Bank Holiday Review

If you thought the weekend’s shenanigans were entertaining enough, just you wait you lucky devils as I bring you all the action from a goal feasted, incident packed Bank Holiday Monday programme of football. Beginning with an unlikely thriller at Mill Field.

Sabola Grinds Down Millers

Aveley 3-3 Concord Rangers (Prediction 2-1)

A chaotic last 10 minutes at Mill Field saw both Concord and Aveley share the points in six goal thriller leaving both sides in the bottom four and still seeking their first win of the season. Lee Perry gave the home side a 6^th minute lead before Sherwin Stanley netted the first of his brace before half time to give the Millers hope of their first win. After the break Michael Noone converted a penalty to reduce the arrears before all hell broke loose late on. Nicky Cowley equalised for the Beachboys on 84 minutes and looked to have salvaged a point before Stanley converted a spot kick of his own to seemingly give Aveley the points. Credit to Concord though who kept going and got their reward late in stoppage time when debutant Dan Sabola equalised again,this time definitely ensuring a share of the points.

Knight Rides to Ricay’s Rescue

Billericay Town 4-4 Bury Town (Prediction 1-1)

Fans at Mill Field were left feeling a little short changed as the goal infestation moved up the A12 to New Lodge where Billericay and Bury shared 8 goals between them. The away side, fresh from their 5 goal haul over Hastings quickly hit their stride and took the lead when Lee Reed converted a pass from brother Sam just 7 minutes in. Former Greens midfielder Sam Berry got the home side back on terms with a deflected free kick 20 minutes later with his first goal for the club and 10 minutes later, David Knight scored his first goal for ‘Ricay after a smart move by the home side. Steve Smith ensured the two sides went into the break level seizing on a parry by Nick Morgan from Sam Reed’s effort.

After the break Karl Leabon netted his 2^nd goal of the weekend following up after Sam Reed’s shot was blocked on the line, before Billericay took control with two goals in six minutes. Knight made it 3-3 when he lobbed Marcus Garnham after getting onto a long through ball before Paul Semakula gave the home side the lead again with 18 minutes remaining finishing after Garnham saved from Jay May. Parity, and a deserved share of the spoils were secured for the Suffolk side with 10 minutes remaining when Sam Reed finally got his name on the scoresheet following up Lee Reed’s blocked effort.

Phew! Breathless stuff.

Rob Spot King Again As Gulls Soar

Canvey Island 1-0 East Thurrock United (Prediction 2-0)

Canvey eventually came out in this hard contested Essex derby against East Thurrock United thanks to another Rob King winner to move into 4^th spot in the division and record their third consecutive win. A turgid affair was eventually settled when Kye Ruel was adjudged to have pushed John Easterford over when contesting an Alex Rhodes corner. King coolly sent Richard Wray the wrong way (bit of a tongue twister that) from the spot for his 3^rd goal inside a week. The Rocks tried to respond, but apart from a few high balls into the Canvey box that were comfortably dealt with by James Russell as the Gulls held on with a degree of comfort.

Clark Shoots Down Robins

Cray Wanderers 1-0 Carshalton Athletic (Prediction 1-1)

Jack Clark scored the only goal of the game as Cray made it two wins on the spin at Hayes Lane against Carshalton for whom the start to the season lurches towards ‘difficult’. The home side will be delighted with the way they’ve responded to their opening day defeat against AFC Hornchurch where as Carshalton will be concerned at now going without a goal in their last 3 matches. I can’t give you anymore details as I can’t find any anywhere. So, there were 18 red cards, 4 of which were shown to one of the linesman, the Goodyear blimp crashed into the local branch of Lidl and Paul Dipre praised the Robins fans.

Gate Appiah With Point

Hastings United 2-2 Margate (Prediction 1-2)

Kwesi Appiah was the Margate hero as both sides bounced back from heavy weekend defeats with a point and red card apiece. The Margate number 11 opened the scoring on 21 minutes with his 2^nd goal of the season tucking home the rebound after Lloyd Anderson saved well from Tom Bradbrook’s free kick. Fred Foreman equalised with his first goal for the club 11 minutes later direct from a free kick before on the stroke of half time, Dan Stubbs was dismissed for stamping on Dan Bolwell. The hosts used the man advantage to take the lead straight after the restart, Josh Jirbandey heading home at the near post from Foreman’s corner. With 20 minutes remaining both the number of players and the scoreline were tied up again as Sean Ray was shown his 2^nd yellow card for a handball inside the penalty area and then dismissed, Appiah confidently netted the penalty to ensure a share of the points.

Booth Draws Hornets’ Sting

Horsham 0-1 Lewes (Prediction 1-3)

Paul Booth’s 2^nd goal of the season was enough to settle a close Sussex derby extending Lewes’ winning run to 3 matches and bringing Horsham’s own run of form to a shuddering end. The only goal of the game came in the 24^th minute when Booth sent a looping header of Matt Armstrong-Ford in the Horsham goal after a strong opening by the away side. Jamie Cade, Booth and Steve Robinson all went close to extending that lead whilst once again Tony Nwachukwu was the main threat for Horsham twice going close just before half time. The Hornets enjoyed a lot of possession after the break but were unable to threaten Stuart Robinson in the Lewes goal, whilst the away side remained dangerous on the break. In the end, the solitary goal was enough, and Lewes fans went home the happier.

Lubo Picks Urchin’s Pockets

Lowestoft Town 2-1 AFC Hornchurch (Prediction 2-0)

The Urchins fell to their third defeat in a row on the east coast as substitute Lubomir Guentchev, not adverse to scoring against the Urchins, netted his 3^rd goal of the season late on to settle a tight affair. Fellow sub Matt Nolan opened the scoring just past the hour mark after AFC Hornchurch had perhaps shaded the game before hand, as he ran onto a clearance from a corner and slammed the ball home from outside the penalty area. The lead lasted no more than a dozen minutes before the Urchins drew level, Aaron Gayle guiding Joe Anderson’s cross beyond Andy Reynolds for his first goal of the season. Hornchurch continued to push forwards in pursuit of a winner and were hit by a sucker punch applied by Hendon’s favourite 20 something Bulgarian seized on a half cleared free kick to poke home the winner with what was pretty much the last kick of the game and sending the Trawlerboys up to 2^nd in the table.

Traynor Gets K’s Up and Running

Tooting & Mitcham United 1-4 Kingstonian (Prediction 1-3)

A much changed Kingstonian side put in a dominant performance at Imperial Fields to comprehensively beat a Tooting & Mitcham side who were coming off the back of two impressive away wins, having scored 4 times on each occasion. After a good start they found themselves behind here after 16 minutes when Bobby Traynor got on the end of debutant Dewayne Clarke’s astute pass and lifted the ball over the Simon Lekhyj in the Toots goal against the run of play. The lead lasted just 3 minutes however as the home side responded well and Lee Newman squeezed the ball beyond Rob Tolfrey through a gap and into the net. Parity then reigned for just 3 further minutes before Clarke’s cross was met simultaneously by Traynor’s head and the hand of Callum Donaghey. The referee was in no doubt and pointed to the spot, much to Tooting’s disgust, Traynor for his part simply let the fuss die down and slotted the ball into the back of the net.

It wasn’t until the last quarter of an hour that the game was secured in K’s favour. Sub Allan Tait curled a beautiful volley home after another Clarke cross had been knocked down into his path and then 11 minutes from time, Gary MacDonald met Ian Selley’s corner with a bullet header from 15 yards or so out to give the K’s their first win of the season at long last.

