new milton u23's v bashley u23's

---

EVERY club enters a new season with the vision of ending it with a trophy. That eluded Bashley’s first team this time around - but there is still a chance of some new silverware in the trophy room at the Veho Community Stadium before the curtain comes down on 2024/25.

On Friday evening (16th) Bashley Under-23s will face the development team of neighbours New Milton in the final of the Hampshire FA Combination & Development League John Stimpson Memorial Shield. The match is at Hythe and Dibden’s stadium (7.45).

The Bash Under-23s’ league season was interrupted several times by postponements - but Jack Williamson’s team has marched on in the Cup.

Jack, currently first team coach as well as Under-23s manager, is confident that he has a squad which can now complete the job.

He said: “Whatever the level there is always a buzz about playing in a cup final, especially for those who have not experienced that before.

“Our season at Under-23 level has been a bit disjointed by postponements, but we have come through five rounds of this competition and we are looking forward to rounding it off with the trophy.

“It certainly won’t be easy because despite playing this at Hythe, there’s a lot of local pride at stake, and New Milton will be keen to get one over on us. 

“But we have some exciting young players coming through, and I’m sure they will do us proud on the night.

“The Under-23s represent an important pathway for the club, and we’ve had several lads from this season's squad getting a taste of first team football. 

“Young Jamie Power, for example, was outstanding when he got his chance at right back in the last few games of the season, and others like Sam Bradford and Sam Lewis also gained valuable matchday experience. 

Another youngster making rapid progress is Muhammed Basiru Jammeh (Bas).

“And don’t forget that Scott Bungay also began the season as, technically, an Under-23. He was hindered mid-season by injury but I’m confident the best is yet to come from him.

“As for the final - I know that we will have a good following of our ever-loyal fans, and I’m confident we can give them plenty to be proud of.”

HOW TO GET TO THE MATCH

STADIUM: Hythe Garage Services Stadium

ADDRESS: Clayfields, Claypits Lane, Southampton SO45 5TN

DIRECTIONS: Head for Beaulieu then out towards Fawley and then Dibden Purlieu on the B3054. At junction roundabout at Dibden Purlieu, turn left onto the A326 Applemore Hill. At next roundabout, with Tesco Superstore on right, take right turn then straight on at next mini roundabout by Tesco Petrol into Sizer Way towards Dibden. At mini roundabout with road to Dibden Golf Centre, turn right on Challenger Way then left into Claypits Lane. The ground is then on the right.

LEAGUE STANDINGS

Bashley currently sit exactly in the middle - fourth - of the seven teams in the Hampshire U23 Development Premier Division. The table is led by AFC Totton, followed by Winchester City and Fareham - the bottom three are Dorchester, Stoneham and Weymouth. 

The Bash still have two remaining league fixtures, away to Fareham Town on May 22nd (7.45) and May 28th against AFC Totton.

IT may be appropriate for Bashley to end a rather frustrating season by facing another long-distance away trip to play a team who still have a faint hope of being crowned champions on the final day. 

Evesham have had a terrific season. Two weeks ago they nudged long-term leaders Yate out of top place only to have the positions reversed on Saturday when Evesham lost to an added-time goal at Bishops Cleeve while Yate completed an impressive 3-0 local derby win at Bristol Manor Farm. 

That gave Yate a three-points and goal-difference advantage of two, so as it stands, a draw at home to Didcot will be good enough for Yate to win the title, regardless of how well Evesham do against Bash. Whatever the outcome, however, Evesham will at least be No1 seed in the play-offs.

The only good news about having to go up to deepest Worcestershire on this particular day is that it will give the Bashley players, and the few hardy fans who make the journey, a a first-hand taste of what top-notch success looks like. All set, dare we say, for a similar tilt at success ourselves next season!

Evesham have had a terrific 2024/25, finding their peak at just the right moment coming down the final few furlongs. They won five of their six games in March, and drew the other one. Before last Saturday they had won four out of their previous five games, and drawn the other, all without conceding a goal… that’s impressive - and losing so narrowly to in-form play-off certainties Bishops Cleeve is excusable, although deeply frustrating for them.

So just that one late goal conceded in the last six games indicates that Evesham might just have a decent defence - an ideal time, perhaps, for young Scott Bungay's luck in front of goal to change after his recent lean scoring spell.

Similar to Bashley, the Evesham United Football Club of today, dates from just after the Second World War when soldiers returning from action reformed the club and immediately joined the Worcestershire League. 

The same scenario applied at Bash, where the land for the football field was provided partly to give sports recreation to returning Services personnel.

However, a club did exist in Evesham prior to the War, the “Town” reaching the FA Amateur Cup Final in 1923, losing 2-1 after extra time to London Caledonians at Crystal Palace. Starting in the 1951/52 season, in the club’s first five years in the Worcestershire Combination, they were League Champions twice and runners-up on two occasions, their lowest position being third in that first season. 

In 1956 they left to join the Birmingham League and followed this with a move to the Warwickshire League in 1959 before returning to the Worcester League (old Midland Combination) in 1963. They won the league title four times (1965/66, 1967/68, 1968/69, and 1991/92) and reached the Challenge Cup Final on six occasions, lifting the trophy in 1988 and 1992. Initially, the club played at Crown Meadow, moving to Common Road in 1968 and opening the clubhouse in 1975. 

A terrific season in 1991/92 saw the club complete a memorable double of Midland Combination Premier Division Champions, thus achieving promotion to the Southern League Midlands Division for the first time, and the Combination Challenge Cup. They also reached the quarter-final of the F.A. Vase before losing to eventual finalists Guiseley. Some £5,000 was spent on the ground and they marked their first season in the Southern League by finishing in a creditable 15th position. 

A number of managers and poor seasons followed, but in November 2003, former Coventry City defender, David Busst, was appointed. Busst took over a club struggling near the foot of the Dr. 

Martens League Western Division but managed to turn things around and Evesham eventually finished mid-table in the 03/04 season. 

The 2004/05 campaign saw Evesham in the Southern League Division One West, with Busst in charge with the experienced Paul West as his assistant. It was a season to remember for the Robins earning a place in the play-offs. A 2-1 victory against Ashford Town (Middlesex) paired Evesham with local rivals Bromsgrove Rovers in the play-off final. A crowd of over 800 squeezed into Common Road to witness Evesham romp to a 4-0 win and promotion to the Southern League Premier Division for the first time in their history. 

After a poor run of results, Busst left in February 2006 and West stepped up to take over. Despite a marked improvement, Evesham were relegated on the final day of the season, finishing just one point behind Northwood. After selling their Common Road ground for housing, Evesham entered into a ground share agreement with Worcester City, whilst moves were being put in place to build a new stadium on the southern outskirts of Evesham. 

In 2006/07, Evesham lifted the Worcestershire Senior Cup for the first time, beating Stourbridge 2-1. The play-offs were also reached but unfortunately, a late goal ensured Bromsgrove Rovers a narrow 1-0 win and eventual promotion. 

Season 2007/08 turned out to be one of the most memorable in the club’s history. The club took Blue Square Premier Halifax Town to a replay in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup before losing 2-1 at the Shay. In the Carlsberg Trophy, West’s side reached the 3rd Qualifying Round, before going out at Blue Square North Redditch United after a replay. 

However, it was Evesham’s league form that caught the imagination. After a poor start, Evesham put together a remarkable run of results and stormed to the top of the British Gas Midlands Division. Only two more reversals followed in 34 league games and West’s side clinched the Championship ahead of Leamington with a game to spare. A massive 91 points were bagged in 40 games. 

In 2008/09 Evesham returned to the Southern Premier Division and finishing in a creditable 9th position. They reached the 1st Round Proper of the F.A. Cup for the first time in their history before bowing out to Torquay United at Plainmoor and completed a second Worcestershire Senior Cup win in three seasons when defeating Kidderminster Harriers in the final. 2009/10 was a season of struggles as the Robins finished in 16th place. After being just outside the play-offs when the bad weather disrupted the season, a disastrous run of only 2 wins in the last 25 games saw them in freefall. 

Season 2010/11 was again a time of contrasting fortunes with the club in the drop zone at Christmas and staring relegation in the face. However, some shrewd signings saw the club enjoy a tremendous run of form and climb the table to finish in a respectable 12th spot. 

After five and a half years at the helm Paul West and Leon West called time on one of the most successful periods in the club’s history. Matt Clarke was appointed as the new Manager at the end of November 2011. Season 2011/12 was a disappointment with the club being relegated from the Southern Premier Division. 

After spending six years ground sharing at Worcester City Football Club the Robins began the 2012/13 season in Division One South & West at their new Spiers & Hartwell Jubilee Stadium. 

A mediocre start to the 2012/13 season saw Matt Clarke and Rob Elmes resign from their positions with Paul West returning to see the team through to the end of the season. 

West departed in early May 2013 and was replaced by former West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland midfielder Shaun Cunnington. The squad was re-vamped with high hopes for a successful 2013/14 campaign. 

However after a series of poor results Cunnington resigned his position at the end of October, with former Bishops Cleeve manager Paul Collicutt taking over as the new permanent boss. Season 2013/14 was a disappointing one for the Robins who finished 16th in the South & West Division. 

Season 2014/15 is remembered as one of success and heartache for the club. The Robins enjoyed an excellent run in the FA Cup before bowing out to Conference South side Bromley in the Fourth Qualifying Round after beating higher-graded Redditch United and Histon on the way. 

Following the FA Cup exit, a remarkable run of form resulted in just one defeat in 28 league games and a second-place finish in the South & West Division behind Champion Merthyr Town. However, despite home advantage in the play-offs Evesham suffered a disappointing defeat against Larkhall Athletic. 

Season 2015/16 was another successful one for United who finished just two points short of the play-offs. Due to Cinderford’s refusal to accept promotion at the end of the season, United were originally placed in the Evo-Stik Northern League, but after a successful appeal were re-instated in the Southern League South & West Division. 

The 2016/17 campaign saw the Robins reach the South and West play-offs for a second time in three years but were narrowly beaten by Salisbury in a classic semi-final 2-1 after extra time, playing for 90 minutes with ten men. 

The start to the 2017/18 season was not good with defeats in both cups at the first hurdle. United put together a fantastic late-season run, winning 9 out of the last 12 league games to reach the play-offs. The semi-final with Swindon Supermarine had an air of Déjà vu about it, with the scores level after 120 minutes. Alas, Supermarine won the play-offs penalty shoot-out 5-4. 

