Town need boost

11:14am Friday 25th April 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

BASINGSTOKE caretaker-manager Steve Richardson has one last chance to secure a league win on Saturday.

His short Blue Square South reign ends against visiting Maidenhead United and the last time the Camrose side celebrated victory in the league was at Maidenhead back in the middle of January.

Then, a brace from Ben Wells secured a come-from-behind 2-1 win at the Berkshire club.

The omens for Saturday are good for Richardson and his side go into the game on the back of three draws, including one against champions Lewes in their last outing on home soil.

He is expected to name an unchanged squad as defender Tom Bird is expected to have recovered from a back injury picked up in Monday's 3-3 draw at Weston-super-Mare.

While Saturday is Town's final league fixture, it is not the team's last action of the season as they still have the final of the Hampshire Senior Cup on May 10 at Dean Court, in Bournemouth, against Farnborough.

Maidenhead go into the game unbeaten in their last four games.

And, in their last two outings, former Town shot stopper Chris Tardif has kept a clean sheet - in Saturday's 3-0 win at Havant and a goalless draw with visiting St Albans on Tuesday night.

It is the Berkshire side's best run of the season and striker Manny Williams looks in red-hot form, with five goals in his last five games.

Richardson said: "It would be nice to finish the season with a win and we showed great character against Weston to come back from 3-1 down to get a point from the game."

He added: " I think it will be an open game as Maidenhead are now safe. They will be looking to continue their good run, but we want to win, which will set us up nicely ahead of the cup final.

"It was would also be good to get a clean sheet which will give my back four some confidence."

Richardson's final game in charge will be the Hampshire Senior Cup final and club will continue their quest to appoint a new manager next week, when they interview their shortlist of six candidates.

Paul Carney, the club's operations director, said: "The club have had a number of interesting applications and ideally we hope to appoint someone before the Hampshire Senior Cup final, which will give him a chance to meet the players face-to-face and see them in action."