Lowestoft Town will be looking to keep their unbeaten home record intact and pick up points after a few tough away matches of late. The Trawlerboys will be disappointed that their efforts on Saturday went unrewarded but will take great solace in the fact that they've got points on the board after having played four of the top five sides so far and have already got a handful of their lengthy away trips out of the way.

The two sides have crossed paths before on 20th October 2001 in the FA Vase 1st Round, when Lowestoft travelled to Brackley but lost 5-3 with the blues goals coming from Carl Chenery, Gary McGee and Tosh Reeder.

Here's some information on the match, along with some history about Brackley Town:-

Admission Prices:-
Adult - £12
Concession - £9
Under 16 - £3

Programme Cost:-
£2

Sponsors:-
Main Sponsors - Smith Bros Timber
http://www.smiths-timber.co.uk/
Platinum Match Sponsor - Custom Kitchens
http://www.customkitchenslowestoft.co.uk/
Gold Match Sponsor - Badger Builders
http://www.badgerbuilding.co.uk/09/index.asp

Ground:-
Name - Crown Meadow
Postcode - NR32 2PA
Capacity - 3000
Seating for - 466
Car Parking: Limited on-street parking but agreement with local college 250 yards away

Form:-
Lowestoft Town (15th) - Last five league result; DLWLL
Leading Scorer (League) - Chris Henderson (4)
Brackley Town (18th) - Last five league result; LLWDW
Leading Scorer (League) - Ryan Rowe (3)
Lowestoft Town have lost three of their last five league matches but when you look into the results and the teams the blues have played so far, it's been a good start and the team have competed in all matches except Hyde, in which they had a bad day at the office. The Trawlerboys have already played a handful of their most lengthy away games and have played four of the current top five teams; taking three points off AFC Fylde and getting a point at Chorley, which is the only point Chorley have dropped at home this season so far. So the blues have plenty of reasons to be happy with their start after eleven games and will be looking to take all three points against Brackley to boost their total.
Brackley Town climbed three places in the league table at the weekend with a narrow 1-0 home win against Stalybridge Celtic. This result extended their unbeaten run to six games in all competitions, in which they've also kept four clean sheets. On the road Brackley have taken just the solitary point though in a 0-0 draw at Bradford Park Avenue, with the other three games seeing them go down 4-0 at AFC Fylde, 2-1 at Chorley and 2-1 at Leamington.

Club History:-
BRACKLEY TOWN can be traced back to 1890 and around the turn of the century they were a prominent side in the South Northants / North Oxfordshire area. At one time the name of Tottenham Hotspur appeared on the fixture list, London being a short journey away on the newly opened Great Central Railway.
The Club then slipped into relative obscurity, competing mainly at a very junior level. Most of the time before the war was spent in the Oxfordshire League, their games being played in Manor Road, before they transferred to the North Bucks League in the post war years. Here they stayed until 1968 when they took what appeared to be a step down the ladder by joining the Banbury & District League. During this time they had moved their ground to the Buckingham Road with the changing facilities and headquarters situated in the Plough public house.
In 1974 they moved back to the North Bucks League and this coincided with a move to their current St James Park ground in Churchill Way. A small clubhouse and changing rooms were built and within 3 years they had made the major step up into the Hellenic League. They stayed in Division One until 1983, winning the KO Cup in their final season. They then made the move into the United Counties League, winning the Division One title at the first attempt. Promotion into the Premier Division followed and as a result of this the club achieved senior status. After finishing in the bottom half of the league for the first few seasons, they then experienced their most successful season ever in 1988/89 when they achieved runners up position in the league and were beaten finalists in the Northamptonshire Senior Cup. On the way to the Final they had beaten Conference side Kettering Town under the newly erected floodlights.
As invariably happens, the side then broke up and there followed several years of real struggle at the foot of the table with the survival of the club in real doubt at times. The 1992 / 93 season ended with them having the worst playing record of any Senior side in the country. It was only the fact that the title winning side in Division One did not have the required facilities for elevation into the top section that saved them from relegation.
Drastic action was obviously necessary and accordingly the club was restructured and became a Limited Company. In 1994 they moved back across the pyramid into the Hellenic League. A move prompted by their geographical location. After a mediocre first season, things improved dramatically during the 1995 / 96 campaign. Phil Lines, who was Manager of the successful side in the late eighties, took charge again and a runners-up position was achieved in his first season. 1996 / 97 saw them go one better and win the Premier Division title and promotion to the Southern League.
The nucleus of the title winning side together with some astute signings saw the side finish a respectable 13th in the Midland Division at the first attempt. The job now was to consolidate and build on what had been achieved in such a short space of time. However, events then seemed to conspire against them during the close season with the resignation of Lines and the departure of almost all of the side he had assembled.. A move to the Southern Section was not a success and joint Managers Bob Rayner and Jon Blencowe found it impossible to field a side capable of competing at this level with the finances available to them. With finances at full stretch, the club was forced into voluntary liquidation in February 1999 with debts of over £100,000. It was saved at the last minute as Mike Bosher and Ray Styles stepped in to buy the assets and ensure that the season was completed.” The “new” club finished bottom of the Southern Section and were therefore demoted back into the Hellenic League.
Former player Terry Muckleberg was appointed Manager for the 1999 / 2000 season and he was succeeded by the experienced Peter Foley who took over during the 2000 / 2001 season and under his astute guidance the club finished in runners up position. The 2001 / 2002 season proved to be a bit of a damp squib with Foley leaving in mysterious circumstances and the reins were taken until the end of the campaign by Coach Matty Haycocks who then left to take up a similar role at Hook Norton. Tim Fowler, the ex Middle Barton Manager was appointed during the close season and he guided the team to a top half finish in his first season. The closest they came to some silverware was in the Floodlit Cup where they lost out in the Final. The 2003 / 2004 season saw the return of Phil Lines as Director of football to work alongside Tim. After an indifferent start the team worked their way up the table and in an exciting run in, lifted the championship shield on the last day of the season and with it, promotion back to the Southern League. Mike Ford took over as Team Manager in October 2004, guiding the team to the fringes of the play off positions. Ford departed in February 2006 with the club again just outside the promotion frame. Phil Lines and his Assistant Andy Sinnott took over and guided the club to a third place finish culminating in the heartbreak of losing in the last few minutes of the play off Final.
The 2006/2007 season finally saw the team reach its potential and leading the table from early December the League was won at a canter with a 15 point cushion. Lines then stepped aside and the club appointed the experienced Roger Ashby as they took the step into unknown territory. The club’s first season in the southern League Premier division (Step 3) brought a creditable eighth place finish and second appearance in the Northants Hillier Senior Cup final. Roger Ashby had been succeeded by David Oldfield in the November. Oldfield with top flight experience as a player and for Brackley in the 2006-7 season, scoring in the play-off final, moved on to a coaching role at Peterborough United and Phil Lines again took the reins for the start of a second Premier Division campaign.
An eleventh placed finish in 2008-9 consolidated Premier Division status and the club’s growing ambitions brought a new all-seater stand behind one goal to match the newly constructed covered terrace at the cricket ground end. However, 2008-9 will be best remembered for sparkling cup runs and historic appearances in the first round proper of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. In April the club appointed playing staff member and former Kettering Town player, the charismatic Aussie Jon Brady as Lines’ managerial successor. The 2009 / 10 season saw the side in the top 3 for nearly the whole campaign and an eventual 5th place finish and defeat in the end of season play off semi final. 2010 / 11 started with high hopes but a combination of injuries and inconsistency contributed to an eventual 9th place position. The team did however claim the Northamptonshire Senior Cup for the first time and added the County Maunsell Cup, defeating Northampton Town in early July. The 2011 / 12 season saw the most successful season in the club’s history culminating in winning the Southern League Premier Division Championship and further success in the County Senior Cup.
The first season in the Football Conference saw the side make it all the way to the Play Off Final where they lost by a single goal to FC Halifax . The 2013/14 campaign saw the side consistently in the top five before falling off the pace in the last few months. Victory over Gillingham in the FA Cup in a televised match at St James Park being the highlight of the season.

Lowestoft Town v Brackley Town
(Crown Meadow)
Tuesday 7th October 2014
7:45pm kick-off

Come on you Trawlerboys!!

Terry Bullen