Fakenham Town v Walthamstow preview

Walthamstow start their 2026/2027 Isthmian League campaign with a 220 mile round trip to Fakenham Town this weekend.

This season will be Fakenham’s first at Step 4. The Ghosts won promotion from the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division via the play-off final after finishing 5th behind Soham Town Rangers, who they beat 7-6 in the final through a penalty shootout. For Walthamstow, this is their fifth consecutive season at this level and fourth in the Isthmian League.

Stow began their season last Saturday with a trip to Leverstock Green in the FA Cup, but were knocked out of the competition after a last minute winner in a 2-1 defeat. Stow did have the lead going into half time thanks to a free header from William Oduwa scoring his first goal for the club. It seemed to be smooth sailing from there until captain Nathaniel Orafu was shown a second yellow card and was sent off ten minutes into the second half. Leverstock piled on the pressure and found the equaliser through George Mitchell-Gears in the 81st minute. The hosts eventually scored the winner in the 96th minute with a goal from Jack Allan.

Fakenham were also away in the FA Cup, where they won 3-2 at Step 5 side Eynesbury Rovers. It seemed to be a comfortable afternoon for The Ghosts, who were 3-0 up inside 63 minutes thanks to goals from Jake Watts, Marley Reynolds and Lewis Bonner. Eynesbury did find two goals late on in the second half which weren’t enough for a replay.

This will be the second meeting between Stow and Fakenham, who played each other back in August 2005 in the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup. Stow were the winners on the afternoon in a 4-1 victory.