Match Preview: Basingstoke Town vs Walton & Hersham – Tuesday 24th September 2024

Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Walton & Hersham
When: Saturday 24th September 2024 Kick-off 7.45pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Walton & Hersham (Swans), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 735 (3 games)

Following our come from behind draw 48 hours ago against Sholing, we now face what on paper looks a much more tougher challenge as we host second-placed Walton & Hersham.
Last season we took four out of six points off the Swans. After an action-packed 3-3 draw at Winklebury last September, we then travelled to the Elmbridge Sports Hub in February, and came away with a hard-earned 2-1 win with Liam Ferdinand & Michael Atkinson our scorers.

Our Opponents
The Swans have gone through a number of changes with regards their squad and management, and this includes a change of Manager as Scott Harris left, and Billy Rowley stepped up take on the role.

Walton sit in second-place with their record sitting at Pld 8 Won 5 Drawn 2 Lost 1 and 17pts. Their one loss came on the opening day of the season, in a 1-0 loss at the current league leaders AFC Totton. They are also still in the FA Cup, having beaten Hanworth Villa in a replay, they then came from behind to defeat National League South side Farnborough 2-1 at home.

Following the departure of Scott Harris, a number of players decided to jump ship and many joined nearby Kingstonian, and thus a number of new players were drafted in during pre-season. With twenty goals in their eight league games, their leading striker is David Rogalski with nine league and cup goals, but he missed last Saturday’s game due to suspension, which may carry over to tomorrow night. Ex-Stokie Nana Owusu has seven goals on the season, and will be a constant threat, whilst on-loan Fulham striker Tom Olyott has still to open his account. They also have another ex-Fulham youth player Cameron Thompson, who has one goal, but may miss the game through injury. The Swans then added to their strikeforce, when it signed former Stoke forward Dan Rowe, from Gosport Borough, and he found the net last Saturday at Poole Town.

The midfield contains Anis Nuur, who is in his second season at the club and has two league goals. Nuur, previously had two spells at Hartley Wintney, as well as stints at Met Police, Westfield and Cray Wanderers. Adam Mekki is an experienced midfielder who has played for numerous clubs (including short loan at Stoke), such as Aldershot, Bromley, Dover, and joined from Farnborough in July. Belgium-born Lucas Defise, has two gaols this season, and was a free transfer, after spending time at Eastbourne Borough more recently. Johl Powell is another player with National League experience, having spent time at Maidstone, Dulwich Hamlets, joining from Dover Athletic. Powell has three goals so far this season. Another ex-Stokie is Elliott Bolton who spent time at Basingstoke, before returning to Weymouth then Bracknell. A central-midfielder will be a key part of the Swans this season.

Their defence will be led by their captain Joey Jones, if he’s recovered from injury. Jones has had a wealth of experience, starting in the youth ranks of Arsenal, Leicester & Yeovil, before switching between Woking and Yeovil over a four year period. He has since played for clubs such as Eastleigh, Dagenham & Redbridge, before joining from Altringham in July. Eoin Bolger will be back for his second season with the Swans. Chelsea youth-player Josh Tobin is likely to command a centre-back role. Tobin, spent time at Cray Wanderers, before joining Margate, and then the Swans. Archie Proctor, is another experienced defender who has had a number of stints at AFC Wimbledon, as well as Dorking and Eastbourne, and joined via Dorking in July. In goal will be young Jos Barker, who joined from Knaphill in June.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
We remain unbeaten in the league as or point against Sholing, gave us our fourth draw in a row, and we now sit in sixth place. The Sholing game lacked real goalmouth action until the last fifteen minutes of the game, as Sholing once again set-up a defence which stifled our attacks, and with the massive aerial presence of their No.5 Dan Miller, it took Billy Upton who won one of a just a few headers in Sholing’s penalty area, which allowed Curtis Angell to tap the ball home from close range. Rumours of a return from George Reid were unfounded, but possibly holding him out for tomorrow night’s game. Gallagher, who has quickly become a fan favourite since joining.

Following the announcement that this will be Simon Dunn’s last playing season in football, it would be good to see him make a start tomorrow night. Rudy Allen took a knock on Saturday, but I would expect him to be in the starting line-up tomorrow. Depending on how we set-up we could see a starting role for Max Smith, potentially resting Ben Cook, or allowing Flynn Bolton a chance to play against his brother. Alfie Bridgman & D’Andre Brown are also options to start, but may remain changes of the extended subs bench.

Billy Upton was to back his usual all-in performance, but appeared to take a knock in the closing minutes, so hopefully will pass any fitness test required. James Clark again more than holds his own in the middle, and Jack Ball could get a recall into the matchday squad as well. Again depending on how we set-up, Marcus Johnson-Schuster & Curtis Angell’s names will be on the starting line-up, with young Josh Grant a very acceptable option if we go with five at the back. Simon Grant, will once again be his usual dominating self between the sticks.

Despite all the rain over the past 24 hours, the artificial surface and expectations of a dry Tuesday night, the expectation is that this could be an explosive-packed game between two teams at the top of the table.

With this being a really big game, your vocal support, will really help the players tomorrow night.

Match Preview by Martin French..

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