Poole Town vs Wimborne Town – Match Preview
As always an eagerly anticipated fixture in the season is the Stour clash with local rivals Wimborne Town. This season it will be our Easter Bank Holiday Monday fixture at Tatnam ko 3pm. It’s going to be a tough weekend for the Magpies as they host high flying and very much in form Farnham Town on Good Friday.
Wimborne Town got the season off to a great start and spent several weeks in the top half of the table. However, things have not gone so well for the club recently and they have managed just the one win, against Taunton Town, in their last ten matches, taking 6 points. (not including Farnham Town). Only Hungerford (25) and Tiverton Town (24) have conceded more than the 23 goals that they have conceded in those 10 matches.
In front of a record 2,500 crowd at Christmas, we took the points in the reverse fixture with a 2-0 win. Shaq Gwengwe gave us a deserved half-time lead and secured the points with his second strike of the match on 61 minutes.
The Magpies are currently in 13th place (P36 W10 D13 L13 43 points) and look destined for a comfortable mid-table finish although relegation is certainly still possible. They have picked up two wins away from The Wyatt Homes Stadium, 3-0 at Berkhamsted and 2-0 at Dorchester Town which has given them 12 points from 18 away matches. The Magpies did pick up a valuable away point at Uxbridge last Saturday, coming back from a 3-goal deficit after 49 minutes they clawed their way back to a 3-3 draw. They even missed a penalty just on the stroke of half-time.
Tim Sills has lost striker Joe Smith, who was on 8 goals for the season, to injury so he has brought in marksman Rafael Ramos. He has joined Wimborne from Winchester City, and has plenty of experience with spells at Gosport Borough, Poole Town, Salisbury and Hungerford. As is usually the case there will be plenty of familiar faces in the opposing dug-out including their top scorer Will Fletcher who has found the net 10 times this season.
The club is managed by Tim Sills who made nearly 700 appearances in his 20-year playing career, scoring 219 goals. His clubs included Aldershot Town, Oxford Utd, Stevenage and Torquay Utd at National League and League Two levels both as a semi and full-time professional. He was appointed manager of Hamworthy United in October 2019 and guided the Wessex League Premier club to promotion to the Southern League as league champions, and FA Vase semi-final in the 2021-22 season. He joined Wimborne in October 2022, taking them to a play-off spot that season. In the 2023-24 season he guided Wimborne to a first league title for 24 years, Southern League Div One South. In the last campaign, he led The Magpies to their highest-ever finish in the non-league pyramid.
The Dolphins were unlucky not to come away from the home fixture against Bracknell Town with more than a point. Pat & Joe were pleased with the dominant performance and the first “clean sheet” for 13 matches but rued the missed opportunities especially in the second half.
With just play-off chasing Chertsey away, Havant & Waterlooville home and Uxbridge away on the last day of the regular season it’s going to be a dramatic end to a fascinating season. We have come a very long way in the last couple of seasons so we must keep our nerve in these last few games.
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington