Archive

Dr Martens League Eastern Division 2003-04

Season 03/04

Reports 03/04

1/1/04 Hastings United (0) 1 Tonbridge Angels (3) 5

 

Peters 62; Huggins 3, Powell 23, 27, 53, Cass 82
Att: 501


1. Nessling
2. Elford
3. Eldridge
4. Startup*
5. Spiller
6. Hafner%
7. Myall
8. Hockey
9. Sherwood
10. Honey&
11. Rook
 
12. Ellis
14. Ringwood&
15. Stickney*
16. Peters%
17. Toal

Happy New Year anyone? Well, it certainly was for Tonbridge as dear old Hastings saw in 2004 in much the same fashion as they saw out 2003, with a four goal defeat. Last year must go down as one of the worst in the club's history. If relegation wasn't bad enough, the post-season uncertainty, which led to the exodus of management, players and, perhaps most importantly, money, has left us with a shadow of a playing squad. Willing, talented and hard working as they undoubtedly are, they have proved themselves to be collectively simply not good enough for the harsh realities of life in the Eastern Division. An occasional good run aside, our results since the start of the season have been generally poor, some of the margins of defeat have beggared belief and as for the defending, well, I think that I've said enough in previous reports. All in all, the sooner the club can put 2003 behind them, the better. Of forty-nine competitive matches during the calendar year, we won just nine, drew fifteen and lost twenty-five, scoring sixty-two goals and conceding one hundred and one. I think that those statistics speak for themselves and a year, which began with a win over Grantham, ended in spectacular defeat at Burgess Hill last week and sadly, our Bank Holiday form wasn't much improved by the time the Angels journeyed down the A21 on Thursday. This, remember, was a Tonbridge side without a win in four, without a permanent manager and beset by financial worries. Never a better time to be playing them then, even though they were still top of the league on the back of their seventeen match unbeaten start. Trouble is, they were probably thinking to themselves, what a wonderful opportunity a trip to The Pilot Field was to end their barren spell, and how right they were proved.

At long last, we saw a new face in the heart of our much maligned back three, as one Lee Hockey made his debut alongside Russell and Kieren. That allowed Jimmy to return to the right flank and Haffy to the centre of midfield, although for some reason, Ryan was the one demoted to the bench (I would have gone for Ricky myself). Steve Ringwood was back from holiday, but only as far as the bench. When Steve, Ryan and Simon Stickney came on in the second half, Mitchell pushed up front with Carl, Steve and Simon played as wing backs and Jimmy dropped into the defence. It was all a bit late by then, as we were already four down, but it did seem to spark a general improvement for a while and we created enough good chances to have mounted a serious comeback. I am not going to try and convince anyone that we actually deserved something from this one though. Unlike at Burgess Hill, we were second best in midfield, as well as at the back, and Tonbridge picked us off with ease at times, especially in the first half.

As usual, we gave ourselves an early mountain to climb, by conceding in the third minute, as Leroy Huggins received Nick Barnes' precise through ball and curled a left footer past Greg. Things might have turned out differently had Haffy been able to convert Carl's decent through ball shortly afterwards, but Jamie Turner saved with his knees and we just weren't in it for the rest of the first half. Craig Roser curled a shot just wide on the quarter hour, but Ray Powell had more luck from twenty-five yards eight minutes later, sending a curling effort low to Greg's left. I honestly believe that Powell's original intention had been to lob Greg, who had been standing on the penalty spot, and he maybe mishit his shot, but as Greg backpedalled, the ball appeared to go straight through his hands as he dived. If that was a soft goal, the next was of better quality, as player-manager Hamid Barr skipped past three defenders and Greg, before crossing for Powell to score with ease. Twenty-seven minutes gone and Tonbridge were already out of sight and we were looking totally devoid of attacking ideas.

Within seconds of the restart, Powell fired just wide from a good position down the left, but he didn't have long to wait for his hattrick, which Greg presented to him on a silver platter, gift-wrapped and with bells on. There was no sign of danger as Greg came out of his area to clear an overhit long ball, but he managed to miss his kick, almost treading on the ball instead of clearing it, and Powell nipped in to roll the ball into an empty net. At that point, maybe Tonbridge relaxed a little, but we actually had a good twenty minute spell and ought to have scored more than just the one goal. First, Mitchell challenged Turner, cleanly won the ball and crossed for Chris, who just hesitated slightly and allowed a defender to block his shot on the line. Steve Ringwood's pinpoint cross from the left then picked out Ricky, whose excellent first time volley was well saved by Turner. Then, the goal, another fine left wing cross, this time by Russell, was met by Ryan's glancing header. Russell then sent in yet another beauty, which was just flicked away from Mitchell, whose run then freed Simon in the area, only for Turner to produce another good save. With seventeen minutes to go, Carl caught Turner with a lunging challenge, well worthy of the yellow card it got, but Turner got straight up and threw a punch at Carl, which led to an inevitable red card. Defender Ryan Royston took over the gloves and produced a decent save from Simon's well struck volley, but was given little else to do in the closing stages. Eight minutes from time, Lee was also red carded for an attempted professional foul on Huggins and we were left with ten a side. From the free kick, Tony Dolby passed into the area for Brendan Cass to shoot past Greg from ten yards out. It added a bit of unnecessary gloss to the scoreline, which was already bad enough let's face it. And in a game of two distinct halves, Tonbridge were at least three goals better than us in the first period, but I would have said that we were the superior attacking force after the interval and 5-1 was just a bit harsh in the end.

Lee Hockey had a fairly assured debut, after a slightly shaky start, but he was still part of a defence that leaked four goals, the fifth coming after his sending off. To me, his red card was nothing but a classic example of a referee trying desperately to even up the numbers. Lee certainly caught Leroy Huggins, about twenty-five yards from goal, but Huggins, to his immense credit, stayed on his feet and was bearing down on goal along with a covering defender, only for the referee to call him back, insisting on awarding a free kick and giving the impression that he wanted to send Lee off. It is distasteful enough to see players trying to persuade officials to book or dismiss opponents, but when a referee is determined to deny a forward an advantage, as it will provide him with an excuse to send off a defender, I think that we have hit rock bottom. It is not as if there was anything dubious about the earlier dismissal. Jamie Turner clearly threw a punch at Carl and had to go. Carl's foul on him was poor and deserved a caution. End of story as far as I am concerned.

The goalkeeping debate will rage on, no doubt, after Greg's latest howlers gifted Tonbridge two of their five goals. I thought Greg had an unspectacular debut against Sittingbourne and his poor positioning and hesitation indirectly led to their equaliser that day. At Burgess Hill, he simply had no discernible defence in front of him, although he was most definitely at fault for the sixth goal. On Thursday, he again had little cover or support, but was at fault for the second and fourth goals. What price a quick return for Will at Dartford on Saturday? All goalkeepers make mistakes or errors of judgement, punching strikers for example. The trouble is that, when they do, there is seldom anyone behind them to let them off the hook. We must surely remember that Greg is young and his only worthy experience was up at The Firs, where I am not sure that he received that many rave reviews. He was drafted into the side, after supporters demanded Will be omitted after a string of, in my opinion, less embarrassing errors. We asked for him, we got him, and guess what, now we don't want him any more. I think that I'll go and look for my own keeping gloves. They haven't been worn for a while, but there can't be all that many more goalkeepers left in the town. None that would be foolish enough to lay themselves open to the kind of senseless abuse that Greg was suffering at the hands of his own supporters on Thursday. Kick a man when he's down by all means, but leave it for the opposition. Greg truly had the look of a condemned man as he trudged off after the game. Perhaps he knew something I didn't.

Elsewhere

Another batch of local derbies on New Year's Day, although some, ours for example, were more local than others, Stamford v Banbury for example. Here are all of the results.

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

The consolation for us after our latest setback was that the bottom four sides all lost as well. Rothwell were beaten by a late goal, which took Corby level on points with ourselves (bizarrely, they have a worse goal difference though). Richard Gillespie scored all five of Bashley's goals that kept Fleet second from bottom and defeats for Erith and Burnham meant that they remained more than a win behind us. Fisher moved above us and Dartford, after edging a close encounter. Tonbridge retained their five point lead at the top and King's Lynn are now clear in second after their fine win at Histon, who are now level on points with Salisbury. Eastleigh are still in the hunt in fifth and Folkestone have moved into the top six and have games in hand to go third. King's Lynn's hero was Carl Holmes, who grabbed a hattrick in front of the biggest crowd of the day, 961, most of whom would have been away supporters I should imagine. There were 701 at the Salisbury game, with our own 501 the third biggest Eastern Division attendance of the day.

Putting the rest to shame though were the 4,116, who turned up to watch the 2-2 draw between Dorchester and Weymouth in the Premier Division. That was only about 400 more than saw Dorchester's 8-0 drubbing at the hands of the same opponents on Boxing Day. The point kept Weymouth's six point advantage in tact, as Crawley were held to a goalless draw by Welling in front of an impressive 1,640 at Broadfield. Nuneaton's 2-1 win at home to Cambridge took them third, just ahead of Stafford, who won 1-0 at Worcester in front of 1,521. Eastbourne's game at home to Havant & Waterlooville was postponed, but they stayed in fourteenth place, but are now just six points clear of the 'relegation' zone.

There was no action in the Sussex County League or in the Go Travel Kent League on New Year's Day, but there are league programmes in each on Saturday, including Rye & Iden United taking on Sidley United at The Salts and Eastbourne Town at home to St Leonards. Westfield are also in Eastbourne, taking on United Association.

Of course, none of that is important, because anyone unable to follow the first team up at Gravesend, against Dartford, at the weekend, will be at The Pilot Field for the Reserves' Hastings Intermediate Cup tie against Rock-a-Nore. I am pleased to say that I will be able to get to Stonebridge Road after all, so a full report on the first team game, whatever I can find out about the Reserve team game and the usual trawl through the local leagues will be online some time on Sunday, Karl's time permitting of course.

Sean Adams

3/1/04 Dartford (0) 3 Hastings United (0) 0

 

Sykes 52, Kwashi 56, Ansell 59
Att: 246


1. Toal
2. Elford
3. Eldridge
4. Stickney*
5. Hockey
6. Spiller
7. Myall
8. Peters
9. Sherwood%
10. Ringwood
11. Rook
 
12. Honey%
14. Hafner*
15. Startup
16. Nessling
17.

And so, we lurch from one frustrating disaster to another. Frustrating because, once again, we have dominated possession and created the majority of the goalscoring chances during the ninety minutes, but have still managed to get soundly beaten by a team no better than ourselves. We can't even really blame the defence this time and certainly not the keeper. Dartford scored three good goals in the space of seven minutes early in the second half, much against the run of play and a mixture of good goalkeeping and poor finishing has then allowed them to stem a run of seven consecutive league defeats. And although I wouldn't wish to suggest that this was ever a must win game for us, it seemed to represent a good opportunity to put some more daylight between us and those near the foot of the table. As it turned out, it was a very depressing day all round, as all five of the sides below us picked up a point or three and our third straight heavy loss saw us drop a place to eighteenth and all bar Fleet have games in hand on us. It is going to be a long and hard winter.

