Defender recently reached the 250 game milestone in pink and blue.

As the Hamlet fell to a 4-3 defeat to Slough Town on a cold afternoon to Arbour Park in January, there was still a cause to celebrate for defender Sanchez Ming, as the defender brought up a significant milestone.

The long-serving defender had just made his 250th appearance for the Hamlet, an outstanding achievement, and just the 18th player to do so since the end of the Second World War. Indeed, Sanchez marked the milestone by netting from the penalty spot for our third goal of the afternoon, his 20th goal for the club.

Sanchez was presented a commemorative shirt by our President Jack Payne ahead of our game with Eastbourne Borough, which was signed by all his teammates.

The 32-year-old made his debut for the club as a flying winger back in August 2009 against Leatherhead in the early weeks of Gavin Rose's tenure as manager, having signed from Welling United after beginning his career with Fisher Athletic. It brought the duo back together, with Ming having been a graduate from his Aspire academy. Sanchez started the 1-1 draw at Champion Hill in front of 189 people, and three days later was celebrating his first goal, when he scored the equaliser in a 3-1 win at Horsham YMCA.

After playing for the majority of the 2009-10 season, Sanchez then departed for spells at Chipstead and Bishop's Stortford, before rejoining the Hamlet for the 2011-12 campaign, where he scored eight league goals in 33 appearances in Division One South of the Isthmian League as we suffered playoff final heartache at Bognor Regis Town. It was a particularly cruel afternoon for Sanchez, as he had a second half penalty saved which would have brought us level.

Sanchez then moved up to the National League South to join Bromlet and then Staines Town, where he was often captain of the side, before he suffered a serious ACL injury whilst with the Swans. Now a full-back, he returned to Champion Hill for a third time in the summer of 2016, and over the next three years played a hugely important role in our run to the FA Trophy quarter-finals, promotion to the National League South, and our attempts to secure our status in our first level at this level.

Along the way, he made his 100th appearance in a League Cup against Faversham in January 2017, scored an extremely memorable solo effort against Braintree Town in the FA Trophy, and played 42 of our 46 league fixtures in that successful 2017-18 season which ended in that penalty shootout glory against Hendon.

Sanchez brought up his 200th appearance in an FA Trophy victory against Welling at Imperial Fields during our exile, and fittingly it was an assist from him which led to our winning goal.

A further spell away from the club took him to Welling and Dartford over an 18 month spell, before his current tenure with us began in 2020, continuing to excel in the right-back position. Last season he faced another major setback as he suffered a nasty achilles injury in pre-season, but in true Sanchez manner, he worked hard to get back on the pitch and has remained an integral part of the squad under Paul Barnes.

From everyone at the club, congratulations on this fantastic achievement Sanchez, and thank you for all your commitment, hard work and infectious smile and laughter during your time with us, we look forward to many more games to come.