ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 21st

ON THIS DAY DECEMBER 21st 1996
Great Wakering Rovers were at the top of the tree ahead of Burnham Ramblers, Ford United and Concord Rangers with Eton Manor in last place. In the F A Vase, Concord Rangers visited Greenwich Borough in a 3rd Round replay and won 3-1 thanks to a Martyn Lawrence brace and Tony Macklin. Great Wakering Rovers beat Basildon United 2-0 with Burnham Ramblers posting the same score at Hullbridge Sports. Southend Manor won 1-0 at Sawbridgeworth Town with nine players under 18Arguably the most well known player in latter years and showing class at the time, Gary Hart, was scoring the only goal of the game for Stansted, at Eton Manor who were ground sharing with East Ham United at the Ferndale Sports. He had previously hit the headlines by scoring against Icis League Hampton for a 1-0 F A Cup win. A National Non-League magazine were praising the top grade food at Brentwood saying they would give Egon Ronay a run for his money! The leading scorer was Steve Harding with 17 but he had moved on to Step 4 football, so Tony Macklin of Concord with 16 and Jeff Wood with 14 were second and third.
In the preceding mid week in the Easten Floodlight competition that man Gary Hart scored in the 88th minute for Stansted to beat Chelmsford City 1-0. In the London Senior Cup, Ford United beat Kingsbury Town 5-1. One week later on 28th and another unwanted record fell when all three league fixtures were abandoned, Ford United after 3 minutes, Southend Manor 16 minutes and Concord Rangers 60 mins all due to rapidly freezing pitches.
Back in the League Saffron Walden Town drew 1-1 with Ilford thanks to Phil Hopkins. There was not a Reserve Division that season.
In the Football League, Fulham were in the bottom division and winning 2-0 at Scarborough who would eventually fold. In Scotland, Division One, Clydebank beat East Fife 2-0 and are now non-league in the West of Scotland Premier League.