You have to give Steve Lovell credit for trying a few things. After the Tonbridge defeat, out went Greg Nessling and back came Will Toal. The ten outfield players were those that had finished Thursday's game, with Jimmy, Lee and Russell making up the defensive trio. Steve and Simon were the wing-backs. Ricky, Ryan and Mylie occupied the midfield with Mitchell partnering Carl up front. That left Kieren on the bench, perhaps the scapegoat for the horror shows in recent matches. Monster joined him, having managed to score only once since the end of October. And with them, was Haffy, who seems to fulfil the utility player role, as I am not convinced that even Steve Lovell knows where best to play him. It was good to see Mark Lovell kitted up and involved in the pre-match warm-up, although as he was not named as a substitute, I guess that he is still a couple of weeks away from a place in the starting line-up. With the news that Peter Taylor and Peter Sayer should both be back to fitness in a few weeks time as well, it won't be long before Steve has a full squad to choose from once again. It can't come soon enough, if you ask me.

The game started at a pedestrian pace and the first half was as poor as any I have seen all season. We were well on top though and ought to have gone in at least one goal to the good. The first chance was twelve minutes in coming. Mitchell outpaced Tommy Osborne down the right. His cross was half blocked by keeper Jimmy Simpson, but Steve Ringwood should have done better at the back post rather than shooting wide. Ryan was off target with a thirty yard free kick. Mylie did well to control a long ball from Russell, turned and shot, but Simpson saved low to his left. Mylie then tried his luck from twenty yards, only for Simpson to palm away his shot and Carl was just unable to convert the rebound. Mitchell sent another ball across the face of the six yard box and Carl saw a goalbound effort blocked for a corner as we piled on the pressure. The only sniff of goal that Dartford had in the first half came from a break down the left by Tostao Kwashi, which was ended by an excellent block by Lee.

The second half began with another glorious chance. Mylie's vision and precise through ball released Mitchell, but he elected to hit his shot first time and sent it high and wide when he really had time to take a touch. Not sure that the miss deserved the reaction it got from some of the travelling contingent, but then I have never understood people lambasting their own team's players to any great extent. A minute later, Will appeared to produce a great save to tip Tommy Martin's volley round the post, although the referee gave a goal kick so perhaps I give him too much credit. Two minutes after that, the first goal went in and the wheels well and truly came off. For once, Mylie lost possession, deep in Dartford territory. Kwashi collected the ball and produced a defence splitting pass, which sent Paul Sykes on his way and he shot past Will from the edge of the area. Kwashi then helped himself to the second, courtesy of a fine piece of control and an excellent turn in the area, which gave him the chance to shoot across Will for a fine goal. From their next attack, Kwashi laid the ball back to the edge of the area for Ted Ansell to fire into the top corner for number three and we were left with a mountain to climb. Within a minute, Carl's cross from the right to the near post was met by a bullet of a header by Ryan, but Simpson produced a splendid reflex save from point blank range and when he kept out Mylie's well struck volley shortly afterwards, it was becoming clear that the ball wasn't running for us. Ansell should have got a fourth for the home side when he ran on to Kwashi's cross, but Will produced a quality save of his own. Kwashi was then allowed to run onto Simpson's long clearance, but failed to connect properly with an attempted lob. In the closing stages, Steve Ringwood got on the end of a Mylie cross, only to be denied by Simpson, who then saved Carl's volley from Jimmy's cross, with Mylie putting the rebound into the side netting. It just wasn't our day.

Disappointing it may have been, but I am not sure that I would be able to condone the reaction of some of the travelling supporters, who seemed to take exception to an alleged lack of effort from certain individuals on the pitch. I have been to a lot of games this year, not all of them, but more than I had anticipated getting to at this stage. The only time that I have sought to doubt the attitude of the players was during the Senior Cup replay defeat at Eastbourne United Association. In the end, I put that dreadful display as much down to the whole club's attitude towards the tie as any lack of desire on behalf of individual players. At Dartford, every player in a Hastings United shirt was giving 100% for the team and there was no shortage of skill and quality on show. Supporters must accept that the squad is, for the time being at least, just not good enough to compete at this level. Individually, we have some players of excellent quality, Mylie and Ryan for example, but there are too many positions in which we lack any quality, most notably at the back, for us to be competitive. If it wasn't for effort and team spirit, which the lads continue to show, we would be losing heavily and being outplayed in every match. As supporters, our loyalty and patience is truly being tested this season, but Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say. We have already seen a massive improvement since the start of the campaign and there is no reason why the lads cannot continue to improve with our continued encouragement and support.

Elsewhere

As I have already mentioned, Saturday's results didn't exactly go our way and Corby's draw at home to Fleet took them a point ahead of us in the table. It took two goals in the last two minutes to earn it though, after Fleet had built a good lead. The attendance of just 57 equalled the lowest Eastern Division crowd of the season. Erith & Belvedere also gave up a two goal lead at Burnham, who equalised in stoppage time. Rothwell produced the shock of the day, winning easily at Sittingbourne, to move off the bottom. Fisher twice led but had to settle for a point at Newport, so Dartford's win took them back up a place. At the top, Tonbridge were without a game and their lead was cut to just two points by King's Lynn, for whom Dale Watkins netted a hattrick in a surprisingly easy win over Chatham in front of 893 spectators. Histon got back to winning ways, but Salisbury dropped a couple of points at Folkestone, where they too needed a stoppage time equaliser. Eastleigh kept in touch with the leaders with Banbury now losing ground and only just ahead of Bashley.

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

No doubt about the game of the day in the Premier Division as the top two clashed down in Dorset, with Crawley emerging 1-0 winners. Gavin Holligan got the goal in the first half, but the hero was full back Ian Payne, who ended up in goal after Andy Little was sent off, and promptly saved a Steve Claridge penalty to preserve the advantage. Weymouth's lead is now cut to three points and Crawley have a game in hand as well. Nuneaton and Stafford both lost ground, while a six match unbeaten run has taken Dover up to fifth. Eastbourne managed a goalless draw at Cambridge, but still dropped a place to fifteenth.

It was points all round for our local sides in the Sussex County League. The derby at The Salts ended in a 1-1 draw between Rye & Iden United and Sidley United. The visitors took the lead through Adam Day with just ten minutes left, but Shaun Loft's very late penalty earned Rye & Iden a share of the spoils. Much as it pains me to type it, hats must go off to St Leonards, who won 3-1 at Eastbourne Town, having gone one down in the fifth minute. Second half goals from Sean Ray, Michael Morgan and one of the Olorundas gave the Saints their first win since early November. Eastbourne missed a golden chance to close the gap on leaders Chichester, who were beaten 2-1 at home by Arundel. In the second division, Westfield drew 3-3 at Eastbourne United Association, three times coming from a goal behind, with strikes from Sam Jamison, Dominic Clarke and Darroll Parris.

There was no action at The Pilot Field on Saturday, where the Reserves were due to take on Rock-a-Nore in the Hastings Intermediate Cup. A frozen pitch put paid to that one and the game will have to be rearranged. In the Kent League Division One, Dover won 3-1 at Corinthian to keep things interesting at the top of the table. Dover are now three behind Corinthian and three ahead of us, with fourteen games each played.

As for next weekend, the first team are without a fixture due to King's Lynn's continued involvement in the FA Trophy. The Reserves are due to play a league game at Herne Bay and I wonder if there may be a temptation to give some of the first team players a run in that one, given our sudden string of poor results. The Sussex County League computer has contrived to give all of our local sides away games next week. Rye & Iden visit Shoreham, St Leonards go to Three Bridges, Sidley to Oakwood and Westfield to Broadbridge Heath. What the hell to do then I wonder? Eastbourne Borough are away to Tiverton, not that I would seriously consider going over there just for a league game. The Trophy does throw up some intriguing ties, Lewes v Weymouth, Folkestone v Stevenage, Barnet v Dover and even Dagenham & Redbridge v Crawley. But no, I can see a day of quality time spent with the family looming. Better warn them I suppose.

Sean Adams

8/1/04

Midweek Report

First of all, some excellent news, from my point of view anyway. The Reserves absolutely vital Hastings Intermediate Cup tie at home to Rock-a-Nore has been rearranged for this coming Saturday. With none of the local sides due to be in home action this weekend, I was facing an afternoon of bottles and nappies, of Buckaroo and Junior Scrabble, and of trying to convince the missus that darts is actually a tense and exciting televisual feast, not just a bunch of overweight alcoholics throwing pointy things at a wall. To say that I was overjoyed when Tony Cosens advised me that Rock-a-Nore were not prepared to agree to play the game midweek would do a severe disservice to overjoyment. At least it will give me something relevant to write about in my weekend report. The Reserves were due to be away to Herne Bay in the league and I had speculated as to whether any of the first team squad might be asked to play in the game. Somehow, I doubt whether Steve Lovell would sanction such a move for what is a fairly low-key encounter, but you never know. Just for the record, Rock-a-Nore compete in the Premier Division of the Sussex Memorials East Sussex League and currently lie sixth out of ten teams, having taken fourteen points from nine games. Quite how strong their league is, in comparison to the Go Travel Kent League Division One, I guess we'll maybe find out on Saturday.

On the player front, I mentioned in my report after the Dartford game, that Mark Lovell had been warming up with the lads before kick off and I took this to be a sign that he would be back playing again shortly. It would appear that I was a little hasty in this assessment, as Tony believed that he was due to see a specialist on Monday and it remains likely that his knee will require an operation, which would prevent his return to action for several more weeks. Apparently, he is able to run, despite the injury, but he is still having trouble turning on it and kicking with the affected leg. Forget about that one then.

Lee Hockey's arrival from Gravesend & Northfleet has been about the only positive thing to occur over the holiday period as far as the club is concerned. The Observer reported that he had joined us from Gravesend Reserves, but there was clearly no fee involved and Lee is neither on loan nor on contract. He is simply available for as long as Steve Lovell wants to keep him and, if his first two games are anything to go by, I imagine that he will be wanted for as long as possible. After his red card against Tonbridge, he will have to sit out the trip to Stamford on 17 January, but only that one game. Carl Rook's booking in the Tonbridge match was his fifth of the season and Tony is currently waiting to hear from the Football Association as to whether he is to serve a suspension as well. If so, I guess it will be just the one match as well though.

No action at The Pilot Field this midweek and just the one match in the Eastern Division, Burgess Hill drawing 2-2 at home to Folkestone on Wednesday, having been two up at half time, Invicta's equaliser coming in stoppage time. Up in the Premier on Tuesday, Crawley missed the chance to go level on points with Weymouth, when they lost 1-0 at Grantham. The win took Grantham up three places and, as a consequence, pushed Eastbourne down to sixteenth. Borough's poor form continued with a 2-1 defeat at Welling in the third round of the League Cup. Welling will be away to Crawley in the fourth round and Chippenham will visit Tiverton after a 4-0 win at Newport County. In the County League, Eastbourne beat Ringmer 2-0 to close to within a point of East Preston and six behind leaders Chichester. Sidley's trip to Hailsham on Tuesday was postponed and rearranged for 20 January.

Sean Adams.

