Staines Town Match Preview

Swindon Supermarine return to action at The Webbs Wood Stadium this Saturday afternoon, having been on the road for their past two fixtures, when they entertain basement side Staines Town in a match where Marine boss Lee Spalding will be looking for a reaction from his squad after their below-par 2-1 defeat at Farnborough last Saturday. Before Saturday’s defeat we went on a six-match unbeaten run including a draw to promotion hopefuls Salisbury and an excellent win in our last home game against high flying Merthyr Town.

In very tight league standings with four points separating third from bottom Chesham United with seven other clubs above, including Marine, Spalding’s side will be looking to kick-start another unbeaten run of games, starting on Saturday to move further upwards in the league. “It’s a case of bouncing back and how we bounce back,” reiterated the Marine boss after the defeat at Farnborough, “There’s no point on dwelling on this defeat, we have to look at what we can do better, work hard all week in training with a view to making sure we put on a performance against Staines and getting a result.”

Our visitors travel to us today having lost their last 11 games in the league with their last win coming against us back on November 10th at their ground where they won 2-1 courtesy of goals from Tanasheh Abrahams and Andy Ali on a cold, wet afternoon in Surrey. Since we last played today’s opponents, since then they have parted ways with their manager Rob Easom, then appointed the experienced football agent and ex-professional footballer Barry Silkman as their manager, but he only lasted 24 hours due FA rules around remaining as both a football agent and a manager at the same time! Head coach Matthew Green is now in charge of team affairs.

Many will look at the lowly position of Staines and think that Saturday will be a walkover however recent competitive away games and close results against playoff chasing Beaconsfield (3-2 loss) and our opponents last week Farnborough (1-0 loss) both of whom Supermarine have lost to this season. This demonstrates that Staines are still fighting and will prove a tough test for Marine and they will also come here full of confidence following the last result between the two sides.

Matt Liddiard, the club’s new signing this week from Gloucester City, is expected to be included in the squad for Saturday and Connor Thompson returns to the squad after illness last week. Still on the injury list and missing from Saturday’s squad are Brad Gray (groin), Josh Parsons (knee) and Josh Hill (shoulder).

STAINES PLAYER TO WATCH
Andy Ali scored against us at Wheatsheaf Park back in November and has 4 goals in 8 appearances this season. The lively, 21-year-old formerly of Ryman League side Corinthian-Casuals will be hungry to add to this seasons goal tally and help Staines to a double over Swindon Supermarine.

Finally, some of our visiting Staines fans will remember our central defender Jerel Ifil who will hopefully feature on Saturday afternoon. Ifil spent three seasons at Wheatsheaf Park in the National League South before his retirement in 2014 and I’m sure he’ll be up for a chat in the bar after the game.