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I’d never thought about getting back into the game, not since the late 90s anyway. It’s now 2004 and I’m 30 years young, heck I wish I felt it. Anyway if I may take you back, way back to the late 80s and early 90s. They were the good old days. The Mullet Years. It was 1991, April 28th if I remember rightly, when my childhood dream was rained on from a great height. I’d always dreamed of playing professional football, like any schoolkid with their head in the clouds too much. Fortunately for me I was one of those lucky ones, picked from the school team at 13 to train with Southend United – and this was back when they were almost a good team. At 15 I was 30 or so miles west of Roots Hall, plying my trade in the West Ham youth system. It was all going so well, I was training with the team and players I’d adored since I learned they existed, I was even being billed as one of those ‘next big things’ among the local, and even the national, press. Well, The Sun wrote about 4 lines about me. Once. But still.
Swiftly moving on, I mentioned April 28, 1991 back there. I’d just turned 17 and by now I was really threatening to break into the Hammers team. I mean at this time they were going through a tricky spell and the gaffer, old Billy Bonds, was looking at all his options. My chance to shine arrived on that night, in the Under 18s Cup Final. Bonds was there, as were various scouts from clubs around the country. And stone me if I didn’t have a cracking game. I could almost taste the Man of the Match champagne – or under legal drinking age equivalent – on my tongue when it happened. It was a fair, 50-50 challenge, yes. There was no malicious intent, I’ll agree. But I came off with a, for want of a better word, completely knackered right knee. As I lay on the cold pitch screaming in agony, my short career flashed before me as I realised there went my big chance. Not only that, but there went my career full stop. Up in smoke quicker than a cheap cigarette.
I made a brief return to the game in 1997, playing a season for non-league Canvey Island, and then one for Hornchurch before playing on a dodgy knee in cold, lonely grounds became enough, and I hung up my boots for the last time, aged just 25.
Fast forward 5 more years and we’re back in 2004. I’m living in Romford with my recently-ish acquired (after many years of trying) girlfriend, childhood sweetheart Samantha. And I’m running a local pub after taking up a career as a barman after quitting football.
This recent turn of events, though, was all Samantha’s fault. She ‘treated’ me to an afternoon visit to Upminster to watch Hornchurch play at the end of last season. I suppose I had to chat to some of the old guys I remembered. Chairman Gary Calder was one of those. Letting him know I was back in the area I happily exchanged contact information and promised I’d meet him for a drink over the summer. I just shouldn’t have chosen the night he decided to shake up the managerial team at The Stadium…
“Another Stella for me mate, and just a Coke for Gaz over there,” I near enough shouted at a petrified looking part-time student-type barman, pointing to the suited and booted Gary Calder sitting at a table in the corner.
I paid the typically extortionate price and headed over to our table, for the 6th or 7th time that evening. By now the alcohol was kicking in and I wasn’t totally sure why I was here, what I was doing and I didn’t think it’d be long before I forgot who I was drinking with.
“So, Rob mate, you ever thought about getting back into the old football game?” asked Gary, calmly puffing on a cigarette.
“Err… nah not really, y’know I got me pub up and running now so that’s all chugging along nicely, anyway if you’re offering – I’m no use to anyone with this knee, not to mention the fact I’m an old duffer now.”
“Well now you mention it I did have an offer in mind, I…”
I cut him short, shouting him down in a Stella-fuelled tone “Look, I already said I can’t play the game anymore. It’s been 5 years, my knee is about twice the age of the rest of me, I’m old, and I’ve drunk too much of this stuff, smoked too many fags and not gone to the gym enough to call myself fit”
Cool as a cucumber after my lengthy and pointless comment, he replied “Yes, yes, I know. Look you may know we’re managerless at the moment. I know you love the game, do you think you could handle taking on the management job at Hornchurch?”
I paused for a moment, “Well I suppose I’m… I’m General Manager at the boozer…”
“Well that’s enough experience for me, just sign this and get down to the stadium on Sunday afternoon, we’ll bang out an official announcement then” he continued, obviously desperate
I signed the dotted line on what I would later find out was the contract to take over Hornchurch as manager. Christ on a bike I should really stop drinking.