10/1/04 Hastings Utd Reserves 6 (2) Rock-a-Nore 2 (1) 2 [HIC3]

 

B Sands 6, Kingshott og 45, Hayhoe 49, 84, 90, Butler og 66;
Witcomb 36, Seymour 51

Att: 92


1. Brown
2. Penfold
3. Bolton
4. S.Sands
5. Warmington
6. Morris
7. Taylor
8. B.Sands*
9. Hayhoe
10. Belcher
11. Cruttenden%
 
12. Young%
14. Butler*
15. Heasmer
16. Henham
17.

I very much doubt whether too many football supporters will be able to look back at the end of the season and say that their team was involved in four matches that finished 6-2. I do realise that I am stretching a point a little, as Saturday's game with Rock-a-Nore was billed as a reserve team game. As my good friend Tom maintains though, we don't really have a first team and a reserve team this season, rather a group of players, from which two teams are selected each week. This latest reserve team, for example, did contain eight players who have represented the club at senior level this season, including Matt Brown and Peter Taylor, both returning after long injury lay-offs, and Charlie Belcher, out since 6 December. In the end, our lads had just about enough quality to see off a determined Rock-a-Nore side and progress to the semi final of the Hastings Intermediate Cup, which will see us at home to Tackleway, early next month. We could be accused of being somewhat unconvincing at times though and the scoreline was embellished by a two late goals, two unfortunate own goals and a goalkeeping performance that put some of Will's and Greg's recent displays into clearer perspective.

It probably should have been a fairly straightforward tie to negotiate and, had we built more effectively on Bruce Sands' sixth minute goal, perhaps it would have been. Peter's corner into the six yard box, was completely ignored by Rocks' keeper Darren Joff, and was met by a defensive header that fell to Bruce ten yards out. There was some doubt that Bruce may have handled the ball as he controlled it, but he was allowed to fire home a left footer in any case. On the quarter hour, Dominic Cruttenden floated a left wing cross onto the bar and Charlie volleyed just wide after a good move, but Rock-a-Nore stayed in the game and equalised after thirty-six minutes, when Sean Hankinson beat the offside trap, sidestepped Matt and Luke Witcomb was on hand to roll the ball into the empty net. Just before the half time whistle blew, Steve Sands drilled in a corner, which sailed over Joff's head and, trying to clear off the goal line, Richard Kingshott could only divert the ball into his own net to give us a slightly flattering interval advantage.

Just four minutes into the second half, Joff appeared to have, quite literally, given the game away, when he slipped as he took a goal kick and passed the ball straight to Scott Hayhoe on the edge of the area, who put us 3-1 up. Only two minutes later though, Witcomb ran onto a sublime through ball down the right and, with Matt foolishly committing himself, cut the ball back for Dale Seymour to turn in the visitor's second. The game remained pretty open until we benefited from another own goal in the sixty-sixth minute when Dominic's left wing cross was sliced past Joff by Kev Butler. Peter, who had a fairly low-key game on his return, then hit a twenty yard shot, which struck both posts before rebounding to safety. Both keepers escaped without so much as a caution after handling outside their respective areas, a goalscoring chance denied on each occasion. Finally, we added some gloss to the performance as Scott completed his hattrick with two goals in the closing stages. The first, as a result of a misplaced clearance by Steve Penn, which he stabbed past Joff with six minutes left. And then he met Peter's cross with a glancing header to wrap it up two minutes into stoppage time.

Elsewhere

Although the designated first team were able to enjoy a day off, they will not have been too enamoured to learn that we had dropped another place in the league standings after those fixtures that did take place on Saturday. Burnham's victory over Rothwell took them above us on goal difference and we now stand in nineteenth place, six points ahead of those two potential relegation places. Indeed, had Burnham not been deducted three points recently, they would have overhauled us sooner of course. Some consolation will come from the fact that Rothwell lost and remain in the bottom two, still just ahead of Fleet, thumped at home by Stamford, who we visit next weekend, for whom Kevin Byrne scored all four goals. And Erith & Belvedere's defeat at Chatham was also good news from our point of view. At the top, Tonbridge moved five points clear of King's Lynn after recovering from a goal down to win at Banbury. Salisbury's win took them third, but Eastleigh's surprise loss at Corby saw them lose ground. Eight games were played in all and the results are below.

Banbury United 1 v 3 Tonbridge Angels
Burnham 2 v 0 Rothwell Town
Chatham Town 3 v 2 Erith & Belvedere
Corby Town 1 v 0 Eastleigh
Fisher Athletic 1 v 2 Ashford Town
Fleet Town 0 v 4 Stamford
Newport IoW 1 v 1 Burgess Hill Town
Salisbury City 3 v 0 Sittingbourne

Only five games in the Premier Division on Saturday and one of them saw Eastbourne end their poor run with a 3-2 victory at Tiverton. Ian Pulman opened the scoring for Borough in the fourth minute and, after a Tiverton equaliser, Ollie Rowland made it 2-1 just past the quarter hour mark. Scott Ramsay added another just before the hour and a stoppage time goal provided the home side with mere consolation. That rare win took Eastbourne up one place to fifteenth in the table. Of the top six, only Nuneaton played, losing 2-1 at Welling, so it's as you were at the business end.

We have seen some pretty wild games and results at The Pilot Field, and on our travels, this season, although nothing that comes close to matching events at The Dripping Pan on Saturday, where Lewes and Weymouth produced a thirteen goal thriller in their FA Trophy third round tie. Steve Claridge got the ball rolling as the visitors took a two goal lead, only for Lewes to come back to level, and Weymouth to retake the lead after twenty minutes. On the hour mark, Lewes equalised again, but within three minutes were 5-3 down, before pulling one more back. Weymouth added two more, before Lewes grabbed a fifth and then Weymouth an eighth in the last minute. Whatever would Alan Hansen have said? As far as upsets were concerned, Ryman League leaders Canvey Island walloped the Conference strugglers Farnborough 6-0, although that one probably went to form in the end. Stafford of the Dr Martens Premier recorded an outstanding 2-1 success away to Scarborough of the Conference, who could perhaps be forgiven for having their minds on their FA Cup replay with Southend this week, which could net them a home fourth round tie with Chelsea. Marine from the Unibond Premier beat Conference side Northwich 1-0 and well done King's Lynn, whose devastation at missing a trip to The Pilot Field will have been eased slightly by a 3-1 win over Basingstoke of the Ryman Premier. Histon faired less well, beaten by the same score at home to Maidenhead, also of the Ryman Premier. Crawley managed a fine goalless draw at Dagenham & Redbridge, but Worthing are the only Sussex side through to the fourth round, after a 3-0 win at home to Taunton. The results in full are below.

Telford United P v P Alfreton Town
Shrewsbury Town 2 v 0 Morecambe
Altrincham 2 v 1 Runcorn FC Halton
Scarborough 1 v 2 Stafford Rangers
Hednesford Town 2 v 0 Gresley Rovers
Leigh RMI 1 v 1 Stalybridge Celtic
Blyth Spartans 1 v 0 Barrow
Chester City 1 v 2 Halifax Town
Burton Albion 4 v 2 Accrington Stanley
Marine 1 v 0 Northwich Victoria
Guiseley 0 v 2 Worksop Town
Hucknall Town 1 v 0 Bradford Park Avenue
Burscough 0 v 1 Tamworth
Bishop's Stortford 2 v 4 Aldershot Town
King's Lynn 3 v 1 Basingstoke Town
Gravesend & Northfleet 2 v 2 Weston-super-Mare
Dorchester Town 2 v 2 Margate
Folkestone Invicta 1 v 3 Stevenage Borough
Hornchurch 2 v 0 Aylesbury United
Kettering Town 0 v 0 Woking
Exeter City 3 v 2 Hereford United
Marlow 3 v 1 Ford United
Barnet 3 v 2 Dover Athletic
Forest Green Rovers 4 v 0 Sutton United
Histon 1 v 3 Maidenhead United
Lewes 5 v 8 Weymouth
Wealdstone 3 v 2 Thurrock
Canvey Island 6 v 0 Farnborough Town
Hayes 2 v 2 Arlesey Town
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 v 0 Crawley Town
Staines Town 1 v 0 Bath City
Worthing 3 v 0 Taunton Town

Not a very pleasant day for the locals in the County League. Rye & Iden did best of all by not playing as their game at Shoreham fell victim to a waterlogged pitch. St Leonards got back to losing ways, going down 2-0 at Three Bridges and Sidley suffered a 6-2 hiding at the hands of second division Oakwood in their Sussex RUR Cup quarter final. They were already four down when Shae Spreafico and Adam Day scored either side of half time but the embarrassment didn't end there unfortunately. In the second division itself, Westfield lost 4-0 at Broadbridge Heath and even Bexhill United lost, 3-2 at home to Eastbourne Borough Reserves in the fourth round of the Sussex Intermediate Cup. Back in the first division, the leaders Chichester were held 1-1 at home by Ringmer and Hassocks put nine past Selsey without reply. Rye & Iden remain sixth, with St Leonards fourteenth and Sidley sixteenth. Westfield have slipped to ninth in the second division.

So, to next Saturday, when the first team embark on what must surely be their longest trip of the season, paying a visit to Stamford in Lincolnshire. Stamford must be worried sick at the prospect of facing us on the back of our three game losing streak, which has seen us concede fourteen goals and score three. Then again, Stamford haven't been in sparkling form themselves of late and their win at Fleet was their first in six games, although that run saw them take on five of the top seven teams in the division, and they are due to take on Erith & Belvedere at home on Tuesday evening. After his four goal burst at Fleet, Kevin Byrne now has fourteen for the season, which puts him top five in the scorers list and with our defence due to be missing Lee Hockey through suspension next week, it doesn't look overly promising. That said, if history is anything to go by, which it isn't, we should do quite well, never having lost against Stamford in our six meetings, winning all three home games and one at The New Flame Stadium. Their's is a ground that I have not managed to get to before (although I recall driving quite close to it on the way home from Spalding a couple of years back) and I am not going to get there this year either I'm afraid. I will pinch some details from Tony Cosens' Newsline report and, together with the news of the Reserves' league game at home to Dartford, which I will be attending, that will form the basis of next weekend's report. For the midweek effort, I am going to try and find out some more about this Tony Carter chap, who is rumoured to be buying into the club, and why he is alleged to be such a bad sort. I feel terribly naive for not knowing the name, but at least I have a bit to go on, unless anyone out there can save me the bother. I will keep my eyes peeled on the Guestbook for another couple of days at least, lest someone should help me out.

Sean Adams

And Simon Stoddart submitted this earlier in the week:

DEPRESSION OVER HASTINGS

I stopped going to United games after the depressing FA Cup exit at the hands of Bracknell at the end of August. My reasons were made amply clear on this site at the time. While I no longer go to games I do still follow United's fortunes via this site of which Karl and Sean are collectively making a thoroughly good job. And guestbook readers will know I quite often waffle in that medium as well as the unbelievably inadequate official site's forum. And halfway through a grim 03/04 here's some more for you.

