WELCOME, SALUT, HOWDY,WILLKOMEN

Today’s opponents come to us in second spot in the table, and are the form team in the league at the minute, very much similar to ourselves in many respects…

They sit two points off league leaders Northwood and have that all important game in hand, which would see them move clear at the top. They have won eight of their last nine fixtures, including big wins over Merstham and Guernsey, whilst their last two matches have seen them beat Bedfont Sports 3-1 and Westfield 4-1.

Their only defeat in recent times came in their last league game of 2022 when they narrowly lost 1-0 at home to Walton & Hersham.

When the two sides met at the Winklebury Stadium back in November, a feisty encounter saw Basingstoke come away with a 2-1 win, thanks to early goals in both halves, from Sam Argent and Ezio Touray. Our reply on the day came from Matt Surmon.

Our dismal run continued with another three defeats on the spin, most importantly against our relegation rivals. Last time here we slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Chipstead in what was a fairly nondescript game, with few chances and played in horrendous conditions.

We followed that with a 3-0 loss at an improving Merstham. We looked the better side early on, but a poor last fifteen minutes of the first half saw former SCR men Adam Allen and Aaron Goode put the hosts in control and although we went close through Daryl Cooper-Smith, being denied by another ex SCR man Filip Chalupniczak, early in the second half, a late Adam Adam goal sealed the win.

Last weekend we travelled to Guernsey with no regular forwards available and a debutant Dion Macfoy-Johnston up top. We fell behind early on, saw another debutant Joshua Okpolokpo dismissed for clearing the ball (don’t, just don’t), and although we dominated much of the game we were unable to find a finishing touch and slipped to defeat.

We have to arrest the slide somewhere, and start picking up points, otherwise a swift return to step 5 will be on the cards, and that is not what the people behind the scenes deserve.

The development sides both should have been in action last week, but the 23’s trip to Molesey was postponed. The 18’s though were in action on Wednesday and won an eight goal thriller 5-3, goals from Matty Hill, Bobby Moore, Lou Kokubo, Abdul Sbaiti and Liam Moore.

Enough from me, enjoy the game, have safe trips home, and see next week at Walton & Hersham.