Winchester Reaction

The inconsistency in our game came back to haunt us on Saturday and saw us slip to defeat in what was a very winnable game. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that we struggle to create or score when Ray Spence is not in the line up. Any team in our division would miss Ray, in the same way as Taunton would miss Cook, Chesham Brennan and Didcot Beavon etc. Football is primarily about natural goal scorers and those at the top of the league will invariably have one if not two. On Saturday Anthony Alleyne and Keeno ran their socks off for the team, working hard to close defenders down but the reality is that we created just one real chance in 90 minutes. That's not all about them as we created very little good ball for them. Going back to the one chance we did have, 99% of players would have gone down when pulled back by the keeper as Anthony was but he is one of the most honest players i have ever worked with and he stayed on his feet and pulled his shot wide. Had he gone down the keeper would definitely have been sent off. In contrast Jamie Musslewhite had one real chance in the game and he took it, as we came sloppily out of the blocks at the start of the second half.

The bottom line is that we lacked quality and invention on the ball once Mark Jones had gone off with a back problem. There was no problem with our honesty or commitment, although you could question our desire to get on the end of the second ball in the Winchester box in the second half. We now have to pick up league points form our games in hand and get ourselves back amongst the leading group. I have made two offers for players in the last fortnight (both rejected) and we have several 7 day approaches out at the moment. I know we need to improve the team in a couple of areas and I will make every effort to do so but we have to be realistic and work within the budget that we can afford. Injuries are part and parcel of football and as ive always said you are only as good as the depth of quad you have. Having said that we are having our share right now but we have to roll our sleeves up and get on with it. We now have a game free week in which to work at one or two aspects of our game ahead of Saturdays game at Beaconsfield.

Paulton Rovers Reaction

Anybody who ventured to Brook House on Saturday would hardly have recognised us last night, as the same side who capitulated so lamely at the weekend. I asked for and expected a positive response from my players and they duly delivered. Thankfully Paulton's late arrival did not unsettle us unduly and after they started the brighter of the two sides i felt we had the better of the game and just about did enough to win.

Mark Jones and Danny Keen both had good chances for us but in the first half to be fair there was very little for either keeper to do. After the break again i though Paulton started well but we regained the upper hand and although our goal may have been a little fortuitous i thought we deserved to be in front. I was surprised at Paulton's lack of willingness to attack us once Carl Wilkins had gone off (his ankle is sprained with some ligament damage-thankfully no break) You cannot argue with the quality of the strike that gave them a share of the spoils, it came from a couple of situations where we made the wrong decision or tired legs couldn't quite get to the challenge quick enough. The tired legs were to be expected as we, being the home side, had pushed and driven pretty much all night trying to win the game. Indeed shortly before we scored i felt there was a danger that we might get caught on the break trying to chase the game.

On balance i felt it was a decent enough game, with a good tempo to it and with both sides trying to pass the ball. Having come so close to winning we were obviously disappointed to see it pegged back so late but that's football and we will without doubt have days when we play nowhere near as well as we did last night and win.

We do miss Ray's cutting edge up front (but who wouldn't?) as not only does he score and create but he also works defenders so hard by turning them round and getting them defending in areas where they just don't want to go. Credit to Keeno and Anthony Alleyne though, they are 100% honest lads and rarely come off having not given their all.

Needless to say i was delighted that Keeno decided to stay with the club, everyone thinks the world of him at City. He did well to last as long as he did last night given his recent inactivity and when it was time for fresh legs Alex Stewart came on and posed an entirely different set of problems for Paulton. Stretch is a very effective player and he needs the encouragement of everyone from within the club to perform to the level of which he is capable.
All in all apart from the Brook House debacle the level of our performances of late have been very encouraging. Having said I do think though that the time is right for me to strengthen the squad once again and i am working hard at trying to get a couple of fresh faces in.

Brook House Reaction

Missing four key players cannot be held up as any excuse for our poor performance on Saturday.

Let there be no doubt Brook House deserved to win the game and could quite easily have won by a far greater margin. I think we only created two chances in the entire game, scoring from one of them, whilst towards the end of the game the home side could easily have added two or three more. All of the goals conceded were very poor from our perspective and all could have been prevented. The third goal summed up our afternoon really, a break from deep (which could and should have been stopped higher up the field) resulted in us conceding a free kick on the edge of our box and Steve Hale's shot appeared to go through our wall!
The players we have within the squad are all capable of covering for the loss of anyone but we did not step up to the plate and take on the challenge, which of course is unacceptable and a great disappointment to me.

