Archive
Dr Martens League Eastern Division 2003-04
2/10/03
Midweek Roundup ('Allo Princess)
Not much happening at the Pilot Field this midweek, but there has been one sensational rumour abounding elsewhere in the local vicinity. The only piece of news about United this week concerns the postponement of the home game against Newport IOW, scheduled for 11 October, which has been caused by the Islander's continued involvement in the FA Cup. After the disappointment of being without a game last weekend, for similar reasons, the club has remedied the situation by persuading Eastlegh to bring forward our away game with them, which had been due to take place the following Wednesday, 15 October. This should be good news for any die-hard travelling fans, who may have struggled to make it to such a midweek game. I might even be able to make it myself now. Anyone who can't, may be pleased to learn that the Reserves have also taken advantage of the situation and have arranged a home league game against Ashford Town that day. We'll be positively spoilt for choice now!
As I reported at the weekend, Newport and Histon were the only Eastern Division sides to have won their FA Cup games on Saturday, taking their places in Monday's third qualifying round draw. Also in the draw, were Folkestone, Salisbury, King's Lynn and our local rivals Eastbourne, all of whom faced midweek replays, the results of which were as follows:
- Folkestone Invicta 3 - 0 Hitchin Town
- King's Lynn 1 - 4 Worksop Town
- Chelmsford City 0 - 2 Eastbourne Borough
- Westbury United 1 - 2 Salisbury City
And the draw for the next round has produced the following ties, amongst others:
- Folkestone Invicta v Welling United
- Histon v Newmarket Town
- Canvey Island v Dover Athletic
- Ford United v Worthing
- Maidstone United v Bishop's Stortford
- Braintree Town v Eastbourne Borough
- Crawley Town v Croydon Athletic
- Basingstoke Town v Bracknell Town
- Havant & Waterlooville v Salisbury City
- Newport IOW v Harrow Borough
There has also been a bit of local action over the last couple of days, including a big game between Rye & Iden and St Leonards in the first round of the Hastings Senior Cup. I don't know how anyone can possibly criticise the Sussex Senior Cup, or the DM League Cup, as long as this one exists. On the pitch, St Leonards sadly put an end to their poor recent form, winning 2-0, with second half goals from Sean Ray and Ben Watson, although Ray's night was spoilt by a late red card. St Leonards will take on Sidley in the semi-final, while we are set to take on Westfield, at some stage. Unfortunately, the Millennium Stadium is already fully booked up with a series of Aled Jones concerts, so the final will take place at the Pilot Field as usual. Sidley won 1-0 at Southwick in the County League on Tuesday to move up to twelfth in the table, which also sees Rye fifth and St Leonards eighth. Our first opponents in the Sussex Senior Cup are now known. We will be at home to, wait for it, Eastbourne United Association, 2-1 winners at home to Lancing on Tuesday, in the second round, with the tie due to be played by 15 November. The winners will be at home again, to either Broadbridge Heath or East Preston and, barring disaster, we should be at home to Brighton in the quarter finals, early next year. Whilst I'm on the subject of cups, it was a shame, although not a surprise, to see that Rye were expelled from the FA Vase after fielding an ineligible player in their preliminary round win at Hailsham. More of those super, intransigent rules that Simon used to enjoy so much. Why a simple replay wouldn't have been appropriate punishment, I'll never understand.
And what of that sensational rumour? Well, a message was left on St Leonards' website forum on Monday, alleging that they were going to be ceasing operations after last night's game. The entire forum was then suddenly removed from public view, although the rumour was doing the rounds at the game itself, amongst a healthy 190 attendance. Now, I haven't got a clue whether there is even a shred of truth to the story and, frankly, I would miss not being able to take the mick every time they lose. The withdrawal of the forum could have been something to do with those rape allegations, made against several players from that unnamed Premiership club. So, perhaps it's not all that sensational after all. In fact, you probably already know about it anyway.
So, with the weekend fast approaching, it's FA Trophy time again. Ryman League Division One North side Yeading will be making, what I assume to be, their maiden trip to the Pilot Field, for Saturday's preliminary round clash. I must confess to not having known where Yeading is and having found out, I would not be desperately keen to go there for a midweek replay, so here's hoping for a positive result on Saturday. Yeading were top of their league going into last weekend's fixture at Cheshunt, who promptly replaced them at the top after a 2-1 victory. Yeading returned to winning ways on Tuesday though, with a 6-1 thrashing of mid-table Hemel Hempstead, but remain in second place, with twenty-one points from ten matches. However, their cup exploits this season rank even below our own. They were beaten 7-0 at Histon in the preliminary round of the FA Cup, probably just one of those freak results though, and I would be perfectly happy to settle for a 1-0 on Saturday. The winners will be away to either Dulwich Hamlet, who are currently seventh in the Ryman League Division One South, or Cheshunt, who I have already mentioned.
The Trophy has very seldom provided Hastings supporters with much to cheer. I am just old enough to remember the great run to the fourth round in 1981-82 (I think that's right). The home replay win over Malcolm Allison's Yeovil side will remain a vivid memory for many years to come, in particular, Ernie Batten's winner. Through work last year, I met Dave Crush, who had scored our equaliser at Yeovil in the first game and spent a couple of hours discussing those happy days of my youth. Before I start getting letters, I know that that was a different United team, but the present incarnation has consistently failed to live up to those standards, with only a couple of trips to the first round, of which to boast. The 1991-92 game at Dover was quite memorable, I'll accept. Top flight referee David Elleray sending off Tony Burt in the first half, the resultant penalty being saved, Steve Willard's rather late equaliser. Shame the replay defeat brought us all back down to earth. Apart from a snow bound exit at home to Salisbury, one Friday evening in the mid 1990s, that's really it I'm afraid. Last year, we skipped the preliminary round, beat Chelmsford 1-0, before losing 2-0 at home to Eastbourne. I guess we will start as underdogs on Saturday, so maybe that will help. As usual, the report, along with any other news, which I deem to be interesting, will appear some time on Sunday.
Sean Adams
4/10/03 Hastings United (0) 3 Yeading (2) 4 [FATPr]
BIZARRE!
Att: 209
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Another defeat then. Six in a row. At least the lads managed to find a new and exciting way to lose this one though. It's certainly been a while since I saw a game as bizarre as that. Just a shame that our defensive naivety was to cost us even a share of the spoils, although, on balance, we didn't really deserve anything from the game anyway. At half time, I decided to cheer myself up a bit, by trying to remember the last time we had come back from two down to win. It was probably at Fleet three years ago, a game that I didn't see. I had a flashback to 1984 and a John Daubney hattrick in the last five minutes, which overturned a two goal deficit at home to Gloucester. But of more relevance, I recalled an FA Trophy tie at home to Heybridge, about seven years ago, when we went in two down at half time, having been totally outplayed, yet won 3-2. Seventeen minutes into the second half on Saturday, we were looking at an incredible repeat performance, only for it all to go wrong in the closing stages. The starting line-up showed three changes from the Chatham game on 22 September. Matt Brown was fit to resume in goal. Graham Morris was rewarded for some fine performances for the reserves, replacing David Henham at right back and Russell Eldridge came in on the left for the injured Ryan Peters, with Steve Hafner playing out on the right. Chris Honey's supposed knee injury didn't keep him out after all and the side seemed to have a much better shape to it. Worryingly, Mark Lovell, who would surely have played up front had Ryan been fit, limped off just twenty minutes in, to be replaced by Steve Graham, who was to have an influential second half. But in the first half, we were all over the place, especially at the back, where our two centre halves looked completely out of sorts. We were overrun in midfield and Monster and Webby enjoyed only sporadic success up front. Whilst we looked pretty hopeless, Yeading looked like the best side we have played so far, bigger, stronger, more skillful and comfortable on the ball. They were also the most multi-cultural side that I have ever seen. I should imagine that they had players of West Indian, North African and East Asian descent, although the pen pictures in the programme did not mention any mix of nationalities. so I must assume that they are all British. If so, what a pleasure to see, in these times of increasing racial tension, a side of such diversity. If only some top flight clubs would look on their proverbial doorsteps to see what talent is around, rather than looking abroad all the time. What a hopelessly ideological thought though. What of the game itself then? Well, our first defensive cock-up occurred after nine minutes and it gifted Yeading an early lead. Burtie passed back to Matt, who passed back to Burtie, now by the corner flag. Burtie's clearance was blocked by Michael Barima, whose shot was well saved by Matt. The rebound fell to Jason Tucker and he picked his spot from about twelve yards out. Some might blame Matt for playing Burtie into trouble, but Burtie had two opportunities to clear for a throw-in and took neither. There were half-chances at either end, including Ricky Spiller's long-range lob after Yeading keeper, Delroy Preddie, came out of his area to head clear. and at the other end, Ricky cleared Nevin Saroya's header off the line with Matt well beaten. In the last five minutes of the half though, Yeading hit the post three times, our defending became nearly comical, and the second goal duly arrived. First, DJ Campbell's shot was brilliantly tipped onto the post by Matt, who then produced another superb save to deny Tucker. Carl Rook presented Barima with a gilt-edged opening, but the striker hit the same post as Campbell had, moments earlier. A minute into stoppage time, Tucker's deep cross was met by a towering, unchallenged header by defender Didie Moundi to make it 2-0 and there was still time for Campbell to send a bobbling effort against the other post, as clinical depression began to set in. One rousing half time team talk and two tactical substitutions later, the second half began. The ineffective Eldridge and Spiller were replaced by Kieren Startup and Mitchell Sherwood, as Hastings went to a three man defense of Burt, Rook and Morris, with Sherwood and Green as wing backs. Kieren played a holding role in front of the back three, with Hafner and Graham supporting the front two. For half an hour, it worked...brilliantly. Mitchell had an early effort