VS VCD ATHLETIC
FA TROPHY | 2ND QUAL ROUND SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2025 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
BUZZ FROM THE NEST
Good afternoon and welcome to today's game.
It seems to be a case of one step forward and two back at the moment. Any momentum we had after knocking Binfield out to set up today's game was lost with the concession of yet another very early goal at home to Hassocks last Saturday, and they ended up being good value for their win because they carried the greater attacking threat.
Drew introduced three new players last week and we hope they can settle into the squad and play an important part over the coming weeks and months. Some changes to the fixture list are outlined elsewhere, but we face Hassocks again next Saturday at The Beacon in the reverse league game. COME ON THE WASPS!
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:
FROM THE Dugout
Afternoon everyone and welcome to today’s first round game in the FA Trophy.
The Trophy so far has been the only victory myself and the lads have picked up so far this season. It’s been a really tough start not just for myself but also the players. When you fail to pick up any points in six games you start to ask questions about a number of things you have done over the pre season. Have we recruited well enough? Have we got the right blend of personnel.
It’s a horrible situation to be in, but we have sat down with the lads this week and had a really good discussion about performances to date, areas we can improve and most importantly that the group believes in what we are asking them to do and that we all stick together.
There have been positives situations but we must understand how and why we are not converting these positions into wins and more importantly points.
Today allows us a break from the league, which will hopefully give us an extra week for a few key players to be fit and ready for next week's league game against Hassocks. We are still missing Dan Cadman and Jay Richardson which really restricts us from setting up how we want to, but we have to work through this and look to have a positive result. We welcome in a couple of new additions this week, Jed Borders joins us from Bromley alongside last week's new boys Alfie, Dawid, Gabriel and Zhechko who also came in from Bromley.
We have also managed to signed Callum Corbin who is a really exciting player who was also previously with Bromley and spent time on loan last year at Merstham. Hopefully the new lads can bond with the group quickly and we look forward to turning things around.
Thanks as always for your support - get behind the boys today.
VCD ATHLETIC TheAwayEnd
THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE VICKERS
In 2012 manager Ricky Bennett left the club due to outside pressures, and in his place the club secured the services of Tony Russell, previously manager of Erith Town FC, who joined with his assistant Ray Powell. With most of the players leaving with the previous manager the club was in disarray, but a side was quickly formed by the new management, and a magnificent record breaking run of 17 victories and 2 draws in the last 19 league fixtures enabled the club to once more gain promotion to the Ryman Football League Division One North.
Starting as favourites for relegation, the club had a stunning run, winning the first 15 games and heading the table for all but a couple of weeks throughout the campaign, and on the last day of the season, sitting in second place, the Vickers defeated Romford FC 6-0 while leaders Witham Town could only draw their last game which saw us secure the title by a point, taking the club to the Premier Division, its highest ever level in the pyramid.
The club struggled for a lot of the season, spending most of the time in the relegation places but winning the last six games saw us climb to safety, finally finishing in 18th position to maintain our place in the division.
Manager Tony Russell then resigned, taking the entire side with him, but the club acted quickly to secure the services of Keith McMahon as new First Team Manager. Keith came with a wealth of experience having taken neighbours Thamesmead Town from the Kent League to the Ryman League Premier Division but, following a difficult start, we couldn’t find the level of consistency needed in the Premier Division and were relegated.
After spells in Division One (North) and the South East Division we were unable to achieve our expectations, and Keith left the Vickers to be replaced by former VCD player Nick Davis. His tenure began with the upsets caused by the Covid pandemic until we finally got back to normal, and after a promising start were always around the play-off spots, but we finished poorly and ended the season in a disappointing ninth position.
After the campaign ended Nick informed the club that he had accepted a position back at his former club Sittingbourne, leaving the club with a search for a new manager. Former VCD favourite Grant Basey was appointed, bringing with him former player Michael Power as his assistant, but Grant resigned towards the end of the season with Michael taking over the reins, and after a struggle we were unable to put a sustained run together resulting in our relegation to the SCEFL Premier Division after losing narrowly in a play-off. Power was released at the end of that season and the club quickly appointed Danny Joy and Ross Baker as joint managers, who took on the unenviable task of quickly getting together a new team. This gave us a lot of problems with an unsettled side in the early months, but in the run-in we put together a number of excellent performances with the squad looking very accomplished. With a number of new signings, the hope for the following season was to carry this on and push even further to make a serious challenge for the play-off spots. Expectations were exceeded however when we spent the entire season occupying one of the top two league positions, finally conceding the title to Faversham Town. The lottery of the play-offs beckoned but we held our nerve, beating Punjab United 2-0 in the semi final, and then Fisher 2-1 in the final to clinch promotion back to the Isthmian League South East Division. Under Danny and Ross’s stewardship with the addition of Martin McCarthy the club now looks to establish itself back at Step 4.
