Cup Exits, Managerial Exits and Wayne Brown

If there are two competitions that bring me out in a cold sweat, then the League Cup and FA Trophy are them. It isn’t just the continually uninspiring draws we get, it’s the fact that even if we do well enough to get through the first stage of either competition, a disappointing, and in the case of the Trophy often heavy defeat is merely 90 minutes away. The 2011/12 season has proven no different in the last week. I mustn’t be too despondent because in the grand scheme of things, the start to the season has been outstanding. 23 points from 10 matches, a win in our Cup Final down the Picadilly Line at Ruislip, 4^th Qualifying Round and drawn away to Luton Town in the FA Cup, and up until Saturday, a defence that did look genuinely water-tight for the first time in living memory.

Maybe Next Season Scott, Maybe Next Season

I can’t comment too much on either match having not attended (terrible fan, I know, but all will be rectified tonight at home to Met Police) but any slight disappointment in conceding two goals in a pair of minutes at Earlsmead on Tuesday night to exit the League Cup was completely buried by the battering we received at a Rob King inspired Canvey Island on Saturday to extend our bafflingly bad run in the FA Trophy. There’s no disgrace in losing at Canvey, they’re a decent side who are enjoying a decent first couple of months to their season. 4-0 is a beating we haven’t looked like receiving so far this season though and I thought the days of butt whippings like these might have been a thing of the past. Alas not.

Credit to Canvey, all reports I’ve read suggest we were comprehensively outfought, outthought and outplayed with King particularly outstanding for the Gulls. They go on to meet fellow previous Trophy winners-cum-relegation-volunteers Grays Athletic at Rookery Hill on Bonfire Night. There is the potential for a decent crowd to attend that one as well as the £3,000 on offer for the winners. A nice little earner whichever way you look at it.

For Hendon, we have a brief return to league action this evening as we meet Met Police, the side we banished from the FA Cup this time last year in a 4^th Qualifying Round replay. The Met lost 1-0 in their Trophy tie at Folkestone on Saturday afternoon, which added to an early FA Cup exit at Beckenham Town has left them able to concentrate on their league campaign with only the midweek cups remaining to distract them. So far, they’ve started well winning 6 of their 12 matches and sitting comfortably in 9^th place meaning that barring a collapse of Eurozone economic proportions, a swift return to Southern Division 1 looks pretty unlikely, giving them every opportunity to look into allegations of racism in leafy West London.

Left a bit, right a bit, get together! A defensive wall

Their squad possesses plenty of quality, Jamie Butler trialed with Lincoln City in the summer after spending much of last season between the sticks at Tooting & Mitcham, earning rave reviews in the process, Orlando Jeffrey provides plenty of experience at centre back having been a student at the Alan Devonshire school of offside puppetry for a number of years. Further forward, former AFC Wimbledon wide man Tony Finn provides the guile and trickery from wide positions and Stafforde Palmer, currently the leading scorer at Imber Court is a dangerous customer up front. Jack Page and Craig Hughes are both part of the Met’s squad, fans may remember both players as youngsters enjoying brief spells on loan at Claremont Road. Hughes will definitely miss the game having suffered a massive injury earlier on in the season, whilst Page has also been missing recently as part of a long injury list that probably rivals Gary McCann’s.

Everyone will be looking to bounce back from the indifferent week just gone tomorrow night and put down a marker before the trip up the M1 to Kenilworth Road at the weekend. The last thing you want to be doing is facing a side like Luton having lost your last three matches. There will probably be question marks over Greg Ngoyi’s fitness tonight after he limped off at Canvey in the first half, but with Isaiah Rankin and Belal Aite-Ouakrim both no doubt chomping at the bit to stake their claim for a starting berth at the weekend, it’s not as if we’re going to have to resort to lumping Craig Carbo-Vargs up front on his own.

A win for the Greens will return them to the top of the table, at least until the weekend with the rest of the top 8 not in action. It’ll be a good test of exactly how far we’ve come over the last three months or so. Not just in terms of our ability to bounce back after a couple of disappointing results and performances, but as to whether we can truly be considered contenders this season. Realistically, come this time next week we’ll be preparing to take on Horsham and have just the two county Senior Cups to distract us from mounting a real challenge in the league. I certainly feel like I’ve more faith in this squad than I have previously, a lot of that comes down to the strength in depth and the character shown at times to grind out results. At half time tonight we will be at the quarter point of the season, so there’s still an awful long way to go. The general consensus around the blogosphere and forumsphere is that the quality of the division this season isn’t great (when is it ever?) so really, it’s all down to ourselves and what we believe can be achieved.

Elsewhere in the division, Sussex is currently completely manager-less as both Jason Hopkinson and Justin Luchford have paid the price for the indifferent starts made at Hastings United and Horsham. Hastings are apparently already in talks with a permanent replacement for Hopkinson and hope to be able to make an announcement soon whilst Horsham have placed Luchford’s assistant Hugo Langton in temporary charge. Fans of both clubs will be hoping that the changes in the hot-seats have the desired effect and signal an upturn in fortunes.

Wayne Brown - New Face at Bury Town

Wayne Brown is the latest former Premier League, and former Watford man to join the Ryman League ranks after signing for Bury Town. 34 year old Brown made more than 350 league appearances in a career that took in spells at Ipswich Town, Colchester United, Hull City, Leicester City and as recently as February this year Preston North-End. He made his debut last week in Town’s 1-0 League Cup win over Harlow Town. Another one for the nerdy autograph hunters to harass.

All being well, tomorrow I’ll be reporting on another 3 points for the Greens and looking down again from the summit of the division. The alternative might not make for the prettiest of reading. Until then..