SHIPSTON EXCELSIOR v GNP SPORTS…
Saturday, 3rd February:
MATCH PREVIEW…
Shipston’s manager, Steve ‘Shredder’ Hedderman comments:
"Firstly we'd like to send a warm welcome to GNP Sports. We're very much looking forward to playing the league leaders and testing ourselves against a strong team.
Obviously we are massive underdogs and for us to get anything from the match we need all our players to have their best games and for GNP not to reach the levels they've set so far.
All of the lads are up for the challenge.
It's a shame that our leading goalscorer, James Drinkwater is missing and hopefully he'll be back from injury next week but we have to be solely focussed on Saturday's game.”
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| THE SHREDDER... |
Excelsior, or ‘The Monkey Farmers’ as they are, er, ‘fondly’ known, are playing in their third season at the Midland League 3 level.
The players at Shipston pay to sign on for the club and then also pay weekly fees which means that Excelsior is desperate for sponsorship…
Any takers out there???
In 2015-16 they finished 7th of 15 teams with 15 wins from 28 games, losing just 3 times.
In 2016-17 their record was 12 wins from 26 games, drawing 5 times and they finished 5th of 14 teams.
This term they lie in a creditable 4th position with 9 wins and a draw from 15 matches, with a goals record of 41-35, a difference of +6. They have secured a total of 28 points.
Their last three matches have seen three victories: a 3-1 win v Coventrians on December 2nd, another 3-1 win v Leamington Hibs on 23rd December then a 1-2 win on the road at Enville Athletic on January 13th.
Only three matches have been played from 2/12/2017 until this weekend, therefore…
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| INNOVATIVE USE OF LUMPS OF YELLOW METAL... |
Top goalscorer James Drinkwater is not available for the GNP clash but he has scored 11 times overall this term, followed by Jake Harris with 6 and Joe Godson with 5.
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| ABSENT TOP GOALSCORER JAMES DRINKWATER... |
The most appearances have been made by Jake Harris and Nick Shurmer with 18 starts…
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| JAKE HARRIS: 18 STARTS, 6 GOALS... |
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| 'THE MONKEY FARMERS' & LOOK OUT FOR THE WORLD WAR ONE PILOT IN THE BACK ROW... BACK ROW: MUMFORD, IRELAND, CASWELL, HARRIS, PARTRIDGE, SHURMER, HEMMINGS; FRONT ROW: MOSS, EDEN, ROBBINS, WELSBY, FORD, BARTON, GREY... |
Visitors GNP Sports are playing in their inaugural season at this level and what a start they have made…
They are currently leading the division with 13 league wins, with 2 draws and are thus unbeaten. They have netted 62 times and conceded just 14, meaning a goal difference of +48 and 41 points have been amassed.
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| AT AFC SOLIHULL LAST WEEK... |
Their last three games on the last three January Saturdays have seen a 0-0 draw at home to Alcester Town, then two successive away victories, 3-4 at Continental Star and 0-5 at second-placed AFC Solihull last Saturday, a game I witnessed.
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| SCOTT HAMMOND (3) & RECENT SIGNING CONNOLL FARRELL: GOAL THREATS... |
Goalkeeper Paul Lawrence has appeared 17 times for the Sports this season, so has ex-Coventry United forward Charlie Cook, although 5 of his appearances have been from the bench.
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| PAUL LAWRENCE, RIGHT, 17 APPEARANCES FOR GNP THIS TERM... |
Wing-back Leigh Phillips leads the overall goals chart with 11, Tom Rawlings has 10, Charlie Cook has 9 and Scott Hammond has 8…
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| TOM RAWLINGS: A TRICKY CUSTOMER IN THE GNP ATTACK... |
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| SCOTT LINDLEY, CENTRE: THE BOILERMAN... |
(The above statistics are from the FullTime webpages…)
Shipston’s ground, at the Sports Centre, just off the London Road in Shipston-on-Stour has a relatively new shelter for spectators to huddle beneath and in truth, the event this weekend looks to be a fascinating encounter between the dark horses and the runaway leaders…
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| THE SHIPSTON SHELTER... |
Thanks to ‘Shredder’ for his comments and to Secretary Jennie Hopkins for additional information and images…
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| JENNIE HOPKINS: FAR RIGHT, BACK ROW... |
Coverage of the game will be found at:
…from Sunday morning…
The Mowdog…
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