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firstly a very belated cheers to fin, from the first page, thanks for that,

and cheers Spav - yeah Scandinavia is definitely a haven of nice cheap talent, and the lack of a visible wage budget in this version certainly helps with the likes of Negri

The final match of the month certainly lent hope to a better run in before Christmas, but the frustrating point from the players’ point of view was that having gone out of the cup already they had another gap before the next match in ten days time, but as Owen pointed out to them, they only had themselves to blame. It did on the other hand allow for further squad building where possible. More loans still weren’t being cooperative and Sally had to remind Owen that with Fotiadis being the third loan of this season he had only two more deals he could make before summer, so it was permanent deals where possible. He’d already managed to half bugger up the Fredriksen player as after finally having agreed a fee – it had not totally surprisingly ended up far higher than that 14k carrot figure Sal had suggested initially, by insulting the players self-esteem with the initial conversation. Something about not being guaranteed football was the gist of it, but after a cooling off period Owen hoped to revive the deal.

The final day of the month was spent catching up with the big boys as what with a few of the lads being local there were inevitably a few Villa lads in the ranks and a footy get together was organised with pizza and beer to watch the Villains UEFA Cup match with Pogon. The midlands club had actually started the season well in the league, occupying 2nd spot, and were still in Europe – rarity indeed. Typically though as soon as Owen and the boys became interested, Villa went out to the mighty Polish randoms. Ok it was extra time and even a goal in overtime could have won it, when Hadji scored in the 114th minute but the side couldn’t hold out 6 minutes and lost on penalty kicks. A disappointing result, but it hadn’t ruined what had turned out to be an excellent night all around, with the new guys able to mix with the seniors, mostly getting tips about estate agents for local flats and houses or favourite tipple houses.

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October Review – BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester With Aidan and Kel

“ Well good morrow my fine folkses! Aidan and Kel here so you know what time it is! Yes stay with us a couple of minutes as we re-cap Worcester City and Owen Newitt’s month of October!”

“Indeed! Though I might apologise now if I sound a little sore in places… I’m still recovering from my broken nose! Isn’t that great Aidan!”

“It was an accident – get over it haha! You know the score listeners anyway let’s get cracking! A poor start to the month saw them smashed – ”

“ Like my nose – ”

“ Sssh! Smashed by Southport 3-1 in a game they were never really in, despite Jo Murphys’ early goal and controversial celebration! What was that? Man breasts?”

“ Haha! I know something you don’t know!”

“Your nose is broken?”

“Fine. Carrying on, that league win was followed up with a crushing 3-0 defeat by LEIGH RMI knocking us out of the FA Cup…”

“yes it certainly hit them where it hurt hey Aidan? Knocked out of joint, you MIGHT say.”

“Well, looky here, you could have been out there if you weren’t such a lazy drunkard!”

“ ahaha yes listeners, Aidan ever the comic! Hilarious joke that. Ok! Well moving on – we get to the final game of the month – only 3 games this time around – ”

“Woo, well done use an abacus did you for that one?”
“Yes, yes I did. Now be quiet. Of course as we all know it ended victoriously for us as we overcame Morecambe 2-0 with Negri and DAZZLING Darren Middleton the scorers as the change of tactics inspired Worcester to win!”

“WAHEY! Now of course the month as usual has seen it’s fair share of speculation and now we’ll confirm who’s moved where and when and who maybe on the transfer express in the near future!”

“Oh yes! Now there were a few additions this month – mostly defenders – with firstly Adam Vickers arriving for 6k, before George Siros made his move permanent – ”

“ Bit of a daft move in hindsight by Owen there as he’s been a bit rubbish and is a little on the crazy side so I’ve heard!”

“You’re one to talk about craziness Aidan that’s for sure, especially with that teapot on your head!”

“It’s a Chinese fez you ignoramus!”

“ Put the thesaurus down numbnuts, and I’ll ignore that strange claim… anyway also signing on the dotted line at Worcester were Justin Wiseman from Racing Club Warwick for a small fee and David Baharall the former Newcastle defender! Ok he never played for them, but he did train with them and presumably had to keep Shearer away from goal… clearly he didn’t do very well but hey we’ll have him!”

“And you’re forgetting that Swedish fella too! Sven!”

“No he’s German! Sven Hein arrived out of nowhere on our shores..”

“ASYLUM SEEKER! OUT!”

