We first played Aveley in the 1968-69 season, when we were members of Athenian League Division 2. The home league match was on 7th December 1968, and ended in a 2-2 draw, our goals being scored by Mick Streeter and Richard Short.

The return league fixture, played at their previous home ground of Mill Field, ended 8-1 to Aveley, which is their largest margin of victory in these encounters.

We played a friendly at Woodside Road on 11th August 1979 and won 3-0; this is our largest winning margin against today’s opponents and it was matched by our National League South win at their “new” ground (Parkside) on 3rd February this year. Ollie Pearce scored twice and Tommy Willard once in this latest meeting between the two clubs.

We played each other in Isthmian League Division 1 in 1982-83, a season we ended as champions, and lost 1-0 both times. We met again in Division 1 in 1990-91, losing 4-0 at home and 5-1 away, in a season where we finished bottom of the table.

The home National League South match of last season finished 2-1 to our visitors and included an incident that is thankfully rare, when the referee failed to apply the laws of the game correctly following encroachment at a penalty-kick.

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