BASINGSTOKE Town manager Jason Bristow expects Gosport Borough to come up with a plan to stop his side when the teams meet for the third time in a week.

Gosport reached the second round of the FA Trophy with a 2-1 extra-time win over Town on Tuesday night, the sides having drawn 2-2 at The Soccer AM Stadium three days earlier.

However, Basingstoke played really well on the night, completely outplaying their in-form hosts, especially in the second half, when they kept the ball excellently.

The sides will do battle at Privett Park again on Saturday, this time in the Vanarama Conference South, and Bristow is sure that Gosport boss Alex Pike will think up a strategy to stop Town dominating in the same way again.

“Both sides will have things to think about before Saturday, but I would expect Gosport to come up with a plan to try and stop us playing at the weekend,” Bristow, pictured eft, said.

“We moved the ball really well on Tuesday, getting crosses into the area and shots on goal, so they will try to prevent that happening again.”

Gosport will go into the game as favourites, having lost just two of their last 22, a run that has seen them move up to third in the table.

They have one of the meanest defences in English football and in Justin Bennett and Matt Paterson, a strike force to be feared.

Basingstoke have been going in the other direction, with just one win in 10 seeing them drop from first to eighth in the league and go out of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy.

However, they are unbeaten in their last four games inside 90 minutes and seem to be getting back to their best.

“If we perform like we did on Tuesday night, we will win more games than we lose,” Bristow added. “We certainly deserve something after our performances in the two cup games.

“Over the last four games, we have been playing some of the top sides in the league, teams I expect to be up there challenging at the end of the season, and we haven’t lost any of them inside 90 minutes.”

Striker Liam Enver-Marum will miss Saturday’s game with an ongoing knee injury, while a toe problem is likely to keep captain and centre-back Jay Gasson out.

Midfielder Simon Dunn has an outside chance of playing, having missed the Trophy games with a hip problem, while Bristow is hopeful that Manny Williams and Shaun McAuley will be fit after both were forced off during Tuesday’s game.