Division Two
Basildon & Pitsea v Leigh-on-Sea
Horndon on the Hill v Harlow
Stanford-le-Hope v Benfleet
Wickford v Buckhurst Hill

Division Three
Southend & EMT v Billericay

Joint top billing this weekend are Division One side Orsett. Currently third and just 14 points off a promotion place, they take on lowly Hadleigh & Thundersley at their School Lane ground hoping to make ground on the top two.

Sharing the limelight on Saturday are Division Three outfit Billericay. Currently second and with a seven point gap, they host the only team above them, Walthamstow. Victory at Blunts Wall Road will lift them to the top of the table so a thrilling contest looks on.

In Division Two Wickford, with just one win all season, will be hoping for happier times as they travel to second bottom Benfleet.

Fourth placed Stanford-le-Hope are also away, at Leigh-on-Sea, as are mid-table Horndon-on-the-Hill when they take on Old Southendian at Southchurch Park.

Winless Basildon & Pitsea make up the quartet of travelling League Two teams and face a daunting trip to third placed Harlow.

Determined to improve on the last two seasons, where a flying start to the campaign was abruptly brought to a halt each time, new manager John Doyle has lined up a diverse set of pre-season opposition.

Doyle, assistant Mark Reed, and coach Paul Rogan will be looking for the formula in these games to make sure the winning habit lasts from start to finish next time around.

The Bees open their pre-season campaign on Saturday 10 July with a trip to Chadfields to face Ryman One North outfit Tilbury, themselves under new management. The following Saturday, 17 July, a longer trips awaits the Hive side when they travel to Suffolk based Ridgeons League club Hadleigh United with a 2pm kick-off.

24 July marks Basildon’s only pre-season match at Gardiners Close when they entertain Ryman One South team Met Police. Their pre-season schedule is completed the Saturday after, on 31 July, with a return trip to Suffolk where they play another Ridgeons League side, Long Melford Town.

With speculation mounting over possible new signings, and youth squads coming together for Eastern Junior Alliance campaigns already, as well as club secretary Richard Mann overseeing various ground improvements, Basildon United are making sure the summer break is anything but!

Another interesting campaign beckons.

After a fine start, including three wins from their five games, third placed Orsett have an opportunity to leap into the Division One promotion places with a trip to second placed South Woodford. A competitive and intriguing clash is guaranateed.

In Division Two, Stanford-le-Hope welcome Old Southendian to Grove Road whilst Horndon-on-the-Hill are at home to struggling Benfleet. Fellow strugglers Wickford also have a home clash with a strong Leigh-on-Sea outside whilst luckless Basildon & Pitsea, bottom and without a win since 2008, play host to leaders Buckhurst Hill at Mopsies Park.

Promotion chasing Billericay round things off in Division Three, taking on lowly West Essex over at New Lodge. With four wins out of five, the good times seem at last to be rolling for the Blounts Wall Road based club.

So, if you’re fed up with football overload, why not spend a leisurely afternoon in the sun following your local cricket side? That’s what summers are for, after all!

In Division One, Orsett will also be looking to kick-start their campaign, after a draw and an abandonment, with a trip to Chalkwell Park to face Westcliff-on-Sea.

Top billing, however, is a Division Two derby clash between Wickford and Basildon & Pitsea at the Patmore Memorial Sports Ground, just off Runwell Road. Both clubs have lost their first two games and will be desperate for some much needed points as well local bragging rights.

Elsewhere in the division Stanford-le-Hope entertain Horndon On The Hill at the Rec on Grove Road whilst rock bottom Benfleet play host to Old Southendian at Woodside Park.

There’s also an exciting clash in prospect in Division Three with a battle of the joint leaders as resurgent Billericay travel to Old Brentwoods.