Stones Rocked by 10 Men

Wealdstone 2-4 Wingate & Finchley (Prediction 1-1)

Wingate continued their outstanding start to life in the Premier Division with an excellent away win at Grovesnor Vale. They were already a goal up through Leon Smith before they were reduced to 10 men on the quarter hour mark as Joe O’Brien saw red after going through Richard Jolly with studs showing. Nevertheless, the away side continued to push forward and doubled their lead when Smith was left completely unmarked at the far post to nod home his 4^th goal in 3 matches from a driven corner. Bobby Smith in the Wingate goal then made a couple of good saves before David Laird made it 3-0 on the stroke of half time after riding a couple of tackles and slotting home. Things went from bad to worse 5 minutes after the break as Wingate made the game safe, the ball being bundled in at the far post by Marc Weatherstone or a Stones defender, depending on where you were stood. Stones gave the scoreline some respectability late on when a foul on Wes Parker in the box gave Richard Jolly the chance to the reduce the arrears. His spot kick was saved by Bobby Smith’s feet but the rebound fell to Jolly who made no mistake from the rebound. Kurtney Brooks then scored an outstanding effort from 25 yards to give the home side a glimmer of hope with 15 minutes remaining but despite plenty of possession, they were unable to force the ball home again and Wingate maintained their 100% record in some style.

Tonight’s Match Preview

Met Police v Leatherhead

The two promoted sides from Division 1 South meet tonight at Imber Court as Met Police play the first of their two games in hand against pointless (as in zero points rather than irrelevant) Leatherhead who will be keen to get themselves off the mark. Tanners boss Mick Sullivan has acted quickly to try and get their season up and running with 3 new faces who all made their debuts on Saturday. Billy Dunn arrives from Tooting, Nathan Simpson from tonight’s opponents Met Police and Saturday’s goalscorer Craig Davies from St. Albans City. The Police for their part will be looking for a repeat of their opening day home win against Harrow Borough and should be reasonably fresh after 7 days without a game. I fancy Leatherhead to get something from this one though.

Prediction: 1-1

Derby Day Delight

Hendon 3-2 Harrow Borough

Ryman League Premier Division

Vale Farm

Monday 29th August 2011 

If, like me, you were lucky enough to have been born this side of 1965, then you find yourselves in the midst of Hendon’s best start in living memory. A start that was extended on Monday afternoon with a 3-2 win over Middlesex rivals Harrow Borough that didn’t really quite hit the heights of a 5 goal thriller, but was an absorbing contest all the same. There was, of course, a familiar face in the Harrow dugout in the shape of Dave Anderson. We enjoyed 3 good trophy filled seasons under the Ulsterman’s stewardship before AFC Wimbledon came a calling, and of course, we went through 6 months or so of crazy indiscipline under Tony Choules and Gary Farrell before the current Captain of the Good Ship Hendon took charge.

A lot has changed since Anderson left Claremont Road (sob, RIP) in the summer of 2004. He enjoyed 3 seasons in charge of AFC Wimbledon and further spells as boss at St. Albans City and Northwood, as well as stints as number 2 at Windsor & Eton and more recently Slough Town. In addition to this, he’s enjoyed a burgeoning reputation as a media pundit both in print and as a regular on BBC London’s Non League Show with Caroline Barker. He was offered the job at Earlsmead, his local club at which he’s been assistant on about half a dozen occasions, this summer despite, I believe, having not applied. However, he was happy to get back in the hotseat and take on the challenge of rebuilding the side following the departure of David Howell to Clarence Park.

In some ways, I think he finds himself in a similar position at Harrow as he did when he took over at Hendon replacing a high achieving, popular manager and having to rebuild pretty much from scratch in the process. It took a good few months for things to bed in at Claremont Road, the difference in quality of the side he fielded in the first match of 2001/2 at Purfleet to the one that won thrillingly 6-4 at Billericay at the end of 2001 was huge. In came Steve Forbes, Steve Butler, Mark Cooper, Martin Randall, Eugene Ofori, Byron Bubb and, erm, Leon Woodruffe to transform our fortunes. Harrow haven’t had a great start, 2 points from their first 4 matches isn’t the return Anderson or their fans would have been after, but he will be working extremely hard to bring the players he wants and needs to turn things around in. Two things he, and his assistant Mark Butler both have in spades is experience and a bulging book of contacts.

In that search for that winning formula (which simply put is Team A Goals(Harrow) >Team B Goals (Opposition) = 3 points), Anderson made numerous changes to the side that drew with Aveley on Saturday. That number was six with Manny Williams, Gary Jones, Wayne Walters, Papa Agyemang, Danny McGonigle and Troy Powel-Quarry all coming in for their first starts of the season. Gary McCann for his part, named an unchanged starting XI for the first time this season, whilst Danny Dyer and Brad Fraser were both named on the bench for in place of Aaron Morgan and Junior Lewis.

The first half was relatively even, both sides looked lively on the attack, but neither created much in the way of clear cut chances before the break, despite the number of dangerous crosses that were whipped into the penalty area. Powel-Quarry, who seems to have been at a number of clubs, including Reading, AFC Hayes and Eastleigh amongst others had the first effort on target, a low drive from distance that was comfortably fielded by Berkeley Laurencin. One of the big worries amongst Boro fans so far this season has been the size of their side. Powel-Quarry certainly added a little height and strength to their attack, whilst Manny Williams at right back also added a physical presence. Indeed, it was Williams who prevented Hendon taking the lead shortly after as Greg Ngoyi flicked on Elliott Godfrey’s dangerous free kick and Williams was alert enough to head the ball behind for a corner as Dave Diedhiou rose to nod the ball in at the far post.

There were then loud penalty shouts at either end for handball, both of which were waved away by the referee who seemed well positioned on both occasions. Christian Nanetti, who if his final ball matched his haircut would be an outstanding player, was next to test Berkeley with a low left footed drive that swerved wickedly from all of 30 yards or so. The Hendon custodian made sure he got his body behind the ball as he spilt it and was able to pick up the rebound with no Harrow attacked following up. Nanetti may well be back at Vale Farm this coming weekend as there is a fair amount of speculation that Lewes have lodged a 7 day approach for him. He looked very lively and bright, and clearly has a lot of ability. All too often though, there was no end product from the promising build up and he was eventually hauled off just before the hour mark. In fairness to him, I don’t think playing him wide on the right does him many favours – he’s predominantly left footed but was always looking to go outside Scott Cousins, which of course then left him on his right foot. I can see why people like the idea of ‘inverse’ wingers, so that it can allow them to cut inside and get shots away, but I’m a much bigger fan of getting down the line and being able to whip dangerous crosses in for the centre forwards to attack. Maybe I’m just old fashioned.

The best chance of the half fell to the Greens. A free kick into the Harrow box was headed on by Casey Maclaren and met by the head of Carl McCluskey. The ball beat the dive of Nick Pope and bounced agonisingly off the inside of the far post and back into the still grounded goalkeeper’s grateful grasp. (Nice alliteration there). Pope was called upon to make a couple more very good interventions from dangerous crosses into the box, in particular from Cousins and low down from Archer but it was from one of these balls that the deadlock was broken.

Given some of the comments I heard at half time, I would wager someone in the crowd made a joke at some point about the goalkeeper’s surname and not liking crosses. How very Catholic satire. In actual fact, I thought he dealt pretty well with what came in at him on the whole. He did like to punch clear rather than catch more often than not and this is often seen as poor, indecisive or weak goalkeeping. I remember reading an interview with Gianluigi Buffon, I think it was a number of years ago, when he said that he was always taught to punch more than catch, the reason being that the chances of a punch ending up at the feet of a striker is less than the chances of a fumbled catch giving a centre forward a simple tap-in. I think there’s some credit to this opinion, not that I’m any great expert, and it seemed to be one that Pope shared. A Cousins cross was punched clear at full stretch by the on-loan Charlton man, who then went to ground. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the ball fell kindly for Dave Diedhiou just outside the penalty area. Looking up, the big midfielder coolly measure a lob over the grounded keeper and beyond two defenders covering the line into the back of the net for his first goal of the season. I love seeing Dave score just for the celebration. He always treats it like his first ever goal and relishes the feeling.

