retired_edmari

:cool: A legend already

And before I lose myself up my own arse, we continue...

August 22, 2004

Unsurprising news today as all 4 of the stupid loan attempts send a rather resounding 'no' my way. So mellowing slightly and going for a possibly achievable goal, I sent a new one off to Sheffield Wednesday's promising young striker Danny Reet. A £4,000 offer was also sent the way of Macclesfield, hopefully in exchange for the services of 22 year old Neil Ross. Not quite Neil Mellor or the like, but he might be handy...

August 23, 2004

Nothing too much happened in my own world today. A couple of Conference South players left the high life to join real non-league sides, namely David Collis moving from Thurrock to Kingstonian, and David Wright leaving Bognor for the legendary Yeading.

The managerial merry-go-round kicked into action also, with Stafford Rangers, so far bottom of the Conference North, losing manager Phil Robinson to Exeter.

August 24, 2004

With deadline day around Europe looming a week away the European transfer market remains strangely quiet, with today seeing the first £5m+ move of August. Dagoberto was the subject, joining Everton from Atlético Paranaense.

In less exciting transfer news, Staines signed Junior Kadi from Lewes, and Rufus Brevett decided to carry on at West Ham. Darn.

August 25, 2004

The final leg of the final European qualifiers. Man Utd made it through with little difficulty, securing a 3-0 aggregate win over Djurgarden. Liverpool weren't so good though, and could only fight to a 1-1 home draw against Shakhtar, losing 2-1 overall. Shelbourne's dream also ended as they lost 8-0 to Deportivo, whilst Rangers beat Sheriff 2-0 to get past the Moldovan minnows and into the group stage. In other shocks, Inter crashed out to Red Star, and last year's runner-up Monaco suffered a 5-2 aggregate loss to Dinamo Bucharest.

Apart from all that, nothing happened.

August 26, 2004

The Danny Reet offer is accepted, now I'm just hoping that the 17 year old decides on making the reet (sorry) move and heads down to join us for the long season. Rufus Brevett is subject of a bid from Sunderland, which I must admit would be more tempting than Hornchurch.

Our next opponents, Newport County, sign Lee Thorpe on loan from Bristol Rovers. No one cares, as long as he doesn't lead them to victory on Saturday.

And finally in the EURO Cup we have the usual handful of British and Irish sides. Bohemians come close to overturning their 4-2 loss in the first leg, but in the end can only win 3-2 and go out to Sigma Olomouc. Portadown's late consolation in the 2-1 loss at Slavia Prague proved the vital away goal in that tie, and they move into the competition proper. Dunfermline also dropped out of the competition, with a 5-3 aggregate loss.

August 27, 2004

Santiago Canizares was the hero of the day as Valencia claimed the European Super Cup 4-3 on penalties from Porto. The Spanish stopper kept out penalties from Vitor and Costinha, leaving Ruben Baraja to do the job of hitting the winning strike. The shoot-out followed a 0-0 draw at Stade Louis II.

August 28, 2004

Even a 17 year old Sheffield Wednesday reserves man doesn't fancy playing down at this level. Reet decides to reject the move, but better news sees Neil Ross happy to discuss a possible move to The Stadium, and an offer is made. But there's no time to sit around awaiting a response...

Conference South
Newport Stadium, Newport
Newport County v Hornchurch

Young Charlie Taylor recovers and quickly regains his starting place ahead of the disappointing Danny Shipp, and the move quickly proves a good one.

A 20 yard shot cannons off of Taylor's boot, off of the inside of the post and into the Newport goal. But as ever there's little time to jump for joy and within two minutes Nathan Davies levels the match. Newport are as predicted the better side, and good money for the lead they eventually take through Davies.

The Welsh side though were to be flattered by a 3-1 lead at the break, given when former Cardiff man Jason Bowen scored a deflected free kick on the stroke of half time. This wasn't looking too pretty.