Play at these games usually commences at around the 1pm mark, but for further details contact the clubs, details of which can be found on http://www.essexcl.play-cricket.com/

Doyle is known throughout local non-league circles for his tireless work in the ESL and returns with the addition of Mark Reed as assistant manager and Paul Rogan as coach. The move is seen as an excellent choice for steadying the Gardiners Close ship, which over the past two seasons have started well but encountered stormy water thereafter.

Meanwhile the club have moved quickly to pour cold water over speculation of a groundshare agreement with struggling Grays Athletic. A club spokesman has stated that at no point during the 2009/10 season itself had talks taken place between the two clubs and, whilst acknowledging the Grays reserves outfit had played at The Hive on occasion, felt that the relationship between the two clubs is no better or worse than they have with others.

Speaking to the national Non-League News, however, the club’s secretary then confirmed that the club certainly would not object to a groundshare and that they’d welcome a club of Grays’ stature to The Hive

After looking to the past and addressing the present, the Bees are also looking to the future this weekend. The club are holding trials over the next three Saturdays at 9.30am, for any aspiring Under 15 players, at Whites Farm in Barleylands. They are looking for quality players in all positions as preparations for a new season in the prestigious Eastern Junior Alliance begin. For further information give Joe a call on 07778 381911 or Steve on 07717 502754.

The Under 16’s, after a successful inaugural season in the EJA, are also holding trials on the first two Saturdays in June. Get in touch with Dan Burgess on 07778 327648 for more details.

Having no longer being given use of the New Rec ground, the Blues had asked to be placed in the Ryman League. A groundshare with Tilbury and a place in its Premier Division had been the most likely outcome.

That, however, appears to have been scuppered after the Ryman League today announced their divisional set-up with no mention at all of Grays. Although no official announcement has yet been made, an FA spokesman confirmed to us “Grays have been placed in Step Five and that will mean the Essex Senior League.”

This also opens up the possibility of the Blues groundsharing with Basildon United at The Hive rather than at Tilbury’s Chadfields base. Talks had been going on behind the scenes regarding this scenario earlier in the year, and both clubs have a more than cordial relationship at boardroom level, after Grays reserve side played the home games at Gardiners Close last season.

Not so, however, in a certain part of Billericay. For Joseph Smith, a 14 year old student at Billericay School and talented goalkeeper for Southend Manor, it’s a dream come true after a life of supporting the Dingwall-based Staggies. After an astonishing victory over mighty Celtic, Joseph is excited and enthralled over a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

He said “My Dad took me to the semi-final at Hampden during my Easter holidays, emphasising that things like this never happen to the Staggies, and would never happen again, so I should enjoy the day.”

He certainly did. Jospeh explained “Not even I could believe what happened. Not only did we outplay Celtic, we beat them 2-0. It was amazing. Everyone was going mad, even my Dad cried a little!”

But why Ross County of all teams? “Well, my nan is from Dingwall, which is about 15 miles north of Inverness, so every time I visit her, I’m taken to a Staggies game or two with my Dad and uncle. They’ve even let me train there!”

So when those teams come out at Wembley tomorrow for the FA Cup Final, just think that for one Billericay teenager there’s something far more important going on up Hampden way at the same time.

And his prediction? “I dare not say anything definite as that would be tempting fate! But, having beaten Celtic, Hibs and Hamilton this season, I know the boys can do it. Whatever happens it’ll be a brilliant day and a dream come true.”

First of, though, hats off to Concord Rangers. Just two years after winning the Essex Senior League, the Thames Road outfit more than made up for their play-off heartbreak last year by winning promotion to the Ryman Premier. A 3-1 play-off final win over Enfield Town, in front of over 700 happy supporters, was just reward for Danny Heales’s enterprising Rangers side, having been comfortably clear in second place during the regular season.

Just one step from Conference football now, the recent progress of the Canvey based club has been phenomonal, with even more exciting times perhaps lurking just around the corner. Well done to all concerned.

Also an honourable mention should be given to Conference South outfit Thurrock who, although fading away at the end of the season, spent much of the time challenging for the play-offs. With resources scarce at Ship Lane, the Rocks efforts has been commendable, especially when you bear in mind their bottom two finish the season before.