Oh well, here goes. The diaries of cold Saturday afternoons in horrible stadiums, and everything else in between, begins here…
I was up stupidly early today. Didn’t someone once write a big book mentioning Sunday being the day of rest? Anyway, I had to be. First off I had to politely wake Sam up and inform her I was off to officially take up my new job as manager of Hornchurch. Once she was happy enough about that, it was time to inform her that she’d be running a dodgy old boozer. I decided to head off and leave her to enjoy the feeling of running a business at the young age of 28. Or to put it more honestly, I legged it before she could slap me for swanning off and dumping my business on her. Either way, I’m sure she’ll be happy enough.
I arrived at Gary’s office, half-excited, half-dreading any stories of drunken incidents from Friday evening, at about 9am. He welcomed me with a warm handshake and led me, whilst rambling on about how delighted he was that I’d come here and how much he hoped I could lead the team to success, to my office just down the corridor from his own. It wasn’t really the management office type affair I’d thought of. Kind of like my old office at the pub. Not much more than a desk, a computer, a safe, a phone and a hook for my jacket. Still, it’s better than nothing.
I settled in the swivel chair as Gary wandered off to officially announce the appointment of me, Rob Porter. I grabbed a file left on my desk while taking a phone call from assistant boss Mick Loughton. He informed me it listed the current playing and coaching staff, along with his brief report on their skills and career history. Here’s my even briefer descriptions…
Assistant Manager
Mick LOUGHTON, aged 52, English
Mick looks a good option to keep on as my right-hand man. During our brief chat he made it clear he knew the game well enough to be a decent coach, and having asked around a bit he’s apparently one who knows a good player when he sees one.
Coaches
Jim STANNARD, 41, English
The Fulham fan looks another useful man in the coaching team. A very motivated character who prefers coaching the men between the sticks, but is almost as handy giving his advice to the outfield players as well. He’s contracted for 4 years, so I’m sure there’ll be time to see if he really knows his stuff.
Kevin HALES, 43, English
Slightly the weaker of the two coaches, but a lot more useful coaching the outfield than Jim, and given that they’re our only two coaches I can’t see any reason to consider chopping and changing the team just yet.
Scout
Greg McDONALD, 48, English
Not the greatest scout in the world, but good enough for this level. After all, we can’t wish for everything in the Nationwide South, can we? Going by the report we may have to get in someone who’s got more of an eye for future talent, but we’ll see.
Physio
Richard HARPER, 49, English
Well, he knows how to treat the lads stuck on the injury table. Can’t say much more about that really. Might get him to give my knee a couple of exercises, actually…
And onto the players…
Goalkeepers
Ashley BAYES, 32, English
A lengthy league career finally ended a couple of years back for this man. Stints at Brentford, Torquay, Exeter and Leyton Orient saw him rack up over 300 appearances before heading off to Bohemians in Ireland. He came back to jolly old London – well, almost – to play for Woking, before joining Hornchurch for the season ahead. The Lincoln born shot-stopper looks dead cert for the number 1 shirt come August.
Mark WESTHEAD, 28, English
Originally beginning his career at Bolton, he spent years on the sidelines there and at Wycombe before enjoying first-team football at Leigh RMI and Stevenage. Another new acquisition for the new season, but shouldn’t be challenging Bayes for the position in goal. A reliable enough backup though at this level.
Jake WHINCUP, 20, English
The youngster hasn’t yet broken into the Hornchurch setup really, and this season probably won’t promise much barring a crisis. He looks a useful enough prospect however, so we’ll hopefully be able to send him out on loan to gain that much-desired match experience.
Defenders
Adam LOCKE, 33, English
A 16 year career has seen Adam floating around the leagues with Crystal Palace, Southend, Colchester, Bristol City and finally Luton before coming to Hornchurch. The versatile full back apparently excels when moving forward, and looks a decent choice for the first eleven.
