MATCH PREVIEW: Cribbs vs Wimborne Town

Match Preview – Cribbs vs Wimborne Town

After playing Bemerton (drew 0-0) and Mousehole (won 3-2), Wimborne face a third consecutive league game against a team having their first season at Step 4. Cribbs, based in the Henbury area of Bristol, five miles north-west of the city centre, gained promotion as Hellenic Premier Champions last season with a W32 D4 L2 record, ahead of Malvern Town. What’s even more impressive is that, in those 38 games, Cribbs conceded a miserly fifteen goals.

Richard Luffman’s lads have carried that terrific defensive record into their first season in the Southern League. After playing ten games, they have conceded the least number of goals among the nineteen teams. They currently sit fifth with a W5 D3 L2 GF 14 GA 10 record. At home, their record is W3 D1 L0, where they have yet to concede a goal. Their home results are: beat Manor Farm 1-0, beat Bemerton 1-0, beat Paulton 1-0, drew with Evesham 0-0.

Last Saturday, Cribbs won 3-2 at Melksham. That’s five league games undefeated, with clean sheets in the previous four. In their ten league games, there’s only been one game with a winning margin of more than one goal – Cribbs’ 3-1 win at Malvern at the end of August.

Cribbs are behind in playing their scheduled league games because of their success in FA competitions. In the FA Cup they won through three rounds, including a 2-1 victory at Southern Premier Swindon Supermarine, before bowing out at Gosport. In the FA Trophy they had two home victories – Bideford 3-2, and Bashley, albeit on penalties after a 3-3 draw, then won at Didcot, before going out 1-0 at Frome.

Cribbs average league attendance is 201, but that figure is skewed by the record 573 at the Bristol Manor Farm game on the Bank Holiday weekend. Without that figure, their average is 112.

Cribbs were in midweek county cup action, defeating Bristol City Under 23s 5-2. Cribbs were two behind within ten minutes, Harris Feltham starring in the second half with two goals and two assists. Wimborne’s Dorset Cup game with Weymouth on Tuesday was postponed, and will now take place on 12th December.

Saturday’s win against Mousehole saw the Magpies go back to the top of the table with a W7 D3 L2 GF 24 GA 13 record. Harry Morgan made his first start of the season (that was his 98th appearance for us), and Ben Satterley returned off the bench. With Josh Carmichael again likely to be missing, and the postponement of Tuesday’s game denying manager Tim Sills an opportunity to assess a number of players pressing for a starting place, it will be interesting to see what team he sends out onto a likely heavy pitch. On their league travels this season, Tim’s team have a W2 D2 L2 record.

Although this will be our first competitive game against Cribbs, we did visit them for a pre-season game under then manager James Stokoe.

There are a limited number of places on the team coach available to supporters – contact Paula if you’re interested.