Freemantle Preview

About this time every year winter gives way to spring and it starts getting lighter, and every year I'm always surprised by this, as though it's a new and exciting phenomena I've completely forgotten about. Which it is. A bit like Lee Fielder playing ninety minutes. There are other things that are much harder to forget though, like shipping seven goals at home to Locksley back in 2003, or going in at half-time five down to Northend at Botley Rec, not to mention remembering that you said, "I don't think we played that bad," in the pub after a seven-one tonking from AFC Bassett at Cutbush Lane. The kind of results that happen before Christmas, putting paid to any realistic chances of Burridge getting promotion.

So here we are in mid February with Southampton Senior Division leaders Freemantle due to visitor Burridge this Saturday afternoon, and guess what? The season hasn't petered out
to a nice relaxing mid-table finish. No. Instead the hosts find themselves in the box seat for second place. What happened? Well, they stopped getting whooped for one. Their heaviest defeat being 4-2 at home to Comrades. They will be missing three members of their back line though. Keeper Ben Stanfield is in Florida, left-back Luke Sanderson is working, while right back Jay Schwodler is out for the season after breaking his arm last Saturday.

With any luck Freemantle will have the cigars out, as they are country miles ahead of the pack. I doubt it though. The Freemantle pub's not the worst boozer around, but nearby Shirley high-street's got a few dodgy ones, and sides from that neck of the woods have always got a few midfielders who can mix it. So have Burridge. Mark Reeves and Justin Newman have seen it all before a hundred times, so that won't be a factor. There's no previous, the two teams have never met, so all there's left to do is look forward to what should be an eventful game.