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

[beautifulgame2015]

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

Last two months have seen Boro on a ludicrous run - now ten on the spin.

Apart from Dorking, who've really gone off the boil, no-one's really looked like beating us in that time. How long we can keep it up, I don't know.

 

[Paddy]

We're 2 for 2 against our landlords this season & move up to 2nd in the table! With more games played than all the teams around us I know it's a bit of a false position but it feels good to be where we are after a terrible first part of the season.

 

[Red Deserato]

after a strong start worthing are falling by the wayside. Injuries have weakened us defensively and it's really exposing how average we are going forward. Missed some sitters against Bognor and it cost us as we lost 2-0 which leaves us with 5 defeats out of 6 in all comps and down in 7th despite only playing 17 games.

On a more positive note, delighted that we got 1800 at Woodside road on Saturday. The place was packed and it will really benefit the club.

 

[Red Deserato]

So how does everyone feel about the season so far?

 

[Paddy]

VS my feelings pre season... disastrous. With the obvious financing behind us this year & the squad we have we should be up there with Haringey & Dorking.

VS my feelings 2 months in to the season... I'm happy we are putting on some kind of play off challenge although having lost 2-0 at home to bottom of the table Whitehawk I'm starting to revert to 'disastrous'.

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

Obviously the last couple of months have been beyond the wildest expectations of anyone connected with Haringey Borough (I was quietly confident we'd do alright at the start of the season, and worried about going down by mid-October).

But it's a little bit frustrating to have picked up 40 of the last 45 available points and still have Dorking breathing down our necks.

I don't think it's a two-horse race just yet, but anyone below Lewes is probably going to have to rely on both Dorking and us going off the boil in the run in, or will have to win every game. That said, we do play Enfield, Kingstonian, Lewes, Folkestone and Dorking in the final month or so of the season, so we certainly can't get cocky just yet.

 

[rudebwoyben]

It's been a bit of a disaster for Fingate & Winchley in the league, although getting to the 2nd round of the FA Trophy was a fine achievement. Neither the joint foray into management by Glen Little and Nicky Shorey, nor Little's subsequent solo managerial spell was anything other than a disaster. Relegation is looking more probable than possible unless they can finish 3rd from bottom and win the AGM cup like they did 5 years ago.

 

[DarkSithLord]

It's been a bit of a disaster for Fingate & Winchley in the league, although getting to the 2nd round of the FA Trophy was a fine achievement. Neither the joint foray into management by Glen Little and Nicky Shorey, nor Little's subsequent solo managerial spell was anything other than a disaster. Relegation is looking more probable than possible unless they can finish 3rd from bottom and win the AGM cup like they did 5 years ago.

They may win the AGM Cup though with Potters Bar struggling to achieve the required ground grading

Meanwhile they seem to have gone for a unique way to pick the team - AI Technology!!

https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/25479/wingate-finchley-enter-the-modern-age/

 

[rudebwoyben]

They may win the AGM Cup though with Potters Bar struggling to achieve the required ground grading

Meanwhile they seem to have gone for a unique way to pick the team - AI Technology!!

https://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/25479/wingate-finchley-enter-the-modern-age/

Do you have any idea how many clubs at Step 3 could potentially be relegated as a result of the FA being more stringent on grounds meeting divisional ground grading criteria?

 

[Raymondo316]

Sounds like there could be a lot of reprieves

https://twitter.com/x/status/1088114746103156738

 

[The Paranoid Pineapple]

VS my feelings pre season... disastrous. With the obvious financing behind us this year & the squad we have we should be up there with Haringey & Dorking.

VS my feelings 2 months in to the season... I'm happy we are putting on some kind of play off challenge although having lost 2-0 at home to bottom of the table Whitehawk I'm starting to revert to 'disastrous'.

It was 3-1! It was also the first game I've attended for a fair while... Christ, we were awful. Their first two goals were just simple balls over the top and the third was scrappy and poorly defended. We've done well to drag ourselves into contention after a poor start but it's still been a bit of a so-so season. And it's a shame we're without a few players at the moment but that's because a few loanees have gone back and well... that's the nature of loanees and placing any sort of reliance on them. Dynan seems to have a good contacts book, which is valuable at this level, but I'm still not sure he's really any good beyond that.

