Central Host Promotion Rivals Govan & UoM

The unbeaten Govan and University of Manchester make the trip to Seashell Trust on Saturday, looking to make a statement to Division One’s leading pack. The visitors have had a stellar start to the season, but Tomkinson’s side will be hoping to assert their dominance.

Manchester Central conceded the top-of-the-table place to Bolton Borough on the weekend, conceding a devastating late goal from the penalty spot. Tomkinson was far from pleased after his side threw away a 2-0 half-time lead, conceding three goals in the second half to leave the Eddie Davies Academy empty-handed and in second place.

However, Tomkinson’s side has the opportunity to regain the form that saw Central become league leaders for the opening 7 games of the 2022/23 season. Despite some poor results as of late, Central’s attacking line is not necessarily out of form themselves, with Fuad Kasali netting his 11th goal in 9 games on the weekend, whilst Aria Asqari, Claudio Costa and Ruben Abreu have all found themselves on the scoresheet recently.

Govan and University of Manchester, however, will also be looking to make a statement as they have been victorious in each of the four league fixtures – of which 3 have come in away fixtures.

This weekend’s visitors currently hold multiple games in hand over the rest of the league, with their delayed start to their season attributed to aligning their first fixtures with the beginning of the University’s year. Despite this, Govan and UoM have already netted an impressive total of 21 goals in five games - of which 14 have come in their four league fixtures - whilst the other 7 arrived in their decimation of Sutton Athletics FC in their cup fixture on the weekend.

However, Govan and UoM are yet to keep a clean sheet, having conceded 10 goals in their five games. This will be something that Tomkinson’s own high-scoring attacking line will look to exploit. Therefore, we can expect goals, with games involving Govan and UoM this season averaging 6.2 per game whilst Central average 5 goals per game.

What makes the prospect of facing this weekend’s rivals harder for Central is that Govan and UoM don’t appear to simply rely on one goal-scorer, with 12 players having notched already. However, the current ones to watch out for are Sandro Mastrostefano with 4 goals in 4 games, Noah Salama with 3 goals in 3 games and Tom Symonds with 3 goals in 4 appearances.

The only side that the two teams have faced thus far this season is Bolton United, whom Central beat 2-1 at home in early September. Meanwhile, Govan and UoM bettered the 2021/22 Division Two champions by a 4-2 score line away to St Johns Park in their last league fixture. Therefore, the two teams should be on relatively equal footing. Expect a highly competitive match, which kicks off at 2 pm at Seashell Trust Academy this Saturday.