Lee MATTHEWS, 31, English
Born locally, in Romford, he’s never really travelled out of the area. He spent 7 years with Dagenham & Redbridge, making a total of 145 appearances, before coming to Hornchurch for £10000 last season. Has the experience, but I’m not 100% sure he’s got the skill to make the first choice squad. Only time will tell, I guess.
Paul McCARTHY, 32, Irish
With over 400 league appearances to his name, the Irishman looks a much more useful choice at centre back than Lee. The age obviously means he won’t be around for the long term future, but he certainly looks to be a handy player for the season ahead as we bid to reach the Conference.
Tarkan MUSTAFA, 30, English
The right back hasn’t ever really escaped the non-league world. He can also play in midfield, where he looks like he’d be more useful than at the back. I’m not sure, though, if he’ll be first choice anywhere on the pitch.
Damon SEARLE, 32, Welsh (6 U21 Caps)
Another experienced and much travelled league player, with more than 500 appearances under his belt, not to mention being experienced at international level. ish. His skills, however, aren’t as impressive and he’ll most likely be backup to Jamie Stuart.
Jamie SOUTHON, 29, English
Hasn’t had a career, to be honest, but could be useful, at least as a backup for the season ahead. A good, strong tackler according to all reports, and younger than pretty much the rest of the defence. Certainly one to consider, at least.
Jamie STUART, 27, English
The ex Charlton and Millwall man will be the first choice left back for the start of the season. The Londoner’s impressive CV of former clubs is backed up by decent skills in many departments, and will certainly make him an important member of the side.
Steve WEST, 31, English
The local boy can also play in attack, where in all honesty he looks more useful – as proved by his reasonable return of 16 in 37 for Dagenham in 2002-03. Could well make the first eleven, but looks more of an option for the sub’s bench.
Started off brightly at Norwich, notching up a fair few games for them across several seasons. Via Rushden and Chester, he’s slipped down the leagues to find his way to Essex. Not the greatest midfielder in the world, but who the hell is down at this level. In with a shout at the first team.
Darren CASKEY, 29, English
The Chelmsford lad was something of a big name back in the mid-90s when he broke into the first eleven at Spurs. Eventually dipped down slightly for the guarantee of regular play at Watford, Reading and Notts County. The 29 year old certainly possesses some of the skills that saw him pushing for Premiership football those years ago, and is a dead cert for a starting place.
Steven CLARK, 22, English
From the same training school at West Ham that produced the likes of Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand. Not quite as successful, I guess. He’s enjoyed a reasonably successful spell at Southend before heading out here. The young winger still has much to learn but is a decent bet for a starting place.
Lee ELAM, 27, English
More experienced than Clark, and at this sort of level so he’ll know his way on a non-league pitch. In terms of skills I’m still not overly impressed, but that experience could get him the nod for a place in the line-up.
Mark GRAHAM, 29, Northern Irish
Has played, but not set the world on fire, at various teams in and out of the league. I’m told that while he doesn’t excel in any given area of play, he possesses reasonable skills in most. One to look at for the position out on the left.
Adrian HARRIS, 23, Welsh
My planned tactics of choice require at least one strong defensive-minded midfielder. Welshman Adrian looks like he could fit the bill nicely. A good passer of the ball, and reasonable enough going into tackles to provide adequate cover in front of the defence.
Wayne PURSER, 24, English
Made his name with the mighty Barnet after coming through the QPR youth system. Again his skills disappoint for someone who has gained this much experience, but with few other decent choices he could find himself given a try in the first team.
Simon WEATHERSTONE, 24, English
Can play in the centre of midfield or upfront, but not particularly brilliant at either. Looks a decent choice for a place in defensive midfield if he’s got the ability to get forward and put in the occasional goal.
Simon WORMULL, 27, English
Another product of the academy at Tottenham, but has only played anywhere near regularly in non-league football, with Dover and Stevenage. Doesn’t display any obvious talents and I’m not sure if he’ll fit into my tactical plans. As with much of this team, time will tell.
Forwards
Bertie BRAYLEY, 22, English
Yet another product of the youth systems way up in the Premiership. He came through West Ham a few years back but hasn’t really played any competitive football other than a handful of games on loan at Swindon. He’s a decent enough striker, but given that I’ll only be playing the one man up front, does he have what it takes?
