Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Hayes & Yeading Utd vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 2nd March 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Skyex Community Stadium, Beaconsfield Road, Hayes, UB4 0SL
Hayes & Yeading Utd (United), Avg 2023-24 Home Att 239
Well our run of wins continued last weekend and all thoughts of relegation are now put to bed, as we move into the final two months of the 2023-24 season. The home win against Plymouth Parkway, via a late penalty Bradley Wilson conversion, was well deserved as we created numerous chances throughout the ninety-plus minutes, and on another day, the scoreline could have been much greater against a tough Parkway side.
We now turn our attention to Hayes & Yeading, who we played at Winklebury back on a Tuesday night in October, where many fans regarded Hayes as one of the better teams to visit us, as they comfortably won 3-0. This was also the night that we were reduced to ten men, after picking up a series of worrying injuries on the night.
Our Opponents
Hayes & Yeading are managed by Mark Moseley who took over the reins last October. Moseley’s playing career as an attacking midfield player, saw him spend time at a number of league clubs, before ending his career at Weymouth. His coaching career started at AFC Bournemouth U15’s, then U21’s before moving onto Weymouth in 2017. He has since had stints at Southend Utd, Aldershot and then Gosport Borough before joining Hayes.
Hayes were starting to rise up the table, with a number of decent wins, but have faltered slightly recently, but picked up a worthy point in a 1-1 draw at Merthyr Town last Saturday. This leaves them sitting three places below Basingstoke in fourteenth place, with a league record of Pld 32, Won 9 Drawn 10 & Lost 13 with 37 pts. Their leading goalscorer was initially striker Sam Ashton who had seven goals, but he rejoined Salisbury in October. Midfielder Ronan Silva, also has seven league goals, having joined from Farnborough in September 2023. Silva, started out at Fleet Town, and has spent time at clubs such as Eastleigh & Crawley. Nigerian-born striker Ayo Faniyan, has six goals, and has played for Hertford Town, before moving to Tooting & Mitcham before joining Utd. Mo Bettamer (30), has two league goals, and rejoined the club in January after being on loan at Chelmsford City.
The midfield apart from Silva, contains the established Michael Elias-Fernandes, who has crossed paths with Basingstoke for a number of other clubs. He has added five league goals so far this season, two which were against us at Winklebury. Steve Ngunga, was the other goalscorer on the night, and has three goals, and is a left-sided player who joined in 2022. Luke Gambin is an experienced player who played for League 2 side Sutton Utd before joining United in November. Gambin also spent time at Colchester Utd and Newport County and has 35 caps playing for Malta. They recently signed two further players on loan, in winger Billy Busari from Havant & Waterlooville, and defensive-midfielder Charlie Owens from Boreham Wood.
In defence there is right-back Cole Brown, who rejoined United in January 2022 from Hampton & Richmond Borough. He has also spent time at Bishop Stortford, Uxbridge, Hendon and Walton Casuals. Central defender Jerry Wiltshire, another former Walton Casuals player is returning from long-term injury last season, and is the heart of the defence, and is a British Virgin Islands international. Alongside him will be Marvel Ekpiteta, who joined in October 23 from Dulwich Hamlets. Paul Field is another defender who is in his second season from Stratford Town, and can play all defensive positions if needed. In goal will be Jacob Adams, who was a former Fulham U21 keeper, and another player who has loan spells at Walton Casuals and Leatherhead.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Our recent run of good form has seen us win four of last five league games, despite a continuous number of changes due to injuries to the starting squad. The win last week has moved us upto eleventh in the table with our record looking a more palatable Pld 33 Won 12 Drawn 7 Lost 14 GF 57 GA 69 with 43pts.
Our goal last week, Bradley Wilson’s seventeenth goal of the season, was the difference in a game that we failed to take our chances, and hopefully striker Liam Ferdinand will return to his scoring ways, and will look to add to his ten goals on the season. It is hoped that Dan Rowe (13 goals), is fit and ready to return to the match-day squad. Ashleigh Artwell & Stefan Brown could be options as well, whilst winger George Reid, may still be a game or two away from getting proper gametime. Shamar Moore is also an option here.
The midfield took a massive hit, as it has been confirmed that Michael Atkinson’s hamstring injury at Poole Town, will mean he will miss the rest of the season. On a brighter note, it is hoped that Simon Dunn will return to the starting line-up and reclaim the captain’s armband. Paul Hodges, Luis Le Paih & Ben Cook who have been superb in recent games, will need to be at their best against a battling Hayes side. D’Andre Brown could be fit to return and earn a place on the bench.
The defence which has earned back-to-back clean sheets, is likely to change once again, as centre-back Shane Hollamby hobbled off last week, and if he can’t go, could Scott Armsworth be back to retrieve his starting role alongside (temporary captain), but man-mountain Billy Upton. The defensive backs last week were Massimo Giamattei & James Clark, but Clark could return to his centre-back role if needed, especially if Markus Johnson-Schuster is back from injury. The left back role may be given to multi-option defender Curtis Angell, who looks another great signing for the club. Other options here include of course Massimo Giamattei, Callum Winchcombe. Whilst there are a couple of academy players who could be options off the bench as well.
In goal will be fan-favourite Simon Grant, who brings something different between the sticks.
Talks of a push for the playoff places, may still be a little way away, but Manager Dan Brownlie and the coaching staff, have turned the clubs fortunes around on the pitch, with some good tactical decisions in recent weeks, and it would be good to revenge the loss we had back in October.
At this time, I am not aware of any pitch inspection, but there has been a lot of rain in London (like Basingstoke) this week, and with more rain due tomorrow, so a morning pitch inspection may be called
Anyway, I am hoping that a large Basingstoke crowd will swell the attendance at the Skyex Community Stadium tomorrow afternoon.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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