Following Tuesday evening’s disappointing 3-1 defeat to Solihull Moors, Aldershot Town are at the EBB Stadium again on Saturday, to take on Wrexham in a National League fixture.
In association with LV BET, Rob Worrall previews the game:
Shots Squad:
Lewis Kinsella, Craig Tanner and Ross McCormack all continue to make good progress in their rehabilitation from long term injuries. George Fowler is still troubled by a knee problem picked up in the Wealdstone game. Alex Finney’s hamstring problems re-occurred with his first half departure on Tuesday. Shadrach Ogie and Kodi Lyons-Foster will both now serve a suspension for receiving 5 yellow cards to date.
Opposition:
Name: Wrexham AFC
Founded: 1864
Nickname: The Dragons
Manager: Dean Keates
Stadium: Racecourse Ground
2019/20 National League Final Position: 20th (19th on PPG)
The Gaffer:
42-year-old Keates is a former player who played for Walsall, Hull City and Wrexham, amongst many others during his 20-year career. Following his retirement in 2016, his first two years in management were at Wrexham. He left the Red Dragons to join his hometown club Walsall in 2018, but was dismissed just over a year into the role with the club on the verge of relegation into League Two, which they ended up suffering. He returned to the Racecourse Ground in October 2019, following the sacking of Bryan Hughes with the club lying in 20th. It was a difficult returning campaign for Keates, but one in which he managed to avoid relegation, with the points per game calculations placing them in 19th at the end of the cut-off campaign. After a mixed start to this campaign, Keates’ Dragons have gradually started to find a bit of consistency and they are now moving into the play-off picture.
Playing Squad:
A total of 14 players left permanently over the summer. Davis Keiller-Dunn and Jake Lawler left for League clubs Oldham Athletic and Harrogate Town respectively. Others like JJ Hooper, Jazzi Barnum-Bobb, James Jennings and Luke Summerfield left for other National League sides. There were a couple of key players who did stay, despite the mass exodus. Luke Young, who has been a mainstay in the Wrexham midfield since 2018, remained at the club and has once again been key to the side this season. With so many leaving the club, lots of new faces came in. Jordan Davies re-joined the club having spent three years at Brighton to strengthen the midfield alongside James Horsfield from Scunthorpe United. Reece Hall-Johnson, Fiacre Kelleher and Jamie Reckford were all added in the defensive department while Kwame Thomas and Jordan Ponticelli came in to bolster the attack. Keates latest signing Dior Angus opened his Dragons goal account on Tuesday in the 2-0 win against Woking.
Form:
Wrexham are now unbeaten in their last 6 National League matches, with 3 wins and 3 draws. They moved up to 6th place in the National League table following Tuesday evening’s victory over Wrexham. They have the 6th best Away record in the league, with 17 points from 12 games.
Referee:
Saturday’s referee is Elliot Swallow. This season, he has taken charge of 10 National League matches, showing 42 Yellow Cards and 3 Red Cards. He took charge of Aldershot Town’s 3-0 home victory over Woking on Boxing Day.
Match Coverage:
The match will be ‘live streamed’ and available for £11.99 via ‘Shots TV Live’ and include: a pre-match show with Presenter Mark Butler starting at 1:30pm and also includes a digital match programme. You can get through to our streaming service HERE. BBC Radio Surrey Sport will also have live commentary of the game with Rob Worrall and Steve Gibbs.
