Chippenham Town Vs Weymouth
National League South, Hardenhuish Park, Saturday 22 March, 3PM
Crunch time, isn’t it, Terras fans?
With seven games to go, we find ourselves 13 points off safety.
Though it may be too late to survive, as Warren Feeney said, “all we can do is keep going.”
Standing in our way are Chippenham Town, who are winless in five matches.
A rare occasion where we go into a match in better form than our opponents!
PREVIOUS RESULTS…
We’ve beaten today’s opponents 21 times – one of them was an 11-0 win back in 1934, which, unsurprisingly, this is our largest win versus The Bluebirds to date!
The Wiltshire side have been able to match us slightly better in recent times, however, as we find ourselves winless against tonight’s visitors in six games.
The most recent contest was our first Tuesday game of the season, where we were handed a 2-0 defeat at home back in August.
THE OPPOSITION…
Though there are debates as to whether the club was founded in either 1873 or 1884, make no mistake, this the oldest football club in the whole of the National League South.
But, despite their longevity, their ascent up the football pyramid has been a gradual one.
It took until the end of the 2016-17 season for The Bluebirds to earn themselves a place in the National League South, getting promoted with a record 103 points, where they have remained ever since.
The Wiltshire outfit have stabilised their status in England’s sixth tier, with an average position of 13th since their arrival.
Promotion hopes, however, have alluded tonight’s opponents, besides one stellar 2021-22 season, which saw them occupy seventh place, squeezing them into the play-offs.
However, ambitions of fulfilling fifth-tier fantasies were thwarted with a penalty-shootout loss to Dartford in the play-off quarter-finals.
Since then, Chippenham have recruited Gary Horgan as gaffer, who has now been part of the club’s coaching staff for almost eight years.
Though perhaps uncharacteristic of our season, we are heading into today’s game in better recent form than our opponents.
The Bluebirds have not been flying high of late, being winless in their last five, losing three and conceding 11 during that short timeframe.
Though, as Feeney said yesterday, Hardenhuish Park is still a “difficult place to go.”
