Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
Basingstoke Town vs Tiverton Town
When: Saturday 23rd November 2024 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
Tiverton Town (The Tivvy), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 298
Following three losses on the bounce, we have a chance to get back to winning ways as we host lowly Tiverton Town this Saturday.
Last season we took four points out of six off Tiverton, as we visited Tiverton on the opening game of the season, and although we led 2-0, Tiverton fought back and we shared the points. Then in mid-January we won 3-2 in a close fought game with a brace of goals by Liam Ferdinand, and the other by Bradley Wilson.
Our Opponents
Following Tiverton’s bad start to the season, they made the move to change managers bringing in Rob Bray, who took over at the end of October. Bray was instrumental in the turnaround of Taunton Town’s fortunes where he spent six years, starting in 2016 as an assistant coach before taking over the reins in September 2018. He also had management spells at Bridgwater Town and assistant manager at Bideford Town.
With Tiverton losing three-one at Havant on Wednesday evening, they now sit in twentieth place with a record of Pld 16 Won 3 Drawn 4 Lost 9 and 13pts. With just sixteen goals in the league, their leading goalscorer is 29-year-old Joe Parker with six league goals. Parker joined Tiverton towards the end of last season and was a former Newport County forward. Evander Grubb, has three league goals, and was with Bristol Rovers and Newport County as a youth player before joining Bristol Manor Farm, where his performances earned him a scholarship at Huddersfield Town, with whom he progressed through the ranks. He then spent time at Taunton and Mousehole. Young striker Tor Swann, has two goals on the season, and spent his youth time at Exeter City & Torquay before spending time at Barnstaple Town & Buckland Athletic, before joining Tiverton. Javan Wright is another striker who was a former Torquay United player after spending four seasons at Southern League Division One South Bideford. Wright has one goal this season. Bristol City youngster Kai Churchley is another young loanee at Ladysmead. He is an attacking midfielder who was born, and grew up in Cheltenham and played for Cheltenham Town at youth level before joining City at Under-16 level from Bishop’s Cleeve.
The midfield starts with Matt Britton who captains the team and joined from Swindon Supermarine two seasons ago. Asa Hall joined Tiverton after spending six seasons on the English Riviera with Torquay United to come to the Ian Moorcroft Stadium, where he will combine playing with coaching duties. He has amassed over 600 competitive games in a 19-year career that began at Premier League Birmingham City and has included seven EFL clubs, as well as three in the National League. Jeffrey Forkuo is another young player who has found a place in Tivvy’s line-up and was a former apprentice at Plymouth Argyle. Another midfielder is Oli Jenkins, who joined on loan from Weston-super-Mare in October. The 20-year-old came to Ladysmead having already enjoyed a loan spell this season with Pitching In Southern League Division One South Yate Town.
A defence that has allowed 35 goals in sixteen games starts with Josh Jones who is regarded as imposing centre-back Josh, 28, has barely missed a game for Town since moving to the Ian Moorcroft Stadium in the summer of 2022. Former striker Niall Thompson is a right-sided defender, and has been nigh-on an ever-present for Tivvy since moving to Ladysmead in the summer of 2021 following six seasons at Truro City. The former Torquay United youth player made 47 appearances in his first campaign, scoring 10 goals, and added a further 43 matches and three goals to that haul last season. Kyle Anderson joined the Yellows after impressing in the back line during a series of pre-season trial matches this summer. The defender spent last season with Pitching In Southern League Division One South Yate Town.
In goal, it will either be Zak Baker 19, who spent the majority of last season at the Ian Moorcroft Stadium after joining the Yellows in November. From the moment that he kept a clean sheet on his debut, a 0-0 home draw with Harrow Borough, he endeared himself to team-mates and supporters alike. However due to injury to Baker, Joe Duncan was between the sticks the last two games. Duncan is on a short-term loan from Bristol City.
Our Basingstoke Town Side
Despite what was a fairly strong starting line-up, the disappointing loss to AFC Portchester in the Hampshire Snr Cup last Tuesday evening, continued our run of poor performances in recent weeks, with the only bright spot being the return of attacking winger Robbie Gallagher.
Our loss at Chertsey the previous week now has us sitting in eighth place with our record now standing at Pld 16 Won 5 Drawn 8 Lost 3 and 23pts. A lack of goals continues to hurt our performances, as we continue to wait for a number of attacking options to return to the matchday-squad. Liam Ferdinand continues to battle away, and with better support he clearly would have added to his nine goals on the season. It is expected that winger Brody Peart could be joined with Robbie Gallagher on the other wing. Jonny Efedje who made his first start of the season on Tuesday, could also be an option as well. This leaves us waiting on the returns of Nnamdi Nwachuku, Dan Warre & winger George Reid. Young 17-year-old Charlie Barlow, could well be an option of the bench tomorrow.
The midfield was not at its best Tuesday, although it did start to get more control in the second-half, and they would expect to face a tougher challenge against a Tiverton side tomorrow afternoon. Rudy Allen who missed Tuesday’s game, I’m expecting will be ready to return to the starting line-up, and it will be interesting who starts alongside him. Those options are Max Smith, D’Andre Brown, and Sam Deadfield, who appeared to get a red card Tuesday that will not take effect yet, and Luis Le Paih. I’m not sure of the status of Simon Dunn following his injury at Chertsey.
With a couple of changes in our back four Tuesday to allow players to rest, there will be one confirmed change as Jack Ball’s red card at Chertsey will take effect from tomorrow. This leaves James Clark to partner Billy Upton in the centre-back pairing. On the left should be Curtis Angell, whilst Marcus Johnson-Schuster should be on the right, unless his red card takes affect tomorrow. Any change will likely see young Aleks Kokoszka taking that slot. Many fans have wondered where Scott Armsworth is, but his return from Uxbridge is still likely not an option. Simon Grant will continue to wear the goalkeeper gloves tomorrow.
With the expected rain and heavy winds tomorrow, one way for the team to warm the supporters up would be to put in a first-half performance that has been sadly lacking in recent games and get that much needed win tomorrow afternoon, against a team that sits twelve places below us.
Match Preview by Martin French..
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