VS SITTINGBOURNE
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE | SOUTH EAST DIVISION SATURDAY APRIL 12, 2025 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
FROM THE CHAIR
Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Vistavis Community Stadium for today’s Isthmian League South East Division match against Sittingbourne.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Brickies’ officials, management, players and supporters as well as this afternoon’s referee Billy Wootten and his assistants Anastasiya Voloshchuk and Ryan Hetherington. I trust everyone enjoys their brief stay and our hospitality.
Drew and his team have secured our status for next season with four with four matches still to play, including today, even though we have only won once in our last seven matches.
Steyning, Lancing and Hythe are already relegated and the other team to join them will realistically be either Phoenix Sports or Littlehampton although Herne Bay are not yet mathematically safe.
At the other end of the table, Ryan Maxwell’s Sittingbourne are in second place, seven points behind Ramsgate, both with four matches to play, so the Brickies could still finish in top spot. The other three play-off places are occupied by Burgess Hill, Margate and Merstham although Beckenham and Three Bridges still have the chance to displace the latter two.
It was great to see our Under 18s captain Tyler Grant make his first team debut on Saturday when he came on as sub at Sheppey United.
We make the long trip to Deal Town next Saturday and are then at home on Easter Monday against Eastbourne Town (kick off 1pm) before finishing the season away at AFC Croydon on Saturday 26th April. Thank you all for coming along this afternoon and whatever the outcome of the match, I trust everyone enjoys their visit to East Court and I wish you all a safe journey home.
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).
Followuson:
ClubManagement:
Chair & Treasurer: Richard Tramontin
Secretary & Vice chair: Brian McCorquodale
Senior Football Officer: Steve Norris
Head of Recruitment: Matt Wheeler
Commercial Manager: Steve Norris
Club Welfare Officer: Brian McCorquodale
Disability Welfare Officer: Stuart Gibson
Safety & Facilities Officer: Barry Bryant
Bar Manager: Stuart Gibson
Press Officer: Bruce Talbot
ED&I Officer: Andy Dodson
FootballManagement
Manager: Drew Cooney
Assistant Manager and Team Coach: Ian Nicholls
Assistant Team Coach: Steve Sargent, Matt Wheeler
Physiotherapist:
Kit manager:
Disability Team Manager:
Youth Coordinator & Development: Under-18 Managers:
Under-16 Amber Manager:
Under-16 Black Manager:
Under-14 Manager:
Under-12 Amber Manager:
Under 12 Black Manager:
Under 11 Manager:
Shannon McEvoy Vacant
Ant Bowler
Jay De Vito
Lewis McDonnell & Kevin Wright
Lewis McDonnell
Nigel Leach
Sean Clarabut
Ted Symes
Tom Butcher
Ben Payne
FROM THE Dugout
A BIG TEST TODAY - BUT WE CAN RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
We welcome everyone for today’s game against second placed Sittingbourne.
With the gap at the top seven points and Sittingbourne still to play Ramsgate the league tittle is still very much a two-horse race. For ourselves we look to stop our losing streak today and reproduce the sort of performance which enabled us to beat Ramsgate earlier in the season.
Generally it’s been a really positive week and it’s been the first time in eight weeks we have been able to train twice which has been really good for the group.
We have a familiar face in Finlay Lovett back for the last four games and Omar back from his suspension today to offer another selection option.
We know we face a huge task today but as I have said previously we want to give the fans something to smile about between now and the end of April.
I have told the lads that as long as you show our supporters both home and away that your willing to fight for everything they will 100 per cent back you.
They are without doubt the best in the league even in their minority. So we need to make sure we give you something to smile about in these last four games.
Thanks again
Drew
SITTINGBOURNE TheAwayEnd
The club was started as Sittingbourne United back in 1881. In 1886 it became Sittingbourne FC and played at the Bull Ground in the centre of town. In 1892 the club gained senior status. The club won its first major title in 1897/98 when it won the Kent League. The Kent Senior Cup followed in 1902.
After the First World War more senior cup and league titles followed with the club also enjoying the first of three spells in the Southern League. The club reached the first round of the FA Cup in 1962 but lost 3-0 at Hinckley Athletic. Back in the Kent League Sittingbourne were one of the strongest teams throughout the 1970s and 1980s - unlike the decade that followed, when what happened on the field got more attention than what went on off it.
In February 1990, the club decided to sell its town centre Bull Ground (now Sainsbury’s supermarket) and buy a 23-acre site on the town’s Eurolink estate. A magnificent stadium with a 2,000-seat stand, restaurants, bars, sumptuous dressing rooms, greyhound track and training pitches was the envy of non-league football. There was success on the pitch when, in their first season at Central Park, Sittingbourne won the Kent League without losing a game – the only senior football team throughout Europe to achieve that feat in the 1990/91 season.
Promotion to the Southern League followed with the championship of the Southern Division secured in 1993 followed by promotion to highest level achieved by the club since it’s foundation. The ground record was broken five times during that one season with 5,951 spectators watching a friendly with Spurs and more than 3,000 at the match with local rivals Gravesend – a Beazer Homes Southern Division record.
