The friendlies have all been played and now the season really begins. After last season's rollercoaster ride of a season where we had three managers, an ever-changing team on the pitch as players came and went, and even a change of co-chairman, we would welcome a calmer one. There was enough drama last season to make a television series. Well funnily enough you can find one here.

We kick off with a trip to the 2024-25 season's double winners Hassocks on Saturday, who sadly suffered the same fate as the previous season's double winners Steyning Town in coming straight back to the SCFL. No doubt they will be inspired by Steyning Town's double of last season to earn a second shot at the Isthmian League. A very quick second match comes on the following Monday evening with a trip to Three Bridges to play Forest Row. If a Monday evening game seems a bit unusual then put it down to the amount of ground sharing that is going on which has meant that the remainder of our season's fixtures have only just been released as the SCFL has to wait for the higher leagues to issue their fixtures and then fit around them.

After two league games it is the FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round on Saturday 8 August where the draw has given us a trip to play Corinthians of the SCEFL in Fawkham, Kent – just behind Brands Hatch Circuit. A few of us might recall travelling there one evening for a reserve team cup final against Glebe where following a goalless game we lost the penalty shootout - on the plus side we did receive the trophy for winning the reserve league. At least we start out against a team at the same level as us and not the holders of the FA Vase, and of course at this early stage replays are held in midweek. As is standard practice the Preliminary Round has also been drawn for Saturday 22 August where, if are we involved, we would travel to either Herne Bay of the Isthmian League or Broadfields United of the Combined Counties League.

The FA Vase qualifying rounds have also been drawn and we have been spared the First Qualifying Round on 15 August and will join in for the Second Qualifying Round on 12 September where we have a trip to either Corinthian Casuals or Knaphill. In other cup news, the draw for the first two rounds of the Peter Bentley Cup has been made and we will enter in the Second Round with – at last – a home fixture against either AFC Walcountians or Reigate Priory. No dates have been set for this cup as yet.

If you know our club, you will not be surprised that our home friendlies have not been played in Lingfield as this is usual while the cricket club have use of the ground until early September. However, our First Team and youth teams will be playing at Church Road, Whyteleafe for the whole season because analysis of the pitch at Godstone Road, following the drainage works, has shown that while water drains away much better, the soil is like a sponge and still retains water for too long. During the works the contractor explained that while their trench backfill looked like soil it was mainly sand because on a drainage index sand drains five times better than soil. This means without additional works to apply a ton of sand – in fact many tons – to change the soil composition there is a risk of the pitch not being playable for weeks on end, usually from the start of the year. This could give us a backlog of games at the crucial end of the season. Fixing one problem can then reveal another but without any funds to resolve it – there will be further posts on this during the course of the season. If you follow non-league football you might well have heard that following their dramatic promotion play off win on penalties, AFC Whyteleafe now of Step 3 are playing their games at Cray Wanderers so that The Lingers are the only First Team at Church Road.

The first few fixtures are on the website but currently the facility to link our website to a league to import fixtures and results etc. is not working so if you want to see what lies ahead then all the fixtures are on FA Full Time. You might notice on there that our Christmas and Easter fixture pairing is now East Grinstead this season with them dropping down into our league. The league usually finds opposition not too far distant for the 11am kick offs.