Match Preview: Marlow v Basingstoke Town Saturday 2nd April 2022

Match Preview: Isthmian League South Central Division
Marlow Vs Basingstoke Town
When: Saturday 2nd April 2022 Kick-off 3pm
Where: Oak Tree Road, Marlow, Buckinghamshire SL7 3ED
Marlow (Nickname – The Blues), Average 2021-22 Home Attendance 219
Admission Prices: Adults £9, Concessions £5 Under 16’s £1

Well three points out of a possible nine at home, was certainly not what was hoped or expected, and our last two performances, Guernsey & Bedfont Sports were like night and day. On the good note, we sit here just over 30 hours away from our crucial trip to Marlow still in a playoff place, with a playoff slot down to us.

So let’s turn the page on the Bedfont Sports game, and look forward to our trip to Marlow and hope for better. Back in December we hosted Marlow, and after an early Paul Strudley penalty save and some possession we fell one behind just on 30 minutes. Another home game, another loss made worse, as Bradley Wilson saw a straight red for his high challenge on the Marlow keeper. We failed to put Marlow under any further pressure, and the end result should have been far more than the one-goal loss as Marlow missed a number of chances at the end.

Our Opponents
The Blues fortunately have faulted more than us in recent weeks as since February they have just four wins from eleven games, which also includes five loses, including last week’s home loss to Uxbridge (0-2).

Mark Bartley, is still their Manager, who in his playing career, played for Hayes, Slough Town, Burnham & Thame Utd, before starting his managerial career at Reading Town. He then joined Marlow winning promotion from the Hellenic League, and is now in his 9th season with the club.

With their recent losses, their league record sits at PLD 31 Won 17 Drawn 5 Lost 9 GF 46 GA 34 PTS 56. Their goal difference +12 is the only team in the playoff hunt worse than ours.
Their leading goal-scorer is striker Nnamdi Nwachuku who has 22 goals on the season with 13 coming in the league. Nwachuku, in his second season with the Swans, previously playing for Colchester Utd, Bury Town, Maldon & Tiptree amongst others. With eight goals Kameron English who has been at the club a number of seasons is a fellow striker. Another forward is Marcus Mealing who had pre-season trials with Basingstoke, before joining the Blues, has three goals this season. They also have Josh Morrison, who has played 15 times but is yet to score, plus ex-Staines forward Noah Amissah who joined back in November but also has failed to find the net.

In midfield they have Junaid Bell, another Stoke pre-season trialist. Bell has five goals on the season and is a fast tricky winger. Another ex-Stoke player is Jordan Brown, who also has five goals. Add Devontae Romeo another tricky midfielder who has four goals. There is also Khalid Simmo who started the season at Hartley Wintney, and he has four goals for the Blues. Ashleigh Artwell another ex-Stokie will also be in the mix for a start.

In defence Marlow strengthened their side on the last day of the transfer window by signing two defenders, Hamilton Bunga came in on dual-registration with National League Hemel Hempstead Town, but the defender has played for Leatherhead earlier this season, as well as Uxbridge. Bunga had played for numerous clubs in recent years. Kyle Davidson-Gordon, has been playing for St Ives Town. He was previously with Hitchin Town, Broadfields United, Chesham United, Newport Pagnell Town, Leighton Town, and Luton Town.
They will support regulars Curtis Chapple a hard-tacking full-back, who joined from Uxbridge, Central defender Adam Richards is back in his second spell at the club following some time at Harrow Borough. Richards has five goals this season. Add another long-serving defender is Alex Salmon, who can play in any of the defensive positions, when needed.
In goal we have the infamous Simon Grant, who is also the team captain. His notoriety precedes him, as he now has one red card and nine yellow cards on the season.

Having conceded the second fewest goals in the league behind Bracknell, they are a defend first type of side, and will be hard to break down.

Your Basingstoke Town Side
We head back out on the road, knowing that this is a critical match against a fellow-playoff challenger, following last week’s loss to Bedfont.
The latest home loss leaves us with our record at PLD 31 Won 18 Drawn 6 Lost 7 GF 57 GA 43 Pts 60, but with a plus goal-difference of 14, could hamper our playoff chances. The good side is our away record sitting at 11 wins, 3 draws and still just the one loss at Bracknell.

A number of players were missing at last night’s training, but possibly that was down to the weather and travel issues, hopefully rather than any injury concerns.
It was good to see Stefan Brown (who missed the Guernsey game, and who was a late substitution Saturday), be a full participant in training and it will be interesting to see how adventurous Manager Dan Brownlie will be when he announces who will start tomorrow.

In midfield, George Reid who scored a spectacular free-kick last Saturday is likely to start with captain Simon Dunn. This leaves a number of options with who will the remaining midfield slots. Dan’s keenness to find Anton Rodgers a starting slot thus likely reduces the chances of both Ben Cook and or D’Andre Brown, having a starting role.
This leaves McKoy Palmer, Marco Magalhaes-Nevez, Lloyd Snell with probable bench roles.
It was also good to see Brody Peart back training with the first-team and he could also earn a slot on the bench tomorrow.

Dan will have a decision to make around right-back Dan Williamson who prior to his injury had established his starting role, whilst Aiden Lewis has been a more than worthy fill-in that time. Unless something has changed this leaves the centre-back pairing of Nathan Smart & Rob Sheridan. I see no reason why James Haworth will be the starting left-back once more.
Wearing the keeper’s gloves will be Paul Strudley.

Last weeks loss to Bedfont Sports was a clear dent in our playoff push, but tomorrow’s game at Marlow, potentially becomes even more important as a Basingstoke win, is likely to put an end to their playoff chances.
I am expecting a large Basingstoke contingent of fans will make the simple trip to Marlow, and I hope that a strong referee is assigned to this game.

As always let’s get behind Dan, Aaron, and the players in this crucial game.

Match Preview by Martin French.