well saved by Preddie and nine minutes in, the comeback was underway. An innocuous long throw by Steve Graham, caught on the strong breeze and Monster leapt at the near post to glance a header past a statuesque Preddie. The keeper then gave away an indirect free kick for holding the ball for longer than six seconds and was booked for running away with the ball to prevent Hafner from taking it quickly. When he did, it was blocked by the wall, but Steve got his reward on the hour mark, when he converted a left foot shot after good work down the left from Mark Green. Yeading were, by now, all over the place themselves, and, two minutes later, Burtie headed on a long free kick for Graham to turn and fire an angled shot past Preddie. Yeading's protests, presumably about the legality of Burtie's leap, resulted in a couple of bookings and a total lack of concentration, which nearly let in Webby on two occasions. They eventually recovered their composure though, and with twelve minutes left, after Campbell found another post to hit, substitute Errol Telemaque knocked in the rebound to level the scores. There was only one likely winner after that and despite more heroics from Matt, a quick free kick in the last minute, ended at the feet of Telemaque, who slotted past Matt to put Yeading through. After such a monumental effort to come back from two down, it was sickening to end up losing the game. To be fair though, Yeading could have been about five up at the break and we need to learn how to play for ninety minutes at a time, not just in stages. Defensively, we continue to look very poor, although better as a three man line in the second half. In the end, we probably had too many attack minded players on the pitch to hold on to the lead, but it was thrilling stuff to watch and surely bodes well for the future. Bear in mind that we had to play without our most creative midfielders, Ryan Peters and Stuart Myall, and with our best striker, Mark Lovell, in midfield and then injured. With Peter Taylor and others still to come back from injury as well, things will improve. One thing that cannot be disputed is the talent of Matt Brown in goal and that talent is going to be sorely tested until the defence sorts itself out. Not sure what the options are in that department. Any ideas? As for how good Yeading really were, we may not find out for a few more weeks, as we are not due to play any of the top sides in the DME until we visit King's Lynn on 8 November, but that could be the standard we will have to get used to next season, when, all being well, we switch to the Ryman League, probably Division One South. And that is where you find Dulwich Hamlet, who will be Yeading's FA Trophy first round opponents, after a 2-0 home win over Cheshunt. |
Elsewhere
Plenty of other preliminary round ties were played on Saturday and the ties featuring our DME rivals finished as follows:
- Arlesey Town 3 v 1 Fleet Town
- Aveley 1 v 2 Burgess Hill Town
- Bashley 2 v 2 Marlow
- Burnham 1 v 2 Stamford
- Corinthian Casuals 0 v 2 King's Lynn
- Eastleigh 3 v 0 Great Wakering Rovers
- Fisher Athletic 1 v 1 Horsham
- Oxford City 1 v 4 Folkestone Invicta
- Salisbury City 0 v 1 Clevedon Town
- Taunton Town 3 v 1 Corby Town
- Team Bath 2 v 0 Banbury United
- Tooting & Mitcham United 1 v 2 Sittingbourne
- Windsor & Eton 2 v 1 Chatham Town
- Wivenhoe Town 3 v 1 Newport IOW
Not much to say about those. Hard to point to any surprise results as everyone is, more or less, at the same level. Folkestone's was perhaps the performance of the day, continuing their impressive cup form. Surprisingly, none of their goals came courtesy of leading scorer Allan Tait though, who was deposed as the DME's leading scorer on Saturday by Erith & Belvedere's, Akpo Sodje. He grabbed the equaliser in the draw at Histon, which means that we are now just one point off the bottom of the table and Tonbridge are five points clear at the top. Just the three games in all, the results of which were as follows:
- Ashford Town 0 v 0 Rothwell Town
- Histon 1 v 1 Erith & Belvedere
- Tonbridge Angels 1 v 0 Dartford
There was more good news for our reserves, who made it seven out of seven on Saturday, with a 2-0 victory away to Ramsgate. Scott Hayhoe and Danny Ellis were the scorers who took Hastings two points clear of Dover at the top of the table and they still have one game in hand. Dover were involved in Kent Intermediate Cup action on Saturday and put eight goals past Folkestone, who managed three in reply. That just seems to put our lads win over them last week into greater perspective. A fantastic effort. Let's hope they can keep it up at home to Ashford next weekend.
Locally, I'm getting a bit concerned that St Leonards have lost the script I gave them to learn. After winning at Rye & Iden on Tuesday and then refusing to go out of business in the week, they won 5-2 at Sidlesham in the County League on Saturday. They trailed early on, then led 2-1, before conceding an equaliser with just seven minutes left. Sean Ray then completed a hattrick and David Flemming and Josy Ricketts also scored to lift them up to fourth in the table. Their website thanks all the loyal supporters who travelled to cheer the team to victory. I wonder how many there were in the massive attendance of thirty-three! Rye & Iden slipped to seventh after losing to a first half goal at Three Bridges. Sidley were 4-1 winners at Shoreham in the second round of the RUR cup and Westfield lost 3-0 at Chichester in the same competition.
And so, another largely unsuccessful weekend draws to a close, with the winless run now at eight. A week to recharge the batteries before a first ever trip to Eastleigh. I am still in negotiation with 'er indoors over that one, so a volunteer to provide a match report may well be required. Watch this space. Now, I'm off to start revising for the Supporters' Club quiz on 29 October!
Sean Adams
9/10/03
Midweek Roundup
Once again, it seems like a pretty quiet midweek at the Pilot Field. The only piece of news, of which I have been made aware, is that we have filled the gap in the fixture list on Saturday 1 November, with a rearranged home league game against Newport IOW. You will recall that the game was originally due to take place this weekend, but had to be put back, as Newport are still involved in the FA Cup. The 1 November date, is earmarked for the first round of the FA Trophy, although Newport, like ourselves, have already been eliminated. On the same day, the Reserves will now be away to Hooe Sports in the second round of the Hastings Intermediate Cup.
It has been a quiet midweek all round, with none of the other local sides in action either. There were a couple of FA Trophy replays involving DME sides, Fisher Athletic pulling off something of a surprise, winning 3-1 at Horsham, but not so Bashley, who lost by the same score at Marlow. The first round draw was made before the season began, with many either/or situations, all of which have now been resolved. Our last minute defeat to Yeading cost us a trip to Dulwich Hamlet and the chance to avenge a 2-1 FA Cup defeat about ten years ago. Other ties of potentially vague interest include the following:
- Burgess Hill Town v Sittingbourne
- Dartford v Ashford Town (Middlesex)
- Eastbourne Borough v Welling United
- Erith & Belvedere v Eastleigh
- Folkestone Invicta v Hemel Hempstead Town
- Grays Athletic v Fisher Athletic
- Heybridge Swifts v Histon
- King's Lynn v Thame United
- Kingstonian v Stamford
- Lewes v Northwood
- Rothwell Town v Gloucester City
- Tonbridge Angels v Marlow
- Uxbridge v Bognor Regis Town
- Whyteleafe v Ashford Town
- Worthing v Cambridge City
Right then, on to the coming weekend. The first team are off to Eastleigh, for what I must assume will be the first ever meeting between the two clubs, certainly in a league fixture. Eastleigh have made a perfectly decent start to their first Dr Marten's League campaign and go into the match in fifth place, with sixteen points from eight matches, just the twelve points better off than us then, although we do have a crucial game in hand. On paper, we probably represent their easiest game so far, although they did beat Corby 4-1 at home, going one goal better than we managed. They also managed a 2-1 win at Folkestone, but were well beaten 4-1 at Bashley, so it is tricky to draw any exacting conclusions from results against the same sides that we have faced. They average two goals a game in the league so far and I believe that their front line is led by Nicky Banger, who has plenty of experience in the Football League, including a lengthy spell at Southampton in the 1990s. Eastleigh were last season's Wessex League champions and were able to boast Matt Le Tissier amongst their ranks for a time, although he has now officially retired. There are one or two other ex-professionals on their books though, plus a handful of players who will have seen an awful lot more Dr Martens League football than some of our lads. I fear that we will be in for another tough afternoon. I am glad to say that, after much deliberation, I will be able to get to the game myself, so the usual full report will be on this site some time on Sunday. I can only speculate as to the likely starting line-up, having been unable to get any word on Mark Lovell's injury. I assume that the side, and formation, that finished the Yeading game must be favourite to start though.
Anyone who isn't planning a trip to Hampshire, don't forge that the reserves will be in action on Saturday, trying to make it eight wins out of eight at home to Ashford Town. There has been no Go Travel Kent League Division One action this midweek, so our lads still find themselves leading the way and that is where they will stay, whatever happens at the weekend, as there are no other Division One games scheduled until 18 October.
Just to finish with a brief word on the weekend's international matches. Although born and brought up in England, I have supported the Irish since I was in my teens. I have little but contempt for the way in which the Rio Ferdinand fiasco has been handled from all angles and it has done professional football no favours whatsoever. It is yet another example of the sort of behaviour that Simon mentioned had caused him to lose interest in the game at all levels. Not that I necessarily hope that England will lose, but I will not be remotely excited if they don't. My attention will be 100% focused on Ireland's match against Switzerland in Basle, where only a win will do. That, and three points at Eastleigh would make for a damn fine weekend in my view. Here's hoping anyway.
Sean Adams
In the reserves game Ashford went two up in the first quarter of the game giving Hastings a lot of work to do, to get back into it. Another entertaining match played at a fast pace, neither side really convinced in the first half. Hastings played some good passing football but seemed to stutter in the final third. A number of dead ball moves seemed to be wasted. Ringwood, Henham and Elford were the pick of the bunch for United.
Hastings started the second half in a more determined fashion, and were better than Ashford for the majority of the half. Jimmy Elford powerfully heading home Hastings' only goal in a move started off by Myall's long cross field pass. Myall again showed good touches throughout the game, playing more forward than his usual position. He was unlucky not to score a deserved equaliser with a well placed header, beating the keeper only for a superb headed clearence off the line by an Ashford defender.
