Archive
Dr Martens League Eastern Division 2003-04
2/3/04 Hastings United (2) 4 Fleet Town (1) 1
Vital win
Att: 187
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Now, I know that I said that I don't do referee baiting, but there's no smoke without fire is there? Just when we thought that it couldn't get much worse than Mr Irvine Woodward from Seaford, up steps Mr Mark Basten from Sevenoaks and gives it a really good go. For me, Mr Woodward still leads the way due to his absolute inconsistency and one-sidedness, although he did get four critical decisions right. Mr Basten just had a bad game all round and was poor to both sides and, in my opinion, he got his two critical decisions hopelessly wrong. The decision to send off Danny Knowles in the first half was scandalous from where I was sitting. I must assume that he was red carded for a professional foul, or denying the striker a clear goalscoring opportunity by bringing him down when he was the last man. The fact is that neither was true. He didn't deny a goalscoring opportunity because the striker got to the ball first and there were at least two defenders getting back to cover, one of whom collected the ball and cleared the danger, so he couldn't have been considered the last man. Just to give Mr Basten the benefit of any doubt going, he might have believed that Danny had handled the ball outside the area, but that really didn't appear to be the case. Regardless of what I, or anyone else may have thought, off he went, just thirty-one minutes into an assured looking debut, to add to our blossoming list of suspensions. Consider this if you will. Danny will get a one match ban for his apparent indiscretion, presumably the Stamford game on Saturday week. Greg will also be due to miss that one, and another two more, if his red card at Ashford was for serious foul play. Sam Harris-Green was sent off in the Reserve game at Ashford the weekend before last and, given the County League's ban criteria, will probably be out for two or three weeks. Matt Brown has disappeared. Russell Eldridge looked sound enough in the last ten minutes at Ashford, but I would prefer him to play at left back. Could it be, come back Will Toal, all is forgiven? Back to Mr Basten's performance, and the second half decision to send off Fleet's Craig Anstey. Now, of course I wasn't as concerned by that one, but was there ever a more obvious example of a referee trying to undo earlier damage? Probably so, and Anstey made it fairly easy for him with a slightly petulant foul on Carl Rook by the half way line, but there was nothing in it really, as far as I was concerned. It reminded me of the Beckham and Simeone incident at France 1998, a little flick of the foot from behind that was never going to do any damage, but as I said, it provided an excuse for Mr Basten to even up the numbers on the night. While I am on the subject of poor officiating decisions, there was one quite ridiculous offside decision in the second half, when Carl broke down the right, at least a couple of yards onside, only to be flagged a second or two after he had collected the ball and was heading for goal. His rather foolish decision to continue running and have a shot earnt him a yellow card for time wasting, which I suspect was his fifth of the season, and, if so, will add an extra game to his forthcoming suspension. For the record, Dave Henham was also booked for a foul in the first half, which will unfortunately not be enough to see him suspended too. Having praised him a week ago for looking so much more secure in his new partnership with Mark Green, he has endured a torrid couple of games. I know that Steve Lovell was a striker by trade and may not be the best at judging the qualities of his defenders, so allow me to assist. Mark Green = solid and dependable. Dave Henham = a bit of a liability. I hope that helps, especially as I understand that Fisher Athletic are planning to approach Mark Green and it would seem wise to me to make every effort to keep hold of him. The Fleet game, although important, didn't seem to carry quite the 'must win' tag that the Erith game did ten days previously. I would suggest that it potentially represented our easiest remaining fixture and the points would have been very welcome, but so would any points at this stage of this particular season. After last week's visit from Michael Foster, this week, we were due to benefit from Victor Gladwish's patronage, although I gather that he decided to go and watch Crawley instead, and has rearranged for the Bashley game on 10 April. Does he not know about our pending player shortage? Talking of which, after three games without a change in the line-up, Steve was forced into a couple for Tuesday night. Greg Nessling was left out, allowing him to rest his thigh injury, to ensure his fitness for the trip to Salisbury on Saturday. Unfortunately, he had to lose the pipe and slippers after only half an hour, but didn't look as if he was suffering any ill effects. Ryan Peters ankle problem obviously reacted well to treatment, as he was able to play, but not so Steve Ringwood, whose place went to Kieren Startup. Chris Honey had patched up his differences and was thrown back into the mix at the expense of Mark Goodwin. But Mark surprisingly started just behind the front two, with Mitchell Sherwood dropped to the bench, although Mark was the player sacrificed to allow Greg to come on after Danny's sending off. Charlie Belcher was back on the bench, after coming through Saturday's Reserve game unscathed, but no place for Peter Taylor, who will surely have a role to play when those suspensions kick in. The Pilot Field saw it's fairly customary early goal, as Chris surged down the left hand side and crossed for Carl to roll the ball past Calvin Sparshatt in the Fleet goal. Mark then tried his luck from twenty-five yards, but Sparshatt scrambled to his left to save. Fleet almost equalised in the ninth minute, when Russell's poor defensive header presented Eddie Smith with a chance, but Danny managed to block his powerful shot and had the presence of mind to scoop the ball away from the goalline when it span over his head to complete an excellent double save. Carl headed over from Ricky's free kick, before Dangerous Dave had another one of his moments, turning into trouble and caught in possession, he managed to get in a recovery tackle to redeem himself this time. Ryan was just off target with a well struck left foot volley and then, on the half hour, came the incident that saw Danny sent off and, within five minutes, Fleet were level. Anstey floated the ball into the area and Smith met it with a looping backward header, which beat Greg as he advanced. Smith ought to have scored again three minutes later when he ran onto Richard Meaney's headed pass, but Greg denied him with a fine low save. We then finished the half strongly, with Russell going close with a long range volley, before Chris got himself a goal on his return with three minutes remaining, courtesy of a powerful run down the left and a well hit shot, which beat Sparshatt at his near post. The goal was greeted by loud cheers from certain sections of the crowd, who clearly sympathised with Chris in his recent dispute with the boss. Hard to believe that he would ever be a crowd favourite after all the stick he has had to put up with in his time with us, but on the night, he really showed what he can do, and proved that two similar strikers can link well together. We almost made a good start to the second half. Six minutes in, a neat free kick routine almost presented Ricky with a chance. The ball ran through to Carl on the right. His cross was poorly dealt with by Ian Saunders and Ryan thumped a fierce shot onto the underside of the crossbar. Just before the hour mark, Ricky's cross was met by Chris with a glancing header, but Sparshatt saved well. A minute later, Anstey's red card effectively ended the game as a contest, knocking the stuffing out of the visitors, who were struggling to get into the game in any case. Chris hit a volley straight at Sparshatt. Carl was put through but his first touch was poor and his weak shot dribbled wide. He made a better fist of a similar opportunity in the seventy-fourth minute though, running onto Russell's through ball, holding off Damian Dalton's challenge and firing a right foot shot past Sparshatt from the edge of the box. Fleet finally responded with a couple of shots from substitute Cameron Scammell, which Greg dealt with comfortably. With six minutes left, Chris advanced onside down the right and crossed to the near post towards Carl. Dalton got to the ball first and appeared to knock it against Carl and the ball ended up in the net, with Carl claiming the goal to make it seven in four games and fourteen in total this season. Mitchell made a late substitute appearance and his driving run from halfway ended with a shot just off target. At the other end, Craig Leworthy's mishit shot from distance ran into Meaney's path. He took the ball round Greg, who failed completely to get into the spirit of things by not bringing him down, but the ball ran away from him and the chance of a late consolation was wasted. The final whistle was greeted by the appropriate level of exultant cheers from a quite pathetic crowd of 187. So much does football matter to the local community in Hastings. That must be our lowest league gate for many a long year, but it would still be considered above average by eight of our Eastern Division rivals. |
Elsewhere
I don't know about you, but to me, we seem to have been in nineteenth place for ages. But, no longer. Our well deserved three points took us up one place, a point ahead of Dartford, and we now trail Newport on goal difference alone, and Burnham by a single point as well. The latter were also in action on Tuesday, losing 2-1 at Stamford. Rothwell are now five points behind us, after a 2-2 home draw with Burgess Hill and Bashley beat Corby 3-2 in the night's other game. Bashley entertain Erith on Saturday, while Fleet go to Stamford. Dartford play Rothwell, Newport play Folkestone and Burnham play King's Lynn.
