Being without football on a Saturday afternoon really serves to highlight the absolute dearth of entertainment on terrestrial television these days. As a digital viewer, I did at least have the opportunity of watching the Sky Sports News vidiprinter with Jeff Stelling and assorted guests, but such is my ambivalence towards the professional game these days, I managed to doze off in the second half of their Premiership and Nationwide League coverage, and wasn't awoken until my daughter decided that it was time for a bottle at about six o'clock. By my reckoning, it was my first Saturday without a United game, first team or reserves, since 13 September and I sincerely hope that the next one is a long way off. Although I did not venture to The Pilot Field to see the conditions for myself, I imagine that the pitch must have been in quite a state for the new drainage system to have been unable to cope. It has been noticeable this season, that while we have lost plenty of games, the weather had not beaten us at home until this week and given the number of postponements all around the country in weeks gone by, and Saturday especially, there is no disgrace in that. There is a serious issue though, in that we will now have to reschedule the Fleet game as a midweek fixture, and, as I mentioned in my midweek report last week, we haven't enjoyed too many quality evening performances this season, Fleet away included. At this stage, I have no idea when the game is likely to be played, but we appear to have one or two weeks from which to choose. Hopefully, Tony Cosens will let me know in due course.

Just one solitary game survived the waterlogged cull on Saturday and a rum old affair it was too some forty miles to the east, as Folkestone fought back from two down at the break to beat Banbury 3-2 at Cheriton Road. Playing with a strong wind at their backs, the visitors took control of the game in the first half, but after the interval, goals from Adam Flanagan, Tony Hogg and Jon Ayling gave Invicta the points that took them clear in sixth place.

Three matches were played in the Premier Division, including Eastbourne Borough's home clash with Dorchester Town. Borough got off to a perfect start, taking a seventh minute lead through Steve Dell, only for Stuart Playford to concede an own goal two minutes later, when an attempted clearance flew of his shin and sailed twenty-five yards over keeper Lee Hook's head. A draw looked on the cards until Scott Ramsay headed in a winner in the last minute and after looking like becoming involved in a battle at the bottom end of the table a couple of weeks ago, Borough are now up to tenth place and are looking good for a place in the Conference South next season.

The bad weather also played havoc with Saturday's FA Trophy fourth round ties, with nine out of the sixteen games called off. There were a couple of surprise results in the matches that did take place. Arlesey Town from the Ryman League Division One North earnt a very impressive 3-3 draw away to Dagenham & Redbridge of the Conference. And Kettering Town from the Ryman Premier drew 1-1 away to Burton Albion, also of the Conference. The Dr Martens League leaders Weymouth lost 2-0 at home to Altrincham from the Unibond Premier and Stafford Rangers lost by the same score at home to runaway Ryman Premier leaders Canvey Island. Shrewsbury Town beat Hucknall Town 2-1. Tamworth were easy 4-0 winners at Marlow. Stalybridge Celtic and Marine drew 1-1. Most of the rearranged games and the replays are scheduled for the coming week, with the exception of Telford United's home tie against Weston-super-Mare, which will be delayed by a further week as Telford have a certain FA Cup fourth round date with Millwall this week.

Not much going on in the Sussex County League on Saturday. All four scheduled Division One games were postponed, including St Leonards' trip to Shoreham for well documented reasons. The Senior Cup tie between Oakwood and Arundel was called off again as well. Seaford's 7-0 win at home to Haywards Heath Town in Division Two prevented a complete washout, which is exactly what befell the Kent League this week. For the first time in two seasons, not a single match was played in any of the three divisions. Our reserves match at Danson Furness had been called off on Friday, as Danson's pitch was still covered in snow and waterlogging was considered a cast-iron guarantee.

In the absence of any football action to talk about, I was pleased to have purchased a copy of the Observer a couple of days earlier than usual this week, as there were one or two comments that caught my eye. First of all, in the 'Save Our Saints' headline feature on the back page, were several words of wisdom from dear old Andy Thomson, the most startling of which related to the club's failure to appeal for financial assistance until the last minute. I hope that Simon Carey will forgive me quoting directly from his article.

The club didn't appeal for help any earlier because the remaining officials were simply too immersed in the day-to-day running. "Although it's a County League club, it has Dr Martens facilities so there's a lot of wear and tear and you just get lost in it and then this comes up and bites you." said Thomson.

(Of course the Observer website can be found at www.hastingstoday.co.uk - KH)

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no idea whatsoever about how to run a football club, but something doesn't seem quite right to me here. The thing which has come up and bitten St Leonards is an £18,000 tax bill. How much of a surprise can that possibly have been? I may not know how to run a football club, but I do work in the small business sector of a Bank, and the importance of saving for tax bills is usually stressed to clients, not just by their Bank, but by their accountant as well. It is a fairly pivotal business expense after all. There just seems to be something vaguely disingenuous about the idea that somebody could be so involved in running a business, that they would forget that they owe £18,000 to the tax man. Later in the article, Thomson is also quoted as follows:

"I'm a Hastings person....I don't want to go to Eastbourne,....I want to see Hastings doing well. I don't want to go 25 miles to watch a game of football but that's what it's going to come down to if we are not careful."

Maybe those sentiments are indicative of St Leonards underlying problems. What does Mr Thomson think goes on at The Pilot Field every week? He doesn't seem to realise that it is a football pitch, occupied by a team representing the town that he wants to see doing well. I appreciate that our respective home games have tended not to clash in recent seasons, so perhaps it has not always been obvious, but you would think that he would remember the local derbies, or one or two of them at least. Sad as it will be if they do go bust, such comments do neither the club, nor the individual, much credit in my opinion. And when you consider that the sum they require to continue is relatively small in the overall scheme of things these days, I fear that it will say a lot about the town's feelings towards the club, if the money does not turn up. Interestingly, the County League's website already seems to believe that the end has been reached, as St Leonards' playing record has been expunged and it is already as if they never existed. That seems a bit disrespectful to me somehow.

Speaking of disrespectful, our own manager was failing to cover himself in glory this week, by his public shaming of Will Toal, David Henham and Kieren Startup in the wake of the midweek defeat to Salisbury. Steve Lovell has been impressively measured in his attitude towards the entire squad of players throughout a disappointing season and I am not sure that this outburst was really necessary. Most supporters would agree that we have played poorly on too many occasions this season, especially in goal and in defence. Why Steve should have chosen the Salisbury match to acknowledge this, I don't understand. Let's face it, three days previously, we let in four goals against a poor Fisher side, but the same back four and keeper were picked on the Tuesday, against a very good Salisbury side, with not unexpected results. In fact, as a unit, I would have said that the Salisbury display was better, simply because they were up against better players. Will scarcely put a foot wrong in either game, made some decent saves against Salisbury and looked much more secure than young Greg Nessling did in his three games. Even so, it appears that Will has played his last game for us, although, despite the assumption that Matt Brown would take over once again, Greg would have been in the starting line-up against Fleet on Saturday, as Matt was out of town. As for the defence, we have tried so many different combinations this season, none of which have been terribly successful, it is hardly surprising that the latest pairing hasn't worked either. Statistically speaking, our best run defensively, came against Rothwell, Erith & Belvedere and Ashford, when the back three comprised Kieren, Tony Burt and Mark Green, with Graham Morris in reserve. Tony and Mark are long gone of course, but I happen to think that Kieren is having a quietly competent season and I don't recall his name being linked with any serious individual cock-ups. Yet, he was the one to be left out against Fleet, with Simon Stickney due to get a go. Last season, Kieren was an attacking midfielder for the reserves and David Henham was usually on the bench, unable to displace a defensive trio of Glen Mitchell, Joe Heasmer and Marc Gall. That is why we have seen so many poor defensive performances of late. The lads are simply not yet up to Dr Martens League standard. Neither Jimmy Elford nor Russell Eldridge have adequate experience of defensive duties at this level either and both are fresh from a relegation season at The Firs last season I believe. If Steve Lovell is frustrated about not being able to do anything about the situation, fair enough, I think most of us understand that. I am not sure that I see the point of taking out that frustration on the players that he continues to pick though. Steve has gone on record as saying that he has not been interested in bringing in new players that are no better than those already at the club (Sean Ray fell into that category I believe), but one cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear and a change is as good as a rest. Too late in Sean Ray's case of course, but I assume that James Sims is available once again, along with Tim and Ade Olorunda. Players that were on the fringe of first team duty last season must be worth a go surely, but, like I said, I don't know how to run a football team.