“Idiot, anyway he’s here but word reached us earlier today that he’s picked up a bit of a strain in training and will have to wait at least a couple of weeks for his chance of a debut!”

“Over and Out!”

“Til next month… take care! Aidan! A word….”

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For Owen the weekend without football proved to be business as usual as it was only the small matter of not having to coach the players for 90 minutes that made it differ from any other weekend – the usual rigmarole of going for ambitious loans, being knocked back by both Celtic and Arsenal in bids for Liam Miller and Steven Sidwell on loan deals respectively. Sally as scout was being sent far a field whilst Gary Wood was asked to do all the work on following opponents as he simply didn’t have enough time to do it himself at the present time, and coupled with his occasional reserve team duties he had barely a chance for a breather. Still there was always the prospect of another big signing for the club in a key area coming in soon.

“ Hey Jeff, how’s the Appleby situation holding up?”

“Well Owen that last deal you sorted with without me knowing, well the board had to cancel it as they didn’t think it was a fair move!”

“What?! Barnsley rate him at 400k right? We structured the bid how again?”

“250k being paid over 12 months, with a further 210k being sent after 50 appearances and the extra 100k on that international appearance.”

“Well surely that’s a good deal? I mean the 100k is never going to be paid for! He’s 29 he’s not going to be picked for England if he can’t get into the Barnsley side!”

“It’s the other bits. Owen I may have put in my own cash – legitimate cash I might add in, but we’re still a conference club and we have to run like that! We want to take this club into league football of course! But we have budgets, we have constraints! If we take all these risks and it doesn’t pan out we WILL go bankrupt! There’s only so much I can put in of my own money you know.”

“ Well surely a deal can be agreed! Try again, take off the 100k and reduce the other figures and see what comes out. The player wants to leave – Sally told me – so they should be willing to get him off their wage budget…”

“Ok… I’ll try Owen but given the amount we’ve spent so far, I still have to watch the pennies ok? This’ll have to be the last big signing if I can get until the end of the season – unless there are any sales, understand?”

“Sure, cheers Jeff!”

“No problem, now you go worry about the Hayes game tonight and get us another three points there sport.”

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That’s exactly what Owen would be doing. Matty Appleby, his wife had gloriously discovered, was another interested in taking up the Matty Rose route of resurrecting his career. Ironically they were also fairly identical in ability and position. He also added experience and versatility to the backline and in midfield, and had a few years on top of Rose. It would be a massive lift if he were able to join, especially with Jo looking somewhat shaky in midfield at times, her aggression not quite being able to compensate for lack of fitness. Onto the Hayes match on the Wednesday night, and he’d elected to stick with the 3-5-2 formation that had defeated Morecambe. George Siros, who’d made a bizarre turn on his views and now seemed quite in love with the club, would start in place of Vickers in the backline. The defensive positives of the formation shone clearly to all the fans witnessing the spectacle as a chance on goal aside from 40 yard free kicks wasn’t created until after the half hour mark in one of the most spectacularly dull matches in a while – even though Owen admitted his side probably needed to work on their resilience a little more.

Fortunately it turned out to be a goal at the right end and Andrew Fotiadis took the plaudits when one of those free kicks paid off. Richard Gell swung it in from the right side, Matt Rose knocked it down into the path of the forward and it was a simple finish for the Luton man. 1-0 to the Worcester, and the side definitely had taken on that Arsenal of the early nineties edge, as they simple nulled the entire game into mind numbing frustration. Credit where due, the side had toughened up amazingly, but the full backs Rod and Richard Gell were taking their defensive attributes to the extreme. At 1-0, Owen wasn’t going to worry too unduly but a failure to add to that lead always held with it the threat of wasting the points. Darren Middleton saw a shot hit the bar, whilst Joanne was hustling and bustling all evening trying to finish the match off, but to no avail. A late triple substitution helped control the final few minutes though, with fresh legs in defence midfield and attack, but in the end a 1-0 win sufficed and the fans wouldn’t be too unhappy.

Though the side were able to relax a small while before the intriguing derby in prospect on Saturday against Hereford, Owen was kept occupied with the reserve fixture the Thursday night. A mixture of experience and youth were involved in the 3-0 win, as Drew netted to bolster his confidence and Tucker and Weir were given games to keep their legs fresh.

