Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Weymouth
When: Saturday 24th January 2026 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Weymouth (The Terras), 2025-26 League Position 18th
With our unbeaten run ended, in what was a frustrating game at Berkhamsted, and yet another attempt of getting the Tiverton game played, postponed once more, we are now back at Winklebury this Saturday, as we host a team, Weymouth, who are still struggling to get away from the relegation battle.
We played the Terras back in November, and after conceding an early goal, and Weymouth missing numerous chances to increase that lead, we obtained an equaliser on a rare attack just before the break through George Reid. The second-half saw Stoke pushing forward and a neat finish by Ben Cook, following good work by D’Andre Brown, saw us grab the lead, which we held onto, to leave with all three points.
Our Opponents
Weymouth were managed by the well-known ex-footballer Steve Claridge when we played them back in November. However, the club made a change in December, and are now managed by Jamie Wells, who moved up from his assistant coach role.
Despite last Saturday’s impressive 3-1 home win against the likely league champions Walton & Hersham, they are still on the edge of the relegation pack in eighteenth place, with a record of Pld 27 Won 6 Drawn 7 Lost 14 and 25pts. Their away record sits at 3 Wins, 2 Draws and 8 Losses. Their leading striker is well-known Brandon Goodship, who now has eight on the season, and is closing in on 100 goals, in his three spells for the club. Striker Matty Burrows, who was part of their U23’s, has rejoined the club after spells at Wimborne Town, and more recently AFC Totton. Euan Pollock, is another striker who came through Bournemouth’s academy sides, before spending short periods at Truro City & Hungerford, joining the Terras in September 2024.
Tom Bearwish, wears the captains armband, and is in his fifth season with the club. He has five goals from his attacking midfield role. Born in London, he played football for Portland University, before joining Eastleigh academy before joining their first team. Andreas Robinson, is in his second spell at the club having spent a season at Gosport in between, He started at Southampton academy and has also played at Dorchester and Havant. Local youngster Stefanos Stavrianos, who started out with the U23’s, then spent a short-time at Bridport Fc, before rejoining the club.
Keiron Douglas is a commanding centre-half in his first season with the club, having previously spent time at Winchester City, Dorchester Town & Bognor Regis, he joined from Bemerton Heath at the start of the season. A new centre-back to the club is Evan Watt, who joined in December. Another signing was Swindon U18 player Charlie Betts, who joined on a one-month loan which has been extended. At right-back it is likely to be Brooklyn Genesini, who is in his second spell at Weymouth, having also spent time at Poole Town, Swindon & Dorchester Town. Another long-term defender is German born, Calvin Brooks, who has notched up close to 400 appearances for the club in his eleven seasons with the Terras. In goal for the past four games is Max Evans, who had a short stint at Basingstoke last season, and now on loan from AFC Totton.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Back at home tomorrow, following our first loss of 2026, on a bumpy, wet and tacky pitch, we rarely looked like scoring, admittedly not helped by a referee, who allowed Berkhamsted to time-waste at every opportunity. With the planned Tiverton Town game postponed once more, the club quickly arranged for a home friendly, against rivals Hartley Wintney on the Tuesday evening, which allowed a number of our players a run-out and gametime. After going behind, the returning Lloyd Snell found the net twice, and a second-half goal for Dan Rowe, saw us in the end, run-out comfortable winners 3-1.
With our unbeaten run ended, we now sit in eleventh, with our record at Pld 26 Won 10 Drawn 4 Lost 12 and 34pts. Our home record now stands at 7 Wins, 1 draw & 3 losses. With the short-term safety of two of our young stars Cheick Sylla & Tom Blake now sorted, the strikeforce is now back to full strength for tomorrow’s battle with Weymouth. With this you would expect Robbie Gallagher, Cheick Sylla, who has now significant playing time in the past two weeks, plus George Reid & Joe Barough, as the main options to start. Ore Bello who missed last Saturday, could be ready to return to the squad, and will assume Dan Rowe is an option off the bench too.
The midfield like the forward line, is also pretty much, back to full strength, and has the added-bonus of the return of Ex-Stokie Lloyd Snell, an attacking midfielder, into the squad, and probable starting role. Again, depending on how we set-up, then we may only have two midfielders from Berkhamsted’s line-up. This leaves our Manager with a number of considerations, as it is assumed that Tom Blake will win one of the slots, and probably Josh Green another. D’Andre Brown has done little wrong, not to win a slot, and indeed was one of the better players down at Weymouth in November, however the more experienced James Dickson will also be looking to get back to a starting role. The odd man out appears to be Ben Cook, who is a reliable option off the bench. Connor Harris who played a couple of games for us, while on-loan from Farnborough, has now joined rival Bracknell Town.
The defence battled hard, especially in the first-half at Berkhamsted, and looked strong for most of the game. With this, I can see no change to the starting back four apart from one proviso, tomorrow afternoon. Despite Jack Ball pushing for his starting role back, the centre-backs will likely be Billy Upton and Scott Armsworth once more, leaving Ball on the bench, with him getting some notable gametime next Tuesday in the North-Hants Cup. James Clark will continue to patrol the right-back role, with the left back, the one proviso, as Joe O’Loughlin hobbled off in Tuesday’s friendly, and I hope the injury is minor and he can be available tomorrow. If not Elliott Legg is a worthy replacement. Simon Grant again did little wrong and made two important saves, against Berkhamsted, and will don the goalkeepers jersey tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow afternoon will be an interesting game against a Weymouth side, that’s beaten the likes of Farnham, and Walton & Hersham, and outplayed us for the first half-hour in our last match-up, so will always be a dangerous opposition. However, Basingstoke are close to being back to full-strength, and with the added bonus of Lloyd Snell, will go into the game as strong favourites to end out on top.
Let’s Go Stoke !
Match Preview by Martin French..
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