The second half saw Newport playing as a stronger team, but the 3-1 lead continued to look too generous. Despite various attempts particularly towards the end of the match though, we couldn't change things and took a long and disappointed trip home.

Newport Co 3 (Davies 14, 41, Bowen 45) Hornchurch 1 (Taylor 12)
Attendance: 1282
Man of the Match: Lee Phillips (Newport Co)

I ignored the fact that the win put Newport second in the table... The loss was still a huge blow. Lee Elam, our star of the friendlies, was a let down once more and hadn't performed well yet in competitive football. Fortunately loan signing Marc Goodfellow would soon be fit enough to be given a game or two, and maybe just maybe, there's that first win around the corner...

retired_hern1001

Great stuff, well deserved Story of the Week

retired_edmari

August 29, 2004

Finally we sign a new striker, in the form of Macclesfield's Neil Ross in a £4000 deal. Now all that remains to be seen is if the Brummie lad is any good. Immediately though he decides he's a Hornchurch legend and insists the side is built around his abilities. And this leads the fans to worry of him having a negative effect on the team. Fat chance of that, guys.

August 30, 2004

Chelsea finally prise open the never-emptied wallet of Mr Abramovich and land German international Michael Ballack in a £17m deal. Ballack becomes and looks set to remain the biggest deal of the summer, despite the competition of Basingstoke landing Adam Theo on loan the very same afternoon. Hmmm.

August 31, 2004

Little news other than the closure of the transfer window for the big clubs, which passed with no major late action.

September 1, 2004

The monthly appraisal arrivals again, and once more does little to fill me with the confidence I could really do with at the moment. Thanks, Gaz.

Meanwhile Chesham splash out on Michael Harvey and Craig Edwards. No one really cares.

And finally, Kunle Olusesi of Sutton United finds himself ruled out until around Christmas with a hip injury.


September 4, 2004

A dull week concluded with a weekend off for Hornchurch. Still, I had the internationals to keep me entertained and give me the excuse to loiter in a pub for a couple of hours.

Ireland began their campaign with a less than convincing 3-2 win over Cyprus, but most amusingly at the end of day 1, Faroe Islands jumped above France to lead Group 4 on goal difference. England, Wales and Northern Ireland of course join each other in Group 6, where 2 out of 3 won their first game of the qualifiers. England won 2-1 in Austria, while Wales played out a simple 3-1 win at Azerbaijan. Northern Ireland hosted Poland, and proceeded to lose 1-0.

September 8, 2004

Boredom week continues with the only news being that Caskey will miss a month's action with a broken arm. Super.

The international matches returned though, where first we saw the Faroes dream scuppered, losing 4-0 against France and surrendering their table-topping position. Ireland failed to impress once more, managing a 0-0 against the Swiss. Scotland also began in poor form, with a 1-0 defeat to Slovenia kicking off their road to Germany.

And in the UK group, England fought hard to hold a 2-2 draw in Poland, whilst Wales eased to a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland to go 2 points clear after the first round of matches.

September 10, 2004

Injured Caskey finds enough movement in his dodgy arm to slap in a transfer request. Annoying, but if he really wants to he can head off wherever he likes. Thurrock's useful keeper Paul Gothard makes the step up to the Conference National and Aldershot, in other transfer news.


September 11, 2004

Conference South
The Stadium, Upminster
Hornchurch v Maidenhead United

Caskey's injury was the only selection worry, solved by slipping Charlie Taylor in just behind the front man, new-boy Neil Ross. Early on we just couldn't string a half decent move together, and it cost us dearly as we'd go behind before too long. Richard Harris took advantage of a midfield cockup and found his way towards Bayes' goal before putting his side ahead.

It was a scrappy affair here but for once we looked the better side, just without the scoreline to back it up. The defence held together well to keep former Chelsea man Mark Nicholls at bay, and the attack always looked like levelling the match from the moment we went behind. Finally we did, through none other than the self-loving new man Neil Ross. It needed a penalty for us to score, but at least we did.