Just one game in the Premier Division on Tuesday, but an important one it was, as it saw Weymouth reclaim top spot from Crawley, after a 3-0 home win against Dover, with Steve Claridge scoring twice. Weymouth take their two point lead to Broadfield on Saturday for a vital top-of-the-table clash. Crawley warmed up with a 2-0 victory at home to Eastleigh that took them through to the League Cup final. They will meet Moor Green over two legs, after their 3-0 home win over Cambridge. Hednesford reached the semi final of the FA Trophy courtesy of a 3-1 home win over Hornchurch. They will now meet Aldershot over two legs on 27 March and 3 April, with the away leg first. In the other semi final, Canvey Island will visit either Shrewsbury or Telford in the first leg.
Rather more locally, Three Bridges are into the semi final of the Sussex Senior Cup after a 1-0 win at home to Oakwood. They will take on Worthing in the semi final, with Eastbourne Borough playing Brighton in the other one. In the County League, Sidley suffered their third defeat on the trot, losing 2-1 at home to Whitehawk, and remain in the bottom six. Sidley's goalscorer was Karl Tarrant.
Saturday sees us off to the Raymond McEnhill Stadium to play Salisbury City, little more than a month after they destroyed us 4-1 at The Pilot Field. Since then, we have won three in six and had six players sent off of course, but they have actually faired pretty poorly, losing at Fisher, Corby and Stamford and only drawing at home to Rothwell. On that basis, maybe we have an outside chance of nicking something from the game, but I am going to err on the side of hopeless pessimism again and expect nothing. They will certainly see us as representing an ideal opportunity of getting their faltering title challenge back on track, but they appear to have a Premier Division place well within their grasp and are now very unlikely to catch the leading sides in any case. After that one, we have a hastily arranged friendly against Punnetts Town next Wednesday, which will presumably be treated as a Reserve team fixture, before Stamford's visit on 13 March. Dave Walters has announced a reduction in admission prices for that one and the other four remaining home fixtures. The cost will be £5 for adults, £3 for senior citizens and just £1 for children. I am relying on everybody to spread the word amongst their friends and family to ensure that we never again suffer the embarrassment of a lowly 187 home league turnout. That sort of statistic is hardly likely to stir the council into action is it?
Sean Adams
6/3/04 Salisbury City (2) 3 Hastings United (1) 2
Fine Performance
Att: 537
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After a week as dramatic, or maybe that should be traumatic, as we have just experienced, it was not going to be easy to pick a suitable opponent, against whom things might just calm down a little bit. From an indiscipline perspective, the home game against Salisbury in January was as uneventful as any we have played this season, although I seem to recall that Will Toal was a bit fortunate to escape with a yellow card after bringing down Salisbury striker Matt Tubbs outside the area early in the second half. There were unlikely to be any scores to settle then, in the return at The Raymond McEnhill Stadium on Saturday and so it proved, as we managed to keep eleven men on the pitch for a change. It would also have been a game in which little was expected of our lads, Salisbury having played us off the park at The Pilot Field, and still on the brink of the title race, despite being on a poor run since they beat us. For them, we were probably the perfect opposition to get back to form, but having read some of their supporters' comments, they were mightily relieved to hear the final whistle, reminding me of the reaction from King's Lynn fans after our defeat at The Walks earlier in the campaign. Indeed, on the face of it, a 3-2 defeat at Salisbury looks like a decent effort from our lads and it was one of those days when you don't know if you should be disappointed at getting nothing from the game, or pleased by the closeness of the result and the effort that obviously went into to keeping the margin of victory down. As most of the other results in the Eastern Division went in our favour, I will go with the latter. Apart from a few more numerical alterations, the starting eleven was that which began the Fleet game on Tuesday. No Steve Ringwood once again, still nursing the mysterious injury that he picked up at Ashford. Danny Knowles was due to be part of the Gillingham first team squad playing Nottingham Forest at Priestfield, but the knock he picked up in the act of getting sent off on Tuesday was serious enough to leave him on crutches anyway. That said, I suspect that Greg was always likely to regain his place for this game, the last one before he, Danny, Ricky and Carl start their suspensions after all things red last weekend. Greg will miss three matches, suggesting that he was dismissed for serious foul play, or even violent conduct, by Mr Woodward, for his foul on Joby Thorogood at The Homelands. Danny and Ricky were always going to miss three games for their sendings off. But Carl would appear to have managed to get away with just a single game ban, which must mean that he was shown a second yellow card for his dissent last week and not a straight red as I had originally suspected. The experiment of playing Mark Goodwin in a withdrawn role behind the front two obviously proved as ineffective at Salisbury as it had looked against Fleet, as Mark was substituted at half time and replaced by Mitchell Sherwood, who was rather unfortunate to find himself on the bench in the first place in my opinion. Charlie Belcher was included in the Reserves once again to give him a touch more match practice ahead of a potential recall next week and Steve Lovell actually named himself amongst the substitutes at Salisbury, but honourably decided not to give himself a run-out after all. Not having made the trip to Wiltshire myself, I have had to cobble together a few snippets of information about the game, being indebted this week to Tony Cosens and his Newsline efforts, and to Dave Todd of the Salisbury official website, who kindly e-mailed some match facts to me. As far as the goals were concerned, we struck first, as Carl helped himself to goal number fifteen of the season after only ten minutes, taking advantage of a rather poor defensive header. Salisbury equalised through Leigh Phillips fifteen minutes later and Matt Tubbs put them in front six minutes into first half stoppage time, a lead they deserved and would have taken earlier, but for a couple of fine saves from Greg. We were the better side after the break, but Greg's unfortunate slip gifted the home side their third goal a minute from the end, after which there was still time for Ryan Peters to fire his fifth of the season, too late to affect the result though. Ryan and Kieren Startup were both cautioned during the game, but what's a couple of yellow cards to us these days? (there is also an excellent match summary of this game on the guestbook thanks to Simon the Steward) KH |
Elsewhere
Having spent all of four days in the heady heights of eighteenth place, Dartford's 2-0 home win over Rothwell Town saw us reclaim fourth from bottom spot once again. The other three sides below us at the start of play all lost. Fleet's fourth consecutive defeat, in which they have shipped eighteen goals, leaves them cast adrift at the foot of the table, and they are now just eleven goals short of beating us to the century conceded mark. Home defeats for Newport and Burnham allowed Dartford to climb up three places, a sign of how congested things have become near the bottom in recent weeks. At the top, King's Lynn extended their lead to two points, with Histon now second, after their excellent win at Eastleigh and Tonbridge's surprise home defeat to Sittingbourne. Folkestone are hanging on in fourth and Stamford now have a four point cushion in seventh. Here are all of Saturday's results.
