Basingstoke Town v Woking

Basingstoke Town v Woking
3pm on Saturday 14 July 2007

The first pre-season friendly game sees Frank Gray?s young Cards travel to The Camrose to take on Francis Vines?s Blue Square South team.

WOKING

For Woking fans it will be the first chance to see a host of unfamiliar players in action. Only six of the 16 players on contract for the new season were at Kingfield at the start of last season: new captain Tom Hutchinson, Matt Ruby, Danny Bruce, Goma Lambu, Giuseppe Sole and Jerome Maledon. (Jerome, one of three Academy graduates in the squad, is still a relative unknown to most Woking fans since he spent much of last season on loan to Carshalton Athletic and has yet to make his first team debut.) Assuming everyone?s fit, there should be a chance to see new defenders Paul Lorraine (ex-AFC Wimbledon) and Jay Gasson (ex-Farnborough). In the middle of the park we can expect to see Matt Pattison (another ex-Farnborough recruit), Bradley Quamina (ex-Yeading) and Matt Gray, a familiar face from the Sutton sides of recent years. Up front, Cards fans will be particularly keen to see how prolific striker Michael Charles, the third capture from Cherrywood Road, gets on and to get a glimpse of Marvin Morgan, the other ex-Yeading recruit and another player with an impressive goal tally in the Conference South last season. More generally, Cards fans will be hoping to see some early signs of the more attractive football which Frank Gray has promised.

Frank Gray may possibly give a run-out to a few trialists or one or two of the Academy lads who have been training with the first team this week. The latter are understood to include Billy Hussey, David Shin, Dileno Sam-Yorke, Kevin Maclaren and Ross Warner.

BASINGSTOKE

The Dragons have also benefited from Farnborough?s misfortunes, with four recruits making the short journey to The Camrose: Sean Hankin, Steve Laidler, Paul Harkness and ex-Shot Tyron Smith. Another new signing is 19 year-old midfielder Ben Wells, recently released by Swindon Town. But he at least will be a familiar face to ?Stoke fans, having had a period on loan at the club last season. A blow for Basingstoke is the recent news that first-choice keeper Stuart Searle, who has had a coaching role at Chelsea, will be joining the Blues on a full-time basis.

Among trialists are rumoured to be Nick Burton and ex-Card Ben Townsend.

Basingstoke finished 19th in the Conference South last season, just escaping relegation.

ADMISSION PRICES
?6 for adults and ?3 for others, with ?1 extra for a seat in the main stand.


GETTING THERE

Basingstoke Town FC
The Camrose
Western Way
Basingstoke RG22 6EZ


By car

The following directions are from the Basingstoke website:

From M3 (simple route):
Exit at Junction 7 - (A30) follow dual carriageway to mini roundabout - over roundabout. Up to a large roundabout, take the 2nd exit into Western Way and the ground car park is 50 yards on the right. Entrance to the ground is via 2 turnstiles opposite the Social Club.
Alternative directions:- Do not take the 2nd exit into 'Western Way' but go straight over the large roundabout and get into the RIGHT HAND SLIP LANE as you pass the 'Main Stand' on your left. Turn RIGHT at the traffic lights (approx. 50 yds) at MacDonalds. Follow the road round and park your car, walk back over the pedestrian crossing and into the ground's 'Winchester Road' gate to the left of the main stand. Entrance to the ground is via two turnstiles opposite the Social Club.
From M3 (via roundabouts):
Exit at Junction 6 - get into left hand lane up to large roundabout - take 1st exit (A30) and follow the dual-carriageway to the next roundabout - straight across (A30).
At the next roundabout take the 1st exit (A30) past 'B&Q' on the left up to the next set of traffic lights (as you drive up the carriageway you'll see the ground on the right). At the next roundabout - take the 5th exit into 'Western Way' - the ground car park is 50 yards on the right. Entrance to the ground is via two turnstiles opposite the Social Club.
Alternative directions:- as immediately above, taking the 1st exit (A30), but then KEEP IN LEFT HAND LANE past 'B&Q' on the left and FILTER LEFT as you approach the traffic lights. Turn LEFT at the traffic lights ('MacDonalds' is on the corner) and follow the road round to car park. Park your car, walk back over the pedestrian crossing and into the ground's 'Winchester Road' gate to the left (as you face it) of the main stand. Entrance to the ground is via two turnstiles opposite the Social Club.
By train
It?s an easy journey by train from Woking to Basingstoke, but the ground is a good half hour?s walk from the station. If you don?t fancy walking, you should be able to get a taxi at the station. The 13.46 from Woking gets in at 14.05. On the way back the best bets look to be the 17.17, arriving at 17.40, or the 17.31, which gets into Woking at 17.49. The AA Route Planner directions from the station are:
? start out at Alencon Link
? at Eastrop roundabout take the third exit onto Festival Way (signposted Festival Place
? bear left onto New Road
? turn left onto Winchester Road
? at Winchester Road roundabout take the second exit onto Winchester Road (A30)
? at Brighton Hill roundabout take the third exit onto Western Way
? at mini-roundabout continue forward on Western Way and carry on until you reach the ground.

Come on, you Cards!