Page 4 - Yate Town FC v Hanwell Town 130822

WELCOME

Good afternoon and welcome to this afternoon’s first home game of the 2022/23 Southern
League Premier South season as we host newly promoted Hanwell Town. We’d like to extend
a particularly warm welcome to the players, supporters and officials of this afternoon’s
opponents and wish them a safe journey back down the M4 this evening.

It only feels like a month ago that we ended the season in defeat to Gosport but that was
the end of an enjoyable and successful season and we must not forget the first to be
completed in three years due to the cruel COVID pandemic. After a summer break we return
to the South West Interiors stadium to cheer on a new manager and a fresh squad, the
product of a busy period behind the scenes. Peter Beadle joined us at the start of May and
needs no introduction with a comprehensive set of stats as a player followed by
management experience at NLS step 2 and 3. Alongside Beads we welcome back Stuart
Fleetwood, this time in the role of Assistant Manager, with Dan Gillespie staying on as coach.
Jonny Evans comes in as physio and Gary Webb is back as KitMan to keep the machine
running. Olly Mehew and Joe Tumelty are the only players that remain from last season but
Beads has built a squad with plenty of familiar faces from the Southern League enhanced
with very capable youth loans from Bristol City and Chippenham Town.
A busy pre-season saw some solid results culminating in an exciting 3-3 draw against City
U23 with the crossbar the stopper what would have been an impressive win coming back
from a half time deficit of 0-3. Prior to that we had enjoyed away victories at Cheltenham
Saracens and Hallen before a 0-0 draw at Slimbridge on the hottest day of the summer! A
Friday night trip to the Forest saw us beat Cinderford Town 0-6 (our last League visit there
ended in a 5-0 defeat!) before we were hosted by Bishops Cleeve and came away 0-5 victors
with quick thinking Joe Tumelty netting a free kick from his own half. Bath City was our first
run out at home and proved a sterner test but the slow start and early goals apart it was a
balanced competition with the Bluebells holding their own in the context of the opposition.
Our first league action took us to the capital to face a Hendon side which had reinforced
significantly since last season. The starting line up included nine new players with only three
on the bench from last season. The Bluebells started well enough and had opportunities to
open the scoring early on but it was a solo run and rasping drive from Brandon Smalley
which left the keeper clawing at fresh air and gave Yate the lead on 37 minutes. Half time
saw Hendon come out with the expected press to search for that equaliser. The new 4G
surface and temperatures in the upper 20s’ tested both sets of players and it was Hendon
who had the majority of chances however an incredible rear guard action by the Bluebells
defensive unit helped secure the three points, in particular Martin Horsell between the sticks
who repeatedly stopped what looked like certain goals. A long and hot journey home but
made easier with a league victory in the bag.
Today we welcome Hanwell Town to the South West Interiors Stadium. ’The Geordies’ won
promotion to the Southern Premier Division South after winning the Isthmian South Central
Division play-off final against the team that finished runners-up (Hanwell finished in fourth
spot). On the route to promotion Hanwell won 21 of their 36 matches only losing 6 games
and drawing the remainder. They scored 83 times only conceding 37 times, the second best
defensive record in that league behind the champions Bracknell. With an established squad,
but the usual new signings to strengthen post promotion, this will be a testing afternoon for
the Bluebells.
Regards,
Iain