Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Frome Town
When: Saturday 22nd March 2025 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Frome Town (The Robins), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 488
A well-earned point last week at Sholing, alongwith other results in our league, gave us a boost in our expectations to remain away from the relegation places, as we prepare for our third important game in a row, as we host another team, Frome Town, who sit below us in the league.
We played Frome in the reverse fixture back in October, and after a first-half with little goalmouth action, we took the lead as George Reid set-up Liam Ferdinand who slotted the ball home from close range. Nnamdi Nwachuku then missed a simple chance to double our lead, and we were made to pay for it, as Frome equalised a minute later. Chances for both sides went by the way-side and the game ended in a one-one draw.
Our Opponents
The Robins are managed by Danny Greaves, who has just completed five years as Frome manager. Greaves, as a footballer came out of Tottenham’s youth ranks, and had a short career playing for Southend Utd & Cambridge Utd, before then starting his management career at Witham Town. His time at Frome included a critical time for the club, and continued to do more for the club off the field, coming to the club’s aid as our Financial Director for 3 seasons and more recently Director of Football activities.
Last week’s one-one draw at home to Havant, their sixth draw in their last eight matches, leaves them in the last of the relegation places (nineteenth), with a record of Pld 34 Won 7 Drawn 13 Lost 14 and 34pts. Note their goals scored (33), and goals conceded (49) are unusually low for a team sitting this low in the league. With just 33 league goals, their leading goalscorer is forward Albie Hopkins, who has eight league goals. Hopkins joined the Robins from nearby Melksham Town last summer. James Ollis, has four league goals, and is regarded as a young exciting striker who has previously played for Mangotsfield & Thatcham Town. With a number of changes to the squad, they have signed two other forwards in Archie Ferris from Taunton Town, who has found the net three times. Prior to Taunton he scored 22 goals in all competitions for Larkhall. In January they signed Elliott Dugan a forward from Welsh club Connah’s Quay. The 24-year-old has had stints in the Southern Premier South with Hungerford and Tiverton last season.
Aleks Monks is an all-round midfielder who came up through Bristol City’s academy and has been at Frome since 2018. It has also just been confirmed that the Robins have extended 24 -year-old Rex Mannings loan deal from Chippenham Town to the end of the season. Ethan Vaughan who can play in defence as well as midfield joined from Taunton Town at the start of this season, and is a product of Cardiff City’s academy. Another midfielder is Callum Gould, who joined the club from Shepton Mallet in December. Zac Drew is an attacking midfielder who joined from Yate Town in 2022.
Sam Teale is the club captain, and is in his 10th season at the club. He’s known for his versatility and can play anywhere in the backline. There’s also Warren Maidment who has been at the club for some time after joining from Melksham Town. Young centre-back Matt Wood, joined from Shepton-Mallet after a dual-registration period last season. Pierce Mitchell is a defender who previously spent time at Swindon Supermarine, and has had stints at Yate Town and over 100 appearances at Taunton Town. Full-back Joe O’Loughlin has rejoined Frome after returning from Australia after making the decision to depart following him obtaining his master’s degree at Bath University in 2023.
In goal it is likely to be Kyle Phillips, regarded as one of the better keepers in the area, and who rejoined the Robins in the summer of 2023, having taken some time out of the game. Another option is Seb Tylek, who relocated from Poland and is regarded as an unconventional keeper.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Basingstoke’s worthy draw at Sholing last week, improved our points position against most of the teams below us, as we head into the final stretch of this season with a six-point lead over tomorrow’s opponents Frome. Last week a neat Jack Ball finish gave us an early lead, and although Sholing equalised later in the half, we did create some opportunities to add a second goal before the break. The second-half saw Sholing assert more pressure, and they took the lead with twenty minutes to go, only for us to level it up just three minutes later, via James Clark’s clinical penalty conversion. Stoke could have added a winner at the end, but we left with a deserved point, and we remain in sixteenth place, with our record at Pld 35 Won 9 Drawn 13 Lost 13 and 40pts. Unless things change I will assume that we will look to attack Frome tomorrow afternoon, but with the possible inclusion of Sam Deadfield into the midfield, then one of Jayden Brissett, or wingers George Reid & Robbie Gallagher, could start on the bench tomorrow. Connor Barratt will also likely once again be one of the first options off the bench, whilst Charlie Barlow, is likely to be playing for Whitchurch, on dual-registration.
The midfield battled well last week against a good Sholing opposition, but it is likely to see the return of Sam Deadfield, who missed out last week through injury. He will join Ben Cook & James Dickson, as they battle for control of the middle of the park. Pele Koulsseoue, could also be an option here, after missing out through illness last Saturday. D’Andre Brown who has been recovering from injury, is hoped back for the trip to Walton & Hersham next weekend.
The defence will see a major change as our captain as man-mountain Billy Upton, will return to the starting line-up following his three game suspension. If the intention is to go with a more attacking line-up tomorrow, then we could return to a back-four tomorrow, with Jack Ball the likely other centre-back beside Upton. If this is the case then Markus Johnson-Schuster on the right, whilst Lewis Colwell is likely to patrol the left. This means both Scott Armsworth and the versatile James Clark are probably options off the bench. Mack Allan has been a worthy replacement whilst Simon Grant has been serving his own three-game suspension, and again depending on who else makes the five-man bench, could be their if needed. In goal and donning the goalkeeper’s jersey tomorrow will once again be Simon Grant.
But lets be clear this a huge six-pointer tomorrow afternoon, with us needing to be at our best at both ends of the park, as Frome’s run of results on the road in 2025, where they have conceded just five goals from eight games looks good, but note they also haven’t scored more than one goal on the road since their 3-1 win at Winchester in January.
With it being Non-League Day tomorrow, an expected larger crowd than usual could make its way to Winklebury tomorrow, but after a few days of dry weather, rain is forecast throughout the day.
Let’s get behind Dan and the players tomorrow in this big game tomorrow.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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