On The Home Front
Next up at Hillgrounds…
Opponent Didcot Town
Competition Southern League
Last Time They Were Here… Rovers earned a hard fought draw in April, with Shane Bush netting the Kempston goal.
Did you know… Didcot has a strong connection with the Williams Grand Prix Engineering team as Frank Williams founded the team there in a former carpet warehouse in 1977. After establishing themselves in Formula One, the factory, now including a small 'Williams Museum', moved within Didcot to a new factory on the Didcot A Power Station site on Basil Hill Road. They stayed there until 1995 when they finally outgrew the site, moving to nearby Grove where they are based today. In 2012 a new road through the new Great Western Park development in Didcot was named Sir Frank Williams Avenue in honour of Williams' contribution to the town.
The Williams team have a local connection to Bedfordshire as well, frequently using facilities at Twinwoods near Clapham to test their cars.
In the bar The early TV game sees Arsenal take on Bournemouth on our big screens. Following our game, join us in the bar for the Manchester City clash with Tottenham.
On this day in Rovers history… The earliest recorded game on this date in Rovers history was in 1964, when we face Rushden Town in a friendly. However, no result was recorded.
In 1976 Rovers beat Kettering Town in a friendly by two goals to one.
While in 2010, a crowd of 68 saw Rovers dispatch Godmanchester 4-0 in an FA Cup preliminary round replay. The goals on the night came from Sam Macrae, Ash Farmer and Jack Weedon.

This game is only Rovers’ second opening day at home since promotion to the Southern League in 2016. On that occasion, Aylesbury were the visitors. Kempston came from behind with both goals on the day from Ash Fuller. That game was played in front of a crowd of 124. Twelve month previously, Rovers had opened their final UCL campaign at home against Yaxley with a crowd of just forty. Goals from Michael Lyon, Vinny Shrieves and Dom Lawless put Kempston on their way to the title.
Didcot just missed out on a place in last season’s play offs, finishing seventh. It was their first season in this particular division, having spent the previous seven seasons in the South or South West portion of the Southern League at step 4. They have spent two seasons in the Southern League Premier division, having come from the Hellenic League in 2006. In 2015, they made the FA Cup first round proper when they met Exeter City at home. Diddy lost three nil and Exeter went on to take Liverpool to a replay in the third round.