The 2018/19 season was not one of Evesham’s finest, eventually finishing seventh with Collicutt relieved of his duties and Carl Abbott taking over for the 2019/20 campaign. Ultimately this season was curtailed by the Covid pandemic with Evesham in ninth position. Abbott left the club in March 2020 with Neil Hunt taking over the manager position in a caretaker capacity. Hunt was made permanent manager for the 2020-21 season. 

The league season was again curtailed on November 4th due to the pandemic, with only six league games played. However, Evesham’s season made it to December, due to a run to the Second Round Proper of the FA Trophy, before losing 3-0 at home to National League North Boston United. In 2021-22, the Robins earned 39 points from 36 games and only secured a disappointing 13th place in the table. 

The experienced Mike Ford took over for the 2022-23 campaign. A superb four-match winning run at the end of the season, saw the Robins take fourth position in the table and a place in the playoffs. However, Evesham lost 3-0 to Hamworthy United at Dorchester Town’s ground. 

The 2023-24 season saw the Robins finish in 7th place, seven points off the final playoff positions. A poor start to the season after six games did not help, but a good run of results followed, which included a sequence of ten away league games without defeat. Ultimately, the run-in saw a failure to beat lower-placed teams at home and this meant the Robins fell just short.

If you're a Bash fan up for one last road trip, it's around 130 miles door to door - here is all the relevant info...

STADIUM: The Spiers and Hartwell Stadium

ADDRESS: Cheltenham Road, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 2LZ

GROUND CAPACITY: 3,000 - 300 seats

TELEPHONE: 01836 442303

EMAIL: clubsecretary@eveshamunitedfc.com

WEBSITE: https://eveshamunitedfc.com

ADMISSION: Adults £10; Concessions (60 and over) £7; Juniors (U16) £2.

NICKNAME: The Robins

DIRECTIONS: M3-A34 to Abingdon junction then join A420/A40 signposted Witney, Burford, Chipping Norton, Stow-on-the-Wold and Broadway. At the first island on the outskirts of Evesham turn left onto the A46, signposted M5 South and Cheltenham. Continue over next island with Strawberry Field public house and McDonald’s on the right-hand side. At the next island ground straight over. There are signposts for Evesham United Football Club leading up to this island.

NEXT up at the Veho Community Stadium is our last home League game of the season against Bemerton Heath Harlequins, which these days is our local derby - if you can call 30 miles “local”!

And as luck would have it, as we have done several times recently, we are facing a team in hot pursuit of promotion.

Bemerton have had a variety of different managers this season, and a roller-coaster ride of form, but they arrive at Bashley still with a huge chance of a play-off place for the second straight season.

Recent results include a double over Exmouth, a draw at Yate, a 1-0 defeat of the impressive Bishops Cleeve, and a seven-goal blast against Bristol Manor Farm. They arrive at the Veho on the back of an impressive 4-1 defeat of Shaftesbury on Saturday.

To try to get themselves over the line into the play-offs, Bemerton have made a number of recent signings, among them a couple of familiar faces to Bash fans in the form of loanees Kaya Tshaka and Frankie Monk, who were both here last season.

Other recent signings include powerful defender Keiran Douglas, a former team-mate of Dan Walster at Winchester, plus Seung-woo Yang, whose previous clubs include Forest Green Rovers, Eastleigh and AFC Totton.

Owen Pelham is in on loan from AFC Totton and would remember Bash chairman Steve Lewis from his days at Totton & Eling last season. He has also played for Portchester and Baffins Milton. 

Another new loanee, and an important one, is keeper Ben Clark, from Bristol City. He is just completing a two-year junior contract at Ashton Gate and has already made an impact with Bemmy.

Inevitably, with the merry-go-round of local players at this level, there will also be other familiar faces in the Harlequins team also likely to be in the line-up are a front pair of ex-Bash players, Olly Balmer and Joe Smith.

Joe was the star of Bashley’s Under-23 team in 2022/23, but was surprisingly not signed up for last season. He went to Downton instead, scored a hatful of goals - 50 to be precise - and moved on this season to Bemerton, where he has also been a prolific scorer.

Joe was in the spotlight when Bash played at Bemmy earlier this season - but not for the reasons he would have hoped for. He was sent off, leaving his ten colleagues to cling on for their 2-1 win, so there will be no doubting his intention for a happier personal outcome this time.

Joe, Olly, Kaya and Frankie are not the only strong links to The Bash - the Bemerton club President, Steve Slade, was a star player for the Black and Gold back in the 70s and 80s. 

And Steve says he retains fond memories of our club - not least of one of the most famous games in Bash history. He says: “Bashley holds a special place in my heart from my playing days.

“My time with them was filled with great memories, having been signed by the legendary Trevor Parker, with Trevor Adams as Chairman. Playing as a centre forward, alongside the brilliant Jimmy Shepherd in midfield, I enjoyed success as the club’s top goal scorer on many occasions.

“Being part of Bashley’s setup was a privilege, and I only left in 1989 to help form the Harlequins. One of the most memorable moments of my footballing career came during my time with Bashley: the semi-final of the FA Vase in the 1987-88 season against Emley.

“A win would have taken us to Wembley, fulfilling a lifelong dream for me and many of the players at the time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.

“The journey up north to Emley was long, with the weather worsening as we travelled. When we arrived, the rain and gale-force winds delayed the game, but the referee decided it had to go on due to the distance we had come.

“Under the guidance of our manager, Chris Smith, we braced ourselves for the challenge. What followed was a match dictated by the elements rather than the players. The wind turned the game into a farce, with the ball at its mercy on a long, sloping pitch.

“At halftime, we managed to hold Emley to a goalless draw, but early in the second half  they scored - whether it was their skill or the wind, we’ll never know. From that point on, Emley simply kicked the ball out of play repeatedly, aided by hurricane-force winds. Our Wembley hopes were, literally, blown away.”

As mentioned by Steve Slade, the Bemerton Heath Harlequins were established in May 1989, following the merger of three well-respected local clubs: Bemerton Athletic, Moon FC, and Bemerton Boys.

Each club brought a strong footballing pedigree, their own unique identity, and a shared ambition to take their game to the next level. Bemerton Athletic had a history of success, winning the Wiltshire League title three times. Moon FC was a dominant force in the Salisbury and Andover Leagues, regularly securing silverware and establishing itself as a highly competitive side.

Meanwhile, Bemerton Boys had built a reputation in youth football, winning multiple trophies in the Mid-Wilts League and nurturing local talent.

By late 1988, both Moon FC and Bemerton Athletic were looking for a new challenge and seeking ways to progress within the footballing pyramid. Discussions soon began regarding a potential merger, with the primary goal of gaining entry into the Wessex League. Given the close proximity of their grounds and the fact that many players had represented both clubs at various points in their careers, the idea of a merger seemed not only practical but beneficial to all involved.

The three clubs united to form Bemerton Heath Harlequins, creating a single, ambitious team. This was more than just a merger on paper—it was a true coming together of players, supporters, and community members to build something greater than the sum of its parts. Soon after the club’s formation, a clubhouse was constructed, providing a vital hub for players, staff, and fans - a lasting testament to the collective spirit that built the club.

Since its formation, Bemerton Heath Harlequins have been a consistent presence first in the Wessex League, and later the Southern League, earning a reputation as a well-organized, competitive team.

The 1992/93 season remains one of the most memorable in the club’s history. That year, the team achieved a third-place finish in the league, lifted the Wiltshire Senior Cup, and completed a hat-trick of Hospital Cup Final victories. They also enjoyed notable runs in both the F.A. Cup and the F.A. Vase, further solidifying their status as a club on the rise.

A significant milestone came in the 1998/99 season, when Bemerton advanced to the last 16 of the F.A. Vase for the first time in the club’s history.

Like any football club, Bemerton Heath Harlequins have faced their share of challenges. Despite their successes, the club experienced its first-ever relegation in recent years, a setback that demanded a strong response.

The 2019/20 season was a turning point, with the appointment of Ian Saunders as manager. Saunders took on the challenge of rebuilding the squad in Division One, aiming to return the club to its previous heights. However, the COVID-19 pandemic soon disrupted football across the globe, bringing unforeseen difficulties.

In December 2020, Shaun Hale was appointed as First Team Manager, with Ian Saunders transitioning into a Director of Football role. Under Hale’s leadership, Bemerton achieved a historic milestone, winning the Wessex Division 1 championship in 2021/22 - the club’s first-ever league title.

The momentum carried into the next season, with Bemerton finishing second in 2022/23, securing back-to-back promotions and earning a place in the Southern League for the first time in their history. These achievements marked a new era of success and ambition for the club.

As the 2024/25 season approached, Bemerton Heath Harlequins underwent significant leadership changes. Shaun Hale stepped down as First Team Manager, and former Bashley coach James Ellis was appointed as his successor. However, Ellis’s tenure was short-lived, lasting just five weeks before his departure.

In response, the club turned to Danny Young, appointing him as Interim Manager. Young brought a wealth of Southern League experience, providing stability during a period of transition. Following a thorough recruitment process, James Milligan was appointed as the club’s new First Team Manager in October. Milligan arrived with an impressive track record, having previously managed Cheddar, Wells, and Shaftesbury.

His most notable success came at Shaftesbury, where he guided the club to promotion from the Wessex Premier League to the Southern League. Beyond promotion, Milligan transformed the team’s fortunes, lifting them from the lower half of the table into playoff contention. However, after his success, he ultimately returned to his hometown club, Shaftesbury FC.

In January 2025, Bemerton made another key addition by bringing in Luke Platt, a manager they had long admired. A UEFA A Licence Manager and Coach, Platt’s résumé was filled with experience at both non-league and professional levels. He had worked with Poole Town FC, Brockenhurst FC, and Shaftesbury FC, while also holding key coaching and recruitment roles at AFC Bournemouth, Southampton FC, Yeovil Town FC, and Rangers FC.

Platt’s expertise in tactical strategy, player development, and club management added another dimension to Bemerton’s leadership team, strengthening their ability to ultimately compete at an even higher level.

KICK-OFF at the Veho Community Stadium on Monday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus football on TV and the range of club souvenirs, some at half-price in an end-of-season sale.

ADMISSION as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance online.

THE BASH and their loyal fans hit the road for the penultimate time this season on Easter Saturday with a visit to Melksham. At a mere 60 miles away it’s almost a local derby in this far-flung league - and we will be meeting a team who have had an improved season. 

Melksham have just missed the play-off boat this time around, but they sit eighth in the table, after a very respectable campaign. That included a 2-2 draw at the Veho, where the visitors preserved what was then an unbeaten record.

