VS BECKENHAM TOWN
ISTHMIAN LEAGUE | SOUTH EAST DIVISION SATURDAY 31 JANUARY 2026 | KICK OFF 3PM
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FC
The Vistavis Community Stadium College Lane | East Grinstead | RH19 3LS
Tel: 01342 325885
BUZZ FROM THE NEST
Good afternoon and welcome to our visitors from Beckenham Town.
As you will by now be aware, Grant Hearn stepped down last week and Andy will continue as team manager with Curt Gayler stepping up as first-team coach. Both gave a very good presentation of short- and long-term aims to the committee this week, before meeting some of our fans afterwards. Andy explains in more detail elsewhere in the programme today.
It's been a horrible season - in fact you could argue the last 12 months or so have been pretty bleak - but we're now looking forward with optimism, even if it means - for one season anywaydropping back down to step 5. In the meantime, as the squad continues to evolve with one eye on next season, Andy and Curt are determined to win a few games and put smiles back on faces. Today would be a good place to start.
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
Good afternoon everyone and welcome back to the Vistavis Stadium and our game against Beckenham Town.
I'd like to start by thanking Grant Hearn for all his help since we took over in October and for all the happy memories we had in five years of management together. We were all disappointed that Grant has decided to step away from his role but totally understand his reasons for doing so. He has been part of the club for more than 20 years and, once he's had a bit of time away, I hope he will be back and involved in some capacity, perhaps on the committee.
Since Grant's departure I have asked Curt Gayler to step up as my assistant with responsibility for coaching. At 30 it might seem quite a young age for Curt to be taking on a coaching role and while I'm sure it's not the last we've seen of him on the pitch Curt wants to develop his coaching experience and this is a great opportunity for him and one I know he will devote himself passionately to.
I'd like to thank the supporters who came down to the club on Monday when Curt and I explained our plans going forward. We're realistic. We haven't written this season off at all but it's likely we will be playing step five football next season and the planning for that starts now.
We see the remaining games as a great opportunity to have a pre pre-season if you like. By that I mean putting together a squad of players committed to East Grinstead for the rest of this season and next and developing our ideas on the style we want to play so we can hit the ground running in August with the intention of returning to step 4 after one season.
There will be a lot of hard work involved but this is an opportunity to have a reset. We want to bring the u18s closer to the first team to make sure the best youngsters at the club get an opportunity if they are good enough. And most importantly we want to put a smile back on people's faces.
We all know the potential of this club - it really is a sleeping giant. We've got good facilities, a management committee who will work tirelessly to support Curt, the players and I and, as I discovered on Monday, supporters desperate to see a successful team and help us spread the message that things are going to change at the club - for the better.
As I've already said, we haven't given up on this season. The squad will continue to evolve with long-term targets in mind but of course playing well and getting some points on the board will give everyone a lift. Beckenham Town will provide a stern test for us today as they find themselves in the dreaded bottom four. No doubt it will be a tough and intriguing contest as we both look for the three points on offer.
AndyWillis
BECKENHAM TOWN TheAwayEnd
The original Beckenham Town were established in the late 19th century, affiliating to the Kent County Football Association in 1887. In 1923 the club joined Division One of the London League. They won Division One in 1927–28, and were promoted to the Premier Division. However, after finishing second from bottom in their first season in the Premier Division, they ended the 1929–30 season in last place, and were relegated back to Division One.
The following season saw them finish second in Division One, earning promotion back to the Premier Division. Despite finishing bottom of the Premier Division in 1931–32 they remained in the division, but after repeating the feat in 1932–33, they were relegated back to Division One. After finishing bottom of Division One in 1934–35 the club left the league.
They had entered a team into the Kent Amateur League a few seasons before, and continued playing in the Premier Division of the Western Section until rejoining the London League in 1951, where they were placed in the Premier Division.
They remained there until joining the Aetolian League in 1961. This merged with the London League in 1964 to form the Greater London League, with Beckenham placed in Section B. A fifthplace finish in the league's inaugural season saw them win a place in the Premier Division for the 1965–66 season. However, after finishing second from bottom of the division that season, they were relegated to Division One. They folded in 1969.
In 1971 the club was reformed based on the Stanhope Rovers junior team. After playing in the South East London Amateur League they joined Division Two of the new London Spartan League in 1975. After being runners-up in 1977–78, they were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1982 they transferred to Division One of the Kent League, which became the Premier Division in 1998. They finished as runners–up in 2005–06.
The league was subsequently renamed the Southern Counties East League in 2013. The club won both the Kent Senior Trophy and the League Cup in 2013–14, and went on to win the Roy Vinter Shield at the start of the 2014–15 season. In 2019–20 the club were top of the league when the season was abandoned due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This would have been the club's highest finish since reforming in 1971.
At the end of the 2020–21 season they were transferred to the Premier Division South of the Combined Counties League. During their first season in the Combined Counties League, Beckenham were Premier Division South champions, earning promotion to the Isthmian League. In their first season in the Isthmian League the club finished fourth, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. They went on to lose 1–0 to Whitehawk in the semi-finals. The season also saw the club record its best ever FA Cup run, reaching the fourth qualifying round.
The 2023-24 saw the club finish in the relegation zone of the South East Division, but they were reprieved from the drop.
