TRURO CITY
Not many fans would of predicted the Cornish side would be top of of the league in December but experienced Manager John Askey has done an amazing job in his first season in charge. It appears this campaign's title race will be closer than last seasons as Yeovil Town had forty-five points from twenty games compared to City's current total of thirty-eight.
Truro City have thirteen more points than they had at this time last season.
WESTON-SUPER-MARE
It's the same for The Seagulls who are currently in second place. They went on a brilliant run of form after losing their opening two games being unbeaten for fifteen league games. They have lost their last two league games with seven goals conceded against Torquay United (4-2) and Worthing (3-0).
31.82% (7) of the goals Weston-Super-Mare have conceded have been against Worthing.
45.45% (10) of the goals Weston-Super-Mare have conceded this season have been in the last three games.
TORQUAY UNITED
The Gull's average attendance for league games so far is 3,330 and no team has left Plainmoor with all three points.
In their ten league games Enfield Town, on the opening day of the season, have had the biggest away following with 214 fans making the tip down from North London. Aveley are the lowest with 22 fans in attendance which is down on the figure of 33 who travelled for the game in the 23/24 season.
AWAY FOLLOWING AT PLAINMOOR - LEAGUE GAMES ONLY
ENFIELD TOWN 214
DORK 125
WESTON-SUPER-MARE 96
CHELMSFORD CITY 62
TONBRIGE ANGELS 44
ST ALBANS CITY 35
MAIDSTONE UNITED 34
CHIPPENHAM TOWN 34
WORTHING 24
AVELEY 22
FARNBOROUGH
Comparing Boro's form home and away is like chalk and cheese. They have won nine of twelve games at home (75%) and two from eight games on their travels (25%). The away wins have come against Chippenham Town and Chelmsford City.
WORTHING
Last season's play-off finalists were always likely to be challenging this season. Since drawing and losing their first two home league games they have won five and drawn one with Mo Faal netting in five of the seven games he has played in.
EASTBOURNE BOROUGH
George Alexander has been in fine scoring form for The Sports. The former Dartford, Slough Town, Chelmsford City, Welling United, Bromley and Millwall striker has netted eleven goals in fourteen games. He is close to last season's total of fifteen goals in forty games played for Slough Town, Dartford and Chelmsford City.
DORKING WANDERERS
The Wanderers are top scorers with forty-two goals scored in their twenty-one games played. They have conceded thirty with only St Albans City, Welling United, Aveley, Enfield Town and Hemel Hempstead Town letting in more goals!
BOREHAM WOOD
Since Luke Garrard re-joined The Wood in September they have lost just two of their eleven games played. The strength of the squad at Meadow Park is indicated in the fact that the total of football league appearances made by their starting XI in their last game against Chelmsford City was 719 with eight of the eleven players all having experience in league football. Compare this to bottom of the table Enfield Town's starting XI in their last game Torquay United which totalled three from eleven players and a total of 260 appearances with the bulk being made by experienced defender Adam Thompson at 244.
Wood's XI also included 20 year old Junior Dixon who is on loan from Birmingham City with Town including the 18 year old Welsh U19 International pairing of central-midfielder Alfie Tuck (on loan from QPR) and Dan Cox (on loan from Derby County) who all being well will go on to have successful football league careers.
SLOUGH TOWN
The Rebels have only failed to score once in their nine league home games this season which was a 0-1 defeat to Hemel Hempstead Town which was their first home league defeat in just over a year. They went between Saturday 2nd September 2023 (a 2-5 home loss to Tonbridge Angels) to Saturday 7th September 2024 when they lost to The Tudors.
MAIDSTONE UNITED
Since being humbled 1-5 at home to Chelmsford City on Tuesday 3rd September The Stones have put together an impressive run of twelve league games without a defeat - Six of those games have ended all square!
HORNCHURCH
The Urchins lost five of their opening ten games but have improved of late with just one defeat in their last ten games. They are currently only four points off a play-off spot - they will need to improve their fire power up front as they have only scored twenty-two goals so far which is currently the lowest in the top twelve.
TONBRIDGE ANGELS
The Angels are six points off the play-off zone but have only played seventeen games so have games in hand on the teams above them. They have only three defeats in those games which came away at Slough Town, Worthing and Truro City. It's fortress Longmead for Jay Saunder's side as they have five wins and two draws in their seven league games as well as cup wins against Merstham, Walton & Hersham and Herne Bay. They only team to have won was Southern League Premier Central side Harborough Town who sprang a huge surprise in the FA Cup First Round winning 1-4.
CHESHAM UNITED
Proof that the step up from Step Three to Step Two is a tough one is that twenty-eight of the thirty league goals they have scored so far have come from newly signed players this summer. Only Bradley Clayton and Callum Abebiyi who have scored one goal each were with The Generals last season. Omar Rowe who had a previous loan spell in the 22/23 season with the club has scored one goal. Their recruitment of experienced striker Nathan Minhas has been a great signing as the former Slough Town, Hampton & Richmond Borough and Billericay Town player has netted seven goals so far.
