Category: Team news

Match Preview: Frome Town v Willand Rovers

After half of Mid Devon had been washed away by storms and flooding, the Rovers squad are still intact and will travel to league leaders Frome Town this weekend in the Southern Football League Division One South with a 3 pm KO!

It’s been a little while since rovers were last in action as the weather has hindered progress temporarily with our last outing being on the 12th January against Melksham Town. Two postponed fixtures against Shaftesbury and Mousehole will now be rearranged in due course.

Back to the game at hand, Willand head to Badgers Hill looking to end the month positively but the hosts on Saturday have ambitions to bounce right back into the Premier Division with the Robins sitting on 70 points after 28 games.

As Frome’s one-year stay in the top (southern) flight came to an end, boss Danny Greaves has ensured that it’ll only be a cameo back in the Division One with some of the best players in the region flocking to the Robins nest.

One of those is Archie Ferris who’s known for his goal-scoring ability in the division in previous seasons and the 25/26 campaign is no different. Only recently he scored a hat trick away from home against fellow automatic promotion battling side Winchester City, an important cog in the Frome machine.

Our last outing against Frome was Ben Watson’s first game in charge at the helm of Rovers, a new era begun with all three points with River Allen’s quick thinking saw it slide into the bottom left and all three points recovered in a rare defeat for the visitors. However, our last visit to Badgers Hill was unique with Westbury United using it as a temporary base whilst their ground was undergoing a few safety checks.

The Fun Bus is in operation for this fixture with the departure time from Silver Street being 11:30 am, and the fare sitting at £15, do let Mike Hawkins or the club’s socials know if you’d like to book a seat on board.

Match Preview: Willand Rovers v Shaftesbury

Rovers will be hoping to take the momentum from last week to this weekend provided the rain doesn’t get there first as we take on Shaftesbury in the Southern Football League Division One South with a 3 pm KO!

Last time out for Rovers, it was a rare Monday outing as we made the trip over to Wiltshire to take on Melksham Town where both sides needed all three on the board to push out of the clutch of the relegation zone and Willand had found the winning formula in the first ten with Charlie Bateson’s brace putting Rovers in touching distance of climbing out the drop.

This time round, it is the Rockies who will be looking to build on their promotion bid, with the side sitting inside the playoff spots, 2 points off Bishops Cleeve. Their last outing was also a trip to Melksham, where the goals were flowing, and it was the visiting side who prevailed in the 9-goal thriller, with Holmes, Burden, Morgan, Hoey & Brown sending it in to secure a vital three on the road.

One to watch for the visitors this weekend would be Harvey Bradbury who had come through the youth ranks at Portsmouth before moving on to Watford where he would have a couple of non-league loan spells before heading over to Oxford United. From the Kassam, he’d head over to the Den before settling down at Oxford City.

Numerous spells at Welling, Gosport, Dorchester, Dartford, Farnborough, Chatham and Havant & Waterlooville lead to today’s side in Shaftesbury where he looks to help the Dorset-based side jump into the Southern Premier League for the first time in their history with his experience as explained proving important in their bid.

Both sides met earlier on in the season with Rovers ahead at the break with a brace from Bailey Kempster but the hosts grouped to cause a reaction with Holmes & Hoey combining their efforts to ultimately keep the points in Dorset that evening.

For City fans not making the trip to Port Vale, Torquay fans not making the trip to Enfield & Tiverton fans not making the journey to Gloucester, show your season ticket on the turnstile and get concession entry for our game against Shaftesbury.

Saturday’s game is subject to a pitch inspection following substantial rain within the Mid Devon area but we do hope to welcome you this weekend and an important weekend it will be for both sides at the contrasting ends of the table.