STANDINGS LEAGUE
FIXTURES & RESULTS
12 Aug H Three Bridges
23 Aug A Sittingbourne
13 Sep H Hassocks
20 Sep H VCD Athletic
27 Sep A Hassocks
Tue 30 Sep A Broadbridge Heath
OCTOBER Sat 4 Oct A Beckenham Town
7 Oct A Broadbridge Heath
11 Oct H Crowborough Athletic
14 Oct A Hassocks
1st rd
South East
18 Oct H Ashford United Isthmian South East 3pm Tue 21 Oct A Faversham
South East
Sat 25 Oct A Sheppey United Isthmian South East 3pm NOVEMBER
Sat Nov 1 H Hastings United Isthmian South East 3pm Sat Nov 8 A VCD Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Tue 11 Nov A Three Bridges Isthmian South East 7.45pm
Sat Nov 15 H Merstham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat Nov 22 A Margate Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 29 Nov H AFC Whyteleafe Isthmian South East 3pm
DECEMBER
Sat 6 Dec A AFC Croydon Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 13 Dec H Herne Bay Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 20 Dec A Eastbourne Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 27 Dec H Jersey Bulls Isthmian South East 3pm JANUARY
Sat 3 Jan A Sevenoaks Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 10 Jan H Erith Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 17 Jan H Broadbridge Heath Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 24 Jan A Crowborough Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm FEBRUARY
Sat 7 Feb A Deal Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Feb A Ashford United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 21 Feb H Sheppey United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Feb A Hastings United Isthmian South East 3pm MARCH
Sat 7 Mar H VCD Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Mar A Herne Bay Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 21 Mar H AFC Croydon Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Mar A Erith Town Isthmian South East 3pm APRIL
Sat 4 Apr H Sittingbourne Isthmian South East 3pm
Mon 6 Apr A Jersey Bulls Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 11 Apr H Faversham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 18 Apr A Merstham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 25 Apr H Margate Isthmian South East 3pm TBC A Faversham Town Isthmian South East
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. VCD ATHLETIC
Rex Porter
Neo Wooster
Alex Andrade Filipe
Dan Cadman
Tom Cadman
Matt Weaire
Jay Richardson
Ollie Deurell Benito
Luke Harrison
George Griffiths
Powell Ukah
Warren Colman
Finlay Lovatt
James Laws
Liam Trevatt
Joe Hasler
Terrique Hall-Anderson
Matt Daniel
Omar Folkes
Ollie Rawlins
Mason Saunders
Gabriel Darby
Alfie Hilden
Zhechko Zhelyaskov
Dawyd Przybylo
Callum Corbin
Jed Borders
NEXT HOME MATCH
Crowborough
Andrew Walker
Bethel Gboda
Izunna Ikebuasi
Richard Pingling
Sargent
Kileba
Referee:
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER
MEDCALF
We're going to have a look at a couple of past programmes for games played on the same date as today's match.
We go back a few years for the first of the programmes – East Grinstead v Lancing on Saturday 20 September 2008 in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Vase. Although you won't be able to see the programme I do need to tell you that - produced by Lee Quinn and 2025's programme man Bruce Talbot – it uses lots of attractive colour throughout.
We were in the middle of a busy spell of cup matches having played Hailsham on the previous Tuesday evening in the Sussex Charity RUR competition with a Sussex Senior Cup replay coming along on the following Tuesday evening. The programme's match report for the Hailsham match tells us that we'd had a poor first half and found ourselves 2-0 down. But a goal from Dave Gellatly in the first few seconds of the re-start put us back in the game. And for the next 25 minutes we missed several chances, only for Hailsham to score again with 15 minutes left to win the match 3-1.
We also have a match report for our most recent league match at home to East Preston. Again we were behind at half-time 1-0 and again we scored an early second half goal through Steve Causon. And we did manage to score again through Charlie Adsett to clinch a 2-1 win.
But what about the Lancing game? They were in division 2 of the County League while we were in division 1, having been promoted in the previous season. We had played Lancing in that previous season winning 1-0 at home (Simon Funnell scoring) and drawing 2-2 away (Marc Pelling and Michael Belli scoring for us).
The FA Vase match saw us again conceding the first goal in the first few minutes. We equalised halfway through the second half thanks to Michael Belli. Extra time was needed and with just two minutes remaining Tobi Hutchinson's left foot won the game for us.
