Hoddesdon's away form this season hasn't been too shabby with 5 wins, 3 draws and just 2 defeats in the league, scoring 20 goals and conceding 15 on the 10 occasions they have left their Lowfield home for league football. Wins at the home of Coggeshal Town, Dunmow Town, Cannon's Wood, Newbuiry Forest and FC Baresi have shown that the team are a threat on anyones patch, none more so than the recent stoppage time win against an in form FC Baresi at Wodson Park. Cannon's Wood also felt the full force of the Lilywhites on home turf, a 4-0 walloping at Parkside at the end of August, much to the satisfaction of the travelling fans.

Last season, we registered more league away wins (9) than we did at home (7) and indeed across all competitions last year, Hoddesdon registered 12 wins, 3 draws and 10 losses, scoring 49 and conceding 48 from 25 away games, compared to a home record of 11 wins, 7 draws, 8 defeats, scoring 37 and conceding 32 from a similar sample size of 26 games. It's not a perfect science, but it does indicate that the Lilywhites are more successful on the road than they are at Lowfield and perhaps it's the expectation and hope of the home fans that weighs heavy on the minds of the team and management. Indeed, the teams greatest moment last season came away from their Hoddesdon base, winning the Herts Senior Centenary trophy at The County Ground in Letchworth, all be it a neutral ground for both us and our opponents that evening, Royston Town Under 23's.

Of course, the likelihood is that all of that matters not a jot, and just like every team up and down the country, some you win, some you don't!

Last season, this fixture was postponed no less than THREE times due to the pitch being in no fit state to host due to bad weather in the build up and it was ultimately a disappointing experience when the two sides did finally meet, with Brimsdown securing the points in a tight 2-1 win.

Despite putting on pressure for the majority of the second half, the Lilywhites could not find the two goals that would have earned them a deserved point. The tone for their failure to take anything from the game was set by a slow start that saw them concede an early goal that they found it difficult to recover from. That goal came from a clean strike from the edge of the box by Eric Kudoah in the seventh minute, at a time when the hosts were looking sharper than the Lilywhites. They were on top but their superiority didn’t last and gradually the Lilywhites clawed their way back into the game.

By the 20th minute the Lilywhites were having the better of what had developed into an end-to-end contest and chances to equalise started to be created. By the 28th minute an equaliser was looking likely but when Dion Laughton was sin-binned for abusing the referee, the steam went out of the Lilywhites and they were forced to play more conservatively for the ten minutes that they were down to ten men. During that time, Liam Nugent was called upon the make a decent save to keep the deficit at one.

The second half saw the Lilywhites putting increasing pressure on the Brimsdown goal but twelve minutes in some casual play allowed the hosts to break away and add a second goal, Zion Dos Santos scoring with a shot that hit both posts before crossing the line.

The remainder of the game saw the Lilywhites camped in the opposition half and following some very attack-minded substitutions, their positive play finally brought a goal in the 79th minute. Callum Bennison broke into the right side of the penalty area and pulled the ball across the goal to give Connor Bolton a simple tap-in for his twelfth goal of the season.

The Lilywhites laid siege to the home goal and their cause was helped when the hosts had a man shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on George Rankin. Despite this and their concerted efforts the Lilywhites could not find the goal that would have earned them a deserved point and the final whistle was blown with them on the wrong side of a defeat. Man-of-the Match that day was George Rankin.

In team news, on Saturday Simon Riddle updated us, commenting 'The Club injury list saw an important player join its ranks following Saturday’s game against FC Baresi, with Blue Gallagher's ankle getting caught in the astro turf and one of FC Baresi’s players falling on top of him. He looks set to be missing until after Christmas, aiming hopefully for an early January return. Other bad news this week has seen Bailey Eden decide to try his luck at Wormley Rovers, who now play at the next step up. We wish him well and hope his move up to
Step 5 is successful.'

He continued 'Good news as we saw the return of Liam Nugent at FC Baresi last weekend, following the injury to Ethan Gannon against St. Margaretsbury. We are hoping that Harrison Cage will be returning to the bench this weekend, depending on clearance from our Sports Therapist, Fayme.'

There was transfer news at the weekend too with a surprise name on the team sheet.

Forward Dion Laughton has returned to Hoddesdon, adding firepower to the Lilywhite attack. Dion notched 7 goals for us last season in 27 appearances, 20 of those in the starting line up and 7 from off the bench. On his debut for the club, he announced himself with a fantastic brace and excited the travelling support when he scored what is believed to be the fastest goal by a debutant after only 48 seconds of the match against Enfield Borough back in November of 2023. The Lilywhites kicked off and, after passing the ball across the back twice, they broke down the right and Dion was set free for a run on goal which ended with him chipping the ball over the body of the advancing keeper. In the second half, a good move up the left involving Narcis Filipe and Connor Bolton set up Laughton for a shot from just outside the box. His fierce drive struck the inside of the post and deflected into the goal, giving Laughton his second goal of the game on 66 minutes. It was a brilliant debut from the former London Colney man, which inspired the now famous headline 'Dion Doublin' On Debut', a pun that this webmaster and his social media team, will forever be chasing to better, a task that over a year later, arguably hasn't been achieved.

Our hosts finished a creditable 9th last season but have found the going tough this year and find themselves 16th in the league going into this game, just one point above the drop zone.

The league record reads played 19, won 5, drawn 3, lost 11 and a negative goal difference of -10. That gives them 18 points which includes 25 goals scored and 35 conceded. Last time out, Harlow Town were the visitors and came away with a comfortable 3-0 win at Womley's ground, (you can watch highlights of that game HERE) although there were reasons to be cheerful back on the 16th of November as Brimsdown beat a strong Dunmow Town side 5-1.

They had a good run in the FA Vase this season, winning two games, including dumping their own landlord out of the competition, with a hard earned 1-0 against Wormley Rovers on the 21st of September. They ultimately bowed out of the competition in the next round, a 2-0 home defeat to West Essex putting paid to their journey to Wembley this time around. Manager Junior Matti alongside his team of Kevin Donavan, Marvin Birch, Lenny Oseni and Aaron Cooper can rightly be proud of how they performed in the competition.

Brimsdown’s chairman, Ahmet Toygun, was full of praise for his team after the Wormley Rovers win:“This is a proud moment for everyone connected with the club. To make it to the First Round Proper of the FA Vase for the first time is a tremendous achievement. I want to thank the players for their dedication, the management team for their hard work behind the scenes and the fans for their support. It’s been a true team effort, and we’re excited to see where this journey takes us next.”

Eric Koduah is the clear danger man for the home side, scoring 8 goals in 8 games this season and he has the ability to punish Jack Gibbs and his defence. Indeed, the young forward bagged a hat trick in the afore mentioned win against Dunmow and you can watch all of those goals HERE. Perhaps even more impressive, he bagged FOUR against Southend Manor on the 26th of October, single handedly dragging his team over the finishing line in a 5-4 win at home.

You can follow Brimsdown FC on X HERE.

Entry at Wormley Playing Fields is Adult £7, Concession £5, U18 £3 and U12 Free.

All travelling support is welcome, with the game kicking off at 7:45pm.

Enjoy the game.

#COYL