You may recall that Hanwell made a first-ever visit to Wimborne for our season opener back in those lazy- hazy-crazy days of summer. Cam Munn’s 67th minute goal had us off to a great start on our return to the Southern Prem. The Geordies, who were formed just over 100 years ago by a group of Newcastle United supporting railway workers, subsequently won three games at their Greenford home – Bracknell (3-1), Supermarine (1-0), and Marlow (2-0) – to rise to sixth in the embryonic league table in early September.
However, apart from defeating Sheppey in the FA Cup, and knocking Hendon out of the FA Trophy, Chris Moore’s side haven’t won at home since then, giving them a home league record of W3 D4 L4. Dig a little deeper and the stats at home look even worse: since defeating Marlow on August bank Holiday Monday, their eight home league games have yielded a mere three goals – all scored by Jordan Edwards. Beware though, the striker has notched 21 goals for The Geordies in league and cup games this campaign, and is bang in-form with all six goals in their last four fixtures.
Edwards’ figures include both of Hanwell’s goals in their 2-0 win at Marlow on New Year’s Day, which was their first three points for seven games since they won 2-1 at Poole on 23rd November. As a result, Hanwell sit 12th with an overall record of W7 D7 L9 GF 29 GA 32 which leaves them four places and three points above Wimborne, although The Geordies have played two games more.
Looking at the current form (last 6 games) table, both The Geordies and The Magpies have very similar records: Hanwell W1 D2 L3 GF 6 GA 10; Wimborne W1 D2 L3 GF 8 GA 11. But both teams have bagged four points from their two most recent games: Hanwell 2-2 at Supermarine and 2-0 at Marlow; Wimborne 1-0 at Sholing and 1-1 at The Wyatt Homes Stadium to 3rd-placed Gloucester. Our goals were scored by Billy Walker and, on Saturday in the 95th minute, that header by Sam Jackson from Matt Neale’s corner which was celebrated, shall we say, quite exuberantly by young and not so young – what wonderful scenes! With Matty Burrows given more time to recover from his injury, and Drew Eccott-Young resuming training, manager Tim Sills could have an almost full squad to choose from.
Apart from that man Edwards, a familiar name in Moore’s squad is goalkeeper Sam Beasant, who previously played against us for Chesham. Sam was chosen for the Premier South’s team of the season for 2023-24. He is the son of former Wimbledon and England keeper Dave.
Both Hanwell and Wimborne will be keen to improve on their league records so this will be a competitive game. Can Tim’s team start the second half of our season in the same way as the first? It’s likely to be a chilly afternoon for those of us watching, so my recommendation is layers and long johns. But we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. After all, it’s what Saturday afternoons were made for!
Hanwell’s ground: The Powerday Stadium, Perivale Lane, Greenford, Middx UB6 8TL – c.100 miles
Gate prices: Adult : £13; concessions : £8; U18s : £5.
Average att: 260
Weather forecast: light cloud; 3oC; 10% chance of rain.
