Match Preview

There's a real air of excitement over this one isn't there?!

Those of you who witnessed the performance on Tuesday night have been waxing lyrical about the ruthlessness from the Hamlet as we put Canvey Island to the sword in a 4-1 scoreline that was as comfortable as it suggests. Richard Pingling got the ball rolling with a fine finish on his debut, before second half strikes from Michael Chambers, Manny Parry, and one of the greatest Hamlet goals for several years from Jerome Binnom-Williams ensured we would take four points from our opening two games following the hard-fought draw at Hashtag United last weekend.

Hakan Hayrettin will have to make one enforced change today with Parry serving his one-game ban for his dismissal last weekend, with Cem Tumkaya or Jerry Gyebi poised to make their first start. Mark Ricketts will be available for selection following injury, but Ryley Scott and Elliott Romain may still be unavailable.

In today's storyline, there are certainly plenty of sub-plots that could contribute significantly to the narration of the tale. Paul Barnes returns to the dugout as an opposition manager for the first time since leaving the Hamlet in March, having taken charge of 32 games for the club in a six month period, winning 11 of them. He will be hoping that today brings his first competitive win with his new side, following two draws this week.

The first of those came at home to Cheshunt, Femi Akinwande netting a penalty at the end of the first half to equalise, before an ill-tempered night against south-coast rivals Whitehawk on Tuesday, which saw the Hawks earn seven bookings and two red cards. Also returning today will be our goalkeeper of four years, Charlie Grainger, an incredibly popular player with the fans during his time with us between 2019 and 2023, with more than 100 appearances during that time. Dom Vose could also line up in midfield, having spent two years with us between 2018 and 2020.

Today marks the first league meeting between the sides since a 3-3 draw in February 2007, our goals coming from Mazin Ahmad, Chris Dickson and Lewis Tozer. The last competitive game came at Champion Hill in the autumn of 2017, as we beat the 'U's 3-1 in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round. Trailing to an Ollie Rowe goal at half-time, substitute Nana Boakye-Yiadom would nab a hat-trick in the last 11 minutes of the game to send us through.

Our head-to-head record against Hastings United/Town is as follows:

Overall: P9 W6 D2 L1 GF24 GA13
Home: P6 W5 D1 GF16 GA6
Biggest win: 4-0 (H) Isthmian League Division One, 2004-05
Biggest defeat: 2-4 (A) Isthmian League Division One South, 2006-07