Match Preview

Where are we located?
Take the exit road from the A13 at Beacontree Heath onto the A1153 Lodge Avenue turn off. We are approximately one mile down on the left. The 368 bus stops outside or opposite the ground – alternatively, buses 145,364 and number 5 are a short walk from the LIDL supermarket or from the A13 end get the 62 to the bottom of the hill and walk-up Lodge Avenue. To reach us by train go to Upney station, turn left, and at the bottom of the hill cross the road into The Drive. Go to the end of The Drive and enter Mayesbrook Park, go to the left and keep bearing left, the ground is about five minute’s walk and is past the Sporthouse.

Google Maps gives you three options with the quickest being 42 minutes via the A13 option. The other two options won't take you much longer though, so the choice is yours or somebody else’s if you are the passenger and somebody else is driving.

Ilford Football Club is a football club based in Ilford, East London, England. Affiliated to the Essex County Football Association, they are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at the Lawtech Stadium. Nicknamed the Foxes, the club play in blue and white hoops or stripes.

History
The original Ilford Football Club was established in 1881 by a group of teenagers. They were founder members of the Southern League in 1894, joining Division One. They finished bottom of Division One in 1895–96, losing all 18 matches, and subsequently faced a promotion-relegation test match against Wolverton LNWR; after losing 2–0, Ilford resigned from the league. They then became founder members of the London League, where they were placed in Division One for the 1896–97 season. However, they also left the London League after two seasons, this time joining Division One of the South Essex League.

In 1905 Ilford were founder members of the Isthmian League, which their treasurer George Clarke had played a key role in establishing. Although the club finished bottom of the table in the league's first season, they were champions the following season and runners-up in 1911–12. Following World War I, the club were runners-up in the 1919 season and then won back-to-back league titles in 1920–21 and 1921–22. In 1925–26 they reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time; after beating London Caledonians 2–1. They lost 1–0 at Clapton in the second round. The club went on to finish as league runners-up in 1926–27 and reached the second round of the FA Cup again the following season, losing 5–3 at Exeter City.

In 1928–29 Ilford were finalists in the FA Amateur Cup, beating Leyton 3–1 at Highbury in front of a crowd of 35,000. They retained the cup the following season, beating Bournemouth Gasworks Athletic 5–1 in the final at Upton Park. The club were Isthmian League runners-up again in 1931–32, and reached a third FA Amateur Cup final in 1935–36. However, after the first match at Crystal Palace against Casuals ended in a 1–1 draw, they lost the replay at Upton Park 2–0. The club finished as Isthmian League runners-up in 1937–38 and again the following season.

In 1957–58 Ilford were FA Cup Amateur finalists for a fourth time, losing 3–0 to Woking at Wembley Stadium. Another appearance in the FA Cup first round the following season ended with a 3–1 defeat at Norwich City. In 1973–74 the club reached the final of the last edition of the FA Amateur Cup, losing 4–1 to Bishop's Stortford at Wembley. The following season the club reached the second round of the FA Cup, losing 2–0 at home to Southend United.

With plans in place to build a new ground in Fairlop, Ilford moved to Leytonstone's Granleigh Road ground in 1977. However, land development tax from the sale of their Lynn Road ground had not been considered in the budget and the club were left with insufficient funds to build a new ground. Instead, they merged with Leytonstone in 1979 to form Leytonstone/Ilford. The new club later merged with Walthamstow Avenue to form Redbridge Forest, who in turn merged with Dagenham to form the modern Dagenham & Redbridge.

Ilford Football Club was resurrected as a separate entity in 1987. They joined Division One of the Spartan League in 1988. However, issues including a lack of finance, manpower, and home ground led to the club leaving the league in 1990. Although they returned in 1993, they left at the end of the 1993–94 season. After a further two seasons in abeyance, the club joined the Essex Senior League in 1996. They were Essex Senior League runners-up in 2003–04, earning promotion to Division Two of the Isthmian League. They won Division Two at the first attempt and were promoted to the Eastern Division of the Southern League.

After a single season in the Southern League, Ilford were transferred back to the Isthmian League, joining Division One North. They finished in the bottom three for six of the next seven seasons, before being relegated back to the Essex Senior League at the end of the 2012–13 season, in which they had finished bottom of Division One North. In June 2017 the club were voted out of the Essex Senior League due to the non-payment of fines. However, they were readmitted to the league in July following an appeal.

Ground
The original Ilford were playing at the Ilford Sports Ground by the time they joined the Southern League in 1894. However, after being given notice to leave the site in 1904 as it was to be used for housing, the club leased four acres of land to the north of Ilford, where the ground that became known as Lynn Road was built. Lynn Road was used for FA Amateur Cup semi-finals, and during the 1948 Summer Olympics to host two matches in the football tournament. In 1977 the club moved to Leytonstone's Granleigh Road ground whilst a new ground was planned to be built in Fairlop.

