Saturday 17 August 2024 - FA Cup preliminary round Kick off 3pm
SHIRT
EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN FOOTBALL CLUB
The OHOB Community Stadium | College Lane | East Grinstead RH19 3LS
Telephone : 01342 325885
Website : www.egtfc.co.uk
CLUB MANAGEMENT
Chair, Treasurer, Assistant Welfare Officer, 200 Club Officer Richard Tramontin
Vice Chair, Secretary, Club Welfare Officer Brian McCorquodale
Committee Member, Safety Officer Barry Bryant
Head of Youth Development Jay De Vito
Committee Member, Youth Coordinator Andy Dodson
Disability Welfare Officer, Bar Manager, Webmaster Club Photographer Stuart Gibson
Media Manager & Programme Editor Bruce Talbot
Facilities Manager Andy Willis
Committee Members Grant Hearn Stuart Hedgecock
Head of Recruitment Matthew Wheeler
FOOTBALL MANAGEMENT
Manager Drew Cooney
Assistant Manager and Team Coach Ian Nichols
Assistant Coach Steve Sargent
Goalkeeping Coach Darren Hadlum
Physiotherapist Jamie Brownlie
Kit Manager Adam Robinson
U23 Managers & Coaches
Howard Wrate & Steve Coveney
U18 Manager & Coach Giuliano (Julien) Arucci
3rd XI Manager Paul Withers
U15s Manager Lewis McDonnell
U13 Manager Andy Dodson
U11 Manager Ted Symes
U10 Manager Ben Payne
Disability Team Manager Ant Bowler
www.egtfc.co.uk
WELCOME TO EAST GRINSTEAD TOWN
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to our visitors from Redhill, regular opponents of ours in our County League and briefly their Isthmian League days. Actually, our first game as a Step 4 club was at Kiln Brow, a 1-1 draw I seem to remember.
It's been a good start to the season with all the ingredients seemingly in place. A settled squad with a lot of players who have been with us for a while now; some quality additions; and a committed and hardworking management team. Long may it continue.
Off the field, you may have seen our increased presence on social media since the start of the season. All part of our efforts to increase awareness of the club around the town and hopefully to drive attendances.
A reminder that our next game against promoted AFC Croydon Athletic is on Friday, kick off 7.30pm.
COME ON YOU WASPS!
LEAGUE DIVISION TABLE | 23-24
POSTEAM PDWDLFAGDPTS
1Sittingbourne11005053
2Beckenham Town11003123
3Deal Town11003123
4Sevenoaks Town11003123
5Herne Bay11003213
6Hythe Town11002113
7Sheppey United11002113
8Merstham11001013
9Ramsgate11001013
10Ashford United10103301
11Erith Town10103301
12East Grinstead Town10100001
13Margate10100001
14Littlehampton Town100123-10
15Phoenix Sports100112-10
16Three Bridges100112-10
17AFC Croydon Athletic100101-10
18Steyning Town100101-10
19Burgess Hill Town100113-20
20Eastbourne Town100113-20
21Lancing100113-20
MANAGER’S NOTES
We welcome everyone for today’s game against Redhill in the preliminary round of the FA Cup. It’s been a very positive start to the season with a home win against Glebe in the extra preliminary round followed up by a superb point on the road away at Margate.
It’s very early days in the season but to have two clean sheets from two games for me is huge. We conceded far too many goals last season, so our aim will be to massively improve on those numbers in the goals against column.
The lads are buying into what we want to do and how we want to play but, like I say, it’s very early days and we still need to want to improve in all areas.
It’s a really exciting week ahead with the FA Cup game first followed by a Friday night match at home to newly promoted AFC Croydon Athletic. They will be extremely strong this year with several ex-Palace players in their squad.
We really want to get as many of the local fans down on Friday which I’m sure will be a great night. Games on a Friday may prove to be really popular with our fans and it’s always good to have an evening game under the lights! It also gives us an extra day to prepare for the Bank Holiday Monday match at Sevenoaks.
We thank once again the fans who travelled away to Margate and look forward to seeing you all today, and getting behind the boys for what will be a difficult game against a Redhill team who
have started the season well.
