Next Match – Chippenham Town (H)
City commence 2024 with a return meeting against near neighbours Chippenham Town.
Twerton Park hosts the latest encounter with Chippenham keen to exact revenge on a 2-1 defeat last week in Wiltshire and prevent City completing a double over them for a second time in three seasons.
Last Tuesday’s loss extended Jerry Gill’s unbeaten run at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium to seven games. Boxing Day 2022 remains his only defeat against Chippenham. Scott Wilson gave the Romans the lead but fine headers from Harry Parsons and Spencer Hamilton, plus Jordan Young’s solo effort, earned three points for the Bluebirds. All three have since moved on but there remains a familiarity among Gary Horgan’s side. Goalkeeper Will Henry started his 76th successive league match on Boxing Day and the likes of Eddie Jones, Alex Bray, Tom Mehew and Will King have featured regularly in these A4 derbies, Jones and Mehew for both clubs.
Stability has been key for City this term. They were unchanged last Tuesday and the 14 players involved have made 1453 appearances between them, the highest for a match under Gill. Jordan Dyer is four appearances from being the latest Romans Centurion and Cody Cooke is a goal from 50 for Stripes. Back-to-back wins have seen City rise to third and they could make ground on Yeovil Town, whose New Year’s Eve match at Taunton was rained off.
Chippenham have only lost two away games this term, both against play-off contenders – Torquay United and Worthing. Town had the lead in each. Their 16 points lost from winning is an unwanted league high with St Albans. Eleven goals conceded away is a joint low with Chelmsford City, but they’ll face a stiff test at Twerton where the Romans have netted three or more on six occasions in all competitions. Ninety-seven scored in a calendar year was the highest since 2007 with Wilson recording 32, the most since Paul Randall’s 37 in 1990. Both those years involved a promotion.
You can still buy your tickets in advance here with discounts until midnight tonight. Snap yours up – this isn’t a game to be missed!
