Wickens and his team target Thames Valley promotion and a return to their former Faraday Road home
Newbury’s Ben Wickens is hoping his side can win promotion from the Thames Valley Premier League Division One and return to their former Faraday Road home this year.
On the pitch, Wickens and his fellow coaches and players have helped steer Newbury into promotion contention at the midway point of the season, with the side currently fourth and three points off top spot in a hotly-contested division this term.
Off the pitch, Wickens and the team are working hard to bring Newbury back into the heart of the town, with the coaching staff and playing squad dominated by familiar faces and local lads and a proposed move back to Faraday Road said to be edging ever closer.
Wickens, who was involved in the coaching setup last season and stepped into a player-coach role over the summer, inspired Newbury to an all-conquering beginning to the campaign, winning their first three matches.
However a 5-0 drubbing at title rivals Tadley Calleva Reserves proved Newbury’s first major setback of the campaign, with the side responding by taking six points from their next two matches, scoring 10 goals.
Newbury have suffered a slight dip in form of late, losing back-to-back league games and exiting the Berks and Bucks Cup on penalties.
Wickens and his side have struggled on the road, with Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to free-scoring Binfield under-23s meaning Newbury are yet to pick up a point away from their Henwick home this term.
“It was quite disappointing,” Wickens said.
“We set up with what I thought was one of our strongest starting XIs so far and so I was quite confident.
“It just didn’t go to plan. Binfield are young, athletic, fit and a very well-drilled side and that was the difference.
“They had a gameplan, stuck to it and deservedly ran out winners.”
Top spot in the Thames Valley Premier League Division One is still up for grabs, with just five points separating the top six sides and seventh placed Tadley Calleva Reserves still in contention despite facing a considerable fixture pile-up.
Fourth placed Newbury, who have won six of their first nine matches, are just three points behind leaders Reading YMCA Rapids and still have to play a number of the league’s bottom sides – with Hambleden and Woodley United Development sharing a combined goal difference of -73 – at least once.
And Wickens is confident his side can improve their away form and challenge for the title come the end of the campaign.
He said: “The main aim is to try and win the league.
“It’s very competitive and it seems to change every week.
“Five of our last nine games are against the bottom three, so we’re hoping we can pick up a lot of points there and bolster our goal difference.
“We’re still in the league cup, which is great and we’re hoping to go as far as we can in that, but the priority is the league and we want to go up by winning that.”
Wickens, who has played four times this term, has been amongst the goals of late.
He scored a late consolation on Saturday and fired in an 85th minute winner just 20 minutes after bringing himself on as his side overturned a two goal deficit to beat Hambleden 3-2 in November.
“It’s always nice to score, although the overall feeling at the weekend was frustration,” he said.
“If I need to play, I’m happy to play – although I’m not sure I’ll be keeping any of the younger lads out of the team.”
Wickens was a late inclusion in the XI on Saturday after Jacob Wallace was declared unfit in the warm-up.
The Thatcham Town teenager has been fundamental to Newbury’s success this season, with Wallace scoring 17 goals, including three hat-tricks.
However with the youngster still struggling with an ankle injury, the collective decision was made not to risk their talismanic forward.
Wickens said: “He wasn’t quite right in the warm-up. He’s quite sensible and with a lot of games coming up, we didn’t want to take a chance.
“He’s been fantastic and he’s been one of our most important players.
“He’s massive for us and he’s been a big miss over the last couple of games.”
Although Newbury have had 13 different goalscorers this season, their second top-scorer Carl Self has managed just three and so there is a suggestion the side have become too reliant on Wallace.
Wickens has moved to rectify that issue with the recent additions of Dean Stockwell, who scored twice on his debut in the Berks and Bucks Cup last month, and Clement Duodu, who has a handful of appearances for Thatcham and Aldermaston to his name.
Newbury are in league cup action this weekend with the visit of Premier Division outfit Henley, a fixture which has already been called off five times due to the weather – and Wickens is hoping his side can set up a tantalising clash with Maidenhead Town in the next round.
“It’s a big game, it would set us up for a quarter-final away at Maidenhead Town,” he said.
“That would be really nice to get past Henley and to go and have a go at them as well. We believe we can do it.
“It’s a bit of a free hit and a chance to try out a few different things, but we’ll be going full strength to try and win it.”
Wickens, who has just added Thatcham’s Rob Smith to his coaching staff, remains relatively new to management but has certainly made an impressive start.
And while the new man is not afraid to admit he feels that he’s made a few mistakes, he says he is relishing life in the hot seat.
He said: “I’ve been really enjoying it and having such good people around me has made a massive difference.
“It’s all about learning. You’re not going to get every decision right, especially in the first season.
“It’s about forming relationships with the players, I think that’s the main thing.
“There are a lot of things I’d change or have done slightly differently but it’s been great and I think I’m improving each week.”
Newbury have endured a nomadic existence for a number of years since their time at Faraday Road came to an end, playing their football out in Lambourn before moving closer to home at Henwick this term.
With work now well underway to renovate Faraday Road and youth football already back at the ground, Wickens is hopeful his side could return to their former home and the centre of the town as early as next season.
“That’s our aim for next season,” he said.
“There haven’t been any promises but the plan is to get the ground up to standard for the Thames Valley Premier League or Division One, wherever we are.
“The opportunity to go back there next season is there, and that’s what we want to do.
“We’ve been trying to get the town back involved with the football club this season. We’re all young, local lads and we’re all trying to build it up within the community.
“If we could get back to Faraday Road, I think there’s real potential to take that next step up.
“We want to get the town’s football club back.”
