Management Changes
Ross Baker has joined the management team at Erith & Belvedere. For the last three years he has been Joint Manager at VCD Athletic, including during the 2024/25 season when they finished as runners up in SCEFLP but still earned promotion to IL1SE through the play-offs.
Phoenix Sports have announced Joe Docherty as the club's new First Team Goalkeeper Coach. Most recently he has been at Cray Valley PM.
Player Availability
Charlie Heatley has wished good luck to Walthamstow (IL1N) after scoring eleven goals in 17 appearances. Earlier in the season he scored seven goals in 17 appearances for VCD Athletic and also made four appearances, one goal, for Snodland Town.
Player Movements/Retentions
An updated list of moves involving players who played for SCEFLP clubs in 2025/26 and any moving to SCEFLP clubs for this coming season can be found here.
Lee Bird Punjab United to Phoenix Sports. Returns to the club where he made over 50 appearances between 2022 and 2023. Started last season with VCD Athletic after playing a part in their promotion winning season in 2024/25 and made around 30 appearances. Joined Punjab United in February and made a further 20 appearances, 16 starts, and scored two goals.
Robbie Bissett, captain of Rusthall, will be returning for the third consecutive season and fourth in total. He has made around 100 appearances in that time and 40 of those came in 2025/26 when he also scored six goals.
Charlie Clover Rusthall to Petts Wood and Holmesdale. Leaves Rusthall after 176 appearances over four seasons. He won the 2024/25 SCEFLP Golden Boot with 28 goals and last season added another 23 goals to his tally from 48 appearances, 45 starts.
Louie Downey has confirmed his intention to stay with Phoenix Sports for 2026/27, He joined the club in November having made eight appearances for Chertsey Town earlier in the season. He went on to make 18 appearances for Phoenix, 16 starts, and scored three goals.
Casey Dudley will be returning to Erith & Belvedere but this time as a permanent signing. He joined The Deres in January as a dual registration with Beckenham Town and made eleven appearances, eight starts, and scored his only goal in a 1-4 defeat to Punjab United. He also made 25 appearances for Beckenham Town, scoring once.
Kai Garrett made two appearances for Hythe Town whilst on loan from Ramsgate, scoring on his debut in their 2-3 defeat by Rusthall. He later moved to Ashford United and made 13 appearances, mainly from the bench, and scored one goal. He will be returning to The Nuts and Bolts for 2026/27.
Jireh George who made 13 appearances, four starts, and scored one goal for Kennington whilst on dual registration with Ashford United has agreed to return to his parent club for 2026/27. He also made one appearance for Ashford United last season in the Velocity Cup.
Ollie Gray Hollands & Blair to Sheppey United. Started 2025/26 with Hythe Town making five appearances, two starts before moving to Hollands & Blair in September. He made 15 appearances for his new club, ten starts, scoring his only goal in the 2-2 draw with Snodland Town.
Lewis Heywood-Oriogun returns to Petts Wood & Holmesdale for his third season, having made over 80 appearances and scored around 25 goals for the club in that time. Last season he made 41 appearances, 39 starts, and scored 13 goals, including a hat-tick in their 6-0 against Stansfeld.
Danny Lear Erith & Belvedere to Petts Wood & Holmesdale. Spent the last four seasons with Erith & Belvedere making over 100 appearances and scoring 50 goals. In 2025/26 he made 29 appearances, 22 starts, and scored ten goals.
Mecca Maxime‑Samuels returns for a third season having made around 40 appearances for Holmesdale in the last two. He made 16 appearances in 2025/26. 13 starts, and scored two goals. He also made 22 appearances for Erith Town, scoring three goals, together with a couple of appearances for SC Thamesmead
FA Cup and FA Vase Dates
With the starting dates for most Step 5 Leagues being 1 August, as expected, the FA Cup will start a week later. Below are the dates of the early rounds of both competitions. The draws for the opening rounds of both competitions are expected to be released on Friday 3 July.
FA Cup
8 August - Extra Preliminary Round
22 August - Preliminary Round
5 September - First Qualifying Round
19 September - Second Qualifying Round
3 October -Third Qualifying Round
FA Vase
15 August - First Qualifying Round
12 September - Second Qualifying Round
10 October - First Round
31 October - Second Round
Pre-season Fixtures
A list of matches involving SCEFLP clubs can be found here.
Other Leagues and Player News
Mark Boruk, who scored twice early in 2025/26 for Bearsted, coming off the bench on both occasions. has agreed first team terms with Maidstone United. The 18 year old was also a regular in Maidstone’s U23 side and went on to play a handful of games for Herne Bay. Towards the end of the season he made the breakthrough into Maidstone’s first team.
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