Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
\nWalton & Hersham vs Basingstoke Town
\nWhen: Saturday 29th March 2025 Kick-off 3pm
\nWhere: Elmbridge Xcel Centre, Waterside Drive, Walton-On-Thames, Surrey. KT12 2JP
\nWalton & Hersham (The Swans), Avg 2024-25 Home Att 666
\n<\/b>The frustrating loss in a relegation scrap to Frome, was indeed a scrappy affair, now leaves us in a precarious position with six games remaining.
\nWe played Walton back towards the start of the season, and in a game of two differing halves, Basingstoke took a deserved lead through Billy Upton, and despite Walton controlling the second-half, they failed to get the equaliser, and we picked up all three points with the one-nil victory.<\/p>\n
Our Opponents
\n<\/b>The Swans who changed management, at the end of last season, let Billy Rowley to move up into the Managers role, after taking over from the departed Scott Harris.<\/p>\n
The Swans enter tomorrow\u2019s fixture, unbeaten this year, having last lost in the league at Merthyr Town on the 28th December, winning eleven and drawing three games since then. With this they now sit in third place, three points behind second-placed AFC Totton, with a record of Pld 36 Won 20 Drawn 10 Lost 6 and 70pts. They have scored 76 goals, second only to league leaders Merthyr Town. With that their leading goalscorer is striker is Dawid Rogalski with twenty league goals, who has just signed an extended two-year contract. Rogalski, has also played against Stoke whilst he was at Marlow & Chalfont St Peter. Midfielder Johl Powell has added eleven goals and has National League experience, with clubs such as Maidstone, Dulwich Hamlets & Dover Athletic. Ex-Stokie Nana Owusu had added eight goals, but has since joined Havant & Waterlooville. Another well-liked ex-Stokie is striker Dan Rowe, who left us to join Gosport, but then moved to Walton at the end of last year. Rowe has found the net just once, and currently appears to an active substitute most games. In January they signed forward Ralph Vigrass, who has added four goals, joining from Dagenham & Redbridge.<\/p>\n
Apart from Johl Powell, their midfield contains Anis Nuur, who is in his second season at the club and has three league goals. Nuur, previously had two spells at Hartley Wintney, as well as stints at Met Police, Westfield and Cray Wanderers. Belgium-born Lucas Defise, has two gaols this season, and was a free transfer, after spending time at Eastbourne Borough more recently. Mason Obeng joined Walton at the start of this season, having previously played for Aldershot Town, and has added three goals this season. Another ex-Stokie is Elliott Bolton who spent time at Basingstoke, before returning to Weymouth then Bracknell. Originally aa a central-midfielder, he has also played in defence, and has added two goals recently for the Swans.<\/p>\n
Their defence will be led by their captain Joey Jones, who has had a wealth of experience, starting in the youth ranks of Arsenal, Leicester & Yeovil, before switching between Woking and Yeovil over a four year period. He has since played for clubs such as Eastleigh, Dagenham & Redbridge, before joining from Altringham in July. Eoin Bolger is a young 19 year-old defender in his second season with the Swans. Junior Eccleston, is a centre-back, who joined the Swans on loan from Sutton United. Another young defender is Thabo Kuaho. In goal will be young Jos Barker, who joined from Knaphill in June.<\/p>\n
Our Basingstoke Town Side
\n<\/b>Last week\u2019s loss to Frome Town, continued our theme of underperforming, against teams below us in the league, and Frome was a particularly scrappy affair, where we ran out of ideas in how to break down a solid defence in the second-half, not helped by endless time-wasting by the visitors.. With this loss and other teams around us picking up points, the gap between us and the relegation places narrowed to just three points. Our record now sits at Pld 36 Won 9 Drawn 13 Lost 14 and 40pts, with our away record sitting at 4 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses, as we head into South-West London to take on the league\u2019s current form team Walton.<\/p>\n
It is assumed that Liam Ferdinand (15 goals) will once again head the front-line, and with us playing a team full of goals, will we set-up more defensively than last weekend. Our options to support Liam are Jayden Brissett (3 goals), and wingers George Reid, Robbie Gallagher, and potentially Connor Barratt.<\/p>\n
The midfield will be led by Ben Cook, as Sam Deadfield, according to a club source will once again miss-out due to injury, and James Dickson will serve his one-match ban, following last weeks red card against Frome. This means Pele Koulsseoue could earn a start, whilst D\u2019Andre Brown could earn a spot in the match-day squad tomorrow. The club also acted to cover this area, but also to support our relegation fight, signing two midfielders this week. 20 year-old Josh Grant, joins us from step 4 club, Rayners Lane, having been a part of Reading\u2019s U21 side. Grant also spent a short time at Southall this season. We also signed on-loan midfielder Malachi Ogunleye, who at eighteen, is part of AFC Bournemouth\u2019s academy. It will be interesting to see what part they will play tomorrow afternoon.<\/p>\n
With the defence back to full-strength, it will be interesting to see what formation Manager Dan Brownlie decides to go with tomorrow. If it\u2019s a back five then Markus Johnson-Schuster and Lewis Colwell will be the wing-backs, leaving Billy Upton, Jack Ball and either Scott Armsworth or James Clark will be the third centre-back. If it\u2019s a back four, then Armsworth & Clark are likely to be options off the bench. The versatile James Clark could also fill in a slot in the middle if required. In goal we should finally see the return of Simon Grant.<\/p>\n
We head to Walton, knowing we have a huge task on our hands to leave with a point let alone three, but this club can and has turned in performances when least expected, and if there was a time when we needed one of those performances, then tomorrow is one of those times.<\/p>\n
Match Preview by Martin French..<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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