Not the Harrow Goalkeeper: Pope Benedict Flapping.

 There we were then at half time a goal to the good. Harrow might have been feeling a little hard done by to be behind given their efforts, but the Greens ensured there could be no arguments shortly after the resumption.

Powel-Quarry had already passed by an excellent opportunity for the visitors straight after the restart when he was played through and rather scuffed his shot straight at Berkeley from a slight angle when he was made to pay five minutes after the interval by a killer 2^nd goal from the Greens. A corner was whipped in by Cousins and missed by everyone on its way through, green and red shirts alike. It may even have bounced before reaching Carl McCluskey who had the simple task of nodding the ball into the corner of the net at the far stick beyond the despairing, flailing Nick Pope for his 2^nd goal in consecutive games.

Boro worked hard for a way back into the game as Hendon began to play a little deeper, leaving half time sub Isaiah Rankin to feed off scraps up front. The back four though remained steadfast until the 68^th minute when Michael Peacock, already perhaps lucky not to have been yellow carded moments earlier when scything down Jon-Jo Bates on the edge of the box, unceremoniously bundled Wayne Walters to the floor as Laurencin went up to claim a free kick into the box. There was no doubting the penalty award at all, and the referee this time did book the number 4. To describe it as needless or unnecessary wouldn’t be doing it justice at all. Gary Jones neatly stepped up and sent Laurencin the wrong way. Finally, after 338 minutes (plus a few extras for added time here and there), the dam had been broken.

The goal buoyed the away side and they pressed on in search of an equaliser. Enjoying plenty of possession and almost camping in the Hendon half they found Peacock and Wharton in very determined mood at the heart of defence. They had another penalty shout denied when James Busby and Danny McGonigle clashed in the area, the referee deciding that the Hendon midfielder had won the ball cleanly and that McGonigle was in fact the offender. With 9 minutes to go, Isaiah Rankin chased a long clearance downfield and contested it as it bounced with Shane Wanklyn. The ball reboundedoff the Harrow centre half and caught him off balance giving the experienced striker the fraction of a second he needed to take a touch and then send a superb low drive left footed beyond the exposed Pope to give the Greens back their two goal advantage. 

Isaiah Rankin celebrating a strike for Brentford

The game rather petered out until the 4^th minute of time added on when McGonigle, who will be integral to Harrow’s season wriggled his way into the Hendon box and fired a low shot across goal. Laurencin did well to get down at full stretch and push the ball away, unfortunately only to the feet of David Lawrence who was following up, unlike the Hendon back four and tap in to reduce the arrears. Any hopes of a comeback were dashed no more than 30 seconds later when the referee brought the action to a conclusion. The Greens breathed a sigh of relief and can enjoy sitting top of the pile for a while longer whilst for Dave Anderson, although there were some bright spots, it is back to the drawing board.

Player Ratings

1. Berkeley Laurencin: Another decent performance by the Hendon goalkeeper who is enjoying a good start to the season and will be giving the manager a headache when Sean Thomas is available. Left no chance with either goal. 6/10

2. Ryan Wharton: Has come on so much since his last spell with the club, another flawless performance at centre half where he is linking up well with Michael Peacock. 7

3. Scott Cousins: Played a pivotal role in the first two goals and the quality of his dead balls was excellent throughout the afternoon. Did a good job on the dangerous Nanetti as well. 7

4. Michael Peacock: Another dominant performance at centre half keeping Jon-Jo Bates mostly quiet to extend his excellent start to the season. Blotted his copybook slightly conceding the penalty and picking up a booking. 7

5. James Archer: Not who I expected to come in at right back, but was very good. Sound defensively and provided an outlet at times going forward as well. Another who has started well. 7

6. Dave Diedhiou: I love the big fella. Unassuming, gentle giant. Strong in the tackle, good use of the ball and a very subtle finish 7

7. Jamie Busby: Another quietly effective performance from the midfielder. Not afraid to put his foot in, passed the ball better than he did against Concord and carried the ball with a threat as well. 7

8. Carl McCluskey: Looks the find of the summer. Oustanding performance. Good passing, and provided great support to Ngoyi in the first half. Unlucky first half, got his reward shortly after the break. 8

9. Greg Ngoyi: Has run himself to an absolute standstill and replaced at half time. Linked play very well and has proven my doubts as to his suitability to being a lone striker totally wrong. 7

10. Elliott Godfrey: Was more involved than against Concord and complimented the quality of Scott Cousins’ dead balls with his own in-swingers. 7

11. Casey Maclaren: No one works harder than Casey. The final ball is still often missing, but he more than makes up for that with his willingness to run and put his body on the line. 7

Subs

12. Isaiah Rankin: On at half time for Ngoyi, did well chasing down the Harrow centre halves and got his deserved rewards for an impressive start at the club with a lovely finish late on to open his account for the club. 7

15. Jerome Federico: First I’ve seen of the former Hayes man and his appearance was sadly curtailed shortly after coming on suffering a cracked ankle that looks likely to keep him out of action for quite some time.

17. Bradley Ambrose: Replaced Federico and ran around a lot chasing lost causes.

Match Rating:

Star Man: Carl McCluskey

Verdict: Another good all round performance to round off a fantastic first 9 days to the season. Hard working, decent defensively and with much more of an attacking threat than we had against Concord. A quarter of the way to achieving safety – far more important than being top of the table at the moment.

Saturday Review - Greens Go Top!

Fix up, look sharp, we have much to get through this week after an action packed weekend of Ryman League football. Lots of thrills and spills, goals and erm, lols. Beginning with Saturday afternoon in this particular update.

Something About Clipping The Robins’ Wings

Carshalton 0-3 Hendon (Prediction 2-1)

I stayed true to my word and didn’t attend the Carshalton match on Saturday, instead watching Final Score on the red button until I remembered that MOTD and the Football League Show were far more interesting when I didn’t know the results already. I had updates coming through the twitter feed on my home and with us 2-0 up at half time in Surrey, I awaited with some trepidation, the inevitable fightback from the home side. Carl McCluskey’s first goal for the club after 11 minutes was added to by a bullet near post header from Greg Ngoyi six minutes later. Elliott Godfrey’s deflected free kick 2 minutes after the break ensured the expected fightback never materialised and completed a very professional and impressive 3-0 win leaving us with a 100% record and with out blank sheet extended by another 90 minutes. A more in depth report of proceedings can be found here. The result was enough for me to consider staying away more often.

There was perhaps some encouraging news off the field as well in terms of a letter from Paul Dipre offering the Carshalton 10 a meeting to try and find a resolution ending the stand off and uniting the club as they try to move forwards. It seems that events of the past week or so may have led to the realisation that whilst the club is so fractured, it cannot progress. It hasn’t been a good week for Dipre with the Wealdstone board defending their supporters vehemently against what appear to be unsubstantiated accusations that a bottle was thrown at the Carshalton dugout last week, two defeats without a goal being score against ourselves and Cray yesterday and a potential U-turn in the offing as well. I genuinely hope that dialogue between the two parties can be opened and that the Carshalton owner / manager has now realised that you cannot run a club successfully without having the fans on your side first. Anything other than that is wholly counter-productive.

