retired_destiny1124

20.2.05
It was gratifying to see the reaction of the press after our win over Cambridge City. Most were willing to acknowledge that they had seen us as 'certain' relegation candidates, but we now appeared to be firmly placed above the frenetic fray at the bottom of ECS. The biggest problem I saw with the articles was that I must convince our young side that deeds are accomplished on the pitch, not granted in the press reports.

***

20.2.05
We received another boost when we were able to secure the 3 month loan of promising Irish midfielder Steven O'Donnell from Arsenal. O'Donnell is a 20 yr old MLC who already has more talent than any of our midfielders. He will be seeing action soon in our starting lineup- at least spelling Jamie McGowan as Lewis Baillie hasn't really shown us anything yet and is a disappointment in my book.

***

21.2.05
On the eve of our Tuesday evening trip to Thurrock, I heard they had added another loanee (Darren Craddock from Hartlepool) and signed another veteran (Steve Warren). It will be interesting to see if they are in the lineup against us. I don't plan on using O'Donnell yet- he has virtually no practice time with us yet.

retired_destiny1124

22.2.05
Thurrock (1) Harrow Hill (1)
We started fast in our visit to face Thurrock, but we wound up with another draw due to our lack of finishing. We stunned the home side- and fans- when a pass from Steve Clark found Adam Parker just inside the area and his hard shot deflected slightly off Mike Basham and past Paul Gothard to give us the lead in the opening moments of play. We had problems with Filipe Morais running their right wing all match and that resulted in the equalizer in the early stages of the first half. Morais glided past Lea Jones and his hard cross found Steve Heffer unmarked in the area. Heffer hit a rising shot that Daniel Austen was slow to react to and the match was square at 1-1. We had the better of play for the remainder of the match, but wasted good chances galore. Michael Husbands missed just over the bar, Jamie McGowan missed just wide of the post twice, Gothard parried away Kyle Allcock's midlevel shot and Steven Fraser's scorching low blast bounced back off the post. They also had a couple good chances to score and Austen did well in smothering one and punching away the other. The 1-1 result was fair in the sense we gained another road point, but it was another match we had good chances to achieve a better result in.

***

25.2.05
Though we really didn't need another defender, I couldn't resist inking Simon Mallard to a contract after Blackpool released him. Mallard had been heavily scouted by both our scouts and they both thought highly of the 20 yr old DRC.

retired_destiny1124

26.2.05
Basingstoke (1) Harrow Hill (3)
For much of our match at The Camrose, it was the same old refrain- we were our own worst enemy. We handed them the lead early in the first half when Michael Jago bobbled an easy shot into the net for an own-goal and a devastatingly easy lead for struggling Basingstoke. We showed nothing in the first half as they outshot us 6-2 and we didn't show any ball movement or passing. Desperate for a change, I brought on Ryan Ashington for Gavin Bolger and Arron Davies on for Danny Singh to start the second half. The changes helped as we showed some life, but Basingstoke was doing a good job of clamping down on us anytime we were in their area, so the chances we had weren't all that great. We shifted tactics slightly to try and let Ashington pressure their backline more and all the sudden we were earning better chances. Ashington made the tactical move pay off when he fired the equalizer past Scott Tarr at 73 minutes after Jordan Fowler made a good through ball to spring him free. We kept the vise-like pressure on them at that point, after all they were 18th place for a reason, and they cracked again. This time Arron Davies made a good run and at the last moment chipped a short pass across and Ashington knocked the ball into the net for a 2-1 lead and his 2nd goal of the match. With the lead, I didn't want to press our luck and we played a more defensive outlook. Our fresher legs were the difference as we clinched the match. With them pressing everyone forward, we made a nice counter attack and it was four of our players against their back 2. Leke Odunsi smashed a shot that Tarr managed to block away, but Jason Hallett had been trailing the play and drove the rebound into the net to clinch the 3-1 comeback win. Steven O'Donnell played very well in his debut for us. The win moved us up to 12th place, 14 points clear of 20th place Redbridge and also moved our goal differential to the positive side for the first time since early in the season.

retired_jgirl87

Sell your home ground Faramir and play all your games away - you seem to do much better on the road. KUGTW :cool:

retired_destiny1124

Thanks Spav- I do think the good folks would just prefer that we play better at Larksfield Road

***

5.3.05
Harrow Hill (3) Havant & W (0)
The Larksfield Road faithful have been patient with us and today we rewarded them with our finest performance of the season as we rolled over 2nd place Havant & W 3-0 thanks to the first hat-trick in Harrow Hill's professional time. Jason Hallett missed close twice over Gareth Howells in the early going as we had constant pressure on the visitors. He didn't miss when Howells couldn't hang on to a shot from Steven O'Donnell and Hallett whisked in the rebound to give us the lead. Minutes later that scene would repeat itself as Howells again couldn't hang on- this time on a hard shot from Jamie McGowan- and Hallett pushed in the rebound for his 2nd of the match and 10th of the season. He finished off the hat-trick in the 2nd half as a superb through ball from Jordan Fowler put him away and he blistered a shot inside the left post past Howells. Hallett could easily have added a 4th or 5th goal, but he missed the net wide- once to each side- on decent chances. Havant & W played a bit better in the second half, but Daniel Austen made three excellent saves to preserve the clean sheet in the 3-0 win. It was a stellar performance by the boys and I was right proud of them. The win moved us past Thurrock into 11th place and marked the first time we had been in the top half of the table since the opening matches of the season.