KH
11/10/03 Eastleigh (4) 6 Hastings United (1) 2
THE ONLY WAY IS UP
Honey 5, Sherwood 73(p)
Att: 195
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So, what some of us have feared for several weeks is now official. Hastings United are the worst side in the Dr Martens League Eastern Division. Our seventh defeat on the trot has consigned us to at least seven days at the foot of the table and as we have now shipped more league goals (23) than any of our rivals, it seems pretty obvious why we are down there. All of Steve Lovell's words of encouragement and insistence that the players are good enough to get us out of trouble continue to look rather hollow at the moment, whether you believe him or not. The statistics do not lie. We are bottom, with one win in eight games, out of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy at the first hurdle, are yet to keep a clean sheet and, frankly, look out of our depth. As it happens though, I do believe what Steve Lovell is saying, for the time being anyway. Our latest setback, if I can get away with calling it that, came as little surprise, simply after a glance at the two teams. Hastings remained without Ryan Peters and Mark Lovell's calf injury kept him out too. Also absent, at the last minute, was Tony Burt, suffering with flu. Mark Green, Carl Rook and Graham Morris made up a defensive trio, with Ricky Spiller playing wide right and Mitchell Sherwood, wide left. Kieren Startup, Steve Graham and Steve Hafner ran the midfield, with Chris Honey and Graham Webb persevering up front. Only two substitutes were officially named, Charlie Belcher and Scott Hayhoe, who both came on at half time, with Hastings already trailing 4-1. Mark Lovell's name was on the teamsheet, but he was obviously not able to make an appearance. As for Eastleigh, Christer Warren and David Hughes have both played top flight football with Southampton, as did leading scorer, Nicky Banger, who was left on the bench and the likes of Colin Matthews, Danny Rofe and Paul Sales have all been around the Hampshire non-league block. It really was a case of men against boys. Oh, and the referee was shocking too. And to think, it all started so positively for Hastings. Just five minutes gone, when Mitchell Sherwood's long ball was misjudged by a defender, allowing Chris Honey a free run in on goal and Chris took his time, before placing a low shot past Colin Matthews. There then followed an incident, and a non-decision, which may have altered the entire outcome of the game. Graham Webb went down, under challenge from Rob Marshall, and the referee gave Hastings a free kick. Webby stayed down, clutching his face and the few travelling fans close to the action were convinced that a stray elbow had been used, as were those in the Hastings dugout. My own view was obstructed by that dugout, so I couldn't tell, but it occurred just a few yards in front of the assistant referee. Maybe it was accidental, or missed altogether, but it was the first of a few similar incidents during the match, that didn't exactly go Hastings' way. Three goals in four minutes then swung things inexorably in Eastleigh's favour. First, Sales headed in Hughes' corner to equalise on sixteen minutes. Two minutes later, Warren's overlapping run and cross set up Kevin Gibbens for number two and two minutes after that, Robbie Matthews curled in a wonderful twenty yard shot to make it 3-1 with only twenty minutes gone. Sales went close with another couple of headers, one cleared off the line by Ricky Spiller, who then became the target of some poor challenges. Ryan Ashford left him on the floor holding his face and Lee Bright caught him with a rather late tackle, both of which went unpunished, although Steve Graham's innocuous looking foul minutes later resulted in a yellow card for him and one for Ricky, for telling the referee what he thought of him thus far. Ricky almost pulled a goal back when his forty yard lob from the touchline ended on the roof of the net, with Matthews well beaten. Three minutes before the break, Sales made it 4-1, converting the rebound after Matt Brown had blocked Robbie Matthews initial effort and there was still time for a cross from Ashford to fly untouched across the face of goal and for Bright to finally receive a booking for a late tackle, this time on Webby. Ought to have been his second though. A flurry of half time substitutions saw Charlie Belcher replace Ricky down the right and Scott Hayhoe coming on to create a three-man front line, with Graham Morris going off. Kieren Startup dropped back into defence and three minutes into the second half, he got involved in a little spat with Robbie Matthews. Kieren probably struck the first blow in this one, but that shouldn't excuse Matthews running five yards to shove him. Nothing more than handbags really, but in the Premiership, it would have undoubtedly been a red card. Eastleigh substitute Tyrone Bowers quickly made an impression on the game, firing just wide after Matthews' layoff to him and then heading a Hughes cross, back across goal for Sales to head home, completing his hattrick. That was after fifty-eight minutes and two minutes later, Matt produced another fine save to deny him a fourth. Eastleigh's sixth goal arrived just past the hour mark, a swift counter-attack following a Hastings corner, ended with Hughes waltzing through what remained of the defence, before gliding past Matt to score with ease. Rofe was booked for a foul on Webby, but I'll let him off that one, because his keeper, Colin Matthews, was about to prove that old adage about footballers not having the highest of IQs, and goalkeepers especially so. Having been a virtual spectator for much of the game, Matthews was called upon to clear a seventy-second minute back-pass. He did so with relative comfort, despite a diving lunge from Scott Hayhoe, but after Scott had picked himself up and was jogging past Matthews, the keeper appeared to kick out at him. Again, I did not have the best view of the incident, but the travelling supporters, Robin Powell especially, were convinced of the seriousness of the matter, as was the referee's assistant, who advised the referee to award a penalty and to send Matthews off. Striker, Robbie Matthews, took over the gloves (even if Eastleigh had a substitute keeper on the bench, they had used all three subs by this time) and he was easily beaten by Mitchell Sherwood's spot kick, his first senior goal for the club. The select group of vocal home supporters took great exception to this perceived injustice and, curiously, decided to vent their collective spleen at Matt Brown, who did well not to rise to some considerable bait. Matt almost embarrassed himself late on when he sliced an attempted clearance and was bailed out by Mark Green, but he redeemed himself in stoppage time, with another good save to keep out another Sales' header. Carl Rook picked up the final booking of the day, after a foul on Sales, but on the whole, Mr Kevin Barnes from Swindon should have been disappointed with his performance. Until the penalty incident, it did seem as if Eastleigh were getting away with rather a lot and, on another day, with a firmer and more consistent set of officials, maybe three of their outfield players could have joined the keeper in taking a proverbial early bath. If that all sounds a bit like sour grapes, I apologise, but as many of you will appreciate, I call things as I see them. Hastings were simply torn apart at times by a far superior footballing side, who really didn't need to resort to such overly physical tactics to win the game. Hastings' inexperience, in all departments, was ruthlessly exposed, especially at the back, where the fundamentally basic defending of corners was desperately poor. Even though he has been at fault for several goals this season, Burtie's sheer presence was sorely missed. Mark Green looks far better as an attacking wing-back than he does as a centre back, but what was the alternative? Jimmy Elford, now signed from St Leonards, will prove a useful acquisition I'm sure, but not at centre back. Will Toal, another new signing, from Rye & Iden United, is a useful young goalkeeper, not a centre back. Perhaps he will help to keep Matt on his toes, but Matt is playing as well as he can at the moment. Like Kingy last season, he can do little if he continues to be so exposed. Dear oh dear, this is one hell of a long tunnel, with very little light at the moment. Still, my brother-in-law, Jeff, is not too unhappy at our plight. Even though a Fareham based Old Hastonian, as a Wolves fan, he is pleased to discover a team in a worse state than his lot! |
Other bits
As I mentioned at the top of this lengthy diatribe, other results didn't exactly all go our way on Saturday and we now find ourselves in twenty-second and last place, albeit with a game or two in hand on those immediately above us. The scores were as follows.
Ashford Town 0 v 2 Fisher AthleticBanbury United 3 v 1 Sittingbourne
Bashley 1 v 0 Burgess Hill Town
Dartford 0 v 1 Corby Town
Erith & Belvedere 2 v 1 Chatham Town
King's Lynn 1 v 2 Burnham
Rothwell Town 0 v 1 Fleet Town
Tonbridge Angels 3 v 0 Stamford
Our tally of four points, which we have had since our third game, is now one worse than Chatham, who kindly provided Erith & Belvedere with their first win of the season. We go to Erith on 21 October, by which time we will have played the all of the current bottom seven teams, including Rothwell, to whom we are at home next Saturday. Surely if Fleet can beat them..! At the top, Tonbridge are now eight points clear of Histon, who were in FA Cup action and nine clear of King's Lynn, Eastleigh and Ashford. In the FA Cup and Saturday's third qualifying round ties, results of interest were as follows.
Basingstoke Town 0 v 0 Bracknell TownBraintree Town 0 v 4 Eastbourne Borough
Canvey Island 4 v 3 Dover Athletic
Crawley Town 6 v 1 Croydon Athletic
Folkestone Invicta 1 v 1 Welling United
Ford United 3 v 2 Worthing
Havant & Waterlooville 3 v 4 Salisbury City
Histon 0 v 0 Newmarket Town
Maidstone United 1 v 1 Bishop's Stortford
Newport IOW 2 v 2 Harrow Borough
Pride of place must go to Salisbury, who are the only DME side definitely through to the final qualifying round, thanks to a late winner at Havant & Waterlooville, from the DMP. The other three DME sides all drew. Folkestone were pegged back by an equaliser from ex-Hastings player, Simon Beard. Newport IOW came from two down to earn a draw with Harrow from the Ryman Premier. But Histon were frustrated by Ridgeons Eastern Counties League opposition in Newmarket. Elsewhere, Dover threw away a three goal lead in the last thirty-five minutes at Canvey Island. No ex-Hastings players scored as Eastbourne won comfortably at Braintree and our conquerors, Bracknell, are still going, after a goalless draw at Basingstoke.
