Match Preview: Basingstoke Town v South Park (Reigate) Saturday 22nd April 2023

Match Preview: Isthmian South Central Division
Basingstoke Town Vs South Park (Reigate)
When: Saturday 22nd April 2023 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Stadium, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
South Park (Nickname – The Sparks), Avg 2022-23 Home Att 133
Admission Prices: Adults £10, Concessions £7, U16’s £3, U12’s £1
Match Programmes £2

Following our win and brilliant trip to Guernsey, we then successfully put away Aldershot Town to return to the Hampshire Snr Cup Final for the first time since 2019, as Sam Argent & George Reid shared four of the five goals on the night. The fifth and last goal was added by Ben Cook.

Tomorrow is our last official league game of the 2022/23 season, as we host South Park (Reigate), who we beat by the only goal back in November, where we missed a number of chances to put the game away. The vital goal was from Bradley Wilson just after the halftime break.

Our Opponents
The Sparks, were managed by Harrison Williams but he jumped ship to Bedfont Sports just days before we played them five months ago, and they are now currently managed by Tom Cope a former assistant of Williams, when they were both at Redhill.

South Park, head to Hampshire on a four-game unbeaten league run, that includes wins against Marlow and last week’s 3-1 defeat of Northwood. This leaves them sitting in a decent ninth place with a record of Pld 37 Won 16 Drawn 7 Lost 14 Pts 55. Their away record sits at 6 wins, 3 draws and 9 losses, and includes the 3-1 win at Marlow in recent weeks.
Their leading goalscorer is still Aiden Bowen with nine goals, but he left the club back in December. Finlay Johnson has eight goals, but those have been scored in just fourteen appearances, and joined from Kingstonian in early February. In March Forward Melford Simpson returned to the Sparks, after starting the season at Haywards Heath. Simpson scored nineteen goals for them last season.

In midfield they have Craig McGee, who has three goals, and was from the Sutton Utd academy, and has played for Leatherhead and Merstham. With him will be Seanan McKillop who is regarded as a strong no-nonsense player from Raynes Park, and is now also moved into an assistant role alongside Tom Cope. There is also Brendan Murphy-McVey, who has played for some step 2 clubs and has played against us for whilst at Sutton Common Rovers. They also have Ryan Healy with two goals, who has also played in that triangle of football clubs Sutton Common Rovers & Merstham. There’s also Ben Jordan who was previously at East Thurrock, and he should return to the squad, after his red card at Marlow.

In defence is ex-Three Bridges centre-back Matthew Faithorn. Reliable James McElligott is another player who has been playing at the back, but can also play in midfield, and has previously played for Horsham, but is back for his second spell at South Park. Young Ethan Ford plays on the left side of defence and has added two goals, having joined from Horley, whilst Sam Tutt has been in the No.3 role having joined from Sutton Common Rovers, and previously Sutton Utd academy.
In goal will be Zack Basey, who has won the keepers role and is an ever-present this season.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
Last Sunday’s win at Guernsey pulls us into the final league game of the season, still level on points, but significantly behind Walton & Hersham on goal difference. The away win the fifteenth of the season, was achieved by goals from D’Andre Brown, Bradley Wilson and the winner by Paul Hodges was well deserved on a bumpy pitch, and against some very heavy tackling by a Guernsey side, that the referee did little to stop. This leaves us with our league record of Pld 37 Won 28 Drawn 2 Lost 7 with 86 points.

With the three goals at Guernsey, one by Bradley Wilson, this now gives him thirty-two goals for the season. Twenty eight of these are in the league, and this would be the league’s highest league goal-scorer in most seasons, if not for Walton’s Eddie Simon. Wilson does so much more than find the net, as he creates and sets-up attacks throughout the game. George Reid, who missed the trip to Guernsey, but returned and added two goals in the Aldershot Town win now has eighteen goals on the season. Paul Hodges was influential in the win at Guernsey, as he not only set-up the Wilson goal, his clip over the keeper for the third goal gave us the lead that ultimately brought home the points. Hodges, was involved a lot of the forward play, and came in for some heavy tackles, that went unpunished by the referee from the Guernsey players. Add Brody Peart, who again attacked the Guernsey defence with his speed and was the main free-kick taker on the day, but hobbled off it is hoped that they will be fit to the starting squad. Sam Argent was my man-of-the-match at Tuesday’s Aldershot game, and he maybe in contention for a start tomorrow afternoon. Stefan Brown also was ana active substitute in Guernsey and is likely to get some playing time tomorrow as well.

Simon Dunn was back at his energetic self in Guernsey and should be out there tomorrow with his captain’s armband back on. I’m unaware of Michael Atkinson’s fitness, at this time, but do we risk him for this game if we are forced down the playoff route? D’Andre Brown wore the captains armband in the last two games and his opening goal in Guernsey gave the team the momentum to go on the attack. Ben Cook as well played well and both he and Dre are fighting for midfield slots. James Clark who played in his more traditional forward role in midweek, is likely to return to a bench role along with Luis Le Paih.

The defensive set-up is likely to remain the same with Scott Armsworth and Billy Upton as the centre-backs with Nathan Smart as replacement for either player, whilst Markus Johnson-Schuster remains the right-back option, with Callum Winchcombe on the left. Back-ups here are Ben Mason and potentially academy player Prince Da Cruz, with both could be on the bench.
In goal Paul Strudley being a league game is likely to get the start over Mark Scott, who made some crucial saves in the Aldershot game.

With another large crowd expected tomorrow, it will be interesting to see how a decent South Park side deal with the huge home support.

In just over twenty-four hours we will likely know whether we are to be crowned Champions if Walton slip and we beat South Park, or that we will all be back at Winklebury this coming Wednesday evening.

Match Preview by Martin French..

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