I will be seeking to rectify that in the coming week.

We defended badly as a unit and as a team, lacked real conviction and any creativity or purpose in our passing. Hopefully Justin Merritt and Lewis Craker will be back for tomorrow nights game with Paulton and that should solid us up.

Coming on the back of three good performances against Burnham and Bashley(2) this was a real knock back and shows just how far we have to go. We have to become more consistent and learn to grind out results when our passing game isn't operating at its most fluent. My apologies to all those supporters who made the journey up the A40 and swelled the crowd. I'm sorry that you witnessed such a lack lustre display. Most of you are regular travellers with us though and will know its was a rare showing.

Great win for the Nomads against Eton Wick, which will have given all our youngsters and the two Matty's a big lift and congratulations to Hungerford on a terrific F A Cup win at Bashley.

Pre-Brook House Match

Tomorrow we face a difficult game at Brook House, who like ourselves came out of the Spartan South Midland League a couple of seasons ago.

We now have to put Tuesdays superb performance firmly into the history books and look to kick on in the league keeping ourselves within touching distance of the top 5 or 6.
Unfortunately we will be without several key players tomorrow as Lewis Craker and Ray Spence are suspended and Justin Merritt and Matty Glynn are injured. Andy Marriott will come in for Crakes and we will shuffle the pack elsewhere. Its a big ask to cover the loss of four top class players in one hit but it creates opportunities for others and we do have the depth of squad to cover it. I will be looking for one or two to grasp the mantle and take their game on to another level in terms of responsibility to cover the absences.

Abingdon United have made a seven day approach for Danny Keen and i have wavered the 7 days as I want an early decision. Obviously we all hope that Keeno stays as he is not just a very effective player but a really smashing lad, who is very popular amongst the lads and supporters. I can understand his frustrations because his starts have been limited due to the form of Ray and Anthony.

On the other side of the coin we have expressed our interest in Abingdon United's Ryan Curtin.

Chris Harper took part in several of the passing practices last night but not the full contact stuff and looked very bright. Its great to see him out amongst the lads like that and fingers crossed, we will all get an early Christmas present!!

Bashley Match Reaction

Thanks to all those supporters who had sufficient faith in the team to journey to Bashley last night by both team coach and car! I hope you will feel that you were rewarded by one of those "special" displays that will live long in the memory.
Your appreciation of the players as they left the field was again very well received and reciprocated.

I could tell by the atmosphere in the build up that the players were "up for it" and within the first ten minutes it was plainly obvious we were very much on our game. The confidence we gained from the last half an hour on Saturday was evident and we decided before the game that we would have a real go early on.

In the first half we were on fire with Anthony and Ray causing absolute havoc up front with their pace and movement, supported by some inspirational midfield play. That we only went in at half time only 2-0 up was a travesty, as we created numerous good opportunities. On the other hand Carl's superb save from Gillespie at 1-0 should not be forgotten.

In the second half it was always going to be difficult to maintain the momentum and yet we still managed to sustain a high level of passing quality and goal attempts. Quite simply overall we were the better team on the night and im sure Bashley would not argue with that. Our reward, if you can call it that is a trip to Winchester a week on Saturday.

We now have to look to prepare ourselves for a tough league fixture at Brook House, a game for which we will be without both Ray and Crakes who are suspended. Andy Marriott having rested his ankle will return and i will make a late decision as to who partners Anthony up front.

Bashley Match Reaction

Although there were relatively few goal scoring attempts in Saturdays Trophy game the consensus of opinion amongst people who were at the match, was that it was entertaining and that we played some of our best football for a long while.

Bashley are a very talented side and started much better than us but perhaps the early goal was a blessing, because we certainly had the better of much of the 86 minutes that remained. We finished very strongly and showed great patience on the ball but the final pass or cross were not good enough. That said the ball didn't drop for us in the box either. Having equalised we could well have gone on and nicked it as Alex Stewart went very close with a cracking header and Matty Glynn and Ray Spence just failed to take advantage of a 2 v 2 at the death.

Matty Glynn came on to show just why he is such a highly feted player. One or two people have talked about the glimpses of skill he showed but for me he came on and got hold of the game by the scruff of the neck. He got on the ball and worked it, making good decisions when to have just the one touch, or hold on to keep possession. He isn't 100% fit yet but when he is i think you will see a very gifted player and hopefully you will enjoy seeing his skills.

