Chelmsford City v Aveley, National League South, EMJ Community Stadium, Wednesday 1st January 2025, 3:00pm kick-off.
Chelmsford City kick-off 2025 with an all-Essex New Year’s Day home clash against Aveley.
The Clarets ended 2024 with four points and two clean sheets from their final two matches of the year, and will be looking to begin the New Year by extending this unbeaten run and maintaining their recent strong defensive record.
Danny Scopes’ Aveley side will hope 2025 can bring them better fortunes than the closing months of 2024 did. The Millers failed to win any of their four National League South matches in December and are currently languishing in the relegation places of the table.
Here’s all that Clarets supporters need to know ahead of the game…
Team and match stats:
- The Clarets are unbeaten on New Year’s Day since 1995.
- Aveley have collected four points away from home in 2024-25, which represents the worst away points return in the league this season.
- The Millers have also conceded 24 goals in the league while on their travels – the joint-highest tally of any side this season.
- Chelmsford City did the double over Danny Scopes’ side in 2023-24.
Click below to watch the highlights of our 2-0 home victory over Aveley last season.
Opposition:
Fellow Essex side Aveley’s swift rise up the Non-League Football Pyramid has come to a standstill this season. The Millers were promoted to the National League South for the 2023-24 campaign and got close to achieving a third consecutive promotion after finishing last season in the play-off places. However, a narrow play-off eliminator defeat to Maidstone United denied Aveley another promotion.
Danny Scopes’ side have experienced some ‘second-season syndrome’ in their second year of Step Two football. Like City boss Robbie Simpson, Scopes lost key players from his 2023-24 squad, and has had to adjust to life without the likes of Eduino Vaz, Harry Gibbs, Frankie Terry, Siju Odelusi and Arjanit Krasniqi.
Scopes will be hoping his new-look side can come good and help guide the Millers away from their precarious position. Aveley have only won four matches this season and are currently eight points adrift of safety from relegation.
A key cog in the Millers’ survival fight will be forward David Kawa, who has been Aveley’s danger man this season. Kawa arrived at Parkside in August and has scored seven league goals so far in 2024-25, including five in his last six National League South appearances.
Former Claret Ibby Akanbi has provided competition for Kawa in the final third. Akanbi played four times in a City shirt at the beginning of this season before departing the club. The 27-year-old signed for Danny Scopes’ side in October. Akanbi has netted two BBC Essex Senior Cup goals since his arrival at Parkside and scored his first National League South goal of the season during Aveley’s 2-1 defeat to Tonbridge Angels on December 14th.
Team news:
Ryan Blackman is closing in on making a return to action.
Freddie Hockey and Jordan Greenidge remain sidelined after picking up injuries in December.
Ruaridh Donaldson is progressing in his return to playing following a lengthy injury layoff. The Scotsman completed half an hour in the match against Welling United last time out.
Matchday & ticketing information:
Supporters can click here to buy tickets online ahead of matchday, via the club’s Ticketpass website. Online tickets will be on sale until 12pm on the day of the game. Online ticket prices are as follows:
- Adults – £14.00*
- Concessions/Senior (65+) – £9.00*
- Student (17–24 with a valid ID Card) – £4.00*
- Youth (12–17) – £4.00*
- Under-12s (when accompanied by an adult) – Free
*plus booking fee
Tickets will also be available on the gate on the day of the fixture. Matchday ticket prices are as follows:
- Adult – £17
- Concession/Senior (65+) – £12
- Student (17-24 with valid ID card) – £6.50
- Youth (12-17) – £6.50
- Under-12s (when accompanied by an adult) – Free
Cash or card payments are accepted at the turnstiles.
How to follow the game:
Radio Clarets will provide live audio commentary of proceedings at the EMJ Community Stadium.
Clarets fans can find pre-match coverage of Wednesday’s match and live updates of the proceedings by following the club’s X (formerly Twitter) page: @OfficialClarets, Instagram page: chelmsfordcityfc and Bluesky page: chelmsfordcityfc.
Post-match reactions will be found on the club’s website, official social media channels and on ClaretsTV.
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