Unfortunately, the reserves finally came unstuck, after a magnificent run of seven wins out of seven, losing 2-1 at home to Ashford Town reserves. With Steve Lovell having to 'borrow' Scott Hayhoe and Charlie Belcher, the line-up must have been rather weaker than that which played and beat Dover a couple of weeks ago. That said, I understand that they maybe deserved to get something from the game, although at least the pressure of the 100% record will be gone now. They remain two points clear of Dover at the top of the Go Travel Kent League Division One, with eight games each played. The reserves will be in action at the Pilot Field on Tuesday evening, when they take on Burgess Hill Town reserves in the first round of the Sussex Intermediate Cup, presumably with a stronger line-up than they were able to field against Ashford.
St Leonards did their best to cheer me up, losing to a fifth minute goal at Chichester, in their top of the table County League clash. Rye & Iden United beat second division side, Crawley Down, 4-1, in the first round of the Sussex Senior Cup and will next be at home to Pagham. By the way, in the same competition, Arundel beat Pease Pottage (yes them of the 18-0 defeat at Westfield and the 10-1 to St Leonards) 15-1 with a certain Miles Scerri scoring ten of them! Another team doing worse than Wolves, and worse than us too, then. Sidley United led 1-0 until the eighty-eighth minute of their John O'Hara League Cup third round tie at home to Sidlesham, but eventually lost 4-3 after extra time. And Westfield drew 2-2 at home to Steyning in the second round of the division two Challenge Cup, the challenge being to find another spurious sponsor perhaps.
All in all, Saturday proved to be a pretty depressing day for me, football-wise. As if our lads taking another battering wasn't bad enough, to have it followed by Ireland's tame exit from the European Championship qualifiers and England's deserved success, was very nearly more than I could take in one five hour spell. At least the Irish rugby team had a good win, although their efforts are bound to be eclipsed by England against Georgia. I'm comforted to think that Simon must be enjoying himself though. As long as someone is.
Sean Adams
13/10/03
Match reports/news for summer, august and september are now archived.
KH
15/10/03
This week's midweek round-up begins with news of the reserve team's Sussex Intermediate Cup first round tie at home to Burgess Hill Town on Tuesday evening, and more bad news it is too. A game, which our lads were firmly expected to win, ended in a 1-0 defeat and an extremely rare early exit from a competition, in which we usually fare pretty well. The only goal of the game came late on, courtesy of an own goal by defender Joe Heasmer. To be fair, it arrived much against the run of play, but Hastings simply failed to make anything of a host of good chances. Now why does that sound strangely familiar? Not that it matters a jot, but Burgess Hill will be away to Legal & General (Hove) in the second round. I don't intend to follow their progress you understand, although I might keep an eye on Rye & Iden United reserves and Bexhill United, purely from a local interest perspective, both having won their first round ties on Saturday.
The fixture merry-go-round continues apace, with the news that we have lost another home league game, because of someone else's Cup success. The match against Salisbury City, which was scheduled for 25 October, has had be postponed and, at this stage, there is no alternative fixture in place. No doubt Tony Cosens will be working hard to put that right. Our Sussex Senior Cup second round tie at home to Eastbourne United Association has been arranged for Tuesday 11 November. I wonder if there will be a temptation to bring that one forward to 25 October, if a replacement league fixture cannot be arranged. The big Hastings Senior Cup semi-final at home to Westfield is to take place on 25 November. Book your tickets early for that one. Last, but not least, the reserves' league game at Deal Town this coming Saturday has had to be postponed, as Deal's first team need their ground for an FA Vase first round tie. At least Steve Lovell should be able to name a full quota of substitutes for the Rothwell Town match, assuming that the reserves are unable to arrange another fixture that is.
This midweek was due to see a full Eastern Division programme of fixtures, although one or two things conspired against that idea. Indeed, we should have been off to Eastleigh on Wednesday, only for the game to be brought forward to last Saturday, of course. Three of the four Eastern Division sides still involved in the FA Cup drew their third qualifying round ties on Saturday and were left facing replays on Tuesday. More on those in a bit, first of all though, the league results, which do not include Wednesday's Corby v Banbury game, as I am typing this on Tuesday. The only significant change is at the top, where Tonbridge are now eleven points clear of Histon and King's Lynn, who have three and two games in hand respectively.
Burnham 0 v 1 BashleyChatham Town 0 v 1 Tonbridge Angels
Fleet Town 1 v 5 Salisbury City
Rothwell Town 1 v 1 King's Lynn
Sittingbourne 1 v 3 Dartford
And these were the results from the FA Cup, or the ones, which I perceived to be of most interest. By all accounts, Folkestone were a little unlucky to go out, having been largely the better side at Welling, although Newport were comfortably beaten at Harrow. That leaves Histon and Salisbury City as the only Eastern Division sides through.
Bishop's Stortford 3 v 2 Maidstone UnitedBracknell Town 1 v 0 Basingstoke Town
Harrow Borough 2 v 0 Newport IOW
Newmarket Town 0 v 1 Histon
Welling United 2 v 2 Folkestone Invicta
(Welling United won 5-3 on penalties)
The draw for the FA Cup fourth qualifying round was made on Monday and one tie will stand out as far as local supporters are concerned, with Eastbourne Borough due to take on our first round conquerors from last season, Stevenage Borough, at Priory Lane. The tie is scheduled for 25 October and if we are unable to arrange a replacement for the Salisbury fixture that day, I dare say that I may well be a neutral observer at that one. It will represent a chance for Simmo, George and Yatesie to gain some personal revenge for our defeat at Broadhall Way last season. And to think that if our lads had managed to battle through as well, a visit from mighty Barnet would have awaited us. Oh well. The draw in full follows.
Accrington Stanley v Leigh RMIAshton United v Grantham Town
Bishop's Stortford v Gloucester City
Blyth Spartans v Chester City
Boreham Wood v Kettering Town
Bracknell Town v Barnet
Bromsgrove Rovers v Warrington Town or Whitby Town
Burton Albion v Buxton
Cambridge City v Ford United
Cirencester Town v Crawley Town
Dunston Federation Brewery v Lancaster City
Eastbourne Borough v Stevenage Borough
East Thurrock United v Woking
Exeter City v Gravesend & Northfleet
Farsley Celtic v Gainsborough Trinity
Forest Green Rovers v Aldershot Town
Grays Athletic v Margate
Harrow Borough v Hereford United
Hornchurch v Paulton Rovers
Leyton v Histon
Mangotsfield United v Canvey Island
Morecambe v Shrewsbury Town
Newcastle Town or Ossett Albion v Stalybridge Celtic
Northwich Victoria v Halifax Town
Runcorn FC Halton v Bradford Park Avenue
Salisbury City v Lymington & New Milton
Scarborough v Hinckley United
Shildon v Stocksbridge Park Steels
Telford United v Tamworth
Thame United v Farnborough Town
Thurrock v Dagenham & Redbridge
Welling United v Weston-super-Mare
Saturday sees the first team back in action at the Pilot Field, when Rothwell Town take on the long trek down from Northamptonshire for an Eastern Division fixture. Rothwell are not exactly having a blinding time of it at the moment and find themselves in sixteenth position after Tuesday's draw with King's Lynn, which followed a 1-0 home defeat to Fleet Town while we were being hammered at Eastleigh last Saturday. That said, we are hardly setting the league on fire ourselves, but this game surely represents a really big chance to get a much needed win under our belts. Rothwell's problem seems to be scoring goals and they have only managed five in ten league games thus far, so maybe a first clean sheet is on the cards as well. It is undoubtedly too early in the week to speculate on the potential line-up, although I would imagine that Tony Burt will have shaken off his flu virus by then, to bring some experience back to the defensive line. We could do with Mark Lovell fit again and I would love to see him partnering Chris Honey up front, as Graham Webb continues to frustrate the hell out of all of us. There must be a temptation to finally bring Stuart Myall back into the first team squad and Jimmy Elford could be in contention after his scoring return for the reserves at the weekend, especially as Ricky Spiller's form seems to have dipped recently. As I am unlikely to be able to provide a further update this week, I guess we'll just have to wait until Saturday to find out.
Sean Adams
17/10/03
I told you that Tony Cosens would be working hard to fill that sudden gap in our fixture list on 25 October. Less than twenty-four had elapsed before it was confirmed that Ashford Town have stepped in at late notice and they will make the short trip to the Pilot Field, as Salisbury City will be unable to do so. The announcement had me scratching my head for a while, as Ashford were meant to be away to Erith & Belvedere that day, and I couldn't understand why that one would have been postponed. After a bit of research, it transpires that Welling United, at whose Park View Road ground Erith & Belvedere play of course, have a home FA Cup tie on 25 October, which naturally takes precedence over a mere Dr Martens League Eastern Division encounter. Ashford were due to visit us on 18 November for a Tuesday evening gam, but I am sure that playing on a Saturday will add a few to the attendance at least.
I have long been awaiting news of Duncan McArthur's fate after his sending off in only his second game for Rye & Iden United, having also been dismissed in our second game of the season at Folkestone. There had been a suggestion that Rye & Iden were planning to appeal against his red card against Oakwood, but I am reliably informed that they decided not to after all and the Sussex FA handed him a five week suspension, which began on 12 October. To be fair to Duncan, it should be noted that since he received that red card and missed a couple of weeks through 'illness', he hasn't picked up a single caution apparently, so maybe the guy is turning over a new leaf. Whether he is or not, he'll have the next five weeks to think about it.
On the subject of former players, it was confirmed this week that Ellis Remy has signed for Grays Athletic of the Ryman League Premier Division until the end of the season, having been released from his six month contract with Third Division Lincoln City. Ellis had spent a brief spell on loan at Kettering Town, for whom he played just twice, scoring once against Grays. He won't have to get used to a part-time existence again though, as Grays are, as far as I am aware, the only non-league team outside the Conference, to operate on a full-time basis, a clear signal of their progressive intentions. I hope that their's isn't a five year plan though, because they always seem to end in tears!
