Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Sholing
When: Easter Monday 6th April 2026 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Sholing (The Boatman), 2025-26 Curr League Position 5th
The disappointing performance and result at Plymouth Parkway, has now put us under some intense pressure as we head into our final four games of the season, starting with tomorrow’s game against Sholing.
We played Sholing in the reverse fixture, where Stoke delivered one of our best performances of the season, coming out 4-1 winners, as we attacked from the start, and went ahead following a James Clark penalty. Robbie Gallagher added a second and a late third goal by Billy Upton, gave us a 3-1 halftime lead. A fourth goal scored by George Reid, was the final scoring on a great day at the South Coast.
Our Opponents
The Boatmen, are managed by Ross White, who is a UEFA A licenced coach, after initially at QPR, he played a big role in the Aldershot Town academy, and then Sutton United’s U18 manager, before arriving at Sholing.
Sholing continued their winning way on Good Friday, with a 2-1 home win over now relegated Tiverton Town. This leaves their record at Pld 38 Won 17 Drawn 14 Lost 7 and 65pts. Their away record for a playoff team, is not the best at 6 Wins, 9 Draw and 5 Losses. Their leading goalscorer is Michael Folivi, who has nineteen goals this season. Folivi, has played for Watford when they were in the Premier League, as well as other clubs like Wimbledon & Colchester, Chelmsford & Farnborough. Well-known midfielder Jake McCarthy has fifteen goals since joining from Weymouth. McCarthy has had an extensive career at Step 1 & 2, and has also played for Poole Town & Havant & Waterlooville. Striker Daniel Mason, the younger of the two Masons at the club has six goals and is the clubs all-time goal-scoring leader. Striker Tommy-Lee Higgs, joined form Farnborough in January and has added eight goals since arriving. Young Vinnie Tume is back for a second season, after leaving Sutton Utd towards the end of last season. He has five foals on the season, and recently agreed a two-year deal to stay at the club.
Apart from McCarthy in midfield, they have long-serving Brad Targett, who has been at the club since the age of 16 and has played in numerous positions for the club, and more recently as an attacking wide player. Reece Wylie is a central midfielder, who joined from Hartley Wintney, and has added three goals. Blaise Roley-Snow, is a 27 year-old central midfielder, who rejoined the club for this season. He previously played for Hendon & Aveley, as well as Raith Rovers in Scotland. Jake Hesketh, at 27, has played in an UEFA Cup tie for Saints as well as pro clubs Burton Albion, MK Dons and Lincoln City, before a spell at Eastleigh, before joining the Boatmen.
In defence they have Joe Rabbetts who is a highly-rated left-sided player who joined from Dorking Wanderers. He has also had spells Aldershot Town and on loan at Bognor Regis Town. Byron Mason, the elder of the brothers, has previously captained the side over the 14 seasons he’s been at the club, but is regarded more as a squad player these days. They then added 33-year-old Dan Wishart, who has played for numerous step 2 clubs, as well as Forest Green Rovers in 2017. Harry Taylor is another player spotted by Ross White, and is back for another season. He was at Charlton Athletic, and also spent time in Canada. They have added ex-AFC Totton defender Sam Magri to the squad. Magri played 31 times for England’s U16 to U10 youth team, and has also spent time at Dover Athletic, Ebbsfleet United, and more recently Bracknell Town. In goal it is currently Jack Turner, who is on-loan from Farnborough till the end of the season.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
The good four game unbeaten run, came to an end in a rather placid fashion, and although we had a fair amount of possession, we rarely threatened the Plymouth goal, as the Plymouth No.5 won virtually everything in the air and on the ground for most of the game.
The loss not only has us sitting in a worrying seventeenth place, but with, both Taunton & Yate taking a chunk out of our points lead, plus our goal difference at -14, which is now worse than these two clubs as well, then the situation is getting a little concerning. With four games remaining our record sits at Pld 38 Won 11 Drawn 9 Lost 18 and 41pts. Our home record now stands at 7 Wins, 4 draws & 8 losses, but our last home win was three months ago.
Our strikeforce continues to take injury-hits at this late and crucial stage of the season, with Cheick Sylla missing after his knock at home to Taunton last week, and could well be a doubt for tomorrow’s Sholing game as well. Did Joe Grant go off as a precaution Friday, or has he finally been hit with the injury-bug as well. Robbie Gallagher again gave his all, and Ore Bello looked good at times, but that final pass was missing again. George Reid, still clearly not 100%, gave us some life for a little while, when he came on in the second-half, but with the game put to bed, any goal would have been more of a consolation than a real fightback. Fans were asking where was Dan Rowe, as he could have provided some impetus off the bench, and will he be available tomorrow?
Since I last spoke about how strong our midfield was, we have had the devastating losses of Josh Dockerill and then Max Herbert, who will miss the rest of the season. This leaves our midfield options a bit limited. Tom Blake continues to prove what a star signing he’s been, and Josh Green will now have a more important potentially holding role for the last four league games. Ben Cook, now has a starting role, whilst D’Andre Brown, is still out with an injury. Alex Kokoszka was called back into the first-team squad, and had a good 45 minutes when he came on at halftime for Ore Bello, and is likely an option off the bench tomorrow afternoon.
The defence unfortunately conceded another three goals, not helped by us handing Plymouth one of their goals. The good news is team captain Billy Upton has signed a contract until the end of next season, and will surely partner Jack Ball tomorrow afternoon. Scott Armsworth continues to be the odd one out, if we play a natural back four set-up. The defensive backs will likely remain unchanged with Joe O’Loughlin on the left and loanee Zach Ioannides on the right. Both James Clark & Elliott Legg are the current back-ups. Simon Grant, continues to be our keeper, and who would love a clean sheet tomorrow afternoon.
In just over twenty-four hours, we play the first of four massive games, starting against a Sholing side pushing for the promotion playoff places.
However, we produced one of our best performances of the season at Sholing in December, and it may need that sort of inspiration and effort once more, to get some much-needed points tomorrow.
Let’s Go Stoke !
Match Preview by Martin French..
Polish 
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