Occasionally I bump into somebody in the town who I know from football and we chat about what's going on at The Pilot Field. And most of it's pretty depressing. Nothing more so than my encounter with an old Pilot Field mate the other day. Now - I started going up Elphinstone Road in 1976 - 27 years of fluctuating fortunes on the footballing front - the ups and downs of United Mark 1, the bitter disappointment of the "U's" going belly up in 1985, getting used to Hastings Town, those close promotion calls in the late 80s, the 91/92 championship, Peter Sillett, Dean White and Garry Wilson at the helm, the struggles to stay in the Premier in the mid 90's, the unbelievable involvement of two Lottery millionaires, the shameful attempts by whoever it was in 99 to kill off Hastings Town, rulebook relegation by the League, regrouping in the Eastern Division, euphoria at Wisbech at the end of 01/02, the death by a thousand cuts of 02/03 and now the real possibility of Bumpkinship derbies with the Stains next season - a Stains side who themselves aren't comfortably clear of the prospect of County League Div 2 football next August.

27 years is nothing compared to some. No names mentioned - but my old mate who I saw the other day hasn't been back at all this season. He likes his cricket - and that combined with the depression following last season's relegation and the close season Pilot Field blues plus the poor results this season have all conspired to keep him away though he, like me, still keeps an eye on things from afar. He was one of a group of half a dozen that were there throughout the season - and quite a few away games too. He'd been a Pilot Field regular since 1959 - 44 years with a few years in the middle away through work. The other members of that group don't go any more either. There are other supporters who were there when Hastings United played their first game back in 1948. Yeah - I'm a boy compared to some of you guys.

Certainly in the time I followed football in Hastings things have NEVER been as grim and depressing as they are now. Playing resources are unbelievably depleted and United find themselves in the Eastern Division with it's generally poor standard - certainly poor compared to the Premier - unable to buy a clean sheet, looking certain to finish with a three figure number in the goals against column and just half a dozen points away from the bottom two and it's exit visa to County Bumpkinship football. A savaged playing budget - and last season's was very modest compared to other Premier clubs, certainly less than half the £6000 a week Ilkeston were paying on gates lower than ours - has left Steve Lovell fighting for scraps as he does his best with his Parental Guidance aged squad. Steve's preseason intent to aim for the top two needs a little tinkering with - forget the top two - just aim away from the bottom two.......

I remember saying to Phil Donaldson back in August as the depressing situation became apparent that I'd try and treat each game as a pre season where the result didn't matter and that even if we did lose loads of games it wouldn't be the end of the world because it was all part of the wider picture and that Lovers was going to build a decent squad from scratch etc etc etc. But I couldn't hack it and losing all those players - especially the spine of the side to bloody Eastbourne (1200 odd games between Playford, Simmonds and Yates) - was the final straw. I stuck it out through those relegation scraps in the 90s - 500 odd mile round trips for sod all to places like Gresley Rovers, having to kick off in the Eastern for non footballing reasons in 99/00 and I hardly missed a game last season - but losing all those players was too much to take this season. It was - in footballing terms - the break up of a family.

How many others have called it a day? Having asked that question I really do believe that for all the general bloody indifference in this town (FA Cup glitz at plush Stevenage notwithstanding), attendances have held up tremendously well at United. And those supporters deserve better - far better. As do those who've been driven out by all the depressing goings on of the last year or so.

RUMOURS, QUESTIONS, FACTS, ANSWERS

And don't supporters have a right to know just what direction HUFC is being taken in? Last season - Stafford Rangers attend the relegation wake that was our last game of what had ended up a hugely depressing 02/03 - and Mick Maplesden announces he's calling it a day at half time. Be in no doubt about it - were it not for the money sunk into the club by Messrs Gardiner and Maplesden (and that surely has to be half a million between them) over the last six or seven years - were it not for those two guys, we wouldn't have a club to be depressed about.

Sadly though - despite all that financial input (other semi pro clubs must be looking on at what's happened here with incredulity), the club's present situation on the field is as grim as it's ever been and Bumpkinship football - as stated earlier - is looming big time. Mick Maplesden said back in April he was no longer going to be involved - and his health problems combined with the stress and strain of football let alone the drain on finances were very sound and understandable reasons for him moving on.

But has he moved on? Football thrives on rumours - people mutter about this and that - a lot of it is utter cobblers - but there are whispers doing the rounds that there are people who want to see things change at The Pilot Field, people who want to take over*, people who are unable to do so because the ownership questions surrounding HUFC still remain unresolved despite Mick saying he wasn't going to be involved anymore eight months ago. There was talk of him wanting £100,000 for his shares in the club. Just how much are shares in a semi pro football club ever going to be worth - especially in these days when the game up to the highest level has had to take a big reality check. Look no further than Leeds United - and had Abramovich not taken over Chelsea when he did, they might well have been even deeper in the shit than Leeds. Whatever - talk is that there are people who want to do something about the current appalling situation at The Pilot Field but are unable to proceed until this ownership business is sorted out.

(Simon has asked me to point out that this was written before the current rumours of a take over were announced, and he didn't know any more than the rest of us - KH)

Nothing appears in the Observer or the Sports Argus - we know sod all appears on the official website - we hear nothing from HUFC about the club's off pitch management's views on what lies ahead. Right now, United are heading for County League football next season - the County Bumpkinship league where they can't organise fixtures more than a month at a time, where the fixtures when you do get them show you haven't got a home game for the month ahead (as Stains supremo Bowyer not unreasonably complained about recently), where clubs have six games in hand with four months of the season left, the league that makes the DM League look good, the league that hands out bans in days rather than games - yeah, those Bumpkinship derbies with the Stains are a real threat.

Doesn't all this look a bit at odds with around a year ago when United were showing a real interest in the new Conference set up that kicks off in August - to the extent that the £1750 admission fee requested by the Conference was despatched so we wouldn't miss out? We missed out alright - three months or so later the club had sat on it's hands and all the good work of 01/02 had been undone, the inadequate managerial team of Wakeling and Flanagan had been given far too much slack (they should've been out at the end of February at the latest) and the club had duly been hung out back in the Eastern Division where another relegation battle is underway with United half a dozen points off the bottom two.

What it all seems to boil down to is the ownership of the club. Mick Maplesden put a massive amount of money into Town/United, we can thank him for the very existence of the club today - and the improvements to the Pilot Field infrastructure - new turnstile blocks, extended clubhouse, clubshop and teabar. From what I hear the ball is in Mick's court now as to how things progress and I'm sure all supporters - present and absent - hope that the ownership issue can be sorted out and that HUFC can put this last grim year or so where it belongs and start aiming upwards again.

THE MIKE COLE STAND

A classic example of people wanting to get things done only to find their efforts grinding to a halt in that HUFC generated inertia. So what, you've heard it before - it's still a valid point. The Supporters' Committee of which the late Mike Cole was one of the hardest working and most dedicated put together properly costed, realistic plans for a three tier, covered terrace at The Wood End, work that they would've largely been able to do themselves. At around £6000-£7000 it was an attainable target, naming it after Mike was a tremendous idea and not far off half the money had already been raised. But the idea's died a death and supporters still get wet behind that goal.

In an ideal world the club would've said "Go for it" - it would be self financing and it would provide a decent, close up, covered viewing facility at the wide open Pilot Field where the only shelter is miles away from the action. Update supporters in the programme on how much had been raised, show them drawings of what was proposed - use the official website (choke, splutter, gag) to inform supporters - dream on.

At the Fans' Forum back in the Summer supporters were told there was a sum of money an an account somewhere that had been put aside for a new Wood End stand. I think the Supporters' Committee has some put away - I can't recall the exact details of what was said at the time. But I do know that I put a grand in last season - £500 initially from the fanzine and then another £500 towards the application to join the new Conference. Give the club credit where due - when relegation happened I was asked if I wanted that £500 back and I asked for it to be put towards the stand appeal. Other people have put money in in good faith and all we've ended up with is a repeat of 12/13 years ago when the Wood End stand appeal of that era died a death with what had been raised being ploughed into the refurbishment of the covered terrace at the Elphinstone Road end.

Nobody implies that untoward things have happened with the money - but Hastings Town mishandled the whole thing back in 90 or when ever by not properly informing supporters what was going on and here we are 13 years on and the same thing is happening again. PR is a bullshit industry, it's a bullshit expression - but this is a PR cock up of big proportions. What we've ended up with is in stark contrast to what isn't an unreasonable second paragraph of this article.

ON THE PITCH

And what about things as they stand? Well - I thought back in the Summer that getting Steve Lovell in as manager was just about the only bright aspect of a depressing close season in which the club's seemingly unresolved ownership situation can hardly have helped matters. But I read what Steve says in the Observer and the Argus - I don't read what he says on the official website because the club has completely lost the plot on what an official website is all about and his views don't appear on it - and what he says just doesn't tally up with the numbers - and numbers tell the story.

59 goals conceded already (after the Dartford defeat) - worst defence in the league - 20 points, only 6 points above the relegation zone, goal difference of -28 already, 40 odd players used, letting in 6 goals to a Burgess Hillbilly side we were two divisions higher than a season ago, a five year plan to build a decent side, planning for a top two finish this season - etc etc etc. Five year plan? We've heard that one before - and as for Steve getting that amount of time to build up a good title winning squad - just how many managers get that?

A number flying around at half time during that Stafford game last season was the proposed playing budget for this season was reputedly half our Premier budget - in itself, then, modest compared to many other sides at that level. The budget at Tonbridge this season - until their main sponsor pulled out recently - was around three times the HUFC figure, I hear. Just as an aside - the equivalent of around two and a half seasons of the current Hastings United playing budget goes into the currently inactive Senor Veron's bulging pockets every week at Stamford Bridge. Talk about them and us.

And how much of United's very limited resources go to Steve Lovell? Does the playing budget include the manager's money and if it does, is it true that he is one of the best paid managers in the Eastern Division - and better paid than some in the Premier - and if the answer to both questions is yes, then that begs another obvious question - why? Steve has commitments at Gillingham - and there has been at least one occasion when his selectorial policy has raised various eyebrows - raised even more when it transpires he wasn't at the game in question. His goals kept Hastings Town in the Premier nine years ago, his management credentials were given a big boost by his success on a reduced budget at cash strapped Sittingbourne - but surely the club (all the more so if it does turn out he is a top earning Eastern Division boss) should have got someone in who wouldn't miss games because of other commitments.

And there surely have to be questions over his 99% reliance on youngsters when one would think that a couple or three experienced, older faces would've helped. Since the season's started we've seen Tony Burt and Duncan McArthur go - whatever they were being paid could have gone towards another experienced centre back, some of the young uns who aren't up to DM Eastern standards could move on thus freeing up a few quid towards paying for an old hand. Look at Paul Stark - last season's Eastbourne Boro keeper (and haven't we had problems in that department this season?) - he can't get in Garry Wilson's side, he's been out on loan at the Hillbillies - couldn't we have made a move for him?

And I keep coming back to those three who went to Eastbourne - three players with 1200 odd games between them for Town and United, three players who could've been spot on in fulfilling requirements for an experienced hardcore around which to build a new young team. I really can't recall when Messrs Playford, Simmonds and Yates moved in relation to the arrival of Steve as manager, he may well have had nothing to do with the loss of those three guys - but what a cock up to see them kick off 03/04 in Boro colours. Couldn't some effort have been made to see if they could be accomodated in the new, reduced budget?

