Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Sholing
When: Saturday 21st September 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Sholing (The Boatmen), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 751 (3 games)
Just three weeks ago we hosted Sholing in what was a very disappointing outing as we slipped out of the FA Cup at an early stage once again, as two unanswered second-half goals saw us lose three-one.
Our Opponents
The Boatmen, are managed by Paul Doswell, who joined the club last October and comes to the club with an impressive managerial record at the top end of the Non-League Pyramid. A former Eastleigh & Sutton United boss, who was the driving force in pushing both clubs forward, on and off the pitch
Sholing currently sit in fourteenth place following their fifteenth final placing last season. Their record sits at Pld 6 Won 2 Drawn 2 Lost 2 and 8pts. Apart from their FA Cup win at Winklebury, they have played three times on the road in the league with a win at Swindon Supermarine, then a 1-1 draw at Taunton, followed by a 3-0 loss at Merthyr Town in their last league game, earlier this month.
Their leading strikers are ex-Salisbury player Daniel Fitchett, Lee Wort & Daniel Mason. Fitchett, is a handful for defenders and also had spells at Aldershot and under Paul Doswell at Sutton United. Wort, who was one of their goal-scorers in the cup game, returned home from Portchester in January 2024, and has a history of scoring goals for the Boatmen. Dan Mason is the youngest of the Mason brothers who plays for the club, and is the club’s all-time leading scorer when he surpassed 283 goals. He also scored in the cup game and has two goals on the season. They also have young Chilean striker Max Bustamante, who represented his country at Youth Levels before moving to England. After spells at Barnet & Stevenage, he was the leading goalscorer at Berkhamsted, but joined Sholing ahead of studying at Southampton University
The midfield contains their captain Jake Hesketh, at 27, he has played in an UEFA Cup tie for Saints and has also played professional football at Burton Albion, MK Dons and Lincoln City. He then had a spell at Eastleigh, before signing for Sholing. Charlie Gunson, is another ex-Salisbury player, who joined the club this season, regarded as a goal-scoring all action midfielder, who has also played for Dorchester, Totton & Wimborne. Jacob Gardiner-Smith is a central defensive midfielder who was at Hungerford last season, but has experience in the Football League with Wycombe Wanderers and National League sides Hemel Hempstead & Braintree. Byron Mason, the elder of the brothers, who previously captained the side over the 14 seasons he’s been at the club, but is more a back-up nowadays.
Their defence starts with Dan Miller, regarded as a dominant centre half, who came through the youth system to break through into the first team at just 18 years old. They have Joe Rabbetts who is highly-rated left-sided player who joined from Dorking Wanderers. He has also had spells Aldershot Town and on loan at Bognor Regis Town. They also have Benny Read, a right-back who has lots of experience playing at step 3 football with Havant & Waterlooville and AFC Totton. Jake Flannigan, is a former Southampton player, who was on loan at Burton Albion with Jake Hesketh, before being released by Saints. He has since played for Havant & Waterlooville and recently at Bognor Regis. Brad Targett is a wing back who can play on either flank.
In goal is likely to be Charlie Searle, who has played for Salisbury, Havant & Waterlooville, AFC Totton, Swindon Supermarine, Bognor Regis & AFC Portchester. he’s also the Boatmen’s goalkeeping coach. Ross Worner is the other goalkeeper option and has a wealth of experience at National League level at Woking & Sutton Utd.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Following our hard fought and deserved point at AFC Totton, in our last league game, we now once again host a big, strong Sholing side, with us looking to right the wrong from our last match-up.
Despite being unbeaten in the league, we sit in fifth-place with a record of Pld 6 Wins 3 & 3 Draws and 12pts. Our last game at Totton, saw Liam Ferdinand at his best as he netted twice in reply in the space of a few minutes, and now has five league goals on the season. He will be joined by either Nnamdi Nwachuku (four goals), or Dan Warre (five ). It is also hoped that George Reid will be back and part of the match-day squad, but he will be fighting for a starting place against Robbie Gallagher, who has quickly become a fan favourite since joining. Jonny Efedje is also likely an option off the bench.
The midfield now missing the quality of Paul Hodges, could potentially see the return of Simon Dunn, who has missed the last few games through injury. Rudy Allen will likely continue to play that holding role, and could see the return of a starting role for Max Smith. There’s still plenty of other options with Ben Cook, D’Andre Brown, Alfie Bridgman (who scored against Moneyfields), and Flynn Bolton.
The defence who fought magnificently against a surging Totton side, could see the return of man-mountain Billy Upton, if he passed the medical check on his hand yesterday. If not it is likely to be Jack Ball & James Clark, who battled superbly well against Totton’s strong forward line as the centre-back pairing once again. Marcus Johnson-Schuster will retain his right-back role, whilst Curtis Angell will be on the left. Josh Grant made an impressive appearance at Totton and would be a good bet to win a place on the bench. We could also see the long-awaited return of Scott Armsworth to the match-day squad.
Simon Grant, will once again don the goalkeeper shirt, and gives us that much required reliability between the sticks.
Tomorrow afternoon, we will need to be at our best and also have a gameplan on how to break down, what was a big strong Sholing defence that can drop and defend when required.
This is a game that we need to win to keep up with the promotion challengers and as always your support can help make all the difference.
Match Preview by Martin French..