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A satisfying week continued pleasantly on Friday as finally Jeff and Paul sanctioned a deal to bring in Matty Appleby from Barnsley and Owen was delighted. The sweeper cum centre half cum defensive midfielder would be thrown right into the lions den against Hereford in the lunchtime kick off. In confident mood and hoping to excite the fans, Owen returned to his more central attacking formation of a few weeks ago, content now that a strong defensive partnership of Beharall and Appleby would stand firm. With Rose as the go between, it looked a very strong core line. Even Dick Holder was relegated to the bench in a shake of the side that also so Joanne shifted out. Her recent form had seen little else other than determination, which is an admirable quality, but when not combined with anything of real substance is of little use to the side.

Despite the return to winning ways, a local derby, and the recent acquisition of a Division 2 player, who had even served time in the Premiership, the crowd was at a good 55% of it’s usual attendance – which was just weird. They couldn’t all be in The Talbot watching it on the telly could they? Jesus, the ground was only 5 minutes walk away – where were they? The missing hundreds though missed what would turn out to be quite the game. By returning to the more centrally focused formation of before, the players enjoyed the increased license to get forward and attack the ball directly as opposed to playing out wide and then coming back in. Having escaped a slight scare initially as the defence got carried away with the attacking element, Worcester made the perfect start with a goal on 7 minutes. Dick Holder from the back passed to Matt Rose around the centre circle who in turned moved it left to Richard Gell whose touch allowed him to move it swiftly onto Darren Middleton on the edge of the area. Just before he was crowded out of space he knocked it sideways into the stride of Fotiadis who banged it in with exceptional venom.

The game continued in a battling vein, and whilst there were limited chances it was still an intriguing contest as the fans who were there ensured it was an emotionally charged contest, and it sparked up further when a crunching challenge from Rose saw Steve Bull hobble off injured and the defender booked despite chants for him to be sent off. With the lead already present Owen knew if his side calmed the tempo down they would ease their chances of winning. As Hereford tried to push the ball towards Danny McDonnell’s goal they were hit with a counter attack and as the second shot of the match for the hosts also found the net. Davies had it down the left wing before he pushed it diagonally ahead to Middleton again and the young forward, causing all sorts of problems found Gell with a deft back heel whilst facing the wrong way. Gell crossed, Negri headed, and it was 2-0, and ten for Marco. Top marks for efficiency certainly and Owen was delighted. The game tightened up a little after that as Hereford eased off eager not to worsen the damage, and only a couple of hopeful long rangers from both sides were seen before the half time whistle.

With one foot in the door towards moving into the top 5, Owen preached caution in the early stages to prevent an angry early response and it certainly worked as the game became a scrappy affair in the middle. The defence kept their discipline and Hereford, with their frustration growing pushed more men up. It was capitalised upon in the 61st minute as Matt Rose’s vision launched a swift counter attack, finding Dick roving down the right wing. The full back swung in a cross, Negri volleyed powerfully, and though it was saved, the rebound was followed up by the unfortunate Ian Wright for an Own Goal and it was supposed to be game over. Justin Wiseman was brought on for Jo Murphy and Owen hoped his side would see out the rest of the match with little to worry about. Wrong. A few minutes later Phil Gray hit the bar and not long after that he scored to bring it back to 3-1 – seemingly not a huge crisis, until he then scored again within 3 minutes and there were still more than ten minutes to play. Nerves were in abundance, as Worcester resorted to some ugly but effective ball hoofing, in a not-going-to-be-my-problem kind of fashion. It became a very tense affair, and was only settled for good in the final minute when, with the visitors pressing hard, Justin Wiseman carried the ball forward and unmarked lashed home a brilliant 35 yard effort into the top corner – a most splendid way to end a derby contest. A fantastic win,

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The Talbot

The usual Uni quartet are accompanied by Darren Middleton, Sven, Matty R and Matty A

“ So Applehead!” Rod always had a fondness for starting new friendships a bit weirdly. “ Why did ya join us?”

“ Ah, Barnsley’s a bit of a hole you know?”

“Not really.”

“Well it is. Nah, seriously I had a good time there, but it wasn’t working out and I wasn’t in their plans. I wanted games even it meant dropping a level or two. Get the games in put yourself in the show window and all that!”

“Fair dues. And after the Hereford game you got no regrets?”

“Haha no! You lot are much better than I thought you were!”

“Patronising git!” Drew interjected.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean it like that, but generally conference level surprised me a lot. Promotion seems always possible here!”