Banbury United 4 v 1 Burgess Hill TownBashley 2 v 0 Erith & Belvedere
Burnham 0 v 3 King's Lynn
Chatham Town 1 v 1 Ashford Town
Corby Town 1 v 0 Fisher Athletic
Dartford 2 v 0 Rothwell Town
Eastleigh 0 v 2 Histon
Newport IoW 0 v 3 Folkestone Invicta
Salisbury City 3 v 2 Hastings United
Stamford 5 v 0 Fleet Town
Tonbridge Angels 1 v 3 Sittingbourne
No doubt about the match of the day in the Premier Division and a frankly enormous crowd of 4,522 packed into Broadfield to see Crawley return to the top of the table thanks to a 2-1 victory over Weymouth. Nuneaton's 1-0 home win over Moor Green kept them second, six points behind Crawley, with Worcester fourth after a 5-1 victory at home to Dover. At Priory Lane, Eastbourne Borough were held to a 2-2 draw by FA Trophy semi finalists Hednesford Town. Scott Ramsay and Stuart Tuck scored the Borough goals that kept them ninth in the table, and Hednesford in the bottom four. Not that there will be relegation from the Premier Division this season, but Chelmsford, Bath and Dorchester are the other sides occupying the traditional drop zone places.
Hastings United Reserves suffered more frustration and disappointment as they slipped to a fifth consecutive defeat on Saturday, 4-0 at Thamesmead Town Reserves. A season that promised so much, after their seven match winning streak at the start the campaign, has rapidly gone downhill and is now reaching farcical proportions as so many players declare themselves unavailable at late notice. This has left Ken Dullaway and Phil Boswell with little choice but to rely on a host of Youth team players, who are receiving something of a baptism of fire, but will be gaining more than useful experience at least. Our lads remain in third place after this latest defeat, but are now just four points ahead of Ashford, who held leaders Corinthian to a 2-2 draw at home. Herne Bay and Thamesmead have both moved to within striking distance as well now, having games in hand enough to reel us in. Dover are behind Corinthian on goal difference alone again, after a 2-0 win at Cray Wanderers.
In the Sussex County League, the top two sides were not in action this weekend, so there was an obvious opportunity for the chasing teams to make up some ground. Eastbourne Town certainly decided to take maximum advantage with a thumping 9-0 home victory over bottom of the table Shoreham. Rye & Iden United did likewise, winning 5-1 away to Selsey, Scott Price and Duncan McArthur scoring a couple each and Shaun Loft the other. Sidley United would have been grateful for just one goal of their own, but were forced to settle for a point in a 0-0 draw at home to Pagham. It was a similar story for Westfield on Friday night, although they will have been delighted to hold second division leaders Littlehampton Town to a 0-0 draw, albeit on neutral territory, in the semi final of the Division Two Challenge Cup, especially having lost 9-0 to the same opposition in a league game last month. Westfield eventually bowed out 4-3 on penalties after 120 scoreless minutes.
Just nine Eastern Division games remain for us this season, starting with what is sure to be a testing encounter with Stamford next Saturday. It is the sort of game that we might have expected to take something from, were it not for those suspensions, which will all be underway by then. Then again, it ought only to be the goalkeeping position which is truly a pain to fill. Simon Stickney can come in for Ricky Spiller, even if that means a change in position for Jimmy Elford maybe. Mark Green's imminent departure for Fisher Athletic will see Kieren Startup drop back to partner Dave Henham I guess. Mark Goodwin will get one final chance to shine in Carl's absence, this time in partnership with Chris Honey of course. Danny Ellis has only become a regular on the bench in the last few weeks and, as the Reserves are without a fixture next weekend, there will be no shortage of replacements for him, Charlie Belcher to name but one. Quite how to fill Greg's shoes will be an interesting one though, assuming Danny Knowles is either unfit, or unavailable, that is. It is curious to think that a manager who has selected as many as six keepers in a single season, seven if you include Russell Eldridge's late cameo at Ashford, may have to be desperately on the lookout for a temporary stand-in for three games, unless Matt Brown is already limbering up for a recall. Stamford are one of those sides who had never beaten us until our 1-0 loss at The New Flame Stadium in January. The last time we met at The Pilot Field was on 5 January 2002, when a late Duncan McArthur special earnt us a 1-0 win, a match in which the visitors were determined to get a goalless draw after having a man sent off in the first quarter of an hour. Stamford finished fifth that season, and third last term, and although they are not in a position to improve once again this year, they look as if they are capable of staying in the top seven, which should earn them a Premier Division place next year. In fact, Stamford are yet to lose a league game in 2004, their last defeat beng a 3-1 reverse at King's Lynn on Boxing Day. That run of eleven games without defeat has included four draws, but also includes victories at Eastleigh and at home to Salisbury, and culminated in Saturday's 5-0 thumping of Fleet. I think I'll settle for a point in this one. Before that, there is a friendly cum training match at The Pilot Field on Wednesday against Dave Walters former club Punnetts Town. Kick off is at 7.30 and admission is free. Unfortunately for me, Wednesday is a particularly difficult evening to escape the house, so I will have to give it a miss, along with the next fans' forum, which is scheduled for the following Wednesday. I think that I am destined never to get to one of those. I see that the Hastings Senior Cup final is also scheduled for a Wednesday, the last in April, when we take on Sidley United at The Pilot Field. Is there time for it to be rearranged do you think, just for my sake?
