Match Preview: Southern League Premier Division South
Swindon Supermarine vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 26th October 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Webbswood Stadium, Supermarine Road, Swindon, SN3 4BZ
Swindon Supermarine (The Marine), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 267
Our midweek draw against lowly Hungerford was not the best, and could have easily been back-to-back defeats, but Billy Upton popped up to earn us the point.
We have already played this season’s home tie, back on a Tuesday night at the start of the season, and after an opening few minutes from the visitors, a neat finish by Paul Hodges, and a brace by Dan Warre, gave us a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Our Opponents
The Marine continue to be managed by Stuart Fleetwood, whose playing career as a striker, includes a string of clubs (some on loans), but started via the Cardiff City’s youth scheme, before playing for clubs such as Redditch Utd & Merthyr Town. He initially joined Supermarine as a player coach in 2017-18 season, but then took on the coaches role at Yate Town, before returning to take on the Manager’s role last season.
Supermarine sit in fifteenth place, with a record of Pld 13 Won 4 Drawn 2 Lost 7 and 14pts. They have lost their last two league games, both on the road. Their home record sits at 3 Wins, 1 Draw & 2 Losses, with two of those wins in the past two games, Tiverton & then Winchester.
Their strikeforce is pretty much the same as last season, with Michael Elias-Fernandez leading the way with six league goals. Elias-Fernandez is a well-known forward who has played for the likes of Hayes & Yeading, as well as Hungerford Town, Farnborough & Hampton & Richmond, and a loan period at Dartford. Last season’s top scorer David Sims-Burgess missed the start of this season, and currently has two league goals. He joined last season via Taunton Town, and has also spent time at Bath City, Yate Town & Paulton Rovers. Another striker that we will need to watch is Harry Williams, who is returning after a spell at Gloucester City and then Salisbury. Williams, has five league goals, and was at the Marine in two previous spells. He has also spent time in the USA back in 2019.
The midfield will contain Toby Holland, who joined in July from Bishops Cleeve, where he scored twenty goals last season. Jamie Edge, has been at the club the past six seasons, having joined from Gloucester City. He has also had spells at Hereford Utd, Weston-Super-Mare, West Bromwich Albion and was brought by Arsene Wenger to Arsenal from Cheltenham Town. Liban Ibrahim is regarded as a box-to-box midfielder having joined at the start of last season. He had stints at Paulton Rovers and joined via Yate Town. Gabe Reivers, has come through their U18’s team, and signed pro-forms at the start of the season. He has found the net three times this season. Since our last encounter, Anton Dworzak has arrived from EFL neighbours Swindon Town, and has scored twice for the Marine.
In defence will be Ryan Campbell, who will also captain the side. Campbell has been at the club since December 2016 and also has strong attacking qualities. Sam Turl is in his second season at the club and is a solid defender, who likes to support the front players. He has played for a number of clubs and joined from Yate Town. Nick Peare, is in second stint with the Marine having been at the club for the 2010-11 season. He has played for a number of clubs since, but more recently at Yate Town and then Cirencester Town, where he joined Marine last month. Peare, will be one of the two centre-backs tonight. Another experienced defender is 32 year-old Jake Lee. Like many other players he has spent time at clubs such as Cirencester Town & Weston-Super-Mare, and also previously played for Marine in 2020-21. Originally a striker, he is now a central defender. Alex Hallett is another defender who joined in pre-season from Corsham Town, prior to that Frome Town.
Their keeper will be Luke Purnell, who joined in June this year. Purnell, now 34, signed for Weston-Super-Mare in 2013-14 and made 355 appearances, before joining Bridgewater Utd last season. He then joined Marine in June 2024.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
An unusual starting line-up at home on Tuesday night, saw us give away possession and any sort of control of the game in the first-half, to a team that was sitting thirteen places below us. Yes both George Reid & Brody Peart were absent, but with two strikers on the bench, surely one of them would have been a better option to start alongside Liam Ferdinand who worked tirelessly for ninety minutes.
The dropped points, combined with a lack of goals in recent weeks, mean’t we slipped out of the playoff places into sixth. Our record now stands at a strange Pld 12 Won 5 Drawn 6 Lost 1 and 21pts. Quite remarkable is that the last time we scored more than two goals in a league game was over two months ago in that disappointing 3-3 draw at Gosport. Having said that Liam Ferdinand leads our goal-scoring chart with eight goals. Nnamdi Nwachuku still has four goals, whilst Dan Warre has five goals, but neither have scored since the Moneyfields win in the Hants Snr Cup game.
With Sam Deadfield suspended for tomorrow’s game, and dependent, on how we set-up, whether it be two, three or four in midfield, you are likely to see Rudy Allen in the mix, alongwith Max Smith & D’Andre Brown, who all started Tuesday. There’s also a potential return of Simon Dunn, who was not part of the midweek squad. Flynn Bolton was an unused sub as well, so could be in consideration for some gametime.
If the offense has been wasteful in taking its chances, the defence, with a little luck on the way, has stepped up and kept us in a number of games recently. This area is led by Billy Upton, who not only is immense at the back, but now has two key league goals to add to that. With Marcus Johnson-Schuster also suspended for tomorrow’s game, then again it will be interesting how we set-up. A set back-four, allows James Clark to play in the right-back role, whilst Jack Ball could partner Upton in the middle, leaving Curtis Angell in his usual left-back role. Considerations must also be given for an appearance from Josh Grant & potentially Aleks Kokoszka.
Simon Grant had a number of key saves in the first-half on Tuesday and will once again be wearing the goalkeeper gloves tomorrow afternoon.
Swindon will look at Tuesday and will know that if they can repeat their recent home form, then the difference in league places could matter very little.
How we set-up could be anyone’s guess, but whoever starts knows that we need to get back to winning ways, and we need to take our chances when they come along. find the back of the net and tomorrow afternoon would be a good time to start. I’m expecting a large contingent of Stoke fans to travel to one of the more accessible teams in our league.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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