England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014

[Shipsupstreets]

England Southern Premier League Premier Winner 2013-14 Stourbridge Fc 6.50 Chesham United 7.00 Poole Town 8.00 St. Albans City 11.00 Cambridge City 11.00 Hemel Hempstead Town 13.00 Weymouth Fc 15.00 Arlesey Town 17.00 Biggleswade Town 17.00 Corby Town 17.00 Hungerford Town 21.00 Chippenham Town 21.00 St. Neots Town 21.00 Truro City 23.00 Frome Town 26.00 Burnham Fc 29.00 Hinckley Utd 34.00 Bideford Fc 41.00 Banbury United 41.00 Hitchin Town 41.00 Bedford Town 51.00 Redditch United 51.00 Bashley Fc 67.00 Afc Totton 67.00

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Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 From Betway's site. BetVics shouldn't be far behind.

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Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 Some good prices in BetVics list. You can probably guess who I've been feeding on from the prices that have been trimmed.

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Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 It’s a bit of a job picking a winner in the Southern Prem, and the markets reflect the choppy nature of the section - there isn't too much clarity. I’ve sided with Hemel Hempstead Town as champions - a touch of value at 10s, though they were better than that. They did amazingly well last season – the most coherent attacking side in the section (much more fun to watch than Leamington), with the excellent Dave Pearce and Charlie Mpi creating and scoring for fun. Matt Nolan has gone, but they’ve acquired wisely – in have come Ben Mackey and Lewis Toomey. If anything, they carry more of a threat than last season. But the key development for me has been the addition of some defensive muscle in Ollie Thorne and Rob Swaine. I’m not entirely sure it is sufficient to completely banish their defensive worries, but they are for me the most likely champions. The initial 16s is a memory but 10s is just about worthy of an EW interest. St Albans City ended a topsy-turvy season under James Gray and Graham Golds, and they’ve added well to a lively and youthful squad. John Frendo is the headline signing, and he showed last season that he hasn’t lost the art of scoring, but the real changes are at the back, where Ben Martin and Lee Chappell offer significantly better than what they had last season, and with Chris O’Leary stiffening the midfield, this looks a very serious outfit. Man for man, Hemel have a slight edge in terms of experience, but it’s close and I can't rule out a sustained challenge at the top. They've been backed in to favourites at Corals, but 12s at Bet365 is a decent EW play. I’ve Chesham United next. Andy Leese always puts together an attractive and competitive side but this season might just have overcome an Achilles’ heel from last term – an inability to convert. In have come Drew Roberts and Chris Dillon, who didn’t look too shabby for Arlesey last season, and though I’d like to see some more arrivals to keep things fresh, I think they’ll go very well. But for me the depth and flexibility of the squad isn't quite enough to justify a price that is mostly inside Hemel and St Albans. I reckon Weymouth can kick on from last season’s improved showing. Brendon King’s side has been added to with the arrival of Jamie Symes, Nathan Walker and Stewart Yetton, and they don’t really have any squad deficiencies to speak of. It’s off the field where their problems lie – they’re financially stable, but they have on-going ownership issues that could if not derail them, at least knock them off course when they least need it. All the promoted sides look strong – Poole Town have been garnering much attention by capturing some of the talent from the Totton exodus, but I think Hungerford Town could be the surprise package this season. Bobby Wilkinson has signed very well, bringing in the excellent Ash Edenborough and Josh Parsons from Swindon Super, Stefan Browne from Basingstoke and Nick Stanley from Oxford City. I’m discounting Cambridge City – who’ve lost the spine of their underperforming team to Royston and have to get used to new surroundings at the Glass World. Stourbridge are another too high in the betting - they haven’t added to a squad that fell short. I detect a slightly downbeat air from both clubs. There are some wildcards down here: Hitchin Town might have lost Frendo, but they've bagged some top talent and should go pretty well; Biggleswade Town have an excellent set up and a decent squad; Burnham are another promoted outfit who could push on; Corby Town have some reasonable talent on call (BetVics' 20s is too far out). A cracking season of topsy-turvy football ahead but my top 5 is Hemel Hempstead Town, St Albans City, Chesham United, Weymouth and Hungerford Town, with coverage of Hemel and St Albans EW.

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Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 To clarify what I wrote about Hemel, Rob Swaine is at Bromley now. He would have added something to Hemel, but they were operating in last night's friendly win at Hornchurch with Moussa Diarra and Keiran Murphy in central defence, which is a decent combination if they can sign Murphy from Kingstonian (I believe he is on trial). Laurie Walker started in goal last night for Hemel - very good signing. He stuck by Kettering when they were struggling a couple of seasons back and played for Brackley and Leamington last season.

[Shipsupstreets]

Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 To update the posting above, Keiran Murphy - who's had a busy summer captaining England at the World Uni Games - has now signed for Hemel. That's as good a signing as they've made all summer. It impacts on Kingstonian as well (from where he came) but they've brought in Sam Page over the summer and he's a good signing at Step 3 level.

[Plankton Boy]

Re: England > Antepost > Southern Prem 2013/2014 Stourbridge (my home town team) are re-signing Ryan Rowe on loan for the season from Kidderminster with a recall option in January. With Rowe and Luke Benbow up front we should be looking at play offs ( definitely if he stays for the season).