It was important for us to show that we are capable of competing with one of the best teams in our division and although we are under no illusions that we will face an altogether different set of problems in Tuesdays replay, we have put down an important marker and gained confidence in the process. Some people may well say Taunton are better than Bashley, on the basis that they beat us 4-1 but its hard to gauge that when we played so poorly against them. One thing is for certain its a good open and competitive football league with very little separating many clubs.

Andover had a great win against Chesham and Abingdon United had a terrific result at Bromsgrove, so all credit to both of them. Hopefully Abingdon will get a decent crowd for the replay and win a place in the next round.It will be difficult for me to give you much team news ahead of tomorrow's New Forest replay, as there are one or two players with knocks and others with work commitments that may make it difficult for them to get away.

Needless to say whoever pulls on the famous hooped jersey will be giving 200% for the cause.
Thanks to those of you who were there on Saturday, although small in number (how do you explain that???) you were more vociferous than normal, probably enthused by the display of you know who and our late but spirited rally!!

The players appreciated the reception they got when leaving the field.

Pre-Bashley Match

After the disappointments and frustrations of last weekend this week has been very positive, with a good win against Burnham and the second in a series of interesting sessions being put on for the players by coach Tag Lamche. His concentration has been on peripheral vision work and is being well received by the players. Tag has put on sessions for several professional clubs, including Chelsea, Northampton and Oxford and many others are now showing great interest.

Tomorrow we meet high flying Bashley in the F A Trophy and reports on them from Jon Adaway, suggests that they are as good a side as their league position would have you believe. All that will count for nothing tomorrow though, as cup football is an entirely different kettle of fish and we will be looking to do well.

All that our game is lacking at the moment is a little consistency. We have responded well to set backs but you cannot keep doing that and we must get back on a winning or unbeaten run.
You will doubtless have seen and read all the reports on Ray Spence's nonsensical three game suspension, bizarrely we are not permitted an appeal, unless we can produce video evidence (yeah sure-has the game gone mad???). How can anyone not have the right of appeal? So instead the guy is hung out to dry, even though the referees assistant was the only person in the entire ground who saw the supposed elbow...........doesn't that seem odd to you? and shouldn't it be he, instead, who is in the dock?

The referee is supporting his assistant (no surprise there then) so unlike in a court of law, here one persons word against another is sufficient to impose a sentence. For me the defining moment is when an opposing player comes over and supports the man who is supposed to have elbowed him (im sorry but that just wouldn't happen unless it were true) Good job that this rule doesn't apply to life in the broader sense, otherwise our prisons would be even more overcrowded than they already are!

Apart from Andy Marriott we are at full strength for tomorrow.

Look forward to better weather and a healthy crowd tomorrow, lets really show Ray the level of our support for him and lets hope the gods are with the boys in Blue!

Burnham Match Reaction

The rub of the green that we perhaps didn't get on Saturday may well have returned last night. Having played some decent football in the first half with very little real goal threat, the signs were not good when we fell behind to Burnham early in the second half.

Things began to turn however when our equaliser started from the sort of challenge that officials will sometimes punish and sometimes not and to be fair to Anthony Alleyne there were shades of the old Nat Lofthouse about it (for those who have never heard of him ask your granddad!) It was the hard working Anthony again who was brought down for the penalty that saw the second goal. Talking to people afterwards it would appear there was quite a case for it not being in the box. I don't wish to do an Arsene Wenger here but it was over the other side of the pitch so i couldn't tell.

To be honest i thought we played some good football at times last night and certainly we passed it better than we did on Saturday. Overall we probably deserved to win the game but Burnham will hope and expect their luck to turn at the weekend. I thought Anthony Alleyne and Ray Spence worked hard up top last night and were well supported by our midfield. If there is a harder working striker than Anthony Alleyne i have yet to see him.

We gave a City debut to Gavin Lane last night and he did very well on the right side of our defence. Laney has impressed everyone at the club with his attitude since joining from Thame and has rejected several opportunities to go out on loan, preferring instead to wait and fight for a starting place. Just the sort of player managers love to have around a football club.

