Puritans ready for Basingstoke

Basingstoke are now in their second season in the Southern League Premier Division after relegation from Conference South at the end of season 2015/16. They have not threatened to mount a challenge for a return to the higher level, finishing last season in mid-table and they look to be heading for a similar position this time around though the uncertainty of being able to play at their Camrose Ground, with groundshares with Farnborough and a move to the Winklebury complex in Basingstoke all mooted over the last 12 months, cannot have helped matters.

Basingstoke’s home form this season has though been quite impressive but it is away from the Camrose that they have struggled with just two wins and two draws from their fifteen away games, those wins coming against league “whipping boys” (unless they are playing us of course!!) Dunstable Town and Gosport Borough.

As for ourselves, we have shown much improvement since the debacle of our home defeat to Dunstable Town with our 5-0 winning margin at Bishops Stortford last Saturday being only the club’s seventh ever five goal or more winning margin in an away Southern League game in our history.

For Banbury, Leam Howards serves the third of his four game suspension and with Darren Pond and Sam Humphreys still not fully recovered from injury it is likely to be the same squad that drew 2-2 at Redditch United n Tuesday.

Source Banbury United FC