Will Savage on a mixed first half of the season

Footballers competing for a ball in the air — Wingate & Finchley taking on Carshalton – (Credit – Martin Addison)

The first half of Wingate & Finchley’s latest Isthmian Premier Division campaign has been inconsistent, to say the least. The Blues’ mid-table position, six points away from both the top five and the bottom four, is probably a fair representation of our season so far.

Over the course of 19 league games, we’ve enjoyed unbeaten runs and endured long winless streaks, experienced some huge away wins and fallen to some lacklustre home defeats.

We started the season just about as badly as we could have done, carrying our pre-season form into the league. We lost our first four games, threw victory away in the dying moments away to local rivals Potters Bar Town, and suffered a disappointing 3-0 home defeat to Chatham Town.

We were made to wait until mid-September to record our first league win, a 2-1 victory over Hashtag United, who, incidentally, were also the opponents when we secured our first away victory (this Blues fan is eternally grateful to Hashtag for their service).

Despite the early results, there was a general feeling among the fanbase that we had been unlucky and that things would soon click. This instinct was proved true in October and November as we went eight league games unbeaten, scoring 19 goals in the process and conceding just five.

November began in dream fashion with a 5-0 drubbing of then-league-leaders Brentwood Town on their soil and, ignoring a 1-1 draw away at relegation-threatened Canvey Island (a forgettable trip at the best of times), we followed this up with a last-minute winner away at Dartford. This was followed by successive 3-0 victories, away to Dulwich Hamlet and at home to Lewes.

Since then, except for a couple of Velocity Cup wins (which see us through to the quarter-final of that particular competition), the Blues have failed to continue this form, picking up just two points from the previous four matches, three of which were at home.

Just like the start of the season, however, there are some encouraging signs: Wingate came from 2-0 down at home to our opening-day opponents Billericay Town to record a 2-2 draw, and achieved the same result a week later at home to Carshalton (who, it should be said, were the opponents when we secured our first victory of the season in the FA Cup first qualifying round). Alfie Cue scored his third goal in two games in the dying moments to rescue a point and keep the Blues somewhat in the play-off hunt.

Wingate finish 2025 with four more league fixtures, before a busy January sees us play five games and travel over 400 miles to Welling, Chichester, and Folkestone – the team bus will soon feel like a second home!

The ever-optimistic Wingate fanbase will hope that the six-point gap to fifth can be bridged over the course of the next five months or so and that the Blues can put themselves in contention for promotion to step two.

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