Match Preview: Chesham Utd vs Basingstoke Town – Saturday 25th November 2023

Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Chesham Utd vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 25th November 2023 Kick-off 3pm
Where: The Meadow, Amy Lane, Chesham, Bucks HP5 1NE
Chesham Utd (The Generals), Avg 2023-24 Home Att 522
Having been knocked out of two cup competitions in the last week, we head back out on the road in the league, to Chesham who will no doubt be a tough opponent as always at Amy Lane.
The last time we played Chesham was back in February 2019, on that eventful Tuesday night in Chesham losing 2-1, with Sam Argent our goalscorer on the night.

Our Opponents
The Generals are jointly managed by James Duncan & Michael Murray, who have been in charge since October 2018. Prior to this they had jointly successfully managed Potters Bar Town to an automatic promotion from the Isthmian North Division 1 title in 2017. Duncan, had a 13-year playing career as a midfielder playing for teams such as Wealdstone, Uxbridge & Slough Town, whilst Murray, a striker previously played for clubs such as Northwood, Hendon, Uxbridge and Potters Bar.

Chesham sit in third place, with the same number of points (35), as second-placed Gosport Borough, after a midweek two-one home win against Sholing. Their overall record sits at Pld 16 Won 11 Drawn 2 Lost 3, with a plus fourteen goal difference. Their home record is an impressive 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.
Their leading goal-scorer is ex-Crawley Town and Hendon striker Ricardo German, who according to league results has seventeen league goals this season, including three hat-tricks. German, played for Crawley for 3 ½ years. Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick, did have five goals, but has since left the club. Zak Joseph, has two league goals having joined from Hampton & Richmond. Ex-Stokie Jordan Edwards now plying his trade at Chesham has one league goal.

Their midfield contains Portuguese born Bruno Andrade who joined the Clarets in September having played for Maidenhead last season. Ex-Hanwell Town captain Harry Rush joined the Generals and has an eye for a goal. Strong-tackling Scott Shulton joined the club for the third spell at the club, having previously played for Hayes & Yeading Utd & Enfield Town.

In defence they have Connor Roberts who has added four goals from his defensive role. Roberts, spent four years at Banbury Utd before joining this summer. Another returning player to the Generals is Kieran Murphy, who joined from Hemel Hempstead, and is known for a player who has won promotion from all step 3 divisions. Callum Adebiyi, joined from St Albans City, and is easily adept at left-back or centre-back.
In goal it will likely be Zaki Oualah, who joined from Weymouth in August. He has also played for AFC Wimbledon, and Algerian side US Biskra.

Our Basingstoke Town Side
After last Saturday’s heart-breaking penalty shoot-out loss to Chippenham in the FA Trophy, we must now turn our attention to getting back to winning ways in the league, knowing that tomorrow’s game against Chesham, will require another all-round fighting performance that we produced at Chippenham. With still a huge number of players on the injured list, Manager Dan Brownlie drafted in a couple of new players last week to help strengthen the squad going forward over the next few weeks.

Our last league game was the four-one loss at Dorchester, and with other league results since then, we now sit in eleventh place with our record standing at Pld 18 Won 7 Drawn 3 Lost 8 GF 37 GA 42 with 24pts.
Dan Rowe continues to lead our goal-scoring chart with twelve goals, and was unlucky not to take one of the two chances that came his way last Saturday. Liam Ferdinand has four goals and knows his experience will be needed tomorrow afternoon against a stingy Chesham defence, whilst Bradley Wilson has been roaming both wings in recent games. It is also hoped that James Clark & Stefan Brown could be options off the bench.

The midfield were simply superb last Saturday with Michael Atkinson, who seemed everywhere, and seemed to win every tackle he made. He was well-supported by Paul Hodges who seems to relish the battling role he plays here, and it was his shot that was deflected in for our goal. He will also rue the other half-chances he had in the game. Like the other two in this group, D’Andre Brown probably had his best game of the season and will hope to continue his form in tomorrow’s game.

The defence saw another recruit last week, as Alfie Grant took over one of the centre-back roles, but broke his nose late in the game, but is hopeful to be available tomorrow. Nathan Smart and Shane Hollamby are the other centre-backs vying for the two centre-half roles. Our defensive backs Markus-Johnson-Schuster & Kia Hobbs were also on top form last weekend, and if Kai had taken that early second-half chance, the outcome could have been vastly different. Again, there is the chance that Scott Armsworth could make a slot on the bench.

Other bench options could be Jake Impiazzi, alongwith Aleks Kokoska and Josh De Lacey-Turner.
In goal Paul Strudley who kept out Chippenham for 100 minutes last week, should retain the goalkeeper gloves tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s game will be as expected a very tough game, against a Chesham side that will expect to pick up the three points, so your support as always could really help our team tomorrow.

Match Preview by Martin French..

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