AFC Totton
Basingstoke Town – Preview
On Saturday there will be a little bit of history made when Basingstoke Town return to play in the town after a couple of seasons playing their home games at Winchester City’s SimplyHealth Stadium. The Dragons were given the green light recently, to return to Basingstoke to play their home games at the Winklebury Football Complex, which is the HQ of the Hampshire FA, This is of course, great news for the Dragons, although the fans hope that this is a stepping stone prior to a return to their iconic Camrose ground or, alternatively a brand new Stadium somewhere in the town.
Basingstoke have had a tough few years on and off the pitch, since 2016 they have dropped from National League South to Southern League Division One South. Most people would’ve always looked upon Basingstoke as a National League South club, and as recently as 2014/15 the Dragons finished 3rd in the National League’s 2nd tier, so they were pretty close to joining Non League’s top flight back then!! The Dragons have a fanbase that warrants the club playing in the upper levels of Non league football. However, ‘off the field’ matters have contributed massively to Basingstoke’s recent ‘plunge’. The positive news for the Dragons is that they look as if they have hit the bottom, and perhaps they are going to start to claw their way back? Their early season form certainly indicates that a brighter future maybe on the cards
Basingstoke have scored 18 goals in their opening 5 games in Division One South! 12 of those goals came in two incredible 6-3 away wins at Slimbridge and Cinderford Town!!! The goals look like they are spread across half a dozen or so players with George Hallahan top scorer so far with 5 goals. Their overall record in Division One south so far reads, W4 D1 L0 F18 A10 PTS13.
There has not been that many competitive fixtures between the Stags and Basingstoke Town down the years. The clubs did meet in the FA Trophy at the Snows Stadium in 2012 and the Stags ran out 3-0 winners, with goals from Jonathon Davies, James Coutts and Dave Allen.
Last season the clubs did meet twice, at the Snows Stadium it finished 0-0, and at the SimplyHealth City Ground the Stags ran out 2-0 winners with goals from Dave Allen and Craig Feeney.
The longer-term Totton fans will be interested to know that one of their former favourites is playing for Town. That player is Aidan Lewis. Aidan was an EXTREMELY popular right back at Totton, the supporters loved him. Being a right back Aidan never used to get on the scoresheet, until one day he did bag a goal and it was probably the loudest roar I heard at our old ground, Testwood Park!
Totton go into Saturday’s game on the back of an excellent 3-1 win at Larkhall Athletic on Wednesday evening. It’s still very early in the season BUT the win over Larkhall took the Stags above Basingstoke and to the top of the table where they replaced the Dragons on goal difference, although Basingstoke do have a game in hand on the Stags. So, the fixture see’s the top two meet, which makes the game look a mouth-watering prospect, One thing is for sure, it will be very interesting to see how it turns out!
The tickets for the game sold out on Wednesday morning, there will be no point heading to Basingstoke if you have not got one, You will be able keep up to date with the game on our twitter account, which will give live updates through-out the afternoon.
