Archive
Dr Martens League Eastern Division 2001-02
1/1/02 Hastings Town P St Leonards P
So - the big freeze just kept on and on and on - but at least things aren't as bad as they were this time last season when we'd only played 16 games or so. But it is bloody frustrating to see games postponed all the same - and whenever this game against the Stains is played - the crowd'll be rather less than it would've been on New Years Day. But it's not as if we were the only ones - every Eastern Division game was nobbled by the weather - same in the Premier and I think it might have been the same in the Western Division.
See y'all Saturday - I hope - still trying to get the day off on Wednesday. And let's get as much support together for the boys with trips to Dorchester and Grantham looming on consecutive Saturdays - the 12th and 19th.
SS
5/1/02 Hastings Town (0) 1 Stamford (0) 0
NERVE WRACKING!
Att: 476
ON THE PLAYER FRONT
Had the game not been played, we'd have been without Adam Flanagan for the Dorchester game as he would've been suspended for accumulating 5 yellow cards. We had a new signing in the 11 shirt against Stamford - Martin Eldridge - who's a mate of Mylie's at Eastbourne College and comes from Kings Lynn. Not sure if he's actually played for Kings Lynn - but it was a huge surprise that George decided to play him straight away. We thought that as the defence would have to be re shuffled due to Adam's absence, that Lee Mac would come into the side - but he was left on the bench. He did come on in the second half - replacing Martin who made a useful debut. Can't help wondering how long Lee will put up with being on the bench. But that's up to him to produce the goods on a consistent basis - which at Eastern Division level - is well within his capabilities.
PITCH LEVELLER
Incredible but true - Glyn White (long serving manager of the Stains - been there in excess of 6 weeks) was in the Argus on Friday going on that the New Years Day game could have been played and that, basically, Town chickened out taking on the Stains on a pitch that would have levelled out the differences between the sides. The fact that not one DM game in all three divisions was played seems to have evaded Glyn. Or maybe it's just a wind up!
See loads of you at Dorchester.
SS
7/1/02
12/1/02 Dorchester Town (0) 1 Hastings Town (1) 1
TOWN PASS BIG TEST
Att: 605 (including Harry Redknapp)
ON THE PLAYER FRONT
Well - is anyone really surprised that Lee Mac's on his way out? As surmised a week ago, the instant inclusion in the side of Martin Eldridge against Stamford seemed to put more pressure on Lee who has basically been a shadow of the player he should be at this level. Couple of fine goals against Banbury and Bashley perhaps - but on far too many occasions he just looked uninterested or just plain out of it. A huge shame because the guy is massively talented. I suspect Folkestone will find out what we have (twice now) along with Dover. But good luck to Lee all the same.
Landry is coming along nicely and - all being well - might even make the starting line up against Grantham next Saturday. Quite honestly, I think he should go in at Chris Honey's expense because "Monster" has not been in the best form of late. A very indifferent display against Stamford - better against Dorchester - but Chris isn't doing the business like he was in the early part of the season.
Worryingly, Macca went off at Dorchester with what looked like a hamstring problem. Let's hope the physio can sort Duncan out - he's been in great nick lately and we need him at Grantham where another huge test of this team awaits in a week's time.
SENIOR CUP DISTRACTION
Is there any other way to describe Tuesday night's Sussex Senior Cup tie at Arundel? I'm no sports psychologist - but George will surely find it a challenge to motivate the lads for such a game that has fallen slap in between two huge promotion games. It's quite likely that there will be no video coverage of that one. I'm late shift - Paul Rush is in the same boat - so combine that with the general lack of interest in that competition at it's early stages - and it's likely there won't be a great deal written about it. I'll see if I can change shifts - if I can, I'll be there because it's a new ground - it'd be number 95 I think.
But don't hold your breath. Next Saturday sees us off to Grantham - a side that has seen us off on three successive occasions for a goal aggregate of 13-1. We are well due a bit of luck against that lot and if we see a performance anything like that produced at The Avenue Stadium, then there's no reason why we can't get a decent result.
