Bashley v Yate Town
Southern league Division One South
Saturday 24th August - Kick-off 3.00pm
Yate Town travel to Bashley on Saturday 24th August for their third Southern League fixture of the season and their third consecutive Saturday away game.
Following on from their convincing win at Kidlington, in the FA Cup last Saturday and two wins out of two in the Southern League the team will travel to the New Forest with confidence high but will be aware that they have two challenging games over the Bank Holiday period with another game on Monday against Exmouth Town, at the South West Interiors Stadium, who have also got off to a flying
start.
Yate Town manager, Darren Mullings, will be hoping that Ewan McMillian, Lewis Hall and Wayne Nderemani will be available for selection following knocks in what will be a busy weekend when the whole squad will be needed. Ross Stearn is still a week or two away from full fitness as he recovers from a muscle injury.
Previous meetings
The two teams met last August in Hampshire with the home side winning the opening day fixture of the season 2-0 with Kyle Tooze missing the opportunity to equalise from the penalty spot just after half time. The teams met at the South West Interiors Stadium just before Christmas and played out an entertaining 0-0 draw.
Action from last season’s game at the South West Interiors Stadium with this Calum Hutton header going just wide of Ross Casey in the Bashley goal.
Bashley finished in 15th position last season and in both games against the Bluebells their goalkeeper, Ross Casey, was outstanding.
The clubs have met a few times in the past, the most recent before last season being in season 2015/16 which saw the Bluebells win 2-0 in the home game with goals from Laird and Cox and they got the double by winning 2-1 away with Bryant and Powell on the scoresheet.
Going back further in time in, season 1996/97, there were 9 goals scored in the home game with the Bluebells winning 6-3 with goals from Stocker, Lucas (pen), Iddles, Clarke and Lee (2) but generally results have been fairly even.
Form Guide
This season Bashley were knocked out of the FA Cup at Paulton losing 1-2 in the Extra Preliminary Round on 3rd August and had hoped, like all teams in the Southern League, to start their League campaign on 10th August with a home game against Falmouth, followed by another at home against Larkhall Athletic on the Tuesday evening, this game being switched due to the lying of a 3G pitch at Larkhall. However, it was Bashley who had severe problems with their pitch after extensive work over
the summer to improve their draining system and issues with this meant that both games had to be
postponed.
Bashley manged to play at Cinderford last Saturday (with both teams having been knocked out of the FA Cup) and got their League campaign off to a good start, coming from behind to win 2-1 with goals from Conor Whiteley and club captain Steven Walker. One player to watch out for could be forward Brett Williams who has had previous experience with Eastleigh, AFC Totton, Reading, Aldershot Town, Gosport Borough, Lymington Town, Stevenage and Torquay United. So, this Saturday’s game will be their Bashley’s competitive home match of the season.
Getting there
The address of their ground is the Veho Community Stadium, Bashley Rd, Bashley, New Milton BH25 5RY and the 75-mile journey from Yate should take just over 2 hours via the A36 and A350, by car.
Next up
Yate Town play Exmouth at the South West Interiors Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday 26th August with a 3pm kick-off.
YATE TOWN v EXMOUTH TOWN
Monday 26th August (3pm)
BE THERE TO SUPPPORT THE TEAM!