Match Preview: Basingstoke Town vs Bracknell Town – Saturday 3rd January 2026

Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Bracknell Town
When: Saturday 3rd January 2026 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Bracknell Town (The Robins), 2025-26 Current League Position 11th

We ended 2025 and the month of December with back-to-back victories after the superb victory at Sholing last Saturday. The four goals were reminiscent of our 4-0 victory there in the 2023-24 season.
Tomorrow afternoon we take on apparent rivals, Bracknell Town, who back in August, we lost (3-2) to them, despite taking a first minute lead via Bradley Wilson’s clinical finish. A late, late goal by George Reid was our other scorer on the day.

Our Opponents
The Robins (Bracknell’s version), have gone through a number of management changes so far this season, and are now currently managed on an interim basis by Carl Davies. Davies a former Robins striker, also held the interim manager role with them back in 2018.

The Robins following a good 2-0 win at home to local rivals Farnham Town, now sit two places above us in eleventh place, with an overall record of Pld 23 Won 8 Drawn 6 Lost 9 and 30pts. Their away record sits at an average 2 wins 3 draw & 5 losses. Last time on the road they won 3-2 at Uxbridge. After their poor start to the season, they are now unbeaten in their last eight games, and are scoring goals for fun. With an Owner who makes it clear money is not an issue, they made a huge signing at the end of November, when they signed Chertsey’s main man, Jack Mazzone, who has found the net six times, in the six games he’s played since arriving. Their other main goalscorers are midfielder Seb Bowerman with nine goals, whilst Joe Grant has seven goals. Grant, has had two stints at Bracknell before this season, and returns from a season at Chesham Utd. Other strikers include Jordan Esprit, who has returned this season, after spending time at Hemel Hempstead and then Walton & Hersham. Esprit has three goals this season. It has just been confirmed that Francis Amartey, who had five goals this season, has left the club to pursue other footballing opportunities.

The midfield starts with Seb Bowerman, who is back for another stint at Bottom Meadow, after spending three years at Dorking Wanderers. They also have the experienced Max Herbert, who has been at the club since 2019, having previously spent time at Ashford Town. He has two goals this season. They also have George Knight who is another reliable midfielder who been at the club since the 2020-21 season. Giovanni McGregor joined the Robins in October from Hanwell Town. He started his career at Brentford U18’s then Crystal Palace’s U23 side before stints at a number of National League South sides.

In defence they now have two ex-Stoke players, starting with centre-half Charlie Kennedy, who apart from his time with Stoke, has also played for AFC Totton & Salisbury. The other is right-back Markus-Johnson-Schuster who had three long stints at our club, including our Championship season in 2023-24, but chose to join Bracknell in December. Jeanmal Prosper is a Dominica international who joined Bracknell at the start of the season. A defensive back, he has played for numerous clubs over his 15-year career. The other centre-half is likely to be Jack Mcdowell, who is on loan from QPR’s U21 squad until the end of January. At left-back will be Gabe George, who came through Slough Town’s U21 side, and was also on loan at Binfield Town. In October 2025, Bracknell signed Farnham’s Zaki Oualah, whilst releasing long-term reliable keeper Michael Eacott, who then joined Farnham Town. Oualah, was huge part of Chesham’s promotion campaign in 2023-24.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
Back-to-back wins has improved our league position, as we enter 2026 and the final four months of the season. These wins have put us into thirteenth place, with our record at Pld 22 Won 8 Drawn 3 Lost 11 and 27pts. Wins in our last two games, especially at Sholing, has improved our goal difference to -5 now and hopefully on an upward trend. Our home now record sits at 5 wins, 1 draw & 5 losses.

The strikeforce now minus Liam Ferdinand, has seen the welcome return of George Reid, who was one of a number of key influencers at the Sholing game. Robbie Gallagher was another at the top of his game and both found the net at key times. Add the loan signing of young Joe Barough from Reading, who also showed glimpses of good play, will contest for the starting line-up as well as Dan Rowe, who was an active substitute last Saturday. Add the strong possibility that Cheick Sylla could return to the matchday-squad tomorrow, and the attacking force starts to look stronger. Conor Whiteley is another option, whilst the injury status of Ore Bello is unclear.

The midfield apart from the quality performance of Rudy Allen, saw the welcomed return of Tom Blake, who put in a good shift in his first game back, and will hopefully form a partnership with Josh Green going forwards. The next question is whether James Dickson, could be added to the squad tomorrow, assuming he’s a substitute, this leaves either D’Andre Brown or Ben Cook in a midfield role. Connor Barratt, Connor Harris are other options tomorrow.

The defence will once more be led by not only our captain and centre-half Billy Upton, but a player who has scored vitals goals in the last two wins. It is assumed he will be partnered once more by Scott Armsworth, but with Jack Ball close to a return, it will be interesting on who starts moving forwards and howe we set-up at the back. At left-back will be the reliable Joe O’Loughlin, whilst James Clark has been the right-back in the last two matches. Elliott Legg is currently the player-in-waiting at this point. Simon Grant once again made a couple of important saves at the game in Sholing, and will need to be at his best tomorrow.

With just under 24 hours to tomorrow’s match-up against a Bracknell side, who are on a long unbeaten run, and who we have failed to beat in recent history.

Let’s Go Stoke !

Match Preview by Martin French..