Bash fans who have been to Melksham in previous seasons will know that they have a very smart and relatively new custom-built stadium, constructed in amongst a new housing development eight years ago.  

However, despite that modern, all-mod-cons HQ, Melksham is one of the oldest Non-League clubs in the country with its 150th anniversary on the horizon for next year - the club was established as Melksham FC in 1876. 

In 1894 they were founder members of the Wiltshire League. The club were Division One champions in 1903–04 and won the Wiltshire Senior Cup the following season. 

In 1920 the club was renamed Melksham and Avon United as a result of their new ground being owned by Avon Rubber, before reverting to their original name in the 1926–27 season. They were runners-up in the league in 1924–25, 1929–30 and 1936–37. In 1951 the club adopted their current name and went on to finish as runners-up in Division One in 1959–60 and 1971–72, also winning the Wiltshire Senior Cup again in 1969–70.

Melksham moved up to the Western League in 1974. After finishing third-from bottom of the league in 1975–76, the club were demoted to the new Division One as the league expanded to two divisions. They won the Wiltshire Senior Cup again in 1977–78 and were Division One champions in 1979–80, earning promotion to the Premier Division.

Their first season in the Premier Division saw the club win the Wiltshire Premier Shield, a trophy they retained the following season and won again in 1984–85 and 1985–86. However, they were relegated to Division One again at the end of the 1987–88 season.

In 1992–93 Melksham finished bottom of Division One and were relegated to the Premier Division of the Wiltshire Football League. They won the Premier Division and the Senior Knock-Out Cup the following season, and were promoted back to the Western League at the first attempt. In 1996–97 the club were Division One champions and were promoted to the Premier Division. 

They won the Wiltshire Premier Shield the following season, and again in 1999–2000, before winning the Wiltshire Senior Cup in 2002–03 and 2007–08. Although the club were relegated to Division One in 2009–10, they were Division One runners-up in 2010–11, earning promotion back to the Premier Division.

Melksham won the Wiltshire Senior Cup in 2012–13 and 2013–14, before winning the Western League Premier Division title in 2014–15. However, delays to making ground improvements meant that they were denied promotion. The following season saw the club win the Senior Cup again. 

The club were runners-up in the Premier Division in 2017–18, earning promotion to Division One South of the Southern League.

The club played at Challymead Common until moving to the Old Bear Field in 1883. They relocated to the Conigre in 1920; the ground was part of the Melksham House estate, centrally sited in the town, which had been purchased in the same year by Avon Rubber, with the house turned into a social club.

A wooden stand was erected on one side of the pitch and wooden fencing installed around the ground. During the 1960s covered stands were built behind the Rugby Club End and on the other side of the pitch, and floodlights were installed in 1986. The wooden stand was demolished in the early 1990s and replaced by a modern metal stand in 1994.

In 2017, in preparation for redevelopment at the Melksham House site, the club moved to Oakfields, a new £7.3 million facility shared with Melksham Rugby Club on the eastern edge of the town. The first match at the new ground was played on 14 January 2017 against Bristol Manor Farm in the FA Vase, with the visitors winning 5–3 in front of a crowd of 1,215.

STADIUM: Oakfield Stadium

ADDRESS: Eastern Way, Melksham, Wiltshire SN12 7GU

TELEPHONE: 01225 375905

EMAIL: secretary@melkshamtownfc.net

WEBSITE: https://www.melkshamtownfc.net

ADMISSION: Adults £10, Concessions £8, Under-16 £2 (Must be accompanied by an adult).

NEXT up at the Veho Community Stadium is a visit from the Bristol-based side, Cribbs - and after proving themselves one of the most efficient sides in the division and reaching the play-offs last season, they are surprisingly facing a tricky end to this season in the lower reaches.

We met with mixed fortunes in three matches against them last season. In the FA Trophy at Cribbs, we got an honourable draw, but lost on penalties. Another visit there in the league produced another draw - but in the last meeting, at home, we were comprehensively hustled out of it in an untidy 3-0 reverse.

The club is based at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol, but has an intriguing history, far different to the traditional town and village teams in the Southern League. It was actually founded in London in 1958 as Sun Life Assurance. A Bristol-based team was first established in 1976 when Sun Life first relocated to the city.

Initially, two teams were run, participating in the Bristol and Avon League, playing at Dundridge Farm. However, when the Cribbs Causeway ground was opened in 1978, the first team were promoted straight to the Avon Premier Combination League (later renamed Bristol Premier Combination) where they stayed for 20 years until they eventually won promotion to the County League in 1999–2000.

In the summer of 2011, the club changed from AXA to its new name of Cribbs Friends Life FC ready for the 2011–12 season.

The 2011–12 season was Cribbs' most successful season to that date as the club claimed its first Gloucestershire County League title on its way to an unprecedented League and Cup double, with the team later adding the Les James League Cup to the League Championship, in the process becoming the first and only side to achieve this feat.

As well as winning the double, the club finally earned promotion to the Western League Division One for the 2012–13 season, being crowned champions.

In 2013, Cribbs Friends Life FC changed their name to Cribbs FC after losing the backing of their sponsors. At the end of the 2020–21 season the club were transferred to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League.

Under the stewardship of Richard Luffman, in his first season in charge, Cribbs recorded a best-ever placed finish of fourth in the Hellenic League, they were also winners of the League Cup defeating Hereford Pegasus 1-0 through a George Kellow goal.

Luffman's Cribbs gained Southern League status in 2023 after clinching promotion becoming champions of the Hellenic League after a 1–0 win over Wantage Town through a goal from David Duru, their highest promotion in club history. Duru is still in this weekend's squad.

Last season Cribbs almost made it one step higher still, losing out in the play-offs 2-1 to Bristol Manor Farm in a humdinger of a semi-final.

Current manager is Ryan Crouch, appointed in November last year, and possibly unique in this division in that he is also in the playing squad.

KICK-OFF at the Veho Community Stadium on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some New Year sale bargains! 

ADMISSION as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance online.

WE all know that there are no easy points to be had in this division, but recently Bashley keep running headlong into teams not just in decent runs of form, but scorching hot form - and now there’s another one on the horizon this weekend.

The Bash went to Bishops Cleeve when the Mitres had lost just one of their previous twelve games and were scoring goals for fun - and it didn’t end well for us.

Then, after a brief respite when we couldn’t make the most of what should have been a winning situation against Helston, it was back to the tough stuff - away to Malvern on that tricky artificial surface, to face a team which had won nine and drawn one of their previous ten.

Unfortunately, Bash, well under strength on the day, became just another statistic in Malvern’s glory run. Then we come to this Saturday, and the long old trek way out west to Mousehole. If you check their last 12 games before today, it reads seven wins, three draws and just two losses.  

Even though we’ve only “known them” for a couple of seasons, we have a great affinity with Mousehole as a club. Already, last season and this, we have met six times in league and cups - and this Saturday we will have done extremely well if we land in “seventh heaven”!

Again we may not have our strongest eleven available, and as the “furthest East” going to the “furthest West” our lads are likely to be a little travel-weary as well on the day. As ever, however, we will certainly give it a go!

It’s just shy of 250 miles from Bashley to Mousehole (say it Mowzel) a fishing village which sits in a picturesque corner just short of Land’s End - it’s atmospheric Trungle Parc Stadium, up the road at the nearby village of Paul, is at best a five-hour run to or from the New Forest.

It was a 1-1 draw when we played Mousehole here back in September in that fateful FA Trophy match, Mack Allan’s penalty shoot-out heroics being cancelled out so cruelly - ironic, because it was a tiny technicality regarding Mack’s registration for a Cup game rather than League, which caused the best-forgotten 0-4 replay.

Although they only came to regional Step 4 significance last season, Mousehole, as a club, are the envy of many. Well organised on and off the field, they almost made it up again at the first attempt.

Mousehole joined the Cornwall Combination in 1960–61 and were promoted to the South West Peninsula League Division One West on its formation in 2007, after finishing as Combination runners-up the previous season.

They won Division One West in 2015–16. At the end of 2018–19 the league was restructured, and Mousehole successfully applied for promotion to the Premier Division West, at Step 6 of the National League System.

In 2017, the club had a sponsorship arrangement with the Endorsed Group, a recruitment and software company run by a local businessman. Together with the club they set up the Endorsed Academy, aiming to improve coaching standards and provide opportunities for young footballers in Cornwall. Mousehole hosted a pre-season tournament in July 2018, the Endorsed Cup, featuring youth teams from Newcastle United, Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers.

In 2018, an approach was made by Mousehole concerning a possible merger between themselves and neighbours Penzance AFC amid concerns that Trungle Parc may not prove viable as Mousehole progress through the leagues.

A further approach was made by Penzance in 2019, but in May, Mousehole released a statement confirming they had withdrawn from the discussions. In 2021, they were promoted to the Premier Division of the Western League based on their results in the abandoned 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

They were promoted to the Southern Football League as champions in the 2022–23 season, only the second Cornish side to reach step four of the non-league system.Last season they finished fifth, losing out in the play-offs to Frome, and they are going great guns again, challenging strongly for the play-offs again as they sit comfortably in third place.

NOTE: As a club, we owe Mousehole a debt of gratitude for being so fast out of the blocks to arrange a donation for Jordan Chiedozie's fund - announced within a day of the fund being launched. Much appreciated by the Bashley club, and Jordan himself.

MOUSEHOLE DETAILS

STADIUM: Trungle Parc, Paul, Penzance TR19 6AZ

TELEPHONE: 01736 731518

ADMISSION: Adults £10, Concessions £5, Under-16 free.  

PARKING: Available at the ground on a first-come first-served basis. Please follow the directions of the stewards. We suggest you arrive early to avoid congestion. Alternatively, park in Mousehole (2 car parks) and walk up the hill to Paul. Be warned however that this involves a steep climb!

SOME fans of other clubs in our division are not quite sure where “Bashley” actually is - and fair to say also that unless you have passed a GCSE geography test (or in the case of we oldies, GCE!) you’d be hard pushed to point straight to Cinderford on the map.

Cinderford Town are the next visitors to the Veho Community Stadium this Saturday, and they will actually be travelling around 120 miles from… give yourself 10points if you said - south west of Gloucester, on the other side of the River Severn Estuary, within a whisker of the Welsh border.

This has not been a vintage season for the club, sitting bottom of the table for most of the way, and recently missing out on their best chance of glory this season by being ejected from the Gloucestershire Senior Cup, where they were due to meet Bishops Cleeve. Cinderford apparently used an ineligible player in their semi-final against Bristol Manor Farm.

