Brentwood Town vs Chelmsford City, Pre-season Friendly, The Brentwood Centre Arena, Tuesday 8th July 2025, 7:45pm kick-off.
Angelo Harrop gets his first taste of football as Chelmsford City manager on Tuesday night, as the Clarets travel to Brentwood Town to kick off their pre-season campaign.
Having been in pre-season training for a week, the Clarets will play their first 90 minutes of the 2025-26 season, beginning a new era. Having transitioned to a full-time outfit over the past couple of months, Harrop’s men have been in full flow for the past week, including a trip to former England National Team training centre, Bisham Abbey.
Brentwood Town will play their second pre-season outing, having fallen to a 5-0 defeat to League One side Leyton Orient on Saturday. The Blues will play in the Isthmian Premier Division for the 2025-26 season, having won the Isthmian North title last season. They’ll look to test themselves against their National League South opponents.
Here’s everything Chelmsford City supporters need to know ahead of Tuesday night’s match…
Team and match stats:
– The Clarets last took on Brentwood Town in July 2023, winning 6-0 in a friendly at Coggeshall Town.
– The Blues are set to head into the Isthmian Premier Division this season, ending a 10-year absence.
– Angelo Harrop will become the 41st permanent manager to manage Chelmsford City on Tuesday night.
Opposition:
Keith Rowland’s Brentwood Town will be hoping they can cause a splash in the Isthmian Premier Division this season, after an impressive title-winning season last time out.
The Blues took the title by 4 points, edging out Felixstowe & Walton and Bury. A large reason behind their success was frontman Danny Ogunleye, who netted 43 goals and picked up 13 assists. Ogunleye netted 37% of Brentwood’s league goals, rightly so receiving a place in the League’s team of the season.
Ogunleye is yet to sign on for Brentwood or elsewhere, but Rowland has added to his squad as well as keeping some of the promotion-winning side. They’ve added some National League South experienced players, picking up Manny Ogunrinde and Charlee Hughes from Aveley as well as former Concord Rangers defender Aron Pollock.
In terms of retaining their squad they’ve managed to keep the likes of Melvin Minter and Matt Cripps, both of whom contributed significantly to their promotion.
Team news:
With 14 players signed up, Angelo Harrop will look to give them all a good run out and get them back into the swing of things. The likes of Lewis Hayes, Lester Ward and Kai Torres may all be involved as well, allowing the coaching staff to have a further look at them.
If he features, Ricky Holmes will be named in a Chelmsford City squad for the first time since May 2010, which was 5547 days ago.
Getting there:
The Brentwood Centre Arena is less than half an hour away from the EMJ Community Stadium. A trip down the A12, coming off just after Mountnessing will find you in Brentwood, where the ground can be found on Doddinghurst Road.
Matchday & Ticketing information:
Tickets for Saturday’s game can be purchased here, via Brentwood’s official ticketing website.
Ticket prices are as follows:
- Adults – £6
- Concessions – £4
- 17 and under – FREE
How to follow the game:
Radio Clarets will NOT provide live audio commentary for this game.
Clarets fans can find pre-match coverage of the game and live updates of the proceedings by following the club’s X (formerly Twitter) page: @OfficialClarets and Instagram page: chelmsfordcityfc.
Post-match reactions will be found on the club’s website, official social media channels and on ClaretsTV.
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