Andy DOUGLAS, 24, English
He’s quick, agile and strong, but the inexperience in this striker shows and occasionally the phrases ‘cows backside’ and ‘banjo’ come to mind. Not the worst player to have in your squad, but so far Bertie’s the choice striker.
Kirk JACKSON, 27, English
Has had two particularly good seasons across his career – hitting 7 in 17 for Stevenage in 2001-02, and then 24 in 42 between Stevenage and Yeovil the following year. Certainly seems useful with the ball at his feet and based on this I think he’s edging Brayley out.
Danny SHIPP, 27, English
Another from the Hammers, but has spent pretty much his life at the nearby Daggers. He’s a useful man up front, but his goals return is slightly worrying – only breaking double figures twice in 6 seasons despite playing 30+ games in each.
Jean-Michel SIGERE, 27, French
The token Frenchman in the squad, but the Bordeaux-born man has spent most of his career here in England. Not much impresses me about him, and I think he’ll find himself on the bench at best.
Charlie TAYLOR, 18, English
Finally, a reasonably promising looking young talent. Certainly has plenty to learn but knows what to do up front. I’ll hopefully get a chance to use him in the friendlies and learn more about this lad.
Realising I’d just whiled away most of my Sunday morning reading up on the players, I headed out to get lunch. One day, I’m sure I’ll find a nice, upmarket eatery in Romford, but for now it’s a sandwich from the nearest petrol station shop. Never mind, hey.
I returned to the office to be greeted by a phone call from Salisbury City boss, Nick Holmes. He politely enquired to the availability of defender Jamie Southon. I slapped a £10000 asking price on Southon’s head, and The Whites’ manager informed me he’d be in touch after discussing the matter with his superiors.
The rest of the afternoon sailed by, taking various phone calls from the local press, answering the same questions 12 times over. Great fun, I’m sure anyone would agree. Still, it was a nice and easy first day in the job. After my long old day settling in though I was happy to return home. Analysing the minor domestic situation this morning I played the romance card, picking up flowers, choccys, and a cheap compilation CD of love songs on the way home. The lovely Samantha never pointed out whether or not she was happy and I was forgiven, but an hour later I was in bed puffing on a cigarette. Ahem.
The pleasure softened (no pun intended) somewhat though when I stared at my sleeping beauty. I wondered how often I’d now enjoy the sight of her. I’d taken a job that would consume my life, and I’d flogged the one that consumed it before to her. Slowly with a mind full of random thoughts, I drifted to sleep..
The mighty Tonbridge Angels come in with an offer of £10,000 for Jamie Southon. Given that his suggested value was 10% of that, I happily accepted. The defender is being tagged by three other clubs; Salisbury, Yeading and Staines. His contract expires next summer so I’ll be happy to cash in a bit now.
Staines show their interest in the afternoon by offering £1,000. It may be his official value but given that I stand to make 10 times that amount, the offer is rejected with a polite reminder of my asking price.
July 13, 2004
Keen to get the team raring to go before the season begins with the visit of Margate in 32 days time, I contact the officials of a few clubs about the possibility of friendly matches before the opener. AFC Wimbledon, Southend United and the amazing Romford are all invited to The Stadium.
July 14, 2004
The above three all gladly accept to play us in pre-season friendlies. AFC Wimbledon will visit a week today, we’ll play Southend on the 27th, before finishing with the match against Romford on Sunday August 1.
Meanwhile the Jamie Southon saga continues, with Salisbury today declining to bid the desired ten grand for his services. Never mind.
And finally the European Champions League begins, with representatives from the UK and Ireland. Linfield visited KR in Iceland, losing 3-0, while Shelbourne won against Kaunas of Lithuania by a similar margin. And in sunny north Wales, a late penalty secured Rhyl a 2-1 win over Gorica.
July 15, 2004
Yeading join the list of those to make an offer for Southon. Sadly they offer £0. I politely inform their manager to stick his offer somewhere… Staines pull out of the chase, unable to match the Tonbridge offer of £10000. Southon heads to Tonbridge for talks, hopeful of agreeing a move.