More money flowed in with the £21,000 sale of Neil Emblen and Mickey Harle to MilIwall before the bubble spectacularly burst. Debts of more than £1 million were revealed, the team got relegated, the ground was closed for a while despite the intervention of the local council and the club was wound up. Somehow Sittingbourne have survived it all and even got back to the Southern Premier Division during this traumatic time (in Steve Lovell’s first spell as manager), finishing an equal highest ever eighth before the financial problems again began to bite and relegation followed. Because of the FA reconstruction of the pyramid Sittingbourne faced a brand-new challenge playing a number of “unknown” teams in the Ryman Isthmian League in season 2006-2007. The 2009/10 season was one of the best since the financial problems as Sittingbourne won the Kent Senior Cup for the first time in 50 years.
For the 2013-2014 campaign, Sittingbourne decided to leave their home of ten years and accept an invitation to move to Woodstock Park a 14-acre area with superb social facilities. After a threeyear reign as manager, Nick Davis resigned and coach Aslan Odev took over and after initially taking The Brickies to the play-offs he stood down, paving the way in January 2019 for Dover Athletic Academy development manager Chris Lynch, to take over. His assistant Darren Blackburn had a spell in charge during the Covid-affected 2019/20 season before Davis returned for a second spell.
He resigned in early January 2023 after 12 games without a win and the club brought in Ryan Maxwell to take his place.
As well as mounting a season-long challenge for promotion. Sittingbourne also reached the last eight of the FA Trophy before losing to Aldershot, having beaten another National League side Southend United in the round of 16.
After going out of the Trophy they lost two of their next three in the league to fall behind Ramsgate, but have since won four in a row. They will be hoping to take the promotion battle down to the last day ... when they host Ramsgate.
FIXTURES & RESULTS
AUGUST
Sat 3 AugAGlebeFA Cup EP2-0192Folkes, Tighe
Sat 10 AugAMargateIsthmian South East0-0402
Sat 17 AugHRedhillFA Cup P1-3193Spinks
Fri 23 AugHAFC Croydon AthleticIsthmian South East2-1228Lawson, Weaire
Mon 26 AugASevenoaks TownIsthmian South East2-2107Harris, Daniel
Sat 31 AugHDeal TownIsthmian South East2-3124Daniel, Tighe SEPTEMBER
Tue 3 SepHMersthamVelocity Cup 20-1115
Sat 7 SepAHartley WintneyFA Trophy 1Q1-2163Harris
Tue 10 SepHBroadbridge HeathIsthmian South East1-293Folkes
Sat 14 SepAPhoenix SportsIsthmian South East2-186Daniel, Weaire
Sat 28 SepABurgess Hill TownIsthmian South East1-2415Humpherston OCTOBER
Tue 8 OctANewhavenSussex Cup 21-1Harris
East Grinstead Town win 7-6 on penalties
Sat 12 OctASteyning Town CommunityIsthmian South East3-2110Andrade Filipe, Tighe, Folkes
Tue 15 OctHAshford UnitedIsthmian South East1-3113Tighe
Sat 26 OctAThree BridgesIsthmian South East1-066Christmas NOVEMBER
Sat 2 NovHErith TownIsthmian South East0-4123
Tue 5 NovABroadbridge HeathIsthmian South East2-4107Daniel, Tighe
Sat 9 NovHPhoenix SportsIsthmian South East4-2101Harris, Humpherston, Christmas, Daniel
Tue 12 NovHLancingSussex Cup 30-277
Sat 16 NovAAshford UnitedIsthmian South East0-3434
Sat 30 NovHLancingIsthmian South East1-3119Jabbie DECEMBER
Tue 3 DecHRamsgateIsthmian South East2-1102Lovatt 2
Sat 14 DecAHerne BayIsthmian South East2-1374Thompson, Harris
Tue 17 DecABeckenham TownIsthmian South East2-2182Tighe, Harris
Thu 26 DecAEastbourne TownIsthmian South East1-1309Tighe
Sat 28 DecHMargateIsthmian South East0-2210
JANUARY
Sat 18 JanALittlehampton TownIsthmian South East1-0278Harris pen
Tue 21 JanASittingbourneIsthmian South East0-3189
Sat 25 JanALancingIsthmian South East6-2263Lovatt 3, Daniel 2, Tighe
FEBRUARY
Sat 15 FebHSteyning Town CommunityIsthmian South East0-1139
Tue 18 FebHSheppey UnitedIsthmian South East2-196Daniel, Humpherston
Sat 22 FebARamsgateIsthmian South East1-21208Tighe
MARCH
Sat 1 MarHThree BridgesIsthmian South East0-1220
Tue 4 MarHHythe TownIsthmian South East2-195Own goal, Lovatt
Sat 8 MarAErith TownIsthmian South East0-0107
Tue 11 MarHBeckenham TownIsthmian South East2-1121Gibson, Daniel
Sat 15 MarHHerne BayIsthmian South East0-4164
Tue 18 MarAMersthamIsthmian South East0-9356
Sat 22 MarAHythe TownIsthmian South East1-0287Tighe
Tue 25 MarHSevenoaks TownIsthmian South East1-3116Harrison
Sat 29 MarHLittlehampton TownIsthmian South East0-3123
APRIL
Wed 2 AprHBurgess Hill TownIsthmian South East1-4144Wearie
Sat 5 AprASheppey UnitedIsthmian South East1-3326Daniel
Sat 12 AprHSittingbourneIsthmian South East3pm
Sat 19 AprADeal TownIsthmian South East3pm
Mon 21 AprHEastbourne TownIsthmian South East1pm
Sat 26 AprAAFC Croydon AthleticIsthmian South East3pm
