First Day Flashback As National League South Gets Going!

If last August’s opening games were anything to go by, the answers is very little!

Both eventual winners Havant & Waterlooville and Dartford - who both ended the campaign level on points at the top - fired blanks.

The champions, pictured, got off to a low tempo start with a 0-0 at Chippenham, while Dartford had a bore draw at home to Hungerford. No goals, and little action could be found. That soon changed!

Chelmsford City scored the first goal of the National League South season, Kudus Oyenuga taking just over a minute to get the Clarets up and running as they beat Gloucester City 2-0. The striker got both goals for Rod Stringer’s side.

Bognor Regis ended up as the first side to be relegated but first game results can be deceiving - they beat Bath City 3-2 as Ollie Pearce won it.

Braintree of course would go on to do great things, and their 3-2 win at Eastbourne Borough served as a warning to the rest.

There were goals a plenty too at Oxford City, where another side people were talking about - St Albans City - edged a five-goal thriller. Sam Merson struck what turned out to be the winner.

There were three 3-2 matches and the other had drama by the bucket load.

Truro City beat Welling 3-2 with the last kick as River Allen was in the right place at the right time.

Poole, who would go on to be relegated, didn’t seem to have any worries whatsoever when they won 2-1 away to Weston-super-Mare on the opening day.

People were talking about Hemel Hempstead this year, and Jimmy Dack’s Whitehawk offered little resistance as the Tudors won 3-0 at Vauxhall Road.

Wealdstone wanted to make the play-offs and a 2-1 success over Concord Rangers allowed them to dream, but of course a change in a management wasn’t too far away.

Hampton & Richmond took “a good point” at East Thurrock thanks to Michael Kamara’s penalty on the hour mark. The Beavers would go on to the play-off final.