Match Preview: Southern League Premier South
\nBasingstoke Town vs Gloucester City
\nWhen: Tuesday 18th November 2025 Kick-off 7.45pm
\nWhere: Winklebury Centre, Winklebury Way, Basingstoke. RG23 8BF
\nGloucester City (The Tigers), 2025-26 League Position 2nd
\n<\/b>
\nEight days, three wins, puts a new and better perspective on the season, as we head into a tough four-game sequence of three of these games against teams in the promotion places, and the fourth a tough trip to Yate Town, who put a decent Uxbridge side to the sword last Saturday.
\nWe played Gloucester City back towards the end of September and despite a competitive match, we went down to a 2-1 defeat, with Robbie Gallagher our scorer from a yard away.<\/p>\n
Our Opponents
\n<\/b>The Tigers continue to be managed by Dafydd Williams who took over from Mike Cook, at the beginning of May. Williams, left his role as Assistant Manager at EFL 2 side Newport County to join City full time, having taken over as the Exile\u2019s caretaker manager for the final games of the season. He will be a familiar face to City fans, having previously been at the club during the 2021\/22 and 2022\/23 seasons as Assistant to Lee Mansell.<\/p>\n
The Tigers had no league game, as they were on the road at National League South side Slough Town in the FA Trophy, where after a 1-1 draw, the Tigers progressed 4-3 on penalties into the third round. Their league position has them in second place, seven points behind current runaway league leaders Walton & Hersham, with a record of Pld 15 Won 10 Drawn 3 Lost 2 and 33pts. Their away record sits at 3 wins 2 draws & 2 losses. Their leading goalscorer is once again their attacking midfielder Joe Hanks, who has seven goals, two from the penalty spot. Hanks has been at the club since 2015. Towards the end of October, they added two strikers to towards their promotion push, firstly by signing Marcus Day on dual-reg from Wealdstone, then a week later signing Taunton Town\u2019s Roy Kane Simpson, who had won promotion at Merthyr Town last season. Simpson has found the net twice since arriving. 17 year-old striker Sopuru Obieri, also has two goals and is still on loan from Cheltenham Town. They also have King Baidoo, who signed in July, and has three gaols. Baidoo was previously at the club last season, then spent some time at Yate Town, before returning to the Tigers. Striker Kieran Phillips, who signed his first professional contract for Bristol Rovers in Feb 2020, and was in his second bell with the Tigers, but is currently out on a short-term loan at Larkhall Athletic.<\/p>\n
Apart from Hanks in midfield, Harry Pinchard is regarded as a creative midfielder who joined from Hereford Town a year ago and now has four goals on the season. Also back for another season is left-sided midfielder Harry Emmett, who started at Chippenham Town, as well as stints at Longlevens & Cinderford Town. Former Morecambe and Newport County captain and midfielder Aaron Wildig has also joined the club as player\/coach for the coming season, and has three goals. There midfield also contains Elis Watts, who has crossed our path previously whilst he was at Hungerford Town. He has also spent time at Aldershot, Met Police, Farnborough & Weston-Super-Mare. Sion Spence is also back to the club for the 2025\/26 season. Spence, an attacking midfielder, previously had a spell at the club during the 2022\/23 season, which saw the Tigers reach the National League North play-off eliminator against Brackley Town. Spence has added two league goals.<\/p>\n
The defence has a number of changes from last season, but right-back is Daniel Leadbetter, is back for another season. He spent most of his career at Bristol Rovers, before joining in 2021. Centre-back Michael O\u2019Regan joined City from nearby Evesham Utd. At 23-year-old he was the Robins vice-captain, helping then secure promotion. Ben Morgan, joins the club for his third spell, having originally joined in 2020\/21, departing with City top of the table when the season was cut short, and then again in 2022\/23 when he captained City to the playoff eliminators, making 63 appearances in total. Ex-Tiverton defender Dylan Jones has joined City for the upcoming season, having played at clubs such as Cinderford Town, Hereford, Merthyr Town, Salisbury, and before that Cardiff City u23’s. Jones did get red-carded in midweek at Farnham, but will be available tomorrow afternoon. Another previous City player is Kieran Thomas, who is back for his third term with the club, as was confirmed as team-captain for the season. In goal will once more be Jared Thompson, who started at Swindon Town, but then spent seven years at Chelsea\u2019s academy, where he won three FA Youth Cups & two UEFA Youth Cups. He left in 2019 for Weymouth and joined City in 2024. Note the back-up is Conor Thompson, the brother of Jared.<\/p>\n
Our Basingstoke Town Side
\n<\/b>Saturday\u2019s win at Weymouth, with goals by George Reid & Ben Cook, gives us back-to-back wins in the league, and now has us in the top half of the league, and looking up, not down as we face Gloucester City tomorrow night. The poor opening thirty minutes, fortunately helped by a weak Weymouth side,\u00a0was erased by a more workmanlike second-half performance by the players. The win pushes us into tenth and seven points clear from the relegation places, with a record of Pld 16 Won 6 Drawn 3 Lost 7 and 21pts.<\/p>\n
With Liam Ferdinand & Robbie Gallagher both out injured, we suffered a further setback, when leading striker, Cheick Sylla hobbled off injured in the first-half at Weymouth, and is likely out tomorrow night. Fortunately, the club signed former Stokie Dan Rowe, on the Friday, and not only did he replace Sylla for the last seventy minutes, he will be inline for a starting role against Gloucester. George Reid\u2019s neat flicked finish, brought us back into the game, and must have been a kick-in-the-teeth for Weymouth\u2019s Steve Claridge, who had seen his team in control till then. With this the forward-line should contain Dan Rowe, George Reid, Josh Dolling, and Ore Bello, whilst rumours, just rumours, that Robbie Gallagher, is close to returning to the match-day squad.<\/p>\n
The midfield looked out-of-sorts for much of the first-half Saturday, but played a big part in securing the three points, and none more-so than Ben Cook & D\u2019Andre Brown, when Dre was introduced, replacing Ore Bello, with half-hour to go. It was the tenacious Brown, who neatly found Cook, whose finish would have matched most of our strikers, leaving the Weymouth keeper little chance, as he found the corner of the net. Josh Green was strong and active, especially in the second-half, as he stopped a number of Weymouth breaks, allowing us to push forward once more. James Dickson was absent Saturday, and am unaware if he will make tomorrow\u2019s squad. Dara Dada & Connor Barratt were late substitutions, and will play their part tomorrow night.<\/p>\n
The defence again like the midfield, improved as the game went on, and only allowed a couple of real chances, in the last forty-five minutes, that Simon Grant was able to deal with. Billy Upton, like James Clark, made some key blocks throughout the game, and it will be interesting to see how we set-up tomorrow, with the likely return of Scott Armsworth from suspension. Jack Ball is still likely to miss-out through injury. Joe O\u2019Loughlin, Elliott Legg & Markus Johnson-Schuster, will likely patrol the defensive back roles once more, depending on how we set-up. Simon Grant, continues to show he is the top keeper in our league.<\/p>\n
We start the first of four tough matches in a row, and Gloucester City will be looking to get the double over us, but it is clear we can extend our win, if we battle like we have the last few games, whist riding a bit of luck at critical times tomorrow.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s expected to be cold, so why not wrap up warm and come down to Winklebury and cheer on your Basingstoke Town side.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s Go Stoke !<\/p>\n
Match Preview by Martin French..<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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