Match Preview – Bristol Manor Farm vs Wimborne
Wimborne’s fourth game of 2024 is a fourth game on the road. Once more Tim’s team head west, this time to Bristol for the return fixture against Lee Lashenko’s Portwaymen. Back in October, a brace from Harry Baker, and goals from Jez Bedford and Jack Lovell excited a crowd of 739 at New Cuthbury as Tim’s team won 4-0. That result lifted The Magpies to third, and left Manor Farm twelfth in the table.
Since then, both teams have risen higher. BMF are currently sitting in seventh, just outside the play-off spots with a W8 D7 L9 GF 38 GA 39 record. That despite them having gone five games in January without a win before picking up three points in a 3-1 victory at Paulton last Saturday. Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that there wasn’t more than one goal between the teams in any of those five games: a 1-1 draw at in-form Yate, home defeats to Bideford (2-3) and Frome (1-2) – the winning goals in both those games coming in the 90th minute, a 0-1 loss at Malvern, and a goal-less home draw with Bashley.
On Tuesday, Wimborne also won by two goals on Paulton’s soft pitch, Harry Morgan and Cam Munn scoring the goals in a workmanlike 2-0 win. Before then they’d won 4-1 at Exmouth, but lost 1-3 in a bruising encounter on Larkhall’s heavy field. Those results leave Tim’s team once more sitting at the top of the table with a W13 D4 L4 GF 45 GA 24 record. Our away record is W4 D3 L4.
With Connor Cocklin and Sam Roberts still sidelined through injury, Wimborne’s resources are stretched. But there is plenty of good team news for Saturday. Ben Scorey should be available again after work commitments curtailed his involvement on Tuesday (we often forget that these lads have full-time jobs); Jack Hoey made a welcome return from the bench; skipper Scott Arnold made his first start of the campaign; substitute Cam Munn’s first touch was a scoring one; and the Manager clearly has confidence in George Griffiths and Sonny Pike called up from Christer Warren’s Reserves. Because of its position next to the river, BMF’s heavy pitch will be a factor Tim takes into account when making his team selection.
Manor Farm’s league record at The Creek is a disappointing W3 D4 L5. On the positive side, home attendances are up an impressive 45% on last season’s average to 258.
Who should we look out for in BMF’s line-up? Apart from the fact that they’ve always been dangerous from set pieces, my interest was taken by noting that five different players have bagged a brace for them in league games this season: Owen Brain, Daniel Dodimead, Evander Grubb, George Kellow, and Jayden Nielsen. Brain has done it three times, including last Saturday in the 3-1 win at Paulton. The other goal that day was scored by Ben Bament who also scored against Frome earlier in the month.
How have we fared on previous visits? Well we’ve played at The Creek twice before. Last season was a goal-less draw, which was a bit of a let-down after that fabulous 3-2 “Bartlett banger” game at New Cuthbury. The other time was in our promotion winning season of 2017-18. It was the Saturday of Easter weekend when most nearby games were postponed with waterlogged pitches. Wimborne were woeful, and were walloped 4-1. Given the previous wet weather and the forecast for that weekend, we all thought that that game would be called off. And maybe some of our players hadn’t prepared as professionally as usual on the night before. I think we can be assured that these boys will have prepared properly this time around!
Every point is going to be vital in Wimborne’s quest for promotion. And every point will be vital in Manor Farm’s quest for a play-off spot. The scene is set for another competitive game. Will you be there? We know how much the players value our support. There are places available on the team coach – contact Paula if you’re interested in going.
BMF’s ground: The Creek, Portway, Sea Mills, Bristol BS9 2HS – approx 83 miles.
Admission: adults £10; concessions £7; U16s £2.
Weather forecast: cloudy; 11oC; 20% chance of rain.
