Tomorrow’s opponents were formed after the original club (also called Hornchurch) folded. We first played that club after our promotion to the Athenian League Premier Division and lost the first meeting 6-2 at their Bridge Avenue ground on 5th December 1964.

We played them the following year then, after missing each other through a number of relegations and promotions, came together again in 1973-74, meeting each other in Athenian Division 1. Hornchurch joined the Isthmian League in 1975 and we reunited in Division 2 of that competition three years later.

Hornchurch were champions in 1981 and we emulated them the following year, meeting them for one season in Division 1. Hornchurch were our opponents in our second-ever FA Trophy tie, in 1982, and we last played them on 8th September 1992, when we won 2-0 at Woodside Road in an Isthmian League Cup match.

Worthing first played the current club, who had reformed as AFC Hornchurch that year, in an FA Cup tie at their ground on 24th September 2005. Two goals from Sam Francis and one apiece from Mark Knee and Stafford Browne earned us a 4-1 victory against our Essex Senior League opponents.

On 15th July the following year we beat them 1-0 at Woodside Road in a pre-season friendly. Ten years after our first meeting, we met again in the FA Cup; this time the Urchins reversed the result, winning 4-1 in Worthing on 10th October 2015 (Brannon O’Neill netting our consolation goal).

Our first league meetings came in the Isthmian League Premier Division during 2018-19. The away match on 17th November ended 1-1, our scorer being Callum Kealy. Callum scored in the reverse fixture (on 30th March), as did the current Peterborough United duo David Ajiboye and Kwame Poku, the final score being 3-1 in our favour.

A bizarre match at Woodside Road on 17th August 2019 was goalless at half-time but a severe injury to Darren Budd at the start of the second half was followed by our opponents (now going by the name Hornchurch) scoring six times without reply. This was the first COVID season, and the league was abandoned with Hornchurch looking the likeliest of our challengers for the title.

The following season was scrapped before we could meet each other, but in 2021-22 we defeated Hornchurch 3-1 at their ground (Joel Colbran, Aarran Racine and Ollie Pearce scoring) and drew 1-1 at Woodside, Jasper Pattenden putting us ahead. We ended the year as champions and Hornchurch reached the play-off final, losing to Cheshunt.

A summary of our results against tomorrow’s opponents is shown below: