Gray hopes to end home woe against Lewes (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Gray hopes to end home woe against Lewes

8:00am Friday 5th March 2010 in Football By John Boyman

BASINGSTOKE Town will be hoping to turn their poor home form around in front of a bumper crowd on Saturday.

The club are running a “Football for a Fiver, Kids for a Quid” promotion and manager Frank Gray is hoping to see plenty of supporters at the Camrose as his side look to end their recent problems at home with a win against struggling Lewes (kick-off 3pm).

“Hopefully we will get a big crowd to watch on Saturday,” he said. “It’s a good incentive the club are offering and it would be good to get a few more through the gates.

“Hopefully we can put on a performance for them as well because it’s long overdue at home. We are looking to improve our form at the Camrose and Saturday would be a great time to kick-start that.”

Basingstoke have been struggling badly at the Camrose of late, winning just once on home soil since August and losing their last five.

Saturday’s game should provide them with a good opportunity to remedy this as relegation-threatened Lewes are yet to win away from home this season – but Gray is taking nothing for granted.

“They will be battling for everything they can get so we will need to be on top of our game to come away with three points,” he said. “It will not be easy, you can be sure of that.

“Lewes have given a lot of people a tough game recently. In the last month or so, nobody has been able to roll them over.”

Lewes may be ensconced in the relegation zone but they held Basingstoke to a 0-0 draw when the teams met in Sussex back in September, with Ross Kitteridge producing a string of good saves to earn a point for Town.

England youth international winger David Wheeler was particularly impressive that day and the Basingstoke defence will have to keep a close eye on him this time around. However, Gray looks set to stick with the 4-4-2 system he has been operating of late.

“We played 3-5-2 at Lewes and they handled it well,” he said.

Town’s main injury worry concerns goalkeeper Richard Barnard, who missed the 5-1 defeat to Newport through illness.

Gray is hoping that he will be fit enough to return between the posts on Saturday but has no other major concerns.