Match Preview: Isthmian South Central Division
Leatherhead Vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 1st October 2022 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Fetcham Grove, Guildford Road, Leatherhead, KT22 9DW
Leatherhead (Nickname – The Tanners), 2022-23 Avg Home Att 372
A strong all-round performance at Chertsey, led us to a comfortable 3-0 victory last Friday evening, which brings us to another new club to our league in Leatherhead, who were relegated from the Isthmian Premier League last season.
We haven’t played Leatherhead in a league game for a number of seasons, but did play them in a pre-season friendly at the start of last season, winning 5-2.
Our Opponents
The Tanners are managed by Luke Tufts, who managed Ashford Town last season, and was prior to that, part of the management team alongwith our Manager Dan Brownlie at Hartley Wintney.
With Tuffs connections at Hartley, he has built the Tanners squad around a number of players from the Row.
Their season has not got off to the best of starts, as they currently sit in 17th place just two places above the relegation spots, with a total of five points from one win, two draws and three losses. Their one win was back in August, winning 2-1 at Thatcham Town. They have drawn their last two games a 1-1 draw in Guernsey, and then a goal-less draw at home to Southall.
Their leading goal-scorer has three goals and is ex-Stoke striker Dave Tarpey, who has over 150 goals in his career having played for numerous clubs in his career including Hampton & Richmond Borough, Maidenhead, Barnet, Woking and more recently Bracknell Town.
Another striker is Elliott Buchanan with two goals, whilst another ex-Stoke, ex-Hartley Wintney player Mitchell Parker now plays for the Tanners.
In midfield they have on-loan Aldershot Town youngster Keane Anderson, whilst they have the experience of 34 year-old Jermaine McGlashan, who has played for numerous league clubs such as Aldershot, Cheltenham, Gillingham, Southend and Swindon Town. There is also the experienced Max Worsfold who has played at Braintree and Slough Town, but he may also miss the game through injury.
In defence they have Mitchal Gough who joined the club alongwith Tuffs, whilst both Louie Paget and Joshua Webb are both ex-Hartley defenders. Paget is unlikely to play as he is recovering from a broken toe.
They have 27 year-old Benedict Frempah who has been at many Non-League clubs, but rarely finds a club to earn a starting role. At right-back it is likely to be ex-Horsham and Tonbridge Angels Jerry O’Sullivan.
They did have ex-Stoke defender Tom Bird, but I believe he recently left the club.
In goal is Luke Williams, who joined from Hartley Wintney, having played for clubs such as Slough and Met Police.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Back-to-back victories with clean-sheets has pushed us into fifth place, as we take a trip along the M25 into Surrey to take one of the pre-season favourites Leatherhead.
The game at Chertsey saw the Ezio Touray – Bradley Wilson partnership hit pay-dirt once again, as it was Ezio’s confident finishes either side of Bradley’s strike this time. Therefore both players will be in the starting line-up, with either Sam Argent or James Clark, as the supporting forward. George Reid, is now starting to return to the form of the start of last season, and looks to be the other attack-minded player.
The midfield will once again be led by captain Simon Dunn, whilst it is hoped Luis Le Paih, could recover from injury to take a slot in midfield. There is also a strong chance that James Clark, could once again fill a role here as per the Chertsey game, as other players still work hard to return from injury. Michael Atkinson appears to have responded well in training and is likely to earn a spot on the bench, whilst Anton Rodgers who pulled out prior to the start of the Chertsey game, is likely to miss this weekend’s game, along with D’Andre Brown, who is still a week or so away from getting in the match-day squad.
Defensively two straight confident clean sheets, should surely mean we stay with the same back four formation, as both Scott Armsworth & Billy Upton are now forming a young solid centre-back partnership. Add the reliability of Ben Mason at right back, and James Hayworth who appears to have won back his left back role, means that experienced Nathan Smart should start on the bench despite his return from his one-match suspension for the red card he received against Cirencester Town. Dan Williamson, Callum Winchcombe and Aiden Lewis are all likely to have a slot on the bench.
It was Mark Scott’s first appearance between the sticks against Chertsey and he did all that was required when called upon, and it is likely he will once again retain the keeper’s shirt instead of Paul Strudley.
On paper another tough game is expected, and with the expected rail strike, it will be interesting to see how many of Stoke’s travelling fans will get to the game, where the confidence within the squad must be at it’s highest so far this season.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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