Both Wivenhoe Town and Maldon Town will be hoping they can improve on their opening-day performances as they meet in the league tonight.

Neither side took three points on the first day of the Southern League eastern division season on Saturday and their clash at Broad Lane (kick-off 7.45pm) is likely to be a closely-fought encounter.

"It should be a good test for both sides," said Wivenhoe manager Steve Pitt. "It will be interesting and that is what you want - interesting games."

Pitt said the only time sides managed by himself and Maldon's manager Colin Wallington had met was in a friendly a few years ago so they have never crossed swords competitively and he said he was relishing the chance to play the Dragons' near neighbours.

"We had them watched on Saturday and I know a few of their players," he said. "I don't think there will be anything that will unduly surprise us."

Wivenhoe's opening game saw them draw 2-2 with Beaconsfield SYCOB and although Pitt was pleased to get a point, he felt all three had been up for grabs.

Meanwhile Maldon crashed to a 5-2 defeat at home against Fisher Athletic and Wallington thought there were plenty of lessons for his team to learn from the match.

He said they had had enough chances during the game to take something from it and he wanted to see his players learning from the experience.

Published Tuesday August 17, 2004

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