We couldn't build on that pressure though and we slowly cantered towards another somewhat disappointing 1-1 draw.

Hornchurch 1 (Ross pen 63) Maidenhead 1 (Harris 10)
Attendance: 899
Man of the Match: Udo Onwere (Maidenhead)

We'd failed once more to pick up that precious first win, and this was starting to get stressful again. Still, at least Neil had a good debut...

retired_edmari

September 12, 2004

For the first time since his hat-trick past Southend Lee Elam makes his name in the local press. Sadly though it’s to get a bit of stick for his rather horrendous performances so far this term. But with Goodfellow set to debut in our next match, and Purser performing well down the right, he looks set to take a seat on the bench for next week at least.

The troubled finances of the club are also slightly boosted by an announcement of a further £28,000 being injected by the directors. We now lie about £100,000 in the red. Blinding.

September 14, 2004

Having enjoyed a quiet Monday and spent some time catching up with my other life, that with Samantha, it was back in on Tuesday to enjoy the annoying news that Adrian Harris won’t be around for a while. The 23 year old, who’s started the season well, suffered a hip injury and will be out into the new year when this is coupled with the surgery he’ll require to ensure there’s no future troubles from it.

Immediately it was back to the ambitious loans, with a 3-month deal targeting Charlton’s reserve midfielder Stacy Long. Girl’s name, but looks a decent enough player to keep Larsson partnered while Harris is out.

September 15, 2004

Marc Goodfellow was finally given the long awaited clean bill of health and deemed fit to play by the physio, which comes as rare good news ahead of the match at Hayes this weekend. The midfielder looks to have the ability to add a much needed cutting edge to the attacking portion of the team.

Meanwhile as the Champions League proper kicked off over the last two days, 4 of the 5 British teams began with a win. Rangers were the only side not to, beginning with a draw at Ajax.

September 16, 2004

Liverpool’s disastrous season in Europe continued as they opened with a 3-2 loss at home to Omonia Nicosia in the first round of the EURO Cup. Middlesbrough also started with defeat, losing 2-1 at Maribor, but Millwall can be proud of a 2-2 draw out in Norway to grab two vital away goals. Newcastle were the only English side to win, pushing past Aigaleo with an unconvincing 1-0.

Heroes of the night were that Northern Irish team that just won’t go away – Portadown. They travelled off to France and swept aside Auxerre with a superb 2-1 win. Shelbourne didn’t do quite as well, losing 5-0 at Parma. Hearts were the final British entry, and they won easily over Djurgarden.

September 17, 2004

Charlton accept my approach for Stacy Long, so it’s the usual waiting game to see if he’ll come and join us for the next few months. Meanwhile Gloucester sign Danny O’Hagan from Weston-super-Mare in one of those transfers where not many people give a damn.

September 18, 2004

Conference South
Church Road, Hayes
Hayes v Hornchurch

As was the plan, Goodfellow debuts in the side, pushing Elam into Steven Clark’s place on the bench. Charlie Taylor once again sits behind Neil Ross, despite his less than impressive performance behind the striker against Maidenhead last week.

The cold Middlesex afternoon wasn’t much fun to spend time in, but with the bright start we made here I thought we might be onto a half decent performance, just for once. But just as we started making possession count, Hayes broke and took the lead against the run of play.

It didn’t affect the team however. Larsson and Carey were holding the ball well in midfield and the 4 attack-minded members of the team continued to almost effortlessly create chances to pull back. Hayes should have doubled their lead when their next attack was illegally cut short by Ward’s challenge, but fortunately Bayes was the winner as Richard Logan’s penalty was easily saved.

The second half continued in a similar fashion, and Goodfellow was unlucky not to set up a dream debut when he hit the post with a 25-yard free kick attempt. He did however show potential to liven up this somewhat dreary attack line with a number of good efforts. Somehow, though, the possession, the chances, the work rate we’d shown today just couldn’t turn itself into goals.

