Monday night’s defeat at Melksham Town leaves Bideford with it all to in order to get back into the race for the play-offs. Four defeats in their last six has seen The Robins fall to nine points below the play-off positions having played more games than most above them. A win against Winchester City on Saturday is a must to keep Bideford on the coat tails of the chasing pack. While The Robins have been in indifferent form, there is no team in Division One South that are in hotter form than Winchester. The Citizens have won their last six games in all competitions and are unbeaten in their last nine league fixtures. Winchester come into Saturday’s game off the back of two big wins, a 7-0 demolition of Barnstaple and a 4-1 victory at Highworth in mid-week.

Form Guide

Winchester City’s last six (WWWWWW) Pos 6th W14 D6 L7 Pts 48
27/02/19 Highworth Town 1 Winchester City 4 (League)
23/02/19 Winchester City 7 Barnstaple Town 0 (League)
16/02/19 Evesham United 0 Winchester City 2 (League)
26/01/19 Winchester City 3 Cirencester Town 0 (League)
19/01/19 Paulton Rovers 0 Winchester City 1 (League)
15/01/19 Winchester City 2 Bashley 0 (Southampton Cup R2)

Bideford’s last six (LWLLWL) Pos 11th W12 D4 L12 Pts 40
25/02/19 Melksham Town 2 Bideford 1 (League)
23/02/19 Bideford 1 Highworth Town 0 (League)
16/02/19 Cirencester Town 8 Bideford 2 (League)
09/02/19 Bideford 0 Street 1 (League)
26/01/19 Bideford 3 Bristol Manor Farm 1 (League)
19/01/19 Fleet Town 3 Bideford 2 (League)

A Brief History of Winchester City FC
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. In 2016/17 Winchester finished in 14th position, while in 2017/18 they finished 11th.

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

Previous meetings:
15/12/18 Winchester City 2 Bideford 2 (SL Div 1 South)
28/04/18 Bideford 2 Winchester City 0 (SL Div 1 West)
25/11/18 Winchester City 2 Bideford 3 (SL Div 1 West)
27/02/17 Winchester City 0 Bideford 0 (SL Div 1 S&W)
17/12/16 Bideford 1 Winchester City 2 (SL Div 1 S&W)
2003/04 Winchester City 4 Bideford 0 (FA Vase SF L2)
2003/04 Bideford 3 Winchester City 3 (FA Vase SF L1)