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Barnet are currently rock bottom of League 1 and in danger of losing touch with the pack even at this early stage of the season. They have lost their last 3 games, but the players still see happy enough. First choice keeper Paul Jones is determined to stop the team's run of defeats so I am confidant that they will turn the corner soon.
Dennis Oli was injured playing for the Reserves. He's torn a calf muscle and is expected to be out for between 3 months and 5 months. The news comes as a shock to me. He's contributed 4 goals from 5 starts and his goals will be missed, but more importantly, it confirms that he will not be going anywhere soon and we are stuck paying his wages :thdn:.
I'm annoyed at the Oli injury and it hits me hard. I'm just so frustrated. The phone rings in the office and I snap it straight up. It's a reporter from The Barnet Borough Times and he wants to know what I think about my replacement Brian Borrows. As I start to decline to comment, he points out that Borrows has stated that he is 'Fairly annoyed with me', and is rumoured to feel threatened with the high esteem that many of his players hold me in. I react before my brain is in gear and have given the reporter his scoop before I can stop myself :kris102:.
Grays boss Jim Kavanagh made it clear to journalists, that he did not see eye to eye with Brian Borrows and added that it wouldn't exactly hurt him to see Barnet underachieve this season.
While I said the words, it is not how I feel. Yes of course I dream of being welcomed back at Underhill, and proving my doubters wrong, but my present is at Grays and I just need to concentrate on my job and not worry about the fortunes of others.
Our next visitors are Barnet's local rivals Hendon. We pass the ball really well in the first half and take the lead through Kevin Nolan after great work by midfielder Dave Adams. Our advantage is further increased when our opposition are again reduced to 10 men, and we start the 2nd half with a goal and a man advantage. Instead of rolling over and dying, Hendon really give it a go in the 2nd half and deservedly grab an eqialiser with 5 minutes to play. Their strong arm tactics ensured that they left with 10 yellow cards and 1 red. They may not win many friends with this brand of football but they won't lose many games.
Our 3rd of 3 home games in a row sees us entertain league leaders Havant & Waterlooville. It appears that the key to their succes has been using a settled team. 11 of their squad have played a part in at least 10 games this season. The same claim can only be made by 6 of my squad. I need to decide what my best team is and stick to it. The first half is pretty even and stays scoreless. H & W play decent football and it makes a nice change to see the ball fizz around the pitch rather than see my players getting kicked off it. I tell the boys that they can win it and ask them to be more direct. We've had a lot of the ball in recent games but are not using it well enough. My plan works with 15 minutes left, as 16 year old left winger Gary Leach nods us in front from a lofted ball in by Steven Kearney. They throw the kitchen sink at us late on but we hang on. Gary White had a BIG game for us at centre back and deserved his MOM award. Nicky Eyre was impressive too.
After 3 home games on the spin, we are back on the road to Folkestone. Despite left back Chris Matthews tucking away his 3rd spot kick of the campaign, Folkestone equalise just after the break and then grab all 3 points in the 95th minute. I'm not happy that we conceded such a late goal, but in hindsight the writing was on the wall earlier and I just didn't see it. Neil Cudgley the Folkestone manager, swapped both his strikers with 15 minutes left and we never really coped with their threat in the air. I'll just have to put it down to experience :thdn:.
Kettering handed us our biggest home defeat. The slammed 4 past us without reply :eek:. The fact that we finished the game with only 7 outfield players may have influenced the outcome somewhat . Winger Adam Miller was shown a 2nd yellow after only 8 minutes. Midfielder Gary Battersby joined him before half an hour was played and 17 year old Mick Murray, (making his debut), made it 3 on the hour :thdn:.
League Home. Grays 1 Havant & Waterlooville 0. Goal, Gary Leach.
League Away. Folkestone 2 Grays 1. Goal, Chris Matthews (pen).
League Home. Grays 0 Kettering 4. Red card, Adam Miller (8), Gary Battersby (27), Mick Murray (61).
The Grays board are very pleased with my performance :thup:.
The club made a profit of £2.26K last month :thup:.
We still sit 2nd in the league, but now find ourselves 4 points behind leaders Havant & Waterlooville. We've only won once this month, but have been saved by the fact that many of our rivals have also been underperforming and that our sole win was against chart topping Havant & Waterlooville. Havant have a small squad and have been lucky with injuries and suspensions. Over the course of the season I have no doubt that they will struggle to keep performing at this level.
We will obviously be hit by suspensions over our next few games and injuries to key players are starting to whittle down our young squad. Dennis Oli is still out with a torn calf muscle. The physio has suggested that it may be mid to late February before he plays again. Much as I wanted to off-load the Grays legend, we have missed him since he's been injured :thdn:.
Loan striker Peter Graham is also still out with a sprained wrist. He should be back in about 2 weeks :thup:.
Barnet seem to have finally turned the corner. They are unbeaten in their last 4 games and have moved up 3 places in the league to 21st. Keeper Paul Jones and striker Steven Gillespie have been their star performers. Gillespie has weighed in with 5 goals in the last month. While I don't want to see their manager succeed, I obviously still have fond memories of the club and happy to see them moving up the table :thup:.
The Grays squad is starting to have a more settled look about it. Nicky Eyre is a fixture in goal. He has played in every game and has no challengers for a position that he has made his own. 16 year old Chris Matthews has cemented his position at left back, (helped in no small way by 3 goals from the spot). Club captain and current Irish U21 player and Garry White is the regular right back. Centre back is a bit of a 3 way tussle between Welsh U21 player Kevin Morgan, experienced 31 year old Joe Bruce and 6'4" "Big" Tony Jackson. 16 year old Gary Leach has become a regular on the left wing with Adam Hall on the right. The middle positions seep to still be up for grabs. Mark Hughes Snr, Gary Battersby and Dave Adams seem to be rotating the 2 positions between them. The 2 positions up front are still up for grabs. Top scorer Oli is out injured and will be out for a while, loanee Peter Graham is out and Ben Saunders is suspended leaving me with just loanee Jones, Kevin Nolan and David Thomas.
Ex Liverpool and England sweeper Mark Wright has been sacked by Championship side Brighton after reports surfaced that he had lost the confidence of the Brighton players. Managers linked with the now vacant role, are Ex England and Charlton full back Chris Powell, who was sacked from Charlton last month leaving them rock bottom of the Championship, Arsenal legend Dennis Bergkamp, (currently Assistant to Steve Parkin at Stoke), and Jim Kavanagh, current manager of high flying Grays Athletic.
. Winger Adam Miller was shown a 2nd yellow after only 8 minutes. Midfielder Gary Battersby joined him before half an hour was played and 17 year old Mick Murray, (making his debut), made it 3 on the hour :thdn:.
, current manager of high flying Grays Athletic.
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