“It’s probably like that at around ten other clubs at the moment.” Dick replied. “ Everyone’s pretty equal and can beat one another, so it’s all up for grabs!”

“Though we got Jeff to be fair.” Cynical James added. “ All that money from his up and coming business just appearing out of nowhere!”

“Oh give it a rest Mr Paranoid! It’s not as if he’s loaded is it! Owen’s bought eleven in which is effectively a new side and is fair enough!” Rod rebutted his friend. “ Anyway, Drew, pool, now?”

“Sure.” As the pair went off to play the others carried on talking about the side’s form, and Sven was introduced to some proper British Ales, as well as the cocktail favourites. Getting him hammered was possibly a bit unfair on the lightweight, especially as he then appeared to have slept over the following day with a 'headache'.

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“ Sven! Where were you this morning! Are you hungover?!”

“Sorry boss, I was liking the drink but the others gave me more and I couldn’t say no! I want to conversate with the people and be part of club!”

“You can do that without getting drunk Sven! Look just go home and rest up! In your condition I don’t expect you to be out socialising til you’re completely fit understand?”

“Yessir, I understood.” [/i] The little German walked out forlornly clearly ashamed to have got into trouble so soon into his career, but Owen secretly wasn’t too unhappy, it was good to see the players bonding and uniting, always the sign of a strong side, made all the more happier following the excellent win over Hereford a game that had the local rag purring and Jeff delighted.

That was what was wanted – just without the idiotic frantic lack of focus in the final period. His happiness was checked momentarily though when Jeff passed down the news they’d been drawn away to Nuneaton Borough in the FA Trophy, but it didn’t last long. Birmingham’s bid for James Taylor was rejected out of hand and in front of the young defender who seemed quite happy to carry on developing at St. Georges. His bid for Kjell Andre Thu fell through, but the opportunity to bid for the wonderfully named Didrik Faegri soon arose. He was only 16 and not much cop right now, but he’d be a great gift for the PA man on match days.

In midweek Dick was informed of a sizeable bid from Birmingham again, who called back as they claimed mistaken identity over players, but the defender was unwilling to move. Owen had made him captain for a reason, but had always decided to respect his ambition. Luckily he saw his immediate future with the rest of the lads – and it was always cause for celebration.

Unbelievably before he’d even had time to lock down his office before heading home, Birmingham called back again, this time with a bid for James citing they were right the first time, and presumably having sacked their scouts – it was crazy and Owen just left the phone hanging as Karen Brady carried on babbling away for ages. It probably took her a good ten minutes to realise there was no-one on the other end of the line, though her frustration was no doubt soothed when she set eyes upon the next unfortunate city player to be lured in to her hairy lair.

Personally, away from football his life was pretty dandy, or what life there was anyway. Football had consumed him more or less everyday and there was little escape. Even after the Hereford match and on the Wednesday night he could be found with Sally watching England in the play-offs with Austria. The two of them were as happy as those bloody peas, and most nights just as snug. Contact with his old mates, Lee and Mossy had become a little sporadic over the summer but they were popping back to see how the team were getting on from time to time and they always met up for a good chat now and then. The England match in midweek turned out to be a bummer for all concerned though as the magnificent England contrived to blow a 2 goal first leg lead and fail to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since Graham Taylor’s ill fated reign. With both Ireland and Scotland also qualifying it had turned into a real sickener.

The escape from club football didn’t last long though, with the reserves at home to Chester the next day. It was a chance for Matty Appleby to continue his fitness work, with Salmon, Bradman and Heimgartner also receiving starts. They all passed admirably in the 1-1 draw as assistant Paul Davies showed there was life in the old dog yet with a crafty curler deep into the second half.

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On the day Peter Elmander arrived for a small fee and Jon Holloway was in discussions about a move to Alloa, Darren Middleton decided to crash his car on the way to training and not play football for the rest of the month at least. Still, it didn’t distract from the preparations to face Chester . Despite being another tough away match, Chester were 19th and off form, so Owen elected to go with the same style of play which had reaped rewards against Hereford. He and the side were well aware that a win would move them level on points with top side Doncaster, albeit having played a game more with this weekend an FA Cup one, and Worcesters’ match was the only one in the league.

