The festive season wouldn’t be the same without a tasty Boxing Day derby game and this year the Season of Goodwill has served up a trip to Godmanchester Rovers for us to get our teeth into. Rovers are no strangers to us but are one of only a handful of sides we have yet to play in the UCL Premier Division South this season.
We can reasonably expect to be reuniting with several old friends when the sides line up at 1.00pm on Boxing Day. Former Stute Dan Brown has featured regularly on the Rovers’ scoresheet this season and his former Histon teammates Sam Collison and Guy Motley have also appeared in a Rovers shirt in recent weeks. The latest former Stute to appear at Godmanchester is Mattia D’Angelo, who made 17 appearances for our first team this season, mainly from the bench, before switching to Rovers last week. Matt Greene is another player who has served both clubs with distinction but may still be serving a suspension on Boxing Day after being sent off in November.
It perhaps goes without saying that Matty Allen will be a person of interest to both sides as the striker had an outstanding goalscoring record with Rovers before parting with the club last season. Matty has scored 7 goals in 15 starts for us this season but is still one goal behind the fit again Connor Barnes, who has 8 in 13 games.
The Boxing Day encounter will be our fifth visit to Bearscroft Lane since 2017 and we have come away victorious on each of the previous occasions. The latest was a 5-1 win in April this year when Matt Hayden, Jake Kerins, Max York, Connor Barnes and Bubba Camara shared the goals between them.
A glance at the league table tells us the type of season that Godmanchester Rovers are experiencing. With the UCL now confirming that two sides will be relegated at the end of the season, Rovers will have some work to do over the remainder of the season if they are to make up the seven points gap between themselves and Bugbrooke St Michaels in 17th place.
On the fitness front, Matty Allen left the field last weekend following a collision with the Bugbrooke goalkeeper but has indicated that he will be fit to face his former club. Tom Binder is likely to be out for another few weeks but there are no other injury updates. The main concern for Chris Nunn therefore is that his players give in to the temptation to have a second slice of Christmas pudding the day before the game.
Admission prices are £7.00 for adults, £5 for seniors and £2 for Under 16s. The postcode for your SatNav is PE29 2LQ, but with a larger than average crowd expected, car parking spaces in the local area may be hard to find. You may need to be prepared to walk the last few hundred yards to the ground. See it as an opportunity to work off some of the Christmas excess.
All that remains is to wish Histon followers everywhere a very Merry Christmas. May your glass be full of bubbles and your mouth full of cake.
Have a good one everybody. Cheers!
