Big week on two fronts for high-flying Common

Little Common celebrate scoring during their last outing, against Selsey, two weeks ago. Picture by Simon Newstead

The Commoners will host Wick in Macron Store Southern Combination League Division One tomorrow (Saturday, 3pm) knowing that a victory will guarantee them a top three finish.

After that they will face title rivals Langney Wanderers in a Division One Challenge Cup semi-final at Eastbourne Town FC on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

Although Common’s match at Seaford Town was postponed last weekend, they maintained their seven-point advantage at the top of the league because second-placed Langney lost 3-1 at home to Common’s neighbours Bexhill United.

Common player-manager Russell Eldridge said: “We’re in a very good position and we’re happy with our position, but nothing’s going to change from us in the way that we do things. We’re going to take it from game to game and we’ll see where that gets us.”

Common have won 23 and drawn one of their 27 league fixtures so far, scoring 91 goals and conceding 26 (the division’s fewest) for a remarkable league-best goal difference of +65.

But tomorrow’s opponents are one of only two teams Common haven’t beaten so far. Common lost 2-0 in October’s reverse fixture at a time when the two clubs were pretty much neck-and-neck at the top of the table.

“It’s an important game for us on Saturday and a tough game as well,” continued Eldridge. “As we have done all season, we want to keep winning the games and Saturday’s no different.

“When we went down to their place we didn’t really give a true reflection of ourselves - it was probably one of our poorest performances of the season.”

Once tomorrow’s game is done and dusted, Common will be gunning for a third victory over Langney this term in an attractive-looking divisional cup semi-final.

“It’s a semi-final and it’s a one-off game,” added Eldridge. “We’ve had the edge over them recently in terms of the last few results, but that doesn’t really mean anything. They will be wanting to get to a final as much as we will and I expect a close game.

“We think that we can maybe exploit a few weaknesses of theirs, but likewise I’m sure they will be looking to exploit whatever weaknesses they think we have.”

Sam Ellis is likely to be out for a couple of weeks with his calf problem, but everyone else should be fit.

Benefit from an ongoing discount on your Observer by joining our voucher membership scheme. Once you’ve subscribed, we’ll send you dated vouchers which can be exchanged for your paper at any news outlet. To save money on your Observer, simply click here (www.localsubsplus.co.uk)