Hullbridge Sports secured a 2-0 victory over neighbours Rayleigh Town in a pre-season friendly at Rayleigh Town Sports & Social Club on Tuesday evening. The two Essex sides met in warm, sunny conditions as they continue their early preparations for the new campaign.
The visitors took the lead in the 18th minute from the penalty spot and doubled their advantage ten minutes before full time when a player burst into the box to score, according to Pedro’s Local Footie Fix, the blog of non-league reporter Peter Dudley. Both managers made multiple changes at half time on a pitch left dry by the lack of recent rain.
The two clubs operate at different steps of the non-league pyramid. Hullbridge sit in the Essex Senior League Premier Division at Step Five, while Rayleigh Town line up in the Thurlow Nunn First Division South at Step Six. Rayleigh are using this match as the first of eight planned pre-season friendlies before their 2026/27 season begins in August, as they look to put last season’s play-off final heartbreak behind them. They lost 4-2 after extra time to Clapton in the Thurlow Nunn South decider.
That defeat was the latest in a string of promotion near-misses for Rob Hodgson’s side, who also fell in the play-off final to Hackney Wick in the 2024-25 campaign. Hullbridge, managed by Marc Harrison and formed in 1945, field a senior men’s side alongside more than 20 youth teams and a championship-winning women’s team.
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