Woodford Wells captain Joe Johnson is looking forward to facing his former club South Woodford this weekend.

Wells will be eager to build on their five-wicket victory over Oakfield Parkonians as they welcome their local rivals to Monkhams Lane on Saturday.

Skipper Johnson is excited by the challenge but knows it will be tough with South Woodford also in good form.

“South Woodford had a great win at the weekend as well, scoring nearly 300 and also won their T20 match on Sunday,” Johnson said.

“It will be great to see a few familiar faces from my old club but we won’t be taking them lightly with the way they are performing.

“They have some very good players who can take a game away from you and we had a brilliant league cup match against them a couple of years ago that I am sure they will be seeking revenge for.”

Wells head into the clash on the back of a win where they bowled Oakfield out for 178 before reaching 179-5 in reply.

“It was quite similar to the Ilford game a couple of weeks ago,” added Johnson.

“We lost the toss and had to bowl, although we bowled much better at the start this time and kept up the pressure like we have been doing. They batted well at times, especially Paresh Kalley, who it took a brilliant catch from Chris Briggs to dismiss and towards the end of their innings.

“But we felt they were probably 30 or 40 below par and were confident of chasing it.

“Ozzie Ashraf, Deven Solanki and Rehan Iqbal were superb again, but the job Umer Ashraf and Sammy Sadra do with the new ball should not be underestimated in terms of building the platform and they chipped in with a few wickets too.”

Johnson also heaped praise on youngsters Freddie Britt and Liam Dolden as they altered the batting order to give them a chance.

“Freddie Britt batted excellently, showing great maturity and intelligence for his 69 not out,” he said.

“He left well but also showed some superb stroke play and Liam Dolden supported him brilliantly too and they put on 90 for the fifth wicket.

“I am so pleased for them both. They are both still only under-19 and scored their first 50s for the first team in a testing situation.

“They’ve both been training really hard and deserved their chance but I was so pleased they repaid the faith with the way they performed.”