Hayes 1 (Holsgrove 19) Hornchurch 0
Attendance: 1640
Man of the Match: Nicholas Baker (Hayes)

Another good performance, another bad defeat. This was just starting to get worrying…

retired_edmari

September 19, 2004

With no wins on the board and the team able to keep possession, create chances but just not get them away, it was time review my tactical plans. I spent much of Sunday locked away in my office trying to come up with a plan. I had the strikers who could cut it at this level, but I didn’t want to use too many with a good range of midfielders, especially those with attacking tendencies. They were the ones I had to make full use of.

I kept the basic plan I had already, just dropping the attacking midfield line back a bit to fill out the midfield which was quickly becoming a very important area of the field in my games, and had looked a bit of a no-mans land for my team at times. To make the most of those who like to get forward I thought I’d happily give them freedom to push up and help out the lone-striker, whoever he may be.

I was happy I could hopefully stop the rot without much effort or changing my selection, it now just remained to be seen if the lads could take on the changes, stick to them, and make them work on the pitch.

September 20, 2004

Just to annoy me, Mr Long rejected the move.

Kind of more importantly though, it’s the start of the long old road to Cardiff, with the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round draw. My challenge would begin with the visit of Blyth Spartans. Maybe, just maybe, that’s winnable.

Another loan offer went to Arsenal’s Jordan Fowler, while a £12000 bid was submitted to Sutton United for young midfielder Glenn Boosey.

September 22, 2004

The Boosey offer was accepted and an offer of a contract at Hornchurch was made to the 20 year old. And Arsenal were happy to allow Fowler out to get some experience in the game and accepted the loan offer. Now it was just down to Fowler to not be like the last few batches of offers, and to actually come here.

September 24, 2004

A day ahead of our next battle, Fowler pleased us all by agreeing to join. He’ll slot nicely into the team tomorrow, hopefully. And with any luck he’ll be of assistance for his season long stay here. I won’t raise my hopes too high though.

September 25, 2004

Conference South
The Stadium, Upminster
Hornchurch v St Albans City

A vital match against another team struggling to pick up any decent form so far in the season. Fowler came into the team for his immediate debut. Losing out was Taylor who was replaced in the central midfield position by Larsson, whose own position was handed to his fellow Arsenal reject…

Now this looked good. The alterations to the tactics showed the team playing a lot more focused football. With the ‘split’ between the attack and defence side of things before there was too much guesswork and route one play, but now everyone could find a red and white shirt to pass to.

It was a while, but we finally took the lead when the midfield trio of Larsson, Goodfellow and Purser linked well before Purser tapped the ball into the corner of Robinson’s goal from a matter of feet. A simple goal and nothing spectacular, but just what I needed right now. As confidence grew throughout the team, it seemed they had almost a new lease of life out there and the visiting defence could barely hold back an almost inevitable increase to the lead.

Only a good performance between the sticks kept the lead to 1-0. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t fun to watch, but we’d done it.

Hornchurch 1 (Purser 44) St Albans 0
Attendance: 724
Man of the Match: Sebastian Larsson (Hornchurch)

As the cheers of the passionate home crowd sounded loud and clear I stepped onto the pitch to salute them and the team that’d fought so hard. Finally I’d picked up that first win that had spent so long hiding from me. The cheers of the home fans were ringing in my ears until long after they’d gone home from the ground. I must’ve sat in the car for 20 minutes or so after I finally left the stadium at the end of the afternoon.

When I finally left the short drive across town seemed to take hours. I hardly noticed anything around me but somehow found my way to my front door. The lovely Sam had heard the result. I’m not sure the lingering hug was in congratulations or out of sheer worry about the ever stranger effects this job is leaving on me.