Elsewhere in the transfer world, Irish midfielder Terry Bowes leaves our fellow Conference South Essex boys Thurrock, joining Hednesford Town for £3000.
And heading back out Eurowide, the EURO Cup begins. Welsh side TNS go down 2-1 at Dinamo Tbilisi, whilst fellow Welsh entry Haverfordwest secure a vital away win, beating Shakhter Soligorsk 2-1. Macedonian side Sileks come away from Glentoran as 2-1 victors, but Portadown keep Northern Ireland alive as they beat Ekranas 2-0. Both teams from the Republic of Ireland performed well, with Bohemians winning 3-2 in Azerbaijan against Shamkir, and Longford drawing 2-2 at Maribor.
July 16, 2004
Southon agrees to move to Tonbridge and off he goes, with £10000 coming the other way. Meanwhile Harrow Borough sign Carshalton’s Gary Elliott at a cost of £2000, much to the dismay of many sections of the Harrow supporters.
With a quiet day in the football world, I took the opportunity to use my Friday night to take Sam out. Arriving home I called out her name to no avail. I found a note, reading “Rob, sorry I won’t be in til late tonight, Steve off ill so I’ve gotta run YOUR pub… Love Sammy xxx”
It’s been a quiet weekend in the football world, thank God. I’ve finally had some time to spend with Sammy. Christ this is nearly as hard as the first time, back when I was 15 and we’d see each other once or twice a week cause of homework, even worse when we were grounded – normally because we didn’t do homework and sneaked out to see each other instead.
Anyway we flogged the Saturday night pub job off to the assistant gaffer, and I took her off to London to one of those Z-list celeb hangouts. Suprisingly enough it was a good night. I didn’t get any form of an earful about how I won’t be able to take her out now I’m working my old april off at mighty Hornchurch, at least. Still, it was nice to get out for the evening and spend some time together, which we hadn’t done at all in a while.
It’s hard though. I never thought I’d finally secure the girl I’d dreamed of being with years ago. I spent my teenage years going from pointless relationship to one night stand and back again, all the while hoping one day I’d get her. It happens and then I land this job. Now I’m stuck trying to find time between the ideal world of living with Sam, and the real world of working day in, day out for Hornchurch. Typical damn luck.
Anyway, I’ve written enough to bore myself now. But cheers for listening. Hang on, you’re a book. You don’t listen, do you?
Christ I am going insane… I’m arguing with a book. Help…
July 19, 2004
Back into my office on Monday morning and there was little for me to know about my own club. The Conference South news services reported various transfers, including Margate – our first opponents – signing Swindon’s Matt Bulman on loan until October, and Whitby buying Chris Elsegood from Maidenhead for £1000. The impressively afroed left back is however unpopular among fans at Turnbull Ground, reportedly.
One of our local rivals, Redbridge, suffered a blow in their preparations as Glenn Poole broke a leg in training and will be out until well into 2005. I’d wish him all the best for a speedy recovery, but he’s quite good, and we’ll have to play them, so I won’t.
July 20, 2004
Having had a week to settle in, it was time I did some real work. I gathered together some information from the transfer market and began trying to add some more talent to the side. Somewhat ambitious attempts to lure in good young talent on loan were submitted to Adam Birchall of Arsenal, and West Ham defenders Chris Cohen and Elliott Ward, and finally to Marc Goodfellow of Bristol City. If any of those join I’ll be happy. If not then it’s time to check around the basement leagues for anything resembling usefulness. That’ll be fun. But given that Marcel McKie is delighted to leave Spurs to join Hayes on loan, I’m sure we’ll land something from that selection…
I bloody hope so anyway, tomorrow I begin my life here proper, with our first friendly. Embarrassment ahead, perhaps.
No word yet from Arsenal, West Ham or Bristol City on whether they’ll allow my approaches, so we went into my opening game in charge with the bog standard team I inherited.
