Preparations for the Christmas festivities go on hold this weekend as the Stutes face the first of three consecutive home fixtures before the end of the year. Bugbrooke St Michaels and Eynesbury Rovers come to Bridge Road over the next two weekends, but first we entertain Northampton O.N. Chenecks this coming Saturday with a 2.00pm kick-off.
We go into this important stage of the season in good spirits after a superb away performance gave us a 4-1 win at title chasing Aylestone Park last Saturday. It was a win that came after two consecutive defeats, including an uncharacteristically flat performance at Bridge Road against Moulton.
“The best way to describe where we are at present is to say that we need to break out of this mould of being consistently inconsistent.” says joint manager Matt Payne in Saturday’s matchday programme. Few will argue with that sentiment given that our only wins in our past five games have come at venues where no other visiting side had won all season.
Northampton O.N. Chenecks come to South Cambs after ending a run of five consecutive defeats on Tuesday night with a win over Coventry United. Raymond Poku scored the only goal of that game in the 85th minute, but the biggest threat to our defence on Saturday is likely to come from Lewis Irwin, who has thirteen goals to his name so far this season.
For the Stutes, Connor Barnes ended a mini goal drought last weekend with his first goal in seven outings to take his tally for the season to seventeen. Connor was involved in all four of our goals at Aylestone Park as our front three of Danny Baulk, Jason Foster and Barnes showed that they can be virtually unplayable on their day.
Under 18s starlet Luke Kenny was one of the stand-out players last weekend, scoring his first league goal for the club on his full senior debut. Luke was only in the side as Joe O’Neill was serving a one-game suspension, meaning that M&M have a difficult decision to make ahead of Saturday’s game over whether to reinstate Joe into the side or stick with last Saturday’s lineup. The duo must also decide whether to bring Max York back into the side after the central defensive pairing of Karl Saffery and Jake Kerins restricted Aylestone Park’s attack to just a handful of half-chances.
The doors open at a festively-decorated Bridge Road at 12.30 on Saturday when the usual admission prices will apply. A range of club merchandise will be available from the club stall for you to surprise the Histon fan in your life with on Christmas morning and the matchday programme this week includes a special tribute to Danny Gould to commemorate his 250th appearance for the club.
The club bar will be open throughout the afternoon, and for those not familiar with the non-league game, you are perfectly entitled to drink your pint whilst watching the game from your seat in the stand without incurring the wroth of the club stewards.
Bring the family for some festive cheer and get behind your village team this Saturday!
