7th-placed Newport face 6th-placed Fleetlands in Wessex Division 1 at Beatrice Avenue this afternoon (Saturday).
The teams from 2nd to 5th place compete in the playoffs; however, 5th-placed Hamworthy United are ineligible for promotion. Port are 3 points behind Fleetlands with a superior goal difference. A win would see the County Town club leapfrog their opponents into the playoff places.
Port co-manager Joe Butcher plays down the possibility of reaching the playoffs, stating:
“We’re not focusing on playoffs. We’ll take it one game at a time. We’ve been far to inconsistent since Christmas to be thinking like that.
“It’s obviously been a disappointing week, and we’ve got a lot of injuries – 2 more from the midweek game – so it will be an opportunity for some of your youngsters to get some game time.
“Fleetlands are a very good side and have been in good form, so it’ll be a tough game.”
Also in Wessex Division 1, 4th-placed East Cowes Victoria travel to Wiltshire to take on 15th-placed Amesbury Town.
Vics have strengthened their side by through the commitment of former Cowes Sports forward Gareth Bricknell, who has been playing with Island Division 1 side West Wight.
Vics manager Alex Smith said (after the games against New Milton last Saturday and Newport midweek):
“Amesbury will be a difficult challenge.
“There is a little way to go in the league. There will be more twists and turns before the time’s up.
“New Milton have put themselves in the position where they’ll be the out-and-out favourites (for the Division 1 title).
“The big question is whether we can put some more pressure on them moving forward.”
Wessex Division 1 table (top 8) below:
In the Wessex Premier, 12th-placed Cowes Sports also travel to Wiltshire to face 3rd-from-bottom Downton.
3 points could see the Yachtsmen leapfrog the teams above them and move into the top half of the table.
Co-manager Ian Potts says of the game:
“We as a club are looking forward to going to Downton FC. It’s been a few years since we have played them in the league.
“It’s another team who have recently had a change of manager and a new influx of players and have been on a good run of results of late, and their league position is a bit untrue.
“We have had a good couple of wins ourselves, away to Portland and the Gold Cup semi final win, so it should hopefully be a interesting game.
“We will go there as usual with a game plan, respect them and hopefully pick up a result and keep trying to climb the table as we have got games coming thick and fast in the next few weeks – that’s the demands and the quality of the Wessex Premier League.”
Wessex League fixtures for Saturday, 22nd February
Wessex Premier
Downton v Cowes Sports
Division 1
Amesbury Town v East Cowes Victoria (14:00).
Newport IW v Fleetlands
Isle of Wight fixtures for Saturday, 22nd February
Harwoods Division 1
Cowes Sports Reserves v Northwood SJ
Osborne Coburg v Binstead & COB
Shanklin v W&B Sports
Vectis v Brading Town
West Wight v Bembridge
Division 2
East Cowes Sports v Newchurch
High Park v Sandown & Lake
Newport Reserves v Ryde Saints
Seaview v Oakfield
Combination 1
Bembridge Reserves v Ventnor Reserves
Brading Town Reserves v East Cowes Sports Reserves
Northwood SJ Reserves v Osborne Coburg Reserves
Sandown & Lake Reserves v West Wight Reserves
W&B Sports Reserves v Shanklin Reserves
Combination 2
High Park A v Bembridge A
Newchurch Reserves v Oakfield Reserves
Osborne Coburg A v Niton Community Reserves
Ventnor A v Sandown & Lake A
