There will be a few scores to settle when Tiptree United face Stanway Rovers at Chapel Road.

While both are languishing in mid-table in the Ridgeons League premier division table, a number of players have turned out for both sides in recent times.

For Tiptree’s Keith Emmerson, it is likely to be his last game for the club before he heads for Wales for two years due to work with the armed forces.

Emmerson has hardly figured for Tiptree, having broken his foot almost immediately after joining.

He spent last season with Stanway before going to Afghanistan.

Angelo Harrop was also a Stanway player last season and then, on returning from America this season, joined Tiptree before going back to Stanway.

Stanway’s Luke Callander was at Stanway last season, spent a spell at Tiptree and then began this season with Stanway where he has been plundering the goals.

Mark Gaisford joined Tiptree from Stanway during the summer but is yet to play a game due to injury.

Tiptree boss Colin Wallington is without a host of players, including striker Lee Underwood, while Tom English is going to be away for a number of weeks.

English netted 35 goals last season, but has not lit up the premier division in an inconsistant Tiptree side and has not been playing regularly in recent months.

Wallington said: “He did not know where he wanted to play football. He has come back and decided he wants to play for us.

“However, he is going away for a month so we are without him again but there is no doubt he can really play.”

Meanwhile, Tiptree have announced Gary Thompson – first-team manager of fellow Ridgeons League club Whitton United – will be leaving the Greens to take up a role in the Chapel Road backroom staff as Wallington’s assistant.

Thompson, 36, was born in Ipswich and played midfield for his home town club, Ipswich Town, in the mid-90s.

After leaving the Tractor Boys he signed for AFC Sudbury in 2002 and holds the dubious distinction of being sent off on his debut against Clacton Town.

He then joined Wivenhoe Town at the start of the 2003/04 campaign but after a brief return to Sudbury, he then moved to Clacton Town in April 2004 and from there moved on to Woodbridge Town before finally taking up the Reserve team manager post and then the first team post at Whitton United.

Stanway will be looking to arrest a slump in Ridgeons League premier division form.

Despite booking their place in the fourth round of the FA Vase with a 1-0 defeat of Shoreham earlier this month, Rovers have lost their last three league games since that triumph and have slipped one place below Saturday’s opponents in the premier division table.

However, their performance in their latest outing, against Mildenhall Town, was more pleasing for joint manager Rob Bate and he is eager to see more when they encounter Colin Wallington’s Jam-makers.

“It will be a local derby and have all the intensity that they bring so will have the extra added spice, but then it is still just three points and we will approach it as we would any other game,” he said.

“We have had three defeats in a row, but there have been positives to take and we will certainly be looking for three points to start moving back up the table.

“I felt we deserved more than what we got from Saturday’s defeat by Mildenhall and hopefully we can carry that on into this next game.”

It will be the first time this season that Stanway and Tiptree have locked horns and Bate said he expected to have a full squad available for the trip to Chapel Road.