Next up – Didcot Town
Tuesday, 17th November at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ.
Pitching-in Southern League division one central; kick off 7.45pm.
Admission
Admission (contactless preferred but cash accepted) – Adults £10, Concessions £5, under 14s free with paying adult otherwise £2.50.
Gates open at 6.30pm.
Printed programme on the gate for £2.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at https://warefc.co.uk/product/ware-v-didcot-town/
The match
This game matches Ware with the side that beat us by the only goal of the 2023 play-off final. Didcot went on to play in the premier division south before relegation to division one south where they spent two seasons with mid-table finishes. The FA have moved them back to the central division for this season. This means they have swapped journeys to Cornwall and Devon for this midweek excursion to East Hertfordshire. It’s a journey forced on them by our cup run taking precedence over what had originally been a Saturday fixture.
Form guide
Ware have snapped out of their rearly season form and have now suffered just one defeat in eight games. Homing in on their last four games Ware have won three and drawn the other. If you prefer it we can look at their latest home games where again it is three wins and a draw. Morale is high and thus so is confidence.
Didcot have their own reasons to feel confident having been at or near the top of the table from the start of the season. They have also made progress in the FA Trophy but lost in the second round on Saturday to Slough of the National League South. Missing out on their league game with Marlow because of that Trophy game they slipped to second in the table, two points behind Winslow United. A win on Tuesday will take them top again. Their man to look out for is Owen James who has scored 15 goals in 16 league appearances.
Previous Meetings
This will be our sixth meeting in a run that started with a 2-2 home league draw five years and four days before this one. The photo at the head of this article shows Albert Adu in that game. Match report here if you’re interested. We lost the return 3-1 towards the end of the season then won and lost the next season’s two games before meeting in the play-off final in front of 1800 spectators. We lost that 1-0 to a penalty for a foul that was commiitted outside the area as the referee later conceded. We have yet to win at home to Didcot.
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be commentating on the game from 7.40 onwards at https://90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/5434180
Match Officials
Hertfordshire based referee Rikki Woolford will take charge of a Ware home game for the third time in a year and six days having overseen the Senior Cup game with Hemel Hempstead last November and the league game against Welwyn Garden City back in August, two games in which we conceded nine goals without scoring ourselves. Better luck this time we hope. The two assistant referees have both also had plenty of exposure to Ware. Andrew Wheaton and Patrick Yates were a team at Hertford for our 4-1 win last December whilst Mr Wheaton was here for March’s home game with Biggleswade Town and this seaosn’s match with Hadley. Mr Yates was last here for our FA Cup draw with Fakenham Town.
Match report
My apologies but there is unlikely to be a full report of the game. Highlights, line-ups, subs and cards only.