To add to unexpected difficulties, club chair Sarah Legge handed in her resignation for personal reasons earlier this month, although continuing, she said, as a supporter. 

The same week, however, Cinderford landed one of the most astonishing results of the season, an 8-2 win away to Helston (who came to Bash four days later and went away with a 2-2 draw!)

The Cinderford club was formed in 1922 and joined the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League. They were runners-up in 1935–36 and 1937–38, before winning the league in 1939–39. They subsequently joined the Bristol Charity League, but the league closed down two weeks into the 1939–40 season due to World War II.

After the war the club joined Division Two of the Western League. After winning Division Two in 1956–57 they were promoted to Division One. However, the club left the league at the end of the 1958–59 season.

Cinderford subsequently rejoined the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, and were champions in 1960–61 and runners-up in the next two seasons. They joined the Western Division of the Warwickshire Combination in 1963, and were both League Cup winners and Western Division champions in 1964–65, after which they moved up to the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League in 1965.

In 1968–69 the club reached the League Cup final, drawing 1–1 with Kidderminster Harriers, with the league declaring them joint winners. In 1969 the club transferred to the Gloucestershire County League, finishing as runners-up in their first season, and again in 1971–72 and 1973–74.

In 1974 they joined Division One of the Midland Combination, which became the Premier Division in 1983. They won the League Cup in 1982–83, beating Bridgnorth Town in the final. However, they returned to the Gloucestershire County League at the end of the 1983–84 season.

In 1990 the club joined Division One of the Hellenic League, which they won at the first attempt, earning promotion to the Premier Division. After winning the Premier Division, the Premier Division Cup and the Floodlit Cup in 1994–95, the club were promoted to Division One South of the Southern League.

The 1995–96 season saw Cinderford reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time. After beating Bromsgrove Rovers 2–1, they lost 3–0 at Gravesend & Northfleet in a second round replay. The club were transferred to the Division One Midlands in 1998, and back to the renamed Division One Western in 1999. 

In 2000–01 the club won the Gloucestershire Senior Cup, beating Bristol City 1–0 in the final. They were moved back to the Division One Midlands in 2006, before returning to Division One South & West in two years later. In 2015–16 they won the division and were promoted to the Premier Division. The club initially tried to refuse promotion due to concerns about increased costs, but this was rejected by the Football Association.

In 2016–17 Cinderford finished bottom of the Premier Division and were relegated to Division One West. In 2018–19 the club finished fifth in the renamed Division One South, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. After beating Cirencester Town 2–1 in the semi-finals, they lost 3–1 to Yate Town in the final.

They finished second-from-bottom of the division in 2022–23 and were relegated to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League. The following season saw them finish fifth in the Premier Division, before beating Corsham Town in the play-off semi-finals and then winning the play-off final against Royal Wootton Bassett Town 4–0 to earn promotion back to Division One South of the Southern League... and here we are today.

KICK-OFF at the Veho Community Stadium on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some handy sale bargains! 

ADMISSION as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance online.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please note that the local roadworks on Bashley Road have now finished and the stadium is again accessible from both directions.

WITH just four away matches remaining now, Bashley’s travelling fans - and the players come to that - would be forgiven for thinking there are not too many more miles to travel.

Unfortunately it’s not as easy as that. There will be plenty more tread off the tyres before before it’s feet up or a gentle stroll along Avon Beach - because three out of the four games involve more l-o-n-g treks.

First up, it’s a mere 260 miles round trip to Malvern in Worcestershire - followed by dear old Mousehole, 460 miles round trip to deepest Cornwall and probably a six-hour drive each way, if you don’t stop.

Melksham’s a doddle, only 60 miles away, so 120 there and back, but our last day trip this season is to Evesham - back to Worcestershire - and a 230-mile round trip to Evesham, virtually back on Malvern’s doorstep!

Malvern will be a good test for Dave Lewis’s side. They have strengthened since a draw at the Veho Stadium in December and have been on a red-hot run, taking them right up into the play-off places. They have won nine of their last ten league games - and drew the other one!

And not that there is anyone but Lewis Ross and Brett Williams remaining from last season’s debacle on the synthetic pitch at Malvern, but it would be nice to get some measure of revenge for that awful 6-0 tonking after Bash volunteered to switch their home match up to Worcestershire because the then-GlenMex was flooded!

So what is there to tell about Malvern FC? The club was established in 1946 as Barnard’s Green Football Club. They joined the Worcester League, where they played until moving up to the Worcestershire Combination in 1955, going on to win the league at the first attempt.

The club - known as The Hillsiders - also won the Worcestershire Junior Cup and retained the trophy for the next two seasons, before winning it again in 1961–62.

In 1967 the Worcestershire Combination was renamed the Midland Combination. The club won the inaugural Worcestershire Senior Urn in 1973–74, before retaining it for the next two seasons; they also finished as runners-up in the Midland Combination in 1973–74.

In 1979 Malvern transferred to the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League and although they finished bottom of the division in 1982–83, the club avoided being relegated. However, they were relegated to Division One at the end of the 1991–92 season.

Despite only finishing ninth in Division One in 1993–94, the club were promoted back to the Premier Division. In 2003–04 they won the Premier Division title, earning promotion to the Midland Alliance.

A third-place finish in the Alliance in 2005–06 saw the club promoted to Division One Midlands of the Southern League.

The club finished bottom of Division One Midlands in 2008–09 and were relegated back to the Midland Alliance. Two seasons later they finished bottom of the Midland Alliance and were relegated to the Premier Division of the West Midlands (Regional) League.

They lifted the Worcestershire Senior Urn for a ninth time in 2018–19 and finished in the top five in each of their last five seasons before being moved across into the Hellenic League Division One West in 2019.

It was during the first half of the 2019-20 season that Project 2020 finally came to fruition with significant developments made to the club's facilities and infrastructure, including a new state-of-the-art 3G playing surface and new dressing rooms.

An FA Vase tie against Loughborough University in November 2019 signalled the first game at the revamped stadium and with home crowds regularly topping the 200-mark, the team marched to the top of the table until the campaign was declared null-and-void in March 2020 amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 2020-21 season also saw them sitting deservedly at the top of the table when the season was curtailed due to Covid-19. However, in May 2021, it was confirmed that they would be promoted into the Premier Division.

They also enjoyed another exciting adventure in the FA Vase, beating higher level Rothwell Corinthians and Sporting Khalsa along the way before narrowly losing out at Congleton Town in the fourth round. Adapting well to life at the higher level, they remained amongst the leading pack throughout the season and ultimately just missed out on promotion by finishing third.

With a number of new additions to the team and with Stephen Cleal becoming co-manager alongside Lee Hooper, the 2022-23 campaign once more saw the team flying high throughout the season on the pitch, whilst crowds continued to rise as they really captured the imagination of local people.

The season culminated with them finishing as runners-up before going to Highworth Town and winning 4-1 in the Play-Off to take their place in Step 4, a fantastic achievement.

Last season Malvern finished just ahead of Bashley in a very respectable 10th place.

STADIUM: HDAnywhere Community Stadium

ADRESS: Langland Avenue, Malvern, West Midlands WR14 2EQ

DIRECTIONS (From South) Leave the M50 at Junction 1 (Signposted Malvern/Tewkesbury A38) and follow the sign for A38 Malvern. Stay on the A38 until you reach the junction with the A4104 (Signposted Upton-upon-Severn) and turn left. After crossing over the River Severn, turn right onto the B4211 (signposted Hanley Castle) and stay on this road until you reach the village of Rhydd. Turn left at Rhydd onto the B4211 and pass through the village of Guarlford. Upon entering Barnard's Green, you will encounter an unusual junction, you need to take the third exit (Pickersleigh Road) and halfway up Pickersleigh Road turn right into Sherard's Green Road. Go straight on at the junction, entering Langland Avenue. The ground will be on your right.

TELEPHONE: 01684 564746

EMAIL: sec@malverntown.co.uk

ADMISSION: Adults £10, Concessions £7, Under-16 £2 (Must be accompanied by an adult). Tickets at the gate or online at .

NEXT visitors to the Veho Community Stadium are Helston Athletic, and although non-league football history is sometimes hard to track back, there’s little doubt that this is their first time in this part of Hampshire.

The Blues, as they are known, have a long and illustrious history, having been established in 1896. However, since then they have competed almost entirely in more localised regional football - first in the Cornwall Senior League, then the South Western League, the Cornwall Combination, the South West Peninsular League and ultimately the Western League where they finished as Premier champions last season.  

So, after 128 years, this is their first-ever season at Step Four level, and they are determined that this is just “part of their journey” up the pyramid - and not their destination.

They were comfortable winners of the Western League last season, losing only four of 34 games, scoring 104 goals, to just 30 against - Falmouth came up with them via the play-offs after finishing second.

And Helston quickly made an impact in the Southern League. When the teams met in Cornwall earlier in the season both were sitting comfortably in the play-off positions, Helston in third place, having lost only three of their first 15 matches, and Bash fourth.

It ended in an honourable hard-fought 1-1 draw - although things have drifted slightly backwards for both clubs since then.

Bash now find themselves in mid-table, while Helston's recent fortunes indicate the team is going through a torrid time. Departures of some key players have been a big hindrance, and their recent record includes a 9-0 crash at Bishops Cleeve and an 8-2 home loss to Cinderford earlier this week.

On a travel note, it’s a long old jaunt from the Lizard Peninsular - around 200 miles by road. So it might have been handy this time if Helston could have planned their visit by helicopter, rather than coach - because the town is home to the Royal Naval Air Station, Culdrose, one of Europe’s largest military chopper bases. Their Merlins are the also Royal Navy’s “anti-submarine warfare helicopter fleet.” 

RNAS Culdrose is also famous for it’s intensive air-sea rescue activity around the craggy Cornish coastline and beyond. It is also a major training establishment for the Fleet Air Arm and for naval air fleet engineering employing 3,000 people and so is a major contributor to Cornwall's economy, injecting £100m annually.

Helston Athletic’s club badge is one of the most intriguing in English football. It features all things Cornish - a knight in shining armour fighting a dragon in a castle, with what look like Cornish Tin mines in the background. 

The programme at Bishops Cleeve FC recently described the Helston badge as referencing: “St Michael, standing atop his slain foe harking back to the legends of old when dragons may or may not have been flying around Cornwall being a nuisance to farmers and middle-aged middle-agers.” 

Cornwall has a long “history” of dragon encounters with tales such as the legend of St Just where a serpent would plod around on a random rampage through the town before a man called Mathey Trewella stepped up to deal with the “Mester Stoor Worm” dragon. 

