Weston Super-Mare v Hungerford Town
When: 9th March 2019
Where: Optima (Woodspring) stadium, Winterstoke road, BS24 9AA
K.O 3PM
This is arguably the biggest game of the weekend and of these two seasons. There are still a handful of games left after this one but this game will give a greater indicator of the club more likely to stay up than go down. The winner will take a big confidence boost and a step closer to safety whilst the loser, especially if it’s Weston, would have a mountain to climb. Both will be targeting the three points but most importantly hope Gloucester loses at Dartford. However all the attention for 90 minutes will be on the Woodspring and the pressure is mounting as the clock is ticking.
Form guide- On Tuesday night Wealdstone put five past Weston just 3 days after they’d pulled of one of the shocks of the season by beating league leaders Torquay United 2-1 at Plainmoor. It was the perfect response to a 1-0 home loss to Chippenham a week earlier. Hungerford stopped a run of two straight defeats with a valuable point against title chasers Woking. Before that they’d lost to Welling and Chippenham.
Team news- The hosts will hope Marlon Jackson is fully fit from his hamstring injury after returning to the squad for their game on Tuesday. However boss Marc McGregor has insisted no one is guaranteed a place on the team sheet after Tuesday’s loss which means he has a selection headache. The visitors will still be without Cameron Hargreaves who serves the final game of a 3 match ban. However they’re hopeful that winger Darren Foxley can return from a back spasm.
Star man- Goalkeeper Luke Purnell is a constant in the Seagulls goal and without the impressive shot stopper the Somerset based side could be even deeper into the mire. Hungerford midfielder Alfy Whittingham has matured into an all-round energetic player who has recently started to add more goals to his game. His willingness to burst forward and help defend will be a key component if his side are going to collect three points on Saturday.
Head to head- Earlier on this season Weston edged out the Crusaders on a miserable October afternoon, 1-0. Last season despite winning the home fixture 2-0 Hungerford lost out at the Woodspring by two goals to one. In 2016/17 the Seagulls were defeated 1-0 at home and 2-1 away.