Match Preview

Our first meeting with Basildon ended in a draw. For the next two years however that was as good as it was going to get. United had recently moved up two leagues in the same number of years and were still firing on all cylinders. It was 1982 and we were in a bad way in that and the next season. So it was that three more league games and a league cup encounter against the Essex side were all lost by an aggregate of 20-0.

Their promotion after that kept United from troubling us for a number of years until they returned to our division in 1989. Four more league meetings followed and this time we recorded three wins and a draw after which Basildon returned to the Essex League where they stayed for 27 years. They won the championship once in that time but it was their second place finish in 2018 that saw them promoted back to the Isthmian ranks.

They have had just one completed season finishing 17th. Last season’s aborted league campaign found them 19th in division one north with five points from six games.

Outside league competition their best performance in the FA Cup has been to reach the third qualifying round (twice), the second qualifying round of the FA trophy and the quarter final of the FA Vase.

After Wednesday’s run out against Hoddesdon this is expected to be a stiffer test.

If you can’t get up to the Park to see the game you can listen to the match commentary on https://www.spreaker.com/show/90minuteslive