I’m just glad she doesn’t know that before that day in mid-July I was gathering the nerves to propose. Nowadays all my nerves are gathered ahead of that next 90 minutes. Maybe this job will get easier, so I tell myself, and that ring can be dragged from it’s hiding place. A few more results like that and I might have myself a fiancé, or alternatively I’ll be single if this slow journey to insanity continues…

retired_edmari

September 26, 2004

I’d barely slept on Saturday night, and not for the right reasons either. When I received the phone call early on Sunday to say that Glenn Boosey would be joining us it took me a few moments to think who he was. Eventually I remembered the Sutton midfielder and gladly confirmed the deal at my end. Hours later he was in my office to officially become part of the team I hoped so much I could make successful.

September 28, 2004

It was time for a trip away from home to hopefully extend the one game winning run. Tonight’s match would signal the start of a 3 week break from league worries, hopefully to allow the start of a half decent run in the FA Cup to begin.

Conference South
City Ground, Cambridge
Cambridge City v Hornchurch

No changes to the eleven who opened our wins account on Saturday, with new boy Boosey taking a seat on the bench in place of Simon Weatherstone.

Early attacks were those of the home side, but as we slowly settled in we began to take more control and produce some of the better football we’d managed at the weekend. I’d only managed a single 1-0 win, but my confidence was riding higher than ever as I closely watched the events take place before me.

At half time the match was a very close one. Both teams had produced a handful of openings and it seemed a matter of time before one of them counted. Once more the midfield was playing marvellously and creating chances for themselves or Neil Ross to take some advantage of, but so far nobody had.

The second half continued as more of the same. Chances at both ends were frequent but no one could convert any. Boosey came off the bench for the last 20 or so minutes and had an impressive debut, almost capped by a near miss 5 minutes from time. But tonight it wasn’t to be. See you in 3 weeks, league.

Cambridge City 0 Hornchurch 0
Attendance: 2040
Man of the Match: Ashley Bayes (Hornchurch)


September 29, 2004

I took a day off to prepare myself for the supposedly simple FA Cup tie at the weekend. I knew the embarrassment that lay in waiting to pounce on any match in this competition (after all, I’ve supported West Ham) and I didn’t want it to happen to me this week.

In the evening I caught up on the Champions League highlights. Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal all continued with maximum points, while Celtic drew and Rangers would lose to Chelsea as they struggled to 1 point from a possible six. I say struggled as if I’m not the man whose team have picked up 7 points from 24. Ahem.

September 30, 2004

Slough come in with a £2000 offer for reserves player Scott Gooding. I’m happy to let him go and he’s sent away to discuss details of the possible move.

In the EURO Cup all four English teams make it through. Liverpool scrap to overturn their embarrassing first leg defeat, and Millwall scrape by on penalties, while Middlesbrough and Newcastle pull off a demolition job on their respective opponents. Elsewhere Portadown sent Auxerre out of the competition, and Shelbourne did well to beat Parma 2-0 – but obviously still went no further. And Hearts eased through in Sweden.

October 1, 2004

A new month begins with the ever indecisive appraisal. They remain confident in me and still sit waiting to see the effect my management has. Fair play.

October 2, 2004

Off we go on the road to Cardiff… maybe…

FA Cup Second Qualifying Round
The Stadium, Upminster
Hornchurch v Blyth Spartans

No need for changes to the sixteen I took to Cambridge earlier in the week for this seemingly simple match. Without surprise we were the better side, always threatening the Blyth goal. But as ever we couldn’t get the goals in and take the game away from the opponents.

In fairness we were getting more on target than off and keeping the keeper busy, and were more unlucky than bad in attack to not be ahead. It took a good strike to finally break the resistance, with Carey’s free kick finding its merry way into the top corner. But then it took a good strike to equalise, with Kevin Pearson equalising in similar fashion minutes later.

