Following their Bexley Borough derby victory at Thamesmead Town on Boxing Day, Phoenix Sports entertain Romford F.C. on New Year’s Eve.
It will be Romford’s second visit to the area of the month having already visited VCD Athletic where they came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2. That took them out of the bottom three and was followed by a 1-0 victory at Heybridge Swifts that gave them some breathing space.
They then had to wait eleven days before playing again when they ‘hosted’ (they ground share) Thurrock on Tuesday evening looking for their fourth consecutive league victory. That hope ended when Romford were beaten 3-2.
Chinedu McKenzie will need watching. He made the most of some poor defending to start the comeback at VCD and already has over 20 goals to his name this season.
Steve O’Boyle’s Phoenix will be up to the challenge. Their hard fought victory at Thamesmead Town came courtesy of a goal scored by Michael Power on debut following his move from Greenwich Borough.
Their December has consisted of three wins, a draw and one defeat and finishing the year with a victory will keep them well in sight of the play-off places. They would dearly like to reward their suffering supporters who haven’t seen a home win since they defeated Waltham Abbey on 8th October.
Whilst Romford have a clear focal point, goals tend to be shared around the Sports’ team with Theo Fairweather-Johnson leading the way on nine.
Anyone looking for a sub plot will be interested in a potential brother v brother match up. Jack Barry, who had an excellent game for the Sports started his career at Romford before crossing the river via Thamesmead. His brother Chris is still at Romford but was an unused substitute on Tuesday evening.