11th March. We’re at the business end of the season one way or the other, whether you’re in the title race, play-off chase or fighting to survive another year in the same division.
You know by reading this blog every week I don’t confine myself to watching just one level of football, I get about everywhere. Keeping an eye on everything isn’t easy especially when this isn’t the full time job.
But this time of year it comes alive and there are plenty of people inside the game I know well who have a lot still to play for. Who are they though and what have they got left to play? Have any of them tasted success yet or some able to think about the summer beaches yet? You’ll have to find out below the paywall!
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My own club and Dean Brennan might have exited the FA Trophy over the weekend but the play-offs are very much for them this year. Heading down around mid-table both Darren Currie at Southend Utd and Ben Strevens at Dagenham & Redbridge are very close to safety, the Strevalution has taken time to settle which I always knew it would.
Patience is lacking everywhere in the modern game, but even when the going was tough at Victoria Road, I knew the Daggers would be ok and allow for Strevs to put down some foundations to achieve more next season. Daz has had a very much up and down season with the Shrimpers, they hope for some proper stability over the summer and they will be a force next season.
At the bottom, guys I know well in Marc White and Adam Hinshelwood are at the other end of the pressure scale as Dorking Wanderers and York City fight to survive. No question I hope both do keep their head above water and interesting close seasons for both.
As many of you will be aware I’m launching a brand new website at the end of the month for Sussex non-league football, spotted a gap in the market and cornering the niche. 28th March it’s underway for www.snlf.co.uk, so a closer eye for me on football in the county where I live, not that I don’t pay enough attention as it is!
That of course extends to a lot of the managers I know around there as well, Aaran Racine newly in at Worthing might well be leading the Rebels to The Hive  next year from the National League South, that would certainly please a couple of my Premier Non League podcast mates if that happened.
Sussex clubs are doing well in the Isthmian Premier Division, not just on the pitch but off it with some booming attendances. Only Whitehawk will consider themselves with too much to do, but Bognor Regis, Horsham, Lewes and Hastings Utd will all fancy their chances of making the play-offs.
My good mate at Cray Wanderers Neil Smith looks to have steered them away from the relegation zone after a stuttering start, their focus of course is a few miles down the road from Hayes Lane to Flamingo Park and their new permanent home for the entire club, a place I am yet to visit and spend a day at, but it’s coming.
One step further down and the mates at Cray Valley PM. One league game lost all season, every game won away from home for Steve McKimm and Barry Moore, but still they’re two points behind Ramsgate in one of the country’s most intriguing title races, that one will go down to the wire with the sides meeting on the coast 13th April.
My most local side in the same division Littlehampton Town need a few more wins to be sure of retaining their place at Step 4, a Sussex Senior Cup Semi-final awaits them on Tuesday evening, Hastings Utd standing in the way of a date at the Amex Stadium in May.
Football everywhere, it never stops, and I’ve seen some great battles needing to be won at Step 5 and 6 over the coming weeks too. Can Farnham Town go a full season unbeaten in the Combined Counties? Can smaller Brockenhurst upset the big spenders in the Wessex League? Will Steyning, Newhaven or Crowborough Athletic take the Southern Combination? And that’s just a snapshot of some southern divisions!
So, what of the five clubs I write programme columns for? Well, only Met Police are not involved at the top end of the table, two or three more wins should be enough for them not to be involved in the relegation zone.
The other four it appears I could be writing play-off columns for at the end of April and possibly the beginning of May. As mentioned above Cray Valley are in a title race, they are joined at Step 5 in the Southern Counties East League where Glebe and Corinthian are currently 1st and 2nd, a major miracle will stop either side being play-off involved minimum and back to the National League as we go full circle Aldershot Town are looking a good bet to be a top seven finisher.
Plenty to get your teeth into still and if the weather can keep itself at bay then I’ve got enough to keep myself busy for the next six weeks plus, how about you?
