Match Preview: Isthmian League South Central Division
Basingstoke Town v Chertsey Town
When: Tuesday 16th November 2021 Kick-off 7.45pm
Where: Winklebury Sports Complex, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF.
Chertsey Town (Nickname – Curfews), Average 2021-22 Home Attendance 366
Admission Prices: Adults £10, Concessions £7 Aged 13-17 £3 Aged 12 and Under £1
A huge battling performance against an awkward Tooting team, saw us pick up a vital three points as we head into our latest match against an equally tough side in Chertsey Town.
Our Opponents
The Curfews have gone under a recent manager change as for those who aren’t aware, the repercussions from their recent abandoned match against Bracknell, mean’t that player-manager Kevin Maclaren’s position was untenable, and his resignation following that match soon followed.
His replacement is ex-Arsenal footballer Ian Selley, who won a UEFA cup winners cup medal with the Gunners, before moving onto clubs such as Southend, Wimbledon & Woking.
Chertsey sit in 8th place with a record of PLD 8 WON 4 DRAWN 4 LOST 0 GF 21 GA 13 PTS 16.
However, this is a slightly force position as the league are taking an unnecessary amount of time in confirming the Bracknell game, where the visitors were beating the Curfews 3-0 with just 7 minutes left, before the game got abandoned when both sets of players were involved in a nasty fight, which then included members of the crowd.
Last time out they secured a 2-1 win at home against a good Marlow side.
Quickly turning to the cups they faired very well, beating Lingfield (4-1), Erith & Belvedere (4-0), they then beat step 3 side Chesham Utd (1-0), before beating Jersey Bulls (1-0), before finally losing to ex-league side Southend Utd (4-1) in the 4th qualifying round.
Taking a look at their squad they have 32 year-old extra Hartley Wintney striker Jake Baxter leading the way with 8 goals, five of those in the league. Alongside him is 24 year-old Garry Abisogun who joined them from Redhill, having previously been at Woking. Garry has five goals, four in the league.
In midfield, their goals come from 29 year-old Mark Bitmead who has four goals, and joined them from Uxbridge at the start of the season. With him will be Ashley Lodge (31), with three goals, who joined them from Staines Town. They also have Sam Hurrell, a former Chelsea youth player who the ‘Football Icon’ on TV, who joined them via Cobham.
In defence they have the ‘Gasman’ our very own centre-back Jay Gasson who played for Stoke for three season and joined the Curfews after being at Hampton & Richmond. Very interesting was the fact that Jay was at our game last Saturday!
They also have more experience in another 30+ year-old Scott Day who joined them from Farnborough after seven seasons at Whyteleafe, plus 34 year-old brother of the manager Casey Maclaren.
In goal it will likely be 31 year-old Nicholas Jupp who came out of temporary retirement after being at Harrow Borough. Note he also received a yellow card in his last league appearance. Bookings seem to happen quite to goalkeepers in this league!
Even taking their match against Bracknell as a loss, they are clearly yet another team who clearly concede few goals, and with a vastly older and more experienced team., rarely seem to lose.
Your Basingstoke Town Side
Well we continue to be that heart-attack club as we were twice pulled back from leads, before that final all important third goal from the penalty spot was just enough to not only earn us the three points, but catapult us up four places into the third, with other clubs playing in the FA Trophy on the weekend.
With-standing fans looking at their watches as the time ran down, this was a huge battling performance by Dan’s squad that had six starters missing on the day. A further change after just ten minutes saw the recently returned striker Stefan Brown, leave the field through precautionary reasons, and this stretched the forward line even more as our winger/striker Bradley Wilson, was moved into a centre-back role in an emergency role on the day.
This result as stated leaves us in third spot with our record now PLD 10 WON 7 DRAWN 2 LOST 1 GF 19 GA 13 PTS 23
It is hoped that leading goal-scorer Conor Lynch will be available for this week’s match, whilst we wait on news on Stefan Brown. If not Bradley Wilson is likely to return up front alongside George Reid, who was back to his best, ravaging the Tooting & Mitcham side in the second-half. McKoy Palmer is also likely to start, but will be pushed for a spot by Lloyd Snell who replaced Stefan Brown, and helped lead our attacks with his pace and skill.
The midfield should be led by Simon Dunn, who opened his account with a goal on 35 seconds on Saturday. Alongside him we have Ben Cook and D’Andre Brown, who put in 90 minute shifts, that sometimes go unnoticed. It is unclear if Anton Rodgers will be available tomorrow night.
The badly-hit defence that saw Wilson and 40-year old Jon Boardman, hold up the centre of defence, although impressive, is likely to change as Daryl Wollers will return from suspension, whilst it is hoped that Nathan Smart will be at the back in some position. This may leave James Haworth, Daniel Williamson and Aiden Lewis fighting for two spots. The loser will likely be required off the bench the ways things have panned out injury-wise this season.
The keeper’s top will once again be worn by Paul Strudley’s whose impressive performances continue to keep us in games this season.
Another Tuesday night under the lights, another decent crowd behind Dan & the Boys and another game that we will play against a vastly older side.
Add the Nathan Smart, Jay Gasson connection who use to play alongside each other at the heart of the Stoke defence, and it could be a very interesting evening, tomorrow night.
Match Preview by Martin French..
Polish 
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