Corsham Print
Wiltshire Senior League
Premier Division Preview Season 2019-20
No. 6 - Marlborough Town & Royal W.Bassett Town Dev
With the new 2019-20 Season almost upon us, we look forward to the new season with a brief look at each of the teams in the Premier Division for Season 2019-20. The preview is based on pre-season discussions with the respective team managers as they look forward to the coming season. Each preview will look at two teams and today the two featured teams are Marlborough Town and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev.
Marlborough Town
Picture courtesy of Martin Pearce
Season 2018-19 Position
After finishing 4th in Season 2016-17 Marlborough dropped four places in Season 2017-18 and repeated the downward trend last season when they finished in 12th place, five points behind Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev but a healthy nine points clear of Pewsey Vale Dev. Their home form wasn’t too bad all season but just eight points away from home was what ultimately led to their fall down the table. Their best run of form was at the end of January, beginning of February when they won three games on the bounce and they also ended the season in reasonable form which bodes well for the coming season, with a draw against Cricklade, a win over Devizes and a narrow defeat to a Trowbridge Town side who were on their long unbeaten run.
In the Dugout
Andy Ealey is one of the many managers now entering his second season in charge. He is once again joined in the dugout by Keehlan Panayioutou who joined as his assistant midway through last season.

Andy’s Aspirations for Coming Season
Andy’s aspiration for the coming season is to definitely finish higher than last season. At the start of last season, he was very much getting to know his new players and work out the best system for his side.  Towards the end of last season things started to click and for Andy it was a shame the season had to end when it did. He hopes that the form shown in the second half of the season will continue into the new season.

Who Does Andy Expect to be Title Challengers?
Whilst most managers are predicting the same sides at the top as in the past two seasons, Andy thinks this coming season is actually wide open and more teams will be in the mix than others have predicted so far. Andy does not know much about Holt and Frome Collegians but played Stratton Juniors in a friendly last season, but all three sides had great seasons in 2018-19 and could surprise a number of the established sides this season. He noted that he wouldn’t have to wait long to find out more about Stratton as they have them in their opening game. In Andy’s view games against Development and Reserve sides can also result in some of the top sides dropping points if the respective First Team’s are without a game that day.

Key Summer Signings
Andy has lost none of his players from last season despite one or two having approaches from sides at a higher level he is really pleased that they have all agreed to stay, an indication that the players are enjoying playing for his side. He has added a number of signings to improve his squad and looking at a couple of others but is keeping quite about these ahead of the first few games of the season.
Games Andy is Most Looking Forward To
Having lost one of their local derbies with the relegation of Devizes Town Res the only remaining real derby game as far as Andy is concerned is against Pewsey Vale Res. Before joining Marlborough Andy had not appreciated the rivalry between the two sides but now fully understands that this is the big one for his players. The games with Pewsey are the ones his players look forward to most and which attract the most activity on social media ahead of the fixture.

Bogey Side
Marlborough have lost all 4 league meetings against Kintbury Rangers and also struggle against Trowbridge Town with just 2 wins to their name in 14 meetings since Trowbridge returned to the Wiltshire Senior League.

Pre-Season
Marlborough are one of a number of sides to have a busy pre-season programme, which has included taking on some higher league opposition. Their opening friendly against what they thought was Shrivenham’s Dev team, turned out to be against their Hellenic Premier Division side and Marlborough went down 9-2. A 3-3 draw with Lambourn Sports was followed by a 2-1 win over Hellenic Division One West side New College. Three other friendlies against sides from the Swindon & District League saw them defeat both Swindon AFC (3-0) and Priory Vale (3-1) and draw with Nalgo Sports (2-2).

