2018-19 Isthmian League Thread ("Bostik" if you must)

[Riverside64]

Really looking forward to the start on Saturday - should be a decent game home to Leatherhead and a reasonable gauge as to where we are at.

Like K's it's been a confusing pre-season:

Hullbridge Sports (2 levels below) 1-0
Concord Rangers (1 level above) 2-0
Cheshunt (1 level below) 0-2
Enfield Town (same level) 2-1
Dulwich Hamlet (1 level above) 3-0
Canvey Island (1 level below) 1-2
Arsenal U23 (youth) 0-3
Bury Town (1 level below) 1-3

Excluding Arsenal, we beat the 3 teams at our level or above but lost 3 of the 4 against teams from a lower level.

Bring on Saturday so we can stop all this nonsense.

 

[Paddy]

Craig Edwards loves playing friendlies against you guys doesn't he

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

Haringey Borough's pre-season's looked like this (all at home except Hendon)
Coggeshall Town (1 level below) 5 - 2
Dulwich Hamlet (1 level above) 1 - 3
Royston Town (same level) 2 - 2
Cheshunt (1 level below) 2 - 1
Hendon (same level) 3 - 2
Waltham Abbey (1 level below) 5 - 0
Hanwell Town (1 level below) 1 - 1
Barton Rovers (1 level below) 5 - 2
Brentwood Town (1 level below) 3 - 2

Wish we'd had a few more matches against Step 3 opposition tbh

 

[Riverside64]

Craig Edwards loves playing friendlies against you guys doesn't he

He does. In the same way that Sappleton loves scoring against us - he scored in last season's friendlies when playing for the K's and scored both Cheshunt's goals this season.

 

[Red Deserato]

Kicked off the season with a 2-1 win against Wingate & Finchley. Didn't feel like we were as clinical as we can be but going behind gave us the kick up the arse needed to go and get the win. New boy Calum Kealy got both the goals and the other debutants impressed with David Ajiboye being the stand out player. Good start and I hope for more success on the pitch.

Same can't be said for a certain side who spent lots in the summer (Kingstonian) cough cough

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

No surprise, to my mind. I don't like to puncture the positive vibes but I did rather fear the worst. Dynan showed no indication that he was of sufficiently good calibre last season so I'm certainly not expecting any trees to be uprooted this time round.

 

[JaredSUFC]

What’s a Brightlingsea Regent?

 

[E10rifle]

What’s a Brightlingsea Regent?

It’s a nice trip to the seaside for Dagenham fans next season. Maybe they can have their annual bath in the sea.

 

[Paddy]

We let Brightlingsea have two very easy goals, ended the game with 9 men still on the pitch & I have no idea how we were awarded a penalty in the last 10 or so minutes to make the defeat look like it was a closer game on paper.

I just keep telling myself that Billericay lost on day 1 last year & still went on to win the title.

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

Boro were unlucky not to beat Bognor - the front three of Nouble, Akinwande and McKenzie look very sharp. Akinwande's goal was fantastic. The equaliser Haringey conceded was soft, and we missed what really were straightforward chances to win the game.

Nothing to fear in this league.

 

[Riverside64]

Happy with a 3-0 over Leatherhead though given their on and off field problems pre-season I doubt we'll read too much into the win. According to Bull (keeper/manager) on interview they had 12 players making their debut. They'll get stronger so glad we played them early doors.

Good start for us. Wingate up next tomorrow.

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

See the Potters Bar Avant-Garde Theatre Troupe smashed Kingstonian, and, no doubt, the will to live of everyone present.

 

[Paddy]

I'm going to go play in traffic.

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

If you fancy defecting you could have picked up a Free* Potters Bar Season ticket for absolutely free*.

*£25 admin fee applies

 

[Paddy]

Initially I read the first part as "if you fancy deficating" & thought how apt, if not an odd way to start a sentence.

 

[Red Deserato]

So much for Kingstonian winning the league...

 

[Aberstone]

Looking at the FWP lineups did Leigh Dynan seriously play Jay Gasson as a left back? He’s a decent enough centre half but I remember him being slower than an oil tanker for Basingstoke a few years back.

I didn’t realise Shaun Lucien was at K’s either until I’d seen the lineups, tricky winger who could still do a job at step 2.

 

[Paddy]

We've not got a clue. 1 point from 4 league games & an exit from the League Cup to a team from the division below is not a tolerable return for the investment made in the squad over the summer. Dynan has got to go - it's painfully obvious that he's out of his depth & something needs to be done about him while there's still some kind of hope of turning our season around to at least reach the play offs.

Looking at the FWP lineups did Leigh Dynan seriously play Jay Gasson as a left back? He’s a decent enough centre half but I remember him being slower than an oil tanker for Basingstoke a few years back.

Gasson was at LB because despite our Summer spending spree we've got no defensive cover

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

First time I've seen us this season and I thought we were crap (and yet, apparently, it's far from our worst showing so far)!

