Uxbridge Town AFC - Season 100 Preview

Uxbridge Town AFC enters its first season of Association Football Premier League as a bit of a wildcard. Club President Eadburt Clement talked in a recent press event about the unique position that the club finds itself in. "There is a buzz around all of Hillingdon and certainly in Uxbridge about this team. Stadium construction is coming along nicely, the pitch is fully ready, and the fans are excited to come out and cheer on these players. Hopefully the energy will carry forward to the pitch on matchday."

Fans around the city can be seen wearing apparel emblazoned with the golden lion in the club's crest. The team has become known around town as "The Lions" with their supporters section known as "The Pride". 

Manager MacCallum Barry is expected to use a traditional 4-4-2 formation, at least to start the year. "It's a balanced formation that players are going to almost certainly have experience with" said Barry at a post-training press availability. "I think early on, our goal is to get these guys comfortable playing in our system and with each other. And I do feel that this approach will be the best way for us to find early success." However, the manager didn't rule out any formation changes in the future. "You never know" said Barry. "If something else seems to work better for us, we are going to go with it. Always good to be able to adapt."

There will be changes to the lineup happening throughout the season, the starting 11 for the opening match is expected to look like this:

In goal young Wynward Garnis will get the start, while Darvin Sol is expected to spell him in net throughout the year.Gaetano Gatti leads the defence, with the youthful trio of Mill, Chalme, and Coda working with him. In the midfield, Tab Leigh and Luke Maigny will be the key figures, while also handling most of the set pieces. Lew Ardall and Warford MacHendrie will act primarily as support in the middle. The duo up front will be the youthful Kobe Otsuka and the division 2 veteran Isham Eggleston.

These 11 show a solid mix of youth and experience and Manager Barry seems to be happy with the composition of his squad. "We have a great squad going into this season" said Barry. "For a first year squad in this league, there is a lot to be excited about. Bringing in guys like Luke [Maigny] and Tab [Leigh] to go along with some impressive youngsters, I think we will be able to surprise at least a few teams right out of the gate."

In a very surprising move, 18 year old centre back Stephen Mill was named the club's first captain. In his introductory press conference as captain, Mill expressed a combination of surprise and dedication to his role. "Finding out they wanted me, it caught me completely off guard" said Mill. "But I've gotta hand it to the boys, everyone was really excited for me. And we have really rallied as a unit. It's going to take some time for me and for all of us to adapt to the rigours of the AFPL, but I have every confidence in this group.

Veteran midfielder Tab Leigh echoed the sentiment of his captain. "I'm excited to come into training everyday" said Leigh after a recent exhibition match. "We all come in fully ready to put in the work, the gaffer knows exactly what we need to do to get us to give it everything for the full 90. There's going to be a lot of pressure, but we can handle ourselves out there." Asked if he was surprised that Stephen Mill was elevated to the captain role so quickly, Leigh was emphatic that he had the defender's support. "It was clear the day we started that Stevie was a leader out there" said Leigh. "He's getting things organized while during set pieces, he has a great understanding of how the game operates and how to turn our pressure defensively into offence. Stevie just has a knack for it. He's earned that armband."

In addition to league matches getting started, Uxbridge find themselves hosting the final of the WG Investments SuperCup, after a pair of wins, a draw, and a loss in the group stage. The Lions will play host to Dutch club Overijssel United FC to decide the cup winner.

Uxbridge Town's first ever AFPL match will take place at home later this week against RHB FC.