Sean Adams

A blank midweek to follow a blank weekend. I was wondering if I would have anything to put in a midweek report, but Tony Cosens kindly bailed me out by sending me a few snippets of information. Kevin, via the Guestbook, has rather stolen my thunder by announcing the apparently imminent departure of Stuart Myall to Eastbourne Borough. Garry Wilson has evidently put in one of those seven day letters of approach for Mylie, who has been training with Borough for the last couple of weeks and, despite his assertions that he would see out the season at The Pilot Field, Mylie seems to have agreed to join Simmo, Yatesie, George and Garry Wilson himself, in an ever-extending ex-United contingent over at Priory Lane. Assuming that Steve Lovell decides against picking Mylie for the trip to Histon, the curtain will have come down on Mylie's 240 game career at The Pilot Field, which brought him fifty-five goals. I know that Mylie's loyalty is going to be called into question if he is on his way, but don't forget that he is in his sixth season at the club now, having resisted the attentions of our local rivals throughout that period, including the end of last season, when just about every other bugger decided to leave. One couldn't help but sense that Mylie had not been enjoying things much this season, by far the worst in his time at the club, even though he was made captain after Burtie called it a day. There is little doubt that he too will be sorely missed, although Steve does seem to have a more options in midfield than he has in other areas and if Mylie's departure doesn't lead to Ryan Peters getting a run in the side, then nothing ever will. Best of luck to you Mylie and thanks for all the good times, not least those Mylobatics, to coin Simon's old phrase.

Although no names were made available to me, it is possible that we will have our sixth goalkeeper of the season between the sticks on Saturday. At this stage, all that I know is that he is nineteen years old, which doesn't give too much away. With Will Toal having been discarded, and returned to Rye & Iden United, supporters were probably imagining a straight contest between Matt Brown and Greg Nessling for the starting spot. Greg's errors in his three games and Matt's lengthy injury lay-off seem to have given Steve Lovell cause to go out shopping once again. Now, I'm only guessing here, but isn't Westfield's Peter Newstead nineteen years old? Every other local keeper has had a go, why not him?

On the fixture front, last weekend's postponed home match against Fleet Town has been rearranged for Tuesday, 2 March, a week after the King's Lynn game and sandwiched in between trips to Ashford Town and Salisbury City. Let's hope it isn't quite such a crucial relegation battle by the time it comes around, for us at least.

The Reserves received some good news this week, when the Kent FA finally decided to award them the three points from their abandoned home game with Danson Furness back on 22 November. Quite why it has taken so long to come to the only possibly fair decision I'm not at all sure. The game only failed to reach a natural conclusion after Joe Cornwall suffered his appalling injury of course. The three points have halved the deficit to leaders Corinthian, who now have a game in hand, and we are now just a single point behind Dover, who could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Thamesmead Town on Wednesday evening.

Just the two games played in the Eastern Division this week. On Monday, our previous two opponents met at The Surrey Docks Stadium, with Fisher Athletic winning 2-1 at home to Salisbury City. Early first half goals from Richard Brady and Gary Abbott put the Londoners in control and Salisbury were unable to claw their way back, despite Craig Davis' goal early in the second period. That seems to put our result against Fisher into some perspective, or maybe our result against Salisbury, I'm not sure. On Tuesday, our next opponents, Histon, warmed up for our visit, with a trip to the Kent coast, where they managed a 1-1 draw with Folkestone Invicta. Allan Tait scored first for the home side before Ian Cambridge equalised before half time. The point was enough to take Histon back above Salisbury into third place in the table on goal difference. Both are now just one point behind King's Lynn and three behind Tonbridge Angels, whose long trip to Rothwell Town was postponed.

Fifth placed Eastleigh won through to the quarter finals of the League Cup on Tuesday, with a 2-1 win away to Premier Division Dorchester Town. That leaves the Dover v Folkestone tie as the only outstanding fourth round fixture. The winners will visit Crawley Town in round five. Eastleigh will entertain Weymouth, Cambridge City will take on Hednesford Town and Moor Green will be at home to Chippenham Town.

King's Lynn have seen some pretty decent attendances at The Walks this season. Indeed, they have the highest average home gate in the Eastern Division at 788, which is better than sixteen Premier Division sides can boast. On Wednesday, 3,127 turned up to witness the visit of Exeter City for their delayed FA Trophy fourth round clash. Sadly though, the final Eastern Division representatives bowed out as the Conference side ran out 3-0 victors. Sussex interests remain in the guise of Ryman League Division One South side Worthing, who earnt a highly creditable 1-1 draw at Hednesford Town on Tuesday. Dover Athletic led on three separate occasions away to Forest Green Rovers of the Conference, but had to settle for a replay. Ryman League Premier Hornchurch produced one of the shocks of the night, winning 1-0 at home to Stevenage Borough. There were also wins for Aldershot Town, 3-1 at Blyth Spartans and Maidenhead United, 5-1 at home to Wealdstone. There was also a major replay upset as Arlesey Town completed the job at home to Dagenham & Redbridge, running out 4-2 winners. Burton Albion won 2-1 at Kettering Town and Marine were beaten 1-0 at home by Stalybridge Celtic. The fifth round draw will not be finalised for a couple of weeks at least, as Telford United's FA Cup tie against Millwall was postponed for a third time on Wednesday, so they will have to try again next week. The ties, which are due to played a week on Saturday are below.

Altrincham v Shrewsbury Town
Halifax Town or Staines Town v Maidenhead United
Stalybridge Celtic v Canvey Island
Exeter City v Arlesey Town
Hednesford Town or Worthing v Forest Green Rovers or Dover Athletic
Aldershot Town v Tamworth
Hornchurch v Burton Albion
Telford United or Weston-super-Mare v Margate or Worksop Town

Two late Joff Vansittart goals took Crawley Town through to the quarter finals of the Sussex Senior Cup, courtesy of a 2-1 home win over Bognor Regis Town on Tuesday. Crawley will next visit Worthing on 17 February, the same night as Rye & Iden's visit to Eastbourne.

More fun and games at Longmead in the last week or so, as Hamid Barr, Ray Powell and Leroy Huggins all left to rejoin Fisher Athletic. Barr had been acting as the joint caretaker manager since Alan Walker was fired late last year, but resigned last week, apparently having decided to retire from the game. A pretty quick u-turn then. And we wonder about Mylie's loyalty. More troubled times ahead for Tonbridge then maybe, although I am sure that we would all probably swap places with them, given the chance.

One club that we will not be swapping places with is dear old St Leonards of course. My thanks go to Big Dave for finding out all the relevant information after their winding-up case was heard in Liverpool earlier in the week. I shall not bother repeating what Dave put on the Guestbook, but would only add that the club has resigned from the County League, which is presumably why their record was expunged, and not merely out of disrespect. This has had quite an effect on the top of the table, where Chichester lost three points, East Preston one and Eastbourne Town, three, but Town also had their home defeat chalked off. And one wonders how Rye & Iden will feel about having been knocked out of the old Hastings Senior Cup, by their now defunct rivals. Not all that bothered probably, but it highlights how easy it is to wipe out a league campaign, as opposed to any number of cup campaigns. It is just as well that they got beaten at the first hurdle of every other meaningful competition really. Not that we can boast about great cup exploits this season either.

Off to Histon on Saturday then, to begin a tricky looking month that will also see us visit Banbury United and Ashford Town, either side of a big home game with Erith & Belvedere and that midweek visit from King's Lynn. I guess that we would probably settle for about six points from that lot and the goals conceded column in single figures. Histon are another of those sides to whom we have never lost, but I am not expecting that record to remain in tact beyond five o'clock on Saturday. Two seasons back, we took a giant step towards the Eastern Division title with a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Bridge Road, just a few weeks after winning 2-0 at The Pilot Field. The year before we won an amazing game 5-2 at their place, having been two down early on. Our first ever encounter with them was a goalless draw at home in October 2000. Since joining the Dr Martens League that year, Histon have always managed to finish a few points short of mounting a serious promotion challenge, but this season, they seem set for a Premier Division place, as it is hard to see them, or any of the current top six for that matter, dropping far enough out of contention. With a game in hand or two on everyone else around them though, they may even believe a place in Conference South to be within their grasp, though whether their facilities would preclude them, time alone may tell. It will certainly be an awfully tough test for the lads on Saturday. After all, Histon have lost only once in the league all season, scoring plenty and conceding few. The only crumb of comfort is in the fact that they have a better away record than home and the likes of Rothwell, Corby and Erith & Belvedere have given them good games thus far. The trip is a touch too distant for me to consider I am afraid, so I will have to rely on Tony's Newsline report and the Histon website for details of the game. I shall be at The Pilot Field though, where the Reserves take on Tackleway in the Hastings Intermediate Cup semi final and will at least be able to report on that one instead, along with all of the other usual stuff.