Hornchurch 1 (Carey 69) Blyth 1 (Pearson 71)
Attendance: 1416
Man of the Match: Dean Murphy (Blyth)

We’d need a replay visit to a bunch of non-league minnows. The win last week was misleading – things weren’t really improving much at all…

retired_confal2

Nice one :thup:

Good luck in balancing the books

retired_edmari

October 3, 2004

Gooding joins Slough and we receive two grand for our troubles.

Meanwhile I have another session of playing with the formation, eventually settling on a good old simple 442 for the upcoming FA Cup replay. Damn it better make a difference...

October 4, 2004

The third qualifying round draw for the FA Cup is made. We of course have to face a replay yet, but if successful we'll host fellow Conference South side Grays in a couple of weeks.

Dipping back into the transfer market, Morecambe's Garry Hunter is the subject of an £8,000 bid from me.

October 6, 2004

The Road to Cardiff, Parte Deux...

FA Cup Second Qualifying Round Replay
Croft Park, Blyth
Blyth Spartans v Hornchurch

Strangely, this match didn't have me climbing the walls in excitement. A large part of me wasn't sure how we'd struggled at home and ended up here.

Bertie Brayley was handed his first appearance of the season, with 2 strikers now needed and Neil Ross injured he was the man I picked to partner young Charlie Taylor.

Fitting, then, that the gem should be the man I've ignored. It took just over a quarter of an hour for Brayley to repay the confidence I'd shown in him and the chance I'd handed him and put us ahead in front of the handful of our travelling fans.

The new 4-4-2 system seemed to be working nicely, with an attempts ratio of about three to one in our favour. Our midfield completely ran the show and few could be surprised when Wayne Purser doubled the advantage towards the latter stages. Brayley capped an impressive debut and buried the opposition late on, and finally something went really right.

Blyth 0 Hornchurch 3 (Brayley 17, 90, Purser 73)
Attendance: 2677
Man of the Match: Jordan Fowler (Hornchurch)

That's a blinding win, a little £4,000 bonus, and a place against Grays in the next round in 10 days time. Lovely jubbly.

October 7, 2004

The bid for Hunter is readily accepted and a contract is offered to the Morecambe youngster.

Elsewhere there's the usual couple of loan deals going on. Fulham's Neale McDermott heads to Dorchester, while Bishop's Stortford secure John Ruddy for a 3 month spell.

October 9, 2004

Another loan move sees Carl McNally leave Birmingham for Basingstoke for the winter. Garry Hunter unfortunately rejects the contract offered. I try once more, throwing in a generous pay rise should we get promotion.

Meanwhile it's another international weekend. Ireland slump to a 2-0 defeat in France, on a day that saw the Faroes return to second in the group after gathering another win. Scotland's hopes hit another stumbling block as Norway beat them 2-1. The first battle of Britain proves a simple win for the English, as they knock Wales over 3-0 at St James' Park. Northern Ireland sink to the bottom with no points after losing 2-0 to the Azerbaijan side who had previously been the bottom side.

October 11, 2004

My three month anniversary of taking the job sees Hunter reject the second offer of a contract. I'll try once more before giving up, and perhaps try again later in the season if Morecambe are unwilling to renew his contract that runs out in the summer.

Margate take on Reading's Curtis Osano for a 3 month loan deal. Other than that, chuff all happens. Super.

October 13, 2004

Caskey misses training, and gets fined. Then moans. T**t.

Back in the World Cup qualifiers, Ireland show the high-flying Faroes who's boss with a 4-0 demolition, moving the Irish to second place behind France. The Scots land their first point, but only through a disappointing 2-2 draw in Moldova. England continue the group 6 dominance with a 2-1 win in Azerbaijan, with Wales also winning to go 2nd. Wales managed an impressive 3-0 win over Poland, virtue of a John Hartson hat-trick. Finally, it was Northern Ireland, and they continue the fruitless start with a 2-1 home defeat to Austria. Never mind.

The night ended with Hunter rejecting my final offer. Maybe when the contract expires, then.

October 16, 2004

Nothing much happens since Wednesday, so it's straight back to that long road to Cardiff...

