No surprise when I say this is a local derby, just 11.8 miles and 25 minutes on the fastest route due to traffic conditions will take Google, and anyone else for that matter, to Great Wakering for Tuesday nights local derby at Burroughs Park. Anyway, I’m sure you all know where it is and if we win you could have a right old knees -up on Sarfend seafront…if you really want to. Always one to please, Google gives you three options (which you can drag to reorder apparently) and they are helpfully shown below…I know, I’m just too helpful sometimes.

Great Wakering Rovers Football Club is a football club located in Great Wakering, near Southend on Sea in Essex, England. The club are members of the Essex Senior League and play at Burroughs Park.

History
The club was formed in 1919 by soldiers demobbed after World War I and finding employment in the local brickfields. They joined the Southend & District League, dominating it during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1982 they switched to the newly-formed Southend & District Alliance Football League, but this league folded in 1989. At this point the club decided to make the step up to intermediate level and were founder members of the new Division Three of Essex Intermediate League.

In 1990–91 Great Wakering were Division Three champions, earning promotion to Division Two. After winning Division Two the following season, the club successfully applied to join the Essex Senior League. They went on to win the league in 1994–95 and finished as runners-up three times in the next two seasons. They were as runners-up again in 1998–99, but as champions Saffron Walden Town failed to meet the ground grading requirements for a place in Division Three of the Isthmian League, Great Wakering were promoted in their place.

The 1999–2000 season saw Great Wakering finish as runners-up in Division Three, earning promotion to Division Two. League restructuring resulted in them being moved to Division One North in 2002, and in 2004 they were transferred to the Eastern Division of the Southern League, where they remained for two seasons before being transferred back to Division One North of the Isthmian League. In 2011–12 the club finished bottom of the division, and were relegated back to the Essex Senior League. In 2013–14 the club were Essex Senior League champions and were promoted back to the Isthmian League. After finishing bottom of the division in 2016–17, the club were relegated to the Essex Senior League. However, they went on to win the league at the first attempt, earning promotion back to the renamed North Division of the Isthmian League.

In 2022–23 Great Wakering finished third-from-bottom of the North Division, resulting in them facing an inter-step play-off with a club from the division below. After being beaten 5–0 by Quorn they were relegated to the Essex Senior League.

Ground
In 1985 the club obtained a lease from the parish council on a disused allotment site. A football ground was built by volunteers with the help of local farmer and supporter Roger Burroughs, who it was named after. The ground opened in 1989, with work starting on the main stand (the North Stand) in 1992, at which time a small covered area was built on the other side of the pitch. A roof was put on the main stand in 1996 and 175 seats later installed. A new covered terrace was installed in 2000. The North Stand was also expanded and currently seats 250.
A record attendance of 1,150 was set in 2006 for a pre-season friendly against Southend United. The record was broken in July 2021 when a crowd of 1,500 watched another pre-season friendly against the same opponents.

Honours
Essex Senior League
Champions 1994–95, 2013–14, 2017–18
Essex Intermediate League
Division Two champions 1991–92
Division Three champions 1990–91

Records
Best FA Cup performance: Second qualifying round, 1998–99, 2006–07
Best FA Trophy performance: First round, 2002–03, 2004–05
Best FA Vase performance: Semi-finals, 2023–24
Record attendance: 1,500 vs Southend United, friendly match, 20 July 2021
Most appearances: John Heffer 511
Biggest win: 9–0 vs Eton Manor, 27 December 1931
Heaviest defeat: 1–7 vs Bowers United, Essex Senior League, 1 April 1998

06/04/24 FA Vase Semi-final
WORCESTER CITY 1
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 0

02/04/24 Essex Senior League
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 3
(Anthony Martin 2, Danny Cossington)
FRENFORD 1

26/03/24 Essex Senior League
FRENFORD 0
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 3
(Dominic Locke, Ben Search, Harry Talbot)

23/03/24 Essex Senior League
STANWAY ROVERS 4
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 1
(Danny Cossington)

19/03/24 Essex Senior League
ROMFORD 1
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 0

16/03/24 Essex Senior League
LITTLE OAKLEY 4
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 2
(Harry Talbot 2)

________________________________________

After 29 matches, GWR are 11th in the Essex Senior League and have 48 points from those 29 games. Their record is 14 wins, 6 draws, and 9 defeats, and a +27 goal difference, scoring 64 and conceding 37.