Sean Adams

Ringwood 35, Skelly og 60; I.Cambridge 15
Att: 171

As it turned out, a vital win became all the more sweet, with the news that Rothwell picked up one point and Fleet none at all, which leaves us nine points clear of the bottom two. Rothwell's point, which took them off the bottom, was surprisingly earnt as well, courtesy of a stoppage time equaliser at Salisbury. Fleet's home defeat by Erith & Belvedere saw them overtake us in the goals against column once again. At the top, we have new leaders for the first time since August. After Tonbridge slipped up at home to Burnham, King's Lynn stepped up after an easy win at home to Banbury. Salisbury's disappointing draw still took them back above Histon, while Eastleigh's win at Ashford means that there are just five points between the top five clubs now. Here are all of Saturday's Eastern Division scores.

Ashford Town 0 v 1 Eastleigh
Bashley 2 v 2 Chatham Town
Dartford 2 v 0 Newport IoW
Fleet Town 0 v 3 Erith & Belvedere
Folkestone Invicta 2 v 1 Burgess Hill Town
Histon 1 v 2 Hastings United
King's Lynn 4 v 1 Banbury United
Salisbury City 1 v 1 Rothwell Town
Sittingbourne 4 v 2 Corby Town
Stamford 2 v 2 Fisher Athletic
Tonbridge Angels 1 v 3 Burnham

In the Premier Division, Eastbourne Borough managed only a 1-1 home draw with Merthyr Tydfil and only got the point thanks to Matt Crabb's late goal and an earlier missed penalty by the visitors. Mylie made his Borough debut and gave an assured performance I am told. Borough dropped to thirteenth as a result, but are one win away from a place in the top six and, for that matter, only twelve points off the lead. Top spot is still occupied by Weymouth although the gap was cut to two points on Saturday after their 1-0 defeat at Cambridge. Crawley are still second after a 2-0 win at home to Weston-super-Mare. And in the week of the comeback, Bath City recovered from three down at Dover to force a draw, their point taking them off the bottom of the table.

At The Pilot Field, the Reserves nicely managed to make up for the first team's surprise win, putting in a completely inept performance in losing 2-1 to Tackleway in the semi final of the Hastings Intermediate Cup. The visitors ply their weekly trade in the second division of the East Sussex League, three or four levels below the Reserves' regular standard, and were justifiably elated by their victory, which gives them a place in the final against either Hollington United or Rye & Iden United Reserves. In all honesty, our lads should be rather ashamed of themselves really. We were all over the place in defence, toothless in midfield and offered very little threat up front, despite having a strong line-up. Sam Harris-Green in goal. A back three of Jimmy Penfold, Richard Bolton and Graham Morris. Five across the middle in Danny Ellis, James Sims (back from St Leonards), Charlie Belcher, Bruce Sands and Dominic Cruttenden. And a front two of Ian Young and Peter Taylor. Nine of the eleven had first team experience, yet they looked like strangers at times, particularly in an awful first half display. Tackleway weren't exactly pummelling us to be fair, but then I wouldn't have expected them to do so, although Sam did pull off one great save to deny striker Will Edmunds. Two minutes into the second half, Sam was beaten when Rikki Matthews found space in the area and clipped the ball past him. On the hour, Justin Roberts waltzed past a couple of defenders, before knocking the ball from Sam's grasp and scoring with ease. Our lads gave themselves some hope when Peter volleyed home from the edge of the area after Tackleway failed to effectively clear Dominic's corner and we dominated the closing stages as the visitors tired and several players went down with cramp. James came closest to forcing extra time when his shot from Danny's corner crept inches wide, but it would have been extremely harsh on Tackleway, who worked so hard over the ninety minutes and, in my opinion, thoroughly deserved their success.

In the first division of the Kent League, Corinthian strengthened their position at the top of the table with a 4-0 at Erith Town. That was technically their game in hand on us and Dover and they now have a five point lead over Athletic and six points on ourselves. Next week, our lads are due to entertain third from bottom Deal Town, in what would be our final home league game of the season. That would leave us with trips to Ashford, Thamesmead, Herne Bay, Danson Furness and Deal to finish the campaign. As it stands, we are looking good for a top three spot, which would be no mean feat in this of all seasons.

The Kent League Premier Division leaders Cray Wanderers were in action in the fifth round of the FA Vase on Saturday and moved into the quarter finals with a 2-0 win at Keynsham Town of the Western League, the goals coming in extra time. Here are all the scores.

Congleton Town 0 v 2 AFC Sudbury
Studley 1 v 1 Gosport Borough
Colne 2 v 0 Bitton
Andover 3 v 1 Leighton Town
Chertsey Town 0 v 1 Bideford
Wroxham 0 v 3 Winchester City
Eastwood Town 3 v 3 Stone Dominoes
Keynsham Town 0 v 2 Cray Wanderers

In the County League, now officially minus our neighbours, Rye & Iden United won 2-0 at home to East Grinstead Town (I have been unable to establish the goalscorers I am afraid). That took them back up to sixth place and they still have games in hand on every team above them. Sidley United drew 1-1 at Pagham and climbed a place to fourteenth. At the top, there are new leaders in East Preston, whose 6-1 win at Hassocks saw them swap places with Chichester City United, who lost by the odd goal in seven at Horsham YMCA. In Division Two, Westfield were absolutely hammered 9-0 away by leaders Littlehampton Town, but remain in sixth position nonetheless. Rye & Iden are in league action again on Tuesday evening when they visit bottom of the table Shoreham.

For the millionth week on the trot, there are no midweek games at home or away from The Pilot Field, so it's time to start preparing for the trip to Banbury United next Saturday. The Oxfordshire side made a poor start to the season, even losing at Rothwell, but put some decent results together to move into the top six at one stage. Just two wins in their last eleven league games have seen them drop down to ninth at this point, but they still have an outside chance of claiming a Premier Division place next season. Our last visit to Spencer Stadium ended in a 3-2 win in September 2001 thanks to Monster's late goal, superbly caught on video by Mr Stoddart as I recall. The following March, we won the return 4-0 at The Pilot Field, Duncan scoring the home goal of that particular season. The previous year, Banbury's first in the Dr Martens League, we also managed the league double over them, so, as with Histon this week, we are defending a very good record against the Puritans On the basis that Banbury have scored more goals than us and conceded fewer, I would guess that it will be another tough afternoon for the lads. Surely though, the win at Histon will give the team renewed confidence and they can go into the game believing that they can win, even if not all supporters would share that sentiment. Once again, it will be a trip too far for me and I shall settle for the Reserves home game with Deal Town instead. I promise to make an effort for the following away game at Ashford though, for what could yet turn out to be nothing more than a mid-table clash. Here's hoping anyway.

Sean Adams

Midweek Report

After Saturday's shock win up at Histon, we could perhaps be forgiven for not expecting any more good news for a while. But no, there is more, with the announcement of a double signing at The Pilot Field this week. Upon further investigation, it transpires that one of the new arrivals is Danny Knowles, the eighteen year old goalkeeper, who was meant to have played at Histon, but was called away at late notice, as I reported last weekend. It seems unlikely that he will now go straight into the side at Banbury this weekend, as a result of Greg Nessling's fine display at Histon, although one wonders how long he will be asked to stick around if Greg goes on to cement a regular place. The other new signing will be a familiar face to anyone who didn't spend the early part of the season with their hands over their eyes, as defender (yes I said defender!) Mark Green has rejoined us for another spell. Mark spent about six weeks with us in September and October, playing eight games and scoring one goal, in the home defeat to Chatham Town. Both lads are at The Pilot Field on 'work experience', which is apparently similar to a loan arrangement, although there is no specific end date. Gillingham will be able to recall either player at any time, but if they do not require their services again this season, then presumably they will remain with us until Steve Lovell no longer wishes them to stay. It will be interesting to see how Mark will fit into Steve's defensive plans, now that we appear to have reverted to a four man back line. Will he play at centre back, with Russell Eldridge continuing at left back, or vice versa? And whichever of them plays at centre back, who will they partner, David Henham or Kieren Startup? Obviously Kieren will have a suspension to serve after his red card at Histon, one game for the straight red for a professional foul and maybe one more as he has already served a ban for five bookings recently. He would be my favourite to partner Mark though, as the two of them looked fairly steady in partnership earlier in the season, albeit with Tony Burt for company. At least Mark's arrival gives Steve another defensive option, although as has been pointed out elsewhere, we probably gave our best defensive performance of the season on Saturday playing one short for two-thirds of the game. Maybe that's the secret.