Still a chance to put the points on board is not one to be wasted and it seemed to be in the players’ minds too as they set off at a rollicking pace. Appleby in central midfield was really taking to his new team mates well, and they were enjoying his rather evident class too. The hosts were being overrun from the off, and it was no surprise when talisman Marco Negri notched his eleventh goal of the season on 16 minutes, converting a Richard Gell cross – another header too. At the Deva Stadium, the hosts were abject and amid all the shots rained on goal, they’re own petty response was to take out Negri with a vicious challenge which shockingly wasn’t penalised. Scans later revealed the forward had ligament strains and it was touch and go as to whether he’d be back in time for the Christmas period. With Darren also out it was tough blow for Owen.

Still, tackles like that do have a habit of bringing about a form of Karmic revenge and Worcester went berserk in the second half, as every player seemed to be on fire. They all shot, they all created chances for one another and it was a one way match, with just the one worrying stat – it was still only 1-0. After another broken down attack Chester had the temerity to launch a riposte of their own. It failed but it really peed the side off, and instantly that elusive second goal was sought. Rod ran down the left wing, more or less pushing away his challengers, played in Appleby – his run and shot was blocked but Matt Rose came steaming in to thump in the rebound and seal the points. Justin Wiseman then replaced man of the match Gell in the closing stages and it was his cross that allowed David Beharall to add a well earned gloss to the score-line and also his first for the club.


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The satisfaction from that comprehensive away win was immense – he offered plenty of words of praise to local journo Benny Broadhurst, who was keen as ever to fill the pages. Allowing the lads Monday morning off too he wasn’t all unsurprised to see many of the lads enjoying the nightlife later on, whilst he took Sally out to dinner. Not that he minded. The club were second, clearly in form and he was so getting some after forking out on a ridiculous 40 quid a head meal for the pair of them.

The next day as he lay in bed, stretching out beside the beautiful body of his gorgeous wife, he couldn’t stop smiling. What a damn good night it was. She couldn't believe he'd let her do that move he'd seen on the wildlife show either - and boy had it worked, even the neighbours knew it worked. Now, literally shagged out his jaw muscles were beginning to ache from smiling so hard.

He flicked on the radio and when it came to the sports section he let out an involuntary cackle. Birmingham City manager Trevor Francis had been fired. No doubt for not being able to make his mind up as to who he wanted to bid for. There was further amusement at Celtic’s plight in Scotland. 14 games in and only one place off the bottom – how bizarre, and on local radio he wasn’t surprised to hear that Jon Holloway had left to join Alloa. He was a good lad, but just far too crap to get into the Worcester side.

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With the players in good shape, Owen elected to make a few changes from the starting line up for the trip to Nuneaton in the FA Trophy. Having already defeated the convincingly this season, confidence was high, but their hosts had home advantage and had started to pick up some form in the league. Mike was given a chance to not be such a sullen brat and play, whilst Mark Tucker came in at centre defence alongside Siros. There were starts too for Andy Ellis, Justin Wiseman and a first start since injury for Kaba Diawara up front.

The match itself turned out to be a very even affair, with chances a plenty for both sides – although it was still somewhat against the run of play when Nuneaton opened the scoring on 24 minutes. It had come right after Fotiadis had ballooned over from 6 yards, to make it all the more annoying. Mark McGregor exploited Giorgos’ lack of height in defence to head in and score his first goal of the season. It buoyed the home side who for a short while were the team most likely to score again, before Worcester began to get their form back together again. In the 39th minute a low Taylor drive hits the bar and bounces into Fotiadis’ path but the striker can’t quite direct it past the goalkeeper, but the equaliser did arrive just before half time and deservedly so when a loose ball in the area is picked on by Diawara first and the Frenchman celebrated a return to fitness with a well taken goal.

The second half certainly produced a similar pattern of play, and it was hard to separate both sides. Joanne and Justin were playing particularly well though and just after the hour mark the pair combined to make it 2-1. Appleby’s free kick was chested down by Joanne and her neat flick allowed Wiseman to crash in the volley. However, as was the norm with this game the lead didn’t last, and annoyingly it barely made 5 minutes when Neill Rimmer crosses to an unmarked McGregor who suddenly has decided he’s a goal scorer after all and it was 2-2. It stayed that way until the end though, with Worcester exerting a little more pressure, but for Owen, he was just fairly content to have not been knocked out straight away in the cup tie.

The return leg a few days later would allow for the others who had been rested a chance to re-claim their place in the line up and Owen went to see Warren to check on all his players’ fitness a day before.

“ Hey Warren, anything to report?”

