Match Preview

This weekend, Blues make the short trip round the North Circular, visiting Walthamstow FC at Wadham Lodge.

The club has had a varied history over past decades, playing under different names at several locations around north-east London. Starting out as Pennant FC in the late 1950s, they became Walthamstow Pennant thirty years later, to keep the local name alive when Walthamstow Avenue merged into what is now Dagenham & Redbridge FC. A merger with Leyton FC saw another name change to Leyton Pennant and then again following a change of ownership, re-christened as Waltham Forest in the mid-1990s. Finally, in 2018, with a move back to Wadham Lodge after years away, the club adopted the Walthamstow FC name of today. Hope that’s all clear !

In recent decades, the club has spent most years in the lower levels of the pyramid with two previous spells in the Isthmian League. Recent years have though seen a real upturn in fortunes, winning the Essex Senior League in 2021-22 and then finishing a fine 4th in their first season in the Southern League Division 1 Central, losing to Didcot Town in the semi-final of the promotion play-offs. For the 2023-24 season, the club was transferred sideways to the Isthmian League.

One name that links our two clubs is Hakan Hayrettin, manager at Walthamstow in the early 2000s, when his brother was chairman; and of Grays Ath between 2011-13, a real gentleman and a very popular manager.

We have played the different incarnations of our opponents on a number of occasions, mostly in DIv 1 of the Isthmian League both in the late 1990s and early 2010s, as well as a number of county and league cup encounters across the years. Generally, Blues have had the upper hand, winning 11 of the 19 competitive encounters.

This season, Walthamstow have come flying out of the traps. Currently sitting 4th in the table, four of their seven games have been won, with only one reverse a couple of weeks ago against Brentwood. There are a couple of familiar names to Grays fans in the Walthamstow squad - combative midfielder Adalberto Pinto and former Blues favourite Jared Small.

With the Stow’s good form this season, it will be a tough visit for Grays to Wadham Lodge.

Come on You Blues !