How much all of this can be laid at Steve Lovell's door - or at the club in general's - I don't know. But - laugh if you will, and I know some will - I suspect we'd be doing no worse if a team of Terry White and Jack Dalton, or Jack and Terry - were in charge. In fact I think we'd be doing better. The playing budget at Hastings is surely far more compared to what Terry had at Fort Fun - he admits he cocked up going there and even if he has come out with some old bollocks since (he came out with some classic smuggery after the Stains win in the mud in February 02) - I really believe Terry would give everything to United. The same for Jack. And if that talk of what Steve is being paid is true - then you can be sure there'd be a bit more available for what matters - players who can cut it and arrest that slide to Bumpkinship oblivion.

IN GENERAL

The 44 year veteran I was talking to the other day - that conversation took place in the shadow of the Town Hall. Home of our revered Borough Council who have done nothing when it comes to dragging The Pilot Field into the 21st Century. Two teams in the same town, blah blah, blah. I'm not so sure about the validity of that get out clause now - give our people their due over the years - several serious approaches to Fort Fun about merging have been rebuffed - so how about it HBC? Yeah - you've heard me whinge on about this plenty of times - well, put it this way - if you're thinking "He said that one four weeks ago" - that's another £40,000 that HBC will have put into the White Rock Theatre...........

The Pilot Field was one of the worst Premier Division grounds last season - only Hinckley's was worse and they're moving to a new ground next season. The Pilot Field's dismal layout is a poor advert for Hastings - and a poor advert for Hastings Council who's "efforts" for local football look shamefully inadequate compared to what their counterparts at Dover and Stevenage (for a start) have done in recent years. Just what has our council done for football in this town? Tried to earmark The Pilot Field for housing and concentrate everything up at cramped, sloping Fort Fun. Terminated the lease on the ground when Hastings Town was embroiled in that survival battle of 1999 - what a cheap shot that was. And - as always I stand to be corrected - are they now no longer responsible for the upkeep of the mainstand? If that's the case - what are the implications for United if East Sussex County Council decide the old thing can't be issued with a new safety certificate??

Two teams in the same town is no longer a valid get out for HBC - the Stains have made it clear they want to go it alone - Hastings Town and United have made approaches, they've done all they can, even the local MP got involved a few years ago. As for being prudent with council tax payers' money - well, as a council tax payer myself I'm entitled to my views and I object to half a million a year being ploughed into the White Rock Theatre (which I don't set foot in) when a one off investment of half that would do wonders for The Pilot Field's grim spectating facilities. Mick Maplesden and Mark Gardiner did their respective bits - it's about time HBC got on with it as well.

SUMMIMG UP

There's nothing more up and down than semi pro football. Look no further than Fort Fun where promotion from the Bumpkinship was soon followed by a jump to the Southern Premier - and a few short years later the Stains find themselves looking a bit nervously at a possible drop into Bumpkinship Divvie 2. Our old Premier sparring partners Bromsgrove Rovers seem to be bouncing back after a horrendous few years which saw them plunge from the Conference to the Midland Alliance - Gloucester City are slowly picking the pieces up after huge debts saw them go from the brink of Conference football down to the the DM Western Division - and what about Barry Town in the Welsh Premier - European football is a thing of the past as they find themselves miles adrift at the bottom and relegation almost a certainty.

And look at Hastings United. Talk just seven years ago of a five year plan to get to Nationwide League Div 3 - I certainly remember Dave Nessling talking of Conference football by 1997 - and last year we were hoping to be part of the new Conference North/South set up next season. Look where we're headed.

It doesn't have to happen that way.

Keep up the good work Karl and Sean - and fingers crossed that Hastings United get through their current malaise.

Simon Stoddart

15/1/04

Midweek roundup

Anyone fancy a game this weekend? I've heard that Lincolnshire looks mighty fine this time of year and Stamford looked like an awfully nice place to visit when I drove through it two years ago. If you're a half decent defender with a free Saturday, you're almost guaranteed a start. Lee Hockey, already suspended from the trip north after his Happy New Year red card, suffered a potentially season ending knee injury at Dartford and may have had his Pilot Field career curtailed at just the two matches. And as if that wasn't bad enough, the player whom Lee had replaced in the starting line-up at Stonebridge Road, Kieren Startup, is also due to serve a one match ban this weekend. Mitchell Sherwood will be suspended as well, although in theory, he will not be quite so badly missed, as Steve Hafner should be able to slot in down the right and Peter Taylor came through a full ninety minutes playing for the reserves last Saturday and ought to make the bench at least, along with Charlie Belcher perhaps. Occasional first team substitute Danny Ellis is also banned this week by the way, which will maybe give Steve Lovell the chance to name himself amongst the subs at Stamford. Well, it wouldn't be the first time this season. As for defensive options, Jimmy Elford will presumably continue to occupy one position in the back three, alongside Russell Eldridge and surely the time has come for Graham Morris to step up from the reserves once again, after some solid performances of late. Unless, that is, Steve is successful in his quest to bring some new players in by the weekend. He has definitely lost out on one of his targets, a defender ironically, but hopes to sign a new striker on Friday to bolster our flagging forward line. Curiously, Carl Rook, whom I was expecting to be banned this week, is not and will line up as usual. Thinking about it, if we are desperate for defenders, Carl could always drop back again. Then again, maybe not. And as Matt Brown also played in the reserves last week, I wonder if he will reclaim his first team place, now that Will and Greg have been found to be somewhat lacking.

I have drawn a complete blank in my search for information about that guy who was alleged to be holding takeover talks with Mick Maplesden, except that I believe his full name to be Tony Hillier-Carter, that he lives locally and that Mick has spoken with him. I must confess that I don't subscribe to the view that supporters have a right to be kept informed with this sort of negotiation. The only reason why professional clubs like Leeds United have their finances kept under such close scrutiny, is that as they operate as a plc, they are obliged to report important matters to the Stock Exchange, which brings them into media spotlight. As far as I am concerned, Mick's negotiations remain private as long as he wishes.

Just the one game in the Eastern Division this midweek and it saw Stamford follow up their 4-0 win at Fleet last Saturday, with a 2-1 home win over another of our relegation rivals in Erith & Belvedere. Stamford are now one win away from a top six place, while Erith remain four points below us and have now played a game more. I was looking out for the score in the Kent Senior Cup tie between Bromley and Tonbridge Angels on Tuesday as well, but the game was postponed. It was a potentially interesting game between Alan Walker's old side and his new one, only for him to be sacked by Bromley last week anyway, after just four games in charge. He's now gone to Maidstone. More uncertainty for Newport IoW this week with the news that their Receivers have accepted an offer for their St George's Park ground and other business assets. Essentially, this could well turn out to be good news, but at this stage, the identity of the buyer has not been released, and it is still not known what plans he or she has for the football club itself. While they wait to find out, the playing squad is now exclusively island based for the first time in Newport's thirteen years in the Southern League.

Grantham Town's 1-0 win at Welling United on Tuesday, pushed Eastbourne Borough back down to sixteenth place in the Premier Division, although their win at Tiverton last weekend did take them eight points clear of the bottom four. That said, Borough cannot be relegated this season of course, assuming that the Conference South does take off next year, but they must surely have been targeting a place in new league when the season began. At Priory Lane on Tuesday, Borough advanced to the fourth round of the Sussex Senior Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Burgess Hill Town. Scott Ramsay scored the opener just five minutes in and added another midway through the second half. Stuart Tuck completed the scoring with seventeen minutes remaining. Eastbourne Town were due to play Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday, but I have been unable to track down the result as yet.

Three midweek FA Trophy third round replays produced a couple more upsets, but not at Broadfield, where Crawley Town lost 2-1 to Dagenham & Redbridge. Ryman Premier side Kettering Town won 3-2 at Woking of the Conference and Arlesey of Ryman Division One North beat Ryman Premier Hayes on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Three ties remain to be settled, but the fourth round draw is below, with King's Lynn well rewarded for their efforts at the weekend with a home tie against Exeter City. The ties will be played on 31 January.

Shrewsbury Town v Hucknall Town
Dorchester Town or Margate v Worksop Town
Marlow v Tamworth
Forest Green Rovers v Barnet
Leigh RMI or Stalybridge Celtic v Marine
Hornchurch v Stevenage Borough
Halifax Town v Staines Town
Weymouth v Altrincham
Blyth Spartans v Aldershot Town
Maidenhead United v Wealdstone
Telford United v Gravesend & Northfleet or Weston-super-Mare
Stafford Rangers v Canvey Island
Hednesford Town v Worthing
Dagenham & Redbridge v Arlesey Town
King's Lynn v Exeter City
Burton Albion v Kettering Town

That's about it for now then. Don't forget, anyone not heading to Stamford on Saturday, to watch or to play, get down to The Pilot Field where the reserves should be in action against Dartford Reserves in the Go Travel Kent League Division One. I say 'should' as I suppose that it does depend on whether there are any players left after Steve Lovell has selected his first team squad. Speaking of the reserves, the Hastings Intermediate Cup semi final tie at home to Tackleway has been arranged for 7 February, when the first team are at Histon to collect an easy three points. And before I sign off until Sunday, I just want to mention the welcome return of Sandy Harmer's Claret 'n' Blue website, which has been down for a few months. I gather that Sandy had offered his services to the official site, but his advances were spurned and www.claretnblue.tk is back. Whatever some people might think, it will be nice to be able to read someone else's views for a change, from my perspective at least.

Sean Adams

17/1/04 Stamford (1) 1 Hastings United (0) 0

 

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Att: 156


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16.
17.

'It seems most sides are struggling for goalkeepers'. Prophetic words from Westfield boss Steve Johnson in Friday's Observer in response to Rye & Iden United's seven day approach for their Peter Newstead. Rye & Iden's own Jon Gardner is presumably due a suspension of some magnitude shortly after his sending off against St Leonards last month and Saints' James Lightfoot will be also, having been dismissed in the same match. It strikes me as being a little crass that we should find ourselves with four young keepers on our books then, yet we just can't seem to decide which one is the least prone to make game-costing errors any more. To be fair to Matt Brown, I thought that he was doing okay earlier in the season, although the statistics were suggesting otherwise, and I believe that it was injury that cost him his place in the end, rather than loss of form. Will Toal made a promising start, before his performances became somewhat erratic. Greg Nessling's three glaring errors in as many games cost him his place and his demotion to the reserves has left Sam Harris-Green out in the cold. One wonders whether the names of those available keepers couldn't be put in a hat and Messrs Lovell, Dullaway, White, Bowyer and Johnson can just draw one out at random each week. Things should even themselves out over the course of a full season. Gerry Armstrong, Mick Green, Sean McFadden, Gary Gill, Peter Carman, James Creed, Tony Kessell, Dave King. All were regarded as safe custodians in their time, although I am sure that they all had their moments. It just appears that the current crop are not quite up to standard, not unlike many of their outfield colleagues, and their mistakes are being magnified to such an extent, that the number one jersey must seem like a bit of a poisoned chalice at the moment. This week's lucky loser was Will, so let's magnify his latest mistake, costly as it was.

