Princes Park, Dartford hosts a local derby on Wednesday night when Thamesmead Town take on VCD Athletic in a Bostik Football League Division One South fixture.
Both teams come into the game on the back of home draws. Thamesmead took a hard earned point from their game with league leaders Lewes. However, they may feel that they could have had more.
It was a tight match throughout and Lewes were happy to hold on with what they had after Omar Lawson was dismissed in the closing stages.
Threadbare VCD were also happy with a bitter-sweet home draw. Their visitors, Hastings United, came close when hitting the bar in the first half but they struggled to create clear cut chances after that and the hosts grew into the match and finished the stronger.
They thought that they had won the game when Aymun El-Moyhalbel put them ahead with five minutes to go but Ollie Rowe fired home an equaliser for the visitors in the dying minutes.
Keith McMahon, VCD’s manager, will find the match especially poignant and he admitted as much saying “I’ve got some friends there. I owned the club for eleven years. It’s tough.
“They’ve got a new beginning and I wish them well for that. I’m very good friends with the manager, Tommy Warrilow. I’ve got a lot of time and respect for him, and Obi (Alex O’Brien).”
When the two teams met at Oakwood earlier in the season, the Vickers took the honours. Kemo Darboe put them ahead and Steven Carvell made it two on the stroke of half time.
Alex Teniola pulled one back ten minutes into the second half but Darboe made sure of the points when scoring his second twelve minutes later.
Lawson, who was dismissed against the Mead on Saturday, played for the Vickers that day and only four of VCD’s starters in the game back in August played against Hastings.
There have been changes at Thamesmead too, as only five of their starting line-up against Lewes were in the initial eleven at Oakwood although two more of them were on the bench on Saturday.
McMahon is not the only person to have had an involvement with both clubs so it promises to be an entertaining encounter.