Both sides suffered at the hands of the weather at the beginning of their pre-season campaigns, with Blues’ trip to Saffron Walden Town cancelled and Urchins’ matches at Brentwood Town and East Thurrock United being postponed.

Whilst Blues have secured impressive wins over West Ham United XI (4-1), Dagenham & Redbridge XI (2-1) and Erith Town (4-1), the visitors have recorded just a single win from their six matches to date; a 1-0 win at Rookery Hill. That said, since when have pre-season results been a measure of how a side fares in the season; Blues were unbeaten in seven friendlies in 2008 and ended the season just one point above the relegation places.

Last weekend, Blues were in action against Braintree Town Reserves at Cressing Road. Ex-Chelmsford City player Tyrone Scarlett opened the scoring shortly before the break, heading in from an in swinging Jake Hall freekick. The hosts equalised early in the second half, tapping in from close range following a low cross.

On Tuesday evening, a Grays Athletic XI travelled to Southchurch Park, home of Essex Senior League side Southend Manor. Four minutes of madness in the second half saw Blues concede three goals, from which they didn’t recover to lose 3-0.

THE OPPOSITION
Originally formed in 1923 as Upminster Wanderers, the club won the Romford League Second Division in their first season.

In 1938, they stepped up to the Spartan League, and at the same time dropped the ‘Wanderers’ from their title, with the original Upminster FC having folded in 1930. Promoted to the Premier Division in 1951, they spent just the one season before switching to the Delphian League.

In preparation of their move to the Hornchurch Stadium in November 1952, the Club change their name again, this time to Hornchurch & Upminster. 1959 saw them elected to the Athenian League, and a year later ‘Upminster’ was dropped from their title. They won the Division One title in 1967, before a switch to the Isthmian League in 1978.

Successive promotions in 2002 and 2003 saw the club competing in the Premier Division, in which they finished fifth in 2004. That was enough to see them moved into the new Conference South for the following season, a league they were leading before financial problems led to the squad being released in November 2004.

Reformed under the AFC Hornchurch name, the club were placed in the Essex Senior League in 2005, which they duly won at the first attempt. A second successive title was achieved as they won the Isthmian Division One North, amassing 103 points.

After five seasons in the Premier Division, a Michael Spencer goal, deep into extra time against Lowestoft Town secured their return to the Conference South.

TEAM NEWS
Blues are expected to be at full strength for the match with the majority of the squad rested for the midweek trip to Southend Manor.

The Urchins have added players with Conference South experience to their squad over the summer months, including centre half Paul Goodacre from Dartford and Sam Cutler from Thurrock.

2011-12 LEAGUE POSITION

	Division	Pos	P	W	D	L	F	A	+/-	Pts
Isthmian Divison One North	Grays Athletic	5th	42	24	8	10	80	47	+33	77
Isthmian Premier Division	AFC Hornchurch	2nd	42	26	4	12	68	35	+33	82

FIXTURE HISTORY
My records show that the first match between the two Clubs was an FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round tie in September 1947, at a time when the opposition was known as Upminster; Blues winning 1-0.

During our Athenian League days, the fixtures were often selected for the festive period derbies, with a couple of matches taking place on Christmas Day. It was in the Athenian League that both sides recorded their biggest wins over one another; Blues winning 5-0 in a Christmas Day fixture in 1961, whilst the Urchins won 8-1 at Hornchurch Stadium a decade later in October 1971.

In more recent history, the two Clubs were both founder members of the Conference South, and for the first few months of the 2004/05 season were going head-to-head at the top of the table. Unfortunate, and well documented financial problems ended with Hornchurch losing all but a few of their squad, with Blues signing a number of them, including Ashley Bayes, Jamie Stuart and Lee Matthews. Shortly after, Blues won a fiercely contested match 2-1 away from home, before a more convincing 5-1 towards the end of the season at The Recreation Ground.

In January 2007, now under the name of AFC Hornchurch, the Urchins won through to the Essex Senior Cup Final with a 3-0 victory against Blues in the Semi Final.

The two sides met last July in a friendly at Rookery Hill, with Frankie Curley scoring the only goal of the match midway through the first half.

CLUB CONNECTIONS
There are far too many to list, however in the current squads both Grant Cooper and Joe Sweeney have head spells with the Urchins, whilst there are three ex-Blues in the opposition squad. Although he never featured for the first team, keeper Joe Woolley was an unused sub in 2008. Sam Cutler has recently signed for Hornchurch from Thurrock, and he spent a short time with us in our final Conference season, scoring once from in 11 appearances. Finally, Leon McKenzie has had two spells with the Club, firstly in 2008, before joining on loan from Bromley last season. In total, the striker scored 5 goals in 12 appearances.

Other players to have played for both Clubs in recent years include, Tommy Black, Bertie Brayley, Simon Downer, Danny Kerrigan, John Martin, Jean-Michel Sigere, Charlie Taylor and Steve West

WHERE
Rush Green Stadium, Rush Green Road, Romford, Essex, RM7 0LU

HOW MUCH?
Admission to the match is £5 Adults, £3 Concessions and £1 Under 10s. No programme has been printed for the match, however a double sided round-up will be available free of charge.

CLUB WEBSITE
http://www.afchornchurch.com