Basingstoke not the team of three years ago

TORQUAY UNITED

THE Gulls will meet a club still trying to come to terms with a minor upheaval when they travel to Hampshire to take on Basingstoke Town in the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round on Saturday.

It is a very different Town from the one which humiliated United 3-0 in the FA Cup three years ago, but they do have one of the most experienced and respected of non-League managers, 66-year-old Terry Brown, back in charge.

Town were expecting to mount a promotion challenge in the Evo-Stik Southern League Premier South under popular and long-serving boss Jason Bristow this season, with Brown as director of football.

But with the team in mid-table, Bristow was recently lured away to become assistant to new Eastleigh manager Ben Strevens, and Town have turned to Brown once more. He was manager for a couple of years before, after his most successful days with Aldershot Town and AFC Wimbledon, where he became an almost legendary figure after

Hotshot Mitchell Parker spearheading the Dons' rise into the Football League.

Town reached this stage of the competition with a 2-1 win over Enfield, but their league form has been inconsistent - they lost 3-0 at home to Merthyr Town last Saturday.

Perhaps the man that United must beware most is new striker Mitchell Parker. Parker hit 19 goals in 11 games for Reading City before moving to the Camrose Stadium recently.