The last time these two teams met, Hoddesdon rescued a point at home with a late equaliser and this time out, the Lilywhites will be looking to go one better as we travel to Aveley to play Cannons Wood in the league.

There was another late equaliser this past Wednesday evening when defender Jack Riddle stole in at the back post to meet a Connor Bolton free kick and grab a point away to Tower Hamlets at The Mile End Stadium. That 1-1 draw saw Hoddesdon move a point further clear of the drop zone and continue their efforts to climb the table. In truth, it was a scrappy performance on a sodden pitch and everybody involved was, in the end, please to escape East London without losing. However, manager Simon Riddle will know that wins rather than draws will make for more comfortable reading as we head into the final straight of the season, and the lads have a chance to secure all three points this weekend as they take on Cannons Wood in a 3pm kick off.

The bad weather this week that made the Mile End Stadium a bit of a quagmire shouldn't be an issue on Saturday at Aveleys plush Parkside ground, with the venue boasting a modern 4th generation artificial grass pitch. Indeed, Hoddesdon are no strangers to the South Ockendon arena, having played May & Baker there, back on the 25th of August in a 3-1 losing effort on a Friday night. Cannons Wood are another of the modern phenomenon of clubs who don't own their own ground and rent a surface to play their games on, coupled with a heavy social media presence. Having previously hired Harlow's ground in 2020 and then for a period after, Goffs Lane in Cheshunt, the former home of Broxbourne Borough FC, the club formerly known as DT FC now call Thurrock their home.

Cannons Wood are a non-league football club founded and created in 2019 by Liam Goodenough, better known as DT and for his extraordinary rants about Arsenal Football Club on social media. The club was initially formed as DT FC before Liam decided to explore the possibility of becoming a non-league football club.

'The Cannons' currently occupy 7th place in the Thurlow Nunn Division One South with a record of played 32, won 15, drawn 10, lost 7, scoring 75 goals and conceding 50, amassing a total of 55 points. Their home form is slightly better than it is on the road, playing 15, winning 9, drawing 4, and only losing twice, whilst scoring 45 goals and conceding 24. They sit 9th in the current form table with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses from their last 6 games. They are somewhat of a draw specialist this season with 10 stalemates in the league, a record only bettered by Clapton Community who have drawn 13.

Last time out, they registered an impressive 4-0 victory away from home against Hackney Wick, with goals coming from Samuel Adetiba, Rigers Kabashi, Brendon-Jay Osholake and Herman Mwanza. Information on their recent games is scarce with their website ceasing to upload any new posts since mid November of last year but you can follow their active Twitter/X account HERE.

Their leading goalscorer this season is Harry Brown with 12 in 15 games, although he has missed the last couple of games through a combination of suspension and injury. It remains to be seen whether or not he will feature at the weekend. Not far behind is Reece Simpson with 11 in 29 appearances although he hasn't appeared for the club since the 6th of January.

It may be that new manager Marc Benterman has rung the changes with the squad in the last month or so. The former Halstead, Stansted, Witham and Basildon Utd man was appointed on the 7th of January, and since then there have been new signings in the shape of Samuel Adetiba from Stansted FC and Moses Carvalho from Hadley FC. Along with his management team, Frankie, Ashley and Ross, Marc will surely be looking to kick on and add to the three wins he has registered since taking on the role.

Defender and Captain Reece White can be relied upon to marshal the back line and has been a consistent presence in the side for the most of the season with 25 appearances. In fact, it is somewhat of a settled back line with defenders Harvey Livings registering 34 appearances in all competitions this season, Shaquel Foyewa making 33 and Elliot Scott making 28. Goalkeeper Bradley Davison appears to have made the number one jersey his own now, having featured heavily in the last ten games, seemingly taking over from Martin Georgiev Arnauchkov who regularly donned the gloves for the first half of the season.

The Lilywhites have lost just one game in seven in all competitions and results and performances have certainly improved since the start of the year. In that time, they have scored 14 goals and conceded 7, keeping 4 clean sheets along the way and finally pulling themselves clear of the bottom three.

But Cannons Wood will certainly prove another test for this young Hoddesdon side, as they did back in November at Lowfield.

It was only a late Jack Gibbs strike from a goalmouth scramble (see that goal HERE) that rescued a point that evening. Elliot Scott put the visitors ahead early in the second half, with Harrison Cage levelling things up with a header in the 70th minute. Hoddesdon looked to have blown the game in the 86th minute when with an isolated attack, the visitors won a free kick outside the box on the left flank, with five minutes of normal time remaining. The resulting kick was aimed at the far post and, with a mass of players attacking the ball, it unfortunately went into the goal off a shoulder of Callum Bennison. That was before captain Gibbs popped up with the leveler in the 95th minute. Hopefully the lads can go one better on Saturday and bring home the win.

All travelling support is welcome.

Kick Off is 3pm and entry at The Parkside Stadium is £6 Adults, £3 Concessions and U16's Free.

Enjoy the game.

#COYL