FA Cup Third Qualifying Round
The Stadium, Upminster
Hornchurch v Grays Athletic

Brayley holds onto his place after the superb debut at Blyth, despite Neil Ross being reasonably fit again.

Once more Brayley is in the thick of the action, winning an early corner that was almost diverted in by McCarthy. I was disappointed that we weren't quite as dominant as against Blyth, but I suppose Grays are halfway to a decent side.

Still, it wasn't a total shock when we took the lead, thanks to a beautiful strike from Jordan Fowler midway through the first half. Taylor almost made it two moments later with the fingertips of Carl Emberson denying him. Bayes was also producing heroics between the sticks, keeping out every opportunity Grays had to equalise.

The second half was hoped to be more of the same please, and looked that way as Brayley almost doubled the lead early on. He also turned creator moments later as Purser headed his cross just wide. Why on earth did I not find this chap to be so useful earlier???

Grays threw everything but the kitchen sink at Bayes as the second half wore on, but it looked more and more like nothing would beat him today. Or it did until five minutes from time when the pressure finally became an equaliser. Having come close to immediately restoring the lead, Brayley went on to do exactly that in the final minute of the 90 and score a stunning winner from 25 yards.

Hornchurch 2 (Fowler 23, Brayley 90) Grays 1 (Brennan 85)
Attendance: 2585
Man of the Match: Ashley Bayes (Hornchurch)

We were now one hurdle short of reaching the real part of the tournament. Can't complain about that now, can I?

retired_edmari

October 17, 2004

Awaiting tomorrow's final qualifiers draw I scan some of the other results hunting for those easy teams I'd like to face to give us that 'better chance' of making the First Round. Plenty of rather terrible teams from leagues below us litter the candidates in the hat, but there's those 22 more dangerous Conference sides there as well.

My interest in Arsenal attacked Adam Birchall is relit with the news that his Kettering loan period is soon to come to an end. Having returned an impressive 5 goals in his 8 Conference North games, it may well be worth trying once more to tempt him to my mighty Urchins.

And finally, scout Greg McDonald is given something to do, and sent off to hunt down some youth talent around the UK. The year long assignment will hopefully help us find a few diamonds to assist us in the present and future seasons of my reign.

October 18, 2004

It's off to FA HQ for the draw for the Final Qualifying Round. I watch, ticking off the teams I'd rather not face on the list in my hand. Gladly I watch several of the Conference big guns pulled out of the hat before us. Eventually we're pulled out for a home tie, and it's a visit of someone from the division above. High flying Canvey Island, currently second in the Conference after their impressive start to the season, will be making the short trip to Upminster at the end of the month for what looks set to be an exciting battle for that place in the proper start to the competition.

October 19, 2004

After examination of a hamstring injury, I hear word that Jean-Michel Sigere will be out for the next 6 months. I fail to see much reason to care.

More importantly, the league returns...

Conference South
Oakside, Barkingside
Redbridge v Hornchurch

A singular change from the side that beat Grays, that of the return of Neil Ross to join Brayley up front in place of Charlie Taylor.

After the two good performances I was understandably confident at kick off. That fell apart within 100 seconds as Redbridge took the lead and gave us the worst possible start. Within 20 minutes of play we'd gone 2-0 down and I was wondering if I'd dreamt up the winning performances in the cup.

The memories of when we were good the other day started to return a few minutes after Redbridge's second when McCarthy had a long-range attempt deflected beyond the stranded keeper, and finally we began to wake up and play some good football again. At half time we remained behind but we had become the better side and were beginning to produce chances in a way that suggested it was a matter of time before we made the most of one, or hopefully at least two.

Redbridge started the second half looking the better side, but it wasn't long before we showed confidence again. It didn't look too promising though when Elliott Ward saw red for his foul on Gary Smith. Fortunately the dangerous free kick was wasted and we could stop for a breath.

