I was missing the Alfredians, and it's good to be back.
2 November 2017
At least the end of the month went better than the beginning.
Kidderminster are top of the league, so I suppose an 0-1 result isn't that bad for a club that's battling relegation. Wrexham are also in the playoff places, but that's no excuse for the horrid performance we produced four nights later. We were behind 5-0 early in the second half, so those two late goals were small comfort.
We were playing without first team strikers
Mick Hart and
Paul Douglas, but--again--that's not why we shipped five goals. I gave the players the hair dryer treatment after the match, and we played much better at Havant & Waterlooville. Still, as we boarded the coach for the ride back home, we found ourselves without a win in our last five matches.
Fortunately, Hart and Douglas were back in the lineup against Salisbury City. The Whites have been struggling even more than we have, so we knew we needed a result. We got a bit of luck when a
Dominic Hutchinson corner pinballed around the area and fell at
Matt Osman's feet. Matt made no mistake, and we took an early lead. Salisbury drew level before the intermission, but five minutes after intermission, Douglas played in Hart for a vintage Alfredians goal. The three points put us back where we were three weeks ago, in 18th place, one point from the drop zone.
We made it two in a row last Saturday, advancing to the First Round proper of the FA Cup with a 2-0 victory over our old Southern Premier rivals from Farnborough. I gave
Josias Bedwell a start, and he rewarded me with a goal. Hart got the other one, but the real star was
Tom Wilkinson, who set up both scores with delightful passes.
Ryan Ryder has been scouting in Ireland, and he's found several talented young players whom we've brought in on trial. One or two of them might end up in Wantage colors. We'll see what happens.
I'll probably start updating monthly (in game time), so watch this space.