Hemel Hempstead Town FC V Chelmsford City FC, National League South, The Focus Community Arena, Tuesday 20th February 2024, 7:45pm kick-off.
Robbie Simpson’s Chelmsford City side travel to Hertfordshire on Tuesday night for an away clash against Hemel Hempstead Town.
City will be on the hunt for a midweek win which would mark the club’s third consecutive National League South victory. Simpson’s men can further consolidate their position of 3rd place in the league table with another three points, which would see the club reach the 60-point mark.
Meanwhile, Hemel Hempstead are looking to return to winning ways following a run of four fixtures without a victory. The Tudors are six points adrift of the playoff places at present, currently sitting 13th in the league table with 44 points.
Here’s all that Clarets supporters need to know ahead of Tuesday night’s clash…
Team & match stats:
· Bradley Quinton’s side are searching for a first National League South win in four games.
· The Tudors also are without a clean sheet in their last six league matches.
· Both teams have scored in five of the last six games between Hemel Hempstead and Chelmsford City.
· The Clarets are searching for their first win away at Hemel since 2018.
Opposition:
Chelmsford City will be looking to exact their revenge on Hemel Hempstead this week, after a late brace of penalties from Joe Iaciofano secured the Tudors three points at Melbourne Community Stadium when the two sides met earlier on this season.
Hemel’s victory that day succumbed the Clarets to their first league defeat of this season, and it left the sides separated by three points in the table at the time. Since then though, the desire to push for a playoff place at The Focus Community Arena has been hampered by a lack of consistency and missing key players.
The Tudors’ form across December and January arguably characterises the type of season Hemel have had so far: Brad Quinton’s side played 13 league games during this period, winning 5 of them and losing the other 6.
More recently, the Tudors have collected just one point from a possible nine available to them this month, with former Braintree boss Quinton admitting that he was “bitterly disappointed” in his players, following Hemel’s weekend defeat to Weston-super-Mare
Two former Clarets currently amongst the ranks at The Focus Community Arena are Chris Smith and Michael Folivi. Defender Smith enjoyed two loan spells at Melbourne Community Stadium during the 2017-18 season, and won the National League North with Kings Lynn Town during 2019-20. Folivi scored 6 goals in 15 appearances for City after joining the club in the second half of last season, and made the move to Hemel earlier this year after beginning the season with Farnborough. The forward may be forced to watch from the sidelines on Tuesday night though, after suffering a head injury during the Tudors’ 1-1 draw against Maidstone earlier this month.
Team News:
Luke Jenkins and Cameron James were absent from City’s weekend win against Eastbourne Borough, and the fitness of the defensive duo will be assessed ahead of Tuesday’s match.
Getting there:
Supporters travelling by car to Tuesday’s game should know that the journey from Melbourne Community Stadium to The Focus Community Arena takes around just over an hour.
There are no spaces left on the sold-out Chelmsford City Supporters Club coach. The coach departs Melbourne Park at 5pm on Tuesday evening, and will then depart the County Hotel at 5:15pm.
Ticketing information:
Tickets can be purchased online via Hemel’s official website, or at the turnstiles on matchday at The Focus Community Arena. Ticket prices are as follows:
Adult – £15Concession (Available to over 65s, students in full-time education, military personnel and emergency services. Identification will be required) – £10Under 18s – £5
How to follow the game:
Radio Clarets will provide live audio commentary of proceedings at The Focus Community Arena.
Clarets fans can find pre-match coverage of Tuesday’s match and live updates of proceedings in HP2 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.
Words by Jake Dixon.
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