Post by Admin on Sept 5, 2024 6:56:54 GMT
Graham's Match Preview -
Wimborne Town vs Hungerford Town
Southern League Premier South - Sat 7th September 2024 3pm
In this tale of two towns, Wimborne and Hungerford have made similar starts to the 2024-25 campaign. In the league both have a W2 D0 L3 record with a goal difference of -3; The Crusaders sit 13th, one place above The Magpies, in the embryonic league table because they've scored 8 times to our five. And in the FA Cup both teams won last Saturday in the First Round Qualifying: Hungerford 1-0 at home to Yate, currently top of S.L. Div One South with a 100% record, while Wimborne won 3-0 at fellow S.L. Prem sideTiverton.
Hungerford were relegated from National South at the end of the 2022-23 season to the Southern Prem. Last season they finished 8th in this division, a mere four points away from a play-off spot. Danny Robinson's team had a disastrous first minute of this season when Jack Mazzone (remember him when he played for Met Police against us?) scored for Chertsey who went on to complete an opening day 4-1 home win. The following Tuesday, Hungerford got their season up-and-running with a 5-2 thumping of Gosport, and followed that up with a 1-0 home win over Taunton. Since then, they've lost 1-3 at Totton, and 0-2 at home to Swindon Supermarine. Which means that, on their league travels, The Crusaders have yet to record a point. Their eight league goals have been scored by six different players, with Ellis Watts leading their charts with three.
Tim Sills' team have played twice at the Wyatt Homes Stadium: an opening day 1-0 victory over Hanwell, currently 7th, and last time a 0-4 loss to Walton & Hersham, currently 2nd. Our other three-pointer was against Winchester at Basingstoke when Cam Munn bagged a perfect hat-trick as we won 4-2. After three consecutive league defeats, we knocked Tiverton out of the FA Cup on Saturday with Will Fletcher bagging a brace and Matt Neale finishing a slick move. Manager Sills will have been relieved to see Harrys Baker and Morgan returning from illness and injury, will have been buoyed by the form of substitute young Joe Ryan, and will be pleased to have Billy Walker available again.
As we've seen from the stats above, there's not a lot between the two teams this season, but can we learn anything from the past? We asked Club Historian Ken Fergus what he could tell us about games between The Magpies and The Crusaders in the Southern League:
"Hungerford was the first team Wimborne Town ever played in the Southern League. The game took place on August 14th 2010 in front of a meagre 165 fans at Hungerford's Bulpit Lane. The game finished in a 1-1 draw with prolific scorer Lee Chudy having the honour of scoring the Magpies' first ever Southern League goal with a beautifully struck free-kick.
We were in the same Southern League division as Hungerford for three seasons:
in 2010-11 Wimborne lost 0-1 at home; and drew 1-1 away;
in 2011-12 Wimborne won 2-1 at home; and lost 0-3 away;
and in 2012-13 Wimborne lost 1-3 at home; and drew 0-0 away."
Then, for good measure, Ken added:
"Hungerford Town reached the FA Vase semi-finals three times in eleven seasons between 1978 & 1989 but, agonisingly, failed to reach Wembley each time. The closest they came was in 1977/78 when they lost out to Barton Rovers in a replay."
Back to this season ... There's been 19 goals in Hungerford's opening five league games, 13 in ours. There could be plenty of goalmouth action on Saturday, and you won't want to miss that. After all, watching a cracking footie game is what Saturday afternoons were made for!
There's plenty of parking at the ground in Ainsley Road BH21 2FU, but if you do decide to park on the nearby streets, please do so respectfully to our neighbours.
The Morebus no.13 runs along Leigh Road from and to The Square in the town centre twice an hour with stops at the bottom of Parmiter Road.
There is a bike park to the left of the players' entrance.
Admission: adults £14, concessions £8, U18s £5, U13s £2. Season tickets are still available.
A printed programme (it's another whopper) will be on sale.
