VS AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE | SOUTH EAST DIVISION SATURDAY 21ST MARCH 2026 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
MORE REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
There hasn't been a lot to shout about this season but Tuesday's performance against VCD was more evidence that we are moving in the right direction. Seven of the 16 players have come from our U18s and with more games at this level they seem to be growing in confidence.
But the more experienced lads are putting a shift in too and it was nice to see Omar and Steve on the scoresheet. Steve had quite a night - laying on Omar's goal and then scoring with a bicycle kick that would probably have won goal of the season had we scored three times as many goals as we actually have!
Today will be very touch against a Croydon Athletic team nailed on for the play-offs but I think all of us will be happy if we perform to the level we have shown in the last three games.
OWNERSHIP STATEMENT
In accordance with the Football Association's Rule 2.13 (publication of ownership) in relation to Step 1 to Step 6 Clubs within the National League System East Grinstead Town FC is an unincorporated association / members club and a Community Amateur Sports Club (reg no CASC 02270).
Followuson:
FROM THE Dugout
Welcome back to the Vistavis Community Stadium for this afternoon's encounter against AFC Croydon Athletic, to whose players, officials and supporters we would like to offer a warm welcome.
Tuesday evening saw us pick up a much deserved point against VCD Athletic after another very encouraging and hard-fought performance from the young Wasps.
Omar, after all his hard work, collected a much deserved goal and captain Smithy scored with an overkick to seal a point. The very least we deserved was a draw.
Young Declan at 17 made his full debut with a decisive performance to compliment the other positives we could take away from the game, not least the growing maturity being displayed by our young players.
Croydon will be a tough test. They are second in the league and in the hunt for the title and they possess quality throughout their squad. When we met at Croydon in December they ran out 2-1 winners in what was a pretty even encounter. It should make this afternoon's game an intriguing encounter. As always your support is greatly appreciated. Enjoy the game,
AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC TheAwayEnd
AFC Croydon Athletic was officially born on 6th February 2012 after a group of supporters gathered at Selhurst Evangelical Church in South Norwood to form a new club. The newly appointed committee had just seven weeks to put everything in place to convince the Football Association and the League that they were worthy of a place at Step 6 in the pyramid. Despite the challenge it was a successful journey. The need to form a new club had come about because of the demise of Croydon Athletic FC, who had folded playing its last game in December 2011. A successful first season in Division One of the Combined Counties League saw a creditable 8th place position. The club also won its first piece of silverware by winning the Lemon Recordings Division One Cup by beating Staines Lammas 5-0 at Windsor.
The club returned to its Spiritual home of Mayfield Stadium on 15 th November 2014 with a game against Banstead Athletic. The club maintained a promotion chasing position all season and finally clinched second place with a 3-0 victory over Cobham. The club also won its second piece of silverware when winning the London Senior Trophy beating Interwood 4-3 after extra time.
In the Southern Counties East Football League following promotion the club finished 11th. In the close season manager Antony Williams resigned and the club replaced him with Kevin Rayner. His first season saw the side finish seventh. A move back to the Combined Counties League followed the reorganisation by the FA and there were two lower-half finishes alhough did manage to set new records in the FA Cup (First Qualifying Round) and the FA Vase (2nd Round).
In May 2023 Rayner recruited Lee Roots as his new joint manager. Then in June 2023 it was announced that the Club had agreed to change ownership with a consortium of Danny Young, Wilfried Zaha and Stormzy taking control. The FA and the League gave their consent to that transfer just before the start of this season. An opening day victory over Sutton Athletic in the FA Cup took place in front of a record 532 spectators. The next round at Horley Town was broadcast live on BBC and saw another victory. However, this proved to be the highlight and in September, after exiting the FA Cup and a loss to Jersey Bulls, it was decided to part company with the management team.
In October Jermaine McGlashan was named manager and he took charge of his first game away at Jersey Bulls which ended in a 1-0 victory. There followed a steady rise up the table from 17th place ultimately securing a play-off place with a 5-0 victory over Horley Town in the penultimate league game. The play-offs involved two away fixtures first in Jersey and then at Knaphill which were both won 2-1 to secure promotion to the Isthmian League for the first time. McGlashan left the club by mutual consent in September 2024 and Michael Kamara is in temporary charge of the team. In November 2024 experienced coach Keith Millen was appointed first team manager. His reign, however, was brief and he was replaced by permanent Manager Danny Kedwell in February who arrived with his Assistant Dean Beckwith. They steered the team to a 12th place finish to lay the foundations for this season's promotion push.