Friendly The Stadium, Upminster Hornchurch v AFC Wimbledon
Nervously I took my seat in the dugout, if that’s what you want to call it, as the players took to the field for the first time under my control. I was finding it harder and harder to believe I was here. I mean most of this team are my age or older for a start, and I’ve never been involved in any form of football management since computer games when I was a bored, lonely, single 20-something.
I went with playing an interesting, and confusing judging by some of the faces when I’d explained it at training yesterday, 4-2-3-1 formation which didn’t really bother with a midfield, just linked more efficiently and directly our defence with the forward line.
As I shuffled around in my seat while the opening moments of the game played, I wondered how long it would take for this job to get easier. A win this evening would certainly help, even if there were only a few hundred fans here to see it. AFC Wimbledon started brighter as the lads got used to my style of play, and it looked like I’d have a difficult first game in charge. I looked to the skies, almost praying, as they came close several times early on.
Soon enough the side settled into their roles and our game began to flow more freely, producing chances for Elam, Caskey and Purser in the space of 5 minutes near the end of the first half. But still AFCW looked stronger and I was glad to hear the whistle ring around the stadium after the first 45 minutes of play.
It was time for my first team talk, I didn’t have a clue what to say. I had to ring a friend for motivational techniques at one point. All I could come up with was “Stick in formation and get used to it, play the way you’ve trained” and the old reliable “Get out there and enjoy yourselves”.
Somehow it seemed to work. We took the game by the scruff of the neck as the second half wore on, and looked the better side from the off. Finally we scored the opening goal after 15 or so minutes of play. Danny Naisbitt’s poor goal kick found Carey, who set up Elam to run rings around the Dons defence before putting the ball past the keeper. I was jumping around the side of the pitch like we’d just scored the winner in the FA Cup Final here. Weird I know, but damn I was happy to see that first goal go in.
The remainder of the match was all Hornchurch, and there was little surprise when the game was finally wrapped up 10 minutes from time when substitute Mustafa scored a cracking 20-yard strike to double the lead. Again I think I was overly excited, but hey ho. I’d won my first match in charge, and now I could only hope it’d continue…
Hornchurch 2 (Elam 61, Mustafa 80) AFC Wimbledon 0 Attendance: 438 Man of the Match: Andy Sullivan (AFC Wimbledon)
Finally it was over, the nerve-jangling first match out of the way. Eventually after an hour that seemed like days of thought about the match I headed home. Poor old Sam, she barely received a hello as I strolled through the door, and went straight to bed for a well earned night’s sleep.
I woke up feeling almost hungover from last night’s excitement. It was a stupidly early hour so I made the probably safe choice not to wake the other half. Instead I had a small breakfast, and sat in the front room chain-smoking until sunrise. I was beginning to wonder if I’d made the right ‘decision’ in taking this job – not that it was much of a decision.
The good news on my eventual arrival at work this morning was from Bristol. Apparently they’d accepted my attempt to bring in their young midfielder Marc Goodfellow on loan, and it’ll now be up to the man himself to decide whether he fancies spending the best part – best not really being the right word there – of the following year in Essex with us. Sadly though I was also informed that the impressive Hammers youngster Chris Cohen won’t be joining us, as West Ham turned down my approach to take him on loan.
Elsewhere in the transfer market Hayes were active, bringing in Richard Logan and Nicholas Baker on loan. Otherwise it was a dull day in the world of wheeling and dealing.
Last night though, when I wasn’t overly fussed about much else than the goings on in front of me, saw the second leg of the Champions’ League First Qualifiers. Representing the Welsh we had Rhyl visiting Slovenia to play Gorica. A 1-1 draw coupled with their 2-1 home win saw them into the next round, where they’ll face Djurgarden of Sweden. Shelbourne would join them in the next phase, with a 2-1 win at Kaunas adding to the 3-0 win in the first leg. They’ll take on Trabzonspor next week. Linfield managed a good 2-0 win over KR, but after losing 3-0 away they drop out to the Icelandic side, who’ll play Red Star in the next phase.
July 23, 2004
The only news today was disappointing. Adam Birchall, after a little umming and ahhing, decided that Kettering was a nicer place to spend his season than the outskirts of Romford. Probably wise, in all seriousness, but in footballing terms it’s a pain in the backside.