See loads of you at South Kesteven next Saturday. The boys really appreciate the support.
SS
* perhaps Mylie doesn't like the internet, as it almost took out Dave Moore as well. In the future, we'll have to space ourselves more evenly around the stadium.
15/1/02
NON LEAGUE RESTRUCTURING
Here we go again - that old chestnut has come up about the "structure" of football at Conference level and below. The bigwigs get together this weekend, I think it is, to try and put together some sensible proposals - and doesn't the game need them.
Every now and then there is talk of restructuring the full time game and bringing back something similar to the old Division 3 South and Division 3 North set up that used to exist about 40 odd years ago. If people in the professional game think along those lines - and in my opinion quite rightly - then why do we in what is supposed to be a regional set up (part time don't forget) three promotions away have to travel to places like Corby, Grantham, Rothwell, Rugby, Spalding, Stamford and Wisbech? Each of these treks adds up to a round trip of 300 miles minimum - and let's chuck in a 310 mile round trip to Dorchester as well - a Dorchester outfit that is probably still scratching it's collective heads trying to work out how it ended up in the Eastern Division this season.
Sticking with Dorchester - when we went there last weekend - we went past places like Lewes, Bognor, Horsham and Worthing - all Ryman sides that play at either the same or similar standards to us. The Dorchester website - and a very good one too (address on this same page prior to that match report) - also refers to this problem. They have to go to Spalding midweek due to the original game being postponed - apparently a 10 hour round trip! And they say they do more travelling in the Eastern Division than they did in the Premier.
The Southern League is a joke. And I'm not just refering to the rule book obsessed clowns that administer it. While - physically speaking - it might occupy the Southern half of the UK, it can't be right that the likes of us and Dorchester have to spend so much time on the road. Outfits like us - being situated where we are - are always going to be on the outskirts of whatever league we end up in - but if the game was to be restructured into a 4 zone set up - North, Midland, South and West for example - feeding into the Conference - that would make big inroads into our travelling.
It would take a season or two or three for the new system to bed in as teams adjusted - but the standard of football would still be a perfectly decent one and we would see an end to the bloody ridiculous situation that saw us sail on past four potential opponents last Saturday to a game that was to basically to occupy the whole day.
I recall several years ago reading an article in the Torygraph about Torquay going on about the travelling they had to do in the 3rd division - around 8000 miles a season. We were a Beazer Premier outfit then and when I added up our travelling as part timers - it came to around 7400 miles - just 600 less than Torquay. I did an article in the fanzine based on all that - sent it up to the Torygraph not expecting any response other than maybe an acknowledgement only to receive a lengthy letter from the deputy sports editor telling me how he'd been an avid Hastings United supporter in years past!
But I digress. I'm not sure what the travelling is like for sides in the Unibond League - but the Southern is definitely one big anomaly. I've been to places like Gresley for midweek games in the Premier - places like Bath, Burton and Worcester as well. Places like Bashley and Spalding in the Eastern - and on every occasion, you can be sure we've passed near to places where teams play a similar standard to us in the Ryman - and kept going as we disappear into Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Worcestershire and Christ knows where else! Just because the Southern League has always covered such a vast area doesn't mean it's right.
Will we see any decent proposals come out of the bigwigs get together? I believe the FA has suggested something along a 4 zone set up and I think that's spot on. But - as as has been said on numerous occasions in the fanzine - there are so many empires in the non league game that it's going to be a tough task dismantling some of them - and that is what has to be done if anything half sensible is to result.
We saw a great game of football at Dorchester on the 12th - but we shouldn't have to go that far for such a good 90 minutes. That was a promotion issue related game which added spice to it all - but what whets the appetite more - us going to Bognor or Worthing - or all the way to Dorchester? Just as what would whet the Dorchester appetite more - games against Havant or Weymouth or us? Yeah I know - Havant and Weymouth are Premier sides - but you get the drift?
And having said all that - I am desperate to see Town (or will it be Hastings United once again??) travelling to the likes of Bath, Newport County, Stafford and Worcester next season.......... Why did I waste my time writing all this?