A CASUALS AFFAIR
Next up is the programme for an Isthmian League game – East Grinstead v Corinthian-Casuals on Tuesday 20 September 2016.
The programme has a lot to say about our previous game at home to Godalming Town in the League Cup – the two of us in bottom two places in the league. We thought we had won the match when Callum Emptage scored to give us a 2-1 lead with just a few minutes to go. But Godalming equalised with virtually the last kick. Onto penalties, with a number being missed or saved. Penalty number 16 went Godalming's winning 6-5 way.
Team manager Matt Longhurst tells us that he is introducing a number of new players, most of whom would be playing in the game against Corinthian-Casuals. The season had been a difficult one so far and the programme's league table confirms that we were second from bottom with just one win alongside 5 defeats. Four of those defeats had seen us failing to score. However, there was some hope for us in that in our most recent league match away to Chatham Town we had been 2-0 down but came back to win 3-2 with a couple of goals from Marcus Elliott and another from Will Thomas.
Visitors Corinthian-Casuals on the other hand were in second place with 5 wins, 1 draw and just 1 defeat. They had also scored more goals than any other team in the league. We were likely to find it a hard match. I didn't see the match as I was busy coaching athletes and while I know the score I don't know anything about the game. Before the match we would have settled for a draw and that's what we got as 2-2 was how it ended with our goals coming from Marcus Elliott and Tashi Jay Kwanie.
MEET THE 2025-26 SQUAD
Rex Porter
Goalkeeper Rex joined us from Bromley in the summer on a season-long loan. At 17 he already has the physical attributes to be a good keeper.
Neo Wooster
Midfielder is a product of the Dorking FC academy and has gained first team experience at Dorking and Lancing last season.
Alex Andrade Filipe
Experienced defender who joined the club in 2023 and has made more than 70 appearances since then.
Dan Cadman
Younger brother of Tom and, like his sibling, a full-back. Previous clubs include Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill Town.
Tom Cadman
Tom is a versatile player who has played for multiple clubs at this level and above including Burgess Hill, Whitehawk and Haywards Heath. Into his second spell with the Wasps, for whom his dad and grandfather also played.
Matt Weaire
Central defender who joined the club in July 2023. Was a youngster with Brighton and Colchester United before spells in non-league at Lewes and Cray Wanderers.
Jay Richardson
After being in our youth system, Jay has been part of the Dorking Wanderers academy and made several first team appearances at the club as well as on loan at both Bognor and Steying. An imposing central defender, Jay’s dad John also played for the club.
Ollie Deurell Benito
Another summer signing, Ollie played youth football for Kingstonian and London South Lions last season.
Luke Harrison
Midfielder Luke joined the club in November 2024 having previously played for Horsham YMCA and Worthing.
George Griffiths
Former Burgess Hill midfielder who joined the club in pre-season. Previous clubs also include Wimborne Town.
Powell Ukah
Another summer addition to the squad, Powell’s previous clubs include Banstead Athletic and Corinthian Casuals.
Warren Colman
Industrious midfielder who joined the club from Horley Town at the end of 2024 and quickly established himself in the team, making 22 appearances in the second half of last season.
Finlay Lovatt
Skilful attacking midfielder who was in Leyton Orient’s academy and had two years as a pro with Bromley in the National League. Has also played for Dulwich Hamlet and Beckenham Town amongst others before joining the Wasps in 2024.
James Laws
Another product of Dorking Wanderers’ academy, attacking midfielder James scored against Crawley Town in our pre-season friendly in July.
Liam Trevatt
Midfielder Liam joined the club this summer, having previously played for Reigate Priory.
Brady Ayoola
Midfielder Brady joined the club in March 2025 and went on to make 12 appearances.
Joe Hasler
Another product of Dorking Wanderers’ academy, striker Joe played 18 games for Lancing last season on loan.
Terrique Hall-Anderson
Former Charlton midfielder now in his third spell with the Wasps.
Matt Daniel
Matt joined the club in 2022 from Lancing and became a regular last season when he also chipped in with some important goals, finishing as top scorer in the league with 14 in 2023/24 before scoring ten times in the league last season. Has also played for Horsham YMCA.
Omar Folkes
Powerful striker who joined Wasps in 2022 and has become a regular member of the squad, contributing three league goals last season. Former clubs include Merstham and Three Bridges. His hold-up play is among the best in the league and he chips in with the odd goal as well.
Ollie Rawlins
Striker Ollie played for Cray Wanderers and Steyning last season on loan from Dorking Wanderers, before joining the Wasps this summer.
Mason Saunders
Another player from the club’s youth system, Mason will be looking to establish himself in the first team squad this season after making his debut in the final home game of the 2024/25 campaign.
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