Its been a while since my last update so I would like to reflect on our season so far, answer some of the questions regarding our last performance and bring you up to date on the squad and our expectation for 2010.
Starting with injuries and new signings:
Steve Smith has damaged ankle ligaments following the late challenge against Harefield at worst we expect he could be out for 6 weeks, we are fortunate that Steve will receive treatment from Liz Carson at her clinic, for those of you who don't know Liz is a former England Hockey international who runs who own clinic in Haddenham she recently joined us to support John on match days and to treat our players quickly and efficiently with injuries. Our back up goal keeper Matt Timberlake is unavailable for the time being due to his wife having just given birth to twins, I have therefore signed 2 goalkeepers each at different stages of their careers the first one is Jack Rashid, Jack 37 is very experienced goalkeeper having played for Aylesbury United, St Neots and Arlesey, after 2 years of not playing this season he has been playing for Renhold in the Bedfordshire senior league. I have also signed Aaron Bufton on duel registration from Ryman league Northwood, Aaron is 18 and has been a junior at both Portsmouth and Swindon and has made 8 appearances for the Woods this season I am hoping this will give us sufficient cover whilst Smithy recovers.
I have agreed with Wealdstone to extend Ross Lafayette's spell with us and I expect if everything goes well this should be for the remainder of the season. Sam Swonnell is now fit and just needs match time as does Kevin Mealor, Liam Smyth has recovered from a calf strain, we expect to see both Dean Brennan and Kia Ridley available after the Christmas break. I have listed below our full 1st team squad going into 2010 of course not everyone will be involved each week and we will look to organise loan deals to give players not in the side match time:
Goalkeepers
Steve Smith, Matt Timberlake, Jack Rashid, Aaron Bufton
Defenders
Mark Boyce, Ben Stevens, Matt Hayward, Danny Mead, Ed Chemlal, Kia Ridley, Kevin Mealor
Midfield
Matt Butler, Greg Williams, Liam Smyth, Gareth Price, Sam Swonnell, Kieran Schmidt, Sam Swonnell, Stuart Maynard
Forwards
Craig Henney, Nathan Graham, Ross Lafayette, Dean Brennan
Our last performance against Harefield has brought some stinging criticism and to be fair some of it has been justified we have enjoyed many plaudits so we have to take this on the chin, myself, the management team and the players know that was not acceptable and it has been made clear to everyone what is expected at this club. We did have some problems prior to the game with players last minute non availability and work commitments but no excuses with the team we put out we should never get beat 3-0 at home. I have analyzed what went wrong and honestly believe we started bright and should have been ahead, their goal was virtually the first time they had been in our half, we didn't react to the second ball from the set piece something we need to improve on, despite this I still believed at half time we would go on and win the game. The second half we again started bright but the second goal killed us and we have to accept that both second half goals were defensive mistakes. We had to chase the game and I have to admit we looked dead on our feet and ended up well beaten. I can assure everyone that our spirit is still great and we have to put things in perspective that was our 30th competitive game and we have lost only 7 in all competitions and only 3 in the league and I am certainly am not planning to loose to many more.
In terms of where we are in the league and my assessment of the the season so far back in August when we set out on this journey we would have most definitely taken where we find ourselves at the end of 2009, we have also had the bonus of a great FA cup run with biggest disappointment going out of the Vase so early. I think we have played some fantastic football along the way and the emergence of young players like Gareth and Kieran have been a joy to watch. Nothing is certain in football we have no divine right to win this league we are one of probably 6 teams that hope to be in the shake up, we know we haven't achieved anything yet but I can assure that we are going to make every effort to achieve our objectives. We have a great local derby to look forward to against Tring on the 28th who currently sit top on goal difference, hopefully we can get the right result and then go on and utilise our games in hand, if we continue with our month by month league results so far then 2010 should be a very successful one.
Thank you for your continued support Best wishes for Christmas and New Year
Mark
Starting with injuries and new signings:
Steve Smith has damaged ankle ligaments following the late challenge against Harefield at worst we expect he could be out for 6 weeks, we are fortunate that Steve will receive treatment from Liz Carson at her clinic, for those of you who don't know Liz is a former England Hockey international who runs who own clinic in Haddenham she recently joined us to support John on match days and to treat our players quickly and efficiently with injuries. Our back up goal keeper Matt Timberlake is unavailable for the time being due to his wife having just given birth to twins, I have therefore signed 2 goalkeepers each at different stages of their careers the first one is Jack Rashid, Jack 37 is very experienced goalkeeper having played for Aylesbury United, St Neots and Arlesey, after 2 years of not playing this season he has been playing for Renhold in the Bedfordshire senior league. I have also signed Aaron Bufton on duel registration from Ryman league Northwood, Aaron is 18 and has been a junior at both Portsmouth and Swindon and has made 8 appearances for the Woods this season I am hoping this will give us sufficient cover whilst Smithy recovers.
I have agreed with Wealdstone to extend Ross Lafayette's spell with us and I expect if everything goes well this should be for the remainder of the season. Sam Swonnell is now fit and just needs match time as does Kevin Mealor, Liam Smyth has recovered from a calf strain, we expect to see both Dean Brennan and Kia Ridley available after the Christmas break. I have listed below our full 1st team squad going into 2010 of course not everyone will be involved each week and we will look to organise loan deals to give players not in the side match time:
Goalkeepers
Steve Smith, Matt Timberlake, Jack Rashid, Aaron Bufton
Defenders
Mark Boyce, Ben Stevens, Matt Hayward, Danny Mead, Ed Chemlal, Kia Ridley, Kevin Mealor
Midfield
Matt Butler, Greg Williams, Liam Smyth, Gareth Price, Sam Swonnell, Kieran Schmidt, Sam Swonnell, Stuart Maynard
Forwards
Craig Henney, Nathan Graham, Ross Lafayette, Dean Brennan
Our last performance against Harefield has brought some stinging criticism and to be fair some of it has been justified we have enjoyed many plaudits so we have to take this on the chin, myself, the management team and the players know that was not acceptable and it has been made clear to everyone what is expected at this club. We did have some problems prior to the game with players last minute non availability and work commitments but no excuses with the team we put out we should never get beat 3-0 at home. I have analyzed what went wrong and honestly believe we started bright and should have been ahead, their goal was virtually the first time they had been in our half, we didn't react to the second ball from the set piece something we need to improve on, despite this I still believed at half time we would go on and win the game. The second half we again started bright but the second goal killed us and we have to accept that both second half goals were defensive mistakes. We had to chase the game and I have to admit we looked dead on our feet and ended up well beaten. I can assure everyone that our spirit is still great and we have to put things in perspective that was our 30th competitive game and we have lost only 7 in all competitions and only 3 in the league and I am certainly am not planning to loose to many more.
In terms of where we are in the league and my assessment of the the season so far back in August when we set out on this journey we would have most definitely taken where we find ourselves at the end of 2009, we have also had the bonus of a great FA cup run with biggest disappointment going out of the Vase so early. I think we have played some fantastic football along the way and the emergence of young players like Gareth and Kieran have been a joy to watch. Nothing is certain in football we have no divine right to win this league we are one of probably 6 teams that hope to be in the shake up, we know we haven't achieved anything yet but I can assure that we are going to make every effort to achieve our objectives. We have a great local derby to look forward to against Tring on the 28th who currently sit top on goal difference, hopefully we can get the right result and then go on and utilise our games in hand, if we continue with our month by month league results so far then 2010 should be a very successful one.
Thank you for your continued support Best wishes for Christmas and New Year
Mark