Whatever - let us know what you think on the guestbook.
STICK INSECTS, TURNSTILES AND PIES
Dorchester's Avenue Stadium is quite a place and hopefully the pics from the match report will give some idea of what the place is like (buy part 2 of the video account of our season - plug, plug, plug). What they must think when they go to places like Burnham is beyond me.
Just one quibble though. Those bloody turnstiles. Now - I am a big guy, I'm 6' 4" and weigh in at around 18 stone which is big - no doubt about it. But not THAT big - but TOO bloody big to get through the turnstiles which seem to be designed for people of a stick insect like physique. I had to be admitted through another gate.
And as the first half progressed, I was filming the game behind the goal with the Boswell Barmy Army a little way to my left when for reasons possibly connected with my turnstile difficulties, I was subjected to a barrage of "Who ate all the pies, who ate all the pies, YOU fat bastard, YOU fat bastard".
This appalling attack was captured on film and will feature in part 2 of Town's season video available in a month or two - plug, plug, plug...... But what a bunch of gits they all are. Why do I have to take this...........
SS
19/1/02 Grantham Town (0) 1 Hastings Town (0) 1
DEJA VU
Att: 635
UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE
Town's Sussex Senior Cup tie at Arundel was postponed last Tuesday evening as the Bumpkinship outfit's pitch was waterlogged. Not a bad thing I thought with the team surely fixing thoughts on the vital DM Eastern fixture at Grantham which came a week after another game of equal importance at Dorchester.
On the Clubcall line on Friday night - 18 January - the news that it's a real possibility that either the 29th of January or the 5th of February could be the date for the rescheduled game at Arundel. On the 29th we are at present meant to be playing a league game at Erith - and on the 5th of February, it's the small matter of a home encounter against the Stains - again with league points at stake. Both those fixtures have already been postponed once incidentally.
When - WHEN - are the powers that be going to get a proper sense of priority about the scheduling of fixtures? The Sussex Senior Cup - and the DM League Cup come to that - are both Micky Mouse competitions that people largely don't give a shit about until their respective finals. If you get there - you make a decent fist of it - it's something to look forward to at the end of a tough season - but if you go out at an earlier stage - "so what" - we're not that bothered. Just how important people think these competitions are can be reflected in the attendances - and Town's combined home gates for League Cup games against Dartford added up to exactly 400 - that's 185 for Dartford and 215 for Folkestone. We've got Eastbourne in the next round of the DM Cup - we had 551 here for the league game in August, 776 at their place on Boxing Day - I bet less than 300 bother next Tuesday night.
You might just get 130 at Arundel - say that game's re-scheduled for 5th February when we should be at home to the Stains with league points at stake - a promotion place to battle for - and a local derby into the bargain. How many would we get in at The Pilot Field? 600 or so? Whatever - it'd be a bloody sight more than at Arundel - it'd be a bloody sight more than if we played Arundel at home.
How the poorly supported Sussex Senior Cup (remember just 154 bothered to turn up for the game against Lancing - while our lowest league gate to date is 339) takes priority over league games is a mystery all of it's own. And it goes beyond a joke when Town's promotion campaign has to take second place to such a lowly rated competition - and by lowly rated I'm talking about the paying supporter who's preferences seem obvious to us all - except the people supposedly running local football.
There are just over three months of 2001/2 left - the weather will see games postponed - it's that time of the year when pitches are at their most vulnerable - and what do we see - the strong possibility of league games which we follow with great interest as the promotion campaign heats up, being shunted aside for the Sussex Senior Cup - which very few give a shit about.
All these two useless competitions are any good for is using up suspensions - otherwise they're a collective pain in the butt. Bollocks to em both.
