Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Gloucester City vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 27th September 2025 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Tiger Turf Stadium, Sudmeadow Road, Gloucester GL2 5HD
Gloucester City (The Tigers), 2024-25 League Finish 4th
Well we finally got back to winning ways, with a performance that was worthy of the points, but against a team that struggled on the night, and will be strong relegation candidates. We now travel to Gloucester for this rearranged league fixture.
Last season we picked up two huge points, with both games ending in 1-1 draws. Both goalscorers on those days (Nnamdi Nwachuku & Jayden Brissett), are no longer with our club.
Our Opponents
The Tigers are managed by Dafydd Williams who took over from Mike Cook, at the beginning of May. Williams, left his role as Assistant Manager at EFL 2 side Newport County to join City full time, having taken over as the Exile’s caretaker manager for the final games of the season. He will be a familiar face to City fans, having previously been at the club during the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons as Assistant to Lee Mansell.
Following their worthy 3-3 draw at fellow promotion chasing side Farnham, Gloucester sit in second place, with an overall record of Pld 8 Won 5 Drawn 2 Lost 1 and 17pts. The Tigers home record sits at Played 3, Won 3. Their leading goalscorer is once again their attacking midfielder Joe Hanks, who has four league goals, two from the penalty spot. Hanks has been at the club since 2015. Striker Sopuruchukwu Obieri, is a 17-year-old striker who has found the net twice in the league and is on loan from Cheltenham Town. Another striker returning is Kieran Phillips, who signed his first professional contract for Bristol Rovers in Feb 2020, and has since been on loan at clubs such as Chippenham, Dorchester and Swindon Supermarine, and this is second stint at Gloucester City. Phillips has three league goals this season. Striker Ed Williams confirmed he would return for another season. Williams previously played at Cheltenham Town and also spent time at Kidderminster Harriers & EFL side Doncaster Rovers.
Apart from Hanks in midfield, Harry Pinchard is regarded as a creative midfielder who joined from Hereford Town a year ago and has two league goals so far this season. Also back for another season is left-sided midfielder Harry Emmett, who started at Chippenham Town, as well as stints at Longlevens & Cinderford Town. Former Morecambe and Newport County captain and midfielder Aaron Wildig has also joined the club as player/coach for the coming season. Attacking-midfielder Sion Spence is back to the club for the 2025/26 season. Spence, 24, previously played had a spell at the club during the 2022/23 season, which saw us reach the National League North play-off eliminator against Brackley Town. Spence has added two league goals. There is also Elis Watts, who has crossed our path previously whilst he was at Hungerford Town. He has also spent time at Aldershot, Met Police, Farnborough & Weston-Super-Mare.
The defence has a number of changes from last season, but right-back is Daniel Leadbetter, is back for another season. He spent most of his career at Bristol Rovers, before joining in 2021. Centre-back Michael O’Regan joined City from nearby Evesham Utd. At 23-year-old he was the Robins vice-captain, helping then secure promotion. Ben Morgan, joins the club for his third spell, having originally joined in 2020/21, departing with City top of the table when the season was cut short, and then again in 2022/23 when he captained City to the playoff eliminators, making 63 appearances in total. Ex-Tiverton defender Dylan Jones has joined City for the upcoming season, having played at clubs such as Cinderford Town, Hereford, Merthyr Town, Salisbury, and before that Cardiff City u23’s. Jones did get red-carded in midweek at Farnham, but will be available tomorrow afternoon. Another previous City player is Keiran Thomas, who is back for his third term with the club, as was confirmed as team-captain for the season. In goal will once more be Jared Thompson, who started at Swindon Town, but then spent seven years at Chelsea’s academy, where he won three FA Youth Cups & two UEFA Youth Cups. He left in 2019 for Weymouth and joined City in 2024. Note the back-up is Conor Thompson, the brother of Jared.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Back to winning ways and a good performance putting four goals past Yate Town, will hopefully give us a much-needed boost going forwards. Good all-round performances on the night with Bradley Wilson getting his first hat-trick since returning to the club, and Liam Ferdinand’s first league of the season, were the scorers on Tuesday night. With that win, we now sit in sixteenth, with a record of Pld 8 Won 2 Drawn 3 Lost 3 and 9pts. Our away record is 2 draws and 1 loss. The forward line tomorrow afternoon, should pretty much stay the same as Wilson & Ferdinand, will be joined by the Ever-ready dynamo, Robbie Gallagher. Gallagher’s persistence and trickery earned us two second-half penalties, which helped put the game to bed. Joel Rollinson, who picked up a ridiculous yellow card, instead of being awarded a penalty is also a consideration and will likely be on the bench. George Reid is a doubt for tomorrow, with his present hand injury and Charlie Austin will still be sidelined, as we head west tomorrow.
The midfield looked dominant from the very first minute of the game Tuesday, helped by an opposition who allowed our players time and space in the middle to set-up attacking plays throughout the game. Even with this, it is likely the midfield will see a possible starting change, as per most games this season. Josh Green, James Dickson and D’Andre Brown started Tuesday, so Ben Cook, Connor Barratt could be a starting option here.
The defence although solid, still gave up two goals, when Yate Town had few attacking moves. Still with this, and if we go with a starting back four tomorrow, then little is likely to change, so you would expect our team captain Billy Upton to be partnered once again in the centre-back pairing, by Jack Ball. If we go to a back five, then Scott Armsworth will be slotted in as the third back. The defensive backs will once more be Markus Johnson-Schuster on the right, and Joe O’Loughlin on the left. Depending on Elliott Legg’s ankle injury, then he may make a slot on the bench. The sad news of Ben Jefford’s injury, means he is likely out for some period of time. In goal will be the effervescent Simon Grant, who had little chance with either goal Tuesday, and made a stunning save in the last minute of the Yate game.
We know tomorrow’s trip to a strong, Gloucester City side, will be a tough ask, but last season and under similar expectations, not only did we pick up a point, but we deserved potentially all three. Gloucester will be clear favourites and will look to put us to the sword, but we have the players to battle against the odds, and our fans support will be crucial like it was on Tuesday night. Hopefully see as many of you up there.
Let’s Go Stoke !
Match Preview by Martin French..
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