Urchins Suffer Hornets' Sting

AFC Hornchurch 0-2 Horsham (Prediction 3-2)

Not a great day for the Urchins of Bridge Avenue as they slipped to a 2^nd consecutive home defeat, this time against a buoyant Horsham side who proved that their midweek victory at Kingsmeadow was no fluke. Things began ominously for Hornchurch when they lost their goalkeeper Darren Behcet to injury in the 12^th minute, colliding with Elliot Styles when claiming a corner. After six minutes of treatment, Styles took over the gloves and Ronnie Fletcher came on at centre half. Neither side really troubled either goalkeeper before half time, but Matt Armstrong-Ford was called into action after the break as the home side stepped up the tempo saving well from Lewis Smith. The opening goal came in controversial circumstances when David McSweeney was adjudged to have committed an infringement inside the penalty area when many thought he had won the ball cleanly. Tony Nwachukwu ignored the furore and jeers to confidently net the spot kick for his 4^th goal of the season and gave the Hornets the lead. Hornchurch responded strongly, but were unable to get themselves back into the game. The already irritated home crowd were then incensed when strong shouts for a penalty were waved away and Frankie Curley saw red for a challenge that was either two footed, or mistimed, depending on which version of events you believe, 2 minutes from time. Debutant substitute Conor Hider sealed the points for Horsham in stoppage time when he calmly guided Tommy Youle’s pass past Styles. A good 3 points for Horsham and another 3 points dropped by the Urchins in a game they thought they should have got something from.

Five Star Bury Hand Out A Pasting To Hastings

Bury Town 5-0 Hastings United (Prediction 2-1)

I thought Bury would bounce back strongly from their midweek reverse against us, but didn’t forsee a 5 goal hammering of Hastings who themselves had impressed at Rookery Hill in the week. It took just 10 minutes for Bury to take the lead when midfielder Kieran Leabon’s deflected shot evaded the grasp of Lloyd Anderson in the Hastings goal and Lee Smith made light of the torrential downpour 33 minutes in to double the home side’s advantage with his 2^nd goal of the season. Marcus Garnham in the Bury goal then made a good save before the break to deny Kenny Pogue and gave them the springboard from which to take complete control in the 2^nd period. Sam Reed finished off a crisp passing move in the 69^th minute to make it 3-0 and as Hastings heads dropped, Russell Short and substitute Craig Nurse added late goals to ensure the biggest win of the season so far came Bury’s way. For them, Tuesday’s defeat was nothing more than a lingering memory, for Hastings, I suspect the journey back to East Sussex was a very long one indeed.

Toots Edge Seven Goal Thriller

Concord Rangers 3-4 Tooting & Mitcham United (Prediction 1-1)

For the second consecutive away game, Tooting scored 4 goals away from home to give themselves victory in what looks like a thrilling game at Concord. I can’t be sure as I haven’t found anything resembling a report anywhere (and I refuse to buy the NLP). What I can tell you is that Fola Onijube, Kiernan Mason-Hughes, Donaghey and sub Freedom Pigott scored the goals for the away side. As for the detail, I’ll leave it to your vivid imaginations for the time being.

Nothing To Choose Between Rocks and Stones

East Thurrock United 3-3 Wealdstone (Prediction 1-3)

It’s not often you get two sides with matching synonyms as nicknames in opposition but that’s what just shy of 200 people witnessed at Rookery Hill on Saturday afternoon as Wealdstone came back from 3-1 behind to salvage a late draw. Kurtney Brooks had already had a goal chalked off for the Stones when Neil Richmond opened his account for the season for East Thurrock finishing Reiss Gilbey’s neat lay off to give the home side a 19^th minute lead. They continued to make much of the running in the first period but were unable to add to their lead, and rarely really threatened Jonathan North in the Stones goal. Within 10 minutes of the restart, Stones had leveled as the Rocks defence failed to clear substitute Alex Dyer’s shot and Richard Jolly got himself up and running for the season, seizing on the loose ball and dispatching it past Richard Wray.

Both sides went in search of further goals that might bring them 3 points and it was East Thurrock who drew next blood as Kye Ruel seized on some poor defending from the Stones to drive the ball past North. Richmond netted his 2^nd of the afternoon and what looked like the decider with 17 minutes remaining coolly slotting past North. Dyer ensured a nervy last 10 minutes for the hosts when he powered home a shot to bring the Stones back into the game before the former Northampton midfielder was upended in the penalty area by Gilbey with 5 minutes remaining. The Rocks midfielder was dismissed for denying a goalscoring opportunity and Jolly simply smashed the penalty past Wray to level things up. Despite the man advantage, the Stones were unable to force the fourth goal and both sides had to end up content with a point apiece from a thrilling contest.

Richard Jolly (left) re-opened his Wealdstone account with a brace on Saturday

Honours Even at Earlsmead

Harrow Borough 1-1 Aveley (Prediction 2-1)

Two sides going into Saturday awaiting their first wins of the season left the field still awaiting their first wins. Aveley will be pleased to have broken their goalscoring duck, Chetin Ali giving the Millers a deserved first half lead against a lightweight looking Harrow side as he powered home a loose ball after an miscued bicycle kick at the far post. After the break, a changed and much improved Boro performance saw them grab a share of the spoils as Jon-Jo Bates grabbed his first goal for the club running onto a neat David Lawrence through ball to beat the goalkeeper in confident style. A point then that did little to lift the early season spirits at either side going into the Bank Holiday matches.

King Dethrones K’s

Kingstonian 1-2 Canvey Island (Prediction 2-2)

Kingstonian’s difficult beginning to the season failed to improve on Saturday as Canvey Island came from a goal down to win 2-1 and pick up their second away win on the spin. Bobby Traynor got the K’s off to the ideal start when seizing upon Michael Gordon’s half cleared cross he volleyed the ball powerfully past James Russell for the first of what you suspect will be quite a few goals from his boot this season. Canvey responded well, drawing level 8 minutes before the break after both sides had goals chalked off for offside. Former Brentford winger Alex Rhodes cut in from the left, outpaced Dean Hamlin and lashed a superb drive beyond the reach of Rob Tolfrey to bring the sides level at the break. Both sides pushed on after the interval and both Tolfrey and Russell made good saves to keep the scorelines level. The winner came in the 72^nd minute when Danny Heale showed the presence of mind to follow up his own effort that came off the inside of the post to give Robbie King the simplest of tasks to nod home his 2^nd goal of the season from close range. Kingstonian pushed hard for an equaliser, Jack MacLeod’s flick over the advancing Russell dropped agonisingly wide whilst Simon Huckle’s late header was off target as well. The whistle went and the Gulls were able to celebrate another away win, as for Kingstonian, the inquest continued.

Bremner Treble Sinks Tanners

Leatherhead 1-4 Cray Wanderers (Prediction 1-1)

Leatherhead’s awful start to life in the Premier Division continued as a Leigh Bremner inspired Cray Wanderers handed out a second heavy home defeat to the Tanners in succession. Mick Sullivan included 3 new signings in his side in a bid to arrest their bad start and they went in at half time goalless, Greg Andrews coming closest to breaking the deadlock for the Tanners forcing Andy Walker into a fine save. Sam Long had also gone close for Cray midway through the first half when his drive cannoned back off the crossbar. The away side took the lead 2 minutes after the restart when Tommy Whitnell fired home from the edge of the box. The Tanners responded well, and new boy Craig Davies headed home a Rob Hill corner to bring the two sides back level. In the final half hour of the game, Bremner took over. His first goal came after 61 minutes with a smart turn and shot from 12 yards out before firing through a crowded penalty area seven minutes later to make it 3-1. His personal treble was completed with a simple finish from close range when he was left unmarked to give the Wands a handsome away win and becoming in the process, the first man to 5 goals for the season.

