This weekend's match preview - Wingate & Finchley (Away)

Season’s end is little more than a month away yet still the game of musical chairs continues with more than half the division still harbouring hopes.

So intense has the promotion race become that in the words of the late Nicol Williamson as Merlin, it has become a beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and all complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.

Dulwich Hamlet may have been stuttering of late but the power to grab a place at the playoff table remain within their own hands starting with this Saturday's trip to Summers Lane, home of Wingate and Finchley.

With the original Wingate FC formed with as a Jewish club with the aim of fighting anti-semitism in the aftermath of World War II, the Blues have carried that proud tradition down the years through mergers with first Leyton then Wingate but always maintaining the ethos of their founders. The original Wingate FC was named in honour of British soldier Orde Wingate, who had been involved in training the Haganah, the precursor to the Israeli Defense Forces. He would see many of those fighting qualities in the current WIngate and Finchley squad, as capable of a crunching, goal defying, tackle as of a killer pass or a snapshot finish.

With six games to go, the Blues might lie in ninth spot but just two points separate them from fifth-placed Enfield Town, current occupants of the last playoff spot. However given that the team made a strong start to the season and held top three spot back in the autumn, Wingate and Finchley wonky record since them must have been something of a frustration to the fans. Yet the playoffs have never been far out of reach.

Results of late have continued the unpredictable pattern. At Kingstonian they looked to on for a hard earned point sharing four goals in a rollicking first half, but hopes were shattered in the dying moments when Charlie Penny popped up with a winner late on. A scoreless draw with Leatherhead, currently building up a head of steam for a late push, might have been viewed as a useful point before a narrow 2-1 win at Peacehaven and Telscombe gave a much needed fillip.

A trip to struggling Harrow should have been a chance to bag three points but after taking a fifth minute lead through David Knight the world fell in on the Blues. Ben Long leveled straight after before Lewis Driver put Borough 2-1 up on ten minutes. Defender Mark Goodman saw red in conceding a penalty that Marc Charles-Smith converted and while David Taylor and Ryan Hope rubbing salt into the wounds with further goals in the second half it was a very sheepish looking side that left Earlsmead on the back of 5-1 reverse.

With tough games on the agenda, the Blues had to quickly find their feet and they started well with a 2-1 win away to Met Police. They looked to be on for a point at home to another of the playoff hopefuls until an 86th minute penalty converted by Richard Halle gave Billericay the points at the Harry Abrahams Stadium.

Last Saturday's seaside jaunt down to Margate seemed daunting but with ‘keeper Bobby Smith in fine form the scoresheet remained blank. While the visitors had their chances, Smith was in fine form throughout the game and made two stunning saves in the final moments, denying Margate’s Zac Attwood and Ryan Moss to keep his side in the playoff race.

This afternoon’s game kicks off at 1.00 pm at The Harry Abrahams Stadium, Summers Lane, Finchley, London, N12 0PD

Full directions to the ground can be found here

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