Thanks again, Drew
FIXTURES & RESULTS
Aug 10MargateAIsth SE4020-0PiersonDaCruzFilipeM.WilsonCadmanG.WilsonSinghHarrisTigheFolkesThompsonWearieSpinksDanielLawsonNunes
Aug 17RedhillTFA Cup
Aug 23AFC Croydon AthleticHIsth SE
Aug 26Sevenoaks TownAIsth SE
Aug 31Deal TownHIsth SE
SEPTEMBER
Sep 7Hartley WintneyAFA T pre
Sep 10Broadbridge HeathHIsth SE
Sep 14Phoenix SportsAIsth SE
Sep 21Ashford UnitedHIsth SE
Sep 28Burgess Hill TownAIsth SE OCTOBER
Oct 5MersthamHIsth SE
Oct 12Steyning Town CommunityAIsth SE
Oct 19RamsgateHIsth SE
Oct 26Three BridgesAIsth SE NOVEMBER
Nov 2Erith TownHIsth SE
Nov 5Broadbridge HeathAIsth SE
Nov 9Phoenix SportsHIsth SE
Nov 16Ashford UnitedAIsth SE
Nov 23Burgess Hill TownHIsth SE
Nov 30LancingHIsth SE DECEMBER
Dec 7Beckenham TownAIsth SE
Dec 14Herne BayAIsth SE
Dec 21Hythe TownHIsth SE
Dec 26Eastbourne TownAIsth SE
Dec 28MargateHIsth SE
JANUARY
Jan 4SittingbourneAIsth SE
Jan 11Sheppey UnitedHIsth SE
Jan 18Littlehampton TownAIsth SE
Jan 25LancingAIsth SE
FEBRUARY
Feb 1Beckenham TownHIsth SE
Feb 8MersthamAIsth SE
Feb 15Steyning Town CommunityHIsth SE
Feb 22RamsgateAIsth SE MARCH
Mar 1Three BridgesHIsth SE
Mar 8Erith TownAIsth SE
Mar 15Herne BayHIsth SE
Mar 22Hythe TownAIsth SE
Mar 29Littlehampton TownHIsth SE APRIL
Apr 5Sheppey UnitedAIsth SE
Apr 12SittingbourneHIsth SE
Apr 19Deal TownAIsth SE
Apr 21Eastbourne TownHIsth SE
Apr 26AFC Croydon AthleticAIsth SE
PAST PROGRAMMES
I have a couple of programmes to share with you for FA Cup matches we played in the past somewhere in the middle of August. First up is East Grinstead v Feltham on Saturday 15 August 2009 back when we were in the Sussex County League.
Now we had a problem with the physical production of our programme for this match “due to a technical fault”. What the technical problem I have no idea. We had home games on the two Wednesday evenings either side of the FA Cup match and had produced our normal good looking programme for those matches. But for the FA Cup match we produced a flimsy four-page black printed programme – no colour, no adverts and with some of the content sloping down from right to left.
The programme has a summary of the game we had played on the Wednesday evening before the match against Feltham – a home game against St Francis Rangers. We had an early goal from Aaron MacMillan but “it all went downhill after that” as St Francis equalised soon after and then right at the end they scored again to win 2-1. This defeat was on top of our losing 7-1 away to Chichester on the previous Saturday.
So would the FA Cup see an improvement in our season? We had much of the early play, but it was Feltham who stole a goal after some 20 minutes. However, right on half-time Dave Gellatly equalised for us. And a few minutes into the second half the same player put as ahead. A third goal was to come our way some 15 minutes from the end with Dave Gellatly completing his hat trick and we were to make it 4-1 a couple of minutes later when John Sinclair headed home.
A few years later the FA Cup draw sent us down to Kent for Herne Bay v East Grinstead on Saturday 20 August 2016. By now we were in the Isthmian League, and we would play two more league matches against Herne Bay later in the season.
The front cover of the programme has 736 coloured badges on it. I'm not sure how well
they show up but they are the 736 badges of every club that had entered that season's FA Cup – presumably the 736 that had been accepted into the FA Cup rather than the 736 that had applied to enter? Not all clubs that apply to enter are accepted. I haven't yet found our badge, though there is one that I think could be ours. If you can spot ours then please let me know
The programme has plenty to read, including a reminder of the previous time we had met each other in the FA Cup - in August 2007. We had drawn 0-0 away at Herne Bay but had then lost 3-1 in the replay here at East Court. We are shown the front cover of both programmes together with a photo of Herne Bay's successfully taken first-half penalty in the replay. We also get a page on Herne Bay's first ever FA Cup match in 1965 away to Whitstable Town – where they also won 3-1. Both Herne Bay and ourselves had played two league games – though not against each other – and this game ended in a narrow 1-0 home win.
LESTER MEDCALF
MARGATE 0, WASPS 0
Wasps made a promising start to the new Isthmian South-East campaign with a hard-fought 0-0 draw at Margate on Saturday. Drew Cooney had virtually his strongest XI available for the trip to Hartsdown Park to face one of the relegated teams, who are strongly expected to challenge for an immediate return to the premier division.
And although the home side had more of the ball and the chances, Grinstead defended with tenacity and organisation and had the clearest opportunity of the game with five minutes to go when Tom Cadman, making a welcome return after missing the second half of last season through injury, struck the underside of the crossbar with a strike from the edge of the box. If goalline technology had been in use it would definitely have been employed, with some of our players claiming the ball had crossed the line. Earlier, Omar Folkes had fired just wide with only the keeper to beat after expertly rolling a defender. At
the other end Mattie Pierson made a couple of decent saves when called upon while Margate’s best chance fell to substitute Vinnie Bowman, who failed to convert a tempting cross when he was unmarked at the far post.
