retired_destiny1124

17.8.05
Minnesota came calling- asking about Franklin Simek. I threw out the outrageous price of 1.5 Million, expecting them to turn me down straight away. They haven't gotten back with me yet, so maybe it wasn't so outlandish. If they were willing to pay that much- then it would get us on a firm financial footing. I don't really expect them to want to pay that much though and Franklin is easily our best defender.

***

20.8.05
Harrow Hill (7) Redbridge (0)
By the time the final whistle blew, Redbridge keeper Ray Newland had seen all he wanted too of the swirling blue passing attack of Harrow Hill. It was a seemingly effortless dissection of the Redbridge midfield and backline by Harrow Hill as the sharp passes, crisp crosses and good shots added up to a 7-0 pasting of the visiting side. Though the scoreboard won't show it- the score could easily have been 10-0 as Adam Parker, Patrick Cregg and Danny Singh all ripped shots off the posts or crossbars. As it was Harrow Hill received a two-spot from Kevin Braniff and single markers from Parker, Gavin Bolger, Jason Hallett, Steven O'Donnell (1st at Harrow Hill) and Danny Singh on their way to the record win. O'Donnell deserves special mention for his wicked crosses that several times devastated the Redbridge backline. The Harrow Hill backline also played error free football- time and again stepping up and cutting out Redbridge passes in support of Daniel Austen's clean sheet.

retired_destiny1124

27.8.05
Kingstonian (0) Harrow Hill (3)
We continued our fine start to the new season by welcoming Kingstonian to ECS with a 3-0 loss in front of their fans at Kingsmeadow. We didn't connect very well in the early going, but Jason Hallett gave us the first half lead when Steven O'Donnell blazed a through ball that allowed Hallett to get in close and drive a low shot past Barry Marchena. We broke the match open early in the second half when Hallett made an excellent chip pass to Kevin Braniff. Braniff took the ball on the dribble past a defender before slotting home a shot inside the left post. Minutes later it was James Tevendale's turn to thread a through ball that put Hallett away again and he didn't miss inside the right post for his 2nd goal of the match. We played more conservatively with the 3-0 lead and finished out the match with the score intact.

***

29.8.05
In what might be another piece of the puzzle for the club, we signed 17 yr old GK Lewis Anderson to a contract. Anderson was praised highly by both my scouts and could well be the 3rd keeper that I want to develop behind Daniel Austen and Michael Jago. I tried to sign several veteran keepers, and also some prospects that were floating on free- but were turned down cold by most of them.

retired_destiny1124

31.8.05
With a dearth of players willing to come to Harrow Hill, I continued to sign promising unattached youngsters. Peter Morris an 18 yr old DC was another example of that. With no youth program to speak of, I was hoping at least a couple of these youngsters would be 'diamonds in the rough' so that we could keep building the club from within.

***

10.9.05
Harrow Hill (1) Maidenhead (1)
I was thoroughly disappointed with both our play- and the officiating in this 1-1 draw. We just could not pass the ball to save our life today. We sent at least a dozen balls over the end lines just trying to make simple passes into space. We weren't helped by the fact that they were winning most of the tackles *because* we were whistled for a foul everytime a tackle was close. For the match we had 13 fouls to their 3 and 3 yellow cards on top of that. They took the lead when they completed a good passing sequence and Jamie Cook blasted a shot that Daniel Austen would usually stop- but it went past him to put us behind early. It was a struggle to try and come back with how poorly we were playing, but we managed to even the match when Danny Singh (on for an ineffective Kevin Braniff) pounced on a loose ball in the area and fired it past Nick Hart. We were forced to battle on with only 10 players after Patrick Cregg went off and I had already used our 3 substituions. Despite having only 10 men, the boys did show a lot of heart and determination and we played excellent coverage on Maidenhead. Jason Hallett was completely lost out there today- not making good decisions up front and that (and Braniff's play) were big reasons why we struggled so. No matter the problems, we still managed to earn the draw and I guess we can be content with it. Cregg's injury was another dreaded groin pull and he will now miss the next 6 months due to surgery.

retired_destiny1124

13.9.05
Another bothersome injury in practice today. Paul Moss with miss the next 4 weeks with a badly sprained ankle. He hadn't played yet, but I had been planning on rotating him into the lineup in the next few matches, so the loss was disappointing.