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. SITTINGBOURNE
Mattie Pierson
Warren Colman
Tom Cadman
Michael Wilson
Matthew Weaire
Glenn Wilson (C) nn
Charlie Harris
Connor Tighe
Alex Andrade Filipe
Omar Folkes
Matthew Daniel
Kieran Humpherston
Will Hoare
Luke Harrison
Harrison Parker
Charlie Gibson
Brady Ayoola
Tyler Grant
Chris Ojemen
Roco Rees
Donvieve Jones
Henry Lukombo nn
Luke Woodward
Liam Smith (C) nn
Chris Arthur nn
Troy Howard nn
Ayman El-Mogharbel
Mitchell May
10 Ryan Kingsford
Antonio Morgan
Ade Azeez
15 Richie Hamill nn 16 Jean-Baptiste Fischer
Jack Steventon
NEXT MATCH
Eastbourne Town
Monday 21st April 2025
3pm MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Billy Wootten
Assistant Ref: Anastasiya Voloshchuk
Assistant Ref: Ryan Hetherington
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
Programmes from the Past by Lester Medcalf
A couple of programmes from the past to share with you for games played in the past on more or less the same date as today's game. We'll start with East Grinstead v Hassocks on Saturday 11 April 2009 in division one of the Sussex County League. This was the Saturday of the Easter weekend. We were struggling near the bottom of the league, hoping to pick up enough points to avoid relegation. The league table shows us in 17th place (20 teams in the league). Manager Steve Johnson tells us that this is our last home game with three away games still to come. However, “our woeful home record” will soon be a thing of the past while ”our form on the road in recent weeks has been good” - he thinks we'll be okay, with our next away game in a couple of days away to Lingfield on Easter Monday.
The programme has a match report of our most recent game on the previous Saturday at home to fifth-placed Arundel. We had been thumped 6-0 in the away match back in October and, given our home record, a 1-1 draw was OK. Simon Funnell scoring the second-half goal after Arundel's first half goal. It was in fact our first home match point in 2009.
The league table shows us that our visitors from Hassocks were in fact only one place above us, but had nine points more. They had also beaten us 3-0 in September in their home league match. There's also a page in the programme looking at past matches against them with a brief report of an away match against them in 2003. We lost that match 3-1 (Steve Banks scoring for us) which was our sixth consecutive defeat. However, it proved to be a turning point as we won eight of our next nine matches.
So did the last home game against Hassocks see continuation of our “woeful record” or would it be another turning point? Sorry but the woeful record continued with Hassocks winning 2-1. (However, we did manage to get enough points from those last three away matches to avoid relegation.)
HONOURS EVEN AGAINST WALTON
Next we'll have a look at the programme produced for one of the last games of our first season in the Isthmian League Walton & Hersham v East Grinstead on Saturday 11 April 2015. After a welcome to us - the first time we have played on Walton & Hersham's ground – we are reminded we had won the home match 2-0 on a horrible Tuesday evening in December (more about that game later). We then get very full match reports of Walton & Hersham's last two matches and their attempt to “start picking up maximum points to help us stay clear of relegation”. A 3-0 home win against Horsham (who were then bottom of the league) had helped a lot, though an early goal to opponents Walton Casuals on the following Monday - which turned out to be the only goal – didn't help.
The programme then has a match report of that December match at East Court - under the heading of “We've met before....”. I assume it was the same report that appeared in one of their December programmes. We're told that Walton were camped in our half of the pitch for the first five or six minutes, but that as soon as we ventured into their half Steve Sargent scored. And after some 25 minutes we had a corner which Matt Geard took. The ball was headed away but the linesman raised his flag to tell the ref that the ball had crossed the goal line, “although there seemed considerable doubt that was the case.” So 2-0 it was. Chances came and went – mostly to Walton – and they were “denied a clear penalty” early in the second half. But 2-0 is where it finished. Let's get back to the April game. A quick look at the programme shows us in 21st place (24 teams in the league) with Walton & Hersham three places (and 4 points) above us. And the four-point gap was maintained when Richmond Kissi scored for us after an earlier goal by Walton & Hersham.
DEFEAT AT SHEPPEY
We went down 3-1 at Sheppey United despite a late goal from Matt Daniel (above). Our other picture shows Brad Ayoola attacking the defence. Pictures: Stuart Gibson.
MATCH ACTION