“ Well Ray Woods is back in action!”

“GREAT! He’s still never playing in the first team you realise?”

“I just thought – ”

“wrong, my friend – you thought wrong!”

It was a brief conversation. Ray, a porky smoker was not going to be considered ever fingers crossed. As he walked out to the pitches where the drills were being practiced by the players, he spotted Sally approaching out of the corner of his eye.

“ Hey babe.” a quick kiss. “What’s up?”

“Just thought I’d let you know, if – sorry when we beat Nuneaton tomorrow, we’ve got another away tie…”

“Please don’t be a conference side.”

“It’s Dagenham & Redbridge.”

“Arsefish! Almost no point trying to win the replay then is there?”

“Don’t be silly! If you beat Dagenham we’d be in with a great shout of winning the trophy.”

“Yeah that’s true I guess. Anyway how are you doing?”

“Owen… we need to sort the house out! It’s a complete shambles at the moment! We need to redecorate!” To be fair it was true. They had barely given it a serious thought since moving in permanently in the summer. Walls were pasty white, and in need of repair, something a few cunningly placed posters and paintings couldn’t quite disguise. However now was hardly the best time to think about it.

“ Eh? We’ve got a game tomorrow and then preparations for the Christmas run – we could have 7 games if we get past Nuneaton? I agree love but we don’t have much time right now do we?”

“We just need to chat about it that’s all, look after the weekend match we’ll have a couple of days to talk about – just give Paul a training session or two, or bring in another coach or two – you always seem stretched as it is out there. Now you’ve got a decent team together you need a hand…”

“Yeah, I suppose. Ok, well I’ll talk to Jeff about bringing in some more staff, and I’ll see you later.” Owen watched his wife walk off towards the car park, allowing his eyes to linger on her pert arse a moment or too longer than was perhaps truly necessary.

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The replay with Nuneaton , and the third match between the sides was one Owen basically wanted decided one way or another at the end of the night as conceivably it could go on to another replay should it end in a draw after extra time as well. Danny was given another game in goal, even if he was being turned to bringing back Mike into the fold – the 37-year old looking prepared to forget his anger. Carl Tranter came in for a rare start whilst Drew also earned another start up front. Owen’s views on Danny and Mike were slowly changing again as within 3 minutes Danny was fortunate to still be on the pitch after conceding a penalty and picking up a yellow card for taking out James Greaves who subsequently scored. After a degree of pressure though, the sides were eventually level once again as Rod Davies was battered by Alex Dick, and Matty Appleby’s free kick was pushed away by Senior onto the head of Beharall who scored his second goal in recent weeks. 1-1 was a fair reflection of what was turning into a fairly flat match.

It was a midweek replay game and the crowd reflected that, only hardcore fans bothered to turn up. Those who did though joined in Owen’s celebrations as, after, 8 starts and 11 sub appearances Drew Bradman finally scored his first goal of the season and it was well deserved for the 18 year old. Another shot, this time from Heimgartner was also punched clear by Senior and once more it was rebounded into the net. It seemed to come with a price though as defender Beharall came off injured in the build up to the initial shot, and Rose came on in his place. Bradman himself soon came off for Diawara, but within seconds of his shaking hands with the Frenchman Nuneaton drew themselves level as James Greaves managed to hold off Dick Holder and Adam Vickers to squeeze the ball under McDonnell’s arms. It was all square again and typically headed for extra time. Gell was the last of the 3 subs to come on towards the end but inevitably it ended as was, and another 30 minutes beckoned. Owen was desperate for a result just to free up some time, or else he’d have to take a rain check on sorting out his house the following week. There was only one real chance in the entire period then, with Fotiadis miscuing a volley following a Tranter knock down. It finished 2-2, the crowd were non plussed, the players were knackered, and Owen peed off. They would meet again at Manor Park in a weeks time.

Still after a game like that positives had to be drawn from it. They hadn’t lost either match despite suffering some tiredness, Drew had got a confidence boosting first goal, whilst Rod had put in one of his better games for the club too. Beharall though would be out of action for a couple of weeks with a hamstring strain unfortunately, whilst no doubt many of the players would still be carrying over a bit of fatigue by the time the weekend home game with Margate arrived. They were flying high in the table still, and thanks to Paul’s penchant for statistics, he had an interesting little sheet overviewing the players abilities thus far, the ratings being based on the Evening News’ own Benny Broadhurst.