STANDINGS LEAGUE
FIXTURES & RESULTS
10 Mar H Sheppey United
14 Mar A Herne
Sat 4 Apr H Sittingbourne
Sat 11 Apr H Faversham
Sat 18 Apr A Merstham
Sat 25 Apr H Margate
South East
South East
South East 3pm
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. AFC CROYDON ATHLETIC
Harry Howes n n
Luke Leppard n n
Steve Smith © n n
Curtis Gayler n n
Dan Perry n n
Tommy Seale n n
Tariq Richards n n
Omar Folkes n n
Tyler Grant n n
Leo Vowles n n
Harry Piper n n
Lewis McDonnell n n
Mason Saunders n n
Reegan Jeffery n n
Harry Bushell
Ethan Covus
Max Marshall
Jhon Murillo-Castillo n n
Declan Spittles n n
Josh Cryer n n
Amadou Tangara (GK) n n
Frankie Beckles (GK) n n
David Boateng n n
Luke Dreher (Captain) n n
Jerome Binnom-Williams n n
Ben Wynter n n
Noah Watson n n
Richard Afrane-Kesey n n
Nya Kirby n n
James Taylor n n
Sonny Black n n
Harvey Kedwell n n
Charlie Colkett n n
James Dunne n n
Kadell Daniel n n
Reece Grant n n
Stanley Oldfield n n
David Bremang n n
Brandon Pierrick n n
Josh Williams n n
NEXT HOME MATCH
Sittingbourne
Saturday 4th April 2026
3pm
MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Edward Smith
Assistant Ref: John Pike
Assistant Ref: Owen Radley
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER MEDCALF
I have a couple of programmes to share with you for games played in the past on more or less the same date as this afternoon’s match. And first up is East Grinstead v Crowborough on Tuesday 22 March 1995 in the top division of the Sussex County League. You will soon discover that there are similarities with where we are in 2026.
Bruce Talbot gets things moving in his club notes with reference to “given our position in the table” suggesting all is not too well. He talks about our game on the previous Saturday which “has at least given us a glimmer of hope in our battle to stay in the first division” with particular mention of our new goalkeeper Duncan Green. Duncan was our eighth goalkeeper so far this season. The match had been away to Burgess Hill and we had drawn it 0-0. And playing for Burgess Hill that day was Steve Norris who might have thought he would score a goal or two - clearly he didn’t.
As you can tell we were having a bad time with the programme’s league table showing that we were bottom (20 teams in the league) with one win, three draws (including that Burgess Hill draw) and 22 defeats. Crowborough were in 11th place and we still had to play the away league match against them. Crowborough scored an early goal but Steve Banks brought us level after some 30 minutes. And just as the ref got ready to blow his half-time whistle Mark Harris put us in front. And shortly into the second half Mark Harris added another goal - and no more goals were scored and the win was ours! It turned out to be our last win of the season, though we did draw four more of our league matches. And of course we were relegated.
(Bruce had wondered if 6 points for the whole season might be a new record for the County League. However he discovered that in 1937 a Brighton club - Vernon Athletic - had only managed three points).
Next up we’ll have a look the programme for East Grinstead v Eastbourne United on Saturday 19 March 2011 in division one of the County League.
Bruce Talbot starts his programme notes by telling us that our Eastbourne United visitors were having a bad time, despite having topped division one a couple of years ago. He contrasts it with our own recent form - unbeaten in our last 5 league matches.
Manager Tony Beckingham also talks about that recently run, but he also talks more about the most recent game in that run - away to Hassocks. We had to play the last 30 minutes with 10 players - not because of red cards and player misbehaviour but because four of our players had received injuries which were bad enough for them to be substituted. Liam Baitup was the fourth and last player to be injured but we had already used the maximum number of three players who could be substituted. So we simply had to play that last 30 minutes with ten players. So a 0-0 draw “on an awful bobbly pitch” against Hassocks (who were third) was good. Another feature of that Hassocks game was that Dave Tidy was in goal for us - five years after he retired!
The programme’s league table shows us in fifth place with games in hand over four of the teams ahead of us. Eastbourne United were indeed bottom of the the table with just two wins and four draws in their 30 games. They were 10 points behind the second from bottom club. So how did the game go? Well the first 30 minutes it was us that looked to be the bottom club. Eastbourne United had scored after some 15 minutes and looked as if they might score more. However five minutes before half-time we managed to score through Peter Cooper. Would the Riot Act that manager Tony Beckingham delivered to the team mean anything? Not for the first 15 minutes of the second half. But then Ashley Alexander put us in front and he was quickly followed by Marc Pelling and Rikki Cable both scoring to give us a 4-1 win.
A POINT AGAINST VCD
the top
Top: Steve Smith watches as his bicycle kick sails into
corner. Below: Reegan Jeffery clears his lines. Photos: Stuart Gibson
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