Leigh Bremner in familiar goalscoring pose (against Tooting here) was Cray's hero at Leatherhead

Malcolm In The Middle

Lewes 2-1 Billericay (Prediction 2-0)

Lewes made it 2 wins out of 2 against Billericay Town at The Dripping Pan on Saturday thanks to a pair of goals from Michael Malcolm. His first goal came on the quarter hour when Jamie Cade’s through ball tempted Nick Morgan off his line and Malcolm showed impressive calm from well outside the box to loft the ball over the giant goalkeeper and into the net off the underside of the moon. His second goal came on the half hour with a smart finish from 12 yards out after more good work from Cade. Morgan then denied Paul Booth just before half time before Jay May forced a good save from Stuart Robinson in the Lewes goal. After the break, the Blues came out more determined with Benson Kpaka and Junior Luke both narrowly off target. May pulled a goal back 7 minutes from time with a header past Robinson after a good header back by Rob Swaine, but despite plenty of late possession, Lewes were able to hold on for a good 3 points.

Trawelerboys Find Gate Wide Open

Margate 1-4 Lowestoft Town (Prediction 1-1)

Lowestoft came from behind to inflict a heavy defeat on previously unbeaten Margate at Hartsdown Park on Saturday with a superb 2^nd half performance that wiped away the memory of their midweek defeat at Wingate. After a strong start, Matt Bodkin scored his first goal for Gate with a swerving drive past Andy Reynolds in the Lowestoft goal to put the home side ahead after good work by Tom Bradbrook in the 23^rd minute. The Trawlerboys immediately changed their approach and began to take a foothold in the game, equalising just before half time as Michael Frew headed home Aaron Cave-Brown’s right wing cross. They came out after the break all guns blazing and took the lead within minutes of the restart. Another Cave-Brown cross wasn’t dealt with by the Margate back four and Chris Henderson, on his first start for Lowestoft nipped in to steer the ball beyond Jack Smelt. A series of Gate corners came to nothing and Lubo Guentchev extended the Trawlerboys’ lead in the 66^th minute, seizing on more hesitant defending in the Margate back line to dispatch the ball past Smelt and then late on sub Jamie Forshaw converted Guentchev’s centre on the volley to give the scoreline an emphatic feel about it. 

Lubo Guentchev: Hendon reject (tongue in cheek), Trawlerboy hero

Weekend Preview - Week 2

Carshalton Athletic v Hendon – Ryman League Premier Division

War Memorial Ground, Colston Avenue

Admission: £10 Adults, £6 Seniors, £3 Juniors

Weather Forecast: I got it wrong last week so I’m not bothering this week

Leaving off-field wrangles to one side for a minute, the Greens take their 100% record and very clean sheet to Carshalton Athletic tomorrow afternoon looking to extend both against what is an extremely strong and talented looking Robins outfit who are themselves, looking to extend their own unbeaten start to the new season.

Carshalton kicked off a week ago against Canvey Island and came from behind to win 2-1 thanks to a Dean McDonald penalty and Paul Vines winner in the 2^nd half. Both are likely to start again tomorrow and will provide the Hendon back four with their toughest test yet this season. Dean Lodge, who created both goals last weekend and came closest to scoring against Wealdstone in midweek will need to be watched carefully as well, particularly in and around the penalty area. Defensively, Nick Hamann has returned between the posts after spending last season back in Germany whilst David Ray and last season’s player of the year Justyn Roberts provide plenty of steel at the heart of the Robins defence. Former Hendon loanee Kieran Murphy may well be in line for his first appearance of the season having been competing in China for the British Universities team that lost to Japan in the final.

Robins Dangerman Dean Lodge

For the Greens, I expect Gary McCann will be aiming to name as close to an unchanged side as he can for the third match running. Saturday’s Man of the Match Elliott Brathwaite picked up a knock during the game and missed Tuesday’s win at Bury, it remains to be seen whether or not he will be back in contention tomorrow. The gaffer will be hoping the improved showing going forward in the 2^nd half on Tuesday night will be taken forward into tomorrow’s game, with the resolve and defensive solidity remaining. James Archer will be pushing to retain his place following his impressive first start for the club in midweek and Carl McCluskey will be looking to make further strides to an already impressive start to his Hendon career.

After a run of good results away at Carshalton, the Greens are without a win now in 3 attempts. If I’m honest, I would take a point from the game tomorrow in a heartbeat but suspect we may just be edged out. Hopefully that’s just my inner pessimist talking though. Before the season began, I’d have taken anything over 3 points from these 3 matches as an excellent start. Even though we’re already sat on 6 points, that opinion stands.

Prediction: A narrow 2-1 reverse.

Elsewhere, there are some other tough matches to call. AFC Hornchurch will be wanting to respond to their midweek reverse with a positive result against what is sure to be a buoyant Horsham side. Sussex rivals Hastings make the very long journey up to Suffolk to take on Bury Town who themselves will be looking to get back on track. Tooting recorded an impressive away win in midweek and will want to achieve a similar result at Concord who themselves will be after their first win of the season. Wealdstone travel to East Thurrock simultaneously winless and undefeated whilst their Harrovian neighbours Harrow Borough will be hoping for success over Aveley – both sides currently locked together on a single point apiece. Kingstonian face a tricky looking home match against Canvey Island and down the A3 Leatherhead will be hoping to get off the mark against Cray in an early bottom 4 clash. Lewes face another play off hopeful in Billericay at the Dripping Pan and Margate take on Lowestoft in what looks like a potential belter at Hartsdown Park. Wingate against Met Police has been postponed due to policing requirements at Notting Hill this weekend. I will keep the lid on that particular can of worms for the time being.

Predictions

AFC Hornchurch 3-2 Horsham

Bury Town 2-1 Hastings United

Concord Rangers 1-1 Tooting & Mitcham United

East Thurrock United 1-3 Wealdstone

Harrow Borough 2-1 Aveley

Kingstonian 2-2 Canvey Island

Leatherhead 1-1 Cray Wanderers

Lewes 2-0 Billericay Town

Margate 1-1 Lowestoft Town

If anyone is at all interested in how I’m faring so far with these here predictions this season, then fix up, look sharp hither.

Matches Predicted – 22

Correct Scorelines – 2

Correct Results – 10

Utter Nonsense – 10

Make of that what you will stats fans.

Why I Won't Be At Carshalton Tomorrow

It’s time for a little Jackanory. Lie back and enjoy.

Imagine this for a moment. You support an imaginary football club. Let’s call them Farshalton Athletic for the time being. Farshalton Athletic have a proud history as one of the leading Non League clubs in their country, which for the purposes of this scenario, we will call Sorry. Now although on a national scale, Farshalton don’t pull up any trees, they have over the years accumulated a loyal following of fans who follow them far-ish and wide-ish around various local-ish grounds supporting their club through thick and thin. Farshalton have a unique kit colour amongst other clubs in the league, a lovely shade of Claret or Maroon if you like. Nothing so dull and uniformed as Red, Blue or Amber and Chocolate for them, oh no. And the badge that adorns the strip is a classic design, evoking all sorts of memories when people see it. Following Farshalton Athletic is good, it’s comfortable, it’s secure.

