Opposition Preview | Sholing FC (H)

We look ahead to this weekend's home Southern League Premier South fixture against Sholing FC as we look to extend our home league unbeaten run to five wins out of five.

Sholing currently withhold the fifth and final play-off spot in the Southern League Premier South, sitting on 16 points from a possible 27.

Paul Doswell is the man at the helm for the opposition, he led his side to an 11th place finish last season, six points clear of the drop. Doswell's side have started the season well, currently sitting on four wins, four draws and only one loss, that being a 2-0 loss away at top of the table Walton & Hersham.

The play-off sitting Sholing are now out of both FA cup competitions, making it to the FA Cup third qualifying round, but narrowly losing to National League South outfit Eastbourne Borough 1-2 on home soil. Last weekend the FA Trophy was pulled out of their reach by Step four and fellow Gloucestershire based side Bishops Cleeve at Kayte Lane.

Michael Folivi is the frontman for The Boatmen, scoring seven goals already this season and has clearly been a threat to opposition defences across the league so far.

Chelsea and England defender Levi Colwill heavily invests in Sholing FC and has his own name in their academy project, the Levi Samuels Colwill (LSC) Academy, after growing up watching the Boatmen, supporting his three uncles, Barry, Byron and Daniel Mason, brothers to Levi’s mum, Deborah.

Club History

Sholing FC, nicknamed The Boatmen, has roots that stretch back to the late 19th century, beginning with Woolston Works (a shipyard team) as early as 1884. After several reformations—most notably as Thornycrofts (Woolston) post-World War I, then as Vosper Thornycroft in 1960—the club joined local leagues, moving up through the Hampshire, Southampton, Wessex, and Southern Leagues over time.

A key turning point came in 2010 when the VT parent company closed, and the club renamed itself Sholing FC, adopting more local identity in name and colours. Their greatest achievement so far is winning the FA Vase in the 2013-14 season at Wembley, along with multiple league titles and cup wins in their regional leagues and cups. More recently, in 2022-23 they earned promotion to the Southern League Premier South—reaching Step 3 of the non-league pyramid for the first time.