Not bad but slightly worse than usual…

The Woods are nearly always at the top end of the table, so their current 7th place is a little lower than usual, but they are still only four points off the last play-off place, so still pretty good. They are probably also adjusting to the departure of long-time manager Shane Baptiste, with Rob Gammons now the new man in charge

The Woods, as I say, are currently 7th in the table, with 38 points from 23 matches and a 48% win ratio. From their 23 matches, they have 11 wins, 5 draws and 7 defeats. Their home record is 5 wins, 0 draws and 5 defeats. It’s a bit unusual for The Woods to lose so many at home, and Romford, Ilford, Saffron Walden Town, Great Wakering Rovers and SOUL Tower Hamlets have all taken three points away from the Ashton Stadium, so that should offer The Bridge some encouragement!

Progress Report
The Woods reached top spot by game 4 and stayed there until game 7. They dropped as far as 5th by game 9 but recovered to 2nd by game 16. Since then, they have gradually dropped week by week until they currently occupy position 7.

The Cups
In the FA Cup, they had a good run before bowing out to St Albans City in the 3rd Qualifying Round at home 0-1. They had won 4-0 at Colney Heath in the Extra Preliminary Round, won 3-2 at Newmarket Town in the First Qualifying Round and beat Bury Town at home 1-0 in the Second Qualifying Round replay after a 1-1 draw at Bury.

In the FA Vase, they lasted just the one round as they were defeated 1-0 at Lymore Gardens in the FA Vase 1Q.

In the BBC Essex Senior Cup, they lost 2-1 at Harwich & Parkeston in the First Round.

In the London Senior Cup, they won 2-0 at home to Erith & Belvedere before losing to AFC Wimbledon 2-5 at home.

In the Errington Challenge Cup, they received a bye in Round One. In Round Two, they beat Harwich & Parkeston 4-1 on penalties after a 1-1 draw and, as with The Bridge, they await the draw for the Quarter Finals.

In the Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy, they won 4-1 at home to Ilford in Round One before losing 2-1 at White Ensign in Round Two.

Results over the last six matches are:

The last five seasons

Both teams have been in the ESL Premier since The Bridge were relegated from the Isthmian League North in season 2022-23, so there have been quite a few meetings between the sides. Here’s what happened over the last two seasons.

Prior to the current season, the last meeting between the teams was last season, on Friday, 18th April 2025, at Ashton Playing Fields. The Woods won the match 4-0 with goals from Micah Jackson, Miles Mitchell-Nelson, Pedro Carvalho and David Gokou-Siakouri. On Saturday, 16th November 2024, Woodford visited Lower Road and won 3-1. The Bridge took the lead after four minutes with an Owen Bellamy penalty before Kahlil Kirwan-Meade, David Gokou-Siakouri and Sonny Shilling wrapped up the points for The Woods. Oscar Jones was sent off after 55 minutes, and Emmanuel Martins received a red at 90+3.

On the 8th September 2023, the teams played out a 1-1 draw at Woodford with goals from Jon Evans (midfield maestro!) and a 92nd-minute equaliser from Jaedon Phillips. The teams met twice more that season, both at Lower Road. On the 15th December 2023, they drew 0-0, and on the 12th January 2024, Woodford won 2-0 in the Errington Cup 1st Round. Marko Protic scored both goals.

This season, the teams met at Lower Road on Saturday, 29th November, and The Woods won 4-0. Goals came from Marko Protic in the 25th minute and a 69th-minute penalty, Malaki Toussaint (42 minutes) and Emmanuel Okunja in the 72nd minute. Attendance was 100.

Ollie Sotoyinbo is at number 2 in the ESL Premier goal table with 16 goals (Ellis Devereux is number 3 with 14).
Ollie is a regular scorer (he’s the one on the left in the picture, I think) and scored a penalty in The Woods last game at Saffron Walden Town. From my FWP source, it looks like he missed the whole of December, but now he’s back and definitely one to watch.

Also watch out for the ever dangerous David Gokou-Siakouri if he plays, although he hasn’t so far in January, so he may be injured, which would help The Bridge cause as he’s a top, top player.

Finally, keep an eye out for ex-Bridge men Sam Owusu, Michael Agboola and Emmanuel Okunja.