Next up - Wroxham away on Saturday, 15th April at Trafford Park, Skinners Lane, Wroxham, NR12 8SJ, Ryman Isthmian League Div 1 North. Kick off 3pm.
Admission - £8 adults, £5 concessions, £2 children under 12 or free with a paying adult.
Our longest journey of the season is perhaps apt as we come towards the end of what seems to have been an arduous campaign. I remember talking to the referee at Aveley before our opening league match when he asked what sort of season I expected. I offered my standard reply that in my experience if you lose more than you win in pre-season it means you're in for a hard time but if you win more than you lose (as we very much did) it has no meaning of any kind.
It was the equivalent of "touching wood". If I acknowledged the possibility of the pre-season form not carrying forward into competitive matches then I would have shown fate that it couldn't catch me out. I was aware of the tricks it could play and thus there would be no point in playing them.
Yet here we are striving to preserve our position at Step 4, hoping not to have to rely on a reprieve. Wroxham, our opponents on Saturday, are already relegated but it's impossible to tell whether that means they are too demoralised to put any effort in to the game, or that with nothing to play for they will be so relaxed that they turn in the sort of performance their manager has been trying to draw out of them all season.
They haven't won in the 13 games since they beat Thamesmead Town 3-2 at home on January 21st. Just three draws have alleviated the run of defeats since then, one at home and two away (one of those at AFC Hornchurch no less and the other at Tilbury last Saturday).
Wroxham's home record is identical to our away one with four wins, three draws and 14 defeats though we have a slightly better goal difference in a comparison of those games. On that evidence a gambling man might predict a draw but Ware supporters will hope the need to avoid relegation will give their team the incentive to win.
On the down side our three previous visits to Trafford Park have produced just one point whilst our away record has done for us this season; it's the second worst in the division. So there's something for Kem and Tolga to work on before Saturday.
Incidentally, if the full table was based on our home results we would be 16th.
Our record against Wroxham:-
11 September 2012 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | A | 1 | 4 | Thomas |
23 April 2013 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | H | 4 | 3 | Simpson 2, Crace, King |
17 August 2013 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | A | 3 | 4 | Smith, Madden, Martin |
10 April 2014 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | H | 2 | 1 | Kieran Bishop, Kostalas |
9 August 2014 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | A | 1 | 1 | Kieran Bishop |
22 November 2014 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | H | 1 | 3 | Kieran Bishop |
17 September 2016 | Isthmian League Div 1(N) | H | 3 | 1 | Haule 2, Price |