***

6.3.05
In another example of a loan working out well, Arsenal agreed to let Steven O'Donnell go to us on free transfer and we were able to sign him. The Board has loosened up on our overall payroll- we are still over, but not badly over- and that helped them to OK the pricey contract I had to offer O'Donnell. Getting players of this caliber- O'Donnell- Jordan Fowler- Franklin Simek are what will help us build the foundation for lasting success here at Harrow Hill.

retired_destiny1124

12.3.05
Newport Co (0) Harrow Hill (3)
The score may have been 3-0, but this was a match where we were clinging to the lead late into the match and then struck for a pair of goals in a 3-minute span to clinch a hard earned win. The first half featured plenty of good play by both sides. Newport's Scott Morgan ran afoul of both the referee and his own temper when he earned a pair of yellow cards at 22 minutes to send the home side down to 10 men. They didn't seem fazed by being short-handed though and quickly forced Daniel Austen to make a couple good stops. Roger Freestone played great in the first half- until injury time. Freestone muffed an easy shot into the net for an own-goal and we were plenty relieved to head to half with the lead. Despite only having 10 men, Newport took control in the second half of play and Harrow Hill spent the large majority of the second half coming up with saving tackles. I finally switched to a more defensive tactical approach and while it helped- it didn't figure in either of our last two goals. Arron Davies struck for our 2nd goal when we worked a nice play on a throw-in and Gavin Bolger made an excellent interior pass to set up Davies to rifle past Freestone. We capped off 3-0 win when Jason Hallett was able to slightly deflect a long free kick from Paul Moss and it went past Freestone.

retired_destiny1124

19.3.05
Harrow Hill (1) Margate (2)
Another match of missed opportunities for us as we fell to 3rd place Margate 2-1. Michael Husbands gave us the lead in the first half when he took an excellent cross from Steven O'Donnell and hammered it home past Allan Marsh for the lead. We wasted some very good scoring chances the rest of the first half. Margate started playing better in the second half and made us rue our missed opportunities. A good pass put Che Stadhart through clean and he fired a shot past Michael Jago inside the right post to equalize. They missed a couple other good chances to take the lead, but then grabbed a late match winner when Aaron Barnett deflected a corner past Jago to give them the close 2-1 win. We hadn't played badly, but neither did we play well enough to earn a better result. It also reinforced my impression that Daniel Austen seemed to come up with the big saves to earn us a few wins, but Jago didn't seem able to do the same.

retired_embartl

well given the expectations not too bad eh, though it must be a little frustrating at the moment. A play-off push possible? Enjoying this as per usual

retired_destiny1124

BoN- thanks for the comments, playoffs a bit out of reach but was certainly glad to be beyond relegation territory.

***

20.3.05
We suffered another significant injury loss as Lea Jones will miss the next 4 weeks with a broken ankle. It was disappointing for Lea, as he had been our steady veteran player all season, but at least we are well set to finish midtable and out of the relegation zone at this point and still have a chance at finishing in 10th place- which would be a great achievement in my book. We did sign 23 yr old SC Lee Flanagan, who had been released by Hull early in the season. With trying to sell off Nathaniel Griffiths, it was a good addition at a very modest salary.

22.3.05
A surprise it was to be offered the job managing York (5th in ECN). They are a worthy club and it would have been a good situation, but I felt the need and the calling to stay with Harrow Hill.

23.3.05
With 5 matches remaining and relegation avoided- time to evaluate the club with an eye toward next season. It is time to start seeing if youngsters like Matty Hendra have as much talent as I and my scouts thought.

28.3.05
The transfer deadline was looming and we were selling. Liam Parrington went on free to Ashton United, Steve Clark garnered 2k to go to Forest Green and Leke Odunsi's price was 6K to Macclesfield. I really hope to trim down some of the players that I either was wrong about my evaluation, or that don't really fit into the system we are playing here.

30.3.05
Even more suprising than the York offer was when MK Dons offered me their open managerial position. They aren't in a good situation at all and the rumors of them falling into bankruptcy were enough for me to politely decline the offer.

retired_destiny1124

2.4.05
Hornchurch (0) Harrow Hill (1)
We have had some nice wins over this season, but I don't think I have ever been prouder of the boys effort that earned us a win than in this one. A win would have kept 5th place Hornchurch running with the pack of clubs for 2nd place behind top of the table Suttons United, so they had plenty to play for in the match. They got off to a quick start, but weren't able to convert a couple good scoring chances early in the first half. Darren Caskey was bitterly disappointed when Daniel Austen saved his penalty kick after Wes Erskine was called for pushing Danny Schofield in the area. We didn't have many good chances in the first half, but started playing better in the second half. Ashley Bayes came up with a good stop on Jason Hallett to keep things 0-0. We broke through for an unlikely goal when Jordan Fowler's 30 yard free kick slightly deflected off defender Steve West and past Bayes. With the lead, we tried to play a more defensive outlook, but Wayne Purser was intent on making us pay. His pace caused us problems and Austen was called on to make two very good saves. They swarmed us at the end, but our backline played good team coverage and Austen was on hand to scoop up the few shots we allowed. Late in the half, we missed a golden chance to put the match on ice as Michael Husbands drilled a shot off the post. The final whistle found a tired, but proud Harrow Hill club heading home to Mitcheldean with a 1-0 win.