There was one match in the Eastern Division last night (15th Oct), Banbury United winning 2-0 away to Corby Town, which moved them up to seventh and left Corby seventeenth, one place below Rothwell Town, our next opponents. The next report, with news of Saturday's action, will be on the site some time on Sunday.
Sean Adams
18/10/03 Hastings United (0) 1 Rothwell Town (0) 0
SUPERSWEET!
Att: 237
|
Wasn't much fun being bottom of the table, was it? Let's hope that it proves to be a one-off experience, after the 1-0 win over Rothwell Town, which actually took us up three places to nineteenth. The win was very well received by a reasonable gate and was visibly welcomed by players and officials alike. The relief of ending a nine match winless run, coupled with a first clean sheet of the season, was quite tangible and certainly backed up Steve Lovell's decision to make wholesale changes to the side so well beaten at Eastleigh last weekend. Tuesday's trip to Erith & Belvedere remains important, of course, but at least the lads may be able to relax a little bit, in the knowledge that they are capable of cutting at this level. Those wholesale changes then. Eight in total, including two positional changes, which saw Kieren Startup revert to the back three, where he started the season, and Carl Rook team up with Chris Honey up front, which struck me as a bizarre idea at first, but actually proved quite effective, with Carl scoring the winning goal. Out of the starting line-up altogether went Matt Brown, replaced by Will Toal, who signed from Rye & Iden United a week or so ago. I thought that was a bit tough on Matt, who had done very little wrong this season, having, more often than not, been hopelessly exposed by the defence. Graham Morris dropped to the bench to make way for Tony Burt's return from illness, with Mark Green completing the defensive trio. As expected, Jimmy Elford played wide right, with Ricky Spiller relegated to the bench. Mitchell Sherwood kept his place wide left, but the central midfield was totally different to that which started last week. There was a belated and welcome return for Stuart Myall, a first start for Charlie Belcher and a debut for Steve Ringwood. All three played well and it was great to see Mylie back, his swagger none the worse for his lengthy absence. Ringwood reminded me somewhat of Duncan McArthur, although he looks to have a rather better temperament. There was no room in the squad for Steve Graham or Graham Webb and injury denied Steve Lovell of the services of Steve Hafner along with previous absentees Mark Lovell and Ryan Peters, amongst others. The game itself was one of the poorest I have seen thus far, but Hastings were to run out deserved winners, as goal-shy Rothwell failed to test Will Toal all afternoon. After a cagey opening, Hastings began to take control around the quarter hour mark. Mitchell Sherwood saw a dipping left foot volley come back off the angle of post and crossbar, but apart from a couple of headers from Carl Rook, both of which were narrowly off target, Hastings had very little to show for their efforts. Neither side would have been greatly assisted by the fifteen minute delay that occurred when the referee, Alan Cork, suffered a calf injury and declared himself unable to continue. New programme notes writer, Robin Powell, stepped forward to take over assistant referee duties and gave a rather more competent performance than his two, presumably better qualified, colleagues. Now, that's one job that I don't recall you ever doing Simon! The second half started well for Hastings. First, Mylie headed against the post after good work from Carl down the right and just one minute later, Carl grabbed the only goal of the game. The move started in the Hastings half, Mylie lobbing a pass to Monster just over halfway, who volleyed a first time through ball, onto which Rooky pounced to shoot low past Jon Hughes in the Rothwell goal. Hastings went on to play some decent passing football, one sweeping move ending with Charlie Belcher shooting well over, but the second goal proved elusive. The best opportunity fell to Mylie, after Monster caused Hughes to spill a deep cross from Jimmy Elford, only for the keeper to recover to block Mylie's shot. Three minutes from time, Carl embarked on a good run, but his shot was high and wide and that was just about that, with the full time whistle arriving at about five o'clock and greeted by cheers, mixed with delight and relief. Once again, I think a word of caution is required at this point. No-one was exactly getting carried away after that opening day victory over Corby, although I don't think anyone was expecting us to embark on quite so bad a run as we have since then. It is fair to say that Rothwell were probably the worst side we have seen to date, but then, we have lost to some pretty bad sides already and a win is a win. The notes that I make during matches usually fill up a side of A4 paper. The Rothwell game took up less than half a page, with just one line dedicated to the visitors, a shot over the bar by Joe Hanney in the eighty-ninth minute. Will Toal literally had nothing to do, aside from goal, and drop, kicks. Goalkeeping debuts will not come any easier than this one. As on day one though, I don't think anyone should be getting too carried away just yet. Let's hope that we can consolidate with three more points at Erith on Tuesday and maybe then, we can start looking up with confidence. |
Other Results
Generally, Saturday's other results went our way. Sittingbourne and Burgess Hill were the only other sides in the bottom ten to win. The Brickies surprisingly picked up three points at home to Eastleigh and our Sussex rivals helped to send Fleet below us in the table. Chatham picked up their first home point of the season and it was enough to keep them off the bottom, a position which Erith will be occupying when we kick off at Park View Road. At the top, Tonbridge retain their eleven point lead over Histon and King's Lynn.
Bashley 2 v 0 Fisher AthleticBurgess Hill Town 3 v 0 Fleet Town
Burnham 0 v 2 Histon
Chatham Town 2 v 2 Stamford
Corby Town 0 v 4 Folkestone Invicta
Dartford 0 v 3 Salisbury City
King's Lynn 1 v 0 Ashford Town
Newport IOW 3 v 1 Erith & Belvedere
Sittingbourne 1 v 0 Eastleigh
Tonbridge Angels 3 v 0 Banbury United
In the Premier Division, Eastbourne Borough continued their good form, winning 1-0 away to Chippenham Town, with a Scott Ramsay header two minutes from time. That was good enough to take them up to fifth place, just two points behind leaders Nuneaton Borough. A word of caution for our neighbours as well though. Around this time last year, we got a 0-0 draw at Chippenham and promptly set out on our worst run of results in living memory and we all know where it led, don't we. I have absolutely no axe to grind with Garry Wilson's team and I really hope that a similar fate does not befall them. Besides which, it would be nice to see a few of our ex-players involved in a bit of success, as the current crop look set for a long and hard season.
Local interest in the FA Vase came to an abrupt halt at the first round stage, as injury hit St Leonards were beaten 2-0 away to Wessex League Thatcham Town. I'm sorry, that very nearly sounded like sympathy. We'll have none of that thanks! My fellow anoraks will be pleased to learn that Sussex will be represented in the second round draw by Whitehawk, Littlehampton and Three Bridges, but not by Hailsham Town, the team reprieved by Rye & Iden's expulsion from the competition, who lost 4-0 at home to Gosport Borough.
In the County League, Rye & Iden came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Arundel, Dean Chamberlain scoring the first half equaliser. The result saw them drop down to tenth place in the table, although they are only four points below second place and let's not forget that they have played only two home league games out of twelve! Sidley United dropped into the bottom six after losing to a first half penalty at East Preston, although they are only four points worse off than Rye & Iden. In Division Two, Westfield were thumped 5-1 away by Midhurst & Easebourne, and slip a place to fifth. Remarkably, those were the first away goals that Westfield had conceded in the league this season, Duncan Jones netting their ninetieth minute consolation on a bad day at the office.
Next up for Hastings then, Tuesday evening's visit to south-east London to play Erith & Belvedere at Welling United's Park View Road ground. Hastings supporters should have many fond memories of games against Erith & Belvedere, a side who have only beaten us once, I believe, in twenty-odd meetings. I remember gladly a 2-2 draw when Erith were still playing at their former home, which sealed our promotion to the Premier Division first time around back in 1992. More recently, the curious 5-1 win three years ago was rather fun, all the goals coming in the second half, after we had gone a goal down. And two years ago, we twice beat Erith 3-2, Landry scoring a late, late winner at the Pilot Field and producing a sublime thirty yard chip that put us 2-0 up in the return match. Erith came back to level in the second half, before Monster's second of the night won it for us, with Erith missing a penalty. The culprit, Darren Adams, is still leading their line, I believe, and he has been joined this season by Akpo Sodje, who I think was with Margate last year. Sodje is the league's joint leading scorer with eight thus far, so I should think that our defence will be in for a testing time, although Erith have now conceded more goals even than us, twenty-four, after their 3-1 defeat on the Isle of Wight on Saturday. Whatever the history, it is a good chance for our lads to quickly build on the victory over Rothwell. Not sure whether I will be able to get there or not. Even though I had it down as a definite, family business may have to take precedence. Hence, the midweek report will either be short and sweet, or lengthy as usual, depending on how things work out.
Don't forget next Wednesday's (29th) Supporters' Club quiz 7:30 at the clubhouse, a focal point on the calendar. I hope that the prize is a good one, although it's the taking part that counts, of course!
