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Sandhurst F.C. Royals manager Adam Shakran insist that his stars are raring to go ahead of their appearance in the Showcase Match event this Friday night (7.45pm).
The Royals take on A.F.C. Reading in the second game of the Showcase Match series at the Arbour Park Stadium in Slough.
The match will be a contest between two of the youngest and best-improving sides in the East Berkshire League, and Shakran has praised his team for adapting well to the Premier Division so far this season.
The Royals boss explained: “After gaining promotion to the Premier Division we had to adapt very quickly to the higher standard, and we believe we’ve had a successful first half of the season.
“We didn’t really have any targets as we were still a new team and we had no idea what the Premier Division would be like. We didn’t really have any expectations for the season, but we talked about competing at the top and continuing the way we played last year.”
Sandhurst earned promotion to the top flight having finished in third position in Division One last season. It was a successful campaign for The Royals in which the team scored an impressive 115 goals at an average of more than four goals per-game. Their total was the most goals scored by any side in the East Berkshire League last year.
Sandhurst thrashed A.F.C Reading 5-0 in the First Round of the League Cup competition early on last season, and followed that up with a 6-3 win at home in Division One last April. Reading won the reverse fixture in the league, 4-3, just two weeks later. The clash on Friday night will be first meeting between the two sides this season.
Shakran commented: “We’ve always had tough games with A.F.C Reading so this will be another competitive and feisty encounter for sure. Their strength would be their defence, and they’re also very dangerous up top.
“Every team has weaknesses, so we will try to exploit and capitalise on those.”
Sandhurst featured in a Showcase Match event last season but suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of the eventual Division One champions, South Reading.
The Royals took a lot of credit and gained some new admirers for their performance in that game, and Shakran has challenged his young stars to change the outcome this time around.
He said: “The players have been really excited since this game got announced, and they are raring to go for Friday night. We want the supporters to enjoy the game and we intend to put on a good show for them.
“We feel this is a good opportunity to kick on into the latter stages of the season and start to gain some momentum again.
“After losing in the Showcase Match last season, the players want to put on a good performance and change the outcome.”
Sandhurst arrive at the Showcase Match with three wins and two defeats from their previous five matches in all competitions, including a 5-2 victory against Langley F.C. Reserves (the team that won in the first Showcase event earlier this season) in the Premier Division on Saturday.
The Royals could boost five different goals scorers in that success; Isaac Ababio, Thomas Nower, Harry Winkley, George Wilson and substitute Joshua Jaye. The Langley response came from George Flynn and Owen McCarthy.
The win saw Sandhurst climb up to third position in the Premier Division and now just four points behind leaders Britwell, although The Royals have played at least three more games than both sides above them.
Shakran added: “It’s been very stop-start with the Christmas Break and matches being called off but, we feel we’re playing some good football and a recent win against an in-form Cookham Dean (2-0 on 4 January) showed that.”
Isaac Ababio could be the chief threat for Sandhurst on Friday night, the in-form striker has scored 13 goals in 11 appearances this season and is second in the leading goals scorer charts for the Premier Division.
A.F.C Reading will need to keep tabs on Harry Winkley too, he has bagged 10 goals in 11 appearances, whilst Thomas Nower’s seven goals in 10 games warrants him as a danger man also.
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