It occurred at approximately 3.38pm at Stamford's New Flame Stadium and propelled us to our first ever defeat at this particular Lincolnshire outpost of the Southern League. A long ball was punted out of the home defence and Malcolm Ndekwe set off in pursuit. Will had made up his mind to come out to clear the danger, but having reached the edge of the box, he chose to hesitate, and got lost, proverbially speaking, as Ndekwe beat him to the ball and lobbed it over his head into the empty net. The goal arrived rather against the run of play, as we had had the better of the opening half an hour, without putting the home keeper under a great deal of scrutiny. Stamford were the better side after the break and Will made a couple of smart saves to keep us in it, with new signing Mark Goodwin, missing perhaps our best chance to rescue a point. Of course, with the side weakened by suspensions, as well as injuries, a 1-0 defeat is perhaps not all that disastrous when compared to some of our more recent results. All of the confidence gained from back to back victories at Corby and Rothwell has evaporated though, and no win since 29 November has taken it's toll on our league position. At the time of typing this, in the early hours of Sunday morning, I am unaware of the side that Steve Lovell selected for the game, with the exception of Will and Mark. The decision to omit Steve Hafner, Peter Taylor and Graham Morris came as a bit of a surprise to me, but I will reserve further judgement until I have seen the full line-up.

Elsewhere

Once again, there was consolation for us in that none of the three sides below us managed to win, though Fleet moved off the bottom after an encouraging draw at Homelands, where they led until the closing stages. Erith & Belvedere couldn't quite salvage a draw at home to Eastleigh, while Fisher, next week's visitors to The Pilot Field enjoyed an easy win at Rothwell, who slipped to the foot once again. Burnham edged a point ahead of us, but were denied a win by Chatham's late equaliser. Corby led at half time at Longmead and Dartford were two nil and three two up at Bashley, but both had to settle for a point in the end. Truly Isle of Wight based Newport were thrashed at home by Banbury and Sittingbourne now find themselves in the bottom half with a six game winless streak that began at our place. At the top, Histon were the only winners in the top four, which saw them swap places with Salisbury. Adam Flanagan's stoppage time leveller denied King's Lynn a win in front of the crowd of the day in the Eastern, 1004 at The Walks. Ten points now separate the top five clubs and Histon's three games in hand could yet prove crucial.

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

After two wins in the previous seven days, Eastbourne Borough returned to losing ways in the Premier Division. Despite Ian Pulman's early goal, Borough slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Chippenham, who moved off the foot of the table as a result. Eastbourne remain in sixteenth position. Weymouth's 2-0 win at home to Hednesford saw them open up a five point lead at the top as Crawley were forced to battle back from two down at half time to draw at home to Moor Green. Nuneaton's goalless draw at home to Stafford kept them in third place, but they are just two points ahead of Dover in eighth.

At The Pilot Field, the reserves edged a 1-0 win over Dartford in a pretty dour encounter. The quality of the game wasn't helped by a ridiculously fussy performance from the referee and his two assistants, one of whom must have been in his sixties, if not seventies. In fact, the only time the referee allowed the game to flow was in the build up to the only goal of the game, when he somehow missed a blatant foul on the visiting keeper, who was taken out after catching an inswinging Peter Taylor free kick. After a bit of a scramble, Graham Morris knocked in the loose ball to give us the lead ten minutes into the second half, after which, Greg Nessling produced two outstanding saves to keep us in front. That said, he almost presented Dartford with an equaliser before those saves, surviving a total miskick when attempting to clear a backpass, thanks to a similar miskick by the striker in front of the open goal. The full reserve team line-up was Greg, Matt Sellick, Mark Butler, Jimmy Penfold, Adam Warmington, Richard Bolton, Peter, Bruce Sands, Steve Hafner, Graham, and Dominic Cruttenden. Five substitutes were named on the team sheet, one of which was Ryan Peters bizarrely enough, but only Joe Harman appeared to be in evidence and he came on for Mark in the second half. It was also nice to see Kieren Startup and Mitchell Sherwood at the ground supporting the lads, as they were suspended from first team duty. In the Go Travel Kent League Division One table, we are now three points behind Dover, but still six behind Corinthian, who beat Deal 5-2.

Rye & Iden United will visit Eastbourne Borough in the quarter finals of the Sussex Senior Cup after a 2-1 third round win at Littlehampton Town on Saturday. Two first half goals from Mickey O'Callaghan set them on their way with the hosts grabbing a consolation in injury time. St Leonards bowed out of the League Challenge Cup at the third round stage after a 4-3 home defeat to Southwick. Ade (or was it Tim?) Olorunda scored a hattrick for Saints, three times giving them the lead, but the visitors came back each time and won it with two goals in the last four minutes. Cracking entertainment at The Firs then, for the fifty brave souls who could be bothered to venture out in the cold to witness it. On Friday evening, Sidley United picked up three useful league points courtesy of a 2-1 win at Hassocks, who had taken a seventh minute lead. Second half goals from Neil Maplesden and Mark Funnell took Sidley up four places in the table. Eastbourne Town's title challenge suffered a blow as they lost 4-3 at Whitehawk, three days after going out of the Sussex Senior Cup after a 6-1 home defeat at the hands of Brighton in front of over a thousand spectators. Westfield advanced a couple of places in division two after coming from behind to win 3-1 at Pease Pottage Village, narrowly failing to repeat their eighteen goal win in the home game against the same opponents last September.

The FA Vase reached the fourth round stage on Saturday and after giving the FA Trophy a good airing last week, I thought that I would do the same for the Vase. No Sussex sides have survived to this stage, but the Go Travel Kent League leaders Cray Wanderers are in the hat for the fifth round after an improbable victory in the far north-east. The Cray players and officials actually flew to the game, rather than undertake a marathon coach journey and that decision certainly paid dividends. The demise of AFC Wimbledon will have come as something of a surprise and possibly leaves AFC Sudbury and Winchester City as the favourites to go on and win the competition. These were Saturday's scores.

Eastwood Town 3 v 1 St Blazey
Stone Dominoes 5 v 1 Concord Rangers
North Leigh 0 v 1 Andover
Billingham Town 2 v 4 Bideford
Keynsham Town 1 v 0 St Neots Town
Nantwich Town 1 v 3 Wroxham
AFC Sudbury 3 v 1 Desborough Town
Congleton Town 2 v 1 Billingham Synthonia
West Allotment Celtic 0 v 1 Cray Wanderers
Studley 2 v 1 Leamington
Gedling Town 2 v 3 Leighton Town
Lymington & New Milton 2 v 3 Bitton
Gosport Borough 2 v 1 Oadby Town
Chertsey Town 5 v 1 Torrington
Mossley 1 v 2 Winchester City
AFC Wimbledon 1 v 2 Colne

There is nothing much going on now until next Saturday, when the first team begin a run of three home league games in the space of eight days. First up is the return game against Fisher Athletic, who have lost just one of their last seven games, a run that began when we drew 2-2 at The Surrey Docks Stadium on 13 December. Four of those seven games have ended in draws, but we desperately need to put a stop to their good run and our own poor one, which now stands at seven without a win. Then, it's a midweek visit from Salisbury, who were unbeaten in sixteen prior to their defeat at Histon on Saturday. Finally, Fleet are at The Pilot Field for a good old-fashioned relegation six pointer, a game that we simply cannot afford to lose, irrespective of the results of the other two games. There are precious few 'easy' games left after that one and the threat of County League football next season will be frighteningly apparent if we continue to underachieve for the remainder of January. The bottom two are still five and six points beneath us of course, but Erith & Belvedere have a chance to close to within just a single point on Tuesday when they take on Ashford, in what is the only scheduled Eastern Division game this midweek. The reserves are away to their Ashford counterparts next Saturday, with a chance to avenge what was their first defeat of the season back in October. They should have Danny Ellis back from his ban for that one and Kieren and Mitchell will be available for the first team again of course. Steve Lovell will no doubt be out shopping again this week in an effort to bring in some more fresh blood to galvanise the troops. I will try and come up with some good news for a midweek report on Thursday, but don't hold your breath.

Sean Adams

24/1/04 Hastings United (1) 4 Fisher Ath (2) 4

Eight goal thriller

Lorraine og 1, Myall 58, Ringwood 61, Goodwin 76;
Brady 22, Rouse 29, Abbott 48, Young 86
Att: 276


1. Toal
2. Elford
3. Eldridge
4. Henham*
5. Startup
6. Spiller%
7. Myall
8. Ringwood
9. Sherwood&
10. Goodwin
11. Rook
 
12.
14. Hayhoe&
15. Honey
16. S.Sands%
17. Stickney*

First of all this weekend, my apologies to anyone who looked in for a midweek update this week, to find nothing there. There were two good reasons for that. One being the absolute dearth of vaguely interesting news (until Friday anyway) and secondly, my wish to leave Simon's offering as the focal point of the site for at least one whole week. The response on the guestbook was unsurprisingly sceptical. Why on earth is someone who no longer bothers to attend matches, suddenly proposing to lead a supporters' takeover of the club? Then again, were Mark Gardiner and Mick Maplesden regulars at The Pilot Field prior to getting involved? I don't know, but I don't believe so. At least Simon can claim to have been a supporter for twenty-odd years and has gone to great lengths to describe the emotions, which led to his self-imposed exile. Other posts on the guestbook, later in the week, have been rather more measured and thoughtful and I should imagine that George has spoken for many people in stating that he just cannot afford to put in the sort of money that Simon is talking about, but he wouldn't be averse to parting with a small amount each week. The key point though, is raised by Big Dave. I am quite certain that the majority of regulars would gladly give a few quid, if they felt that the money was going to assist the club itself, rather than to pay off the former Chairman. The difference between our situation and that of say, Bath City, is that we are not needing to raise money to keep the club in existence. The present directors are doing enough to keep the club afloat and, presumably, breaking even. Hence, the motivation may simply not be there for enough people. The club looks as though it can continue to survive on its current shoestring budget. It is perhaps a question of how long people will remain satisfied by the fare being served up by the present squad. I wonder how many would really be all that bothered if we end up in the County League next season and would find something else to do on a Saturday afternoon if we did. Those are the people who will never want to assist, but for the rest of us, Simon's proposal gives us all an opportunity to consider how much the future of the club really means to us. It will be interesting to see where this goes, especially as there has been no further word on Mick's negotiations with Mr Hillier-Carter this week. And the role that the Council will play in our future may be more clearly defined, now that St Leonards are on the verge of folding, but we should perhaps not hold our breath there. For now, I will leave this in Simon's more than capable hands and we can rely on him keeping us updated with any further developments.

As I mentioned at the start, nothing of interest seemed to occur at The Pilot Field during the week. On Tuesday, Erith & Belvedere did us a favour by losing 2-0 at home to Ashford Town in the only midweek Eastern Division fixture. Moor Green, Crawley Town, Hednesford Town, Chippenham Town and Weymouth all made it through to the last eight of the League Cup. Worthing beat Lewes 2-1 in front of an impressive crowd of 820 to reach the quarter finals of the Sussex Senior Cup. And the draw for the fifth round of the FA Vase presented Cray Wanderers with a trip to the Bristol area to play Western Leaguers Keynsham Town. The tie of the round will see Eastern Leaguers Wroxham take on Wessex League leaders Winchester City. The ties are scheduled for 7 February.