Weather forecast: cloudy; 19oC; 40% chance of rain.
Wimborne Town vs Hungerford Town
Southern League Premier South - Sat 7th September 2024 3pm
In this tale of two towns, Wimborne and Hungerford have made similar starts to the 2024-25 campaign. In the league both have a W2 D0 L3 record with a goal difference of -3; The Crusaders sit 13th, one place above The Magpies, in the embryonic league table because they've scored 8 times to our five. And in the FA Cup both teams won last Saturday in the First Round Qualifying: Hungerford 1-0 at home to Yate, currently top of S.L. Div One South with a 100% record, while Wimborne won 3-0 at fellow S.L. Prem sideTiverton.
Hungerford were relegated from National South at the end of the 2022-23 season to the Southern Prem. Last season they finished 8th in this division, a mere four points away from a play-off spot. Danny Robinson's team had a disastrous first minute of this season when Jack Mazzone (remember him when he played for Met Police against us?) scored for Chertsey who went on to complete an opening day 4-1 home win. The following Tuesday, Hungerford got their season up-and-running with a 5-2 thumping of Gosport, and followed that up with a 1-0 home win over Taunton. Since then, they've lost 1-3 at Totton, and 0-2 at home to Swindon Supermarine. Which means that, on their league travels, The Crusaders have yet to record a point. Their eight league goals have been scored by six different players, with Ellis Watts leading their charts with three.
Tim Sills' team have played twice at the Wyatt Homes Stadium: an opening day 1-0 victory over Hanwell, currently 7th, and last time a 0-4 loss to Walton & Hersham, currently 2nd. Our other three-pointer was against Winchester at Basingstoke when Cam Munn bagged a perfect hat-trick as we won 4-2. After three consecutive league defeats, we knocked Tiverton out of the FA Cup on Saturday with Will Fletcher bagging a brace and Matt Neale finishing a slick move. Manager Sills will have been relieved to see Harrys Baker and Morgan returning from illness and injury, will have been buoyed by the form of substitute young Joe Ryan, and will be pleased to have Billy Walker available again.
As we've seen from the stats above, there's not a lot between the two teams this season, but can we learn anything from the past? We asked Club Historian Ken Fergus what he could tell us about games between The Magpies and The Crusaders in the Southern League:
"Hungerford was the first team Wimborne Town ever played in the Southern League. The game took place on August 14th 2010 in front of a meagre 165 fans at Hungerford's Bulpit Lane. The game finished in a 1-1 draw with prolific scorer Lee Chudy having the honour of scoring the Magpies' first ever Southern League goal with a beautifully struck free-kick.
We were in the same Southern League division as Hungerford for three seasons:
in 2010-11 Wimborne lost 0-1 at home; and drew 1-1 away;
in 2011-12 Wimborne won 2-1 at home; and lost 0-3 away;
and in 2012-13 Wimborne lost 1-3 at home; and drew 0-0 away."
Then, for good measure, Ken added:
"Hungerford Town reached the FA Vase semi-finals three times in eleven seasons between 1978 & 1989 but, agonisingly, failed to reach Wembley each time. The closest they came was in 1977/78 when they lost out to Barton Rovers in a replay."
Back to this season ... There's been 19 goals in Hungerford's opening five league games, 13 in ours. There could be plenty of goalmouth action on Saturday, and you won't want to miss that. After all, watching a cracking footie game is what Saturday afternoons were made for!
There's plenty of parking at the ground in Ainsley Road BH21 2FU, but if you do decide to park on the nearby streets, please do so respectfully to our neighbours.
The Morebus no.13 runs along Leigh Road from and to The Square in the town centre twice an hour with stops at the bottom of Parmiter Road.
There is a bike park to the left of the players' entrance.
Admission: adults £14, concessions £8, U18s £5, U13s £2. Season tickets are still available.
A printed programme (it's another whopper) will be on sale.
Weather forecast: cloudy; 19oC; 40% chance of rain.
