Poole Town vs Berkhamsted – Match Preview
The footballing Gods were certainly looking down on the Dolphins on Saturday afternoon. We started the day in third place in the table on 55 points, 2 points behind second placed Gloucester City. After 80 minutes of our respective matches,we were level at Basingstoke giving us 56 points whilst Gloucester City were 2-1 ahead at Chertsey putting them on 60 points, a gap of 4. On 90 minutes Shaq scored his 31st goal of the season to put us 2-1 up. Roll on to the 94th minute and what an incredible coincidence, both opposing teams, Basingstoke and Chertsey were awarded penalties. As we know Adam Parkes amazingly saved the Basingstoke kick to preserve our win and move us onto 58 points. Chertsey converted their kick which dropped Gloucester City back to one point giving them 58 and falling behind us on goal difference!! Just to complete the remarkable sequence of events, our next opponents Berkhamsted scored their winner at Taunton also in the 94th minute.
We now turn our attention to the visit of Berkhamsted on Saturday ko 3pm. They have made a very impressive start to life in this league after promotion from Southern League Division One Central last season. They are currently in 8th place (P30 W12 D9 L9 45 points) and put in a great performance on Saturday to take all three points at struggling Taunton in a 3-2 win.
The club is managed by Chris Devane who has overseen much of the club’s success in recent years. Chris has cemented himself at the helm of Berkhamsted FC and looks to steer an ambitious squad to more success this season. He has looked to improve his attacking options and has recently brought in the very experienced Lewis Rolfe from Chesham United. Rolfe made over 250 appearances for Chesham and played a significant part in their promotion campaign in 2023/24.
The seasons top scorer on 12 goals and club captain is JJ Lacey who is something of a non-league legend, with over 200 goals in his 350+ senior appearances. More than 100 of those have been for Berkhamsted. He was also the top scorer in the 2023/24 Emirates FA Cup, beating Erling Haaland to the award.
Form Guide
Poole Town DDWLWW 3RD
We have won our last two matches after the defeat at Weymouth, giving us 11 points from our last six matches with a goal difference of +2.
Berkhamsted FC WDDLDW 7th
Wins at Taunton (3-2) and Uxbridge (3-0) along with three 1-1 draws give The Comrades 9 points from their last six matches. Their best away performance of the season has been the 3-0 win at Hungerford in December.
We go into an intriguing set of matches over the next four weeks. After Berkhamsted on Saturday we entertain Gloucester City (28th March) and then travel The Avenue to face the resurgent Magpies (7th March) before coming back to Tatnam to entertain Taunton Town (14th March), quite a lot to look forward to.
To finish this week, a warning from Tim Allen writing his Berkhamsted match report from Taunton on Saturday: “The late goal took the wind out of Gary Johnson’s men from the South West somewhat. And it was down to the Berko boys to see the game out safely, collecting another win, another three points, and providing a reminder to everyone that we’re Berko, we score at the end” So be warned!!!
Enjoy the game
Neil Wellington.