Sean Adams
21/10/03 Erith & Belvedere (1) 1 Hastings United (1) 1
STEADY
Att: 120
|
And so, the mini revival continues. It may only have been a single point this time, but the display was extremely encouraging, especially from the defence, who looked altogether more solid, perhaps boosted by that first clean sheet of the season on Saturday. Erith & Belvedere were far from the worst side that we have played so far this term, but our lads were well worth a draw and should take further confidence from a creditable performance. For the first time since the trip to Folkestone for game two, Steve Lovell was able to name an unchanged starting eleven and there was only one alteration amongst the substitutes, where Steve Hafner, returning from injury, replaced Joe Heasmer. The Erith team combined a blend of youth and experience, not unlike our own. The strike force of ex-Cardiff man, Darren Adams, and ex-Margate man, Akpo Sodje, was likely to cause a few problems. Ray Aboagye, formerly with Welling, was at the heart of the midfield and for those who like their football a touch more cosmopolitan, they had a Finnish goalkeeper in Jani Seitsonen. Conditions were good, if a little on the chilly side, as the game kicked off, and within three minutes, Hastings were ahead from the first chance of the match. Stuart Myall's free kick from the right was headed goalwards by Tony Burt, touched on by Chris Honey and Carl Rook swept the ball past Seitsonen on the half volley. Not a bad start. Erith responded with a long range effort from Richard Vercesi, which was straight at Will Toal, and a shot over from Sodje, after good work by Adams. After sixteen minutes, Seitsonen had to be quick out of his area to challenge Chris as he tried to latch on to a long ball and four minutes later, Carl released Chris down the right, only for Seitsonen to produce a decent low save. At the other end, Adams and Sodje continued to link well, the latter producing a fierce left foot shot which was met by an excellent one-handed save by Will. Generally though, the defence was coping well, but they were forced to readjust when Kieren Startup received a nasty cut below the right eye, in an accidental clash of heads with Sodje, and was forced to go off for treatment, being immediately replaced by Graham Morris. Within two minutes, Erith were level. Sodje's ball across the edge of the area was collected by Adams, who laid a pass into the path of Adam Morrish, who clipped a first time shot, which went in off the post, giving Will no chance. Hastings then took over again, Mylie and Mitchell Sherwood missing good opportunities, Chris again denied by Seitsonen and Carl (I think) having a goal ruled out for handball (I think) a couple of minutes before the break. The second half was rather more scrappy, but also more end-to-end, especially in the closing stages, when both sides went looking for a winner. Jimmy Elford and Chris both missed chances for Hastings. Will did well to block Tony McKenzie's effort for Erith. The home side were slowly getting on top by the mid-point of the second half, which seemed to have coincided with Mylie going off, being replaced by the rather more attack-minded Steve Hafner. Aboagye should have done better with free shot from twenty yards, but dragged his effort wide. Sodje's low cross just eluded McKenzie, who was then denied by a last ditch tackle by Mark Green. Robbie Browning fired just over from a tight angle and Adams also cleared the bar from a decent position. In the last couple of minutes, Mitchell produced a fine run down the left, followed by the worst cross of the night (or it could have been the worst shot!). Mitchell then produced a better cross, which was glanced on by Chris and nearly ran into Jimmy's path at the far post. In stoppage time, Morrish sent a long range shot just wide and Sodje fired straight at Will, but by that time, it would have been harsh for either side to have lost. All in all, a decent game, considering that the two sides started the game in the bottom four and finished it there as well. It was also played in a good spirit and it was, therefore, somewhat disappointing that the referee saw it necessary to produce six yellow cards on the night. Burtie was carded for a late tackle five minutes before half time and Mylie got one for a bit of dissent, when the ref failed to caution an Erith player for a similar offence. In the second half, Chris was a bit late in a challenge on Seitsonen and probably deserved a booking, as did Carl, when he left his studs a little high on Scott Saunders. Saunders was to earn one himself late on, although I couldn't tell you why, and Morrish was booked for a late tackle. On the whole, the ref wasn't too bad, although Carl had clearly wronged him in a previous life, as he seemed to get penalised for just about everything he did and he must have come close to a second yellow for a touch of dissent late on. On the positive side, as far as Carl is concerned, his transformation into a makeshift striker has been an absolute master stroke by Steve Lovell, to which two goals in two games will attest. Last night's booking must surely take him close to five for the season though, and an early suspension. Burtie can't be far away either, for that matter. |
Other Results
The point did slightly more for Erith than it did for us. Well, it lifted them off the bottom of the table at least, where they were replaced by Chatham, after a mauliing by Folkestone, for whom Jim Dryden grabbed a hattrick. We stay nineteenth, but are now one win away from overhauling Rothwell, Corby and Fisher. At the top, Tonbridge maintained an eleven point lead over King's Lynn as both won. Histon won 1-0 at Rothwell in the League Cup and now have four games in hand on the leaders. The midweek results in full were as follows.
Fisher Athletic 1 v 4 SittingbourneAshford Town 0 v 2 Tonbridge Angels
Banbury United 0 v 3 King's Lynn
Dartford 2 v 1 Burgess Hill Town
Erith & Belvedere 1 v 1 Hastings United
Fleet Town 1 v 1 Newport IOW
Folkestone Invicta 5 v 1 Chatham Town
Salisbury City 1 v 1 Burnham
Stamford 0 v 0 Corby Town
Eastleigh 3 v 1 Bashley
Sorry to be the bearer bad news for a change, but Crawley went top of the Premier Division on Tuesday after a 5-2 win at Cambridge. Defender Kevin Hemsley, who was linked with a move to Eastbourne a month or so back, scored an unlikely hattrick. Borough were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Welling, Scott Ramsay again on target, and although they remain just two points off the lead, they have slipped a place to sixth. It is interesting (to me anyway) to note, that only fourteen points separate Crawley and bottom club Chelmsford, so things are obviously quite competitive in the Premier this year. In the Eastern, thirty-one points separate Tonbridge and Chatham, a considerably wider gulf in class perhaps.
Locally, there was just the one match on Tuesday. Sidley lost 3-1 at home to Eastbourne Town in the County League. As a result, Sidley fail to move out of the bottom six, although like Rye & Iden, they have played the vast majority of their matches away from home thus far, and will be confident of climbing the Division One table, I'm sure. Eastbourne moved back into second place, a couple of points behind the leaders, Chichester. Three Bridges won their FA Vase replay to earn a second round home tie against former winners Diss. Littlehampton are at home to Great Yarmouth, Whitehawk at home to Burnham Ramblers and Arundel at home to Concord Rangers. And one thing that I failed to mention at the weekend, our reserves lost their league leadership. After suffering a first league defeat at home to Ashford the previous week, they were without a game on Saturday and were replaced at the top by Corinthian, level on points and goal difference, but Corinthian have scored two goals more. Interestingly (there I go again), Corinthian's only dropped points so far came in a 6-1 defeat at the Pilot Field on 6 September. Ashford did our lads a favour by beating Dover 2-1 and both of those two are two points behind, having played a game more.
This coming Saturday sees Ashford's first team visit the Pilot Field for a rearranged league fixture, our original opponents, Salisbury City, being involved in FA Cup fourth qualifying round action at home to Lymington & New Milton of the Wessex League. Ashford's 2-0 home defeat to the leader's Tonbridge has left them in seventh in the table with nineteen points from twelve games. They were as high as fourth recently, but a return of one point and no goals in their last four matches has pegged them back a bit. Their decent start owed much to a flurry of goals from our old mate, Paul Jones, who had scored eight in seven matches before suffering a broken foot in an FA Cup tie with Bromley. By contrast, Lee McRobert has managed just the one, by the way. They appear to have a reputation for being tough to break down though, so dare I suggest that this one may have 0-0 written all over it. Ashford have been one of the better supported sides in the league thus far and are sure to bring a few with them. Let's hope to see a few more home fans there as well, as the lads seem to be enjoying some better form just now. Probably not though, eh?
One final word. Last night will be the last away game that I will get to for quite a while. Yes, I know I say every other week, that I'm not sure about whether I'll make it or not and then I always manage it, but I will definitely not be going to Fleet, King's Lynn, Corby or Rothwell in November as fatherhood looms for a second time. I have the trip to Fisher Athletic on 13 December pencilled in very faintly, but we'll have to wait and see. On the understanding that Karl may not be planning to make these trips either, a volunteer will be sought to give some comments and reaction to those games. You have been warned.
