Match Preview: Isthmian South Central Division
Basingstoke Town Vs Merstham
When: Saturday 28th January 2023 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Stadium, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Merstham (Nickname – Moatsiders), Avg 2022-23 Home Att 212
Admission Prices: Adults £10, Concessions £7, U16’s £3, U12’s £1
Match Programmes £2
We continued on our winning run last Saturday, with a competent and dominate 5-0 victory at lowly Sutton Common Rovers, that now gives us a four-game win streak, where we have scored fourteen goals and conceded just two goals in that time.
We now host Merstham tomorrow afternoon, in the return game from November, where after falling behind early, a James Clark converted penalty put us into the break on even terms. Again Dan’s teamtalk seemed to inspire the players, as a neat move and finish by George Reid, put us ahead and after some stout defensive work, we then took over the game adding three further goals in a twelve minute period, and we ran out five-one winners on the day.
Our Opponents
Merstham are managed by player/Manager Peter Adeniyi who rejoined the club this pre-season, having played for them in the 2014/15 season. Peter has previous success as a player/Manager having won the Isthmian South Division in 2017/18, in his six years in that role at Carshalton Athletic. He also scored his first goal upon his return in the 3-3 draw at Southall at the beginning of the month.
The Moatsiders still sit in a relegation place (19th), as they visit us, following a three-week gap since they last played. Their record sits at Pld 21 Won 2 Drawn 9 Lost 10 with 15pts. Since we played them two months ago, Merstham have picked up their form, picking up 2 wins, five draws and just one loss.
There leading goalscorer is now ex-Lewisham forward Bryan Zepo, who has eight goals this season. Forward Lorenzo Lewis now had four goals, and his resume includes clubs such as Oxford City, Carshalton & Lingfield and Lancing last season. They also have Adam Adam, who scored his first goal this season, having joined from Worthing in November. Other forwards include Raheem Sterling-Parker (one goal) another ex-Carshalton player who spent time at league opponents Chipstead last season, as well as Harrow Borough & Enfield Town.
Young 18 year-old Charlie Greenwood who joined from Sevenoaks has added four goals this season form his midfield slot. Michael Aziaya, who previously played at Eastbourne Borough and Dartford, but will be better known to Isthmian League watchers from his time at Hastings United and Carshalton Athletic.
In defence is well-known non-league centre-half Michael Kamara, who is also one of the coaches at the club and has a wealth of experience at numerous clubs, including three spells at Woking, two spells at Dulwich Hamlets, as well as club s like Farnborough & Tonbridge. Aaron Goode, who scored against us back in November and now has two goals since joining, spent a couple of seasons at Kingstonian, as well as Met Police, Hartley Wintney and played twice for Leatherhead this season. Another Leatherhead player Adam Allen, is a regular at the back who also spent time at Hartley Wintney last season. Aziz Sankoh, is a left-back and has added two goals, who has also played for Carshalton previously. Another central defender is Luke Read who also joined the club from Carshalton.
Since giant keeper Mo Otuyo left the club, Filip Chalupniczak has assumed most of the starts between the sticks.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Another quality away performance last weekend, pushed us up to the top of the table and sent the large travelling Basingstoke crowd home happy once again. Our league record now sits at an impressive Pld 21 Won 14 Drawn 2 Lost 5 with 44 points.
Two more goals for Striker Bradley Wilson, now means he has scored seven goals in the last four league games, heads the league goal-scoring table with 21 goals (eight ahead of Chertsey’s William Montague), and already 23 goals on the season.
Sam Argent caused Sutton a lot of problems last week, and doubled Stoke’s lead just before the break, and now has five goals on the season, and is likely to start alongside Wilson tomorrow. Winger George Reid will be looking to add to his eleven goals on the season. Marcio Neves has now started the last two games and is there is no reason, he won’t be in the starting line-up again tomorrow. With Brody Peart still serving his suspension from his red card against Westfield, will it mean James Clark and or Stefan Brown earning a place on the bench.
With the midweek game against Southall postponed once again, this gives veterans like Simon Dunn, a chance to fully recover, and he will surely lead our side tomorrow. Both Michael Atkinson and Ben Cook continue to be the heart of the midfield, and we will likely rely on these three players as we head towards the final three months of the season.
D’Andre Brown still continues to push for a start and his first league goal for the club last week, must reinforce his push. Lewis Hayden continues to progress in his return from long-term injury, but can only be a matter of a couple of weeks away from being part of the match-day squad.
With Billy Upton close to a possible return, it will be interesting to see who will be the starting central defenders moving forwards, but both Scott Armsworth & veteran Nathan Smart, who added his first goal of the season last week, should remain as the starters this weekend. Ben Mason was given the start last week, and therefore could start again this week in place of Markus Johnson-Schuster, who has impressed many since his return and thus leaves Dan Brownlie a weekly choice who to start. Callum Winchcombe has been excellent in the left-back role. In reserve are James Haworth, Dan Williamson & Aiden Lewis.
Paul Strudley will once again adorn the goalkeepers jersey this weekend.
Although Merstham have not played for three weeks, their recent record suggests that they will be a tough opponent tomorrow afternoon, and Basingstoke will need to be at it’s best to secure all three points.
Stoke however are top of the table for a reason, as they are red-hot at the moment, and scoring goals has become a habit recently, and there is no reason for this not to continue tomorrow afternoon.
With fifty-three league goals on the season, the entertainment value is top-notch, so take the trip down to Winklebury tomorrow afternoon, and see why Stoke are the league leaders.
Match Preview by Martin French..
English 
Polish 
Excellent report as always.