The Blues haven’t had the happiest memories in our last three outings on Easter Monday, losing two of our last three.
The visit of relegation-threatened Concord Rangers later this afternoon offers Gary McCann’s side the perfect opportunity to pick up a league victory for the first time since the start of February.
We look at the last five times we would have featured on Easter Monday, with the COVID-19 pandemic meaning we didn’t play on this date in 2020 and 2021.
2018/19
On Easter Monday in 2019, we travelled over the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge to lock horns with Dartford for a Vanarama National League South encounter.
Jake Robinson gave us the lead at Princes Park nine minutes into the second half. However, a late Tom Murphy brace where he scored in the 88th and 90th minute saw the Blues suffer a major dent in the push for the play-offs following promotion from the Isthmian Premier Division in the previous campaign.
Only one game took place after the defeat to the Darts and a 2-0 home loss to Bath City ensured the Blues narrowly missed out on the play-offs by one point to Wealdstone.
2019/20 & 2020/21
As mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic meant the Blues didn’t feature on Easter Monday in both the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons.
2021/22
2022 saw us have an Easter Monday clash for the first time in three years and it came with a trip to local rivals Chelmsford City in a game which was crucial in our fight for survival.
Matt Rush, on loan from Southend United at the time, took first blood with his strike on 24 minutes. Toby Stevenson drew level seven minutes before the break but Chelmsford striker Deon Moore, now of Sky Bet League Two side Sutton United, netted the winner three minutes from time.
The Blues went on to suffer relegation to the Isthmian Premier Division in that season.
2022/23
We took on Bowers & Pitsea in last season’s Easter Monday clash with 822 at New Lodge to see a 3-2 Blues victory.
The Blues raced into a three-goal lead by the hour-mark with Montel Agyemang, Stevenson and Kareem Isiaka all getting on the scoresheet. James Collins’ side weren’t willing to cave in and found their feet thanks to goals from Brandon Aveiro and Solomon Addy but they were unable to find an equaliser.
We finished that season in tenth place.
IMAGE CREDITS: Nicky Hayes