MANAGER Frank Gray is hoping Bashley have turned the corner – just in time to face former boss Steve Riley.

Recreation Ground legend Riley returns to his old club tonight when his AFC Totton team visit Bash in the Southern League top-flight (7.45pm).

The popular Geordie wrote his name into the Bashley history books during a successful seven-year stint in charge of the New Forest outfit.

Riley led Bashley to the Division One South and West title in 2007 before guiding them to the Premier Division play-offs the following season.

Now at the helm of AFC Totton after leaving Bash in May, Riley will be back on familiar territory to lock horns with Frank Gray’s improving team.

Following an inconsistent start to the campaign, Gray’s men are on the up following the return to fitness of a number of players.

They registered a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Bideford before earning an impressive 2-2 draw at high-flying St Neots on Saturday.

Gray told the Daily Echo: “From our point of view, we have hopefully turned a little bit of a corner.

“We have still got a bit of a way to go – we know that – but hopefully we have improved in the past few weeks. We said to the lads it was a signal on Saturday that if we could keep everybody fit and keep working like we did on Saturday, we would be a match for most teams in the league and give them a game.

“We did that to St Neots on Saturday and I think they were a bit surprised with how we performed, if they had looked at our early-season results.

“But what people don’t realise is we have worked with half a squad for most of the season. Now everybody is fit again, we look that much stronger.”

Asked whether he thought Riley’s return would have any impact on the team, Gray said he felt it could provide an incentive to both parties.

The former Basingstoke boss added: “Steve was here for a long time and he did a fantastic job at the club, and we have got to try to look forward now and do our own thing.

“For the players who worked under Steve, I think it is an incentive for them to try to do well. And for Steve himself, it is a massive incentive for him to come back to a club where he worked for a long time and do well as well, so it works both ways.”

Bash: (from) Moore, Bell, Knight, Oliver, Stephenson, Middleton, Richardson, Casey, Gradwell, Hill, Stokoe, Gamble, Foster, Jenkinson, Strickland, Kearn.

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Poppies host much-fancied Blackfield & Langley at Victoria Park, while New Milton Town entertain Alresford Town at Fawcett’s Field.