FormerWitney Town footballer Kevin Alder achieves another sporting goal when he makes his EBA Middleton Cup debut for Oxfordshire in the crunch clash against Berkshire at Suttons BC on Saturday.

Alder, Town’s goalkeeper in their Southern League days in the 1990s, will be looking to provide a safe pair of hands for Oxon in their final Group 3B match.

The West Witney ace is one of two debutants in the team, along with Banbury Central’s AJ Docherty.

They come into skip Mark Sykes’s rink with Docherty at lead and Alder at No 2.

They make their debuts with Shaun Claridge and Mark Charlett dropping out of the team.

Keith Holloway switches from Sykes’s rink to lead off Howard Watts’s four in place of Claridge, while Ian Snowdon takes over as skip from Charlett.

Other positional changes see George Moon moving from No 2 on Sykes’s rink to bowl at No 3 in Snowdon’s side, Nick Rae-Welsh moving to No 3 in Watts’s quartet and Richard Redford taking the same spot in captain Greg Moon’s rink.

Following the surprise defeat by Middlesex in their last outing, Oxon need to record a winning margin which is better than or equal to second-placed Hampshire – who host basement boys Surrey – to ensure they finish top of the group and qualify for the next stage.

By coincidence, Oxfordshire met Berkshire in the Home Counties League at Three Mile Cross last weekend and slipped to a 12-shot defeat.

They will be hoping their Middleton Cup team can gain swift revenge.

Oxfordshire (v Berkshire, Suttons BC, Sat): AJ Docherty, K Alder, J King, M Sykes; A Wise, P Sharman, S Richens, A Prew; K Holloway, N Lewis, N Rae-Welsh, H Watts; J Philpott, B Lambourne, R Redford, Gr Moon; M Nash, S Timms, Ge Moon, I Snowdon; C Whitehead, M Petersen, R Clanfield, B Sparkes.

l Oxfordshire suffered defeats in their two latest friendlies, going down 145-117 to Monmouthshire at New Tredegar BC, before slipping to a 125-105 loss against Hampshire at Cove.

A 50-game badge was awarded to Bloxham’s David Lines against Monmouthshire.