Finally a home fixture to kick off our campaign! It’s the first time in three seasons we begin our league season at the Bob Lucas stadium and just the third occasion in the last eight! We will however be looking for better luck than previous years on match day no.1 and reverse a trend of four losses on the bounce. The last draw was a 0-0 stalemate in torrential conditions in Altrincham in 2020 and the last win the year before at Maidstone.
Terras manager Warren Feeney is “Looking forward to the season starting and getting the fans behind us”. He goes on to say that “Obviously we want to hit the ground running but we have to be patient with all the new players will have to gel together in the squad”.
Evesham United, our opponents today, in some way appear to be linked to our recent journey. We last played the Worcestershire outfit in the 2011/12 Southern Premier season, the last time both teams were in that division before today. Our relegation at the end of last season coincided with a promotion for our visitors meaning that in April we were two divisions apart but are now league rivals once more in August.
Our last meeting against the Robins was however one to forget under manager Brendan King, a 0-4 drubbing half way through the season. We did however manage a 2-2 draw earlier in the campaign. That day we were reliant on two goals around the half hour mark to peck out a point from the game.
The previous season were happier times against the Worcestershire outfit though as we took maximum points from the two league games. Firstly a large August Bank Holiday following egged on the team to win away and this was followed up by a 2-0 victory at home in December, both games under Ian Hutchinson’s second stint as manager, feathers in his cap, a dynamic duo of victories!
Of the handful of names that have played for both clubs, Andy Preece is the one to stand out. Born in Evesham, he played for his home town club for a season before being snapped up by Northampton Town managed by none other than former Terras manager Graham Carr. Preece was loaned out to Weymouth in the 1988/99 season where he scored 3 times from 11 appearances. He went on to have a notable career in the football league before eventually turning his hand to management.
Can Feeney’s men knock the Robins off their perch to get our season off to a flyer?
Match preview by
Duncan Gardner