Old Mathey outsmarted and defeated the beast somehow and went down in Cornish legend. Another story is that of a real life magistrate and lawyer who was punished for his unsavoury antics during his time on Earth. His soul was doomed to eternally wander the afterlife, where he was forced to fight a fierce and malevolent dragon as part of his punishment! Perhaps could be decscribed as “going to Hel-ston and back!”

KICK-OFF at the Veho Community Stadium on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus live football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some sale bargains! 

ADMISSION as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.  …AND the good news - those irritating road works which closed our road between the Rising Sun and Loaders Garage have now been lifted, so it’s a clear run through to the Veho from both north and south.

Match Sponsors -  Home - Activate OnDemand 

AFTER a brief one-game respite following three long-distance away days in succession, Bashley hit the high road again this Saturday - and again it’s a l-o-n-g way to go, around 120 miles into Gloucestershire to meet the form side of the division.

If you’ve ever been to Cheltenham Racecourse and remember how to get there - then just carry on a couple of furlongs north and you are at Bishops Cleeve! If not, set the SatNav and follow it to Romsey, Tidworth, Marlborough, Wootton Bassett, Cirencester and Cheltenham.

If you’re a Bash fan you will get a warm welcome because, as we’ve found in the past few years, particularly after our awful incident involving Jordan Chiedozie, football at this level tends to be one big family.

The clubs have much similarity in that both arrived back in the Southern League Division One (South) in the 2022/23 season, Bash having been runners-up in the Wessex Premier while Bishops Cleeve won the Hellenic Premier League title.

In our first season together, Bash finished 7th, Bishops 9th, just three points apart after 38 games - last season Bishops were again 9th while we slipped to 15th with a six-point gap.

This season we are behind again, the Bishops having a terrific season, picking up after a slow start and now blazing away, right up there in the play-off mix. Including their win at The Veho on January 14, they went six games without even conceding a goal. 

Significantly they are also free-scorers - home and away. Their two away trips before coming to Bashley brought a 3-0 win at Shaftesbury and a 4-0 success at Evesham. 

Their last two home matches make uncomfortable reading… OK, 2-0 against Westbury, then 9-0 - NINE-NIL! - against Helston, who are not exactly mugs. Cricket teams have been bowled out for less!

Their good run overall ended at Mousenole on Saturday, but it took an added time penalty to send them to a 2-1 defeat. Even so they remain fifth in the table.

So there’s no doubt Bashley will have to be at their absolute best if they are to make up lost ground on the top five.

The Bishops Cleeve club was formed in 1905, since when they have bounced around from the Cheltenham League and Gloucestershire Senior League, until more recent times switching between the Hellenic and Southern.

The club played at its original ground in Stoke Road until Hellenic League ground stipulations meant it had to move. After several seasons ground sharing at Moreton, Evesham and Forest Green the club moved to it present home, the 1,500-capacity Kayte Lane, in 2002.

If you read our preview of the home game, you might recall that Bishops Cleeve - although near Cheltenham, is “a village in the Borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds.”

We also mentioned, by way of random info, that it had a population of 10,612 in 2011, which increased to 14,068 in the 2021 Census, making it one of the biggest “villages” in the UK - as opposed to Bashley, which is one of the smallest.

The Bash and The Bish (!) also have in common that both are in the Domesday Book, the first geographical record of England in 1086. Bashley was listed as “a settlement in the hundred of Edgegate in the county of Hampshire - with 4 households, among the smallest in the country.” 

As for Bishops Cleeve, the earliest known origins date back to the 8th Century, although Iron Age and Roman remains had also been found locally. 

The name derives from the 9th Century when a monastery and surrounding land at the foot of what is now named Cleeve Hill was given to the Bishop of Worcester, and the village became the Bishop’s Cliffe.

The Domesday Book recorded that: "There are 30 hides, 3 ploughs an demesne, 16 villagers and 19 smallholders with 16 ploughs. There are 8 slaves and 1 horse. A priest has 1 hide and 2 ploughs. A radknight with 1 hide and 2 ploughs. There is a very small wood." 

Bashley’s four households would probably have not wanted to argue with that selection of hardware!

Also in our previous preview, we mentioned that if you are not interested in the finer points of grammar, best look away now and head straight for the facts and figures on the right! 

However, if oddball facts - and fiction - interest you then you will maybe have noticed sometimes our opponents’ home is known as Bishop’s Cleeve, sometimes Bishops Cleeve and occasionally even Bishops’ Cleeve. 

It would seem obvious that it SHOULD have the apostrophe, however the club badge does not and nor do some of the village signs.

The discrepancy dates back to that Domesday Book mention of a monastery and the surrounding land at what was “Cliffe Hill” now Cleeve Hill, being given to the Bishop of Worcester. 

That should logical make it Bishop’s Cleeve - but then the good old Bishop of Worcester shared it among other local Bishops, so technically it’s Bishops’ Cleeve. 

Maybe along the years people - including the football club ! - have said: “What the heck, let’s do without the apostrophe!”

If you’re going, enjoy the game, if not check out the report on our website afterwards.

STADIUM: Kayte Lane, Bishops Cleeve, Cheltenham GL52 3PD

TELEPHONE: 01242 676166

EMAIL: Email; themitres@outlook.com

ADMISSION: Adults £8, Concessions £5, Under-16 £3, Under 14 (accompanied by an adult, free) 

AFTER three lengthy away trips totalling more than 600 miles of travel, Bashley finally return to the Veho Community Stadium and a date with Bristol Manor Farm this coming Saturday.

And it’s fair to say it’s our turn for a taste of success. Despite the fact that in the season we returned to the Southern League we did the double, a 2-1 home win - with Lewis Ross getting one of the goals - and 3-0 away, last season it was role reversal. We drew 0-0 away but lost the home match 1-0. And earlier this season we went under 2-0 alongside the breezy banks of the River Avon Estuary. 

So no joy for The Bash in the last three meetings and harvesting three points from the Farmers this time around will not be easy. They sit in the upper reaches of the table again, having made it through to the play-offs last season.

Not only that, until the last 20 minutes of the 2024 play-off final they were still in with a chance of promotion. Their semi-final opponents were Cribbs and an early goal by Owen Brain and a late one by Harry Lucas eased them past Cribbs 2-1. In the final they were away to Frome, and an amazing crowd of 2,235 was silenced when Ben Bament put the Farm ahead after only three minutes. Frome soon equalised, but time was running out when two goals by Roy Simpson took Frome to the higher level.

Things started out well again this season for the Farm, but they have lost their way a little recently, having not won in their last four games since a 5-1 win at Westbury on February 1st. 

Their stand-out game this season was the away local derby against high-fliers Yate when a 758 Boxing Day crowd saw the Farmy Army of fans delighted with a 1-1 draw at a time when Yate had been all-conquering.

The Manor Farm are comparative “newbies” to most other clubs in the division. The club was formed for the 1960/61 season before disbanding and reforming for the start of the 1962/63 campaign. Their ground ‘The Creek’ used to be the site of the Port of Bristol Authority Sports & Social Club. In 1965, when the authority moved to new premises, Manor Farm took it over, making it their permanent home. 

The club joined the Somerset Senior League and in the 1982/83 season, and remained at that level for the next three decades. Ambitious seeds were sown for the club’s future in 1998 when Geoff Sellek, a founding player during those early 60s ‘homeless’ years, took over the helm of the club as Chairman and set about taking it higher, steering the club towards promotion to the Southern League.

The modern era of Bristol Manor Farm began in earnest at the start of the 2013/14 season with the appointment of the current, long-serving, and most successful manager, Lee Lashenko. The many highlights of the triumphant 2016/17 season will be forever remembered locally as Geoff Sellek’s club finally secured that elusive promotion to the Southern League in emphatic style.

They nailed 102 points and scored over 100 goals on the way to being crowned as Western League Champions. An extraordinary unbeaten league run of 21 games between September and March (19 wins and 2 draws) all but secured the title, which was eventually clinched with three games to spare.

They have remained there since - although in 2022/23, after a season-long struggle, they eventually secured their Southern League status in a dramatic Inter-Step Play-Off Final against Saltash United on the final day of the season… and subsequently, that’s where they first had their acquaintance with The Bash, who were promoted from the Wessex Premier League at the same time.

KICK-OFF at the Veho Community Stadium on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some New Year sale bargains! 

ADMISSION as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.

TRIBUTE: Please note there will be a one-minute appreciation before kick-off to mark the passing of our long-serving club physio, Paul Diggins.

THE pleasure for Bashley of playing at a higher level than most other local teams has the edge taken off occasionally by the travelling involved - because the “Southern League”, in reality, can seem very much like a “South Western League.” 

For example, after last Saturday’s 200-mile round trip to Exmouth in South Devon, plus Tuesday’s 160-mile round trip up and down the M27 and A34 to Didcot in Oxfordshire, this weekend brings a 270-mile there-and-back jaunt to Bideford in North Devon.

That means, if the calculator is right, when they get home on Saturday night, the team will have travelled 630 miles in eight days - just under 500 of those immediately before they take the field at Bideford!

Form has been up-and-down for Bash in recent weeks, not necessarily through travel, but mainly through a variety of disruptive elements such as injuries, suspensions, changes to the squad and formation, and consequent lack of continuity. Seldom, for example, has manager Dave Lewis been able to name an unchanged side.

So at the end of a particularly hectic week, with tragic recent off-field events another distraction, it will be tough to be in peak form on the North Devon coast.

Tuesday night's battling draw at Didcot will give encouragement, however, with another game ticked off for recent newcomers Tyler Edmondson, Logan Laird, Connor Dunesby-Bent and Kyran Samadi to get used to the style of their team-mates.

While Bashley's form has yo-yoed around, Bideford’s season has also been erratic - but then they are not alone in that - it's a division where just about anybody can beat anyone else on any given day.

Bash will be going for the double, having edged past Bideford when the sides met at the Veho in November. Scott Bungay won it that day with the neatest of headers after the game had swung between 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2 and finally 3-2. 

Apart from the hiccup of home defeat to Falmouth, Bideford have been consistent at home, seeing off Larkhall, Shaftesbury, WIlland and Helston in the past few weeks, the only blip being that 2-1 loss to Falmouth.

Bideford are guided by one of the longest-serving managers, not only in Non-League but in the entirety of English football. Sean Joyce has been in charge of the Robins for 27 years, which can be summed up in one word… amazing! 

