The first of four consecutive pre-season games at the Field of Dreams brings us up against our nearest rivals from our Kent League promotion campaign in 2011/12.

Erith & Belvedere were established in 1922, as part of a restructure of Belvedere & District, which had been formed in 1918 and joined the Kent League for the 1922/23 season and were placed in Division One and subsequently played in the London League, the South-East Combination, the Corinthian League, the Athenian League and then returned to the Kent League and were Division One champions in 1981/82, earning promotion to the Southern Division of the Southern League. The club dropped back into the Kent League in 2005 and finished as runners-up to Herne Bay in 2011/12 but a season later they were champions and gained promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League. Their stay at Step Four lasted just one year and after ending bottom they dropped back to the Kent League, now renamed the Southern Counties East League. In 2016/17 they finished bottom of the league's Premier Division and were relegated to Division One but bounced straight back after a second-place finish.

Our two sides met 14 times in the Kent League with Bay winning five, the Deres six and three being drawn. The last time we played was in April 2012, at Winch’s Field, with Bay needing a win to confirm themselves as Champions but it went Erith & Belvedere’s way as a 2-1 win meant they were the only team to do the double over Bay that season. Three days later Bay travelled to Oakley Road and amongst the scaffold poles, corrugated iron and Portakabins beat Greenwich Borough 2-0 to take the title.

The Deres started off their pre-season with a 4-1 away win over Staplehurst Monarchs and followed this up last Thursday with a 2-1 home defeat to Phoenix Sports.