After what can only be considered a massive disappointment in the midweek fixture away to Chorley FC, it’s time to start looking ahead to Saturday now for our boys. Saturday presents another great opportunity to get the league campaign headed in the right direction when Brackley Town FC come to Broadhurst Park for the second ever Saturday league game in Broadhurst history. We expect yet another buoyant and jam-packed crowd, much like the atmosphere last Saturday when Tamworth FC paid a visit.

The game kicks off at 3PM on Saturday and will be covered live by FCUM Radio. This is another very winnable game for the boys of FC United and it’ll be interesting to see how they recover from the disappointing result at Chorley FC and if they can return to the strong form that saw a tough loss to Stockport County and a hard fought draw with Tamworth FC last weekend. As we always say, though, the goal has to be to walk out of the game with 3 points in hand, especially when playing at home.

But, before we delve too deep into all of that, who are Brackley Town FC?

Founded in 1890, the Saints, as they are known, have spent their entire history in the lower levels of English football, with the highlights of their history, until recently, involving winning the Hellenic Football League twice.

However, in recent years, their history has shown an uptick as they have played in the National League North for three years (currently in year four) which is the highest level they have ever played in after earning promotion from the Southern League after the 2011-2012 season. Notably, the Saints also reached the second round proper of the FA Cup for the first time in club history in the 2013-2014 season.

Last year, they finished 18th in Conference North.

Of course, we all know about the stadium as Brackley Town will be making the trip to our own Broadhurst Park, but how the Saints looked this year? What type of form are they on? Looking at the results, the Saints are not in a much better position than our boys are in right now, though they do have a win to their record (a 1-0 win on opening day over Harrogate Town), and they currently sit 15th in the table with 4 points. Certainly, though, with no disrespect intended to the Saints, based on their 18th place finish last year they are not one of the stronger teams in Conference North.

So what should happen on Saturday at Broadhurst, then? Quite simply, this game should be a win. I know that is presumptuous to predict at this point, what with the game against Chorley still fresh in all of our minds and our boys having yet to pick up a win, but Brackley Town is a team that finished 18th in the league this year and, despite their win and some good performances this year in close losses, they are still the team that finished 18th last year.

As we look to establish ourselves in the National League North and get the season started right, getting three points at home against Brackley Town is a must at this point. This is a game that falls in the right spot after a tough opening to the season and we will be hoping to see our boys get their first win of the season at home with a buoyant home crowd leading them on.

This is a perfect game to build some momentum for the season, momentum which we thought we had after strong performances against Stockport County and Tamworth but which we most certainly lost at Chorley. Three points on Saturday has to be the goal and, frankly, anything less than that would be considered a disappointment and yet another dropped result in this early season run.