That was about all the news to have come out of The Pilot Field so far this week, aside from the fact that the Reserves have had their trip to Ashford Town rearranged for later this month, on 21 February, a week before the first team visit The Homelands and the day on which the first team entertain Erith & Belvedere. The remainder of the report will purely focus on rounding up this week's action, such as I deem worthy of a mention.

Monday saw the draw for the quarter finals of the FA Vase, along with the announcement that this year's final has been moved to Birmingham City's St Andrews ground. This is to allow for the fact that West Ham United's Upton Park may be required for an end of season play-off encounter. The tie of round six could well be fairly close to home, as Kent League leaders Cray Wanderers were finally given a home draw, against AFC Sudbury, currently second in the Eastern League. There will be an all Wessex League encounter between Winchester City (2nd) and Andover (8th). Currently lying third in the same league, Gosport Borough face a home replay against Studley of the Midland Alliance and the winners will be away to Bideford, currently second in the Western League. The two remaining northern sides were paired together with Colne of the North West Counties Division Two, probably the lowest ranked side left in the competition, drawn at home to Eastwood Town of the Northern Counties East League Premier. The ties are scheduled for 21 February.

Tuesday saw the only midweek game in the Eastern Division and quite a game it was too at Longmead, where Tonbridge returned to the top of the table after a 4-3 win over Histon. Mind you, if you can't beat them these days. Luke Piscina scored twice in the first half and Brendan Cass early in the second to put Tonbridge in charge. But Histon mounted one of those comebacks with two from Neil Kennedy and one from Colin Vowden bringing them back on terms, only for Nick Barnes to win it for the home side with ten minutes left. That was Histon's first away defeat of the season and restored Tonbridge's two point advantage at the top. In the Premier, goals from Stuart Tuck and Scott Ramsay earnt Eastbourne Borough a 2-0 win at home to Havant & Waterlooville, which took them up to sixth place in the table and just nine points off the lead. Stafford Rangers in third, missed the chance to close to within three points of Weymouth as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Weston-super-Mare. Moor Green advanced to the semi finals of the League Cup after a 3-1 home win over Chippenham Town. In the FA Trophy, Staines Town of the Ryman League Division One South earnt an excellent 1-1 draw at Halifax Town of the Conference. The replay is scheduled for this Thursday, in time for fifth round day on Saturday and a home tie against Maidenhead United awaits the victors. There were replay wins for Dover Athletic, 2-1 at home to Forest Green Rovers of the Conference, thanks to Matt Carruthers late goal. Dover now visit Hednesford Town for an all Dr Martens Premier clash, after Hednesford deprived Sussex of it's final representative, winning 2-1 at Worthing. Our opponents on Saturday, Banbury United, warmed up with a 6-1 home win over Hook Norton in the fourth round of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup. Rye & Iden United's 3-0 win at Shoreham took them up to third in the Sussex County League, nine points behind the leaders East Preston, who visit The Salts on Saturday for a good old fashioned six pointer.

Wednesday saw an end to non-league involvement in this season's FA Cup as Conference side Telford United lost 2-0 at home to First Division Millwall. At least they will be able to devote some proper time to more mundane FA Trophy matters at the weekend now and a delayed fourth round tie at home to Weston-super-Mare. A home tie against Margate is at stake there after the troubled Kent side finally managed to win their much delayed fourth round tie at home to Worksop Town, 2-0.

And so to Saturday 14 February (Valentine's Day don't forget lads) and the first team are off to Banbury of course. Anyone still not tempted to make that trip, despite last weekend's heroics on the road, will be very welcome at The Pilot Field, where the Reserves are due at home to Deal Town for their final home league game of the season. As I mentioned, third plays first in the Sussex County League a few miles east. Sidley United are away again, this time at SIdlesham. Westfield are away to Oakwood in Division Two, hoping to recover from their nine goal mauling at Littlehampton last week no doubt. Potentially, they might have another trip down there on the cards, in the semi final of the Division Two Challenge Cup. Littlehampton are away to Eastbourne United Association on Saturday in the third round and the winners will entertain Westfield. Bet they can't wait. Tackleway fans will have an eye on the second Hastings Intermediate Cup semi final between Hollington United and Rye & Iden United Reserves and just to finish by going from one extreme to the other if you like, Eastbourne Borough are away to Crawley Town for a big Dr Martens Premier clash.

Last of all this week, I see from the Non-League Daily website that one Landry Zahana-oni is back on these shores, having teamed up with dear old George Wakeling at Carshalton Athletic. Am I right in saying that that will be the third time that those two have linked up after previous stints with ourselves and Bromley? If so, does that make George the only man in non-league football who reckons Landry to be any good? The guy is a cult hero at Stirling Albion by all accounts, although not so at Luton Town I gather. Dare I suggest that he would be a half decent acquisition for our team at the moment, that bit of flair that has been sorely lacking this term. Alright, maybe not, just kidding.

Sean Adams

Simms 70
Att: 280

After our narrow defeat, the importance of last week's incredible win at Histon was brought home by the fact that all three sides below us in the league table managed to win, two of them away from home as well. Rothwell achieved perhaps the most impressive result of the three, grabbing a late winner in the New Forest. Fleet came back from a goal down, to pick up three points in London and Erith & Belvedere, our next opponents of course, enjoyed a more routine home victory, courtesy of early goals from Darren Adams and Akpo Sodje. We find ourselves only six points above the bottom two again now, and just two ahead of Erith, with whom we could well swap places next weekend if things go badly. Mind you, that could have already happened by then, as Erith entertain King's Lynn on Tuesday, and the Norfolk side, who went top of the table last weekend, are a distant second again now, after their defeat at The Homelands. Tonbridge's come-from-behind win has them five points clear again now, Histon's win taking them third, while Salisbury and Eastleigh both suffered surprise defeats too. Adam Flanagan was again amongst the Folkestone goalscorers as Invicta won easily to stay in touch and Burgess Hill still lead the chasing pack. Here are all of Saturday's Eastern Division results.

Ashford Town 3 v 1 King's Lynn
Banbury United 1 v 0 Hastings United
Bashley 0 v 1 Rothwell Town
Burgess Hill Town 2 v 0 Sittingbourne
Burnham 0 v 4 Folkestone Invicta
Chatham Town 0 v 1 Histon
Corby Town 2 v 1 Salisbury City
Eastleigh 0 v 1 Stamford
Erith & Belvedere 2 v 0 Dartford
Fisher Athletic 1 v 2 Fleet Town
Tonbridge Angels 2 v 1 Newport IoW

Crawley Town are the new leaders of the Premier Division, partly due to a 3-1 win at home to Eastbourne Borough and partly due to Weymouth's inactivity. Scott Ramsay had given Borough the lead from the penalty spot ten minutes after half time, but Crawley replied with goals from Joff Vansittart, Paul Armstrong and Mo Harkin to go a point clear at the top. Weymouth, who lost 5-2 at Eastleigh on Wednesday in the League Cup, have a healthy enough cushion over Worcester and Stafford beneath them and after those two, there looks like being an almighty scrap for the Conference South places with three points separating Nuneaton in fifth, from Dover in thirteenth. In turn, Dover are only seven points above the traditional relegation zone, although relegation is not a word that any sides will be fearing in the Premier Division this season of course.

