THE OFFICIAL MATCHDAY PROGRAMME OF EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC | SEASON 2026|27 | ISSUE NO 8 | FREE
FA VASE | FIRST ROUND SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER 2026 | KICK OFF: 3PM
VS BEDFONT FA VASE | FIRST ROUND SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER 2026 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS Tel: 01342 325885
WELCOME TO THE VISTAVIS STADIUM Good afternoon and welcome to the players, officials and supporters here from Bedfont. Enjoy your stay and safe travels home. It must have been a long week for Andy and the boys to stew over events at Seaford last Saturday. To lose a 2-0 lead against pretty modest opposition and concede three poor goals in the second half was disappointing to say the least. Anyway, onto today and the chance to progress in the Vase and don't forget we are back in league action on Tuesday down at Lancing.
OWNERSHIP STATEMENT In accordance with the Football Association's Rule 2.13 (publication of ownership) in relation to Step 1 to Step 6 Clubs within the National League System East Grinstead Town FC is an unincorporated association / members club and a Community Amateur Sports Club (reg no CASC 02270).
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EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT
FROM THE
Dugout Welcome back to the Vistavis Stadium for this afternoon's FA Vase game against Bedfont We wish the visitors safe travels back after the game. Since my last notes we enjoyed a 2-1 victory over Little Common a fortnight ago and although we neeed a last-minute winner three points is three points and what we deserved. We then capped that result off with revenge at our rivals Crawley Down Gatwick with a dominant 3-0 away win. It was a game during which our keeper was sent off for a questionable handball outside the box which means Harry has to sit out today through suspension. Last Saturday saw us fly into a 2-0 lead at Seaford. It was a game we were so comfortable in which is why I was furious at full time when our winning run came to an end against a team we should have beaten comfortably. It was an arrogant, lazy and unacceptable second-half display. I can only apologise to the fans who travelled as that was far below the standards we set. I am confident we will see the right response this afternoon. Bedfont will be tough opposition. They drew with Faversham Town, who are a league above, in the FA Cup and Faversham required a replay to ensure their progress in the competition. Do not underestimate them - this will be a tough battle Today we welcome Ethan Binnie in goal on loan from Crystal Palace under21s as stand in for Harry Get behind the boys and enjoy the game.
Andy
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT
The Away End
BEDFONT
Bedfont & Feltham Football Club was formed in May 2012 following the amalgamation of Bedfont Football & Social Club with Feltham FC, taking the place of Feltham in the step 6 Combined Counties Division 1. The changes bought some decent results; two fifth place finishes in their first two seasons. The 2015-16 season saw a runners-up spot, three points behind CB Hounslow United and this was good enough for promotion to the Premier Division. The club only lasted at the higher level for one season, finishing second-bottom and 13 points adrift of safety. Season 2017-18 saw the club finish in 17th place. In the summer of 2018, Adam Bessent joined from Staines Lammas and their loss was Bedfont & Feltham's gain. Season 2019-20 saw an improvement again and Bedfont surged from mid-table to the top echelons, but with the enforced early finish because of the Covid-19 pandemic we ended in a disappointing sixth place. In the FA Cup, 2015-16 saw the club's best run as they beat London Tigers and AFC Hayes (both after replays). A tough test against AFC Rushden & Diamonds awaited them in the 1st Qualifying Round where the run ended, despite a credible performance in the 2-1 defeat. In the FA Vase, 2019-20 saw the Yellows reach the second round, losing 1-3 after extra time to Welling Town. Other cup triumphs include the CCL Division 1 Challenge Cup, lifted in 2015 as they beat Worcester Park 4-3 on penalties in the final as well as the Middlesex Premier Cup a year earlier. Season 2020-21 was also cut short due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and at the time of the season's closure, the club was sitting in 12th place. In season 2021/22 the team achieved an 11th place finish in the league and were losing finalists in the Middlesex Charity Cup final. Season 2022/23 saw the club revert to its original name of Bedfont FC. The team was managed by Tony Bersey with the support of Danny James and James Key. The league season started strong, occupying a top six position for most of the season including spells at the top. We finished eighth following a backlog of fixtures at the end of the season. In the cups we beat Step 5 opposition on four occasions. we were one of only two Step 6 teams to remain in the FA Vase at the second-round proper stage (equalling our clubs best ever run). The 2023/24 season was a season of much change with the management team changing three times. Season 2025 2026 saw the management team consist of James Key and playermanager Charlie Lawrence accompanied by Nathan Pons, Ryan Lloyd and Luke Dunn. It was the most successful season in recent years as Bedfont won the Middlesex Charity Cup and secured promotion to the Combined Counties North Division following a play-off win versus Brook House.