STANDINGS LEAGUE
FIXTURES & RESULTS
SEPTEMBER
21 Oct A Faversham
28 Oct H Deal Town
NOVEMBER
11 Nov A Three Bridges
17 Jan H
24 Jan A Crowborough Athletic
Sat 31 Jan H Beckenham Town Isthmian South East
Sat 7 Feb A Deal Town Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Feb A Ashford United Isthmian South East 3pm
Tue 17 Feb H Erith Town Isthmian South East 7.30pm
Sat 21 Feb H Sheppey United Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Feb A Hastings United Isthmian South East 3pm
MARCH
Sat 7 Mar H VCD Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 14 Mar A Herne Bay Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 21 Mar H AFC Croydon Athletic Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 28 Mar A Erith Town Isthmian South East 3pm
APRIL
Sat 4 Apr H Sittingbourne Isthmian South East 3pm
Mon 6 Apr A Jersey Bulls Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 11 Apr H Faversham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 18 Apr A Merstham Isthmian South East 3pm
Sat 25 Apr H Margate Isthmian South East 3pm
TBA H AFC Whyteleafe Isthmian South East
TEAM LINE UP
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN F.C. BECKENHAM TOWN
Ajae Patel nn
Luke Leppard nn
Ridwan Euba nn
Steve Smith © nn
Dan Thompson nn
Arron Hopkinson nn
Curtis Gayler nn
Dan Perry nn
Kieron Pamment nn
Tommy Seale nn
Tariq Richards nn
Omar Folkes nn
Tyler Grant nn
Leo Vowles nn
Jordan Maguire-Drew nn
Jerson Dos Santos
Harry Piper nn
Lewis McDonnell nn
Charlie Cottrell nn
Rob Carter (c) nn
Henry Douglas nn
Jack Holland nn
Will Grieveson nn
Makhaya James nn
Mudiaga Wanogho nn
Abbas Agoro nn
Joe Chalker nn
Callum Corbin nn
Casey Dudley nn
Harry Gamble nn
Tom Hever nn
Freddie Nyhus nn
Jesse Rowe nn
Tyler Anderson nn
Alfie Bloomfield nn
Shaquille Gordon nn
Mark Marshall nn
George Porter nn
NEXT HOME MATCH
Erith Town
Tuesday 17 February 2026
7.30pm
MATCH OFFICIALS:
Referee: Harry Wood
Assistant Ref: Daniel Killick
Assistant Ref: Owen Radley
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN HISTORY
PROGRAMMES FROM THE PAST BY LESTER MEDCALF
We’ve got a couple of programmes to talk about for games played in the past on or close to today’s date. I’m going to start with East Grinstead v Chichester on Saturday 1 February 1997 in division 2 of the Sussex County League.
Bruce Talbot gets things moving with a welcome to Chichester who we had visited for the away match on the first day of the season - beating them 4-1 with 2 goals from Doug Cashman and another from Steve Banks and with an own goal as well. Bruce also tells us that this would be the first of three consecutive home matches in 7 days. He had previously more or less given up on our chances of being promoted but we had won on the previous Saturday against Eastbourne United, who were one of the top 3 teams. If we could win those 3 forthcoming home games and one or two other results were to go our way ... well who knows what would happen? (However in the event the league rearranged the fixtures with different opponents being allocated).
Bruce also includes a quote from one of our first-team players Thomas Johansson who having recently played for the first time in his football career on some very muddy pitches asked “If the pitch gets any worse can we hire a different one to play on?” He was a Norwegian lad who had recently joined us - and Norwegian football starts in April and finishes in October. The programme does contain a couple of match reports of that recent home game against Eastbourne United - one of the reports being what appeared in the Eastbourne press. We had been surprised that the match went ahead as the pitch was very very very wet and it only got worse as the game progressed. Our goal came after an hour or so when Steve Banks looped a header over the Eastbourne keeper. We came under pressure in the last few minutes and we did have a bit of luck then. Our keeper Dave Tidy couldn’t quite hold on the ball from an Eastbourne shot and the ball fell loose. The closest Eastbourne player was only a couple of feet away from our line but all he could do was to hit the ball against the post.
So did we beat Chichester and keep our promotion hopes alive? No we didn’t as Chichester went home with a 1-0 win. The rearrangement of the fixtures for the rest of February mentioned above gave us four away matches on the trot and somehow we drew three of them - all goalless - with the fourth match seeing us winning 1-0.
HERNE KEPT AT BAY
Next we’ll have a quick look at an Isthmian League game some ten years ago - East Grinstead v Herne Bay on Saturday 30 January 2016. We were having a bad run with our previous eight matches seeing us winning just once with the rest all defeats. We were also undergoing a squad overhaul with a number of players coming into the club.
The programme’s league table shows us in 20th place (24 in the league) while our Herne Bay visitors were in third place. We had played the reverse fixture down in Kent in early October and had drawn it 1-1 with our goal coming from Javlon Campbell.
The home game saw us holding our own for much of the first half, without posing much of a goal threat, while Herne Bay carried a bit more of a threat. But neither team scored in the first half. Ten minutes into the second half we nearly took the lead when a shot from Greg Cundle hit the bar and bounced out. But a few minutes from the end Herne Bay also hit the bar. And with just a few seconds to go one of the Herne Bay substitutes had a chance to head them into the lead from a long ball over our defence. But somehow he headed the ball over the bar - and as he did so the ref blew his final whistle for a 0-0 draw.
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