Still, the quiet day allowed me to have a Friday evening free with the woman in my life. Typically we couldn’t decide what to do with it, so we went for a quiet drink or two. At the pub we own. In the words of the Jazz Club guy… Niiiche.
July 24, 2004
I should enjoy these almost carefree Saturday afternoons. It’ll not be long before my life revolves around them. West Ham redeemed themselves though, allowing Elliott Ward the opportunity to decide if he fancies heading slightly east and joining us for a season. Local rivals Redbridge proved more active in the market today though, bringing Sonny Ball and Gary Prigent in on loan. I took full male advantage of the evening in. Beer, TV and a dodgy Chinese takeaway. Hey, I’m enjoying the good old life while it lasts…
July 25, 2004
A couple of minor transfers headed the divisional news this afternoon, with Mel Capleton heading from St Albans to Aylesbury for £1000, and Neil Champion moving from Havant & Waterlooville to Slough for a similar figure. In Europe, the biggest transfer yet this summer took place, with German keeper Hans Jorg Butt leaving Leverkusen for Dortmund at a fee of £4.2m.
More interesting, and pleasing, to me personally though was the news that Goodfellow will be joining us for the season on loan. He’s being flown in… well he’s on a train from Bristol, immediately. Annoyingly it meant I had to give up my evening awaiting his arrival, when he eventually appeared to finalise the deal.
July 26, 2004
It’s friendly number two tomorrow, so I went into another days’ work hoping Elliott would have made up his mind and would join us before the more challenging visit of Southend United. Blimey. ‘Challenging’ and ‘Southend United’ – I never thought I’d see them in the same sentence.
Redbridge secured another loaner, bringing in Karim El-Sahali from Crystal Palace until October. And I thought another of our Essex teams had nabbed the buy of the season when I saw the headline reading “Gallen signed” among the news. After all, the QPR striker wouldn’t be too bad an acquisition down at this level. Sadly though Heybridge had only landed Brendan Gallen (yep, the other one) from Maidenhead. With still no word from Ward late on in the evening, it looked like I’d be jumping into the Southend friendly with the same old defence that just about kept AFC Wimbledon out. Super…
12-04-2004, 03:51 AM
The Only Way Is Up. No, seriously, it is. Post #10
Friendly The Stadium, Upminster Hornchurch v Southend United
I thought this’d be simpler after having done it once before. It wasn’t. Well actually it wasn’t quite so bad, but only because by the time I’d nearly finished settling in my dugout spot we’d already gone ahead. I was once more adjusting to the sight of a football pitch at this viewpoint when my lads were celebrating off at one side of it. I’d learned one thing from the last match, mind. I was a little more subdued in my ‘partying’ here. At least at this stage.
At 1-0 up after just a few minutes I still couldn’t settle. Every time the ball was with a Southend player I worried. I don’t know why I kept this up, the Shrimpers barely managed to worry Bayes until a brief period of sustained pressure late in the first half. It didn’t help my worryingly poor confidence that after dominating most of the first half, we could only show off a 1-0 lead at the break.
That soon changed. Not too far into the second half of the match we were looking like increasing the lead, and we finally did when Danny Shipp latched onto Caskey’s pass to make it 2-0. This management lark was beginning to look more fun than stressful, I thought as the smile stretched my recently unexercised cheeks. Shipp then turned creator minutes later as he twisted and turned among the Southend defence before setting up Elam for his second of the match.
Lee was having an absolute blinder and almost writing his own name on the team sheet for when the season begins properly, but he couldn’t give up there. After several attempts at the hat-trick goal, including a missed penalty, he finally got his third towards the end after yet another period of pressure on the visitors’ goal.
We’d won more than convincingly here against league opposition. Surely now I could settle into this job with ease. We’ll see…
Hornchurch 4 (Elam 3, 61, 83, Shipp 57) Southend 0
Attendance: 528
Man of the Match: Lee Elam (Hornchurch)
The Only Way Is Up. No, seriously, it is. 
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