Sean Adams
25/10/03 Hastings United (2) 2 Ashford Town (0) 0
THE MOMENTUM GROWS
Att: 302
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As reactions go, ours to dropping to the bottom of the table a couple of weeks ago, hasn't been bad at all. Last Saturday's victory over Rothwell was a step in the right direction, but the opposition weren't up to much. Tuesday's performance at Erith was encouraging to say the least, but once again, the opposition were not the strongest. The Ashford game, on paper at least, represented a chance to assess our progress against one of the better sides in the league, although not on recent form perhaps, and the test was passed with flying colours. It is very evident that the same side has started all three of these matches and there can be no doubt that the continuity has helped. Most importantly though, the three man defensive line has started to look like a really strong unit and there has been a complete eradication of the individual errors that cost us so many goals earlier in the year. What's more, Steve Lovell's (at least I assume that it was his idea) decision to push Carl Rook into a forward role has worked unbelievably well. After all, you can hardly ask for more than a goal a game from a striker, least of all, one who is really a defender. As I have already mentioned, Steve was able to name an unchanged starting line-up again, as Kieren Startup's facial injury was not serious enough to keep him out. There was one change on the bench, where this week's lucky reserve was Aaron Lidster, who took the place of Russell Eldridge. The Ashford line-up contained a mixture of fairly young and well travelled Kentish players, the most experienced of whom was Lee McRobert. The two goal margin of victory was the least that Hastings deserved on the balance of play, but it was Ashford who were to have the first opportunity of the game less than two minutes in, when they were awarded a direct free kick a couple of yards outside the penalty area. Sam Saunders' shot curled harmlessly over the bar though and it was to be a sign of things to come for him. Hastings' first chance arrived after seven minutes when Mitchell Sherwood seemed to mishit an attempted shot, only for it to turn into a half decent cross, which Carl Rook headed over. Saunders again tried his luck, unsuccessfully, from distance after Tony Burt and Mark Green collided when both tried to clear the same long ball, but the first goal arrived shortly afterwards, the result of a fine move. It began on halfway, by the left touch line, with Stuart Myall winning possession and playing a simple ball to Carl. Carl, in turn, released Chris Honey, who knocked it wide right to Jimmy Elford. Jimmy delivered a deep cross, which Mylie met on the volley, rolling the ball across the six yard box to Carl, who knocked in his third goal in as many games. Hastings went on to dominate the remainder of the first half, increasing their lead with a goal from nothing. Carl lobbed a through ball towards Monster, who held off the last defender and clipped a shot past the advancing John Whitehouse, in the Ashford goal. That was Chris' fourth of the season, keeping him one ahead of Carl and it was our first two goal lead since the Corby game on opening day. We were looking impressively comfortable at that stage and Mylie was bossing things in the middle, producing some sublime touches, one of which released Steve Ringwood down the left, his cross just too high for the unmarked Elford. As playmaker-in-chief, Mylie was also taking all the attacking free kicks and Whitehouse produced a decent low save to keep out a twenty yarder just before half time. The second half was rather more open, with chances at both ends. Kieren almost sliced a cross into his own net a couple of minutes in, but Will bailed him out. Hastings were given an indirect free kick by the penalty spot when Aaron O'Leary's involuntary stab at the ball rebounded to Whitehouse, who picked it up. As usual in such cases though, Mylie's effort was blocked by the wall and it came to nothing. Saunders was back to his profligate best when he ignored a three on one counter attack opportunity, going for goal himself and, once again, clearing the crossbar. His long range free kicking was more accurate and one landed on Adrian Stone's head and glanced just wide. Hastings then enjoyed another good twenty minute spell. Myall, Rook and Ringwood combined for a great move, which ended with Monster heading wide. A Mylie free kick released Jimmy down the right, but he shot wastefully into the side netting. From his next break, he produced a quality cross to Chris, whose shot was blocked, the loose ball running to Ringwood, who fired just over. Ashford enjoyed the better of the last five minutes, Barry Gardner shooting wide from the corner of the area. Then, after a woeful back pass from Burtie, Ashford won three corners in quick succession. The second led to Will tipping Stone's looping header over for the third, which led to something of a scramble and another good save by Will to preserve his clean sheet. I still happen to think that Matt Brown was a bit unfortunate to be left out for the Rothwell game, whatever the reasons, but Will has made the most of his chance and is sure to be a fixture in the side for some time now. One thing he does have over Matt, is his dead ball kicking, which has been very consistent so far. There were only a couple of incidents to put a dampener on a very respectable afternoon. First, another booking for Carl, which must surely now take him past the five required for a two game ban. I think that this one was, officially, for persistent foul play, the referee having let him get away with a poor tackle moments before cautioning him for a clumsy aerial challenge. A couple of minutes later, he received a stern lecture after being penalised again and I think that Steve was wise to replace him when he did. The other worry was seeing young Mitchell stretchered off after he was caught by a poor tackle from Lyndon Tucker. I will try and find out the nature of the injury in the week, but it didn't look all that clever. I must confess that I don't think that Mitchell was all that effective against Erith or Ashford and he certainly looks more comfortable on the right hand side. That said, he has played his part in our mini revival and I am sure that Steve would rather keep this winning side together. Ryan Peters, Mark Lovell, Joe Cornwall and Peter Taylor must all be due back from injury soon though and I'm sure that one of them will be able to adequately deputise, if necessary of course. |
Elsewhere
There is bucket loads of other action to bring you up to date with, starting with Saturday's Dr Martens Eastern Division programme. We now have some breathing space, as well as games in hand, over the bottom two, as we find ourselves seventeenth with eleven points, five clear of Chatham and four clear of Erith. Tonbridge are now a massive fourteen points ahead of King's Lynn after winning the battle of the top two. Tonbridge have gained forty points out of a possible forty-two, but hopefully, will have been pegged back a bit by the time we entertain them on New Year's Day. Eastleigh are up to third, with Histon dropping to fourth, although they, and Folkestone in sixth, have as many as five games in hand on the leaders. These were all of Saturday's results
Banbury United 3 v 1 Chatham TownBurnham 1 v 2 Burgess Hill Town
Hastings United 2 v 0 Ashford Town
Fisher Athletic 2 v 0 Corby Town
Fleet Town 0 v 0 Dartford
Newport IOW 1 v 2 Sittingbourne
Rothwell Town 0 v 1 Eastleigh
Stamford 1 v 0 Bashley
Tonbridge Angels 2 v 0 King's Lynn
It was also a big day for non league football, with the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup, followed by the draw for the first round proper. Happy memories of twelve months ago eh? The main focus of local attention was Priory Lane, where Eastbourne Borough surrendered a two goal first half lead, given them by a brace from Scott Ramsay, and were forced to settle for a replay at Stevenage Borough, our conquerors last year, of course. At least Simmo and Co will have a chance for some proper revenge at Broadhall Way on Tuesday. Both Eastern Division representatives, Histon and Salisbury City, won through to the first round. Histon have made it for the first time in their history apparently. Our conquerors from this year, Bracknell Town, finally bowed out at home to Conference high flyers Barnet. The major upset of the day saw Ryman League Thurrock, previously known as Purfleet, knock out Dagenham & Redbridge, not averse to the odd giant killing themselves in recent seasons. Shildon, from the Albany Northern League Division One, would appear to be the most junior side to get through, their league would rank one below our own, the equivalent of, say, the Sussex County League. And should we spare a thought for Kettering Town at another final qualifying round exit? Probably not, but at least they avoided embarrassing themselves like they did last year. Here are all of Saturday's FA Cup results.
Accrington Stanley 2 v 0 Leigh RMIAshton United 1 v 2 Grantham Town
Bishop's Stortford 2 v 0 Gloucester City
Blyth Spartans 0 v 1 Chester City
Boreham Wood 1 v 0 Kettering Town
Bracknell Town 0 v 3 Barnet
Bromsgrove Rovers 2 v 2 Whitby Town
Burton Albion 6 v 0 Buxton
Cambridge City 2 v 3 Ford United
Cirencester Town 2 v 4 Crawley Town
Dunston Federation Brewery 0 v 1 Lancaster City
Eastbourne Borough 2 v 2 Stevenage Borough
East Thurrock United 1 v 1 Woking
Exeter City 0 v 0 Gravesend & Northfleet
Farsley Celtic 1 v 1 Gainsborough Trinity
Forest Green Rovers 1 v 3 Aldershot Town
Grays Athletic 3 v 3 Margate
Harrow Borough 1 v 6 Hereford United
Hornchurch 1 v 0 Paulton Rovers
Leyton 1 v 2 Histon
Morecambe 2 v 4 Shrewsbury Town
Ossett Albion 0 v 1 Stalybridge Celtic
Runcorn FC Halton 0 v 1 Bradford Park Avenue
Salisbury City 5 v 1 Lymington & New Milton
Scarborough 3 v 0 Hinckley United
Shildon 6 v 0 Stocksbridge Park Steels
Telford United 3 v 3 Tamworth
Thame United 1 v 2 Farnborough Town
Thurrock 2 v 1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Welling United 2 v 3 Weston-super-Mare
So, the first round draw itself. Eastbourne will have a decent reward should they overcome Stevenage in that replay, being drawn at home to struggling Stockport. Salisbury have a fantastic trip to Hillsborough to look forward to, a rather better draw than Histon's. Little Shildon are off to Meadow Lane and Thurrock are well rewarded with a home draw against Luton. There are six all non league ties, including Crawley's trip to Telford or Tamworth, both of whom are in the Conference. Here are all of the ties featuring non league sides. Brighton are away to Lincoln City by the way.
Accrington Stanley v Huddersfield TownBarnet v Stalybridge Celtic
Blackpool v Boreham Wood
Bradford Park Avenue v Bristol City
Brentford v Farsley Celtic or Gainsborough Trinity
Chester City v Exeter City or Gravesend & Northfleet
Eastbourne Borough or Stevenage Borough v Stockport County
East Thurrock United or Woking v Histon
Farnborough Town v Weston-super-Mare
Grantham Town v Leyton Orient
Grays Athletic or Margate v Aldershot Town
Hartlepool United v Bromsgrove Rovers or Whitby Town
Hornchurch v Darlington
Kidderminster Harriers v Northwich Victoria or Halifax Town
Lancaster City v Cambridge United
Mansfield Town v Bishop's Stortford
Notts County v Shildon
Peterborough United v Hereford United
Port Vale v Ford United
Scarborough v Doncaster Rovers
Scunthorpe United v Shrewsbury Town
Sheffield Wednesday v Salisbury City
Southend United v Mangotsfield United or Canvey Island
Telford United or Tamworth v Crawley Town
Thurrock v Luton Town
Torquay United v Burton Albion
Turning to matters of rather less national importance now. Pride of place locally, apart from ourselves that is, goes to Rye & Iden United, who ran out 8-1 winners over Shoreham in the third round of the John O'Hara League Challenge Cup. Scott Price and Peter Baker both helping themselves to hattricks. In the County League, St Leonards were well beaten 3-0 at Arundel, leaving them ninth in the table, twelve points behind Chichester. The matches due to involve Sidley United and Westfield were postponed, with the reason given simply being "player's deaths". I am sorry to leave this rather devastating bombshell without developing the story at all, but I have been completely unable to find out any more details to date. News like that only ever serves to put all other matters into perspective, of course and I am sorry that the lack of information does not allow me to handle the issue more sensitively.
Looking ahead to Tuesday, we are due to play Folkestone Invicta at the Pilot Field in the first round of the Dr Martens League Cup. It represents a chance to avenge our 2-0 defeat at Folkestone in the second league game of the season and a chance for Folkestone to avenge a 5-0 thumping that they suffered at our hands in the League Cup a couple of years ago. This is not a competition, which has evoked a great deal of interest amongst the fans in recent seasons, despite the fact that we have been finalists twice in the last eight years. I gather that Steve Lovell is to use the game as an opportunity to give some of the fringe players a game, along with new signing, Simon Stickney (I hope that I've spelt that right). Simon is a defender, previously with Eastbourne Borough apparently. Some of the reserves could probably do with a run out, having been without a game for a couple of weeks now. Their league title hopes were assisted on Saturday, as Corinthian only drew and Dover lost again. They are now a point behind Corinthian with a game in hand and two points ahead of Dover, with two games in hand, but still have both to play away from home.