***

14.9.05
I continue to sign promising youngsters and 18 yr old DMC David Marshall fits the bill. Because of the lengthy injury to Patrick Cregg and with Jordan Fowler also struggling with injuries so far- I may have to test him early.

***

16.9.05
Injuries continue to pile up as we are now without Danny Singh for the next couple weeks due to a strained knee.

***

17.9.05
Hornchurch (1) Harrow Hill (2)
This was an important early season test for us against a club that gave us problems last season. It wasn't our best performance, but we did manage to score the two goals we needed to edge them 2-1 in a closely played match. The first half was scoreless and they were doing an excellent job in clamping down on our forwards. We lost Kevin Braniff to injury (he will miss a week due a strained knee) midway through the half and Kyle Allcock came on. We finally broke through to take the lead when Steven O'Donnell sent a perfectly timed cross that Adam Parker was able to deflect past Mark Westhead. Both sides were working hard for each loose ball, but Hornchurch seemed thrown slightly out of whack when we switched to more defensive tactic and began counterattacking. That paid dividends when Parker slid a ball to Jason Hallett down the middle. Hallett was able to split Lee Mathews and Damon Searle and fire a low shot past Westhead. Despite playing defensively, we were caught up the pitch a bit and Franklin Simek couldn't close down quickly enough on Carl Rook. Rook made us pay by scoring his 1st ever goal past Daniel Austen to give the home side hope. We came close to clinching the match three times, but in each case Kyle Allcock wasn't equal to the task. I admit I had high hopes for Allcock, but I despair of him achieving anything for us- he has contributed little to this point. Despite Allcock's troubling misses, we managed to hold on and capture the match by the 2-1 margin.

retired_destiny1124

24.9.05
Harrow Hill (1) Forest Green (0)
We took advantage of their mistake as Forest Green's Tim Clancy scored an own-goal in the first half and that wound up being the margin of victory in a close, rough match. Nine yellow cards were handed out, along with numerous foul calls, as both clubs sought to assert themselves physically. With the midweek injury to Michael Jago, I handed young Lewis Anderson his first start in net and he earned his clean sheet with a couple brilliant saves in the late going to preserve our win. We had several chances to clinch the match in the second half, but their keeper Steve Perrin earned the MOM honours by coming up with the big stops to give his club a chance. Clancy scored his goal when he was trying to knock away a ball on a rebound with Steven Fraser closing down on him and instead put it into his own net.

retired_destiny1124

27.9.05
Newport County (1) Harrow Hill (0)
We suffered our first ECS loss of the season in a bitterly contested match at Newport. The injuries at forward (Braniff, Husbands, Singh all out) really left us in a bind for this match and I was forced to call up Shaun Smith and Lee Flanagan from the reserves, with Smith getting his first start. With Jason Hallett not playing well, we had little punch up front in the match. Still, if the referee hadn't made a questionable call and given them a penalty kick for Mark Berry bumping into Shaun Wray in the area- I think it would have been a scoreless draw as we were putting more pressure on them than they were on us. To be sure we had some excellent chances to even the match, but weren't proficient at taking advantage of them.

retired_confal2

Looks like this could be a very good year for Harrow Hill. Still enjoying the read

retired_manpk1

Couldn't have said it better myself. KUTGW :thup:

retired_destiny1124

Thanks Dave- Binny glad to know that you are still enjoying the story. I hope this is the season that we can take the step up, but long way to go yet...

***

1.10.05
Wingate & Finchley (1) Harrow Hill (5) FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
I do believe our players were perturbed that Wingate & Finchley was actually favored in the match, because they came out and showed some flawless execution as we rolled over them 5-1. Kevin Braniff returned from injury in fine style scoring a hat-trick to lead us to the win. Braniff had both goals as we took a 2-0 halftime lead and was a thorn in the home club's side all day as they simply couldn't contain him. We also got second half goals from Lee Flanagan (1st for us) and Gavin Bolger as we only allowed them a consolation goal in the second half. If we can build on how well we played today...

***

10.10.05
Another massive injury that certainly won't help us. Matty Hendra, who I had planned to start in our next match, suffered a badly broken leg in training and will miss 8 months recovering and rehabbing from having pins placed in it. I hope this won't affect Matty's long-term potential- which seemed very promising to me.

retired_embartl

Excellent start to the season - goal scoring not proving to be a problem so far *touch wood*, and good luck shaping the team up :thup: