Aveley game

Hampton loss to St Albans means our final match has ratcheted up in intensity. Instead of a slim hope of beating us by 8 goals the hosts now focus on beating Hampton to the last play off spot. An Avely win and Hampton loss at Maidstone would give the Essex team 7th spot.

7th place would give an extra day prep, but who would we prefer? Probably not another Worthing visit who are the form team currently. Our recent record at Braintree isn't great. Maidstone have been back in form but a loss v Truro and a 3g pitch might be the best of the bunch for us.

It's important we go into the play offs off the back of a winning run to give us momentum so a big game for us.

Not Chelmsford. Perhaps significant that they’re the only one of the four who we lost to in the away fixtures and our record is not good there. I think there’s a problem with the players lifting themselves what with the surroundings. The best of our four performances were at Maidstone and Worthing - no surprise there as they have 3G - but as Worthing showed in the cup game, they are a dangerous team. Braintree are very streetwise and would be a tough nut to crack. So Maidstone for me, despite their tiresome drum, solitary song and teenage fans!

Seems ironic that we would be better off finishing 7th rather than 6th as it would give us an extra day to recover, although 6th does mean we could host the final!

Looking at the table and Saturday's fixtures Farnborough are still in the mix for 7th, although they would need to win at Weymouth and for both Hampton and Aveley not to win their games (Hampton are at Maidstone who could still make 3rd).

Whatever happens, we haven't got it easy with a long midweek trip facing us, but it would be good to at least get over the first hurdle this time.

To be honest our home form over the last few months has not been great. I am quite happy that we may finish the season with four away games as I think that gives us the best chance even though we will lose out on the financial benefit of a home tie.
We will have to beat 3 of the other 5 clubs in it so it doesn't really matter which we play first.
In previous seasons we have been rolled over by physically stronger sides. With Russe out I would have preferred Lines in there but so be it. Hayfield and Smith will need to be strong.

Not at our best today against a team who were really up for it and deserved to claim their place in the playoffs. Maybe their early goal was a fluke but we couldn’t have complained if we had been trailing by several more at half time. The performance by their number 11 was possibly the best by an opponent this season and frankly he looked too good for this level. Hopefully Raynes is fit enough to start on Tuesday as we’re going to need plenty of experience from the start and he helped to tighten things up a little after he replayed the ineffective Yeboah.

not worried. the big one is tuesday. no red or yellow cards and no injuries is all that matters. plus were not going to bust a gut today when we need energy for tuesday. most relaxed i've felt all season today was. a dead rubber for us really. not a dead rubber for aveley though and congratulations to them for getting 7th. fantastic achievement for them. there biggest ever league attendance too.

Forgot to add that it’s an impressive setup at Aveley. A new ground with excellent bar/function room (despite the beer prices!). The terraces had good cover, if rather low, and two comfortable stands. The locals seemed very friendly and supported their team with passion. The 3G pitch seemed ok and didn’t appear to suffer from the mass invasion of children at half time!