Friday night football is often one of the features of playing in the Thurlow Nunn Division One South and Hoddesdon get that opportunity this week, as they travel to Ilford FC to play Barkingside.

With a number of clubs in the league having ground sharing agreements in place with other sides, the traditional 3pm Saturday Kick Off is not always the norm these days and Simon Riddle will take his men to the Cricklefields Stadium on Friday night in search of three points. It appears that our hosts relationship with Ilford FC is a fragile one, with much publicity being available online regarding the agreement. You can hear the thoughts of Barkingside Chairman Jimmy Flanaghan on the situation back in February, by clicking HERE..

Either way, Barkingside will present another tough test for the Lilywhites.

Last time out, a 3-0 defeat to May & Baker and a fairly uninspiring performance, took the gloss off of a fine start to the season and now is the time for the team to show recent results are a blip, rather than a sign of things to come. Admittedly, it is always difficult to play so many games away from home at the start of the season, due to our own ground sharing agreements with Hoddesdon cricket club, but none the less, it remains 19 away games and 19 home games in a full season, and Hoddesdon cannot afford to fall behind the chasing pack. After topping the table after their first two league games, Hoddesdon now find themselves in 8th position, five points off the top having played a game more, but crucially, just one point off of the play off places. A win on Friday evening would likely see Simon Riddle's side elevated to third place, a comfortable place to be whilst the rest of the league scrap it out on Saturday.

Our hosts, Barkingside, are unbeaten this season after three league games but they did taste defeat last time out, a 3-1 home defeat to AS London in the League Challenge Cup. You can watch manager James Wakeling giving his post match thoughts on that defeat by clicking HERE.

They kicked off their season with a 1-1 draw away to NW London, followed by a good 3-1 home win against St Margaretsbury. Another draw followed, a 2-2 stalemate with league newcomers Coggeshall Town, before the afore mentioned cup loss on the 5th of August. Indeed, it will be 11 days since Barkingside last kicked a ball and it remains to be seen whether that rest period will have been a help or a hindrance.

Seven goals in four games in all competitions at their Ilford base indicates that they are comfortable at home, but with only one game played away from their headquarters, there isn't much data to compare. Regardless, Hoddesdon will have to be wary of the likes of Ismail Kifoun, who has 2 goals in 4 appearances for Barkingside so far this season. Captain Harry Baker will play a key role in Barkingside's defence and will be charged with shutting out the Hoddesdon attackers, and goalkeeper Oliver Johnson will be looking to stop the Lilywhites adding to the seven goals he has conceded this season.

Last season, our hosts finished in 16th position after 13 wins, 6 draws and 23 losses. They scored 58 goals for the season, which was the lowest total for any team in the Thurlow Nunn Division One South, and perhaps one of the reasons they finished just 5 points above the relegation zone. However, so far this season they haven't failed to find the back of the net in any of their games so there is hope that this statistic will be improved upon for the new campaign. Manager Wakeling, alongside assistant and former Basildon United and Chelmsford City man, Elliott Thompson, will want to avenge the six points that Simon Riddle took from them last season and further dent Hoddesdon's hopes for a play off position come April of next year.

Two goals either side of half time from Jamaine Galya earned the Lilywhites a 2-0 victory at Cricklefields in this fixture last season, which was our opening league game of the 23/24 campaign. Then, in the reverse fixture, Hoddesdon triumphed in their final home game of the season, winning 2-1. After taking an early lead through Connor Bolton, it took the Lilywhites until the 82nd minute for Billy Skinner to put the victory beyond doubt. Only an Ethan Gannon own goal in the 96th minute took the shine off of the win but it was a good way for the lads to sign off their home season at Lowfield.

Right from the first whistle the Lilywhites put pressure on the visitors’ goal and it came as no surprise when Connor Bolton scored an 8th minute goal after he was put in on goal by Connor Casey. This goal should have opened the floodgates for more but, despite most of the play taking place in the visitors’ half, very few clear-cut chances were created in the remainder of the first half.

The second half followed the same pattern. Connor Bolton missed a golden opportunity to double the Lilywhites’ advantage when he shot wide in the 61st minute and he then did likewise when the Barkingside keeper dropped the ball at his feet, nine minutes later.

The Lilywhites were well on top but at only 1-0 the result was still clearly in the balance. A second goal was needed to settle any nerves and, with eight minutes of normal time remaining, it came from substitute, Billy Skinner, with his first goal for the club. Connor Bolton’s free-kick from out on the right, caused chaos in the six-yard box and Billy prodded home from close range. Watch Billy seal all three points from that game HERE.

Ethan Gannon, keeping goal in the absence of the injured Liam Nugent, had a very quiet evening, having not really been troubled. He was therefore crestfallen when the assistant referee deemed that he had carried a long cross from out on the left, over his goal-line to give the visitors a consolation goal in the seventh minute of added-time.

The three points were safely in the bag, though, and they lifted the Lilywhites up to tenth in the table with three games remaining, ultimately finishing in that tenth spot come the end of the season. Man of the match that day was defender Jack Riddle.

Last weekends defeat was underlined by a number of absentees due to a few holidays and injuries and there will be hope that the match day squad numbers will have swelled significantly since that disappointing display.

Entry at Cricklefields is £5 Adults and Kids go free.

All travelling support welcome and the address is at the bottom of this article.

Enjoy the game.

#COYL