At The Pilot Field on Saturday, the Reserves put in another hugely indifferent performance in losing 3-1 to Deal Town in what will be their final home Kent League Division One game this season. The starting line-up showed four changes from last week's embarrassing loss to Tackleway. Out had gone Jimmy Penfold, James Sims, Ian Young and Charlie Belcher and we lined up with Sam Harris-Green in goal. Neil Whiteman, Richard Bolton, Graham Morris and Matt Sellick in defence. Darryl Smith, Danny Ellis, Bruce Sands and Dominic Cruttenden in midfield. And Peter Taylor and Chris Honey up front. The last name on that list truly caught me by surprise. As someone has already stated on the Guestbook, here is our last squad member with any serious Dr Martens League experience and where do we find him, banished to the Reserves, not even deemed worthy of a place on the bench up at Banbury. Fair enough, Chris has had a pretty disappointing season and he has been out-performed by Carl Rook on many occasions. Mark Goodwin's arrival justifiably forced him out of the starting eleven, but you are not trying to tell me that he is less worthy of a place amongst the substitutes than Scott Hayhoe or Ian Young. To be honest, he didn't give a particularly good account of himself in the Reserve game either, until the last twenty or so minutes, when he started to run at and take on defenders. But games in the Reserves are not going to do Chris' confidence any more good, than being slated by his own supporters did last season. Anyway, back to the Reserve game, and we found ourselves a goal down after only four minutes, when Graham lost out in a tackle, which led to a cross from the left hand side, cleared to the edge of the box, from where it was thumped back with interest towards the goal, proving too hot for Sam to handle. We did nothing to suggest that we were capable of coming back and fell further behind five minutes before half time, when a Deal striker broke clear down the left and clipped a shot past Sam from the edge of the area. Bruce thought that he should have had a penalty early in the second half, when he stumbled over a challenge from the Deal goalkeeper, but nothing was given and moments later, Sam was beaten by another fierce effort from the edge of the box to put Deal three up. Neil pulled a goal back with twenty-five minutes to go, heading in Danny's corner, and he later hit the bar from a similar position. But Deal also hit the woodwork twice and though they survived several late scares, Darryl going close on four occasions, they were worth the win I thought. The game was notable for the return of Peter Sayer, finally recovered from his broken leg, suffered at Sittingbourne in August and I should imagine that he will be fully fit in a couple of weeks time and back in contention for a first team place. The disappointment at the loss would have been further compounded by the news that Dover managed to beat Corinthian 4-2 in their top-of-the-table clash at The Crabble, which saw them close the gap at the top to just two points. Had we won, we would have been just three points behind as well and there would have been everything to play for in our remaining five away games. As it is, it now looks as if we are just playing for third place, starting at Ashford next weekend.

In Sussex, it proved to be another tremendous day for Rye & Iden United. Going into the weekend in third place, that is exactly where they remain, but three precious points closer to the top two. They did part of the job themselves, running out 2-0 winners at home to the leaders East Preston, courtesy of a third minute strike from Shaun Loft and a second half own goal, all in front of a healthy crowd of 120 at The Salts. Second placed Chichester City United were hammered 6-2 at lowly Southwick and Rye & Iden are now six points off the lead and four off second, with games in hand on each. Further down the standings, Sidley United enjoyed a useful 1-0 win at Sidlesham, courtesy of a late Bradley Poole goal. And in the Second Division, Westfield's fortunes continue to dip, with a 3-1 defeat at Oakwood, Alan Johnson scoring a late consolation effort.

Elsewhere in non-league circles, it was FA Trophy day again with the Ryman League elite providing the upsets. Maidenhead United achieved the result of the day, winning 2-0 away to Halifax Town of the Conference, who themselves had only reached the last sixteen with a 3-2 replay win at Staines Town on Thursday. Hornchurch were at it again, following up their fourth round win over Stevenage with a 2-1 victory at home to Burton Albion. The all Dr Martens League clash ended in a 1-0 home win for Hednesford Town against Dover Athletic and Canvey Island will be favourites to progress after a goalless draw at Stalybridge Celtic. Exeter City brought an end to Arlesey Town's great run, with a 3-0 home win and they are joined in the quarter finals by Shrewsbury Town, who won 1-0 at Altrincham. And Tamworth earnt a home replay with Aldershot Town after a 1-1 draw. In the one outstanding fourth round tie, Telford United shrugged off their FA Cup disappointment to win 4-2 at home to Weston-super-Mare and they will now entertain Margate in round five on Tuesday. In the FA Vase, Wessex League Gosport Borough earnt themselves a quarter final trip to play Western League Bideford after winning 2-1 at home to Studley in their fifth round replay.

Looking ahead then, and next Saturday we entertain Erith & Belvedere for a crucial battle, hoping to improve on our 1-1 draw at Park View Road in October. The last time we met at The Pilot Field was in November 2001, when, nine minutes into stoppage time, a new star was born, as Landry headed in the winner in a 3-2 victory. That was his second goal of the game after coming on as a second half substitute when we were trailing 2-1, Darren Adams having scored both Erith goals, the very same Darren Adams who is now partnered with Akpo Sodje in a formidable strike duo, which will certainly be a test for our new resilient defensive look. This is another game that we surely cannot afford to lose, in order to keep some daylight between ourselves and the bottom three, although as I have already stated, Erith are at home to King's Lynn on Tuesday and we could really do with The Linnets doing us a favour there. Next weekend, Fleet are at home to Burgess Hill and Rothwell at home to Ashford and we may not be able to rely on favours in both of those. The time has come to stop relying on favours anyway and there are definitely points to be had from our next four games, Erith, King's Lynn and Fleet at home, and Ashford away. It could be a ten day period that will save or break our season (it's surely too late to make it). Can anyone hear Mr Walters* sharpening that axe already?

Sean Adams

* Changed from Waters 18/2/04, Sorry!

As has become commonplace, there is very little news to report from the Pilot Field this week and certainly nothing that hasn't been reported elsewhere already. A couple more facts have emerged about our new owner, David Walters, whose name I managed to spell incorrectly at the weekend. My apologies to all. I had wondered about Mr Walters reasons for wanting to buy the club, as he had already declared his intention not to inject any more funds this season at least. Well, it would appear that he is a football man, and a qualified coach at that, and was in charge of East Sussex League side Punnetts Town until fairly recently. Dare one hope that he doesn't turn out to be one of those chairmen who decide that they can suddenly do a better job than the manager and start to pick the side as well. I don't believe that such a situation has ever had a beneficial effect anywhere else. He is due to meet Steve Lovell and the players at Thursday night's training session and will be at the Erith & Belvedere game on Saturday. He'll be the one wearing the red carnation so we can all recognise him. On the player front, no news of further signings this week, but Mark Goodwin has had his loan spell extended by another month and will now be with us until at least 20 March. That said, I am sure that he was a non-playing substitute for Eastbourne on Tuesday, unless they have another Goodwin on their books. Kieren Startup has been awarded a one match ban for his sending off at Histon and he will be unavailable for Erith's visit on Saturday, not that he played at Banbury last week anyway.

There was rather better news from the Eastern Division on Tuesday after Saturday's results all went against us. Erith & Belvedere crashed to a 5-0 home defeat to King's Lynn at Park View Lane and remain a couple of points beneath us having now played one game more. Meanwhile, King's Lynn, who are at The Pilot Field next Tuesday, have closed the gap on Tonbridge to two points, although The Angels now have a game in hand. Elsewhere, Histon enjoyed a fine 6-1 win at home to Newport IoW and are just the three points off the lead themselves. The Islanders, with all their recent money problems, are on the brink of the bottom six and are possibly starting to look nervously over their shoulders.

Just a couple of games in the Premier Division on Tuesday. Hinckley United's 1-0 win at home to Weston-super-Mare lifted them up to fifth and pushed Eastbourne down to eighth and Merthyr won by the same score at Grantham Town. In the fifth round of the League Cup, Cambridge City managed to edge a 1-0 win at home to Hednesford Town and, in a delayed fourth round tie, an under-strength Dover Athletic side beat Folkestone Invicta 2-0 at The Crabble. Dover will visit Crawley Town in the fifth round next Tuesday.

Tuesday's Sussex Senior Cup ties all ended in home wins. Over at Priory Lane Eastbourne Borough proved too good for Rye & Iden United, winning 2-0 thanks to second half goals from Ian Pulman and Scott Ramsay. Borough will take on Eastbourne United Association or Brighton & Hove Albion, who play next Tuesday, in the semi final. Holders Crawley went out, losing to a single first half goal at Worthing, who now wait on the winners of the quarter final between Three Bridges and Oakwood, which takes place in a fortnight. Oakwood only came through their fourth round tie with Arundel on Tuesday, the County League Second Division side winning 6-1 against their First Division opponents. In the League itself, East Preston won 2-0 at Whitehawk to open up a five point lead at the top.

The FA Trophy quarter final line-up was completed on Tuesday when Telford United won an all Conference clash 3-0 at home to Margate. On the same night, there were replay wins for Aldershot Town, 2-0 at Tamworth and Canvey Island, 4-0 at home to Stalybridge Celtic. The draw had been made twenty-four hours previously and the four remaining Conference sides were paired together, with Aldershot at home to Exeter City and Shrewsbury Town at home to Telford. There will be an all Ryman Premier clash as Canvey entertain Maidenhead United and Dr Martens Premier Hednesford will be at home to Ryman Premier Hornchurch. The ties are set for 28 February.