Sean Adams
11/3/04
Since the turn of the year, there have been many weeks in which precious little has taken place within the inner sanctum of Hastings United Football Club. Of course, the dearth of midweek fixtures hasn't helped matters, but there has always been some little nugget of information that I have been able to share with everyone. Not so this week, so this report is likely to be the shortest on record, as I can find virtually nothing to say. I was hoping to maybe provide some details of Wednesday evening's friendly against Punnetts Town, but I am assuming that the game didn't take place, as there was no word of it on the Newsline last night. There has been no news of any new players being brought in to cover our long suspension list, although Steve Lovell is said to be hopeful of signing a goalkeeper and a couple of outfield players in due course, so no change there then. Ricky Spiller has been charged by the Football Association for the remarks he made to the assistant referee after his dismissal at Ashford. This is the same charge that was levelled at Duncan McArthur after his sending off at home to Chelmsford last season, which led to him being banned for an extra six matches, his previous record being taken into account obviously. Ricky has had a quiet season on the discipline front, so one hopes that he will not be quite so harshly treated and he is not due to discover his fate for several weeks anyway. A defence that cites mitigating circumstances might be appropriate somehow. I am sure that there would be plenty of witnesses willing to speak in his favour.
Given the time of year, it has been a fairly quiet week in the Eastern Division as well, with only three matches played since Saturday. Burnham's 1-1 home draw against Corby took them up a place to sixteenth on Tuesday, but still only two points ahead of ourselves. At the top, Salisbury's 1-0 defeat at Burgess Hill has probably put paid to their slim title hopes and kept our Sussex rivals in the hunt for a top seven finish. This weekend's visitors to The Pilot Field, Stamford, moved into the top six after a 0-0 draw at Bashley, a nice short trip for them on a cold Tuesday evening.
Up in the Premier Division, there were wins for the top two this week. Crawley won 4-0 at bottom of the table Chelmsford on Monday and Weymouth 2-1 at Moor Green on Tuesday. Stafford's 3-2 win at home to Welling took them back into fourth place, with Hinckley sixth after a 1-0 home win over Dorchester and Newport seventh after a 0-0 draw at Weston.
Nothing much of interest has occurred in the Sussex County League this week, but in the Kent League, Ashford Reserves lost 2-0 at home to Cray Wanderers Reserves, so our lads are looking just a little more secure in third place and will be able to enjoy their weekend off a bit more perhaps. With nothing further to add, I will sign off until Sunday, when there is a game to report upon at least, even if little else happens in the meantime as usual.
Sean Adams.
13/3/04 Hastings United (1) 3 Stamford (0) 0
Afternoon Glory
Att: 292
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For an awfully long time now, supporters have been desperately crying out for a centre half with experience to fill the void left by Tony Burt's untimely retirement in November. Well, it looks as though Steve Lovell may have finally found one in Peter Mortley, who maybe has something of a journeyman about him, having played for Gravesend & Northfleet, Tonbridge Angels and Ashford Town in his time. With loads of Southern League experience behind him though, he slotted seamlessly into the heart of our defence on Saturday and looked every inch the type of player that we have been sorely lacking this season. Alongside him, Mark Green, now committed to the club for the rest of this campaign after his switch to Fisher Athletic fell through in the week, looked as assured as we have come to expect him to be, and those two formed the rock, which laid the foundations for one of our finest and most professional performances of the season. Behind them, young Chris May became our seventh goalkeeper of the season and he gave a good account of himself, although seldom troubled by a disappointing Stamford side, who have now lost four out of four at The Pilot Field. All in all, it was an extremely satisfying afternoon, considering we were without the four players sent off at Ashford a fortnight ago, and were also devoid of the close attention of Steve Lovell, who was banished to the stands, his punishment for being sent from the dugout at Burgess Hill on Boxing Day. Didn't take them long to sort that one out. Perhaps the most gratifying aspect of the win was that it lifted us into the heady heights of 17th place in the league table, the highest we have been for many a month. The coming week's games involving Dartford and Newport might see us drop back once again, but we can now approach next weekend's trip to the Isle of Wight in high spirits, knowing that three more points are very much there for the taking. Two new signings and the news that Mark Green was staying must have provided welcome relief for Steve Lovell this week. There was more good news as Steve Ringwood was over his recent injury and able to return to the midfield. Mitchell Sherwood earnt a recall down the left hand side and there was a slightly surprising start for Steve Sands down the right, instead of regular substitute Simon Stickney. Mark Goodwin partnered Chris Honey up front and although both played well enough individually, it was obvious that they had not had time to form a telling strike pairing. I wondered whether the Punnetts Town friendly might not have been an opportunity to work on that one, but from what I gather, the game just wasn't competitive enough to be a wholly worthwhile exercise. Hastings won the match 4-2 by the way and I understand that Dave Walters had a ten minute run out for his former club late in the game. Any supporters concerned about our chances against Stamford were given early cause for optimism as we immediately took control of proceedings as the visitors sat back a lot with their five man midfield and invited us to break them down. We didn't exactly threaten too often to be fair, Ryan Peters' thirty yard free kick after thirteen minutes was turned around the post by keeper Ludek Michalik, but there was little else of note in the opening half an hour. But then, Jimmy Elford's cross from the right sailed over Chris Honey's head and as he turned to chase the ball, Chris was felled by Dennis Rhule and referee Andy Legg was most obliging in awarding us a penalty, which Ryan dispatched low to Michalik's right. In so doing, Ryan became our seventh successful penalty taker of the season, Carl Rook no doubt looking on jealously after potentially missing out on goal number sixteen. It was Ryan's sixth of the season, as he continues to develop a reputation as the new slimline Terry White. Stamford went on to enjoy the better of the final fifteen minutes of the half and Chris May had to be alert to tip over a stinging twenty yard drive by Matt Green. The lively Kevin Byrne volleyed wide after running onto a long clearance and Malcolm Ndekwe ought to have done better with a free header from Kevin Ainslie's corner. Byrne then went closest of all in stoppage time, when his mishit cross from the right deceived May and sliced onto the top of the crossbar. Early in the second period, Stamford were awarded a free kick about twenty yards out and Gareth Pritchard fired his shot wide of the target. Ryan showed him how it should be done a couple of minutes later from twenty-five yards, but Michalik saved well low to his left. One of the best moves of the match followed, Mark Goodwin digging out a cross from the right, which Michalik fumbled into Ryan's path. His shot was blocked by a defender but the ball ran kindly for Steve Ringwood, whose shot was just too high. Two minutes later though, Mitchell Sherwood scored one of the goals of the season, collecting the ball from Steve Sands long pass down the right, battling his was past two defenders, beating a third with a degree of fortune, cutting inside a fourth in the penalty area, and steering a low shot past Michalik from close range. It reminded me of a goal scored by Wayne Peacock that won an FA Cup tie between Hastings United and Hastings Town back in the early 1980s, but I am often accused of being sad in remembering things like that. It is slightly hard to believe that that was only Mitchell's third goal of the season and his first at home. Chris Honey saw a goalbound shot beat Michalik, only to be blocked on the line by Robbie Maddox and Ryan was unable to steer in the rebound. Steve Sands then intercepted a poor clearance and set up Mark Goodwin for a first time shot that was well saved. We were well on top, but needed a third goal to be sure of victory. Stamford felt that they should have had a penalty when Maddox appeared to be upended and then Byrne broke clear down the left but was denied by a good block by Chris May. Seven minutes from time, we got the killer third when Andy Peaks was robbed of possession just outside his own penalty area and substitute Peter Taylor scored his first goal since the opening day of the season, firing a low shot past Michalik from the edge of the area. After that, the game petered out, but it ended in a comfortable win and how nice it was to see the lads cheered off for a change by a mass of supporters around the tunnel. The crowd of 292 was very slightly above average, although a considerable improvement on the last home game against Fleet, when only 187 bothered to turn up. I must say that I was a little surprised not to see more come along, especially with admission prices having been reduced for the last few games. Perhaps this latest win will be reflected in a greater attendance for the Eastleigh game in two weeks. As for the referee, Mr Legg, it was nice to witness a fairly competent display for a change, although he has always been a bit showy for my liking, as if he thinks himself part of the entertainment. There were just two bookings on the day, for Stamford's Maddox and Pritchard, both in the first half, as our lads returned to being good little angels once again. |
Elsewhere
We were by no means the only side near the bottom to pick up three points on Saturday but, as I mentioned earlier, some results did go our way and we moved up a couple of places in the table. Rock bottom Fleet gave themselves a chance of avoiding the drop as a late penalty enabled them to beat Corby for only their second win since early November. Matt Tubbs scored twice as Salisbury cruised past Erith at Park View Road to leave Fleet just one point adrift at the foot of the table now. Rothwell's victory over Newport took them to within a couple of points of our next opponents and six clear of the bottom two. James Dryden's fifth minute goal took Folkestone to victory over Dartford, who drop below us as did Newport, but Burnham's late winner at Ashford kept them two points above us. Invicta's win kept them in the title hunt, as Histon drew with Tonbridge and leaders King's Lynn also drew, at home to Eastleigh, who replaced Stamford in the top six as a result. Here are all of Saturday's Eastern Division scores.
