PREVIEW: Forest Green Rovers vs Wealdstone
- Aryan Jolly
- 20 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Gary Waddock’s Wealdstone are looking to bounce back after a narrow defeat against Gateshead in midweek as they head to Gloucestershire to face Robbie Savage’s Forest Green Rovers for the third meeting between the sides this season.
The Basics
Date: Saturday, March 14
Venue: The Bolt New Lawn, Nailsworth, GL6 OFG
Competition: The Enterprise National League
Kick Off Time: 3:00pm
Broadcast Information: The match will be available to watch via DAZN (non-UK residents only)
News From The Vale
Waddock, who turned 64 earlier this week, said “we didn’t hit the levels or the standards that we’ve been able to reach in the last few games” after the Stones’ midweek defeat. You can find his full post-match reaction here.
The week beginning 23rd March is set to be one of the biggest weeks of Wealdstone’s season, if not the club’s entire history:
Monday will see Gary Waddock host his ‘Meet the Manager’ event at the Vale. The clubhouse and bar will be open from 7:00pm, and the Q&A session will start promptly at 7:30pm.
On Wednesday, the Stones take on Yeovil Town in a crucial match which could, depending on Saturday’s result, see them usurp their points tally from last season with seven games to go.
Ahead of the match, Nick Semaca will host his second Q&A event with Stones fans, hoping that the recent extension of the lease at the Vale will allow him to speak with greater certainty than previously. The event is set to start at 6:15pm.
No advance booking is required to attend either session.
Finally, Saturday, March 28 will see the Stones take on Marine in the FA Trophy Semi-Final, with the winner securing a place at Wembley. At the time of writing, there are a very limited number of tickets remaining, which you can purchase by clicking this link.
The Opposition
Recent form: DLWWL
League Position: 6th
Expectations at The Bolt New Lawn were high at the start of the season, with Robbie Savage being given the task of helping Forest Green to go one better than last season and win the National League.
After a very strong start to the campaign, which saw them unbeaten in the league until October, the Green have slightly fallen off the boil over the last few months.
Their lack of consistency has seen them fall to sixth place in the fifth tier, and they are in 16th place in the form table.
Previous meetings: The two sides first met at the Vale earlier this season. The Stones put in an excellent performance, and showed great resilience to secure a point after falling behind due to Isaac Moore’s header.
The two clubs were then drawn against each other in the FA Trophy quarter-final, and the Stones travelled to Gloucestershire and produced one of the most memorable away days in the club’s history.
Enzio Boldewijn opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, making a well-timed run to get on the end of Nathan Tshikuna’s corner!
The Stones should have doubled their lead before the break as they executed an excellent counterattack, which gave Dylan Kadji a virtual tap-in, but the midfielder swept his shot over the bar.
After the home side had a couple of big chances saved by Dante Baptiste, Olufela Olomola scored the second goal of the game just before the hour mark. The ball ricocheted to the frontman inside the box, and he duly poked home!
Robbie Savages men pushed to get back into the game, but Sean Adarkwa, returning from injury, sealed the victory in added time. Sak Hassan pulled the ball back to Adarkwa as he was just inside the box, and he produced a well-directed finish to rubber-stamp a terrific performance!
The danger man - Tom Knowles: In a season where Forest Green have churned through an incredible number of players, Tom Knowles has been a relative ever-present.
The versatile 27-year-old actually played under Waddock when he was breaking through at Cambridge United and more recently at Walsall, and he possesses a wealth of EFL and National League Experience.
This campaign is already the highest-scoring season of Knowles’ career, as he has netted 11 times and provided a handful of assists thus far.
Knowles has been in excellent form in recent weeks, scoring three times in his last four games, and Waddock will have to use all of his knowledge to nullify him on Saturday.
Buy Your Tickets Now!
A victory for the Stones on Saturday will see them pass the 50-point mark, which many fans see as the first barometer for survival in the National League, but the players will need your vociferous support to secure the victory!
Make sure to buy your tickets now via the link below:
