Match Preview: Basingstoke Town v Uxbridge Saturday 18th March 2023

Match Preview: Isthmian South Central Division
Basingstoke Town Vs Uxbridge
When: Saturday 18th March 2023 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Stadium, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Uxbridge (Nickname – The Reds), Avg 2022-23 Home Att 115
Admission Prices: Adults £10, Concessions £7, U16’s £3, U12’s £1
Match Programmes £2

Yet once more, a superb defensive display, allowed our offence to find the one goal that was enough to win all three points at Northwood.
We move onto Uxbridge who we played back in October and dominated for most of the game, taking a two-goal first-half lead through goals by Ezio Touray. Uxbridge then came back into the last fifteen minutes of the game, but was only to find one goal as we held onto win 2-1.

Our Opponents
The Reds are managed by Danny Edwards who after working at both Chelsea & Southampton football clubs went onto manage at Chalfont St Peter for 15 years before joining Uxbridge, including many of that staff are with him now.

They currently sit in eleventh place with a league record of Played 31 Won 10 Drawn 10 Lost 11 Points 40pts. Their recent away record sits at 6 Wins 3 Draws and 5 Losses. February has not treated them well with 1 Win, 2 Draws and 2 Losses. Their poor start to the season, brings the normal change of squad, as they have used over forty-five players this season.

Their strikeforce is led by in-form experienced Anthony Mendy who has scored six goals in the last seven games, and now has eight goals for the Reds. He previously played for Haringey Borough as well as Beaconsfield Town, Chalfont St Peter, AFC Hayes and Maidenhead United. There is also Victor Osobu, who also has eight goals on the season and was signed from Barton Rovers to strengthen the squad. Victor is vastly experienced at this level and has previously played for many clubs such as Beaconsfield Town, Chesham United, Hemel Hempstead Town, Slough Town and Hayes & Yeading United.

Alex Witham is an attacking midfielder, who also has eight goals this season, and was a former Arsenal youth player, has played for clubs such as Slough, Wealdstone & Northwood. Joe Jackson has four goals for Uxbridge, was a big part of Bedfont Sports playoff run last season, bring energy and creativity to the side. Kensley Maloney regarded as a tricky player has previously played at step 3 clubs such as Beaconsfield Town, Harrow Borough and Slough Town. Alan Hedley who joined from Chalfont St Peter in 2019 can play in the midfield or defence. Jordan Ireland arrived from Walton Casuals and was a former . Former Harrow Borough player. Presley Evans, who was acquired from Grays Athletic where he was a member of their Under 23’s side. Aaron Minhas is another attacking midfielder who joined from Beaconsfield Town at the end of last season.

In defence they left-sided defender David Sota, a reliable back who has had a few injury setbacks, but has won his starting role on the left. On the right is Josh Andrew, who has played for many clubs including Harrow Borough, Ashford Town (Middlesex), Chipstead and Hayes & Yeading United. At centre-back is Luke Paris, who arrived this summer from Windsor. Luke can boast international experience playing for Anguilla in the World Cup. Another signing is Andy O’Brien who helped Hanwell Town gained promotion last season. He is regarded as a cultured defender who is powerful in the air.
At the start of the season Tyler Tobin was the starting keeper, but Henry Grad has played the last five league games. Grad joined from Slough Town in November.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
Fourteen wins on the bounce and that’s without our strikers hitting on all cylinders in recent weeks. Last Saturday’s win at third-placed Northwood, was one of those games, where we dominated early-on but failed to take the lead until Ben Cook found the net from a goalmouth scramble. We had further chances as we attacked continuously, but failed to make that final decisive pass, or finish. The second-half saw us miss more chances early-on, which allowed Northwood to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us, in what was the last twenty minutes, plus an extremely long amount of added-time, before the three points were ours.

So tomorrow we meet Uxbridge with just seven games to go, and our record sitting at Pld 31 Won 24 Drawn 2 Lost 5 with 74 points. Clearly being top our home record is good, and we have won our last six games at Winklebury.
With Bradley Wilson failing to add to his 25 league goals in recent weeks, he has lost the top spot in the league’s goal-scoring chart, as Walton’s Eddie Simon has found the net nine times in the last four games. Wilson, is however much more than just a goalscorer, as he sets-up many others with his wing play. As with the other strikers Paul Hodges has also not added to his five goals since our last Winklebury match, but again is more than just a goalscorer. It was good to see Sam Argent back in the starting line-up last Saturday and his experience may be needed in the final run in of games. Assuming George Reid is fit to start, his play on the right terrorising defenders could be key to the game. If not Brody Peart may well earn a start tomorrow.

The ridiculous suspension of Simon Dunn, coupled with the expected loss of Michael Atkinson, means our goal wizard Ben Cook will lead the midfield tomorrow afternoon. Cook now has seven goals, and his goals have won us three of the last four games. Depending on how we set-up, D’ Andre Brown and James Clark will be the other midfielders for the game.

With the absence of Dunn & Atkinson, Scott Armsworth will likely take the captains armband once again tomorrow afternoon, and alongwith centre-half Billy Upton, both were major parts of a defensive stronghold that kept out a twenty minute bombardment from Northwood seven days ago. The backs look to be the same with Callum Winchcombe on the left and Markus Johnson-Schuster on the right. Nathan Smart is the centre half in waiting, whilst Ben Mason is a possible addition at the back or in midfield.
Paul Strudley, one again proved what an asset he has been to the club this season, as he did everything needed to keep Northwood at bay, and now had four consecutive clean sheets.

With a number of enforced changes, we will need to be on our best if we are to be an improving Uxbridge side who have nothing to lose as they come south to Basingstoke.

For confidence sake, it would be huge for Bradley to get back to scoring ways as we head down the final stretch of important games.

With another expected large crowd, but little support from Uxbridge, our home crowd needs to be the twelfth man tomorrow as we look to keep that winning momentum going into the crucial last games before our match-up with Walton.

Match Preview by Martin French..