Drew felt 0-0 was a fair outcome. “We knew it would be tough going down there where there is a lot of expectation to go straight back up, but we played very well. The clean sheet is really important as it built on the one we had against Glebe last weekend. They had spells of possession and so did we and we had Tom’s chance at the end to nick it. All in all, though, a really promising first league game. Now we focus on the FA Cup and Redhill’s visit this afternoon.”
Wasps team: Pierson, Da Cruz, G. Wilson, Cadman, Filipe, Thompson, M. Wilson, Harris, Singh, Tighe, Folkes. Subs all used: Wearie, Spinks, Daniel, Nunes, Lawson. Attendance: 402.
Alex Filipe gets in a cross during the FA Cup win over Glebe.
REDHILL
It all started back in 1894, after a meeting between prominent local businessmen in the Warwick Hotel and, shortly after, a friendly match was arranged against a Dorking side. That game ended in a 2-2 draw and was played at the club’s original home at ‘Wiggie’ a ground lent to the club by their goalkeeper, Mr. H Trower.
Two years later, the club moved into its stadium of 88 years at Memorial Park in the centre of Redhill. At the time, the ground was an open swamp, until proper drainage was installed, which was accomplished under the auspices of a Sports Ground Association, an organisation that lasted until 1919. For the first few years, the club only competed in friendly matches but that all changed in 1898, when Redhill entered the South Suburban League, followed by various other leagues, that, unfortunately, have since folded. It didn't take long for the Red's to make an impact; The club were champions of the East & West Surrey League in 1902/03 and, two years later, lost in the Surrey Senior Cup final. Redhill became members of the Athenian League in 1923 and remained there until the league’s demise in 1984. Success came early, being runners up and champions in their first two seasons in the league.
In 1925/26, the club enjoyed possibly its best season, reaching two cup finals and reaching the semi-final of the FA Amateur Cup, losing to Northern Nomads at Arsenal’s Highbury stadium in front of 17,000 people. A possible contribution to the outcome was the fact that Redhill lost their goalkeeper very early on with a severe jaw injury, this sparked off an unusual football tradition that can still be heard today. Without a 'keeper and down to 10 men, Redhill were reduced to kicking the ball out the ground every time the Nomads attacked and each time, a cry of "Redhill!" was screamed by the supporters of both sides. Over the years this spread around the entire country as both Redhill and the Nomads travelled the land and when war broke out in 1939, the troops took it abroad. Next time you're at a game, anywhere in the world and the ball is booted out of the stadium, you might just hear someone shout
"Redhill!"
In 1949, Redhill lost to Arsenal 1-0 in a friendly that was offered by the Gunners after Redhill provided them with two of their best players at the time, Colin Grimshaw and Bernard Sexton. In 1957/ 58 Redhill reached the FA Cup 1st Round Proper for their only time. After beating Tooting & Mitcham in the previous round, the Reds travelled to Norwich City, only to lose 61, but many write ups at the time gave Redhill plenty of credit for their performance. After winning the final Athenian League title in 1984, the Reds were moved into their current home at Kiln Brow. Lack of facilities meant the club could not take their rightful place in the higher league and instead found some success in the London Spartan League, before moving to the Sussex County League in 1988. After many brutal years of ups and downs, following hard work by many club officials and supporters keeping the club alive, Redhill eventually found themselves as runners-up of the Sussex League Division One in 2013, winning promotion to the Isthmian League Division One (South).
Redhill’s time in the ‘Ryman’ league was relatively short lived. After back-to-back relegations, the club needed a positive season to build on. The 2016/17 season gave the club that platform, finishing runners up in Combined Counties Division One and gaining promotion, whilst also finishing runners up in the Division One Cup.
Manager Jordan Clark arrived at Kiln Brow in 2023 and in 2024 Redhill celebrates its 130th year and also 40 years at Kiln Brow.
Omar Folkes celebrates after scoring our first goal in the FA Cup win over Glebe. Below, Ricardo Thompson wins a header watched by new signing Toch Singh in the 2-0 victory. Photos: Stuart Gibson.
EAST GRINSTEAD FC
Matte Pierson cc
Oli Cash cc
Paddy Curran cc
Adonai DaCruz cc
Brissi Iwen-Kuwaku cc
Tom Cadman cc
Alex Filipe Andrade cc
Glenn Wilson cc
Matty Weaire cc
Kieran Humpherston cc
Matt Daniel cc
Michael Wilson cc
Ricardo Thompson cc
Ollie Spinks cc
Toch Singh cc
Charlie Harris cc
Connor Tighe cc
Alex Nunes cc
Salami Al-Amin cc
Camron Lawson cc
Omar Folkes cc
Abdoulaye Coulibally cc
Manager:
MATCH
Teams
REDHILL
The Isthmian Football League strongly supports the FA statement that there should be a zero tolerance approach against racism and all forms of discrimination. Accordingly any form of discriminatory abuse whether it by reason of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion and belief, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, sex and sexual orientation or any other form of abuse will be reported to The Football Association for action by that Association.”
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Next HOMe
Friday August 23, kick off 7.30pm AFC Croydon Athletic
