The Shrimpers will travel to Burroughs Park on Saturday July 26 before hosting north Essex rivals Halstead Town in their opening home game of the season three days later.

Great Wakering reached the FA Vase final in 2024, losing to fellow ESL side Romford, and last season finished fourth, losing out to Woodford Town in the promotion play-offs. They did, however, win the Errington Challenge Cup (ESL Cup) and the league's secondary knockout competition, the Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy.

Some older fans may remember facing Rovers in the 1993/94 Essex Senior Trophy. After a 2-2 draw on the Oak, the Shrimpers won the replay 4-2 thanks to a Brendan Tuck hat-trick and a goal from Nigel Griggs.

Harwich and Halstead were long-time rivals in the Eastern Counties League and were two of the Premier Division’s leading sides in the 1990s.

They last met in March 2022 when both were members of ECL Division One South, Harwich winning 2-1 on the Oak via goals from Jay Eggerichs and Ben Hammond.

With Halstead being the best-supported team in the ESL last season, the July 29 game will hopefully draw a sizeable crowd to the Oak. The Humbugs finished 13th last season.

The full fixture list for the 2025/26 season will not be published until after the Isthmian League fixtures are announced next month. This is due to the fact that both West Essex and Hackney Wick groundshare with Isthmian clubs – Walthamstow and Witham respectively. Last season the full ESL list was published on July 22.

What is known is that the Shrimpers will play in the opening round of the FA Cup on Saturday August 2. The draw for that takes place on July 4.

Meanwhile, the club has announced two more retained players.

Striker Louie Bloom and defender Dan Keeble, both of whom started the promotion play-off final win over Stanway Pegasus last month, have committed themselves to Harwich for the upcoming season.

They join the likes of player of the year Brad Cook and top scorer Joe Knight in pledging their immediate future to the Shrimpers.