Non-League and Academy football writer

On Easter Monday (kick-off is at 3pm) at Wodson Park (Ware FC), two former Essex Alliance Football League sides, in FC Baresi and Lymore Gardens, will meet in an important Thurlow Nunn League First Division South (step 6) fixture. FC Baresi restarted their footballing journey in non-League/grassroots football, in Division Three of the Essex Alliance Football League, in 2017. They would finish the 2017/18 season as league champions, and unbeaten in Division Three during that season. Lymore Gardens were in Division Two of the Essex Alliance Football League during that 2017/18 season, and by the time that the following 2018/19 season had begun, both FC Baresi and Lymore Gardens had been promoted to Division One.

Having faced each other on a number of occasions in both Division One, cup competitions, and the Senior Division of the Essex Alliance Football League, it was firstly FC Baresi who won promotion to step 6 of the non-League footballing pyramid, from the Senior Division, at the end of the 2023/24 season. Then, at the end of the following 2024/25 season, Lymore Gardens were also promoted to step 6, after an impressive season in the Senior Division of the Essex Alliance Football League. Now, and after some great and competitive matches between both FC Baresi and Lymore Gardens in the past, for the final time during the 2025/26 season, both sides will meet, on Easter Monday.

Lymore Gardens are competing for a play-off place (at the time of writing this piece, they were in sixth place in the league table, after 35 matches played) in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division South, after an excellent debut season at this level. It is a big game for both sides, however. With FC Baresi just above the relegation zone at the time of writing this piece, after having played 36 league matches. FC Baresi won 2-0 against Lymore Gardens (away) in the reverse fixture, in January of this year. And this fixture has always been a great one to watch, between two fine footballing sides. In fact it was in this fixture that I first covered both of these sides on my blog, quite a while ago now. I’m looking forward to what should be a really good game of football, with so much at stake for both sides.