Ashford Town 1 v 2 BurnhamBurgess Hill Town 0 v 2 Chatham Town
Erith & Belvedere 0 v 3 Salisbury City
Fisher Athletic 3 v 1 Bashley
Fleet Town 1 v 0 Corby Town
Folkestone Invicta 1 v 0 Dartford
Hastings United 3 v 0 Stamford
Histon 1 v 1 Tonbridge Angels
King's Lynn 1 v 1 Eastleigh
Rothwell Town 2 v 0 Newport IoW
Sittingbourne 0 v 0 Banbury United
The Premier Division championship race took another twist on Saturday, as Crawley edged into a four point lead after a 1-0 win at Chippenham, coupled with Weymouth's 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Welling. Stafford's 2-1 win at Moor Green took them up to third, a point ahead of Worcester who thumped Grantham 4-1. Nuneaton's 0-0 draw at Tiverton saw them slip to fifth, with Hinckley sixth after a 1-1 draw at Dover. Eastbourne Borough had a disappointing afternoon, losing 2-0 at lowly Bath and slipping to eleventh place in the table. Borough haven't won any of their three games since beating Weymouth last month and will need to rediscover some consistency if they are to achieve a Conference South place for next season. And much as it pains me to say it, Crawley would appear to be heading for even bigger and better things in the Conference itself, although there are still ten games to go and a lot of football left to be played just yet.
The first legs of the two FA Vase semi finals were both entertaining affairs. Down in Devon, Western League Bideford twice fought back from two goals behind to eventually earn a 3-3 draw against Wessex League Winchester, who could well be league opponents of ours next season. In Suffolk, Eastern League Sudbury, the favourites to win the competition, scored three in the last ten minutes to win 3-2 against North West Counties Division Two side Colne. The second legs take place next Saturday and the aggregate winners will meet in the final on 16 May at Birmingham City's St Andrews ground.
Sussex County League leaders East Preston suffered a surprise 2-1 home defeat against Whitehawk on Saturday and saw their lead cut to a single point by Chichester, 3-0 winners at home to East Grinstead. Eastbourne Town's 3-1 win at home to Arundel kept them in third place, but Rye & Iden United lost ground after a 1-1 home draw with Redhill. Towards the bottom of the table, Sidley won 3-2 at home to Sidlesham, a result which saw the two sides swap places. In Division Two, Westfield drew 0-0 with Steyning at The Parish Field.
There was more good news for our Reserves on Saturday as Ashford Reserves lost for the second time in a row, this time 4-2 at Ramsgate, to stay seven points behind our lads, but they do still have three games in hand. Neither of the top two sides were in action this week and nor were we for that matter. We play our penultimate match of the season at Deal next Saturday and end the season with a trip to Danson Furness on a date to be announced. Corinthian and Dover each have three games left to play and remain locked together at the top of the table, level on points, ten clear of ourselves, with Corinthian's goal difference seven better than Dover's.
Next Saturday then, we are off for a day trip to the Isle of Wight to take on Newport, a side still beset with financial problems. I was following Newport's predicament a few months ago when their former chairman and benefactor called in the receivers after deciding that he had had enough of the apathy afforded the club by the local community. Sound familiar at all? Newport found themselves in administration, with their ground sold to what was initially an unknown purchaser. Since then, their immediate crisis has been resolved, after they were given permission to continue playing at St George's Park for a peppercorn rent, but during the period when the club had literally run out of money and the players were not getting paid, a number of non island based players left the club, with the likes of Eastleigh and Winchester benefiting from an influx of Dr Martens League talent. For the last few months, Newport have been forced to field sides made up of exclusively island based players and results have suffered badly. Since the beginning of December, Newport have failed to win any of their sixteen league matches and have only managed to draw four of them. They have slipped from the brink of the top six, all the way into the bottom four, and now stand just eight points ahead of Erith & Belvedere and the relegation places. This surely must represent another excellent chance to add three points to our own unremarkable total and to avenge a string of indifferent results against Newport, not least a 2-0 defeat at The Pilot Field in November. We didn't play Newport in the Premier Division last season, but we did meet them in a home FA Cup tie the season before that, again losing 2-0. Our last trip to the Isle of Wight ended in another 2-0 defeat in April 2001. We lost at home to them that season as well and didn't beat them in either match in 1999/00 either. It's fair to say that we owe them one then. Last week, when we lost valiantly at Salisbury, I at least had the joy of Ireland's win at Twickenham to temper any feeling of disappointment. Hopefully, I can rely on Ireland winning again next week, but it would make for an extremely good weekend if the lads can do the business as well. Unfortunately, I will not be going next week, a bit too much money and hassle for me, but I do hope to be able to get to the remaining seven league games, even the trip to Burnham. The usual abbreviated report will appear next week then, in addition to something on Wednesday, covering the midweek action.
Sean Adams
SATURDAY
What a tremendous performance against a Stamford side well placed to be playing new look Premier division football next season. Any neutrals at the game would never have thought United were a side who've been battling relegation to the County Bumpkinship for much of a depressing and frustrating season. Only ever one side in it after United seemed to get the better of the decisions in the first half (and after the Woodward induced carnage at Ashford a fortnight ago you could hardly say the didn't deserve that!) they then weathered a Stamford spell where the Lincolnshire side for around 10 minutes showed they were a decent side.
