Next up – Biggleswade Town
Saturday, 21st March at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ.
Pitching in Southern League, Divison One (Central); kick off 3pm.
Admission
Admission (contactless preferred but cash accepted) – Adults £10, Concessions £5, under 14 free with paying adult otherwise £2.50.
Printed programme on the gate for £2.
Tickets can be purchased in advance at https://warefc.co.uk/product/ware-v-biggleswade-town/
The match
We welcome the Waders under their manager Jimmy Martin for this match on the Spring Equinox. Our visitors have had a good season since relegation from the premier (central) division last year. They’re aiming for an immediate return and underlining their ambition with seven straight league wins prior to this fixture. They’ve been going through opponents like an express train coming down the track. We have our ambitions too and after a season of bigger than usual casualty figures Paul Halsey is nearer to having a sizeable squad for this game. Can they set the signals to red? It should be a good contest watched by a decent crowd on what is forecast to be a warmish and sunny afternoon. Bring your sun glasses.
Rechan Esprit gets his picture on the preview for the second home game running. This time it’s because an appearance in this fixture will be his hundredth in a Ware shirt.
Form guide
An unstoppable force meets an immovable object.
For Ware, being only close to a full squad means that there are still doubts about the fitness of Finlay Titchmarsh, Gabe Ward and Jack Grosvenor. Meanwhile Herbie Townsend is training though avoiding physical contact whilst his shoulder heals following sugery. Even so, the available players are on a run of five wins out of six with just two goals conceded. They won’t be lacking confidence in this game.
Our defeat at Biggleswade earlier this season was a close run affair in dire conditions as the rain hammered down. The report from that day is here. Their recent form has been very impressive, the seven consecutive wins having been achieved with 30 goals scored and seven conceded. Joshua Steele is their leading marksman with twenty-two goals this season but former Ware youth player Harrison Rookard is also well into double figures. And while we’re at it, midfielder Andrew Bennett is another Ware youth old boy with three appearances for us earlier this season.
Previous Meetings
Recent meetings haven’t gone our way. Before this season’s 2-1 away defeat we lost both meetings in the 2023/4 season. A close home defeat was followed by a heavy loss in the final game of the regular season. We took the lead but the Waders took the points by 4-1 and with the points also the championship and promotion to the premier division. Our most recent win came at Wodson Park on 16th August 2022. It finished 3-1 with two goals from Tyriq Hunte and one from Liam Dulson but we lost the return fixture by 4-2 (Declan Nche and Theo Ofori). Before all that we had won at Biggleswade in 2019/20 FA Cup, a 2-1 win with goals from Oluwole Akinsanya’s penalty and the other from Leigh Rose.
Commentary
Pete and Symon will be at Wodson Park for those who can’t make the game. Their commentary will start at 2.55 and can be found at 90minuteslivefootball.mixlr.com/events/4933047
Match Officials
We welcome all three match officials on their first visit to Wodson Park this season. Our referee is Craig Charles and the assistants are Andrew Wheaton and Robert Willcocks. Mr Wheaton does have past experience of us though as he ran the line for our 4-1 win at Hertford last December.
Sunday’s youth football
I’m not sure I’ve had cause to write this before but there are no EJA games at the Park tomorrow. However, there is one at the county ground in Letchworth. Our under-17s take on Cheshunt at 10am in the final of the Herts FA Challenge Cup for under-18s. Admission (contactless only) is £6 for adults and £4 for concessions. U12s are free. There is no parking in the ground. Get along if you can to support our boys.