Opening Fixtures
Marlborough’s opening fixtures sees them play two of the new sides, Stratton Juniors and Frome Collegians. The full August fixtures are:

Sat 17-08-2019 Stratton Juniors (A)
Tue 20-08-2019 Royal W. Bassett T Dev (A)
Sat 24-08-2019 Trowbridge Town (H)
Tue 27-08-2019 Kintbury Rangers (A)
Sat 31-08-2019 Frome Collegians (H)
Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev
Picture courtesy of Steve Green from pre-season game against Holt
Season 2018-19 Position
After losing a number of early fixtures by the odd goal last season, manager Paul Gerrish stood down and was replaced by Steve Chadwick. The only two victories in the first 12 league games came against Pewsey Vale Dev and Devizes Town Res. A good run just before the turn of the year saw wins over Cricklade Town and Trowbridge Town and a second win over Pewsey. However, five straight defeats put the side back in relegation trouble but back-to-back wins over Malmesbury Victoria Dev and Ludgershall Sports helped them move away from the drop zone. Two further wins over Marlborough Town and a draw with Devizes Town Res helped ensure an 11th place finish.

In the Dugout
Steve Chadwick, who took over part way through last season, starts his first full season in the dugout this coming season with Andy Mullen, a personal friend who has coached at Westbury United, Bristol City Academy and Swindon Town Academy, joining him as joint manager.  Andy was also recommended to the club by Wiltshire County FA Coach Developer Mick Byrne who is also now the Head of Coaching at Royal Wootton Bassett Town.

Steve’s Aspirations for Coming Season
Steve’s aspiration is to finish top which is a bold statement after flirting with relegation last season. His view is that the youngsters from last season now have a season’s experience which will serve them well. He notes they have had 29 players involved in pre-season but are looking to assemble a squad of around 20 by the time of the first league game. The two managers have also brought in a group of new youngsters who Steve believes have strengthened the side. Club self-imposed restrictions on who can play for the Development Team have also been lifted for the coming season. He expects to win most games at home but feels where his side may struggle is on some of the away pitches in the division and against more physical opposition.

Who Does Steve Expect to be Title Challengers?
Steve seriously expects his side to be competing at the top end this season and of the other sides rates Kintbury Rangers as the best footballing side in the division, in his view being the only team that really played his side off the park last season.

Key Summer Signings
The two key signings made so far from Steve’s perspective are Charlie Evatt who has been at Forest Green Academy and Bailey Gallagher who re-signs having been a regular last season. There are a number of other great youngsters who have been involved in pre-season and who Steve hopes will also sign in the coming days. The clubs very successful U16 side who this season will be playing in the U18 Division will also provide good back-up to the Dev Team.
Games Steve is Most Looking Forward To
All of them but particularly the home games where Steve thinks they will be hard to beat.

Bogey Side
Melksham Town Res are the sides bogey team with just one solitary point to show from the last eight encounters between the sides. The record against Trowbridge Town, who they meet on the opening day of the season, is also not good but a 3-2 win last season was the first by Royal Wootton Bassett Town Dev against their opponents in eight meetings.

Pre-Season
Pre-season has been mixed and has included a 4-1 win over new fellow Premier Division side Holt and a 1-1 draw with Hellenic League Division1 West side Cirencester Town Dev. Three games have been lost against Corsham Town’s Western League side (4-1), new club Stratton Juniors (1-5)  and the Reme Army Training side based at Lyneham (0-2).

Opening Fixtures
Royal Wootton Bassett Town open with a tough looking trip to Trowbridge Town before meeting Marlborough, who they did the double over last season. They end the month with a couple of tough looking fixtures against Cricklade Town and Shrewton United. The full month’s fixtures are:

Sat 17-08-2019 Trowbridge Town (A)
Tue 20-08-2019 Marlborough Town (H)
Sat 24-08-2019 Ludgershall Sports (A)
Tue 27-08-2019 Cricklade Town (H)
Sat 31-08-2019 Shrewton United (H)

Hopefuly there will be another two teams featured tomorrow, Purton will be one but the other will depend on which of the remaining three managers we can catch up with.

Just a reminder to all Premier Division teams that, in accordance with league rules (Rule 18(B)(ii)), for the first game of the season teams need to register a player by 3pm on Wednesday 14th August if they require them to play on Saturday 17th August.

Monday 12 August 2019
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