With the weather changing towards the end of this week, with warmer temperatures, all sides are confident of being in action this Saturday & Sunday.
The 1st Team are the only senior side at Tucker Park on Saturday afternoon, as they entertain Kintbury Rangers in NBFL Division 1, kick off 2.00pm. Town are currently languishing second bottom of the division, whilst Rangers are again challenging for the title, sitting in second position. Both sides have not kicked a ball in 2016 and so will be eager to get this fixture on, with the visitors strong favourites for the three points. Town go into the match with new signing Martyn Gatehouse sent to start and his task along with the rest of the defence, will be to stop their top scorer, Charlie Alsop from finding the net, who has managed to grab 12 goals from 12 league and cup fixtures. It will remain to be seen if his strike partner Shaun Thorp will be involved, who made his first appearance of the season for the Reserves last weekend, following an Achilles injury in pre-season. The Town squad is without Tommy James, Liam Humphries (Both Away) & Rich Evans hopefully will complete his one game ban.
Town Reserves have a vital six point fixture, when they travel to Marcham FC in NBFL Division 2, for this 2.00pm kick off. Town’s last fixtures was on the 19th December against the same opponents at Tucker PArk, when Town felt they deserved something from the match, despite losing 2-1, which saw the visitors climb off the foot of the table over Town. Marcham have managed to host two home fixtures in recent weeks, despite the poor weather and both occasions, they were defeated (Westminster FC 4-5 & Stanford ITV 0-6). Town will hope they can put a run of matches together, where their performances pick up points, with only seven collected so far and at the foot of the division. Town will be without full back Alfie West (Work) and forward Dave Cole (Away) for the fixture, but JJ Moore is introduced after completing his knee rehabilitation along with new striker Colin Yates, set for his debut.
Town A’s will be hoping to build on last weekend’s point at promotion challengers Blewbury FC as they look to complete a league double over bottom of the table, Hagbourne United in NFBL Division 4. Kick off at the Recreation Ground is 2.00pm and Town can have a lot of confidence after matching last weeks opponents and only being denied three points, with the last kick of the game. The home side has found this season a struggle so far, with just a single draw to show from nine league encounters, which was with Wallingford Town Reserves in October and have scored more than one goal in a fixture, just once in the Berks & Bucks County Cup. Town defeated United 4-1 at Tucker Park, Jason Evans grabbed a brace, Leon Redwood-Hanson & Li-am Farmer scored on the day and all three are expected to be involved at some point during the match.
On to the junior section and Saturday morning will see two of our three development sides, play their non competitive fixtures. The under 8’s are without a game, the under 9’s travel to Abingdon, to take on Radley, whilst the under 10’s will be at Tucker Park to entertain Barton FC, both games kick off at 10.30am.
The under 12’s will be looking to build on last weekends opening C Spring League 0-0 draw with Didcot Town Youth White, when they travel to face old foe’s Oxford Blackbirds. The hosts did not play last weekend, but Town know from old, this will be a tight match, with no centimetre given! Kick off 10.30am
The under 13’s are also on the road, with Team Coach, Ben Small set to run the side for the first time and his opening match could not be harder, with a trip to league leaders Abingdon Youth. Town sit in second position, three points adrift of the leaders, but with two games in hand, so this could give the side a real marker for the rest of the season. Kick off 10.30am
The under 15’s will be hoping to finally get their Knockout Cup match with A League side Cumnor Minors played on Sunday morning at Tucker Park, kick off 10.30am. The match has been postponed on two occasions already, with Town major underdogs if their last encounter is be used as a gauge, Minors winning 11-2 in the County Cup.
The under 16’s are also at Tucker Park on Sunday, but with a 2.00pm kick off in the B League as they entertain bottom side Freeland. Both sides have only managed four league fixtures so far, so will be desperate for the match to go ahead, with Town hoping to apply some pressure on the leaders with a victory.
Town under 17’s will hope to build on the positives from their defeat to runaway league leaders Summertown United, as they travel to fellow mid-table side Moreton Rangers for this B League, 2.00pm kick off. A win for 7th placed Town, will see them rise above 5th placed Rangers with a win.