Then, all of a sudden like a thunderbolt of lightning and a fist of dynamite, a man takes the club over. The man promises rainbows and cotton wool clouds, success and beer made of gold. Ok, so his name sounds like the title of a Right Said Fred song, but that never held Kevin Saxelby back. Some of what the man does is good, the bar is renovated, the pitch is sorted out, he is clearly a man of some means and not a man of idle promises. Although the beer isn’t really made of gold, but in fact of gold plated silver, that doesn’t make the man a liar. The man loves Farshalton Athletic as it is, but like the man who never has a big enough LCD TV, he cannot help tinkering. He ditches the youth scheme that has been in place for a number of years and brings in his own people from outside. The man also prefers Red to Claret or Maroon. Afterall, don’t all the most successful teams from history play in Red? Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Spain, Barnsley. Why then, not Farshalton as well? The kit has to be at least as important, if not more so than the players on the pitch and man in the dugout. To go with the spiffy new Red kit the man designs a spiffy cutting edge aerodynamic badge. Suddenly, when faced with the prospect of guaranteed glory, those ungrateful fans who have wallowed in the mediocrity offered by previous regimes at Farshalton are a little disgruntled.

The man, the one whose name sounds like the title of a Right Said Fred song, acts quickly to avert any crisis. Anyone who buys a Season Ticket, he announces by powerpoint presentation displayed on the side of Sutton Town Hall, will be entitled to a free replica shirt. In red. Still, the fans are not placated. So the man decides that if he cannot win the dogmatic puritanical stick in the muds over with free merchandise, then he will by offering them quality football to watch. He very nearly achieves it as well, only a missed penalty in the Play Off Final fails to take Farshalton through to a penalty shoot out to decide whether or not they would gain promotion to a higher level. The side entertain, they play football the quality of which you rarely see at their level. And yet despite all this, those that pay their money to come in and watch this utopian football have the nerve still to chunter away below the surface.

The only thing to quell this continuing discontent, the man whose name sounds like the title of a Right Said Fred song decides, is to produce a wonderful all singing, all dancing, all powerpoint summer presentation. Summer signings are presented to a selection of fans to great fanfare. Each new face has to produce a 20 minute presentation as to why they have chosen to play for Farshalton, and more importantly, to play for the man. ‘The title will come our way,’ the man proclaims amid great fanfare played by the piper named Jan Basel. Banksy and Tracy Emin are commissioned to complete a life-size portrait in the bar of the man and his motion to have the goals at Farshalton’s War Memorial ground re-sculptured into the shape of the man was sadly rejected at the league AGM for reasons he simply could not understand.

How The Portrait Might Look as Imagined by A.N Artist

The team began the season and some players left the club, realising that life under the man whose name sounds like the title of a Right Said Fred song wasn’t all it was cracked up to be months earlier. They hadn’t won the title by the August Bank Holiday. The manager left, and in came a former Farshalton hero as the new boss. No longer were the Farshalton fans treated to utopian football, instead they got what the man thought they deserved. Tripe. Long ball hoof it and chase it tripe. Classic brinkmanship, thought the man as the former Farshalton hero oversaw a slump in the club’s fortunes and 12 months after being oh so close to promotion, the club ended oh so close to relegation. If that doesn’t learn the ungrateful swine who still insist on wearing their Claret or Maroon shirts to matches, he thinks, I will be forced to take further action.

The following season, the man whose name etc..’s 3^rd as owner begins with yet another new manager at the helm. A manager who has achieved wonders at a club in the same league on a limited budget relying on the loyalty, hard work and continuity afforded him by a supportive board. For the first time in a while, the club seems to be on a more stable footing. But the man doesn’t like stability, he didn’t get where he is today by settling for stability. So he sacks the Manager who has achieved wonders at a club in the same league on a limited budget, and who has brought about stability and a solid mid-table platform to the club and installs himself as boss. The man becomes the Manager.

For some of the Farshalton fans, who have remained loyal to the side, if not the man, this is a Bridge too Far. This is their Arnhem. What has remained a simmering discontentment spills out onto the terraces and a section of support stand behind the man as he sits in the dugout and publically call him out about the way he is running their club. The man will not stand for this, he vows to quell the rebellion and in a decree proclaiming the War Memorial Ground a free and independent state. Long live the man, stated the decree, long live the People’s Free Republic of Farshalton. All are welcome, says the constitution, except these 10 people. And he sends these 10 people a letter stating that they are not welcome anywhere near the Free Republic of Farshalton. That they have been exiled from the Free Republic of Farshalton. He even goes so far as saying that anyone who goes to watch Farshalton in a different state and has the nerve to sing songs against the man will be reported to the Government forces and removed. Removed from what, the man doesn’t say.

Carshalton Athletic Team Photo: 2011/2

At their first home game of the season, 155 people turned up. Farshalton used to be able to expect at least double that number for the visit of Wealdstoned, particularly as Wealdstoned fans were amongst those that traveled in greater numbers than most other clubs. The man didn’t see this though having placed life sized photos of every member of the Polyphonic Spree around the ground, swelling the attendance in his view to more than 500. One of his foot soldiers, who wasn’t playing in the game against Wealdstoned, spat at one of the Wealdstoned fans at half time. Inappropriate behaviour from any civilised member of society, particularly one as pure and wholesome as the Free People’s Utopian Republic of Farshalton. The foot soldier concerned, is still awaiting his immediate life banning at the time of press. One can only surmise that he is still strung up by his goolies in the home dressing room.

Some of you may recognise elements and characters portrayed in this tall tale – some of the more believable stuff may not have happened and the timeline has been slightly scrambled for artistic purposes. Ever since Paul Dipre became owner of Carshalton Athletic Football Club, he has slowly alienated what at first I thought was sections of their support and now appears to be the majority. Things escalated in the summer with banning orders served against 10 of their supporters for what the powers that be, or Mr. Dipre in particular, have taken offence to. This has led to a war of words between those that toe the party line and those that choose not to and protest about the handling of their club that has now spilled onto the Hendon messageboard. One of the matches that Mr. Dipre claims unacceptable levels of abuse and language were used was at our game at the end of last season. As a poster on the Hendon forum said yesterday, those of us who witnessed that game are perfectly capable of making up our own minds as to which side of the story sounds more plausible. Suffice to say, I heard more bad language from the terraces on Saturday against Concord Rangers than I did at Colston Avenue back in April.

Let me make it absolutely clear that I have no axe to grind with Carshalton fans that are choosing to still support their club at home games, nor do I with any visiting fans that attend games at Colston Avenue. In fact, let me make it clear in case David Cameron’s Social Network police read this, I have no axe. At all. The reasons for my not attending the game on Saturday are entirely my own and thus. We’ve been lucky at Hendon in my time as a supporter that those in charge have been genuinely passionate about the club. However, some clubs aren’t so lucky and get shat upon from a great height. Most are happy to go along for the ride when faced with an egocentric owner, put their fingers in their ears and are adamant that it’s not going to happen to them. Invariably, ‘it’ does. I think the Carshalton fans that have been enjoying the good times on the field that they’ve had over the last few seasons (interspersed with some grim times as well) deserve credit for trying to stand up to an owner who is intent on doing whatever they want in spite of the one constant at any club – the fans. It takes quite a guy to get Sutton fans to take the same point of view as ‘Bobbins’ supporters. Mr. Dipre has done just that.

You get the impression that Mr. Dipre couldn’t give a damn if no one came through the gate such is the contempt he has displayed for the core of the Carshalton support. They’ve always struck me as a good bunch, up for a bit of banter and a good crack, yet generally honest when it comes to their side’s shortcomings. They don’t deserve what they’ve been lumbered with. I’m not going to get bogged down in the politics of who said what and when, I was able to make up my own mind through what I witnessed with my own eyes at the last game of last season and have read since. The letter sent to the banned parties can be read here. With the behaviour of Laurent Hamici being widely reported on twitter and both the Carshalton and Wealdstone forums, I will be interested to see how long it takes for the code of conduct to be brandished in front of him ready for his signature or whether he will be banned from the ground with immediate effect as well. I won’t hold my breath. What I will be holding is my hand firmly over my wallet with no intention of opening it and putting my £10 towards massaging Mr. Dipre’s ego.

