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MATCH PREVIEW: Aldershot Town v King’s Lynn Town (H)

Following Saturday’s lunchtime defeat to Barnet FC, Aldershot Town return to the EBB Stadium for the first time since Good Friday to face King’s Lynn Town in the hope of returning to winning ways in the National League.

In association with LV Bet, Kirshon Wilkins previews the game:

Shots Squad:

Craig Tanner made his long-awaited return from the bench on Tuesday, along with Ricky Miller, who missed the last few games with a hamstring issue. Ross McCormack (Achilles), Alex Finney (hamstring op) and Alfy Whittingham (Ankle) remain side-lined.

Opposition:

Name: King’s Lynn Town

Founded: 2010 (Formally known as King’s Lynn FC who were wound up in 2009)

Nickname: The Linnets

Opposition Manager: Ian Culverhouse

Stadium: The Walks Stadium

2019/20 National League Final Position: 1st (National League North, promoted to National League as champions)

Current Position: 21st

The Gaffer:

The Bishop’s Stortford-born 56-year-old was a professional footballer before taking up management. Culverhouse played as a defender in the right-back position over an 18-year professional playing career. Culverhouse was known for his time with Tottenham Hotspur, Norwich City, Swindon Town and Brighton & Hove Albion.

In his early career, Culverhouse found first-team opportunities hard to come by at Spurs, making two league appearances, although he did get a winner’s media in the UEFA Europa League as an unused substitute against Anderlecht in the 1984 final.

In October 1985, Norwich paid £50,000 for Culverhouse who would go on to spend a decade at Carrow Road. During that time, Culverhouse won a Second Division Championship title, a fifth-place finish in the First Division and coming close to winning the League and FA Cup double.

Culverhouse played briefly for Brighton and spent four years with Swindon. He had subsequently been youth team coach at Barnet FC, Leyton Orient and Wycombe Wanderers before moving to Colchester United as assistant manager under Paul Lambert.

Culverhouse’s time at Colchester didn’t work out and he took up a position at Norwich before he joined Lambert in a move to Aston Villa in 2012. He was dismissed in 2014 before being appointed manager of King’s Lynn Town in the Southern League Premier Division in 2017.

Departed:

10 players have left the Linnets to move onto pastures new. Those released include Nathan Fox (Alfreton Town), Kairo Mitchell (Chesterfield FC), Ryan Hawkins (Lowestoft), Adam Marriott (Eastleigh FC), Jamar Loza (Woking FC), Simon Power (Harrogate Town), Danny Lupano (Derry City), Ryan Fryatt (Kettering Town) and Kyle Barker (Peterborough United). Tom Ward is without a club.

Retained:

18 players have been retained from the National League North promotion campaign. Those players include Ryan Jarvis, Alex Street, Alex Brown, Ross Barrows, Michael Clunan, Michael Gash, Chris Henderson, Sam Kelly, Rory McAuley, Florian Tsaguim, Dayle Southwell, Joe Gascoigne, Luke Johnson, Sonny Carey, Ryan Hawkins, Aaron Jones, Jordan Richards and Chris Smith.

Arrived:

16 new players have joined King’s Lynn Town this season. Signings include Tyler Denton (Chesterfield FC), Alfie Payne (Lowestoft), Elkan Baggott (Ipswich Town), Tai Fleming (Yeovil Town), Alex Kiwomya (Chesterfield FC), Simeon Jackson (Chelmsford City), Michael Gyasi (St. Ives Town), Jordan Davies (Telford United), Alex Babos (Alfreton), Cameron King (FC Halifax Town), Theo Richardson (Cleethorpes Town), Ethan Coleman (Brackley Town) and Kyle Callan-McFadden (Sligo Rovers). Players on loan include Rob Howard (Southend United), Jak Hickman (Bolton Wanderers) and Archie Mair (Norwich).

Form:

After promotion to the National League, King’s Lynn Town have struggled sitting near the bottom of the table. They are also on a three-game losing run but they have a good account of themselves against Halifax last time out and they will be looking to turn those performances into wins.

Referee:

Tonight’s referee is Matthew Russell with his assistants Jamie Pope and Marc Meeten and the fourth official officiating the game is Shelby Elson.

Match Coverage:

The match will be live-streamed and available on Shots TV Live HERE with host Mark Butler joined by former players Scott Rendell and Nick Arnold in the studio!

They’ll be there for pre-match, half-time and full-time to discuss the afternoon events and we will have an interview with Director Lewis Scard regarding plans for next season, match highlights and the pre-match interview with manager Danny Searle.

There will also be live BBC Surrey Sport Commentary from Rob Worrall and Steve Gibbs.