Team wise Alex Stewart was working away and I decided to give Lee Rendell a rest last night as he suffered an ankle injury on Saturday and so i drafted in young Aaron Williams who has shown such promise in the Nomads side. He didn't get on but its important that he is around Southern League football as often as possible in readiness for his almost inevitable elevation. Matty Glynn was on the bench and his injury is healing much better and quicker than expected. He could probably have played a cameo role late on if required but we decided to try and get through it without him and try and get him 100% for Saturday's F A Trophy game with Bashley.

By now you will probably have heard that Luke Brandon has left us to join Ardley. Luke did a brilliant job for the team and for me last season and all the lads, Management and coaching staff are very sorry to see him go.

I will update you with team and injury news later in the week.

Bishop's Cleeve Match Reaction

Our exit from the F A Cup was hugely disappointing from a number of perspectives. Obviously the result itself, a relatively poor performance but equally as importantly the totally unjustified expulsion of Ray Spence.

I said in my notes last week that you will get games where decisions go against you and that they have a way of evening themselves out but I didn't expect to be facing a similar situation again this week. I rarely criticize officials but I do feel duty bound to defend Ray Spence to the hilt on this one. This wasn't about an official missing an offside or a hand ball, this for me was about football politics and despite 25 years of seeing practically everything in this great game of ours, this has left a very bitter taste in the mouth and made me question whether I want to be involved. Whether we would have won the game or not is immaterial, what we are dealing with here is unfairness and a totally unjust situation.

The referees assistant said that Ray Spence elbowed Cleeve's Mansell but all credit to the lad he actually came over to the officials and said nothing had happened. Despite this the two officials stood by their decision and effectively killed the game as a spectacle. The supposed incident occurred at a very critical point in the game, as we had just got ourselves back in it (by virtue of a Spence goal) after starting slowly and going behind early on. Being down to ten men after just twenty odd minutes was always going to make the tie even harder than it already was, especially as it also meant we had lost our main goal threat.

Ray is far more sinned against than sinner. The fact that he's had a bad disciplinary record in the past should not be his marker for the rest of his footballing life. Just because a guy burgles a house it doesn't mean he's responsible for every burglary that happens in that area thereafter!!! There is no doubt, that Ray, because of the threat he poses to the opposition in all games, is subject to a high level of off the ball intimidation both physically and verbally but the officials, few of whom have played the game, are just not aware when these offences are going on.

They only see the obvious and whilst in no way would I ever condone retaliation, I can understand the frustration. There have been one or two referees who have handled Ray particularly well this season but sadly there are many more who choose to jump on him at the first opportunity and that has sickened me. As sure as managers discuss teams and players with each other you can be sure referees do the same-I rest my case.

We will of course be appealing against any form of disciplinary action against Ray.
As I said to the lads we must not use this as an excuse and let it detract us from the fact that we were well below par. On the basis of the way the game panned out Cleeve deserved to win there is little doubt about that but it will always be a case of if and who knows, if Ray had stayed on.

We looked sluggish, our passing simply wasn't anywhere near the level we set ourselves and the three goals conceded were poorly defended. I am not bemoaning the quality of the three finishes though which were all clinical. We must now regroup and look to get ourselves back to winning ways tomorrow against Burnham.

All we can hope for is a fair rub of the green, if we keep working hard it will surely turn in our favour?

Pre Bishops Cleeve

As promised an update on the walking wounded ahead of tomorrow's game at Bishops Cleeve.
It is expected that Carl Wilkins will be ok but Lee Farrow will make the journey just in case.
After much deliberation we have decided to give Andy Marriott's troubled ankle injury a couple of weeks recovery time. Andy has been playing with this all season and all his time between games has been spent recovering.

Anthony Alleyne is ok he just has to play through the discomfort of his injury, whilst the signs are promising that Matty Glynn may well be ok also.

We know that tomorrow is going to be a really tough game and are prepared for it. Both teams will see it as winnable so it should make for an entertaining encounter.

As with all games the spotlight is always on the strikers and tomorrow there will be two of the best at this level on show, in Cleeve's Kevin Slack and our own Raymond Spence. Such is the nature of the footballing world though, it will probably be one of the unsung heroes who steps up to grab the glory for either side.

Full Squad

WILKINS or FARROW, DURRANT, G WILLIAMS, CRAKER, AVERY, MERRITT, TAKRITI
JONES, WILLIAMS R, GLYNN, SPENCE, STEWART, RENDELL, KEEN, ALLEYNE, BURNLEY
LANE