After reforming, the modern Ilford struggled to secure a permanent ground, ground-sharing at Barking, East Ham United, and Southgate Olympic, as well as playing at the Douglas Eyre leisure complex in Walthamstow and two matches at the council owned Cricklefield Stadium in 1989. However, in 1994 the club made a permanent move to the Cricklefield Stadium but have recently begun ground sharing, once again, with Barking at Mayesbrook Park, Dagenham.

22/12/23 Essex Senior League
Ilford 3
(Ogheneruemu Abutoh, Zayshaun Asamoah, Oliver Plunkett)
FC Clacton 1

08/12/23 Essex Senior League
Ilford 2
(Elliott Howson, Oliseh Okuguni)
Buckhurst Hill 5

12/12/23 Essex Senior League
Sporting Bengal 5
Ilford 4
(Zayshaun Asamoah 2, Oliseh Okuguni 2)

24/11/23 Essex Senior League
Ilford 2
(Henry Fisher, Elliott Howson)
White Ensign 2

20/11/23 BBC Essex Senior Cup
Ilford 0
Witham Town 4

18/11/23 Essex Senior League
Halstead Town 3
Ilford 2
(Oliseh Okuguni, Youcef Tacine)

After 23 matches, Ilford are currently in 19th place in the Essex Senior League Premier. They have 16 points from those 23 games – 4 wins, 4 draws, and 15 defeats. They have a -33 goal difference, scoring 36 and conceding 69.

Home form consists of 2 wins, 2 draws, and 4 defeats, scoring 15 and conceding 22. The two home wins were 2-0 versus Saffron Walden Town in September and 3-1 in their last home match against FC Clacton.

In current form The Foxes are in 18th place with 1 win, 1 draw, and 4 defeats, scoring 4 and conceding 14.

Footnote: The above was written before the remarkable result on Friday 29th December where Great Wakering Rovers recorded an 8-0 away win over Ilford, including four goals from Callum Boylan.

The reverse fixture that was originally due to be played at Cricklefield was moved to Lower Road due to an issue with the Cricklefield floodlights. Ilford surprised the hosts with a well-earned away victory that was part of a run of four home defeats that The Bridge suffered in a damaging run that was a bit of a shock as things had been going well until this point of the season.

That 2-1 reverse saw “watch out for” Oliseh Okungi, net twice for The Foxes. Solomon Ofori was on target for The Bridge, but the home side were unable to prevent a surprise away victory. 76 were in attendance to witness the surprise.

Larry Abolarin
Ogheneruemu Abutoh
Oluwatunmida Adebayo
Iku Adjarho
Mark Afedzie-Hayford
Jean-Pierre Alexander
Zayshaun Asamoah
Joshua Boxall
Patryk Bozych
Nathaniel Brown
Andrew Camilo-Tayaca
Jake Chadwick
Kasey Clark
Paul Cox
Loic Diouedi
Murphy Duncan
David Ejakita
Fehinti Falola
Henry Fisher
Jordon Fisher
Julio Fresneda
Joshua George
Romario Gittens
Jack Griggs
Elliott Howson
Tobi James-Otokiti
Khari James-Thompson
Conner Jones
Steven Kabungwe
Mohamud Kaudeer
Deivi Kreka
Brady Landu
Jack Leech
Louis Matthias
Frederick Mattock
Luke McElroy
DJ McGarry
Umar Mohammed
Delphin Moorat
Kevin Mustali
Rowan Newland
Evernage Nyahunda
Sunny Odulaja
Oliseh Okuguni
Charles Opoku
Alvin Otobo
Abhigyaan Pal
Tim Pitman
Oliver Plunkett
Santana Porter
Cem Deniz Poyraz
Endri Proko
Benjamin Quansah
Charlie Rainbird
Harry Rawlins
Lewis Risk
Shayan Sanca
Hasan Seyhan
Walker Shabazz-Edwards
Sam Soutar
Youcef Tacine
Tobias Tinubu
Quincy Warner
Harry Watkins

The Foxes top scorer with 8 goals is Oliseh Okungi who scored twice in the reverse fixture as mentioned above. Oliseh has also hit the net in two of the last three games and is pictured below, looking very much like a 90’s soul singer on an album cover.

As New Year celebrations fade into memory and 2023 moves into 2024, we find ourselves over the halfway mark of the season. How will it go? Will The Bridge mount a playoff challenge, or will the season fizzle out in disappointment? There’s a lot of football left in season 23/24 and time will reveal all. The Bridge have 32 points from 22 games, an average of 1.45455 per game. If they accumulate points at that rate for the remainder of the season, they will finish with 55 points. Last season 55 points would have seen The Bridge finish around 10th/11th in the 22/23 ESL Premier, so here’s to an upward surge in form and points…hopefully starting with a win in this fixture.
There remains just one thing left to say….