chairman Daniel Barber
Manager Peter Taylor
League Isthmian League North Division
2021–22 Isthmian League North Division, 9th of 20

History:
Maldon Town Football Club was established in August 1946 as part of the Maldon Social and Athletic Club. The club initially joined Division Two of the Chelmsford & Mid-Essex League. Although they transferred to the North Essex League the following season, the club returned to the Chelmsford & Mid-Essex League in 1949. They were Premier Division champions in 1949–50, retaining the title the following season, as well as winning the League Cup. The club then joined the Essex & Suffolk Border League for the 1951–52 season, finishing as runners-up in the Premier Division and losing the League Cup final. They were Premier Division runners-up again in 1955–56 and 1959–60.

In 1964–65 Maldon won the League Cup and the following season they were Premier Division champions. The club then moved up to the Eastern Counties League. They finished in the bottom half of the Eastern Counties League every season until leaving to join the Essex Senior League in 1972. The club won the Essex Senior League in 1984–85 on goal difference. In 1996 they rejoined the Eastern Counties League, becoming members of Division One. In the 1997–98 season the club were runners-up and were promoted to the Premier Division.

Maldon reached the semi-finals of the FA Vase in 2002–03, losing 3–0 on aggregate to AFC Sudbury, with the home leg attracting a record Wallace Binder Ground crowd of 1,163. The 2003–04 season saw the club finish as runners-up in the Premier Division, earning promotion to the Eastern Division of the Southern League. A third-place finish the following season led to them qualifying for the promotion play-offs; after beating Barking & East Ham United 3–2 on penalties in the semi-finals, they defeated Uxbridge in the final by the same scoreline and were promoted to the Premier Division of the Isthmian League. However, the club's first season in the division saw them finish in the bottom three, resulting in relegation to Division One North. Although they finished fourth in Division One North in 2006–07, they were ineligible for promotion and not allowed to take part in the play-offs.

In September 2009, Maldon Town were taken over by Tiptree United chairman Ed Garty, with both clubs playing at Maldon's ground. It was announced in April 2010 that Maldon Town would be rebranded as Maldon & Tiptree Football Club, with Tiptree United withdrawing from the Essex Senior League; a new blue and red striped kit was revealed ahead of the 2010–11 season. In 2012–13 they were runners-up in Division One North; in the subsequent play-offs the club defeated Aveley 3–1 in the semi-finals before losing 4–1 on penalties to Thamesmead Town in the final after the match had ended 2–2. They were Division One North runners-up again in 2016–17, beating Haringey Borough 5–4 in the play-off semi-finals and then losing 1–0 to Thurrock in the final. A third-place finish in the renamed North Division in 2018–19 resulted in another play-off campaign. After beating Coggeshall Town 1–0 in the semi-finals, they lost the final 3–0 on penalties to local rivals Heybridge Swifts following a 2–2 draw.

In 2019–20 Maldon & Tiptree reached the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. After defeating League Two club Leyton Orient 2–1 in the first round, they lost 1–0 at home to another League Two club, Newport County, in the second. The club reached the first round again the following season, losing 1–0 at home to Morecambe.

Ground:
The club initially played home games at Sadd's Ground on The Causeway. Between 1947 and 1950 they played at the Promenade before acquiring a new ground in Fambridge Road, where they remained until 1994. The club then moved to their current Wallace Binder Ground in Park Drive. The ground has a seated stand on one side of the pitch and a covered standing area behind one goal.
A record attendance at the Wallace Binder Ground was set in 2003 when 1,163 watched the FA Vase semi-final against AFC Sudbury. This was broken for the FA Cup match against Newport County on 29 November 2019, which attracted a crowd of 1,876.

Recent results & form:
The Jammers are currently 14th in the division with 33 points from 33 matches played. They have won 9, drawn 6, and lost 18 of the 33 matches. They have scored 37 and conceded 52 for a goal difference of -15. They are currently 12th in current form (last 6 league matches), with 2 wins, 2 draws, and 2 defeats in their last six games.

Recent results are:
Lowestoft Town (Home) Won 5-3
Coggeshall Town (Home) Drew 1-1
Stowmarket Town (Away) Lost 0-1
Brentwood Town (Home) Lost 0-2
Great Wakering Rovers (Away) Drew 0-0
Basildon United (Away) Won 1-0

Last Season:
A massive win for The Bridge in April in an exciting encounter that swung about as the game progressed. Luke Hornsley put the boys one up after 9 minutes, Keiran Bailey made it two after 46 and Ade Cole got one back on 77. George Smith then made it 3-1 before Cole hit the target again on 90 minutes from the spot and the game finished 3-2…phew!
Previously, in January, M&T took a more straightforward victory by 3-0 with goals from Manny Folarin (O.G), Martyn Stokes and Shomari Barnwell.

This season:
On Monday 2nd January, The Bridge were narrowly defeated by The Jammers with just the one goal from Terrell Egbri (on debut) deciding the match.

Watch out for:
Recent goal scorers, Louie Remi, Toluwani Ayoola, and the previously mentioned Terrell Egbri, not to mention ex Hullbridge forward George “Smudger” Smith…damn, mentioned him!

Oh well. Here he is:

“Smudger”

The second part of the Easter Parade. Can we plunder 6 points from two matches?
It’s eggs-stremely possible!

COYB

2 TMT match previews for HSFC