We make the 140-mile round trip to the Northamptonshire town of Daventry on Saturday in search of another three points to continue our rise up the UCL Premier South table. The ten points gained from our last four games has taken us up from sixteenth place to eighth, and with the run of form we are on, the prospects of us competing at the top end of the table are starting to look a lot rosier. It is still only early days, but we have recently shown signs of being more than capable to competing at the top end of the table, which we have not done in our previous two campaigns.
Joint managers Matt and Mark, plus coach Wayne Goddard, have strengthened the side since their appointments with some astute signings, and the new attacking mentality in the team has netted us fifteen goals in our last four games. But while we may be enjoying a purple patch in our league form, Daventry Town have been heading in the opposite direction. They have picked up just two points from their last seven league matches, have fallen to fifteenth in the table and are without a home win since 22nd August. They are a side which has included a marquee goalscoring ace in their ranks in recent years which has characterized their style of play. That is no longer the case, but there is little doubt that they are a potential danger to all other clubs in the league and will do all they can to regain the place in the NPL Midlands Division that they lost in 2002/23.
The Stutes will make the journey on Saturday without Joe Greenslade-Cross, who left the field last Saturday with a dislocated rib. Club Physio Mark Galbraith estimates that the winger will be out for six to eight weeks with what sounds like a very uncomfortable injury, so Mark and Matt will need to shuffle their resources accordingly.
We have played Daventry Town on six previous occasions, but our only success so far came at the Master Abrasives Stadium last season when goals from Pharrel Anderson and Tom Binder gave us a 0-2 victory.
Admission prices at Daventry are adults £8, 18–21-year-olds and over 60s £5 and under 18s £1. Members of the armed services, NHS, Police and Fire Service employees are admitted free of charge.
A matchday programme will be available online at https://dtfc.co.uk/club-info/programmes2025-26
The Master Abrasives Stadium is in Browns Rd, Daventry NN11 4NS, but if you can’t get to the game on Saturday, we hope to see you at Bridge Road on Tuesday of next week when we take on Yaxley in a United Counties League fixture. Kick-off is at 7.45pm.
