Looking forward to the Bostik –3
The look at Blues’ opponents in the Bostik League Premier Division continues.
Haringey Borough
2017/18 – 4th Isthmian North, 89pts/46 games. Won play-offs.
The biggest club to play in White Hart Lane are back in the big time and will face the Blue Brazil for the first time since the 1964/65 season when we won promotion from the third tier of the Athenian League. Borough can trace their history back to 1907 when they were formed as Tufnell Park, and they joined the Isthmian League in 1920 when it was firmly established as the top amateur league in the south. They left the competition in 1952,and a couple of mergers followed and after winning the Essex Senior League in 2015 with an impressive 129 goals in 38 games, they returned to the Isthmian League. As well as winning promotion through the play-offs, they reached the FA Cup fourth qualifying round – beating Hitchin Town and Welling United on the way – and also won four ties in the FA Trophy before losing 2-1 at home against Leyton Orient in the first round proper.
Harlow Town
2017/18 – 21st, 47pts/46 games
You may have heard of this lot, although there’s at least one generation of Blues’ fans who have never known them as our local rivals. It’s been 17 years since we last met in Division One of the Isthmian League (which was then the third tier of non-league football. The Boxing Day meeting at Woodside Park saw Blues stroll to a 4-1 win in front of a crowd of 717 while the return on Easter Monday saw Vinnie John score twice in the final five minutes to break the hosts’ hearts and seal a 2-1 win for the Blues.
Last season was certainly disappointing for the Hawks as they flirted with relegation, finishing in what would have normally been a relegation position, with crowds dropping to an average of 208. Thurrock and Lowestoft Town were beaten in the FA Cup before they went out against East Thurrock, while in the Trophy they went down 5-1 at home against Hampton after wins against Aylesbury and Dulwich Hamlet.
Kingstonian
2017/18 – 13th , 59pts/46 games
It’s been 15 seasons since we faced the K’s in a league game, and the years haven’t been kind to the Surrey side. Having agreed a groundshare with AFC Wimbledon, they subsequently became tenants in their own ground which has now been sold to Chelsea as the Wombles return to their home town. A messy groundshare with Leatherhead didn’t really work out last season, and they have now entered in a long term deal with Corinthian-Casuals. The last league meetings saw Blues take four points with a 1-1 draw at Kingsmeadow before we won the return 2-1 in front of a 489 crowd. Blues also won 2-0 at Kingsmeadow in the FA Trophy that season, and as we moved up to the newly formed Conference South we repeated the trick the following year with a 3-2 win in the same competition. Last season saw K’s comfortable in mid-table, exiting the Cup at the second stage with a 3-0 home loss against Brackley while in the Trophy they followed up replay wins against Thurrock and Ashford Town (Middx) with a 5-1 hammering at Heybridge Swifts.
Leatherhead
2017/18 – 13th , 59pts/46 games
Another old rival for the Blues, and they even have their own song at Woodside Park. The sides haven’t met since the 2000/01 season when we won 2-1 at Fetcham Grove before we pushed them towards relegation with a 4-0 home win in February 2001. After winning promotion through the play-offs four years ago, the Tanners had three mid-table seasons before narrowly missing out on the play-offs last year. They reached the FA Cup second round last season, with their run including a televised replay win against Billericay Town in the first round, before losing 3-1 at Wycombe Wanderers. But they were subsequently found to have played an ineligible player at the start of that run and missed out on the prize money. They were less successful in the FA Trophy, going out against Royston in the second stage after a home win against Hythe Town.
Our most high profile meetings with the Tanners came back in 1974 when – as Amateur Cup holders – we received a bye to the first round of the FA Cup, and after a goalless draw at Rhodes Avenue we went down 2-0 at Fetcham Grove.
