Next Match – Farnborough – Home
Following final minute defeats in their last two away matches, City welcome Farnborough to Twerton Park on Saturday hoping for a repeat of the form shown in the last home match against Eastbourne.
Although they presently trail the seventh placed club and a play-off spot by seven points, there are still sixty up for grabs in the coming months so there is plenty to play for despite recent disappointments.
Their opponents are on an excellent run of form and have not suffered defeat in the league since late September.
This is largely due to their defensive record, which is only bettered by two other clubs, and some fine performances on their travels away from Cherrywood Road, topped by a 4-1 victory at Dulwich.
That match was played on 7th January and was in fact Boro’s last outing as they have suffered more than most with postponements due to the recent weather.
They equalled the best performance by National League South clubs in the FA Cup by reaching the second round, losing at Wrexham having defeated League Two Sutton at Gander Green Lane.
This productive autumn and winter for the Hampshire club has seen them rise to 12th place, one below City but with four games in hand.
It came after a start to the season which suggested that Spencer Day’s team might find it difficult to adapt to the higher level following promotion from the Southern League via the play-offs.
Their first ten matches saw just eleven points collected and they went down to seven defeats, one of which came on 27th August with the visit by City to Cherrywood Road.
Jerry Gill’s team were enjoying a fine start to the season and a stunning goal from Alex Fletcher was enough to secure the three points with Cody Cook only being denied by an equally eye catching save by the home keeper.
If past meetings between the two clubs are anything to go by then supporters could be in for a goal feast on Saturday.
A remarkable 39 have been scored in eight league fixtures at Twerton Park since the first in 1991 which saw Boro’s only win.
Jerry Gill was on the score sheet in the following season’s fixture but the 5-2 home win was mainly remembered for the introduction of Deion Vernon off the bench for his Twerton debut.
Older supporters will remember that his two goals were just a foretaste of his famous winner at Cardiff City seven days later.
However the most memorable match in the sequence came in 2015, when four goals from Nick McCootie gave City a 7-4 win which matches the highest goal aggregate for a National League fixture.
And just a few weeks later they bagged another seven when the two teams met at Cherrywood Road!
So can City kickstart their season with a win against the league’s most in form side?
Tickets can be bought in advance of the match from the Club’s website.
