Preview - Havant & Waterlooville (H) - Saturday 28th September

League leaders Wealdstone host title-favourites Havant & Waterlooville in an early crunch-match in the National League South season this Saturday at Grosvenor Vale.

The Stones have an eight-point lead at the top of the division and are 10-points clear of this weekend’s opponents after the first quarter of the season.

Stones Manager Dean Brennan on the Hawks: “They’ve got major resources, they train in the mornings and get a lot of contact time with their players.”

Brennan goes on to say that Paul Doswell’s has “a National League squad” at his disposal at Westleigh Park.

Havant & Waterlooville sit in third-place and have only lost one game so far this season, their previous league game against Braintree ended in a 3-1 loss two weeks ago.

The Hawks recovered from their league defeat with a 2-1 victory against Taunton Town in the FA Cup second qualifying round last Saturday.

With the Stones up-against, in Brennan’s opinion “a National League side”, Brennan explained, “It’s a good opportunity for our lads to see what level they’re at in their own personal progress as a player.”

Wealdstone have begun the season in excellent form, with nine consecutive league victories and 30 points from the opening 11 games.

The man in-form for the Stones at the moment is winger Dennon Lewis, who has excelled in the previous two games, racking up two goals and a Man of the Match award.

Midfielder Connor Smith returned to the starting line-up in the FA Cup win at Farnborough and will likely partner Michael Phillips again this weekend, with Billy Clifford in a more advanced midfield role.

Brennan spoke on the style the Stones will deploy this weekend: “We’ll just play the way we play. They’re coming to our place, it’s up to them if they can adapt and change the way they play.”

Full-back Ryan Sellers and midfielder Kavan Cotter will remain out through injury, as well as midfielder Jake Sheppard who sustained a leg infection last week.

An on-the-whistle match report will be available on the official Wealdstone FC website at the conclusion of this fixture tomorrow afternoon.

Preview by Dec O'Reilly

Full quotes from Dean Brennan HERE

Full match details HERE