That's it for now then. The next update will follow Tuesday's game, which I intend to go and see, even if no-one else does. And I will finish with one final reminder about the quiz being organised by Robin Powell and the Supporters' Club, which is on Wednesday evening in the club house, starting at 7.30 pm. Go on, you know you want to.
Sean Adams
28/10/03 Hastings United (2) 2 Folkestone Invicta (1) 6 [DMC1]
OUT OF STEAM
Att: 190
|
Before I launch into the report on Tuesday night's action, I must go back to something that I mentioned at the weekend, the devastatingly tragic events that led to Sidley United's games having been postponed. It has now been reported in the Non League paper, on Arrow FM and in Tuesday's programme, that Sidley players, James Duffell and Liam Cox, lost their lives in a car accident on their way home from training with last Thursday evening. They were both just twenty years of age. My condolences go to James' and Liam's families and friends at this desperately sad time and thanks to everyone who helped to observe an impeccable minute's silence in their memory before the Folkestone game got underway. It turned out to be an entertaining affair with plenty of goals and, ultimately, the best team on the night emerged victorious, although a four goal margin was tough on our lads, who simply seemed to run out of steam in the latter stages of the second half. As promised, Hastings fielded a below strength line-up, with no fewer than ten changes from the side that started against Ashford on Saturday. Only Will Toal kept his place, but with hindsight, probably wishes he hadn't. Henham, Morris and Stickney made up the back three. Sands played wide right and Eldridge wide left. Ryan Peters returned from injury to partner Spiller and Ellis in the midfield, with Hafner and Graham up front. Folkestone were pretty much at full strength, with Tony Kessell in goal, although Adam Flanagan was confined to the subs bench, recovering from an ankle injury that he picked up a few weeks ago. I must confess that, after ten minutes, I was wondering if I was dreaming, as Danny Ellis put Hastings two up. First, after eight minutes, running onto Will's long clearance and lobbing the advancing Kessell and then, placing a low shot to the keeper's right from the edge of the area, from Steve Hafner's intelligent cut back. An element of normal service was resumed after sixteen minutes. Mark Munday's inswinging cross from the left caused panic in the defence. For reasons best known to himself, Will attempted to volley the ball clear rather than catching it, but sliced it goalwards and Drew Watkins knocked it home. Danny then set up Russell Eldridge for an angled shot, which was hit straight at Kessell. Steve Hafner was narrowly wide with a left foot volley from Steve Sands' cross and Danny had a goalbound twenty yard effort blocked by a defender, prompting cries of 'handball' from the crowd, although not, it has to be said, from the players. Will had a nightmare couple of minutes, in which he fumbled a deep cross, spilled a long range effort from Anthony Hogg and almost dropped a dodgy back header from David Henham. In truth though, Hastings deserved their half time lead and maybe ought to have been further ahead. Eight minutes into the second half came the moment that may have turned the match. Danny exchanged passes with Steve Graham in the area, but slid his shot against a post, with Kessell well beaten, Steve putting the rebound wide. Within four minutes, Folkestone were in front and never looked like surrendering the advantage. The equaliser came from nothing. A long free kick from James Millar landed on James Dryden's head, the ball looped onto the underside of the crossbar and was helped in by Will's back. Then, Dryden ran onto Michael Everitt's precise through ball, to beat Will with ease. It was one way traffic after that. Allan Tait's mishit shot was comfortably dealt with, before Will produced the save of the night to deny Tait from point blank range from Dryden's cross. The final touch might even have come off Simon Stickney, which would have made Will's effort greater still. Millar saw a thirty yard thunderbolt come back off the bar, with Dryden wasting the rebound. Watkins volleyed wide from Dryden's cross, Tait had a 'goal' ruled out for a dubious offside, substitute, John Ayling, hit the bar from Millar's cross and Tait was again denied by Will as Folkestone turned the screw. A quarter of an hour from the end, Henham's weak header back to Will was intercepted by Ayling, who scored with ease. Eight minutes later, John Guest met Darren Winfield's corner with an unchallenged far post header and with virtually the last kick of the game, Ayling ran on to Watkins through ball to complete the scoring. It was an exhilarating final thirty-five minutes from Folkestone, to be fair to them, but for the first fifty-five minutes, our second string line-up had matched, if not bettered, them. Danny had a great game, before giving way to Joe Cornwall, back to fitness after his broken collar bone. Ryan Peters was outstanding in the first half, before struggling through the second and Ricky Spiller had a decent night, after his recent spell on the subs bench. The two Steves up front were a real handful and were given excellent support for a while. Even the inexperienced defence looked pretty solid until being overrun late on. Will had a largely forgettable evening, completely at fault for the first goal and questionable in his positioning for a couple of the others. On the whole, there were plenty more encouraging signs, but I suspect that one or two in attendance may not have been too impressed when they saw the strength of our starting line-up, having presumably paid full price to watch what was essentially a reserve team. To me, it was curious that we did not make more of an effort to maintain our involvement in a competition that always gives Eastern and Western sides a chance of doing well, as Premier Division sides invariably choose not to give it too much priority, especially those still involved in the FA Cup and FA Trophy. Evidently, we must be electing to concentrate on the league and to that end, the outcome would not have been too unlike our 6-1 first round win at Chelmsford three years or so ago. The major difference being that they were concentrating on the league when they were top of it. Oh well, there's still the Sussex Senior Cup. Surely we will manage to avoid a quadruple whammy of first hurdle cup exits when we entertain Eastbourne United Association in a couple of weeks. |
More Results
In case anyone gives a damn, here are all of Monday and Tuesday night's Dr Martens Cup first round results. No Premier Division clubs are involved at this stage, so there are no massive upsets, on which to comment, although in the finest interests of concentrating on the league, runaway Eastern Division leaders, Tonbridge, will presumably be less than gutted at their home defeat to Fisher. Interesting to note also that the bottom three sides in the Eastern Division all won. Strange that. There are three more ties due to be played on Wednesday and a further two next week. Histon won 1-0 at Rothwell last week.
Team Bath 2 v 3 Cirencester TownBanbury United 1 v 1 King's Lynn (a.e.t. King's Lynn won 3-2 on penalties)
Bashley 1 v 2 Fleet Town
Erith & Belvedere 3 v 1 Ashford Town
Gloucester City 1 v 4 Solihull Borough
Gresley Rovers 2 v 1 Shepshed Dynamo
Hastings United 2 v 6 Folkestone Invicta
Mangotsfield United 1 v 2 Cinderford Town
Rugby United 2 v 1 Ilkeston Town
Sittingbourne 1 v 2 Chatham Town
Stamford 2 v 1 Corby Town (a.e.t.)
Stourport Swifts 1 v 1 Redditch United (a.e.t. Stourport Swifts won 4-2 on penalties)
Sutton Coldfield Town 3 v 2 Evesham United
Tonbridge Angels 0 v 3 Fisher Athletic
Yate Town 0 v 3 Clevedon Town
Eastbourne Borough sadly bowed out of the FA Cup at the fourth qualifying round stage in Tuesday's replay, losing to a second half goal at Stevenage Borough. No revenge for our old boys then. At least that kills any temptation to trundle over to Priory Lane for the first round on 8 November. Ashford's Homelands ground saw it's first 'home' goals for a couple of weeks as Margate and Grays produced a repeat of Saturday's first match, as Margate again fought back from 3-1 down in the closing stages, this time in extra time, only to be denied on penalties. Ellis Remy did not feature in the Grays line-up, before you ask. More penalty drama at Stonebridge Road, where Gravesend emerged victorious after a thriller against former Football League side, Exeter. Last season's Dr Martens League champions Tamworth were beaten by a 120th minute penalty at home to Telford, having equalised with a 119th minute penalty of their own. Tuesday's replay results follow as well as how the results affect the first round draw.
Gainsborough Trinity 3 v 0 Farsley CelticGainsborough Trinity away to Brentford
Gravesend & Northfleet 3 v 3 Exeter City (a.e.t. Gravesend won 6-5 on penalties)
Gravesend & Northfleet away to Chester City
Margate 3 v 3 Grays Athletic (a.e.t. Grays Athletic won 3-1 on penalties)
Grays Athletic at home to Aldershot Town
Stevenage Borough 1 v 0 Eastbourne Borough
Stevenage Borough at home to Stockport County
Tamworth 2 v 3 Telford United (a.e.t.)
Telford United at home to Crawley Town
Woking 2 v 0 East Thurrock United
Woking at home to Histon
This coming Saturday sees Newport make the journey from the Isle of Wight to the Pilot Field for what appears to be the only Eastern Division game of the day, the majority of our league rivals being involved in the first round of the FA Trophy. Our fortunes in the last two or three years have matched the Islanders to a large degree. We succeeded Newport as Eastern Division champions in 2001/02, both of us followed it up with immediate relegation the following season, lost the majority of our senior playing squads in the wake of a cash crisis, hit rock bottom of the Eastern Division in the early weeks of our first season back and now (let's hope) have both turned the corner. Newport visit us from ninth position after a 2-1 home defeat to improving Sittingbourne last weekend, but they have a few games in hand, as a result of a decent FA Cup run, which included a victory over Premier Division Tiverton Town in the second qualifying round. It will be a stern test of our credentials, I am sure and Newport have a pretty decent record over us in recent years. Never a better time to turn that particular corner. Let's hope to see a few more through the gate as well, after the lads continued their good run at the weekend. As long as people can put Tuesday's result in context, that is. Not something that we're terribly good at, if the views of a certain correspondent in last Friday's Hastings Observer are anything to go by. Surely they're not truly representative of supporters generally, are they?
Sean Adams