Lots of open hostility from the Ks faithful towards the manager but it's entirely merited. He's been well backed, has had a good squad to work with for months and we're still hopeless. I hate his manner. He just radiates negativity. He needs to go now while we still have a chance of salvaging the season.

I do like the ground though, despite Tolworth not being the most attractive of locations.

 

[Paddy]

I do like the ground though, despite Tolworth not being the most attractive of locations.

Just feels more like somewhere we should be playing football in comparison to the Fetcham Grove water polo field.

Onwards to the first King George's Field derby today & more likely our 5th defeat in 6 league games. Not winning, with any luck, will result in Dynan getting the boot... of course I'd rather we actually won the match but every cloud & all that.

 

[Paddy]

So after today's defeat to Bognor I make that 1 win, 1 tie, 4 defeats from 6 league games... our only points coming from Carshalton & Corinthian-Casuals, two teams promoted in to our league.

Dynan OUT for god sake this farce has gone on long enough. The genius who decided to give him an 18 month contract needs to have a quite word with themselves too.

 

[Red Deserato]

Another win today, 2-1 against Haringey keeps Worthing's good start going. If we keep this up then the playoffs are a possibility

 

[Paddy]

Oh would you look at that, we've been knocked out of the FA Cup by a team from a lower division... because that hasn't happened almost every season recently.

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

He's utterly fucking useless.

Completely agree on the length of contract btw. Never understood at the time why a manager with no experience at this level was given the best part of two seasons. Bar a slight upturn in form at the back end of last season, when I suspect most clubs had downed tools anyway, his entire spell has been a complete disaster. Need to get rid before he inflicts further damage.

 

[Raymondo316]

How the heck are you struggling with Theophanous & Buchanan upfront?? you should be scoring goals for fun with them two

 

[Pink Panther]

He's utterly fucking useless.

Completely agree on the length of contract btw. Never understood at the time why a manager with no experience at this level was given the best part of two seasons. Bar a slight upturn in form at the back end of last season, when I suspect most clubs had downed tools anyway, his entire spell has been a complete disaster. Need to get rid before he inflicts further damage.

It sounds like he's completely out of his depth. I get the feeling some managers are better off working with limited resources and having to make do with a small group of players. He used a ridiculous number of players last season and was clearly either signing unsuitable players or casting people off without giving them a proper chance, and that seems to have continued over the summer with a bigger budget and the opportunity to sign a higher class of player.

Apart from Buchanan and Theophanous, Dulwich wanted to keep Muhammadu Faal while Greg Cundle played most of pre-season with Dulwich and made a good impression, but we chose to sign Walter Figueira instead who's now begun to look a bit of a dud. That's four strikers who would walk into most Isthmian League sides if not a few in the National South.

 

[doveranddover]

Some high scoring games in the league cup tonight

Bognor 8-0 Whitehawk
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/...league-cup/bognor-regis-town/whitehawk/120488

East Grinstead 2-9 Hastings [from 2-0 down]
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/...up/east-grinstead-town/hastings-united/118169

 

[Lurchin Urchin]

Well. We're in the FAC 3rd Qual after scraping past East Grinstead. And bathing in a luxurious bath of 900 ten pound notes.

I don't normally buy the Non League Paper (who does?) but on days like today it seemed a good idea so that I could browse the possible options over a leisurely Sunday brunch (get me) ... only to discover it's no longer on sale in the 2 places I used to get it. Hey ho. Anyway, I quite fancy Hanwell at home if anyone has any influence with the FA. Or Dulwich - as we always beat them in the cup. Sometimes we* score as many as 9.

Talking of Dulwich we've just signed Nana Boakye-Yiadom - any good? He came on for 5 mins yesterday but I was in the bar due to the rain.


* OK, OK, when we were financially doped but it was still a good laugh.

 

[Meadow]

Well. We're in the FAC 3rd Qual after scraping past East Grinstead. And bathing in a luxurious bath of 900 ten pound notes.

I don't normally buy the Non League Paper (who does?) but on days like today it seemed a good idea so that I could browse the possible options over a leisurely Sunday brunch (get me) ... only to discover it's no longer on sale in the 2 places I used to get it. Hey ho. Anyway, I quite fancy Hanwell at home if anyone has any influence with the FA. Or Dulwich - as we always beat them in the cup. Sometimes we* score as many as 9.

Talking of Dulwich we've just signed Nana Boakye-Yiadom - any good? He came on for 5 mins yesterday but I was in the bar due to the rain.


* OK, OK, when we were financially doped but it was still a good laugh.

I used to buy the Non League Paper every week when we were in non league. It's on sale in the supermarket I work in, deep in the heart of Dulwich Hamlet territory - one of their players is a regular customer.

 

[Pink Panther]

Talking of Dulwich we've just signed Nana Boakye-Yiadom - any good? He came on for 5 mins yesterday but I was in the bar due to the rain.

He's a quick wholehearted striker, not the most technically subtle, but a good team player. He was most effective off the bench for Dulwich. Don't think he's National South standard but can certainly do a job for a decent Isthmian Premier side.