East Cowes Victoria and Newport IW have home ties in the Wessex Premier and Division 1 today (Saturday).
14th-placed Cowes Sports travel to Somerset to face bottom-of-the-table Wincanton Town, who are yet to record their first league victory of the season.
The Yachtsmen have been in poor form of late with 3 successive defeats, conceding 13 goals without reply.
Cowes, however, have been missing key players through injury and suspension such as centre-forward Jordan Browne, winger Jared Tout-Walters and defender Ryan Hughes.
Co-manager Ian Potts says of his sides prospects:
“We are slowly getting players back. Our last game against Wincanton in the FA Vase (a 5-5 draw) was a weird game of football. We go there looking to get our season back on track and hopefully put in a performance that merits a victory.
“Everyone is up for it and looking forward to it, but Wincanton are not to be taken lightly and we respect them.”
Also in the Wessex Premier, 17th-placed East Cowes Victoria host 3rd-placed Sherborne Town.
Vics have also been on a recent run of poor form, having failed to record a victory since beating Christchurch on 6th September; Sherborne are on a 5-game unbeaten run.
In Wessex Division 1, 9th-placed Newport welcome one of the strongest sides in their division – 3rd-placed Frimley Green.
Port have been in superb league form of late with 5 wins and a draw in their last 6 games.
However, Newport suffered a setback midweek, losing 5-2 to United Services Portsmouth in the Wessex League Cup.
Manager Joe Butcher says of the defeat:
“I’m not disappointed. This was our third game in 9 days and the second game with only 1 sub, and we had two players injured first half that had to continue playing with knocks. To be honest, it could’ve easily been 5-5 with the chances we missed.
“That was their strongest side, so it gives us a good chance to analyse the game before we play them in the league Tuesday.
“The way the squad is spread so thin, it wouldn’t have benefited us having another midweek cup game to play, and it gave valuable experience to the young players.”
Joe says of today’s game:
“We should welcome a few back Saturday but still have widespread injuries to contend with. Like any game we’ll approach it in a way we want to try and win the game.”
In Isle of Wight football…
COWES SPORTS RESERVES 1-3 WEST WIGHT
West Wight have gone 5 points clear at the top of Harwoods Division 1 by beating Cowes Sports Reserves at the Zilch Waste Stadium on Friday evening.
Chris Elliott opened the scoring for the away side with a 23rd minute rocket into the right side of the goal (0-1). Brad Thomas added a second for West Wight with a glancing header from a corner (0-2). Euan St John Biggs pulled a goal back for the Yachtsmen with a shot from outside the penalty area shortly before half time (1-2).
There were no further goals in the 2nd half until the final minute when Josh Daley added a third for West Wight with a superb strike (1-3).
In the big game in Isle of Wight football today (Saturday), 2nd-placed Whitecroft & Barton Sports take on 3rd-placed Ventnor at Sandy Lane. W&B are 5 points behind West Wight but have 2 games in hand on the league leaders.
Isle of Wight football fixtures for Saturday 11th October
Games to kick off at 14:00 unless otherwise shown
Junior A Cup
Ventnor Reserves v East Cowes Victoria Athletic Reserves
Shanklin Reserves v Brading Town Reserves
Harwoods Division 1
Oakfield v Shanklin (13:00)
Brading Town v Osborne Coburg
Northwood SJ v High Park
W&B v Ventnor
Division 2
ECS v Ryde Saints
Newchurch v Pan Community
Newport Reserves v Sandown & Lake
Seaview v Binstead & COB
Combination 1
High Park Reserves v W&B Reserves
Osborne Coburg Reserves v ECS Reserves
Sandown & Lake Reserves v Bembridge & Vectis Reserves
Combination 2
Bembridge & Vectis A v Ventnor A
Binstead & COB Reserves v West Wight A
Ryde Saints Reserves v High Park A
Oakfield A v Sandown & Lake A (15:30)