For the rest, however, where do we start? In the Essex Senior League, Basildon United held sway for a good half a season as the men from the Hive made an unlikely title bid. The downfall, however, was equally surprising and perhaps even more spectacular. With the winter chill putting paid to most of the fixtures between Christmas and Spring, they were left to play almost half a season in six weeks.

Added to that players leaving en masse, a manager that didn’t turn up at all, with a swift departure hastened by non-football issues, the sorry Bees were finishing the season having to call games off or start matches with just 8 players. In the circumstances, 12th place was almost creditable. A huge rebuilding of club confidence is needed at Gardiners Close this summer, let alone players.

It’s depressing to think, however, that they were by some way the best ESL side in Basildon. Bowers & Pitsea could at least point to consistency, albeit consistently poor throughout the season. To finish second bottom, with just 8 wins all term (with two of those coming in the first four matches) was frankly an awful return for all the hard work that went into the club both on and off the pitch. Quite simply the players and management should have done a lot better with the resources at their disposal and have singularly failed.

Things were a lot brighter in the Ryman One North though, in their way, no less disappointing. East Thurrock United, you could almost feel, were suffering a hangover from their extraordinary end to last season, when they lost promotion with the last kick and then a subsequent play-off.

Despite being in the top 5 all season, you could sense that they feared another play-off situation, and it was no surprise when Concord disposed of them at the semi-final stage. One thing is certain though. John Coventry, a decent man and an excellent manager, will use this as motivation to make sure promotion is of a ‘third time lucky’ variety over at Rookery Hill next term.

Tilbury, by contrast, were the anthesis of this, motoring along in a lower mid-table position from much of their campaign. On the back of a sensational Ryman League Cup win in 2009, however, the Chadfields hierarchy deemed it unacceptable and manager Graham Chester was surpisingly dispensed with. Perhaps they should be careful of what they wish for, though, as it has a nasty habit of coming true.

In the Ryman Premier it was same as usual for Billericay Town. The New Lodge side spent half the season in the relegation zone, yet at the very time the management had put together the side they wanted and began to reach mid-table comfort, they too were sacked, similar to how the previous incumbents were treated the season before. Never a dull moment at Blunts Wall Road!

As for Canvey Island, the season, up until Christmas, looked like being one of play-off chasing daring-do. In a strikingly similar run of form to Basildon United, though, the second half of their campaign proved to be disastrous for the Gulls, with the Park Lane outfit finishing up just a handful of points above the drop zone.

Just a few short years after a previous owner said their avowed aim was to be the number one side in South Essex, they now find themselves not even the number one side in Canvey. Disappointing indeed.

The trough of South Essex despondency ran right through our professional clubs too. Grays Athletic finished rock bottom of the Conference, and are now homeless, with the owners of their New Rec ground turfing them out for development purposes. Instead of the Conference South, it looks increasingly like a groundshare with Tilbury or East Thurrock, and a return to Ryman League football for Julian Dicks, who will have to somehow cobble together a whole new squad.

It was equally depressing in League One, where Southend United combined losing football matches with visits to the High Court over unpaid tax bills, not paying staff whether it be players, managers, coaches or in administration, and flogging off their best player – the one who could have saved them from the drop – at way below market value. Relegation was inevitable as soon as Lee Barnard departed, and with no news of when the move to Fossetts Farm will materialise, things are looking bleak at Roots Hall.

Other than that, though, it was a hugely successful and enjoyable season for South Essex football clubs ….. Still, the one shining light was the magnificent promotion campaign of Concoird Rangers.

With so much politicial uncertainty at the moment, too, perhaps we should hark to the South Bank after election day in 1997, when the song rang out “Thinnnnnnnngs can only get betttttterrrrrr.” They better had or next season doesn’t bear thinking about! In the meantime, clubs, enjoy the summer – you all deserve and need a break.