I had to travel to London this evening, so took the opportunity en route, to visit one of my favourite grounds and watch Chatham Town, for the first time this season, in their Isthmian League Premier Division fixture against Burgess Hill Town FC.

The Bauvill is a modern ground with fine facilities and with Chatham Town getting regular crowds of over 1000 this season, there is always a good atmosphere.

Chatham Town FC’s 2026–27 Isthmian League Premier Division campaign has been a highly competitive but mixed bag as they look to build upon recent year’s successes and gain promotion for the first time into the National League South. Under the steady leadership of manager and chairman Kevin Hake, the Chats have put together some brilliant runs of form, including comprehensive multi-goal victories over Dulwich Hamlet and Whitehawk, but they have also battled through a few tough away results that have left them hovering just outside the top tier of the table. A primary source of energy on the pitch has come from their attacking front, with Kola Salami and Jimmy Wild spearheading the offense as the team’s top goalscorers with 5 goals each, closely supported by Brad Stevenson who has netted 4 goals so far this season.

Burgess Hill Town FC have had, like their opponents today, a similarly mixed 2026–27 campaign in the Isthmian League Premier Division, and arrived at today’s fixture sitting comfortably in the mid-table position. Navigating their first full season under a single-manager structure following the previous year’s co-manager setup, the Hillians are led by manager Gary Mansell. The team’s attack has been spearheaded by veteran forward Chris Whelpdale, who leads the squad’s goalscoring charts with 6 league goals. Contributing significantly behind him are Ben Pope and Kieran Rowe, who have each found the back of the net 3 times to help anchor the Hillians’ frontline as they push for a strong finish.

The game started with both sides playing aggressively and pushing for gaps in the opposition defence. Neither side created any clear cut chances but the game was really entertaining with some very physical challenges alongside some pacy runs. Chatham Town’s Jordy Robins took a lot of physical challenges throughout the half but in fairness to both sides the game felt honest and there was no unpleasantness.

With a minute to go before the halftime break Chatham Town’s were ahead when a long range effort by Ben Allen dipped over Roco Rees in the Burgess Hill Town goal and in under the crossbar. At the break it was the Chats who went in with the solitary goal lead to represent their efforts.

Just five minutes after the break the scores were level at 1-1 when Jack Strange snuck in at the near post to equalise for Burgess Hill Town, finding also ace in what had been a previously implementable home defence..

Despite Chatham bringing on giant striker Harry Lodovica and throwing everything into attack at fulltime the 1008 fans in attendance had seen a well fought but ultimately frustrating draw, where neither team was able to push their season forward with a move to the play off places.