That is just about all there is to say and, remarkably, after just six brief paragraphs, I will sign off until the weekend. There is not even any point in going into detail about Saturday's fixtures, as everyone will be at The Pilot Field of course. One can only hope that the Erith side that played King's Lynn on Tuesday turns up, instead of the one that beat Dartford on Saturday. This is a massive game for us, with Fleet and Rothwell both at home as well, to Burgess Hill and Ashford respectively. We could find ourselves just three points off the bottom again if things go badly, although the eternal optimist in me has us nine clear of danger after the weekend and a further three better off next Tuesday. Mind you, if King's Lynn put five past Erith......

Sean Adams

Correction

Mr Waters should be in fact Mr Walters, and has been changed below, sorry!

Call to arms

Now's as good as time as any. Following revelations in last week's Observer of an attempt to buy out Mick Maplesden's majority shareholding in Hastings United - a stalled attempt so we were told - isn't now the time for such a move to come from within, from amongst supporters of United as opposed to an individual from "outside" who as far as I know has never had any involvement in any way with Hastings United or Hastings Town?

There are people who want to get United out of it's current malaise - a malaise which gets more serious the longer the ownership situation remains unresolved. I count myself as one of those people despite not having watched the "U's" since the end of August. The intention is for United to be run by a group of people - maximum number seven or eight - who will sit down and discuss next moves etc etc, people who know football, people who are prepared to listen to views that might not be the same as theirs', people who have the interests of Hastings United at heart.

Are there out there amongst you United supporters a sufficient number of people able to put in a minimum of say £1000 each towards achieving this aim? Talking hypothetically - say we get 30 pledges - we are still looking at seven or eight people to actually run the club (any more than that and it starts getting top heavy) - but we need your help to make any progress - and that means your hard earned. Running the club well is important, doing things right is important but most important right now is the role that you can play in getting the whole thing up and running.

How much does Mick Maplesden want? Rumours abound - I don't know how much - but if I can get an idea of how many supporters might be in a position to make that £1000 pledge then we might just be able to arrest the slide that's been going on unarrested for the last 13 months or so. Mick Maplesden - and the likes of Charlie Pilbeam and Les Britton and Mark Gardiner have put in a massive amount of money between them since the mid, late 90s but what we are looking at now is a collective effort from within the supporters and hopefully such an effort will see Mick Maplesden finish what he started back in 1999 when Hastings Town came out of administration. And that would be to give the club back to the people who matter most - the supporters - with that group of seven or eight taking on the running of United.

But it's going to cost. Asking for a pledge of a grand might not be the best way forward - we are open to suggestions. Bath City were in dire straits not so long ago - and their supporters got together and raised £250,000 to get the club back on an even keel. The situation there was different from what's going on here - but the end result was that the necessary amount was raised. We hope it's going to be a small fraction of that amount that gets United on an even keel.

Brian Warren and I have been discussing these things - other people are being canvassed for their views - but Brian and I want to get all this out in the open and using the club's two unofficial websites seems as good a way as any. Something may also appear in the Observer and possibly the Sports Argus.

My railway shifts mean that I'm not always in so those of you who have Internet access can get me on my Yahoo email address - nomis1066@yahoo.co.uk - or you can phone Brian in the evenings after 6.00 on 01424-445928. If you're up for it then let us know so we can have an idea of how much we can raise and get United out of the mire. You don't know if you don't ask - I'm asking.

Thanks all

SS

We've had the amazing luck of having two lottery millionaires bailing us out when things looked pretty bleak. We all owe them a great debt for keeping the dream alive. However the responsibility of the situations was too much, nobody's health should suffer for the sake of a football club. Now perhaps is the time for some of us ordinary folk to join together, and carry on the good work that they started. As the Beatles said "There's nothing you can do, that can't be done." At the last club forum, the directors said that they would welcome investment from a supporters trust, as suggested by Mr Powell. So perhaps the time to start the ball rolling is now.

KH

Rook 25 (pen), 59, 81, 86
Att: 246

It is slightly frustrating to report that, despite our fantastic win, we are actually no better off points wise as far as the relegation positions are concerned. True, we are now five points clear of Erith, but Rothwell's win means that we are still only six above the drop zone. We are within two points of Dartford and Newport now, and within three of Burnham, as the dog fight at the bottom shows every sign of expanding. Fleet are now cast adrift at the foot after conceding three in the last ten minutes to Burgess Hill. At the top, there are still just three points separating Tonbridge, King's Lynn and Histon. Salisbury, Eastleigh and Folkestone all slipped up and appear to have dropped out of the title race again, while Burgess Hill, Stamford and Banbury remain in the hunt for a top seven finish and a place in the Premier Division next season. Here are all of Saturday's results in the Eastern Division.

Banbury United 1 v 0 Bashley
Dartford 2 v 3 Tonbridge Angels
Fisher Athletic 2 v 1 Eastleigh
Fleet Town 0 v 3 Burgess Hill Town
Folkestone Invicta 0 v 0 Corby Town
Hastings United 4 v 0 Erith & Belvedere
Histon 6 v 1 Burnham
King's Lynn 5 v 2 Sittingbourne
Newport IoW 1 v 2 Chatham Town
Rothwell Town 2 v 0 Ashford Town
Stamford 2 v 0 Salisbury City

It was a dreadful day for the leading sides in the Premier Division on Saturday. Crawley did their best to surrender top spot, losing 2-0 at Dorchester, but Eastbourne did them a huge favour, beating second placed Weymouth 2-1 at Priory Lane, Borough fighting back from a one down with goals from Matt Crabb and Stuart Tuck. With Stafford and Nuneaton only drawing, Hinckley losing and Worcester not playing, Borough are back up to fifth in what remains a rather congested looking league table.

Our Reserves started out on their run of five away games that will end their league season with a trip to Ashford on Saturday. The result, a 3-2 defeat, will have done nothing for their already fading title hopes and leaves them in third place in the table, which is probably where they will end up this season. No details of the game are available to me at present, nor are the other results that affected the Kent League Division Two. If I remember, I will try to include these in the midweek report.

In Sussex, Rye & Iden United, harbouring real title aspirations after recent results, were held to a disappointing 3-3 draw at The Salts by Arundel, struggling of late. Rye & Iden were two down approaching half time, when Sean Ray scored, and later equalised through Shaun Loft, only to go behind again, with Loft rescuing a point with six minutes left. The point leaves Rye & Iden in third place, eight behind East Preston who didn't play, with a game in hand. Second placed Chichester's poor run continued with a 0-0 draw at Ringmer. Sidley United stayed in the bottom six after a 2-0 defeat at East Grinstead Town. Down in Division Two, Duncan Jones scored at either end of Westfield's 3-2 home defeat to Mile Oak, which leaves them in eighth place after a third successive loss.

Results went largely as expected in the quarter finals of the FA Vase, with the big three teams all going through to the semi finals. Kent League leaders Cray Wanderers finally came unstuck, beaten 2-0 at home by AFC Sudbury after extra time. Wessex League leaders Winchester City thrashed league rivals Andover 5-1 at home. And Western League leaders Bideford beat Gosport Borough 3-0 courtesy of three second half penalties. The other tie ended in a 4-4 draw between Colne and Eastwood Town and they will replay on Tuesday, by when everyone will know their semi final fate.

We are also in action on Tuesday of course, when King's Lynn visit The Pilot Field, for a game in which we will probably be lucky to emerge with anything. The Linnets have been on a pretty impressive run since ending Tonbridge's unbeaten start back in December. They have won nine of twelve since then, averaging three goals a game, which is precisely one fewer than they scored against us in Norfolk earlier in the season. However, their one defeat in that run was a surprise 3-1 reverse at Ashford last Saturday, since when they put five past hopeless Erith without reply and five more past Sittingbourne. It will certainly be an interesting test for our new and improved defence and hopefully Carl will be suitably boosted by his four goal burst against Erith and hungry for more of the same. As long as supporters don't turn up expecting more of the same too. As the 5-0 scoreline last Tuesday shows nicely, there is a big difference in quality between Erith and King's Lynn and if we all go along expecting to get beaten, just think what a nice surprise it will be if we win. This will be our first Pilot Field meeting with King's Lynn since the 1998/99 season when we enjoyed such a memorable encounter that I have forgotten it utterly. Let us hope that this one is slightly less forgettable.