Well played - WELL PLAYED - to Peter Mortley. Town supporters of old have had many reasons down the years to be sick of his dominating presence in opposing defences for Gravesend and Tonbridge to name two. I thought he was superb at the back where at last - after the loss of Tony Burt - an experienced hand could be heard directing affairs. And well played to Chris May - apparently United's seventh goal keeper of 03/04. To think we took the piss out of Stains RIP about the number of players they used last season......
And while 292 might be pretty indifferent for a town of 80,000 - the gate was pretty good bearing in mind United's position and the fact that as usual in this division - the away side didn't bring much in the way of support.
I look forward to Sean's report.
FAN'S FORUM
Bollocks. Bloody night shift this week and I'll have to miss Wednesday night's chance for supporters to quiz David Walters. Having said I won't be there - I hope plenty do go. It'll be interesting to find out what resulted from the Friday meeting with Hastings Council who - at long last - are beginning to make promising sounding noises in the Observer.
And off the subject a bit - all this has, of course, come about as a result of affairs at Fort Fun taking a grim turn for our late neighbours. Ironic isn't it - a couple of weeks ago Andy Thomson and Dave Leppard were both seemingly of the opinion that the one club town scenario was the only one that would bring the Council around. When you look at the failed attempts from The Pilot Field to bring about just that by a merger of the two clubs - attempts that were rejected by the Stains...........................
Simon Stoddart
I'll not be able to make it to the Wednesday night event as well, if some kind person could put some notes on the guestbook or e-mail me I'd be very grateful.
KH
20/3/04 Newport IoW (0) 1 Hastings United (2) 2
Att: 196
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Three points from our visit to the Isle of Wight. The game was a bit of a farce due to the wind, the first half dominated by Hastings with the wind in our favour, Newport seldom venturing into our half. Our first goal came from a corner, the ball just about finding the Mark Goodwin's head, after the Newport keeper missed the ball. Nineteen minutes gone and one nil up, we continued to apply the pressure and, after twenty-two minutes, the ball came to the feet of Chris Honey, whose shot was deflected past the luckless home keeper. It looked as if we would run away with the game, as Russell Eldridge had a long range effort go just over the top after twenty-three minutes, followed by three shots from Mitchell Sherwood going wide or over. Steve Sands also had a chance after thirty minutes but that went over too. On thirty-five minutes, their keeper had to save from Steve Ringwood after Chris Honey had won a dubious throw in. The final action of the half was from Mark Goodwin, whose goalbound shot was deflected for a corner. The wind against us in the second half, would two nil be enough, or would those missed chances prove costly? It looked that way, Chris May pushing a Newport cross shot wide early in the second half. Mark Goodwin was replaced by Carl Rook after fifty-four minutes. Newport used the wind well on fifty-seven minutes, when the keeper's goal kick went the entire length of the pitch and was finished off, with Chris May well beaten. The Newport keeper pointed out that it was easy with a force twelve wind blowing behind you, but he had to make a save from Mitchell soon after, low at the near post. On sixty-five minutes, Dave Henham was replaced by Kieren Startup and we began to get back into the game, with efforts from Ryan Peters and then our best effort of the second half, Chris Honey's great ball to Steve Sands, who hit a disappointing shot well wide. On eighty minutes, we appealed for offside, it was not given, and Jimmy Elford made a superb block after the Newport player had rounded Chris. We hung on for the points, not our best performance, but good enough in all that wind. (Thanks to Simon the Steward for those details.) |
Elsewhere
These were Saturday's other Eastern Division results. Banbury United 4-0 Corby Town, Burnham 2-5 Sittingbourne, Chatham Town 0-3 Folkestone Invicta, Dartford 3-0 Fleet Town, Eastleigh 5-1 Erith & Belvedere, Histon 0-0 Stamford, King's Lynn 2-1 Burgess Hill Town, Rothwell Town 0-1 Bashley, Salisbury City 2-1 Fisher Athletic, Tonbridge Angels 1-0 Ashford Town. We have gone back up two places to 17th, ahead of Newport and Burnham, 14 points clear of the bottom two and within one win of Dartford, Corby and Chatham. The ever under strength Reserves lost 5-1 at Deal Reserves, but stay seven points clear in 3rd as Ashford Reserves lost 3-0 at Thamesmead Reserves. Danny Simmonds scored the 'winner' as Eastbourne beat Tiverton 2-1. Rye & Iden beat Sidlesham 4-3. Sidley lost 4-2 at home to Redhill and Westfield won 3-2 at home to Midhurst & Easebourne.
Tuesday's Eastern Division results were Ashford 2-1 Corby and Rothwell 0-1 Tonbridge. Mark Goodwin has returned to Eastbourne Borough after it was decided not to extend his loan spell any further. Alan Tutton will not now be joining us from Herne Bay for the rest of this season, having had further discussion with Steve Lovell. It is anticipated that he may sign for us next season though.
Sean Adams
18/3/04
Once again, with no midweek fixtures, all appears to have been quiet at The Pilot Field this week. That said, had Simon, Karl or I been able to attend Wednesday's fans forum, there might have been an enormous amount of gossip to relate. I understand that there were in the region of fifty supporters at the event and Dave Walters fielded questions on a variety of topics, providing some open and honest feedback. The problem is, I haven't got a clue what any of the questions were, let alone the answers, so I will have to rely on other channels to inform those of us not able to make it exactly what was said. Karl did put an appeal at the foot of the weekend's report for someone to let him have some details, a sentiment that I would echo please. I dare say that there will be something in this week's Observer though.
Having risen meteorically to 17th place after our win against Stamford on Saturday, we now find ourselves back in our more accustomed position of 19th again, heading into the game on the Isle of Wight this weekend. Dartford reclaimed 17th spot on Tuesday evening as a second half Paul Sykes goal took them to a 1-0 at home to Sittingbourne. As they were doing so, a first half own goal earnt Newport a 1-0 home win against Burnham, their first league victory since beating Ashford at the end of November, which took them back up to 18th. At the top of the table, a stoppage time equaliser from Andy Larkin saw Tonbridge to a 1-1 draw at Folkestone, who had led through Jim Dryden just before half time. The result allowed both to close the gap slightly on the top two. King's Lynn didn't play this week, but Histon suffered a 2-1 defeat at Fisher on Monday, missing out on the chance to go top.
In the Premier Division, the top two are really starting to pull away from the rest after both won on Tuesday. Crawley stayed four points clear of Weymouth after thrashing FA Trophy semi finalists Hednesford 6-1 at Broadfield, while Steve Claridge's side beat fourth placed Worcester 3-1 at home. Moor Green won 3-2 at Weston-super-Mare in the other game.
Also on Tuesday, Telford completed the semi final line-up in the FA Trophy, when they edged out local rivals Shrewsbury 2-1 at home, in a quarter final replay. Telford will take on Canvey Island in one semi final, with Aldershot playing Hednesford in the other. The first legs take place on 27 March and the return matches are played a week later. The final will take place at Villa Park on 23 May.
