Match Preview

Hanwell Town arrive at Hillgrounds for the first Saturday home league game of the season just the two and a half months in.

Formed in 1920, Hanwell arrived in this league having raced to the Spartan South Midlands League title in 2014, losing just one league game all season and amassing a total of 111 points, beating Ampthill Town by a massive 14 points. The club finished a creditable seventh in their first season at step 4, ten points off the play offs. Their second season in 2015-16 was a lot less successful, avoiding relegation by four points. Eleventh place last season represented a degree of stability. Rovers took four points from Hanwell last season, a 1-1 draw away from home complimented a 3-2 victory here at Hillgrounds.

Hanwell lifted themselves off the bottom of the table last weekend with just their second victory of the season, against the club that has now replaced them at the foot of the table, Fleet. The Geordies, as they are known due to the large North-Eastern population in that area of London when the club were formed, have only found the net seven times in the league this season so far. One name that they would be desperate to see on their team-sheet to help their goal scoring problem is Billy Healey. The forward re-joined the club mid-way through last season on dual-registration from Isthmian Premier Division side Wingate & Finchley, where he had scored forty-three goals in just under a season and a half. Healey was a key figure in the club’s promotion from the Spartan South Midlands League with another thirty five goal season. However, Healey suffered injury in a game early in his spell against AFC Dunstable; he had suffered a ruptured colon in an innocuous collision with an opponent and missed the rest of the season. In fact, there was a brief time when there were genuine fears for Healey’s life as the severity of his injury became apparent. Happily, he was released from hospital in the summer (this news received the loudest cheer of the night at Hanwell’s awards evening). Hanwell hosted Wingate & Finchley in a benefit match for Healey this preseason and a JustGiving webpage has raised over £1000 to help the player. All at Kempston, no doubt, wish Billy a speedy recovery and hope to see him return to playing as soon as possible.

Rovers have risen to fifth place in the table with a run of impressive victories in the league since the late disappointment at Hartley Witney. In that time, Kempston have seen off Marlow, Aylesbury United, Hayes & Yeading and Beaconsfield and made progress in the league cup. The only black mark against Rovers in that time was the FA Trophy defeat to Hythe Town. Ben Shepherd will be missing for Rovers for this game after his fifth yellow card of the season at Beaconsfield resulted in a one game ban. Adam Moussi has left to seek more game time elsewhere, he made just one start for the Walnut Boys and came off the bench four times in his short spell here.