Sean Adams

Simon's bits

I made my first visit to The Pilot Field on Saturday since United's FA Cup demise at the hands of Bracknell at the end of August. Now that the Maplesden era is at an end - it's time to see how things shape up under David Walters. I also took the opportunity to meet Sean Adams who's done a fine job with the Ghost site along with your techno man, Karl Horton. So far as the game was concerned - nothing special - Erith certainly weren't (especially after going down to ten so early on and losing the dangerous Darren Adams) - what decent football there was came from the U's and well played Carl Rook with his four goals especially the one he curled round the keeper. Sean's match report will cover the game in detail as always. What a valuable three points - and a clean sheet as well.

NEW MAN AT THE HELM

I must admit to feeling a bit concerned at what I read in Friday's Observer. Hopefully more will become apparent when supporters get the chance to see David Walters at a fans forum which I believe is planned in the next couple of weeks or so. The team desperately needs a spine of three or four experienced guys to help the young lads through these tough times - but Mr Walters doesn't appear inclined to give Steve Lovell any extra money. Steve Lovell's reliance on young players who basically haven't made it at Gillingham is only just keeping United clear of the bottom two - and (if what appeared in the Observer is anything to go by) if the new owner wants to concentrate on the locality for the foundations of a team then there is surely the likeliehood of another downward step. There is no way that United can build a decent Southern League side based on local players - it will never happen.

After all the Gardiner talk of the Nationwide League in 5 years back in 97 it is refreshing to see some realism from the new owner who has made no such predictions as he takes stock of his new acquisition. And in contrast to the two previous owners - he comes to The Pilot Field with a background in the game at the Burgess Hillbillies and East Sussex League Punnetts Town. I do hope - having said that - Mr Walters involves people in the running of HUFC who are able to contribute fully to the club in terms of commitment to the cause and sound advice. David Bealey for one - and if Nigel Jones was to return, say next season, that'd be another boost for United.

Let's wait and see.

The fans forum is awaited with interest.

STAINS - COUNCIL etc etc

So - according to the Observer, it's just about all over at Fort Fun. If this is the case then it's over to Hastings Council who have long stated (not unreasonably) that there has to be only one club in the town before they look at doing anything to The Pilot Field.

While talking about all this on Saturday an interesting and concerning point was raised. What if Westfield - or more likely - Rye & Iden United express an interest in Fort Fun with it's Southern League facilities? Rye could well finish in the top two of the Bumpkinship - indeed they could win it - but would proceed nowhere due to ground grading difficulties. Just a thought.

United need to get in there quick - if the Stains are indeed out of the equation. Let's hope the Council does the right thing. The Pilot Field is a poor advert for Hastings.

STUART MYALL

I was as disappointed as anyone to see Mylie had gone to Eastbourne Borough to join Stuart Playford, Danny Simmonds and Steve Yates. How ironical - those four with around 1450 games between them in Hastings colours would've been ideal as that spine around which to get United up and running again.

Read what Mylie has to say in the Sports Argus. His comments about how much better things are organised at Borough can't really be argued with when you look back to the self dug black hole United fell into last May. He also quite rightly comments about the lack of new signings last season when United kicked off back in the Premier having constantly strengthened the previous season as their promotion campaign unfolded.

I suppose one could say it would've been nice if he'd hung in there till the end of this season - but I personally have no gripe with Stuart. I have more of a gripe with the shambles at The Pilot Field that resulted in the loss of four senior players to our local rivals.

Good luck Mylie - and thanks again for filming the FA Cup replay at Kettering for me last season when a night shift prevented me from going to Rockingham Road.

Simon Stoddart

J Defty 11, Stevenson 39
Att: 204

Our cause was assisted to a small degree by Histon on Tuesday evening, as they beat Rothwell Town 2-1 at Bridge Road. It was a close run thing though and Rothwell were said to be the better side on the night. Dartford remain in trouble, just a couple of points better off than ourselves, after a 6-1 home defeat by Folkestone, for whom Allan Tait grabbed a hattrick. And our next opponents, Ashford, followed up their weekend defeat at Rothwell, with a 2-1 home defeat to Sittingbourne. Hope springs eternal for us there then. At the top are now King's Lynn, who moved a point clear of Tonbridge after their win at The Pilot Field. Histon are up to second now on goal difference and Folkestone are up to fourth and still have a couple of games in hand on the leaders.

In the Premier Division, Eastbourne slipped down three places to eighth after Tuesday's fixtures. Nuneaton went fifth after a 2-1 home win over Bath, Welling moved into the top six for the first time this season after thrashing Dorchester 6-1 and Hinckley edged up into seventh following a goalless draw at home to Cambridge. Hednesford moved out of the bottom four after a 1-0 win at home to Havant & Waterlooville. An extra time goal from Mo Harkin gave Crawley a 1-0 win at home to Dover and a place in the semi final of the League Cup. They will now be at home to Eastleigh, while Moor Green will entertain Cambridge, the ties being scheduled for the first week in March.

I am now in a position to recap on the Reserves rather eventful visit to Homelands at the weekend, where they lost 3-2 at Ashford Reserves in the Kent League Division One. The line-up was Sam Harris-Green in goal. A back four of Jimmy Penfold, Nick Whiteman, Mark Butler and Richard Bolton. Steve Sands, Graham Morris, Charlie Belcher and Paul Henty in midfield. And Peter Taylor and Dominic Cruttenden up front. The substitutes were Bruce Sands, Adam Warmington, Matt Sellick and Joe Harmer. Things didn't go awfully well early on and Sam was sent off for handling outside his area just before the half hour mark. Despite that setback, a Graham Morris penalty and a goal from Steve Sands put us 2-1 up, a lead that the lads retained until the closing stages, when Ashford scored twice in the last eight minutes to steal the three points. Ashford are now eight points behind us in fourth place, but they still have four games in hand on us. Leaders Corinthian thrashed Thamesmead 5-0 on Saturday and extended their advantage at the top to five points. Still four more away games to go for our lads, continuing at Herne Bay this Saturday.

A crowd of 422 were at Princes Park on Tuesday to watch Brighton & Hove Albion finally end Eastbourne United Association's fine run in the Sussex Senior Cup with a 5-2 win, due in no small part to Chris McPhee's hattrick. Albion will now meet Eastbourne Borough in the semi final at The Saffrons on 17 March. The last quarter final between Three Bridges and Oakwood will take place next Tuesday and the winners will take on Worthing at Horsham on 16 March.

North West Counties Division Two side Colne won 2-1 at Eastwood Town on Tuesday to earn themselves a two legged FA Vase semi final spot against Eastern League high flyers AFC Sudbury, with the first leg to take place in Suffolk. Meanwhile, the tie of the round will get underway in Devon, between second in the Western League Bideford and second in the Wessex League Winchester City. The first legs take place on 13 March and the returns a week later.

The death knell finally sounded for St Leonards on Monday morning, when the club that has been winding us up for years, was wound up itself, courtesy of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. I probably said enough on this subject a couple of weeks ago and I certainly have nothing much constructive to add at this stage. It was looking a little grim for us when they were given a stay of execution earlier in the month, and then there was a half-hearted threat that they may survive after all, returning in the County League Division Two, enabling them to continue as the town's second senior club. That would have been just the excuse the council needed to continue its apparent anti-football policy of course. Now that their demise is official, it would appear that David Walters has wasted little time in appealing to the right sort of people, if local MP Michael Foster's attendance at The Pilot Field last night is anything to go by. I think we shall watch that space with great interest.

Talking to Simon Stoddart on Saturday, he made the very good point that, if the council do now provide some much needed funding for the general good of the club, it would be more than a touch ironic if our new and improved facilities are to play host to the hoi polloi of the County League next season. Whilst relegation remains a mathematical possibility, that particular spectre will be very much in evidence of course and, as Tony stated in his King's Lynn programme notes, the bottom two sides in the Eastern Division will drop to County League level, despite the advent of the new Conference North and South. The only reason that would not happen is if there is insufficient promotion interest amongst County League clubs to make up the shortfall of fifteen clubs required to compete at our level. That would appear to be unlikely as the Dr Martens League has received nearly thirty applications in all, including those from Three Bridges, Cray Wanderers and Maidstone United. Former League members Buckingham Town, Spalding United, Gosport Borough and Wisbech Town are also on the list, although the latter has failed to meet ground grading standards despite only being relegated in our title winning year. Big spending Winchester City have put their name forward as well, but we should be spared the likes of AFC Wimbledon who are in a Ryman feeder league. Then again, if the proposed the geographical restructuring goes ahead, maybe we will get them after all, along with Banstead Athletic, Bromley, Croydon, Dorking, Horsham, Leatherhead, Metropolitan Police, Molesey and Whyteleafe. Having said all that, if the results of the arbitration hearing are unfavourable, it will be good old Eastern Division fare as usual next season, relegation notwithstanding of course.

