Horsham will travel to Ashford on Tuesday night to take on a struggling Maidstone United without 3 of their key players. The suspended Ben Andrews is out for 2 matches, Mark Knee is unlikely to feature before the weekend after injuring his knee at Hornchurch on Saturday while Alex Haddow looks to have played his last game for the club due to increased work commitments. Not the best of preparations, then, for the Hornets who suffered a 4th successive league defeat against the Urchins that saw them slip down to 8th place in the Ryman League Premier Division table.

Neither side has excelled in recent matches, their combined return of 12 points from 12 games leaving the 2 teams occupying 18th and 19th place in the division's form guide with an aggregate goals tally of just 12 scored. Indeed, the Stones have picked up just 3 league wins since the turn of the year and registered just 3 home league successes all campaign at their latest temporary 'home' at Ashford Town. Not that form seems to matter during this unpredictable season, as the Hornets found to their cost during their recent loss at rock bottom Waltham Abbey.

These are troubled times for Maidstone who have suffered a number of high-profile departures in recent weeks, namely joint-managers Alan Walker and Lloyd Hume, striker Meshach  Nugent and club captain Jay Saunders, who decided to turn down the offer of a player/coach role at the club in favour of a return to Margate. However, the loan signing of Billericay goalkeeper Andy Walker seems to have given the Stones a renewed solidity in defence, with just 4 goals conceded in the 4 matches in which he has featured.

U18s striker Patrick O'Sullivan will be added to the travelling party, for whom James Nicholls will start in the absence of the injured Mark Knee, and Steve Davies comes in for Andrews for a Horsham side looking for their first ever league 'double' over Maidstone following the 1-0 win at Gorings Mead in October.