How To Follow…
A live blog will be available across the Club’s website and app. A match report and reaction will follow after the full-time whistle.
Opposition…
Tuesday’s hosts were originally formed as Gravesend & Northfleet FC in 1946 following a merger of Gravesend United and Northfleet United, and elected to the Southern League.
The new club did well initially, particularly in the FA Cup, reaching the first round proper in 1947 and 1950, and winning the Kent Senior Cup in 1949 and 1953, before winning the Southern League title in 1958.
In the early 1960s, the club’s application to join the Football League was twice rejected and they suffered relegation, but showed their potential in the FA Cup by reaching the fourth round proper in 1963.
The early 1970s saw the Fleet promoted, relegated and promoted again before they were selected for the new national Alliance Premier League in 1979, only to be relegated again in 1982.
Financial issues in the 1980s were resolved by a local cement manufacturer before the club faced Premier League Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round in 1996, then won promotion to the fifth-tier Football Conference in 2002.
In 2008, website community MyFootballClub bought the club, giving fans a say in major decisions, and the Fleet won the FA Trophy and Kent Senior Cup months later, only for a drop in membership and budget to lead to relegation in 2010. However, the Fleet bounced back immediately under long-serving manager Liam Daish to win promotion the following season.
Further financial issues resurfaced, though, and the club were both relegated and sold to Kuwaiti investors in May 2013. A series of promotion near-misses ensued before the Fleet defeated Chelmsford City in the play-offs to go up again in 2017, then achieved a club-record sixth-place National League finish in 2018.
Relegation in 2020 was followed by promotion in 2023 and, finally, another relegation at the end of a 2024/25 season that yielded just three wins in 46 National League matches.