Saturday takes us off to The Homelands and our closest league rivals Ashford Town. They are one of only five sides that we have beaten in the league this season and another double would be very welcome I am sure. Ashford have had a funny old season, in which they started very brightly with our old mate Paul Jones scoring eight goals in ten games as they went unbeaten for their first nine. Jonah had broken his leg by the time we beat them 2-0 at The Pilot Field in October, and doesn't seem to have ever returned, since when Ashford have just been horribly inconsistent. This is nicely highlighted by their last three results; a 3-1 home win over King's Lynn, followed by a 2-0 defeat at Rothwell and Tuesday's 2-1 home loss to Sittingbourne. They currently lie eleventh, ten points above ourselves and ten below the top seven. Our last visit to Ashford ended in a comfortable 2-0 win a couple of seasons ago, but our most memorable game there would be the 4-3 win on our way to the Southern Division title in 1991/92, when we came back from 3-2 down with five minutes to go with goals from Terry White and Paul Burke. I recall the report in Ashford's local paper claiming that we had kicked our way to victory and would win few friends that season. A win will do very nicely on Saturday and given the proximity, your correspondent will actually get to an away fixture for a change and a nice full report will appear on the site on Sunday.

Sean Adams

Ringwood 58; Henham og 21, Thorogood pen 76, Elliott 90
Att: 390

Of the three sides below us, Rothwell were again the only winners, picking up their third victory in their last four games, 2-0 at Erith, who are now back in the bottom two. Fleet are still bringing up the rear after their 6-2 hiding at home to Folkestone, for whom Jon Ayling scored a hattrick and Adam Flanagan was also on target. So, we remain nine ahead of our next opponents and five clear of last Saturday's. Rothwell have closed to within three, but as long as the bottom two continue their present form, we should just about get through. Above us, Dartford, Newport and Burnham are still within catching distance as well and a win on Tuesday would take us up one place. At the top, it was a good day for Histon, who had their match at Salisbury postponed because of the snow in Wiltshire. Leaders King's Lynn dropped a couple of points at home to Fisher, and needed a late equaliser just to salvage the draw. Second placed Tonbridge also drew a much tougher encounter away to Eastleigh. Folkestone are within ten points of the leaders again now and still have to play all three sides above them. They are unbeaten in nineteen now and have scored sixteen goals in their last three away games. Here are Saturday's Eastern Division results in full.

Ashford Town 3 v 1 Hastings United
Bashley 1 v 1 Burnham
Burgess Hill Town 1 v 1 Newport IoW
Corby Town 3 v 0 Dartford
Eastleigh 0 v 0 Tonbridge Angels
Erith & Belvedere 0 v 2 Rothwell Town
Fleet Town 2 v 6 Folkestone Invicta
King's Lynn 2 v 2 Fisher Athletic
Salisbury City P v P Histon
Sittingbourne 0 v 0 Stamford

Saturday was a better day for the leading sides in the Premier Division, in particular for Crawley, who won 1-0 at third placed Stafford. Weymouth beat Moor Green 3-0 to stay a point behind in second. Nuneaton's 5-0 win at Grantham took them up to third, and a 0-0 draw at Cambridge took Worcester up to fourth. Eastbourne slipped back to ninth after their 2-1 defeat at Weston-super-Mare, Scott Ramsay scoring the Borough goal.

Our Reserves suffered their fourth defeat on the bounce, losing 2-0 at Herne Bay Reserves, a result that suggests that they will have done rather well to hang on to third place in the table come the end of the season. Once again, no details of the game are available at the time of typing these comments, so more after the midweek action once again. The only thing that is known is that Ken Dullaway and Phil Boswell were really struggling to get a side together for the game and a number of Youth team players were likely to be involved. Just three more away games to go now for our lads, who are off to Thamesmead Town next weekend. The top two sides in the Kent League Division One met in the quarter final of the league cup on Saturday, champions-elect Corinthian thrashing runners-up-elect Dover 7-0.

The Ryman League runaway leaders Canvey Island moved into the semi final of the FA Trophy on Saturday courtesy of a comfortable 4-0 win at home to league rivals Maidenhead United. The visitors were reduced to ten men after only five minutes and Canvey, who won the Trophy a couple of years ago, coasted into the last four. They were joined by Aldershot Town, who won their all Conference clash, 2-1 at home to Exeter City. Shrewsbury Town and Telford United drew 1-1 at Gay Meadow and will replay in a couple of weeks. The game between Hednesford Town and Hornchurch was postponed.

In the Sussex County League, Rye & Iden United's title challenge faltered still further when they lost 2-0 at home to second placed Chichester City United. They also surrendered third place in the table to Eastbourne Town, 3-2 winners at home to Pagham. The leaders East Preston beat Redhill 4-3 to stay four points clear at the top. Sidley United remained in the bottom six after a 3-0 home defeat to Arundel. In Division Two, Westfield beat Broadbridge Heath 3-2 at home, with goals from Duncan Jones, Alan Johnson and Lawrence Brand.

The Arbitration Tribunal, which heard the Ryman League's challenge to the restructuring of the National League System, announced on Thursday, that it had unanimously dismissed their claims. Despite the fact that virtually all of their member clubs had appeared to be in favour of the restructuring, the Ryman League had still attempted to challenge the legality of the proposed changes. Reading between many lines, I suspect that some high ranking officials are just a bit worried at the prospect of their empire tumbling, but certain Ryman League clubs may have genuine concerns over increased travelling costs. Take St Albans City for example. If they remain at Premier Division level, which will become level three of the pyramid next season, they will be included in the midlands region, which will see them having to journey to the Birmingham area, Wales and the West Country, as opposed to their current fixture list, which seldom takes them far outside the M25. Not that that is of any great concern to me or many other Hastings supporters. After years of undertaking similar journeys, the vast majority of our away games next season will be in Sussex, Kent and Surrey, which may give me license to get to every match. What a joy that will be. It will also be nice to see some new teams at The Pilot Field, hopefully a new and improved Pilot Field, if the council are stirred into action by the comments in this week's Observer. I don't think that we can ever have faulted Simon Carey for his support of the club and the back page report by Simon Newstead suggests that we have some new allies in the guise of those responsible for overseeing the most recent chapter in St Leonards' ill-fated history. Despite inferring, a couple of weeks ago, that he would be off to Priory Lane should The Saints fail to survive, Andy Thomson has now offered his support to the one club town scenario, sentiments also voiced by Tony Leppard. With his friends in high places, David Walters already looks like a more than useful asset to the club as well, confirmed by the news that non-league philanthropist Victor Gladwish is to be his guest at the Fleet game on Tuesday. There ought to be some interesting times ahead then, as long as the lads are able to pull through the relegation crisis of course.

Having failed to take anything from the Ashford game, points wise that is, that Fleet game takes on renewed importance. Not perhaps a must win game in the way that the Erith & Belvedere game was, this would still be a good one to win, as it would put us twelve points ahead of the Hampshire side with ten games each left. Our past record against Fleet is nothing much to write home about. Back in the 1999/2000 season, we had to come back from two down to win 3-2 at their place, before only managing a 1-1 draw in the return. That was the season that Fleet were relegated from the Eastern Division and we didn't meet up again until 4 November last year, when we were well beaten 3-0 at Calthorpe Park. After that game, Fleet embarked upon a fifteen match winless run, which ended in a 2-1 victory at Fisher two weeks ago, since when they have lost 3-0 at home to Burgess Hill and 6-2 at home to Folkestone. Like Erith last weekend, Fleet would appear to be there for the taking if we approach the game in the right way. Rothwell are also in action on Tuesday, at home to Burgess Hill, while Burnham visit Stamford and Bashley play Corby. News of all these games will be on the site by Thursday I hope. And I know that I say this every week, but after Saturday's excitement, it seems more relevant than usual. I'd be delighted to settle for a dull 1-0 and three points in the bag.

Finally this weekend, can I just say well done and thank you to Robin Powell and Mick James for their efforts in organising another Supporters' Club quiz last Friday evening. Not having managed to attend the first one last year, I wasn't certain what to expect, but it was a lively and fun evening's entertainment, which I would heartily commend to anyone who is yet to experience Robin in drag. I am sure that there will be further opportunities to do so in the future, presumably not including their race night on 2 April though.

Sean Adams