The Sussex Senior Cup final on 3 May will be contested by Worthing and Brighton & Hove Albion Reserves. Ryman League Worthing beat County League Three Bridges 2-0 in the first of this week's semi finals at Horsham on Tuesday. Dean White's side then thrashed Garry Wilson's Eastbourne Borough 7-1 at The Saffrons on Wednesday. Scott Ramsay scored the Borough goal from the penalty spot when his side were already five down and a man short after Darren Pearce was sent off. Chris McPhee and David Lee each scored twice and John Piercey was also on target for an Albion side that contained nine players with first team experience. I assume that Priory Lane will host the showpiece final on May Day Bank Holiday Monday, but that is still to be confirmed.
There have been a few curious goings-on in the corridors of power at Dr Martens League and Ryman League headquarters recently. First, there was some kind of spat involving four of the Dr Martens League directors, amongst them, our old friend Dave Nessling. I believe they wished to table a no confidence motion in League Secretary Dennis Strudwick, but Chairman Doug Gillard ignored their calls and the four have now resigned from the board due to his 'intransigence'. Meanwhile, dear Victor Gladwish, who was planning to offer the League a sponsorship deal for next season, as Dr Martens are ending their association, has had a fit of pique and has decided to negotiate elsewhere. I am not sure where that leaves the league, as Gladwish was said to be offering quite a substantial sum of money. Disarray is a word that springs to mind though. Gladwish has also got himself involved in a row between the Ryman League hierarchy and their member clubs, over who should foot the bill for their failed legal attempt at preventing the restructuring of the non-league game from happening. It is understood that the FA are going to seek their costs of the arbitration hearing from the Ryman League and the League have sent each of their clubs an invoice, expecting them to contribute up to £750 each, which will basically prevent the League from bankrupting itself. Many clubs have pointed out that they did not support the arbitration in the first place and are refusing to pay and Gladwish appears to have advised them not to bother, stating, quite reasonably, that if the Ryman League did not have adequate funds to fight the case in the first place, they perhaps should not have been quite so bold in their ambitions. Outside all of these debates, is the question of which League will operate the south-eastern division that we should find ourselves in next season. Maybe if both cease to exist for whatever reason, we will end up becoming a far-reaching outpost of the Northern League. It would probably serve them all right.
Sean Adams.
Next update will be Sunday 28th(ish) March.
KH
27/3/04 Hastings United (0) 0 Eastleigh (1) 1
Att: 329
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Five months ago, we took on Eastleigh for the first time and succumbed to a 6-2 defeat in Hampshire. I am inclined to disagree with Steve Lovell's assessment that we played poorly that day, preferring to believe that Eastleigh were one of the finest footballing sides that we have seen this season. They were certainly a class above ourselves at that time and their slick passing display was far too good for our much maligned defence. The game was also the last that Matt Brown played for us in goal, before injury forced him out of the reckoning. Another feature of Eastleigh's play that day was their physical approach and there was a case for at least two of their players to have been sent off before goalkeeper Colin Matthews saw red for kicking out at Scott Hayhoe off the ball in the closing stages. Their intimidatory style certainly proved effective though and with a host of ex-league professionals in their line-up, they were perhaps just too clever for the officials that day as well. As our form had taken a turn for the better recently, I was looking forward to seeing if we would give them a better game in the return, but it proved to be beyond us I'm afraid and the game had a similar feel to the one at home to King's Lynn, when the final scoreline could probably have been much worse for us had our opponents really given a damn. The most frustrating thing on Saturday for me though, was Eastleigh's ultra-professional approach to the game, no better epitomised than by David Hughes, the former Southampton midfielder, who really ran the show both at our place and theirs. Despite being so much better than anyone in a claret and blue shirt though, he still found it necessary to tumble over every would-be challenge in search of free kicks, to constantly engage the referee in idle conversation, and to square up to anyone who dared to actually tackle him, Steve Sands and Chris Honey being two such examples of the latter. The falling over was rather catching and the Eastleigh trainer certainly earned his pay this week. I suppose that's what happens when you have a team of geriatrics though. They just can't handle the rough and tumble like the youngsters. Add to that the continual time-wasting tactics and it all led to a pretty drab affair, although our apparent inability to create chances, especially in the second half, allowed the visitors to close out the game without even breaking sweat and they deserve grudging credit for that I suppose. With the news that Alan Tutton was not joining us from Herne Bay after all, Steve Lovell's starting eleven probably picked itself. Peter Mortley was back after missing the trip to the Isle of Wight last week. A friend of mine wondered if his reasons for not travelling last week were of a Bergkampesque fear of foreign travel nature. If so, he'll be no good when we get into the Champions League will he? Carl Rook was also back in the starting line-up in place of Mark Goodwin who had returned to Eastbourne Borough at the end of his protracted loan spell. Eastleigh sprang a surprise by leaving twenty-four goal leading scorer Paul Sales on the bench and fourteen goal Nicky Banger was not in the squad at all. As well as David Hughes, Phil Warner and Christer Warren had plenty of Football League experience to call on and in Colin Matthews, Steve Richardson and Danny Rofe, Eastleigh had at least three players who had served Premier Division time at Newport IoW prior to their financial problems. It is fair to say that we didn't exactly create an awful lot during the ninety minutes, but maybe our best chance arrived less than two minutes in, when Steve Sands' cross from the right reached Russell Eldridge just outside the area and Russell's left foot shot flew just wide. In the eighth minute, Chris May was harshly penalised for handling Russell's sliced attempted clearance, which the referee somehow deemed to have been a backpass, Chris produced an excellent save to deny Hughes from the free kick. The next opportunity didn't arrive until the twenty-second minute and it led to the winning goal, Martin Beck's inswinging free kick met by Richardson's glancing header into the corner. On the half hour mark, Ryan Peters' corner was cleared to the edge of the area and Steve Ringwood's first time shot was comfortably saved by Matthews and Ryan drifted a free kick wide ten minutes later. To that point, the referee had been fairly lenient in letting Richardson and Peter Mortley get away with a poor tackle apiece, but Steve Sands was yellow carded for a late tackle on Warren and three minutes into stoppage time, Carl Rook was hauled back by Rofe after turning his man down the right touchline. Carl appeared to casually swing an arm in Rofe's direction and after the usual pushing and shoving had ceased, both players were cautioned. Ten minutes after the break, Peter Mortley did well to clear a dangerous cross from Rofe under pressure from Sales, who had come on at half time for the ineffective Rob Matthews. From Beck's resulting corner, Rofe headed into the net, but the goal was disallowed for a foul on Chris May by Sales. Chris then saved a twenty yarder from Danny Woods as Eastleigh continued to threaten, but Chris Honey missed a decent chance at the other end, heading straight at Matthews from Jimmy Elford's chipped cross. By then, Peter Taylor had replaced Mitchell Sherwood down the left and he almost broke through the defence with about twenty minutes left, but Warner got back well and Peter scuffed his shot. Chris May then produced another fine stop to keep out Rofe's point blank effort from Beck's corner and Richardson headed over the bar after another excellent delivery from Beck. Ryan was booked for a foul, which left him needing treatment, just for a change, and Simon Stickney came on for Steve Sands down the right. It was Simon who had our final half chance to equalise when he found himself in space in the area and attempted to drive in a low cross-cum-shot, which was blocked for a corner. A disappointing match was brought to an end shortly afterwards. |
Elsewhere
Three wins in our previous four matches had lifted us fourteen points clear of the relegation places and that is where we remained despite this setback. Fleet are still bottom after their home defeat to fellow strugglers Rothwell and Erith & Belvedere's seventh successive defeat, this one at home to Histon, left them only a point off the basement. Rothwell now have a nine point cushion over the bottom two and are within a couple of points of Newport, who lost at Sittingbourne. Burnham's draw at Corby took them back above us on goal difference while defeats for Dartford and Chatham kept them within touching distance, especially as we visit the latter next Saturday. At the top, King's Lynn lost top spot after a draw at Folkestone with Tonbridge returning to the summit after victory at Burgess Hill. Histon remain in the frame with a game in hand and Salisbury's win at Ashford has them just about in contention still. Eastleigh and Stamford should be able to tie up sixth and seventh by remaining consistent while eighth place is still up for grabs between Banbury, Burgess Hill and Bashley. Here are all of Saturday's Eastern Division results.