So to the opening game of three home matches in the space of eight days, which might just prove to make or break our season. Salisbury City are due to visit on Tuesday evening, although the Arctic weather conditions that are forecast, could well put paid to that one. I suspect that most of us would consider that one unlikely to yield any great return, if we are honest. Either side of it though, were two games, from which we most definitely had to look to take a full six points, in Fleet Town next week and Fisher Athletic this. The Londoners arrived at The Pilot Field on the back of a decent run, one defeat in seven, but with a back line not all that much more secure than our own, the game had goals written all over it and we weren't to be disappointed in that respect. Kieren Startup and Mitchell Sherwood both returned to the starting line-up after missing the Stamford game through suspension. Steve Sands and Scott Hayhoe dropped to the bench, alongside Chris Honey, who missed out again after Mark Goodwin's arrival on loan. No sign of Charlie Belcher, Steve Hafner or Ryan Peters, the latter maybe not sufficiently recovered from his recent illness. After many months of playing with a 3-5-2 formation, Steve Lovell appeared to adopt a 4-4-2 line-up for this one, with Jimmy and Russell the full backs and David and Kieren the centre backs. Ricky and Mitchell operated down the flanks, with Steve and Stuart in the centre of midfield and Carl and Mark up front. From an attacking point of view, it worked a treat as we scored four goals for the first time in a competitive match since that barmy night at Kettering on 29 October 2002. At the back though, it was a case of same old, same old.

So accustomed have I become to seeing us go a goal down in the early stages, that I have taken to ambling into the ground at the last minute and not exactly rushing to my vantage point. Suffice to say that I hadn't started to concentrate properly when Mitchell attacked and crossed from the left towards Carl and defender Paul Lorraine obliged us all by turning the ball into his own net. I was told that the goal was timed at forty-one seconds. Just the eighty-nine or so minutes to hang on then. It might have been two after fourteen minutes when the ball broke to Mark in the box, but his snap shot was well saved by Rob O'Hara in the Fisher goal. A volley by Mitchell was deflected over for a corner, from which Mark sent a glancing header just wide and it all seemed to be going rather well. Twenty-two minutes gone, Russell has the ball on the left hand side and attempts to knock it forward. Crucially, he delays his pass just long enough for Michael Smith to get a block in and the ball spins back towards our goal into the path of Richard Brady. Brady spots Will off his line and attempts to lob him from about thirty yards out. Will throws himself backwards and gets a good hand to the ball, but can't prevent it from crossing the line and having been well on top, we have given away yet another soft goal and let the opposition back in. Fisher took full advantage, and seven minutes later, Brady took two defenders out of the game with a quick turn on the left hand side of the area and let the ball run for left back Matthew Rouse to shoot past Will from close range, Rouse had started the move when he intercepted a poor pass from Mark to Ricky just inside his own half. What a surprise. Another individual error leads to another goal against. It could have been worse before the break. Gary Abbott flicked on Steve Taylor's free kick and Adam Young missed an outstanding chance to get number three, firing across goal and wide with only Will to beat.

I was still chatting as the second half got underway and I was in no position to witness the build up to Abbott's goal three minutes in, which did see Fisher establish a two goal lead. What I did see was an extremely experienced striker run unopposed through our defence before slotting past Will. I sensed that a few disgruntled spectators were on the verge of walking out at that point, but those that did, missed a rousing and unexpected fightback. Mylie drifted a free kick over the top and Carl saw a twenty yard drive sail just too high as well. After fifty-eight minutes, Steve Sands took a corner short to Steve Ringwood, who turned his marker and delivered a cross to the far post for Mylie to head home. Only three minutes later, Mark found space in the box, only for O'Hara to divert his shot onto a post, but as Fisher failed to clear the danger, Mitchell attacked down the left and cut the ball back for Ringers to score. David's awful back header almost let in Brady for an immediate response, but Will was out quickly to smother his shot. With a quarter of an hour left, Carl played in Mitchell for a run on goal, but O'Hara again did well to save. A minute later, Carl received the ball in the area, shot on the turn and O'Hara saved. The loose ball landed at Ringers' feet on the edge of the box, but his goalbound shot was blocked by a defender. This time, the rebound fell kindly to Mark, who was able to pick his spot and the comeback was complete. Had Carl been slightly more accurate with another twenty yarder, or Mark more composed when one on one with O'Hara, the game would have been won, but with just four minutes left, Young produced a goal of exceptional quality to salvage a point for the visitors, a curling, dipping, inswinging effort from the corner of the area. They may even have won it, but Will produced a fine save to tip a Brady shot over the bar.

In the context of the last four results and maybe the three before them as well, a draw at home to a side in mid-table is almost acceptable. Yet again though, it was a game that we could have, and should have, won. It was the eighth time that we have conceded four goals or more in a game this season, four of them at home, and that is now sixty-four goals let in, in twenty-five league games. You don't have to be Einstein to work out that, if we keep that average up, we will have the century up by the middle of April. Please Mr Lovell, try to do something with our defence. I remain far from confident that our forwards will ever be potent enough to ensure that we win games, when our defence is letting in as many as they do. Steve was genuinely unlucky to lose Lee Hockey as soon as he did. I thought that Lee looked a decent player, but his arrival proved that there are good defenders out there, so let's hope that we can find another one or four soon. Mark Goodwin looks like a pretty good temporary acquisition, but can he be persuaded to stay for the duration I wonder. And of the rest of the current squad, I thought that Steve Ringwood was outstanding against Fisher, back in his central midfield role, and Steve Sands played well after replacing Ricky just before half time. I remain confused about Steve Hafner's absence and Ryan Peters would be the first name in my line-up if I were picking the side each week, but he has had a disappointing season injury-wise. If only we could get that defence sorted out.

Elsewhere

Once again, we were let off the hook this weekend, as none of the three sides below us managed so much as a point between them. Rothwell led briefly at home to Histon, but the promotion chasers won through in the end. Fleet's comprehensive defeat at Eastleigh was enough to see us six points clear of the relegation places with our draw. Erith & Belvedere didn't play, and nor did the leaders Tonbridge, who saw their advantage cut to just the two points by King's Lynn. Histon are within four and still have two games in hand. Salisbury's stoppage time win over Ashford has them six back, one ahead of Eastleigh. Folkestone are now a distant sixth, leading a pack of five clubs who are separated by just three points. A place in the top seven is required for a potential Premier Division place next season, don't forget. Here are all of Saturday's Eastern Division results.

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

Eastbourne Borough seem to be becoming consistently inconsistent, as they picked up three more points away to Hednesford Town on Saturday. Scott Ramsay was again the goalscoring hero with both in a 2-1 victory that lifted Borough up to thirteenth in the table. Weymouth retained their five point lead at the top, twice coming from behind to beat Dover 3-2 at The Crabble. Crawley stayed second with a 4-2 win at home to Grantham.

It is fairly obvious what the big story has been locally this week, as it emerged in the last couple of days that St Leonards are on the verge of extinction. Now I have had immense sympathy for the plight of the likes of Newport IoW this season. Somehow, those feelings are not quite as strong when it comes to our neighbours for a number of reasons. Their meteoric rise through the ranks simply on the back of Leon Sheppardson's millions and an ability to attract washed-up ex-professionals for example. Their alleged participation in the dubious negotiations with our administrators a few years back, which might have led to us being shut down. The arrogance of those running the club, most notably one Gary Bowyer and his intolerable attitude towards their County League rivals. And perhaps most of all, their utter determination to go out of their way to avoid ever discussing the perfectly logical idea of our two clubs joining forces and making a collective assault on the Dr Martens League, maybe even with the backing of Hastings Borough Council. Having said all that though, it is still a little sad to think of them going to the wall. Who am I going to poke fun at now? If what I have heard is correct, they still have a few more days to come up with the money they owe the taxman, but it looks rather likely that last week's 4-3 home defeat to Southwick will have been their last game for now.

The Saints match away to Redhill on Saturday was called off and it would appear that the three points have been automatically given to Redhill. Sidley United's home league match against the leaders Chichester City United was also postponed, although presumably due to a waterlogged pitch rather than anything more sinister. Duncan McArthur and Shaun Loft were on target as Rye & Iden United won 2-0 at Whitehawk to advance to the semi finals of the John O'Hara League Challenge Cup, but it is reported that manager Glyn White chose the moment of victory to quit his post. Rye & Iden will visit Eastbourne Town in that semi final, after Town's 5-2 home win over Sidlesham in their quarter final on Saturday. In the second division, Westfield recovered from a goal down to beat Saltdean United 3-1 at The Parish Field. Dominic Clarke, Duncan Jones and Mark Drinkwater were the goalscorers as Westfield climbed up a place to sixth in the table. Eastbourne United Association were at it again in the Sussex Senior Cup, this time seeing off East Preston 3-2 to advance to the last eight. Scott McDonald, who scored in both games against us, grabbed a hattrick that included two penalties as Eastbourne came back from two down after twenty-five minutes to earn a home quarter final against Brighton & Hove Albion. The three outstanding third round ties are due to be played in the week and I will include the details in my next update.

Our reserves' league match away to Ashford Town on Saturday was another victim of the recent bad weather, which left The Homelands waterlogged. Neither of the other top sides in the Go Travel Kent League Division One played on Saturday, so it's as you were then. Can I apologise to Mark Butler for incorrectly crediting his goal in last weekend's victory at home to Dartford to Graham Morris. I had convinced myself that Mark must have been the one who had taken out the Dartford keeper in the build-up to the goal, but perhaps that was Graham, I don't know. Whatever, I am sure that Mark doesn't score too many and I am only too glad to set the record straight. Next Saturday, the lads are off to Danson Furness for a league game. It was in the home fixture against that lot that Joe Cornwall suffered his broken leg as a result of a simply appalling challenge towards the end of a tense match, which had been dreadfully refereed. As far as I know, the club are still waiting to hear from the Kent League as to whether we will be awarded the three points for the match, which was rightly abandoned after Joe's injury, with our lads leading 3-0. One can only hope that next week's match passes off rather more peacefully and that no-one goes into the game with a view to settling any scores. The game is due to kick off at 1.30 I believe, as Danson have no floodlights at their ground, so be warned if you are planning to travel.

But why would you be, with the first team at home to Fleet Town that day? And before we get to that one of course, it's Salisbury City on Tuesday, snow and ice permitting that is. Salisbury will make the trip on the back of a run of just one defeat in eighteen games in the league and that single loss was at Histon last weekend. That splendid sequence, which has included thirteen wins, has allowed them to claw back the gap between themselves and the runaway early leaders Tonbridge and they now sit handily placed in fourth position, six points off the pace and four behind King's Lynn. Salisbury also enjoyed a memorable trip to Hillsborough to take on Sheffield Wednesday in the first round of the FA Cup last November. Unlike ourselves last season, the wheels still appear to be very much on as far as Salisbury's campaign is concerned, despite their 4-0 defeat that day. It has been a few years since we last played The Whites, our respective promotions and relegations having seen us miss each other since the 1998/99 season, the one that ended with us in fifth place and demoted nonetheless. That year, we lost 1-0 away on Boxing Day, but got our revenge with a 3-2 home win on Easter Monday (aren't Bank Holidays usually reserved for local derbies?). I must confess that I have no recollection of either of those matches, but I do remember fondly a league double in 1995/96 when we won 4-3 away early in the season and followed that up with a 6-2 win at The Pilot Field, with four from Steve Cuggy. And back in 1985/86, the season after the original Hastings United went bust, we beat Salisbury 5-3 at The Pilot Field in a seesaw battle. Games like that just stick in your mind I guess. I for one would certainly settle for 1-0 on Tuesday, although the form book suggests that result to be somewhat unlikely. We can all dream though.

