This is shaping up to be a pivotal few weeks with the men’s first team needing roughly five wins out of eight games to seal top spot.

The team have won 9 of the last 10 games to go 8 points clear in the battle with Shepherd’s Bush for top spot.

Meanwhile club volunteers and builders are working to get the Old Spotted Dog Ground in shape for ground grading for the next level.

If we get it right on and off the pitch, we’ll finish the season with two men’s first team home games at the OSD as well as promotion. Sounds good to us.

First things first, though, we need to get past free-scoring, in-form Camden United.

Earlier this season we won an amazing topsy-turvy game 6-4, despite Camden scoring 3 goals in the space of 4 minutes.

Since then Camden have signed Matheus Santana who has bagged an amazing 12 goals in 8 games. That has already fired him to fifth in the league’s top scorers list, with the best goals to games ratio of all.

Redon Abazi has 7 goals himself, including a hat-trick against CCFC in that ten goal thriller.

They’re probably the most in-form team aside from ourselves, winning 5 of the last 6 games and scoring 28 goals in in the process. An amazing turnaround having lost 9 of their first 11 games.

This game threatens to be another goal feast.

About Camden United

Camden United formed in 2019 by a group of friends to tackle knife crime through the power of football.

They started out with Sunday league and Wednesday night league men’s teams and then added two boys’ teams, offering free training sessions through volunteers.

This season they branched out into Saturday men’s football by merging with FC Soma, taking the latter’s place in the MCFL Premier Division.

FC Soma manager Mansor Omar and 13 of last season’s squad – who had done the double over CCFC – stayed on.

The team plays home games outside of Camden in Barnet, in fact very close to the old Underhill stadium.

Tragedy struck in November when club co-founder Abdulaziz Munye died aged just 28. Friends and family raised over £15,000 in his name which was donated to water wells in Ghana.

Match information

Clapton CFC vs Camden United is on Saturday, March 11 2023 at 2.30pm at the Hackney Marshes Show Pitch off Homerton Road, Hackney London E9 5PF

No tickets are required. As usual it’s free to watch but with donations welcome, with a suggested £3 for waged adults. We will have a mini programme available, pick one up for free, donations welcome.

There is a bar including a rooftop terrace overlooking the pitch on the first floor of the Hackney Marshes Centre as well as a cafe on the ground floor.,

The Hackney Marshes Show Pitch is next to Hackney Marshes Centre and is 18 minutes’ walk from Homerton (Overground), 20 minutes from Hackney Wick (Overground), 21 minutes from Leyton (Central), 24 from Stratford International (DLR), Hackney Central (Overground) and 30 from Stratford (National Rail/Overground/Elizabeth/Jubilee/Central/DLR).

The match will be on a roped off pitch with no cover so wrap up warm (or shelter in the bar/under the balcony if it rains!)