Match Preview: Southern League Premier Division South
Hanwell Town vs Basingstoke Town
When: Tuesday 15th October 2024 Kick-off 7.45pm
Where: The Powerday Stadium, Perivale Lane, Greenford UB6 8TL
Hanwell Town (The Geordies), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 265
We come to our third away trip in a row, as we head into North-West London to take on Hanwell Town, with us without a win since our win against Walton & Hersham
Last season, we won on each other’s patch, as Hanwell won at our place in August (1-3), whilst in January two second-half goals by Billy Upton & Bradley Wilson gave us a crucial and deserved 2-1 win at Hanwell gave us all three points.
Our Opponents
The Geordies are managed by Chris Moore who has a wealth of league & non-league football experience, having as a player played for the likes of Uxbridge, Northwood, Dagenham & Redbridge & Brentford. His management career started at Egham Town in the 2017-18 season, swiftly moving with Wayne Carter to take on the reins at Hanwell Town. Moore, then took over sole control in the 2022-23 season.
Hanwell sit in thirteenth place, with a record of Pld 10 Won 3 Drawn 3 Lost 4 and 12pts. All three of their wins have come at home, with one draw and one loss (Sholing their last home game). With just twelve goals, none in their last three league games, their leading goal-scorer is ex-Stokie Jordan Edwards, with five of those. Edwards, joined the club from last season’s champions Chesham. Striker Alfie Pendlebury joins the club after impressing at both Holyport and Cheshunt, where he bagged six goals in 16 games in the Isthmian League, last season. Elliott Benyon is an experienced striker, who joined in the 2023/24 season, making his debut against Basingstoke in the season opener. He’s played in the football league for Torquay, Swindon, and Southend, and in the National League South for the past few seasons for both Slough Town and Oxford City.
In midfield, winger Kameron English, who joined the Geordies from Bracknell Town, and was previously at Marlow, Harrow Borough and a brief loan spell at Hanworth Villa. Chris Regis joined the club in the summer of 2024. The former England U17 Midfielder can list his previous clubs as Braintree, Torquay and Sittingbourne. Mat McKenzie has joined the club after impressing at South Park in the Isthmian South-Central last season, He’s regarded as a strong, young midfielder who isn’t afraid to get stuck into a challenge and he’s also got a long throw up his sleeve.
In defence, they have the experience of central defender Dwayne Duncan, who has been at the club six seasons now, and is a threat from corners. He previously played at Harpenden. Will Hall first joined the club in December 2023 on loan from Boston United and Hanwell were delighted to make his signing a permanent one. Centre-back Rudi Pache has joined the club from Banbury. The former Barnsley youngster grew up in Slough, before moving to Oakwell to join the Tykes’ academy, and spent some time playing in Norway as well. On the left will likely be the versatile Cameron Rohart-Brown, who we previously saw when he played for Thatcham Town. Right back Joe Wilson was added to the 2024/25 squad and the 24-year-old is no stranger to west London area, having previously played for Hayes and Yeading and Staines Town. Another option at the back is Dan Carr, who made a return to Hanwell midway through last season, having spent the early part of it at Southern Premier South sides Bracknell Town and then Met Police. He was named in the Isthmian South-Central Division Team of the Season.
In goal will be Sam Beasant, (son of former Wimbledon keeper Dave Beasant), joined in October 2023 from Beaconsfield, and has played for numerous league and Non-League clubs including Maidenhead Utd, Cambridge Utd & Chelmsford City.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Depending on your view, Saturday’s one-one draw was either a point gained, or two points dropped, but what was clear was that the Frome pitch clearly did not help our style of play. The point leaves us still in fifth place and yes still unbeaten this season. Our records now stands at Pld 9 Won 4 Drawn 5 Lost 0 and 17pts.
Whether a mixture of the pitch and windy conditions, we created very little of note on the Frome goal, but George Reid’s run and cross allowed an open Liam Ferdinand time to set-up and slot the ball home. That was Liam’s sixth goal of the season, and if Nnamdi Nwachuku had taken his chance a minute before Frome’s equaliser, then I think we would have gone on to win the game.
The question for tomorrow night is do we go with the same starting players upfront once again, or potentially give Dan Warre a chance to make an impact from the start. George Reid who was our best player whilst on the pitch on Saturday, and assuming he’s fit, must surely be the option on the left.
The midfield seemed to struggle to as Simon Dunn & Rudy Allen, were given the task of holding the middle against three Frome players. We did bring on Max Smith in the second-half and later on Ben Cook, but could and should we see a more conservative approach tomorrow night. D’Andre Brown is an option for the match-day squad.
The defence switched from a five to a back four on Saturday, allowing us that extra player in an attacking mode, but we could switch back to a five, if we want to provide more control in midfield, as the two full-backs could push into the space when required. This would mean that Marcus Johnson-Schuster would be in the right-back, whilst Curtis Angell would be on the left, leaving Billy Upton, James Clark & Jack Ball in the centre-back roles. Josh Grant & Aleks Kokoszka could be options off the bench.
Simon Grant had very little to do last Saturday and had little chance with Frome’s goal, and will once again don the goalkeepers jersey.
I expect Hanwell will be a much tougher opposition, and we will need to be upto the challenge and now would be good time to get back to finding the back of the net a couple of times.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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