Tower Hamlets manager AJ Ashanike is looking forward to coming up against his former club Ilford under the Friday night lights.

East London Advertiser: Action from the Mile End Stadium derby between Sporting Bengal and Tower Hamlets (pic Tim Edwards)Action from the Mile End Stadium derby between Sporting Bengal and Tower Hamlets (pic Tim Edwards) (Image: Archant)

Hamlets are set to welcome the Foxes to the Mile End Stadium tomorrow (Friday, 7.45pm) as they look to build on their big derby win over Sporting Bengal United.

Ashanike is hoping his side can put in a similar display to their 5-0 win over Clapton in front of a bumper crowd earlier this campaign.

“It’s always special for me, I never want to lose against my old team, but my current team comes first and we’ve just got to think about what we’re doing,” he said.

“We always get a big crowd on Friday nights, and to be fair I think our best performance of the season was on a Friday night, when we beat Clapton, so I’m really looking forward to that one.”

The former Ilford man insists his side’s success in recent weeks will count for nothing if they don’t get something from this clash.

“I said to the boys after the game on Saturday, we got a point off Hullbridge, beat Sporting Bengal so there is no way we should go and lose to Ilford,” he added. “Those two results will count for nothing if we don’t get something from the game.”

Hamlets earned the borough bragging rights as they caused an upset by sealing a comfortable 4-2 win over local rivals Sporting Bengal United.

A brace from Wale Odedoyin and goals from Luke With and Flavio Jumo helped seal all three points for Ashanike’s side and lifted them further away from the bottom two in the Essex Senior League table at the Mile End Stadium.

“I’m very happy with the boys with that performance on Saturday,” Ashanike said. “We did the things that we worked on all week in training and the kind of result we got in the end was mind-blowing.”

After picking up four points from a possible six in their last two fixtures, the boss is delighted to see his new system is paying dividends, as they look to pull clear of the bottom three.

“The last couple of games I have been very impressed with the way the players have adapted themselves into a new system that we’re playing. It seems to suit majority of our starting line-up and we seem to be getting a lot of joy out of it,” he added.