Dunmow Town vs Clapton Community FC takes place on Friday, February 20 2026 with a 7.45pm kick off at the Scraley Road Stadium, Heybridge, Maldon, Essex CM9 8FJ
Firstly, it’s worth restating that the game has been switched to Friday night at a different venue so don’t head to Hoddesdon Town, where Dunmow groundshare. The game will instead take place at Heybridge Swifts’ Scraley Road.
Apologies to those facing a significantly longer journey on a Friday night, but this was a league decision out of our control. On the plus side, Heybridge have a 3G pitch so the game is much more likely to take place.
On to the game, and Clapton’s stint at the top of the table didn’t last long, two days in fact from Saturday’s win against Enfield Borough until Hutton overtook us again on Monday. However, we still have a game in hand.
Dunmow are scrapping at the other end of the table and now have former Basildon United manager Craig Gillam in charge so will be a tough proposition.
About the opposition
Dunmow Town formed in 2020 playing in the Essex & Suffolk Border League and were promoted to the Eastern Counties League in 2023. They reached the play-off finals in their first season, losing to Wormley Rovers, who beat us in the semis. Now based at Hoddesdon Town’s Lowfield, Dunmow have previously groundshared at Braintree Town, Heybridge Swifts and Saffron Walden Town. Their ultimate aims is to have a ground of their own within the town of Dunmow itself, reach Step 3 and attract crowds of 500.
In November, Dunmow withdrew from the league, but thankfully new ownership stepped in to save them and they restarted their season after a five week gap.
Previous meetings
This will be our fourth competitive clash. The home clash this season in August ended up 5-0 thanks to four goals from Fred Taylor and one from Andre Odeku, our first win against Dunmow.
In 2023/24, Dunmow became the first side to beat us at Step 6, with a 2-0 win at the Old Spotted Dog Ground. The return game at Heybridge in February was a 1-1 draw, Noah Adejokun with our goal.
Prior to that, we’d played a couple of friendlies, winning 2-1 in the summer of 2021 after losing 3-0 in 2020.
Form guide
Since the new ownership and new management came in at the end of December, they’ve had to bring in a completely new side, mainly from Heybridge Swifts, Chelmsford City and Brentwood Town’s youth set-up. It’s been a learning curve for those young players and they’re still looking for a first win though they’ve had a couple of good draws.
Player/s to watch
Top scorer Darnell Fuller has recently moved up a division to join Sporting Bengal United after 14 goals in 17 games. In his place, Conor Grace has scored 3 in the last 7 games.
Admission
Dunmow’s admission prices are £8 adults, £5 concessions, U12s £2.
The bar will be open.
Directions
The nearest station is Witham, which is 45 minutes from Liverpool Street and 37 minutes from Stratford, both direct. From there you can get a bus for the six miles to Heybridge Swifts.
There’s a pretty big car park at the ground.