


Weston-super-Mare Preview
There might be a few left-over mince pies handed around at the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium tomorrow but the festive season has passed as we embark on the second half of the season with four home fixtures scheduled for January.
Our first visitors of 2025 are Weston-super-Mare AFC who will have made the long journey up from north Somerset. They presently sit handily-placed in eighth position in the National League South table, despite their form dipping recently following seven games without a win, having reached the top of the table in November and also the FA Cup First Round where they went down 3-1 at Bristol Rovers.
Weston’s pre-Christmas match saw a 1-0 home defeat to Eastbourne Borough, followed by their Boxing Day “local derby” which involved a 300-mile round trip to Truro City to earn a 1-1 draw. New Year’s Day brought a 3-1 home defeat to Chippenham Town.
In charge of Weston-super-Mare is Scott Bartlett. Bartlett's first spell at The Seagulls was in 2016 before leaving for Forest Green Rovers. He returned to the club in 2019 and won promotion from the Southern League Premier South in 2023.
Perhaps the most familiar player in the Weston squad is wideman Luke Coulson. He joined Weston in the summer after a career, much of which was spent in Kent. Happy on the left or the right, he started his career at Manchester City, then moved to Cardiff City. He played National League football for Eastleigh and Barnet and had spells at Ebbsfleet United, Dartford and Bromley before heading west. He is Weston's top scorer this season with 13 goals in all competitions.
Another player to watch as a goal scoring threat is Reuben Reid who has scored seven goals including one in each of Weston's Christmas fixtures. Now 36, he joined Weston from Yeovil in 2022. He has played in the Championship for Plymouth and West Bromwich Albion and twice scored more than 20 goals in a season for Argyle.
As Weston-super-Mare were relegated from National League South in the same season that we won promotion, our paths went a long time without meeting. Last season they were our first visitors of the campaign, winning 1-0 with a goal from Jordan Bastin and Weston completed the double in January when a Robbie Willmott brace helped them to a 3-1 victory.
Our last win over Weston came in March 2014 when Alex Teniola scored a last-minute winner after losing the reverse fixture 2-1 with our goal scored by Gavin McCallum.
Jay Saunders looked forward to Saturday’s game following the New Year’s Day abandonment at Hornchurch: “Scott’s done well there, good players, good management. It will be a tough game, we know that, but we are at home and we were keen to bounce back today (at Hornchurch) with a win but now we have a few days to prepare and hopefully we can get back to winning ways.”
Admission prices to the game are: Adults £17; Concessions £14; Youths £7 and Under-12’s free with accompanying adult with tickets available HERE
Gates open at 1pm with the Sports Bar and Marquee Bar open from the outset. The Tea Hut serving burgers, hot dogs, butties, hot and cold drinks and Fries Like An Angel, serving all your favourite loaded chips are also open from 1pm. The Pie Shack opens from 1.30pm. After the game, the Sports Bar will be open, where for a Happy Hour, there will be £1 off all pints of draught lagers and ciders.
Our award-winning programme is available from the Programme Hut, priced at £3 and will feature reflections from Jay Saunders, club captain Scott Wagstaff, board member Ian Clear with reports from our men’s and women’s first team games plus youth teams.
Enjoy the game!