A Brief History of Winchester City
Winchester City were originally founded in 1891 as Winchester Swallows FC. They became Winchester FC in 1894 and then Winchester City FC in 1907. Winchester played local level football in the Hampshire League until they joined Southern League Division One South for the 1971/72 season. However, the next season they were relegated back to the Hampshire League in which they fell to the third tier in 1979. In 1991/92 Winchester were Division Two (third tier) champions and began their long climb back up the leagues. It took nine seasons to get out of Division One which they did in 2000/01 by winning the division title but it took only two seasons to become Hampshire League champions as they finished top of the Premier Division in 2002/03. Winchester's ascension continued as they joined the Wessex League in 2003/04 and finished as champions as well as winning the FA Vase with a 2-0 win over AFC Sudbury at St Andrews, Birmingham. The Citizens were runners-up in 2004/05 and champions again in 2005/06. They rejoined Southern League Division One (South & West) in 2006/07 but were relegated back to the Wessex League in 2008/09. Winchester won their third Wessex League title in 2011/12 to be promoted back to the Southern League but lasted just one season and were relegated once again. In 2014/15 City were runners-up in the Wessex Premier and were promoted to the Southern League for a fourth time. This time they fared much better with a fifth place finish and qualification for the play-offs after achieving their highest ever league position. However their hopes of promotion ended with a semi final play-off defeat to Banbury United.

Form
Winchester City were in great form when this original fixture was postponed on 21st January having won ten of their last twelve games. Their form has dropped slightly since then with away defeats to North Leigh and Bishop's Cleeve but they did manage an impressive 4-1 win over promotion hopefuls Evesham United recently. Winchester are 9th in the table (W16 D2 L13) two points behind Bideford but with a game in hand.

Winchester City's last six (WWLDWL)
25/02/17 Bishop's Cleeve 1 Winchester City 0 (League)
18/02/17 Winchester City 4 Evesham United 1 (League)
14/02/17 Mangotsfield United 3 Winchester City 3 (League)
11/02/17 North Leigh 2 Winchester City 0 (League)
04/02/17 Winchester City 3 Wantage Town 0 (League)
28/01/17 Bridgwater Town 0 Winchester City 1 (League)

Only Salisbury are in better form than Bideford in Division One South & West. The Robins are unbeaten in their last seven and are on a run of four straight victories. The latest success was a 2-0 home win over Wimborne Town on Saturday. Bideford are in 8th place (W15 D7 L10) and are eight points off the play-off positions.

Bideford's last six (DWWWLW)
25/02/17 Bideford 2 Wimborne Town 0 (League)
21/02/17 Tiverton Town 3 Bideford 1 (St Luke's Bowl QF)
18/02/17 Shortwood United 1 Bideford 2 (League)
11/02/17 Bideford 2 Yate Town 0 (League)
04/02/17 Larkhall Athletic 0 Bideford 1 (League)
28/01/17 Bideford 2 Didcot Town 2 (League)

Previous meetings
17/12/16 Bideford 1 Winchester City 2 (League)
2003/04 Winchester City 4 Bideford 0 (FA Vase SF L2)
2003/04 Bideford 3 Winchester City 3 (FA Vase SF L1)

Winchester City vs Bideford
Southern League Division One South & West
Tuesday 28th February 2017
7:45pm kick off
City Ground, Winchester

Winchester City FC
The City Ground
Hillier Way
Abbots Barton
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 7SR
Tel: 07768 848905
Website: http://www.winchestercityfc.co.uk
Twitter: @wincityfc