Viva la revolucion!

 

Addendum: Since writing the bulk of this yesterday, it has been announced that Laurent Hamici has been fined £200 and suspended for 2 matches. The validity of this punishment can be called into question on the basis that Hamici is currently injured and expected to be out for another 3 weeks or so. It’s a bit like banning a driver for dangerous driving for 6 months when he’s been confined to a bed for 9 months after causing a massive accident. Quite what Hamici was doing on the bench on Tuesday night anyway when he was neither named as a substitute or a member of Dipre’s coaching staff is quite another thing. And one for another time.

Midweek Ryman Review - Nwachakwu wu wu

'push pineapple shake the tree,' One for the Horsham fans there...

Anyway, a review then of the full midweek programme of Premier Division action, with the exception of Hendon’s match with Bury Town that I went through yesterday. There was some strange results around and some very impressive performances, not least from Horsham who did so well at Kingsmeadow and Wingate, who are the surprise early pacesetters at the top of the table.

Monday Night – Fright Night for K’s

Kingstonian 3-4 Horsham (Prediction 2-0)

On Monday evening I tweeted something along the lines of ‘well, didn’t see that one coming.’ Nor I would wager had many other people. An astonishing evening’s entertainment at Kingsmeadow saw the away side bounce back in fine style from their defeat against Bury Town at the weekend with a late winner enough to take the points back to Sussex and get Horsham’s season up and running. Jerome Maledon caused the Hornets defence a few problems early on before Tony Nwachukwu opened the scoring with a superb long range effort just before the half hour mark, sparking a flurry of goals. Nwachukwu grabbed his second of the evening shortly after running onto Callum Dunne’s header and rolling the ball past Rob Tolfrey before Tom Hutchinson turned in a long throw that had been flicked on by Gary MacDonald moments later to reduce the arrears. Daniel Morris grabbed his 2^nd goal of the season on the stroke of half time to restore Horsham’s two goal advantage before the break finishing Dane Luchford’s pass with aplomb.

The 2^nd period was as breathless as the first with Hutchinson forcing an excellent save from Matt Armstrong-Ford whilst at the other end Nwachukwu hit the crossbar and Morris was unable to tuck away the rebound. It wasn’t until 13 minutes from time that the K’s grabbed a lifeline as Hutchinson again rose highest to head home his 2^nd goal of the evening, this time from an Ian Selley corner. 3 minutes later, it was Simon Huckle’s turn to score a peach, curling the ball home brilliantly from the best part of 25 yards to draw the two sides level. At this stage, if either side was going to go on and win the game, the smart money would have been on the K’s. Nwachukwu had other ideas though and a late break saw him outpace the home defence and coolly complete his hat trick sliding the ball past Tolfrey once again to give the away side an unlikely lead. There was still time for Paul Olima to head over an open goal from almost point-blank range and Bobby Traynor to narrowly miss the target with another effort. In the end, Horsham held on for a superb 3 points that will have made the rest of the division sit up and take notice. Reflections from a Kingstonian fan are well worth a read on the Kingstonian Scouser blog. Take a look.

Next Matches:

Kingstonian – H v Canvey Island (11^th)

Horsham – A v AFC Hornchurch (6^th)

Tuesday Night:

Gulls nab The Points

AFC Hornchurch 1-2 Canvey Island (Prediction 2-0)

The Urchins and the Islanders made a mockery of my pre match prediction and indeed, their weekend results in this entertaining Tuesday evening clash at Bridge Avenue as the away side got their season kick started with an impressive looking away win against the weekend’s big winners. Hornchurch threatened to start off where they left off on Sunday taking the lead in the 18^th minute when skipper Elliot Styles headed home Michael Spencer’s corner. Martin Tuohy then twice went close to extending the lead and adding to his two weekend goals before the Islanders drew level. A free kick was swung in from the Canvey left and looked a comfortable claim for Darren Behcet. The Uchins’ custodian fluffed his lines though and left Danny Heale with the simplest of tasks to open his account for the season and draw the two sides level. After the break, both goalkeepers made good saves before Rob King was allowed time and space to run onto a long clearance from James Russell in the 63^rd minute before beating Behcet for what turned out to be the winner. Russell had to be at his best to preserve Canvey’s advantage late on as the Urchins pressed for an equaliser whilst Styles had a 2^nd header ruled out for an infringement by Frankie Curley. The Islanders held on to record their first win of the season, whilst AFC Hornchurch were left to rue a number of missed opportunities in a game they feel they shouldn’t have lost.

Next Matches:

AFC Hornchurch – H v Horsham (13^th)

Canvey Island – A v Kingstonian (17^th)

Stalemate and Spittle for Stones

Carshalton Athletic 0-0 Wealdstone (Prediction 1-1)

Another entertaining fixture, but one that ended goalless as Wealdstone picked up a useful looking point away at Carshalton in front of just 155 fans. The Stones made the early running with Alan Massey forcing Nick Hamann into a 2^nd minute save before Richard Jolly went close to opening his account for the season, heading Lee Chappell’s cross narrowly wide. Dean Lodge was the hosts’ most dangerous player and it was he who created the best opportunities of the half for Carshalton that neither Dean McDonald or Billy Crook were able to take advantage of. Late on Hamann was called on to save well again from Jolly and Kurtney Brooks hammered a 25 yard effort against the Robins’ crossbar.

At the break there was an unsavoury incident that saw a Carshalton player who was not named in the Matchday Squad and whose name may or may not include the words ‘Laurent’ and ‘Hamici’ is reported to have spat at a Wealdstone fan. There has been accounts on both clubs’ messageboards that for a change after such an incident back eachother up. Everyone is well aware that the Stones support come with plenty of what you might describe as banter, but there is never any excuse at all for anyone, particularly a player to react in such a disgusting manner. The head steward at Colston Avenue has been praised for the way in which he dealt with the incident and Hamici didn’t reappear on the bench for the 2^nd period. With Paul Dipre, the owner/manager at the Robins so keen for the club to be ‘family friendly’, I look forward to Hamici’s immediate banning order with no right of appeal.

Back to events on the pitch in the 2^nd half and both sides had chances to nick it. Jake Parsons diverted David Hicks’ floated cross past a wrong-footed Hamann but unfortunately for him, against the upright, before Dean Lodge managed to beat Jonathan North at the other end. With the Carshalton fans ready to celebrate, James Hammond got back to make a superb clearance off the line and maintain North’s blank sheet. Lodge was then inches away from turning in a Billy Crook cross whilst in the dying minutes Jolly shot against the post again and Lee Chappell fired inches over the top in a pulsating final 10 minutes. In the end, a point apiece but perhaps a little disappointment amongst the away side that they weren’t crossing back to Middlesex with 3 points in the bag.

Next Matches:

Carshalton – H v Hendon (2^nd)

Wealdstone – A v East Thurrock (15^th)

Charles is Concord’s Prince

Concord Rangers 1-1 Cray Wanderers (Prediction 2-0)

Trying to find a write-up of this game has been more difficult than trying finding a write-up of the British constitution. Tommy Whitnell gave Cray the lead 8 minutes before the break before Elliott Charles netted his first goal for Concord after the interval to salvage a point for the home side. I could make up a report about the rest of the game, about how Princess Michael of Kent was refereeing the game and that Yazz performed ‘The Only Way Is Up’  live and exclusively in one of the goalmouths at half time, but that would be a waste of my time and yours.