Ashford Town 0 v 2 Salisbury CityBashley 1 v 1 Banbury United
Burgess Hill Town 0 v 1 Tonbridge Angels
Corby Town 1 v 1 Burnham
Erith & Belvedere 0 v 3 Histon
Fisher Athletic 1 v 0 Chatham Town
Fleet Town 1 v 3 Rothwell Town
Folkestone Invicta 2 v 2 King's Lynn
Hastings United 0 v 1 Eastleigh
Sittingbourne 1 v 0 Newport IoW
Stamford 1 v 0 Dartford
Crawley took another giant leap towards the Premier Division title on Saturday. Their 2-1 win at Moor Green took them six points clear of Weymouth, who lost 1-0 at home to struggling Chippenham, and Crawley still have a game in hand, which is at third placed Worcester on Monday evening. Stuart Tuck and Daren Pearce were on target as Eastbourne drew 2-2 at Hinckley to move up to seventh place, although eight sides are still within a couple of wins of Borough's points total and the difference between success and failure this season remains very fine indeed.
Hednesford dropped into the bottom six in the Premier Division on Saturday, but I somehow doubt that they will have cared all that much, as they were winning 2-0 away to Conference side Aldershot at the time, taking control of their two legged FA Trophy semi final tie. In the other tie, financially stricken Telford of the Conference, drew 0-0 at home to Ryman League leaders Canvey Island. Those results set up the intriguing prospect of a second successive all-non-Conference FA Trophy final. Last year, Unibond League Burscough beat Dr Martens League champions Tamworth 2-1 at Villa Park. Can Hednesford go one better than their erstwhile Staffordshire league rivals this season?
Chichester remained atop the Sussex County League after a 1-0 home win over Redhill on Saturday. East Preston stayed two points adrift courtesy of a 5-0 victory at Sidley, but Eastbourne Town lost ground after a surprise 3-2 home defeat by Sidlesham. Rye & Iden are still plugging away, having beaten Horsham YMCA 1-0 at The Salts thanks to an early Paul Tuppenney goal. A Duncan Jones hattrick earnt Westfield a 3-2 win at Seaford.
Our Reserves were without a fixture on Saturday, but they again kept hold of third place in the table, as fourth placed Thamesmead wasted another of their games in hand, held to a goalless draw at home by Ramsgate. At the top, Corinthian could only manage a 1-1 draw at struggling Dartford and Dover now have a game in hand and just a single point deficit to make up. Danson Furness dropped to the bottom of the table after a 4-1 defeat at Cray Wanderers, but they entertain our beleaguered lads next weekend, our final game of the season.
The first team have only six league fixtures remaining, starting with the relatively short trip to north Kent and Chatham next weekend. Chatham have had a slightly curious season, going six games without a win to start their season, before their September visit to The Pilot Field saw them snatch a 2-1 win, their first goal courtesy of a horrible gaffe from stand-in keeper Paul Sansome. They then went a further seven games without a win, but the appointment of ex-Dover boss Clive Walker as their new manager turned their season around and six wins in their next seven games took them into mid-table. Since then, they have been a picture of inconsistency and we are probably playing them at the right time to be honest. A victory would take us level on points with them, assuming they get nothing from a midweek trip to Eastleigh that is, although we are going to need to win by at least five goals to overtake them on goal difference. Greg Nessling, Danny Ellis and Ricky Spiller will all be available after their three match suspensions ended on Saturday, although I would imagine that Steve Lovell may keep faith with the Eastleigh line-up, Steve Sands the one most likely to lose his place after a rather lacklustre display. I am pleased to say that I will be going to the game as well and Chatham's Maidstone Road ground will be a new one for me, having missed our visit there a couple of seasons back, when the game was played at lunchtime because of international games in the afternoon. A repeat of our 2-1 victory that day would go down very nicely thank you very much.
Sean Adams
PROGRESS
Is there any other way to describe a more than adequate performance against an Eastleigh side who's wage bill can't be anything like covered by their gates. Big money has been going in at their Ten Acres HQ where United got mullahed 2-6 back earlier in the initial days of Steve Lovell's reconstruction programme. Eastleigh have a good side but the U's more than matched them with Steve Lovell's team put together on a playing budget a fraction of what Saturday's opposition have at their disposal. Well played lads - especially the first half.
I suppose the best way to view the rest of this season's programme is as a list of preseason games for 04/05 - and if Lovers is still here next August with most of what he's got now plus a couple or three experienced old heads (Including Peter Mortley) - then things will hopefully be looking upwards again.
Hope the Eastleigh 8 didn't fall over climbing back onto the coach? Spent all afternoon doing it Brought back memories of that Grantham forward from a couple of seasons ago - Rick Ranshaw.
COLIN MATTHEWS - BOGEY MAN
The Eastleigh keeper must love playing us. We first came across him back in 97/98, or was it 98/99, when Hastings Town were beaten 2-1 at Bognor in an FA Cup tie. We then came across him again playing for Newport IOW in 00/01 when they did the double over us, 2-1 at The Pilot Field and 2-0 at St Georges Lane. 01/02 saw Town up against Newport in an FA Cup game here in Hastings - and Town lost 2-0. And twice we've encountered Matthews this season - and lost both games.
CEEFAX PAGE 399
One of the plusses of playing Eastern Division football is the lottery that is the BBC's results "service " for the lower level semi pro game. How - HOW - do they manage to get the results out for the Reading Senior League and Sussex County Bumpkinship Div 2 (amongst others) before the DM Eastern and Ryman South divisions which are the top two leagues in terms of seniority so far as page 399 is concerned.
Simon Stoddart