Home form consists of 10 wins, 2 draws, and 4 defeats, scoring 36 and conceding 16.
The 4 teams to win at Burroughs Park are:
27/02/2024
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 0
TILBURY 1

04/11/2023
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 0
LITTLE OAKLEY 3

08/08/2023
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 2
ROMFORD 3

29/07/2023
GREAT WAKERING ROVERS 1
SPORTING BENGAL UNITED 2

Can The Bridge make it 5?

In current form, GWR are in 14th place with 2 wins, and 4 defeats, scoring 9 and conceding 11.
The Bridge are in 17th place with 1 win, 1 draw, and 4 defeats, scoring 5 and conceding 7 .

We met in the ESL on the 15th of August and the game finished all square. The 2-2 scoreline included goals from Harry Brown after 17 minutes before Ben Search leveled on 60 minutes. Jay Leader thought he had won it for the Bridge in the 93rd minute but Jay Nash equalised 2 minutes later. Nash scored in the 95th minute after coming on in the 89th as a substitute for Hafeez Elegushi. A decent crowd of 190 watched the action.

We met again on the 6th of February in the Thameside Trophy and GWR ran out 3-1 winners at Lower Road. Sonny Noble notched a double in the 3rd and 16th minutes before a 93rd-minute goal from Michael Dixon gave the Bridge hope but only for 2 minutes as Max Gnandi restored the 2-goal advantage and sent GWR through to the next round with 82 watching the action.

Bizarrely, there were 93rd-minute goals for The Bridge and 95th-minute goals for GWR in both matches!

Note – This is the official player list as per the Full Time Website. Some of the players listed may have left the club.
Kojo Awotwi
Connor Barnby
Thomas Barton
Joel Bevan
James Blanchfield
Daniel Blockley
Callum Bloss
Marcus Bowers
Callum Boylan
Aiden Brown
Joe Burgess
Kien Connolly
Danny Cossington
Kingdom Dawson
Thomas Duffy
Perry Dunn
Hafeez Elegushi
Craig Ferguson
Jack Frost
Harvey Gluckstad
Maximilian Gnandi
Jake Gordon
Louie Hunt
Caiden Imbert-Thomas
Oliver Jenkins
Billy Johnson
Oscar Jones
Charlie Kendall
Dominic Locke
Beau MacDonald
Anthony Martin
Jay Nash
Sonny Noble
Jack Nolde
Shemarie Perkins-Palmer
Thomas Ranger
Teddy Rumsby
Julian Sarmiento-Ramirez
Ryan Scougall
Ben Search
Luis Shamshoum
Joshua Simpson
Matas Skarna
Dylan Skinner
Jack Stone
Harry Talbot
Harrison Topliss
Adam Vyse
James White
Corey Wood

There’re a few dangerous players when it comes to scoring goals for GWR – Callum Boylan has scored 24 in 23, Harry Talbot 18 in 35, Ben Search has 9, and Max Gnandi 7. Add to that, Tony Martin, who has 2 goals in 4 games and scored 16 for Barking before moving to GWR. So, there’s a bit of firepower there!

It’s hard to judge how GWR will approach this game as they may be more focused on the FA Vase semi-final where they lost the first leg 1-0 to Worcester City. With a huge chance of making the Wembley final, it would be understandable if their minds were focused on that. As for The Bridge, we’re now on a five-game losing streak. I, for one, never expected that and I’m sure I’m not the only one!

It’s been an up-and-down season with more ups and downs than an up-and-down thing going up and down. I guess you could say, consistently inconsistent so any result at GWR is possible and unpredictable. Obviously, play-off-wise it no longer matters but it’s always nice to get a result against GWR, so let’s hope for 3 points and, maybe 3 wins to end the season (you never know!)…