Sean Adams

27/1/04 Hastings United (0) 1 Salisbury City (1) 4

Midweek Misery

Rook 90 (p); Tubbs 29, 65, Wallace 62, Turk 71
Att: 202


1. Toal
2. Elford
3. Eldridge
4. Henham*
5. Startup
6. Hafner%
7. Myall
8. Ringwood
9. Sherwood
10. Goodwin&
11. Rook
 
12. Taylor&
14. Hayhoe*
15. Honey%
16. S.Sands
17. Stickney

I haven't used the word 'abject' for quite a while now, but it seems appropriate to bring that one back to the table to describe the latest showing at The Pilot Field. Admittedly, I have not been present at every game since, but for me, this was our worst performance since the horrible Sussex Senior Cup defeat at Princes Park in November. Bearing in mind that we fielded a fairly feeble side that night and one could almost discount the match on that basis, the display against Salisbury on Tuesday would probably rank as our worst of this rather depressing season thus far. Okay, let's be fair, Salisbury were a considerably better outfit than us and it is no fluke that they now lie third in the table, but I sensed that they were scarcely breaking sweat at times and they made us look so poor that it was almost embarrassing. Had they been bothered, they could conceivably have run up double figures and it was some relief that they settled for four. Our solitary goal, a stoppage time penalty, was much more than we really deserved. Had we not scored, I would honestly have said that we were lucky to get nil, it really looked that bad. That is not to say that the lads were not doing their best. They were simply outclassed by a superior footballing side, not unlike in the match at Eastleigh, but at least we scored a couple that day and didn't have much of the rub of the green in general. The most worrying thing for U's supporters must be that we still have to go to Salisbury for the return game, as well as Tonbridge and Histon, the latter of whom we have not yet played at home either, together with King's Lynn and Eastleigh. So many games against so many top sides. Just how important is this weekend's visit of Fleet Town, one of only three games that we have left against the rest of the bottom six?

After conceding those four goals on Saturday, I had imagined that we would see a change in personnel at the back. But Steve Lovell clearly continues to work on the premise that, what we have in reserve is no better than what we have got on the pitch, and so made just the one injury enforced change to Saturday's line-up with Steve Hafner coming in for Ricky Spiller. With hindsight, even that seems hard to understand. Haffy hadn't even made the subs bench for the Stamford and Fisher games and Steve Sands came on and looked well at home in the second half at the weekend. Steve was left on the bench though, where he was joined by Peter Taylor, another who was not deemed good enough, or fit enough in his case maybe, for a place on Saturday. Peter got a fairly decent run-out in the end, replacing the injured Mark Goodwin just before half time, but he really struggled to get into the game, initially as a striker and later, on the left hand side. Curiously though, it was the arrival of Chris Honey, the only sub not used when we were chasing the game against Fisher, that served as the prelude to three Salisbury goals in the space of nine minutes that killed the game completely. Not that any of their goals were down to Chris of course, or to Peter or Mitchell who both had to change positions to accommodate him when Haffy came off. We were equally ineffective prior to the substitution as we were after it. Salisbury simply moved up into first gear for a few minutes around the hour mark, got the three goals, and slipped back into neutral for the rest of the game.

The way the game started lulled everyone into thinking that it might turn out to be an end to end classic. In the very first minute, Matt Tubbs couldn't quite stretch enough to make full contact with Wayne Turk's right wing cross and moments later, another cross from Turk, this time from the left, had Will flapping to get the ball away at the back post. Will set up our first chance in the fourth minute with a long clearance in search of Mark Goodwin. As keeper Kevin Sawyer came out of his area, defender Josh Thomas headed the ball straight past him towards the goal, but managed to get back to clear. Saywer's momentum though, carried him straight into Mark, who required fairly lengthy treatment and although he stayed on for quite a while, he was much less effective than on Saturday and was withdrawn just before the break. After the early entertainment, things really quietened down, though Mylie went desperately close with a chip from the edge of the box, which floated just wide. The next incident of note was Salisbury's opening goal. Scott Bartlett's low cross to the near post was swept goalwards by Tubbs. Will managed to block the shot, but Tubbs was alert enough to fire the rebound past him. A couple of minutes later, Saywer again wandered to the edge of his area to collect a long ball, only for a defender to head clear. The ball went straight to Haffy, who sent an enterprising first-time volley over the bar from thirty yards out. Two minutes before half-time, Tubbs ran onto Sawyer's clearance and was denied by Will's scrambling save and Salisbury might have had a penalty in stoppage time, when striker Adam Wallace appeared to be upended just inside the box, but referee Jonathan Bottomer made the first of a string of questionable decisions in our favour, awarding only a free kick, which came to nothing. On reflection, I suppose the first half seemed quite even in the end, but I just sensed that Salisbury were playing so far within themselves that it was making us look half decent. They certainly looked capable of holding onto their lead and extending it if they could be bothered. They could.

Six minutes into the second half, David Henham's weak and misplaced back header nearly let in Tubbs, but Will just beat the striker to the ball and both needed treatment after the collision. Tubbs was back on his feet three minutes later running onto a long ball out of defence, which he knocked past Will who brought him down outside the box. The referee gave a free kick and we all waited for the inevitable red card to follow, but only a yellow was shown and the free kick was again wasted. Then Craig Davis danced past three would-be challengers before beating Will from twelve yards, only for the referee to call play back for a foul on Davis, having initially appeared to play a good advantage. The second goal was coming though and it arrived just beyond the hour mark, when Wallace broke down the left, cut inside, and beat Will with a deflected shot from the edge of the area. Three minutes later, Tubbs was played onside by Russell and ran untouched towards goal and prodded home his second and Salisbury's third. He might then have completed his hattrick when he received Bartlett's cross and tried to lob Will from close range. Will made a remarkable sprawling save, but Turk was on hand to knock the ball into an empty net. We finally got in our first shot of the half with seven minutes left, but Peter's tame effort from a short corner was easily gathered by Sawyer, after which Tubbs missed two more presentable chances at the other end. A minute into stoppage time, the referee awarded us a penalty after Scott Hayhoe tumbled over Michael Cooper's clumsy challenge, probably a justifiable decision, but after being on the wrong end of some rough calls throughout the second half, I should think that Salisbury would have been forgiven for thinking otherwise. Carl stepped up and sent Sawyer the wrong way for his seventh goal of the season, putting him two clear of his nearest challengers for the golden boot, Monster and Haffy. By my reckoning, that made him our sixth successful spot kick taker of the season after Mark Lovell, Mitchell, Mylie, Haffy and Ricky. That's one more penalty taker than goalkeeper then. Is it any wonder that we're in the state we are? Anyway, the final whistle sounded shortly after Carl's penalty and brought the curtain down on another poor evening. I know that our weekend form has been far from impressive this season, but our midweek record is simply dire. Including the Bank Holiday fixtures, we have played twelve, won one, drawn two and lost nine and that solitary win was at home to Westfield. Probably just as well that there are only two more left, easy ones too, at home to King's Lynn, and away to Tonbridge on Easter Monday.

Elsewhere

Salisbury's win saw them jump above Histon into third place in the Eastern Division table and now just three points behind Tonbridge, who have played two fewer games. The only other midweek fixture saw Burgess Hill win 3-0 at Chatham to move up three places into seventh, level on points with Folkestone above them. All three Burgess Hill goals arrived in the opening twenty-five minutes, two for Nicky Sullivan, who now has seventeen for the season. Chatham seem to have gone off the boil of late, after their great run when Clive Walker took over as manager, and have won just one of their last seven. Mind you, we can hardly talk about great runs, without a win in nine as we are. In the Premier, there were 2-0 home wins for Dorchester and Weston-super-Mare over Welling and Havant & Waterlooville respectively. Cambridge beat Nuneaton 2-1 to reach the quarter finals of the League Cup.

As I mentioned at the weekend, this week should have seen the quarter final line-up in the Sussex Senior Cup sort itself out, but only one of the three remaining ties was completed in the end, Three Bridges winning their replay at East Grinstead Town on penalties after a goalless draw after extra time. Crawley Town and Bognor Regis Town were twenty-three minutes through their third round tie at Broadfield when a power failure forced the game to be abandoned and rescheduled for next Tuesday. The Oakwood v Arundel tie scheduled for Wednesday didn't even get started and they will try again at the weekend. When we get there, Worthing will be at home to the winners of the Crawley v Bognor tie, Three Bridges at home to either Oakwood or Arundel, Eastbourne United Association at home to Brighton & Hove Albion and Eastbourne Borough at home to Rye & Iden United. Conceivably, we could have a Crawley based derby and an Eastbourne derby in the semi finals then. Sadly no chance of a Hastings derby without a lot of pound notes exchanging hands.

Curious goings-on over at The Salts at the weekend, with Glyn White resigning as manager due to 'differences of opinion over the way the club should progress', whatever that might be a euphemism for. I did hear that it was something to do with a decision to alter or cancel one of the club's training evenings, which was taken without Glyn being consulted, but I don't truly know. Club coach Ryan Light and long-serving player and captain Scott Price have been installed as joint managers, but whether they have the right profile to take the club forward, time will tell. If it doesn't work out, there's always Gary Bowyer, I suppose, unless there is a dramatic turnaround in financial fortunes at The Firs this week.

And so, as long as the snow and ice has cleared, it's the six pointer against Fleet Town on Saturday afternoon, and an opportunity to avenge a miserable 3-0 midweek defeat back in early November. We were missing a couple of regulars that night and Joe Heasmer and Steve Graham both started the game, in which we were pretty well outplayed. Remarkably, that was the last time Fleet won in the league. I say remarkable as even we have managed a couple of wins since then. Since then, they have drawn three and lost eleven of fourteen matches, scoring ten and conceding forty-one. Up until Tuesday, Fleet were the only side to have let in more goals than ourselves, but Salisbury's four, hot on the heels of Fisher's four, took us up to sixty-eight, against Fleet's sixty-seven and Fleet have played one game more. Interestingly, despite an apparent lack of goals at the right end, Fisher are the only other side in the bottom half to have scored more goals than us. The perception that we are doing equally poorly at both ends, is obviously exacerbated by our defensive woes, yet the facts tend not to back up that perception. One thing that is for certain, is that a goalless draw is statistically unlikely on Saturday, although Fleet have had a couple this season. If I were a betting man, I think that I would sneak a fiver on us winning 7-5, but I would be more than happy to settle for 1-0.

Sean Adams

Mr Powell has revealed that next quiz will be on Friday 27th February at the club house.