Pitching In Southern League, Premier Division South
Tiverton Town v Chertsey Town
Saturday, August 17 . Ian Moorcroft Stadium . 3pm
IT is early days in the Southern Premier League South and teams’ true identities will take a while to be revealed: on Tuesday night, the Yellows played to the levels that are needed to be competitive in this division; last Saturday, they did not.
Whilst Leigh Robinson's men were licking their wounds at Merthyr, this weekend's visitors were revelling in their first taste of football in this division, running out comfortable 4-1 winners in a home victory against Hungerford.
Fast forward to the midweek fixtures and whilst Tivvy restored pride with an uplifting draw against a strongly favoured Dorchester side on Tuesday, the following evening, Chertsey succumbed to a 3-0 away defeat to Havant & Waterlooville. Do not read anything into it until the league settles down, because it will probably have little or no relevance, but Dorchester, Tuesday night's opponents, drew 1-1 with Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday.
Chertsey manager Mark Harper’s team won promotion in style in 2023-24, losing only one game in the Isthmian League Central Division, accumulating 100 points and scoring 103 goals.
Despite this, Harper has added to his firepower by bringing in Jack Mazzone, a proven goalscorer in this division as an ex-Met Police player, and Connor Lynch, the former Hungerford player who was with Winchester during the last campaign. He has also had stints with Bracknell - next weekend’s opposition - and Hanwell and Basingstoke, who we will play later in the season.
There is a vast amount of playing experience at this level in the Curfews’ squad that Harper has put together.
Centre-back Luke Neville has played against us on numerous occasions for Beaconsfield; Toby Little likewise for Beaconsfield and for Hayes & Yeading.
The left-sided midfielder is also joined by a strong core of players that plied their trade with Met Police who, as our loyal fans will know, were a real force in this standard of football.
Talented midfielder Luke Robertson and defenders Callum Duffy, Alex Fisher and Conor Lee are all formerly of the Met, who voluntarily dropped a division as a result of financial pressures prior to last season getting underway.
Winger Olly McCoy was with Birmingham City for four seasons and, although he did not establish himself there, has enjoyed a fruitful time in non-league football, representing Chesham briefly last term and with Yeovil, Wealdstone and Bath City on his cv.
Joe Parker got off the mark on Tuesday, as did the Yellows in registering their first point. However, manager Leigh Robinson will not be content with his side resting on their laurels and both he and Ben Gerring will, I am sure, be trying to instil in their players a stronger mentality.
The Ian Moorcroft Stadium was not a fearful place to come to for the majority of last season and, naturally, without performing well at home, there will be added pressure to achieve results on Tivvy’s travels.
Javan Wright will be doubtful, but otherwise it appears that Leigh will have a full squad from which to pick.
After the Merthyr loss, it was important to dig in on Tuesday night before being able to play uninhibited football. On Saturday, hopefully with confidence restored, the players will be able to express themselves more.
Goalkeeper Matt Wonnacott and forward Tor Swann both enjoyed good competitive home debuts and the more physical presence and all-round ability of Leighton Thomas in giving our attack two focal points, will have given the management team much to ponder when selecting their 11 against the Curfews.
Their nickname is derived from the name of a bell in the local church. For whom will the bell toll on Saturday?
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