HAMPTON & RICHMOND BOROUGH
Crowds are slightly down at The Beveree this season. Their average for the first nine league games last season was 1128 which for this season is 830. If you compare this to the 13/14 season when they were in thew Isthmian Premier Division it's substantially better as over the first nine games they averaged 355.
CHELMSFORD CITY
The Essex side were runner's up last season but were knocked out at the play-off semi-final stage by local rival's Braintree Town who achieved promotion in the final. They are currently fifteenth - nine points off the play-off zone and ten points off the drop zone!
The club have a new majority owner for this season as Businessman Spencer Gore brought a 60% share in the club over the summer.
They have three wins in their last ten league games so Manager Robbie Simpson will be under a little bit of pressure at The Melbourne Stadium. Their next three fixtures are away at Hampton & Richmond Borough, at home to Weymouth and away at Welling United.
CHIPPENHAM TOWN
Since The Bluebirds were promoted to The National South they have been a solid mid-table side with a best placed finish of 7th in 21/22 and worst 14th in the 19/20 abandoned season.
It looks like more of the same at Hardenhuish Park this season as in 22/23 they won five of their opening twenty games (13th) and in 23/24 they won six (12th).
This season they have won seven of twenty. Although they have lost their last two games they have won five of their last ten.
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD TOWN
Who would of predicated that after The Tudors went unbeaten in their first nine league games and were top of the table just a few months later Manager Bobby Wilkinson would have left the club after a run of thirteen games without a win which including 1-7 and 0-5 defeats in their last two games played. In their last six games they have only netted one goal.
Lee Allinson, who has done great things with Hendon over the past five years, is the new man in charge.
They host Weymouth on Saturday in his first game in charge before a long trip to face title challenger's Torquay United on Saturday 21st December. It's then a huge Boxing Day local derby against St Albans City which is likely to attract a massive crowd to Vauxhall Road.
WELLING UNITED
The Wings have confirmed the departure of Garrett Kelly, Javarn Pitterson, Daniel Jinadu and Mitchell Bergkamp this week along with Anointed Chukwu, Paul Osew and Ben Wells being made available for transfer. The club announced "due to budget constraints compounded by a number of injuries since the start of the 24/25 campaign, a decision has been made to realign the squad to ensure a sustainable budget".
For the club to maintain a position at Step One or Step Two of the football pyramid over the past 35 years or so with a relatively small support compared to other clubs it's an amazing achievement for all involved with the club
Last season the average attendance at the wonderfully old school Park View Road was 723 - this season so far it's been 605. If you look at Dulwich Hamlet and Dartford (clubs who are local to Welling United) both have been relegated from Step Two in recent years with much higher supporter numbers.
SALISBURY
Salisbury have only won two of their last ten games which came against struggling Hemel Hempstead Town (5-0) and St Albans City (4-3).
Their two home league games prior to Christmas against Maidstone United and Welling United could be crucial in keeping them away from the drop zone.
BATH CITY
City are still without a permanent Manager after the recent departure of Jerry Gill who had been in charge at Twerton Park for seven years. Former Barry Town United boss Lee Kendall is currently the Interim Manager and has overseen a decent 3-3 draw against Maidstone United and a 1-0 win over Salisbury as well as narrow defeats to both Boreham Wood and Eastbourne Borough who will be involved in the race for the play-offs and/or title come the end of the season. City's next game is away at Welling United on Saturday.
AVELEY
The Essex side were arguably the team of the season for 23/24 as they finished in the play-off zone in their debut season at Step Two. This campaign has been more of a struggle for Danny Scope's side with just four wins from twenty league games but they have proved they can still mix it with the league's so called bigger teams with home wins over Dorking Wanderers and Boreham Wood.
ST ALBANS CITY
Just two wins from nineteen games played has put the The Saints in danger of relegation. Manager David Noble has been replaced by former Kings Lynn Town and Boston United boss Ian Culverhouse who is assisted by club legend Paul Bastock.
Their first game in charge was an impressive 1-1 draw at Maidstone United so results could start to improve?
WEYMOUTH
Mark Molesey has recently left The Terras after their indifferent start to the season. Jason Matthews has been named as interim Manager - he was previously player/manager with the club. They have just two wins so far against Aveley and Dorking Wanderers. Scoring goals has been difficult with just 12 netted in 19 games.
ENFIELD TOWN
It's been a really difficult season for The Towners. Promoted via the Isthmian Premier Division play-offs the move upwards from Step Three to Two looks a huge one!
Forty-Four goals shipped in just nineteen league games tells the story really along with a 4-2 Isuzu FA Trophy defeat to Step Four Sittingbourne in their last game played.
As people know I am a Enfield Town fans and I'd say the majority of fans are right behind Manager Gavin McPherson despite a few dissenting voices of late.
The next three games look very difficult indeed with a trip to Tonbridge Angels (unbeaten at home) tonight followed by visiting title challenging Weston-Super-Mare on Saturday and then a journey to in-form and free scoring Worthing!
It doesn't get any easier after this as Boreham Wood visit The Dave Bryant Stadium on Boxing Day.
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