Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Marlow FC
When: Thursday 26th December 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Marlow FC (The Blues), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 263
After that determined and spirited win at Winchester, we head into the festive season matches with back-to-back wins, as we host bottom-placed Marlow on Boxing Day.
The last time we played Marlow was back in our Isthmian South-Central Division Championship winning 2022-23 season, where we traded wins losing 5-2 at Marlow, then winning 2-0 at Winklebury in the return match in February 2023.
Our Opponents
The Blues continue to be managed by Mark Bartley, who is now in his thirteenth season with the club. In his playing career, he played for Hayes, Slough Town, Burnham & Thame Utd, before starting his managerial career at Reading Town, before heading to Marlow.
As stated above, Marlow sit bottom of the table with an overall record of Pld 20 Won 3 Drawn 3 Lost 14 and 12pts. With them sitting bottom of the table, their away record is not the best with just one and nine losses on the road. That win was at Gosport Borough back in October. Their last win was at the end of November, beating Frome Town 2-1. With just twenty goals in the league, there are two players on four goals, Naheer Omar Nawaf, who we know from previous encounters and midfielder Harry Hoath. Nawaf has been at the club since 2022, apart from a short stint at Bracknell. Hoath, is a left footed midfielder with an eye for goal, who joined from Uxbridge this season having previously been at Thatcham, Holyport and Maidenhead. Another Marlow striker is another ex-Stokie in Stefan Brown, who joined from them this season and debuted for the Blues in October. His previous clubs were Hungerford, Oxford City and Maidenhead, amongst others. 19-year-old Jose Sani, is another striker option, regarded as skilful goalscoring youngster who had 2 outstanding seasons with Sandhurst & Knaphill before joining us at Marlow FC.
Apart from Hoath in midfielder, they have Louis Rogers, who will likely captain the side, and is his sixth season at the club, who can play in midfield or in defence, who joined from Watford. Rhys Harper, who has one league goal, who was previously with Burnham, before joining last season and made 41 appearances for the Blues in his debut season, despite missing a portion of the season due to injury. Harvey Maudner is a lively young midfielder, who joined in September this year from Reading Academy, where he featured for their U18 through to their U23’s. Tom Jackson is a midfielder who joined from Carshalton Athletic after a successful spell at Bracknell, and previously spent time at Guernsey, Hanwell Town and Corinthian Casuals. Josh Smith joined last month from Woking and is regarded as a young attacking midfielder. He was previously on a two-year scholarship at Sheffield United, having successful spells in their under 18s and 21s. Toby Raggett is another winger, who was signed by Queen of the South for the 2023/24 season, but struggled with injuries, before returning to the Blue late in February 2024.
In defence they have Seb D’Aversa, a young left footed centre back who is in his second season at the club. He joined Marlow from Virginia Water, and has also spent time at Wycombe Wanderers. Elijah Oladunjoye is the Blues right-back who joined in September 2022. Known for having a long throw. Josh Masters is a strong, fast centre half that reads the game well, as well as being a threat in both boxes. Previously clubs include Sutton Common Rovers, Harlow Town and Cambridge United. Mo Jallow, is a young full back/wing back who’s strong on the ball and likes to cover ground. Previously with Borehamwood, Tooting and Mitcham, Fleet Town, Hartley Wintney and Dulwich Hamlet. In goal will be ex-Flackwell Heath and Basingstoke Town keeper Aaron Watkins.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
With the fine win, and having scored four goals in that strong performance at Winchester, we look to extend our winning streak against bottom-placed Marlow. With the two successful wins, we moved back into seventh in the league, with our record standing at Pld 20 Won 7 Drawn 8 Lost 5 and 29pts.
Those four goals apart from being much-needed also put an end to a poor run against Winchester, which was ignited by Brody Peart’s early goal and his best performance of the season. James Clark playing in an unusual left-back role, popped up in an attacking mode heading home from a corner, and then Rudy Allen’s chip to Liam Ferdinand who seemed to bamboozle City’s defence before slotting home on the stroke of halftime, gave us that deserved 3-1 halftime lead. Despite an initial fight-back from the homeside, it was Stoke who looked the more controlled side, admittedly helped when a late lunge on D’Andre Brown on the edge of the penalty area saw City even up the player count to ten a side, when their player was shown a straight red card. Timely substitutions worked well, and Stoke could have put the game to bed before that late, clinical injury-time goal by Luis Le Paih.
So what does this mean for our forward-line tomorrow, with George Reid on a one-game ban, then Brody Peart & Robbie Gallagher are likely to be the supporting cast for Liam Ferdinand, who now has ten goals on the season. Nnamdi Nwachuku, gave a strong twenty-minute performance, and could be considered for a bigger role tomorrow. Dan Warre will be another attacking option, presumably off the bench.
Rudy Allen will lead the midfield and D’Andre Brown’s recent performances should earn him a start once more. The question arises on who else starts in the middle, as Sam Deadfield is back from his ban, and completed a tidy time-wasting few minutes, in that extended injury-time game at Winchester, or does Ben Cook, or Luis Le Paih, earn a start from their performances at Winchester. Whoever does not get a slot will be good options off the bench.
The defence should see the return of Curtis Angell on the left, after his rumoured time-out in New York, which likely means Marcus Johnson-Schuster, on the opposite side, and a decision to make on who pairs our captain Billy Upton in the middle. Jack Ball would be the first choice, but with two games in three days, James Clark could be comfortably slotted in that role once again. Aleks Kokoszka could easily earn a role in the matchday squad, and young Harry Bowden, could also earn a slot on the bench as well. Simon Grant will be wearing the goalkeeper jersey & gloves once again tomorrow.
The league table would point to a comfortable home win for Basingstoke, but Marlow, another club we have a little history with, will come looking for blood, after their decent performance against Walton & Hersham last Saturday, and Stefan Brown, if he players will look to make a mark on the game.
Boxing Day games are generally always tense local battles, so why not work off your Christmas day food, and make your way down to Winklebury and get behind your Basingstoke Town side.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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