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT
LEAGUE
STANDINGS
SOUTHERN COUNTIES LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION TEAM
PL
W
D
L
F
A
GD
PTS
1
Eastbourne United
12
8
2
2
42
17
25
26
2
Haywards Heath Town
10
8
2
0
24
5
19
26
3
Roffey
10
6
2
2
26
10
16
20
4
Hassocks
9
6
2
1
25
11
14
20
5
Lingfield
10
6
2
2
27
18
9
20
6
East Grinstead Town
11
6
2
3
24
15
9
20
7
Guernsey
11
6
2
3
22
17
5
20
8
Bexhill United
11
6
1
4
22
19
3
19
9
AFC Varndeanians
12
5
2
5
11
14
-3
17
10 Pagham
9
5
1
3
22
14
8
16
11
13
4
4
5
20
25
-5
16
12 Newhaven
11
4
1
6
15
25
-10
13
13 Seaford United
11
4
0
7
16
24
-8
12
14 Midhurst
9
3
1
5
14
21
-7
10
15
Billingshurst
13
3
2
8
19
29
-10
11
16 Forest Row
13
3
2
8
20
31
-11
11
17
10
3
0
7
13
23
-10
9
18 Wick
10
3
0
7
12
27
-15
9
19 Little Common
10
2
1
7
11
27
-16
7
20 Horsham YMCA
11
1
3
7
11
24
-13
6
Crawley Down Gatwick
Lancing
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT
FIXTURES & RESULTS
Date
Venue
K/O / Score
Att Scorers
Haywards Heath Town Guernsey Bexhill Town Crawley Down Gatwick Wick Bognor Regis Town Jarvis Brook Hassocks Forest Row
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier FA Cup extra prelim SCFL Premier SCFL Premier FA Cup prelim Peter Bentley Cup SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
0-0 0-1 3-0 0-1 3-1 2-1 1-1 (3-4 4-4 3-1
560 277 172 224 148 486 144 204 255
A H A H A H A
Dulwich Hamlet Peacehaven Lydd Town Pagham Eastbourne United Little Common Crawley Down Gatwick
FA Cup 1st qual Senior Cup 1 FA Vase 2 qual SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
0-4 1-1 (4-5 9-0 5-3 2-0 2-1 3-0
1487 111 Pamment Harris 3, Perry 3, Folkes, Smith, 177 Harris 3, own goal, Pamment 277 Perry, Folkes 251 Theophanous, Smith 270 Pamment 2, Harris (pen)
A H A H A A
Seaford Town Bedfont Lancing Billingshurst AFC Varndeanians Roffey
SCFL Premier FA Vase 1 SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
2-3 3pm 7.45pm 3pm 3pm 3pm
86
H A H
Haywards Heath Town Guernsey Horsham YMCA
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm
A A H A
Newhaven Hassocks Lancing Lingfield
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm 11am
H A H A
Midhurst Forest Row Seaford Town Little Common
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm 3pm
H H H H
Old Varndeanians Roffey Bexhill Town Eastbourne United
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm 3pm
A A A A H
Billingshurst Pagham Wick Midhurst Lingfield
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm 3pm 11am
A H A
Bexhill United Newhaven Horsham YMCA
SCFL Premier SCFL Premier SCFL Premier
3pm 3pm 3pm
H/A Opponents
AUGUST Sat 1 Aug Tues 4 Aug Sat 8 Aug Sat Aug 15 Tues Aug 18 Sat 22 Aug Tues 25 Aug Sat 29 Aug Mon 31 Aug
A H H H H A A H H
Pamment 2, Perry Harris, Pamment, Nandhra Perry 2 Maguire-Drew Pamment 2, Perry, Gayler Harris 2, own goal
SEPTEMBER Sat 5 Sep Tue 8 Sep Sat 12 Sep Tues 15 Sep Sat 19 Sep Sat 26 Sep Tue 29 Sep
OCTOBER Sat 3 Oct Sat Oct 10 Tues 13 Oct Sat 17 Oct Sat 24 Oct Sat 31 Oct
Pamment, Theophanous
Horsham FC
NOVEMBER Sat 7 Nov Sat 14 Nov Sat 28 Nov
DECEMBER Sat 5 Dec Sat 12 Dec Sat 19 Dec Mon 28 Dec
JANUARY Sat 2 Jan Sat 16 Jan Sat 23 Jan Sat 30 Jan
FEBRUARY Sat 6 Feb Sat 13 Feb Sat 20 Feb Sat 27 Feb
MARCH Sat 6 Mar Sat 13 Mar Sat 20 Mar Sat 27 Mar Mon 29 Mar
APRIL Sat 3 Apr Sat 10 Apr Sat 17 Apr
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT
TEAM LINE UP EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. Harry Howes Curtis Gayler Nick D'Arienzo Alex Malins Nathan Cooper Charlie Harris Ollie Starkey Shay Leahy Dan Perry Tegan Freeman Kieron Pamment Mason Saunders Shea Cascoe Rogers Omar Folkes Joe Stone Max Marshall Harry Harrington Josh Mandrha Luke Leppard
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BEDFONT George Armstrong Kenneth Acquah Jake Beck Nardoni Jack Beech Jacob Bennett Bradley Coomber Jack Cuthbertson Luke Dunn Cameron Gurney Alfie Harburn Jake Heighes Patrick Kavanagh Samad Kazi Dunnell King Luke Maguire Sekani McCalmon Nathaniel Mensah Conor Molyneaux Cyril Ocansey James Payne Zac Peters Shaun Preddie Harvey Seeman Andre Smith Kildane Tesfu Harry Tubb Glenn Yala
NEXT HOME MATCH
MATCH OFFICIALS:
Billingshurst
Referee: Rob King Assistant Ref: Matthew James Assistant Ref: James Beal
3pm Saturday 17 October, 2026
This matchday programme was created online: www.matchday-programmes.co.uk
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EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN
HISTORY PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER MEDCALF With today’s game being an FA Vase match I’m going to talk about a couple of programmes that I have in my collection for past East Grinstead Vase matches. The first of the programmes happens to have been for a Vase match on the same date as today’s 2026 game against Bedfont - Abingdon United v East Grinstead on Saturday 10 October 1998. The programme has the teams very early on page 3 and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the East Grinstead team includes two sons of current club people - Richard Tramontin’s son Marc and my own sun Daniel. In the event I don’t think either of them did take any part in the game. Obviously much of the programme features the home club, though we do have two pages for our own club history. Their own club history is a bit smaller than ours - they had only started life in 1946. In fact they aren’t the only Abingdon club - Abingdon Town were established in 1870! The programme has a number of shortish items with an early statement that “we are now climbing up the Premier Division (of the Hellenic League).” Abingdon were seventh at the time (6 wins and 3 defeats, but no draws) though they had two games in hand over most of their surrounding clubs. We were in division 2 of the Sussex County League and were in 11th place. There was a rather strong newspaper report about Abingdon United’s recent FA Cup replay away to Stourbridge. Firstly what turned out to be Stourbridge’s winning goal after some 60 minutes - they believed that Stourbridge’s number 9 brought the ball down with his hands before putting the ball into Abingdon’s net. And right at the end Abingdon were denied a penalty when they were certain that one of their forwards was brought down inside the penalty area by the Stourbridge goalkeeper. The referee didn’t agree. So how did our game against Abingdon United go? I didn’t go to see it and all that I can tell you is that Abingdon beat us 2-0.
VASE PROGRESS AGAINST RYE Next we’re going to have a look at the programme for East Grinstead v Rye United on Saturday 4 October 2008 in the first round of that year’s FA Vase. Richard Tramontin’s notes remind us of what happened when we played Rye United in the FA Vase in 2005 - with about 6 minutes to go we were 3-1 in front and when the six minutes had been played we had lost 5-3. Painful it was. A quick look through this programme revealed a list of all the teams that we had played in the FA Vase. And sitting among them in 1988 was the club we are playing today on October 10 - Bedfont. It was an Extra Preliminary round match and was played here at East Court. And Bedfont were to travel home with a 3-0 win. The programme for the Rye game has our manager Steve Norris recalling that we had had a close win in the previous preliminary round of the 2008 Vase at home to Lancing when we scored the 2-1 winning goal a couple of minutes from the end of extra-time. And we have a couple of match reports for league matches played in the previous week - games that we failed to score in. A 1-0 home defeat against top of the table Ringmer followed by a 3-0 away defeat against Hassocks. The Hassocks match was rather spoiled when the referee made a mistake in a second half booking. One of our players had sworn at a couple of our own players when they made a big error. The ref showed the yellow card to Dave Gellatly for swearing at a match official and, because of a first-half booking, it became a red card. But one of the linesmen told the referee that Dave Gellatly had not been responsible for the swearing - that was Mannie Neville. The referee nevertheless showed Mannie Neville a red card and sent him off (instead of showing him a yellow card and keeping him on the pitch). So we had to play the rest of the game with 10 players rather than with 11. The programme’s league table shows us in 16th place (out of the 20 in division 1) while Rye were second from bottom in division 2. We made a decent start and after some 35 minutes we looked comfortable with goals from Alex McEwan and Dave Gellatly. However by the time the ref had blown his half-time whistle Rye were back on level terms 2-2. Then some three minutes into the second half Mannie Neville gave us a 3-2 lead which Nick Sullivan increased a minute or two before the final whistle - and 4-2 to us was how it ended. (I perhaps ought to tell you how we did in the next round of the 2008 FA Vase - but I’m leaving that to later.)
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VS BEDFONT