With the defence now short staffed we had to keep the ball in midfield as much as possible and hope to create a few chances for the front men. Wingers Goodfellow and Purser did exactly that to set Brayley free for his 4th in 3 games.

The joy was short-lived though, as Redbridge once more went ahead through Wayne Vaughan. Purser thought he'd equalised within two minutes, but was judged to have fouled the keeper somewhere along the way. We spent much of the last stages pegged bag trying to stop Redbridge improving their lead, but they finally managed to do so in the final minute of injury time, which also saw us lose our 2nd central defender of the game and finish with nine on the field. Well, at least we had half an excuse...

Redbridge 4 (Fiddes 2, Berquez 19, Vaughan 75, 90) Hornchurch 2 (McCarthy 23, Brayley 71)
Attendance: 335
Man of the Match: Wayne Vaughan (Redbridge)

Oh good... back to league football...

retired_edmari

October 20, 2004

European action returns this week, with Tuesday having seen Celtic and Arsenal in action and Wednesday giving us Rangers, Man Utd and Chelsea. Both Arsenal and Celtic won to continue their good progress - Arsenal beating GAK 3-1 and Celtic winning 3-0 over Dinamo Bucharest.

Tonight's results see more disappointment for Rangers, losing 3-1 at Deportivo in their difficult group. Chelsea and Man Utd both win however, thus both maintaining their 100% records in the group stage.

McDonald finds his first pieces of young talent, recommending a few of the Ashton United squad to me after catching their Conference North win at Lancaster.

October 21, 2004

The EURO Cup reaches it's group stages, with various UK teams in action. Hearts start off Group A with a 2-1 defeat at Dortmund. Newcastle also visit Germany, but fare better with a 5-1 murdering of Bochum. Championship side Millwall struggle to a 1-0 loss against Feyenoord, and Liverpool complete the English line up in action with a 0-0 draw in Zaragoza. Finally, Northern Irish underdogs Portadown lose 4-0 to Parma to begin their campaign in a less than desirable fashion.

October 22, 2004

Elliott Ward is the subject of my transfer mind this morning as I'm informed his loan deal is soon to end. An offer is made for a season-long renewal to keep him in his important role in our slowly improving defence.

Adam Birchall is also approached with a loan offer, although we must first wait on Arsenal's decision on whether to allow the transfer listed striker move on a temporary basis.

October 23, 2004

Time for a battle down the bottom...

Conference South
The Stadium, Upminster
Hornchurch v Havant & Waterlooville

The double suspension in central defence sees Lee Matthews and Adam Locke filling in, with Mustafa taking Locke's usual role at right back. Otherwise the team remains unaltered.

Havant take the early lead through James Taylor with their first attack of the game, but it's not long before the equaliser comes. Bertie Brayley, whose recent exploits are worryingly good for my side, notches his 5th of the season. And he soon adds his 6th to take his goals/match ratio to 1.5, and to put us into a deserved lead after a good passing move among the midfield.

My boys stroll towards the break by far the better side and it's a rare occasion where I struggle to see a way we could throw it away. By half time it remains 2-1, but could easily have been more.

We almost found a way to ruin things, when Tarkan Mustafa gave away a penalty early in the second half. Fortunately we had Ashley Bayes to stop the spot-kick and keep us ahead. The visitors though were beginning to put together some decent attacking moves and only poor finishing was keeping our lead intact.

Replacing Brayley and Ross with the fresh legs of Taylor and Steve West provided a breath of fresh air to the team which soon became the third goal, scored by Taylor towards the end.

Hornchurch 3 (Brayley 17, 26, Taylor 83) Havant & W 1 (Taylor 8)
Attendance: 720
Man of the Match: Ashley Bayes (Hornchurch)

It was a vital match and I was more than happy to take all three points out of it. Slowly but surely we were becoming a good unit of a team, and although 15th we lay only a decent run of results outside of the playoffs. Now all we need is that decent run... sort of now-ish.