A former pro with Doncaster Rovers, Exeter City and Torquay, playing more than 200 Football League games, Sean finished his career as a midfielder at Bideford and has managed the club since since 1998/99.

The club itself has an intriguing history. It was first formed in 1883 and was then called “Bideford Town”. They were nicknamed "The Robins" due to their red shirts and remain so to this day. Until entering hibernation for the duration of World War Two it was a highly successful club, albeit one that played the majority of it's football in the West Country.

Following it's re-formation in 1947/48, the club was reborn as “Bideford Association Football Club” and entered the Exeter and East Devon League. Bideford have won the Western League ten times, as well as lifting silverware in the Devon St Luke's Bowl (5 times), Devon Professional Cup (8 times) and Western League Cup (4 times). 

They have also won the Western League Alan Young Cup (twice), Western League Subsidiary Cup and the Westward Ho! cup. In FA competitions, Bideford AFC’s record is impressive, reaching the First Round proper of the FA Cup on four occasions and reaching the Semi Final of the FA Vase in 2003/04. The 2009/10 FA Vase campaign saw Bideford reach the quarter-final where they were knocked out by Lowestoft. 

Several Bideford players have progressed to Football League status, the most recent of them being Tony Dennis (Plymouth and Exeter City) and Shaun Taylor (Bristol City, Swindon and Exeter). Two former internationals have played for the club at the end of their careers, Welshman Leighton Phillips (Cardiff City, Aston Villa, Swansea, Charlton, Exeter), as well as Dermot Curtis (Ipswich, Bristol City, Exeter, Torquay) from the Republic of Ireland.

And today’s fun fact… if you think the 4,000-plus official capacity at the Veho would be a squeeze, well Bideford do not have much more seating or terraced standing, yet for an FA Cup 4th qualifying round match against Gloucester City in 1949/50, the crowd at the Sports Ground was just under 6,000. The match ended 1-1, Bideford lost the away replay (remember those?) 3-1, and Gloucester lost in the first round proper, 3-2 at home to Norwich City.

Coach Travel £25 per seat. Pick up times and locations

Veho Community Stadium - Bashley 8.30 am 

Ringwood - 9.00 am

Dorchester 9.45 am

MATCHDAY DETAILS

STADIUM: The Sports Ground

ADDRESS: Kingsley Road, Bideford, Devon EX39 2NG

TELEPHONE: 01237 474974

EMAIL: enquiries@bidefordafc.com

ADMISSION: Adults - £10. Concessions (over 65, NHS & Student ID Card holders) - £6. Under-16s - £2. Under-12s (Accompanied by an adult) - Free.

DIRECTIONS: From Bournemouth > A35 Dorchester > Bridport > Honiton; Then… Cullumpton > Tiverton > South Molton > Barnstaple > Bideford. Alternatives, Ringwood > Shaftesbury > A303 Ilminster > A358 Taunton > M5 Tiverton, then as above. Third way, up from Dorchester > A37 up to Yeovil and on to A303/A358 Taunton, as above.

CAR PARKING: There is free parking, including disabled bays, and wheelchair access into the ground.

NEXT up for Bashley is another road trip, this time up the M3 and A34 to Didcot - a change from heading way out to the wild west, but still more than 80 miles and a two-hour trip from Bash HQ.

Didcot was a new name on the fixtures schedule for Bashley this season, the club having been relegated as bottom side in the Southern Premier South at the end of 2023/24. 

They were early visitors to the Veho Community Stadium this season and Bash came out on top in probably the most exciting game of the season so far - playing with ten men for nearly an hour, going behind, then turning it round for a 2-1 win on the back of great goals by Scott Bungay and the now-departed Luke Delaney.

The Didcot club has a history going back 118 years but has had its most notable achievements in the early part of this century. They have, for example, achieved something all non-league clubs dream of doing - winning a trophy at Wembley.

It was in 2004–05, under manager Stuart Peace, that Didcot beat AFC Sudbury in the FA Vase final at the home of English football. The following season they claimed the Hellenic League title, becoming the first team in the League’s history to reach 100 points in a season, and were thus promoted to the Southern League Division One South and West.

Another of Didcot’s finest hours - and perhaps a place in the Statto trivia books - came in May 2009 when they gained promotion to the Southern Premier Division, beating AFC Totton 2–1 after extra time in the play-off final. What was unique was that Didcot had reached the play-offs after finishing fifth in the league and climbed up then hard way, beating Truro City, Windsor & Eton and AFC Totton - all away from home.

And like The Bash with Swansea, Didcot have one big FA Cup memory to look back on - in 2015 when Exeter City were their visitors in the first round. A record crowd of 2,707 attended, and - unlike the Bash-Swans epic - the match was televised live.

Turning the clock right back to 1907, the most noteworthy event in British football that year was the death of C.W. Alcock (the administrator who ‘invented’ the FA Cup). But for a small part of Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) the most significant happening was the amalgamation of Didcot Village FC and Northbourne Wanderers to form Didcot Town Football Club.

In the early days, and before joining any leagues, the new club played friendly matches on Fleet Meadow in extremely basic conditions. There were no proper changing facilities, at least not by the standards of today; the goal posts were made from gas-pipe tubing and the pitch-lines were drawn using a biscuit tin with a hole in it pulled along by a piece of string.

Much more recently Didcot have played at Loop Meadow on the town's Ladygrove estate since the sale of their former Station Road ground in 1999. The ground boasts a main pitch and a training pitch, with the main pitch having a 150-seat main stand and a covered standing area. 

Their previous ground is now the site of a large car park for the town's recently built shopping centre. 

What else is Didcot famous for? That would be the magnificent Great Western Railway museum and Railway Centre, with working locomotives, engine sheds, turntables, steam train rides etc. 

But before you ask, that’s not where Didcot Town do their ‘training”.

MATCHDAY DETAILS FOR FANS

STADIUM: Loop Meadow

ADDRESS: Bowmont Water, Didcot OX11 7GA

CLUB TELEPHONE: 01235 813138

ADMISSION: Adult £12 (£12.60 by card); Concessions: Over 65, Students, NHS, armed forces, MOD, fire services, (just show correct ID information) £8; Children Under 16 £3; Under 5 Free.

AFTER two emotional home games, Bashley hit the road again this Saturday (15th) with another long haul back to South Devon and the sandy seaside resort of Exmouth.

Exmouth’s football fortunes last season were not great - but as we’ve found to our rather embarrassing cost this season, they are definitely not to be messed with this time around!

When the delightfully nicknamed “Muff” (as in “Exmuff”) came to the New Forest in October they went sailing back home with a 4-0 win. The scoreline didn’t exactly reflect a controversial, and much more closely-fought game, but, as the saying goes, that’s how it is in the record books.

Although Bashley bounced back immediately with wins over Willand and Bideford, there was a lean, winless, spell which went on through December and early January and saw us slide down to mid-table after that earlier exciting run in the top five.

Both clubs, however, have enjoyed considerable improvement on last season when Bash yo-yoed around to finish 15th and Exmouth 18th.

Exmouth, in fact, were rock-bottom for the first half of that season, and their fate for the one relegation place seemed to be sealed when Bash went there in early February and won 1-0 on the back of a trademark Lewis Ross free-kick.

However, that led to some hefty soul-searching in South Devon. The “riot act” was duly read to the team and from that day Exmouth hardly looked back - ironically showing their instant improvement with a 2-1 win two weeks later … at Bashley!

This season joint managers Kevin Hill and Dave Pearse have inspired the Town to a much better start, and there’s a warning for The Bash in the way that they now sit comfortably up in the top three places. 

What of Exmouth the town itself? If you are a Bash fan heading down there on Saturday, here’s a bit of history. Back in the day, before overseas holiday playgrounds came into easy reach, Exmouth, sitting out on a limb 12 miles south of Exeter, was a see-and-be-seen hub for the rich and famous - and a destination for wealthier folks who were recuperating after illness.

Even earlier, Sir Walter Raleigh was a local lad who made good, sailing many of his most famous missions from Exmouth harbour in the 1500s. Lord Nelson also had links with the town - his estranged wife is buried locally.

Two of England’s finest maritime greats who you wouldn’t want to challenge in combat - at sea or land. Today a similar tradition carries on in Exmouth - just up the road at Lympstone is the main UK base for the Royal Marines. You certainly wouldn’t mess with them either!

Exmouth have the edge on Bash in history - just eight years short of their club century with Bash now proudly in their 77th year.

Exmouth Town Football Club was formed in 1933, playing their home games on the Maer Cricket Field. They moved to their current home at Southern Road in 1964.

After many successful seasons in the Devon and Exeter League they joined the Western League in 1973. They were promoted to the Premier Division after finishing Runners-Up of Division One in 1981-82 and won the Premier Division in 1983-84 and again in 1985-86.

The 2021/22 season saw Town enjoy another highly successful season eventually finishing runners-up to Tavistock and gaining promotion to the Southern League for the first time in their history.

Last season, when only one team was due to be relegated, Exmouth were sat in that “dead” seat for most off the first half of the season. A recovery late season - including a win at Bash HQ - saw them comfortably safe. 

And this season things have been much brighter for Exmouth, who have lost only twice at home so far and are right in the thick of the promotion race, currently third. 

MATCHDAY DETAILS

STADIUM: Southern Road

ADDRESS: Southern Road, Exmouth. EX8 3EE

TELEPHONE: Matchdays only 01395 263348

EMAIL: info@exmouth-townfc.co.uk

ADMISSION: Adult: £10; Concessions: £8; Under-16 £2.

DIRECTIONS: From Bashley - To Dorchester on to Axminster by-pass on A35. Either branch left there on A358/A3052 and go via north outskirts of Seaton and Sidmouth then left onto A352 to Exmouth via Lympstone… or A35 to Exeter/M5 and branch off left on A376 to Exmouth. Third alternative A35 past Honiton then A30 briefly before left branch onto A352.

CAR PARKING: There is limited free parking at the ground, and plenty of adjacent street parking.

BASHLEY hope it will be third time lucky for the next match here at the Veho Community Stadium on Tuesday (11th) - because the first-ever home game against Thatcham Town has already been postponed twice.

And while Bash need the three points to climb back towards the top-end play-off zone, Thatcham need the win to get lift-off away from the bottom-end play-offs. 

The Berkshire side have had a tough season so far but recent results are improving, and a 1-0 home win against Larkhall, followed by Saturday’s excellent 2-2 draw away to high-flyers Bristol Manor Farm will have boosted their confidence.

Thatcham were furious to be shifted into the travel-heavy Southern League after finishing eighth last season in the Isthmian South Central. Their protests about the mandatory move were in vain, and they have found that not only is there more travelling, but also the overall standard is perhaps slightly higher.

Thatcham got an early warning of that back in August when Bash went to the Mettal Stadium and eased to a 2-0 win on the back of goals by Scott Bungay and George Ashby.

Since then manager Yash Romeo and his team have found it hard to get any rhythm - and although they have had some significant successes, those have been almost entirely at home.

The Kingfishers have also drawn at Bishops Cleeve (4-4) and Helston (2-2) but have yet to win on the road - however back at base they have seen off Malvern (3-0), Bristol Manor (2-1), Evesham (1-0), Willand (4-1) and Shaftesbury (1-0).

Thatcham is also one of the oldest clubs in our division, having been founded in 1894 and joining the Reading Temperance League. The club were originally known just as Thatcham, with Town being added to its name in 1974. In the early years Thatcham played at The Marsh on Dunston Green, Brownsfield (home of the local Cricket Club) and Station Road, before moving to Lancaster Close in 1949. 

Floodlights were erected in January 1983 with Fulham FC visiting for a commemorative friendly match. To provide improved facilities, the club moved to Waterside Park in 1992/93, with the ground becoming known as The Stacatruc Stadium from August 2019, then the Mettal Stadium from August 2023.

Kick-off at the Veho Community Stadium on Tuesday is at 7.45pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some New Year sale bargains! 

Admission, as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.

SATURDAY’S scheduled visitors to the Veho Community Stadium are Willand Rovers, and as things stand at this time, the match will go ahead as scheduled.

Both the Southern League, and the Willand club agreed that in view of the injuries suffered by Jordan Chiedozie they would be prepared to postpone the fixture.

However, at a meeting of Bashley players on Thursday evening it was decided that even though emotions are still running high, they would be prepared to go ahead and play.

Bashley manager Dave Lewis said: “We greatly appreciate the help offered to us by the Southern League during this situation, and also by Willand Rovers. Their manager, David Steele, contacted me personally saying they would, without question, accept a postponement if that is what we would prefer.

“That is such a great gesture, not least because a postponement means that Willand would have to travel up here from Devon on a Tuesday evening.”

As for the fixture, the Bashley and Willand clubs have much in common, being “village” teams playing above what is probably their expected status in the football pyramid.

They also had “much in common” last season, finishing 14th and 15th in the Southern League Division 1 (South) table with identical records of wins, draws and losses, Willand having the edge on positions because of a slightly better goal difference.

When the teams met early in that season at Bashley, Ollie Cherrett was newly in the Black and Gold hot-seat, having taken over after Matt Tubbs’ unexpected departure.

Willand came as league leaders that day and Bash came in off the back of two cup defeats, in the Hants Cup at home to Portchester, and the FA Trophy, away to Cribbs. So a 3-2 win, in an impressive performance, was more than welcome.

By the time of the reverse fixture, Willand had slipped down the table and Bash came away with a comfortable 2-0 win. Even so, 14th was the highest placing Willand had achieved in their impressive history, going right back to 1907.

This time around Bashley went to Willand in the first week of November, and came home with a 1-0 win - a victory all the sweeter because four days earlier Bash had suffered the embarrassment of losing - albeit without any shred of luck - 4-0 at home to Exmouth.

Willand play their home games at the Silver Street Stadium, which has seen plenty of ground improvements and developments in recent years. The clubhouse has been overhauled and expanded, purpose-made new changing rooms installed, and a new seated grandstand erected.

Further development has seen more covered terracing erected, installation of a borehole for pitch irrigation and installation of LED floodlights giving the club and local community a stadium they are rightly proud of.

Willand’s current manager is David Steele, a former Rovers player who is the club’s all-time leading scorer with 150 goals - and that from midfield! After retiring and joining the club’s coaching staff as Assistant to Russell Jee, he took over the hot seat in June 2022.

Kick-off at the Veho Community Stadium on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual - plus pre-match football on TV - as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some discount bargains! 

Admission, as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.

BASHLEY fans are still buzzing after Saturday’s terrific 10-man 2-0 win against Westbury United - and hoping that was the start of a new surge up the table after the recent slip down from the play-off places.

Next up, The Bash are back on the road again and as ever in this widespread division, it’s a long distance trek - in fact 110 miles to Tavistock in Devon.

The town sits on the western edge of Dartmoor, not far from the famous jail - which means the Tavistock back four have probably heard many time the question of whether, in football parlance, they “take any prisoners”!

As we well know ourselves, this division is not only wide in its geographical spread, but also wide-open with regard to predicting results. It seems that anyone - perhaps with the exception of Yate (until Saturday’s 3-0 loss blip at home to Malvern!) - can be beaten by anyone else.

So the crystal ball has many cracks in it from months of wondering just how certain results happened. Tavvy’s Lambs, for example, started the season well, collecting, amongst others, a prize scalp at Fortress Mousehole and a good draws at Malvern and Larkhall.

Earlier in the season they gave us a scare here at the Veho - only a brilliant penalty save by Mack Allan prevented Bash from going 2-0 down before half-time, but a roller-coaster second half ended with Charlie Wagstaffe chipping in our last-minute winner.

Also, like many clubs in Division One South of the Southern League - including Bashley, of course! -Tavistock have ambitions to soon go at least one step higher, and on again beyond that “if feasible financially.” 

They are now playing at the highest level in their amazing 136-year history and have recruited players who share that ambition to move on higher - so this game, like all others in this division, will be keenly competitive. 

In Aaron Dearing they have a highly-experienced keeper, and a defence which is also packed with players who are ever-reliable such as Ben Cross, Jack Endacott and Iestyn Harris.

Their midfield revolves around men like Tallan Burns, Charlie Elkington, Ben Steer, Ed Harrison and Reuben Kane - and up front they have recognised hot-shots at this level, including Alex Battle, and one of the division’s most frequent scorers, Liam Prynn.

The Tavistock club had a fascinating - and highly unusual - start to life. They started out in the 1870s playing “Adhoc Football” a cross between Football, Rugby Union - “and perhaps a few other games as well” - with matches played between Tavistock and a similar set-up from Plymouth.

Legend has it that a letter to the Tavistock Gazette from a follower of the mixed sport, suggested sticking to Football - and that attracted interest from two local businessmen, brothers Herbert and Wilfred Spencer.

In 1888 they called a meeting at Tavistock Guildhall, and there was sufficient interest for them to go ahead and form the present club, which played then at Tavistock Grammar School and won its first-ever match, 1-0 - against the Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry!

Their first season playing record was… Played 17, won 13, lost 3, drawn 1. There’s no doubt the present-day Tavvy would have love that sort of pro-rata percentage this season! 

Back in the “real world”, Tavistock are not going quite as well as they hoped so far, after a bright start they are now hovering down in the lower positions. 

They haven’t scored in their last four games, including last Tuesday’s home match against Bristol Manor Farm, abandoned through fog after 15 minutes with the Farm leading 1-0. However, their most recent result was a creditable 0-0 draw away to ambitious Shaftesbury on Saturday.

MATCHDAY DETAILS

STADIUM: Langsford Park

ADDRESS: 119 Plymouth Road, Tavistock PL19 8JR

TELEPHONE: 01822 614447

ADMISSION: Adult: £10; Concessions: £8; Under-16 £2.

DIRECTIONS: Langsford Park is situated at the heart of Tavistock, on the A386. Take signs for Tavistock College and Sports Centre, go past the College and the ground entrance is a further 100 yards.

CAR PARKING: There is free parking, including disabled bays, and wheelchair access into the ground.

THERE were mixed emotions at the Veho Community Stadium when Saturday’s match against Shaftesbury ended all-square at 2-2.

The good news was that Bash gave a much-improved performance - especially as it came in a match with a very sharp “edge” to it, six former Black and Gold favourites in the opposition eleven keen to get one over their old club.

The not-so-good news was that for various reasons beyond their control - controversial refereeing and brilliant goalkeeping - Bash could not collect the three points they were seeking to end a barren run of results now stretching back to the last win on November 26.

The next chance to correct that increasingly-frustrating statistic comes at the Veho this Saturday, when Westbury are the opposition.

Like The Bash, Westbury lost some momentum in the first couple of weeks of 2025 through postponements. However, they had an excellent 3-0 win against Larkhall on New Year’s Day, on the back of a second-half hat-trick by Brad Selwood.

That followed a 3-0 defeat of Bemerton and a 5-0 swamping of Cribbs. Those games were at home - but there was also a warning in their away results as well, a 2-0 win at Mousehole being something not many visitors to deepest Cornwall achieve. They also edged a 2-1 win at Tavistock with two Josh Jenkins goals.

So despite Bashley’s return to form against Shaftesbury and the likely availability of Conor Whiteley after injury and Harvey Bertrand after illness, it will definitely be no easy ride against the White Horsemen.

There is clearly some firepower to contend with, so Bashley’s new-look back four, of Steve Walker and Dan Walster in the centre, plus fit-again Callum Baughan and new signing Tyler Edmondson either side, will have to be at their best again. 

For those who enjoy a bit of club history, the Westbury club started in 1920 when two local sides amalgamated. Westbury Old Comrades FC had just won promotion to the First Division of the Wiltshire County League, and to strengthen the side they joined forces with a local junior side, Westbury Great Western Railway XI, and together they became Westbury United.

The Club purchased and moved to its present ground in Meadow Lane in 1934, the cost of the four-acre site being £475. The first game played on what was then the Jubilee Playing Field was against Bristol City in front of a crowd of around 4,000.

The club has produced many players who have gone on to make the grade at professional football, two of them being centre forwards for Bristol City. The first was Reg Smith who played for City in the 1930s and was then transferred to Wolverhampton Wanderers for what was described in the Press as a 'considerable fee'.

The other was John Atyeo, for whom City played a presentation game against Westbury and made a donation of £100. Atyeo played over 600 games for City and scored 359 goals; he also played six times for England in which he netted five goals. He died suddenly in June 1993, aged 61, and now has a grandstand named after him at City's Ashton Gate ground as well as a street in his home village of Dilton Marsh (a few miles from Meadow Lane).

Westbury joined the Western League in 1984 and in 1988 floodlights were erected and Southampton were the visitors for the official switch-on. In recent years the club has, with the help of the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, been able to replace the drainage system on the pitch as well as erect fencing around the ground and a wall around the pitch. 

A strong group of players started the 2017/18 season and after going unbeaten for the first 13 league games, the foundations were laid for the club to win the First Division and secure promotion to the Premier Division. They scored more points (95, previous best 91) and more goals (97, previous best 95), and conceded the fewest goals (29, previous best 39) in the club's history.

The 2018–19 season saw Westbury stay unbeaten until Boxing Day (17 games, 14 wins and 3 draws) before losing to local rivals Bradford Town FC 1–0 at home. They continued their good form and ended up finishing in their joint highest league position ever, 5th place with 74 points.

Season 2021–22 saw Westbury United moved into the Hellenic League after the FA took the opportunity to restructure the national league system. The team finished second after just four defeats, and achieved promotion to the Southern League on a points-per-game basis. 

Ricky Hulbert and Lewis Porter's side endured an excellent first season, finishing 10th in the Southern League Division One South, before then going on to be crowned Wiltshire Premier Shield Champions in May 2023, beating Swindon Town 3–0 at The County Ground.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual, as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - including some New Year sale bargains! 

Admission, as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.

NEXT up at the Veho Community Stadium is a game which almost counts as a “local derby” in these times of playing in a league with such a far-flung geographical spread. 

Shaftesbury will come a “mere” 40 miles across Dorset to the New Forest - and it’s fair to say that at least half their first-choice squad won’t have too much trouble finding us, because they are ex-Bashley players!

For instance, the back four could even be the “Ex-Bash Four”  with Liam Farrugia, plus the central defensive pairing of Cam Beard and Sam Davidson - and also at Shaftesbury now is Ronan Moore. He began his career at Bashley in 2015 before moving away to make more than 250 appearances at Brockenhurst. 

The Rockies’ midfield general - as he was at The Bash for more than 10 years - is Brad Morris, still remembered favourably hereabouts for his many hundreds of tremendous performances in Black and Gold.

Alongside Brad in recent times has been Toby Bailey, the former Lymington youngster who spent a brief time with The Bash before moving on last season to join Brockenhurst.

There will also be a quick “re-union” in the dugouts where Dave Lewis and Co will find themselves again alongside Shaftesbury’s James Milligan. Three weeks ago he was “Bemerton’s James Milligan” - but now he’s Shaftesbury’s again, having returned to the club he guided to promotion from the Wessex Prem last season.

Milligan, whose managerial career began out west with Cheddar and then Wells, made a surprise move from the Rockies to Bemerton in September this season, but made an equally surprise move back to the Rockies last week, replacing long-serving ex-Brockenhurst manager Pat McManus who had gone to Shaftesbury in the summer.  

And he knows he will have a task on his hands. Despite their strong line-up, like The Bash, Shaftesbury are struggling for recent form. Their last league match was a 5-0 disaster away to Evesham, then on Tuesday, while Bash were suffering at the hands of Bishops Cleeve, a full-strength Rockies side was beaten on penalties by Hamworthy Rec in the semi-final of the Dorset Senior Cup.

Milligan’s first signing after returning was bringing in experienced former Winchester defender Connor Cocklin, who has recently had a successful spell with Wimborne. 

Another new face is that of defender Luke Burbidge, signed last week from Poole Town. He left the Rockies last March to go to Poole but has now returned. He has also spent time previously with Wimborne and Weymouth, so his experience will be valuable.

Talking of experience, another to look out for with Shaftesbury is Brett Pitman - and if ever there was a player who could claim to “have goals, will travel” it’s Channel Islander Brett.

The St Helier-born striker - still only 36 - first made his name with AFC Bournemouth, making 173 appearances for them between 2005 and 2010. He scored 59 goals there before moving on to Bristol City, where he netted 20 times in 70 games.

A return to Bournemouth between 2013 and 2015 brought 34 goals in 88 starts before spells with Ipswich, Portsmouth, Swindon and Bristol Rovers and then dropping down to Non-League, with dramatic results.

At Portchester between 2022 and 2023, he grabbed a crazy 44 goals in 38 games. Even better, the following season at Shaftesbury, he fired them to promotion almost single-handed, with 56 goals in 38 games. Since then he has scored 12 in 13 games for Baffins Milton, as well as hitting the target again for Shaftesbury this season where he is dual-registered with Portchester. 

His scoring feat last season was by far the best individual performance in the history of the Shaftesbury club, which was established in 1888. Their first success was winning the League Cup in 1900 and then again in 1905/06 along with the League title. In 1908/09, Shaftesbury formed a reserve side and also a mid-week league side known as Shaftesbury Wednesday. In the early 1920’s the first youth team was formed, called Shaftesbury Athletic.

In 1932/33 season, winning the Dorset Senior League, the most successful period until then came in the 1940/50’s when Shaftesbury won 12 cup competitions in a 10-year period. The club then moved to the ground, known as Cockrams, in 1974, and today still play there - but in a slightly different configuration, due to the arrival of the Tesco supermarket.

Many more titles were won over the years with the League Cup in 1976, League Champions & Combination Cup in 1988/89, Combination Cup winners in 1994/95, League Winners 1996/97.

In 2004/05 Shaftesbury entered the Wessex League and for the first time in 2005/06 entered the FA vase and in 2006/07 the FA Cup. In 2011/12 they re-joined the Dorset Premier League, and in 2015/16, under new management, won the Dorset Premier, meaning promotion into the Wessex League (Div1).

The next season was their first return to the Wessex League since 2004 and with a more than expected performance, a top three finish saw promotion to the Wessex Premier - then Shaftesbury’s highest-ever level of football.

2017/18 was a successful year for the club with retaining a position in the Wessex Premier League and also reaching the Dorset Senior Final, ultimately losing to Wimborne Town. The club remained a force in the Wessex Prem, finally winning promotion to the Southern League at the end of last season on the back of Brett’s goal spree.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 3pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual, as will the new club shop with its superb range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho - and check out the Sale bargains!. 

Admission, as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.

BASHLEY return to the Veho Community Stadium on Tuesday for the first time in 2025 for a date with a club they have much in common with - Bishops Cleeve.

The teams have similarity in that both arrived back in the Southern League Division One (South) in the 2022/23 season, Bash having been runners-up in the Wessex Premier while Bishops Cleeve won the Hellenic Premier League title.

In our first season together, Bash finished 7th, Bishops 9th, just three points apart after 38 games - last season Bishops were again 9th while we slipped to 15th with a six-point gap.

This season we are behind again, the Bishops having a good season, picking up after a slow start and now right up there in the play-off mix. In fact they would be in fifth place instead of sixth had they not let in a last-minute equaliser for Bristol Manor on Saturday.

Significantly they are free-scorers - even more significantly doing their stuff away from home. Their last two away trips have brought a 3-0 win at Shaftesbury and a 4-0 success at Evesham. 

They have also won 2-0 away to fellow play-off contenders Bristol Manor, so there’s no doubt Steve Walker & Co will have to be at their best if Bash are to get their season back on the rails.

It’s now seven games ago that Bashley last collected all three points. There have been significant reasons for the slide away from the play-off zone, however, not least injuries to leading scorers Scott Bungay and Conor Whiteley, plus lack of continuity through postponements.

Saturday’s trip to Didcot was the latest call-off, as was our previous home game against Thatcham. In between this was the 3-1 defeat away to league leaders Yate, where it’s fair to say luck was not on Bashley’s side. So it’s all to play for on Tuesday. 

The Bishops Cleeve club was formed in 1905, since when they have bounced around from the Cheltenham League and Gloucestershire Senior League, until more recent times switching between the Hellenic and Southern.

The club played at its original ground in Stoke Road until Hellenic League ground stipulations meant it had to move. After several seasons ground sharing at Moreton, Evesham and Forest Green the club moved to it present home, the 1,500-capacity Kayte Lane, in 2002.

Those without too deep a knowledge of geography often ask our own travelling fans: “Where exactly IS Bashley?” The same folks probably also ask… “Where exactly IS Bishop’s Cleeve?”

We Black and Gold New Foresters all know the answer to the first of those - the second is… a village in the Borough of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire at the foot of Cleeve Hill, the highest point in the Cotswolds. 

It had a population of 10,612 in 2011, which increased to 14,068 in the 2021 Census, making it one of the biggest “villages” in the UK - as opposed to Bashley, which is one of the smallest. It is 99 miles from London, 57 miles from Birmingham, 13 miles from Gloucester, six miles north of Cheltenham - and 113 miles from Bashley.

The Bash and The Bish (!) also have in common that both are in the Domesday Book, the first geographical record of England in 1086. Bashley was listed as “a settlement in the hundred of Edgegate in the county of Hampshire - with 4 households, among the smallest in the country.” 

As for Bishops Cleeve, the earliest known origins date back to the 8th Century, although Iron Age and Roman remains had also been found locally. 

The name derives from the 9th Century when a monastery and surrounding land at the foot of what is now named Cleeve Hill was given to the Bishop of Worcester, and the village became the Bishop’s Cliffe.

The Domesday Book recorded that: "There are 30 hides, 3 ploughs an demesne, 16 villagers and 19 smallholders with 16 ploughs. There are 8 slaves and 1 horse. A priest has 1 hide and 2 ploughs. A radknight with 1 hide and 2 ploughs. There is a very small wood." 

Bashley’s four households would probably have not wanted to argue with that selection of hardware!

And finally… if you are not interested in the finer points of grammar look away now and head straight for the facts and figures on the right! 

However, if oddball facts - and fiction - interest you then you will maybe have noticed sometimes our opponents’ home is known as Bishop’s Cleeve, sometimes Bishops Cleeve and occasionally even Bishops’ Cleeve. 

It would seem obvious that it SHOULD have the apostrophe, however the club badge does not and nor do some of the village signs.

The discrepancy dates back to that Domesday Book mention of a monastery and the surrounding land at what was “Cliffe Hill” now Cleeve Hill, being given to the Bishop of Worcester. 

That should logical make it Bishop’s Cleeve - but then the good old Bishop of Worcester shared it among other local Bishops, so technically it’s Bishops’ Cleeve. 

Maybe along the years people - including the football club ! - have said: “What the heck, let’s do without the apostrophe!”

Kick-off on Tuesday is at 7.45pm and all the usual facilities will be available - including covered seating free within the admission price. The licensed clubhouse with its tempting range of food and drinks will be open as usual, as will the new club shop with its super range of Adidas kit and other merchandise by Veho. 

Admission, as usual, is £10 adults, £7 OAPs, £3 Under-16s and free for Under 8’s either on the turnstile or in advance via the Bash FC website.

TRAVEL NOTE: Please be aware that if you usually approach the Veho from the North, the road to the stadium is completely closed for roadworks between the Rising Sun pub and Loaders Garage. The road up from New Milton, via the roundabout, remains accessible.