Next Matches:

Concord – H v Tooting (8^th)

Cray – A v Leatherhead (22^nd)

Hastings Battle Back

East Thurrock United 0-2 Hastings United (Prediction 2-0)

I got the scoreline right, just back to front. Hastings bounced back from their disappointing opening day reverse against the Rocks’ fellow new boys Wingate in fine style by beating Division 1 North champs East Thurrock at Rookery Hill quite comfortably. Matt Hall opened the scoring from the penalty spot midway through the first half after Marc Gorbell was adjudged to have brought Kenny Pogue down just inside the penalty area. To compound Gorbell’s abject misery, his reaction to the decision brought him a yellow card. As the Rocks pushed forward late on in pursuit of an equaliser, they were caught on the break in stoppage time and Dan Bolwell’s low cross was turned in at the far post by Pogue to complete a good night for Jason Hopkinson’s men. East Thurrock had their chances with Kye Ruel, Reiss Gilbey and Greg Cohen all going close, unfortunately for them, Lloyd Anderson in the United goal was in good form and kept the home side at bay with a series of very good saves. Relief then for the South Coast club that they’ve got their season started, whilst East Thurrock will be disappointed that they were unable to follow up their impressive weekend win at Tooting with another good result.

Next Matches:

East Thurrock – H v Wealdstone (16^th)

Hastings – A v Bury Town (9^th)

A Good Point Come May?

Harrow Borough 1-1 Billericay Town (Prediction 1-1)

Zing, bang, boom. Spot on scoreline. Take a bow. Dave Anderson got his first point as Harrow manager on Tuesday night with a 1-1 draw against Billericay Town. They opened the scoring on the stroke of half time with one of the Boro’ old boys Dean Fenton firing past Nick Morgan to give the home side a half-time advantage. Dave Lawrence had earlier missed a great chance for Harrow and further opportunities went begging for them to extend their lead after the break as well. They were made to pay when Jay May netted his first goal for the Blues (for whom Sam Berry debuted from the bench) from Junior Luke’s pass and from then on, David Knight and Rob Swaine missed the target as Billericay pushed for a winner. In the end, a point apiece was about right. Anderson will be pleased to get off the mark and Billericay won’t be too disappointed preserving their unbeaten run at a traditional graveyard for them.

Next Matches:

Billericay Town – A v Lewes (14^th)

Harrow Borough – H v Aveley (21^st)

Toots Give Tanners Tanning

Leatherhead 2-4 Tooting & Mitcham United (Prediction 1-2)

Leatherhead began strongly in their pursuit of a first Premier Division win for 28 years taking the game to Tooting, who themselves were looking to bounce back from an opening day reverse. Gary Drewett, Danny Gainsford and Sol Patterson-Bohner all went close for the Tanners early on before Osa Obamwonyi inadvertently diverted Greg Andrews’ driven free kick past his own goalkeeper to give the home side a half time lead.

The game turned on 2 controversial decisions within moments of each-other 10 minutes after the restart. Strong Leatherhead appeals for a penalty were turned down as the referee adjudged contact with a Tooting defender’s arm as accidental and as the ball was quickly moved to the other end, Mark Simmons fouled Reece Hall inside the Leatherhead area. This time, the referee pointed to the spot and dismissed the Leatherhead skipper for good measure. Jamie Byatt ignored the fuss and slammed the ball past Chico Ramos. Sub Fola Onijube then gave the visitors the lead turning the ball past Ramos before Byatt added a third with a powerful drive from the edge of the area. The Tanners fought back strongly and ensured a nervy finish to proceedings as Andrews opened his account for the season from the spot after a foul by the luckless Obamwonyi before Simon Lehkyj preserved Tooting’s advantage with a save from Gainsford and Andrews shot narrowly wide. Salt was rubbed into the open home side’s wounds late on as Jordan Wilson was released and ran fully 40 yards before rounding Ramos and slotting the ball home to complete an impressive win for Mark Beard’s charges.

Next Matches:

Leatherhead – H v Cray (20^th)

Tooting – A v Concord (18^th)

Millers Ground Down By Gate

Margate 3-0 Aveley (Prediction 3-1)

I often think an opening day point can be turned into a good start by winning the next match. 4 points out of 6 is a decent start by anyone’s reckoning and an average of 2 points per game will result in a home semi final in the Play offs. Margate made sure the point they gained at Wealdstone as they eventually broke down the stubborn resistance of an Aveley side that had set out their stall to make things as difficult as possible for the home side. Although Margate had chances early on through Kwesi Appiah and Liam Coleman but had to wait until the 37^th minute for the breakthrough. A corner was headed on by Craig Cloke and met by Dean Pooley to the relief of the ‘Gate fans. The goal woke the Millers up and Sean Bonnet-Johnson rapped a shot against Jack Smelt’s crossbar. The revival was short lived however as on the stroke of half time, with an Appiah effort already ruled out, the lead was extended through Cloke after good build up involving Dan Stubbs and Tom Bradbrook.

Although Aveley showed more attacking intent after the break, it was still the home side that created the best of the chances, Matt Bodkin and Wayne Wilson in particularly impressive form. Despite this, they had to wait until 4 minutes from time to wrap things up when Appiah fed the ball into Bradbrook on the edge of the 6 yard box and the number 9, who had been named as the Blue’s Man of the Match, was able to turn and fire past Dave McCartney to complete a good night’s work for Chris Kinnear’s outfit.

Next Matches:

Margate – H v Lowestoft (7^th)

Aveley – A v Harrow Borough (19^th)

On A Wing and a Prayer

Wingate & Finchley 2-1 Lowestoft Town (Prediction 0-2)

Another result that I really didn’t see coming and one that took Wingate into an early top spot in the table on goals scored. Early signs are that they have taken the form that saw them end the season on such an impressive run are showing no signs of ending. I suspected they might come undone against my title tips from Suffolk, but not for the first time I was proved thoroughly wrong as Wingate stormed into a 2-0 lead through Lewis Smith’s 2^nd goal in 2 matches and the powerful Murat Karagul. Although Michael Frew pulled a goal back 15 minutes from time for Lowestoft, there was to be no fairytale ending and they traveled back to East Anglia deservedly beaten. They will be hoping to bounce back on Saturday where they face a very tricky looking trip to Margate, in what will be another stern early test of their title credentials. Wingate meanwhile, have a Saturday off following the postponement of their game against Met Police, due to policing requirements over the bank holiday weekend in Notting Hill. Their next test comes on Bank Holiday Monday against Wealdstone.

Next Matches:

Wingate – A v Wealdstone (16^th)

Lowestoft – A v Margate (3^rd)

Wednesday Night:

Rooks Cop It

Lewes 1-0 Met. Police (Prediction 3-0)

The Rooks got their season up and running in unconvincing fashion against a strong and uncompromising Met Police side last night thanks to a goal from seasoned (a bit too much coriander for my tastes) goal getter Paul Booth in the first half. The goal was a beauty, an acrobatic volley from the edge of the box as Booth opened his account in his second spell at the Dripping Pan. Stafforde Palmer, Tony Finn and Ty Smith provided the odd threat for the Old Bill and Steve Williams was perhaps a little fortunate to escape being dismissed after upending Palmer outside his penalty area. The referee opted to show the goalkeeper yellow though and also denied both sides strong shouts for a penalty. Lewes held on for the three points and will be hoping to kick on from here. For the Met, far from being outplayed they will take great heart from their performance into their unintended early season break due to the Notting Hill Carnival.

Next Matches:

Lewes – H v Billericay Town (5^th)

Met. Police – H v Leatherhead (22^nd) – 31^st August

Tomorrow I’ll be giving my reasons for not attending Hendon’s match this weekend at Carshalton, and will also do my weekend predictions.