The Match Background

A reacquaintance of the Greens and the Doughboys will be a first between the two sides since the curtailed 2019/20 season when both were in the United Counties League Premier Division. Since then, the geographical reorganisation of the league – and the Doughboys promotion last season – has kept the two sides apart, but they’ll reconvene on Saturday afternoon for a first ever cup meeting. The Greens will travel to Northamptonshire in buoyant mood after last weekends gritty 1-0 victory over Hucknall Town in league action. Those three points were a most welcome start to the campaign given the Greens were without as many as seven first team players through injury and suspension. The game looked nailed on for a 0-0 stalemate before Billy Gilles was on hand to help force home an 85th minute Greens winner. Most sides in the league were in action in midweek, but with the Greens contest with Deeping Rangers moved to next Tuesday, the visitors have enjoyed a full week of preparation. Hosts Wellingborough, meanwhile, make their competitive bow this season on Saturday, with their Northern Premier League Division One Midlands season not due to get underway until a week on Saturday. The Greens then, will hope to make the most of their competitive edge as they look to cause an upset and progress through to the Preliminary Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 2016.

Team News

Player/Manager Tom Ward will head into Saturday’s FA Cup tie facing much similar issues to those he did last weekend against Hucknall. Joe Smith will return after being unavailable for the league opener last weekend while Max Ward will also hope to continue to shake off a pre-season niggle by following up a start against Hucknall with another this weekend. Captain Charlie Ward, and Tom himself of course, will both remain sidelined this weekend as they both serve the second game of their suspensions. Another man in a similar position is fellow defender Cameron Hill, who also has one more game to sit out ahead of the weekend. And that theme of little change will continue elsewhere too, with Kyle Watkins a continued injury worry after he suffered a groin problem in the pre-season contest at Newark Town. It will all mean that the travelling Green Army will likely see little change in the side Tom Ward will go with on Saturday and it will also likely lead to Tom Waumsley taking the armband once again.

The Opposition

Opponents Wellingborough Town meanwhile enter the new campaign riding high on a successful, promotion winning season last time out. Having been marooned at this level for many years, the Doughboys won Premier Division South at a canter last season, finishing 12 points clear of second placed Racing Club Warwick. In the end, it was a run of 10 wins in 11 that did the trick for the Northamptonshire outfit, the only outlier in that a 1-0 defeat at Racing Club Warwick. As well as lifting the Premier Division South title, the Doughboys won the Champions of Champions trophy at the cost of the Greens former Premier Division North rivals Sherwood Colliery, and they went ever so close to completing a historic treble, losing 2-1 to Skegness Town in the Knockout Cup final at Harrowby United.

Nevertheless, the aim was always promotion for the Doughboys, returning them to step four for the first time since the 1980’s. There they’ll face the test of competing in an ultra-competitive Northern Premier League Division One Midlands where they’ll face a string of sides not all that unfamiliar to the Greens, such as Grantham Town, Anstey Nomads and Quorn AFC. Like the Greens, they’ll also be hoping to put behind them a string of disappointing FA Cup exits over recent years that hasn’t seen them progress beyond the Preliminary Round since 2010, and there’s expectation at the Dog & Duck that the Doughboys will hold their own at step four and use last seasons success to continue to compete.

They’ll certainly fancy their chances too, especially after retaining a decent core of their promotion winning squad. Nehemiah Richard-Noel’s committal to the club after scoring 40 goals in just 47 games last season was an integral aspect of the clubs summer business. Also retaining Jessi Obeng, himself after 20 goals last season means the Doughboys will certainly not be short of a goal-scoring threat this coming season. They laced that attacking prowess with a strong defence, keeping 19 clean sheets across the campaign, in no small part helped by experienced former Kettering Town man Brett Solkhon who himself contributed 12 goals across 46 appearances last campaign.

Previous Meetings

The Greens and the Doughboys were once regular opponents when both were in the United Counties League Premier Division. Split when the Premier Division broke into two regionalised leagues, the two sides have not met since the 2019/20 season – one ultimately chalked off due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. That most recent trip into Northamptonshire resulted in a 3-1 defeat which followed up a 5-0 thrashing the previous season – the Greens featuring Joe Smith that day. Smith also featured as the Greens had slightly more luck earlier in the campaign as they beat the Doughboys 2-1 the last time the two sides met at Eslaforde Park, Michael Hayden the scorer on that occasion in a side also featuring current club captain, Charlie Ward. Overall, though, the Greens record does not read too well and in all, the Greens have won just eight of 27 fixtures played, losing 15 and drawing four.

The Match Details

Admission to The Dog & Duck Stadium (NN8 2DP) on Saturday afternoon is priced at £12 for adults and £9 for concessions with under-sixteen’s free (alongside a paying adult). If you are booked on the supporters coach to the game tomorrow, please note it will be leaving the ground at 10:30am sharp. Saturday’s match referee is Luke Pilley, and he is assisted on the day by Luke Addis and Paul Speakman. Kick-off in Northamptonshire is scheduled for 3:00pm.

Words; Oliver Atkin