SS
Spalding cheer
On the way home after the long journey to Grantham, the 'hospitality' of a small section of their fans and Dartford tunnel collapsing fantasies of a certain member of our party had taken their toll. Who should we bump into at the services at Stansted but the lads from Spalding, who were returning to Lincolnshire after their win at Dartford. It was such a contrast to our experiences at Grantham, we had a chat to some of their friendly players. So I'd just like to say a quick hello to Spalding and wish them good luck for their game midweek. Sort of restores your faith in humanity.
KH
22/1/02 Hastings Town (2) 2 Eastbourne Borough (1) 3 [DMC3]
LEAGUE CUP NIGHTMARE
Att: 309
[DM League Cup 3rd Round]
26/1/02 Hastings Town P Dartford P
POSTPONEMENTS - WEATHER - REARRANGEMENTS......
The only consolation on Saturday was that we weren't the only ones to be washed out as only three games went ahead in our division - none of which affected us - three in the Premier and naff all in the Western.
If you were planning to go to Erith on Tuesday - don't. Worst fears have been realised - we are due to go to Arundel for that rearranged Sussex Senior Cup tie with the Erith game being shunted onto sometime in March - the 19th I think it is.
According to the ClubCall line, the Arundel game is already in major doubt as their place is severely prone to flooding and more of this shite weather is forecast for the coming week. So we could end with the ludicrous situation of seeing the Arundel game - which hardly anybody is interested in - being postponed again while the pitch at Welling where Erith play is fit! And if that happens - then don't hold your breath on the St Leonards game NEXT Tuesday the 5th of February - cos that could end up being shunted aside to make way for the Sussex Micky Mouse Cup.
Stick a reserve side out for it George (like Chelmsford did aginst us in the League Cup last season) - play the bloody game on a Thursday night - and leave Tuesday nights for the games that matter. Promotion is the big prize - and every game that has to be rearranged - especially to make way for competitions supporters and players aren't interested in - is a big obstacle as we aim for a top two place in the last week of April.
If we blow out - we blow out - it'll be a massive disappointment - but to have obstacles put in our way like this ludicrous situation where Senior Cup games are rated above Eastern Division games is something no club going for the big prize needs. As I've said before - the importance of a competition should be gauged by the number of people who turn up - and if that Arundel game was to be played at The Pilot Field, you can be sure the attendance would be nowhere near the 339 which is our lowest Easter Division gate of the season. As for the gate at their place - might just top 100.
I remember several seasons ago - having to go up to Derbyshire to play a league game at Gresley Rovers (round trip 400 odd miles) because some fixtures secretary in the Bumpkinship insisted on a Sussex Senior Cup game being played on a Saturday - the Saturday we should've been at Gresley. Things haven't improved much have they?
SS
Just to clarify the whinging about that game at Gresley Rovers - what I meant to say was that we had to go there midweek instead of playing it on the Saturday as originally scheduled. Imagine all the hassle for players having to take time off work, playing the game and then having to be at work the next morning after getting home at around 2.00 am! All that down to a Bumpkinship fixtures secretary insisting on playing the Senior Cup game on a Saturday.
30/1/02 Arundel (0) 1 Hastings Town (4) 6 [SSC3]
Town coast it - but at a cost
Att: 93
Well - at least this Inferior Cup game was played and is out of the way. A little bit of interest in that a home tie with Crawley awaits - but like us - they are focused on a promotion challenge - them even more so as only one side goes up from the Premier to the Conference.
As predicted - the attendance at Arundel was around the 100 mark - and confessions time - I wasn't one of them. Rather more preoccupied with a little break in Amsterdam and the consequent early start the next morning - though it has to be said - if we'd playing for league points at Erith then wild horses wouldn't have kept me indoors.
As to the game at Arundel - as one sided as it sounds apparently. The cost element of it was Jonah doing his ankle in on a very heavy pitch as the last minute approached. Great isn't it? We go to Stamford on Saturday minus Stuart Playford who got booted off in the Bleak Cup game against Eastbourne while Jonah will also be missing at Stamford having picked up his injury in another Micky Mouse competition.
Sent an email to the Sussex FA last Sunday whinging about the priority these Inferior Cup games have over far more meaningful league games - still waiting on Friday night for a response.
SS