Evesham United vs Poole Town – Match Preview
The Dolphins get their Easter programme under way with the Good Friday trip to The Spiers and Hartwell Stadium to take on Evesham United ko 3pm. Joe and Pat will be very keen to get back to winning ways as they have seen their team pick up just one win, v Taunton, in the last six matches. We remain in 4th place in the table (P37 W19 D10 L8 67 points) with only Evesham United, Chertsey, and Uxbridge away and Wimborne Town and Havant & Waterlooville at home, to come.
Pat & Joe stressed in their interview after the Bracknell draw that all sides will be prone to unexpected results as the pressure of relegation, promotion and contracts play on everyone’s mind. We go into those last five fixtures in the knowledge that we will be looking for a new club captain after Jamie Whisken announced this week that he will retire from playing at the end of the season. He has been an amazing servant to the club, and he will be sorely missed.
Evesham were promoted to this league last season after winning the play-off final against Malvern Town back in May. They are currently 15th in the league and came back from a goal down at Tiverton on Tuesday evening to win 2-1 with strikes from Ethan Dunbar and Andre Wright. This was their first win since the 2-1 victory over Wimborne Town on February 7th. They suffered their heaviest defeat of the season last Saturday as they fell to something of a second half onslaught at Havant & Waterlooville. They appeared to be comfortable with the 1-1 half time scoreline but ended up losing the match 6-1. Their home form has held up well with 7 wins contributing to the 27 points that they have earned at the Spiers and Hartwell Stadium.
The reverse fixture was played in August and finished in a 1-1 draw. Shaq Gwengwe gave us a 70th minute lead by converting a penalty, however the lead lasted just two minutes, Andre Wright put a free kick past Adam Parkes to go back to Worcestershire with a point.
Top scorer for the Robins is Levi Steele on 10, however he departed the club in February; close behind him is Andre Wright on 9. Andre joined Evesham from Stratford Town FC, he was a product of West Bromwich Albion’s academy. He was loaned out to Kidderminster Harriers, Torquay United, and Coventry City in his early career to gain senior football experience. He has also had experience playing in League Two for Yeovil Town in January 2017 and joined National League North side Hereford in January 2022.
The Worcestershire side are managed by Mike Ford who started his footballing career as a professional at Leicester City aged 18. Upon his release he briefly joined Devizes before a lengthy spell at Cardiff City. However, he spent the bulk of his playing career at Oxford Untied making 289 appearances for the club until he was forced to retire due to a back injury. He then turned to management and spent time in charge of Oxford United, Oxford City, Banbury and now Evesham whom he joined in 2022. Whilst he was managing Oxford United, he did make one come back appearance against Bristol City, but that was mainly due to an injury crisis at the club.
The Tuesday evening away win will no doubt give the Robins a huge boost as they look to secure their league status, but our away form has been good and we will need to call on all of our experience to make sure that we pick up the points that we need to continue our promotion push.
Just a final note – most roads that surround the ground where supporters normally park may have parking restrctions that are imposed Monday to Friday (8am-6pm), and with it being a Monday game there may be the potential of supporters recieving a fine when parking on these roads, so please be mindful!
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington