Match Preview: Isthmian South Central Division
Tooting & Mitcham Utd Vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 4th February 2023 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Imperial Fields, Bishopsford Road, Morden, Surrey, SM4 6BF
TMU (Nickname – The Terrors), Avg 2022-23 Home Att 174
Admission Prices: Adults £10, Concessions £5 U18’s £1
We put a true stamp on the push for promotion with a tough, gritty performance on a sticky pitch against Binfield on Tuesday night. The one-nil win, alongwith Northwood slipping up at home, pushed our lead at the top to seven points, as we head back out on the road to Surrey, to take on Tooting & Mitcham.
We played TMU at Winklebury back in November where two goals by Brody Peart, a goal by Bradley Wilson and a late penalty conversion by James Clark, allowed us to win 4-2.
Our Opponents
The Terrors since the last time we played are now solely managed by Ashley Bosah, who originally managed the U23 side before progressing to the senior team.
Tooting & Mitcham sit bottom of the league as we visit them with a record of Pld 21 Won 3 Drawn 5 Lost 13 with 14pts, having lost their last four games, scoring one goal and conceding eight in that time. Last Saturday they lost two-nil at an improving Thatcham Town side. The Terrors home record sits at 2 Wins, 3 Draws and Six losses.
Like many teams at the bottom, one of their issues is scoring goals, and with just 18 goals league goals, that equates to less than one per game. Eddie M’Bango leads the way with seven goals, after joining them from former tenants Tooting Bec. Like many struggling teams, they look to sign players to turn their fortunes around, and at the end of last month they signed Malachi Hudson, a midfielder/striker, who has played for numerous other Isthmian League clubs, including Chatham and Faversham Town before he joined the Terrors. Another forward is Enoch Ako-Adjei, who has four goals on the season, and was a former Arsenal youth-player.
Jordan Clarke, leads the midfield and now has three goals this season, having joined from Haywards Heath last season. Baye Ndiaye came through the Terrors academy programme, and was voted the players player of the year last season. Shamal Edwards is another midfielder who has had a number of stints at the club over the last five years, having also played for Chalfont St Peter & Bedfont Sports in the last couple of seasons.
The defence has pretty much stayed the same since we last played them, with 22 year-old central defender Nicolai Krokhin and Nathan Daly. Daly has previously played at many levels of non-league football, including Sutton Utd, Corinthian Casuals and Hythe Town. Kynan Kirlew-Wright is another successful graduate, who has made his mark this season at the back. Manu Oke-William also joined recently from Fc Romania, having started his career in Germany.
In goal has been James Shaw, but they recently signed former Whitehawk keeper Dan Purdue, who has started the last three games.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
A gritty battling victory against a tough Binfield side, put a marker down to the other promotion challengers, that we can win the big games, and the win increased our lead at the top to seven-points. The Stoke faithful which vastly out-numbered the home crowd, watched George Reid thump home the winner with seventeen minutes to go. Our record now sits at Pld 23 Won 16 Drawn 2 Lost 5 with 50pts. Our away record is the best in the league with 8 wins 1 draw and two losses.
This Saturday we look to increase our winning streak to seven games, and Bradley Wilson who failed to score for the first time this year, will be eager to get back to goal-scoring ways and add to his twenty-five 25 goals on the season. With him will be George Reid, who increased his goal-tally to thirteen with that goal at Binfield. With new-signing Paul Hodges, it will be interesting to see how attacking Dan Brownlie will look to be as both Sam Argent & Hodges could again start. He could rest either one of those, or give Marcio Neves a start, but it is more likely he will be an impact player coming off the bench in the second-half. It is also hoped that James Clark will be part of the match-day squad tomorrow. There’s also Brody Peart who returns from his three-game suspension.
Simon Dunn, led the team once again and with Michael Atkinson missing through injury, he seemed to cover every inch of the pitch on Tuesday. If Michael misses tomorrow’s game as well, plus how we set-up then Ben Cook and or D’Andre Brown could both start. Lewis Hayden, who has now made two substitute appearances, may still be not ready to start, but will surely be part of the second-half changes.
The back-four were all superb at Binfield, so they will likely be the starting options once again, which means Scott Armsworth & Billy Upton will be the centre-back pairing, with Markus Johnson-Schuster in the right-back slot, and Callum Winchcombe on the left. Nathan Smart who has been equally good, will likely be the cover for the centre-back slot, whilst Ben Mason could push Markus for that starting role on the right, otherwise he will take a seat on the bench. Dan Williamson, James Haworth & Aiden Lewis are potential back-ups if required.
The keeper’s role tomorrow will once again be held by veteran Paul Strudley, who made two pivotal saves at Binfield.
It’s top versus bottom tomorrow and despite the thirty-six point difference, the game much not be taken for granted, as Tooting & Mitcham will no doubt fight all the way.
With all that said, we have an offence that can create chance after chance, and with a new striking option in Paul Hodges, it’s yet another player who can find the net.
With the weather warming-up and dry for tomorrow, I expect a large Stoke contingent will travel upto South London for tomorrow’s game.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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