 

[Ian_Wrexham]

Whitehawk looked dreadful when they were at Coles Park the other week. They barely mustered a single chance. I was surprised to see them follow that up by getting a draw against Dorking and beating Kingstonian.

Of the relegation candidates, Harlow look to be the side doing things relegation candidates need to do; being tough, organised and going out for a fight. But it may just be they hate Haringey with a passion cos that's where they all used to live before White Flight, i don't know.

 

[rudebwoyben]

Whitehawk looked dreadful when they were at Coles Park the other week. They barely mustered a single chance. I was surprised to see them follow that up by getting a draw against Dorking and beating Kingstonian.

Of the relegation candidates, Harlow look to be the side doing things relegation candidates need to do; being tough, organised and going out for a fight. But it may just be they hate Haringey with a passion cos that's where they all used to live before White Flight, i don't know.

The White Flight derby!

 

[Aberstone]

Leigh Dynan has finally been let go at K's, just several months too late...

 

[JaredSUFC]

Leigh Dynan has finally been let go at K's, just several months too late...

About 3 months to soon unfortunately. Doing a fantastic job

 

[Paddy]

FINALLY. It took a 7-1 pasting & our 5th defeat on the bounce for the directors to work out what we knew half way through last season: DYNAN CAN NOT MANAGE AT THIS LEVEL EVEN WITH A BLANK CHEQUE BOOK TO SIGN CONFERENCE SOUTH PLAYERS.

He's pretty much ruined our prospects of going up this year in a division that has no massive budget shit or bust clubs (other than us) or a Dulwich. That would also mean he has pissed every penny he has spent up the wall as I doubt our directors are stupid enough to pump the same level of money in next year... Although they did give Dynan a 2 year contract when he joined so maybe they are stupid enough.

 

[Riverside64]

Yeah, you've let us down too recently losing to the sides in and around us at the bottom - namely Whitehawk and Potters Bar.

Fuck knows what's happening at our pad though - we've just signed our 8th ex-Thurrock player, the 6th by our newly appointed ex-Thurrock manager. It's really starting to divide the club especially the latest signing which has meant the departure of left back Jay Porter who has been by far our most outstanding defender in the last 2 seasons.

It's an absolute shambles and judging by the reaction on Twitter there's a fair amount of surprise amongst the players too.

 

[#Beebot]

Yeah, you've let us down too recently losing to the sides in and around us at the bottom - namely Whitehawk and Potters Bar.

Fuck knows what's happening at our pad though - we've just signed our 8th ex-Thurrock player, the 6th by our newly appointed ex-Thurrock manager. It's really starting to divide the club especially the latest signing which has meant the departure of left back Jay Porter who has been by far our most outstanding defender in the last 2 seasons.

It's an absolute shambles and judging by the reaction on Twitter there's a fair amount of surprise amongst the players too.

What's the football like under Stimson? He was the master of pretty but ineffective football while he was here.

Not surprised to see Charlie following his dad around either - even more out of his depth in L2 than his dad was!

 

[Riverside64]

What's the football like under Stimson? He was the master of pretty but ineffective football while he was here.

His football is definitely easier on the eye but he hasn't made us any harder to beat. Whilst we are creating more scoring opportunities his league record still isn't great - P13, W3, D4, L6 - with the 3 games we've won being at Harlow and home to Burgess Hill and Corinthian-Casuals - 3 struggling teams.

He's brought the players in that he knows will give him a warm and fuzzy but imo they're no better than the ones he's released. Hopefully he'll prove me wrong and we'll start converting more of the chances we create and then going on to win games, starting with tonight's League Cup semi-final at home to Bracknell Town.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Former Billericay manager Dean Brennan is the new manager at Kingstonian

 

[Paddy]

Hopefully Brennan can sort out this mess in the same style as our last ex-Billericay boss Craig Edwards did (but obviously stay around a bit longer!).

Reaching the play offs is still a possibility but he's got no time for a honeymoon period.

 

[Pink Panther]

Hopefully Brennan can sort out this mess in the same style as our last ex-Billericay boss Craig Edwards did (but obviously stay around a bit longer!).

Reaching the play offs is still a possibility but he's got no time for a honeymoon period.

From seeing Hamlet play his Hemel team the year they were Southern League champions and Billericay just after he went there, at least he knows how to manage players and set up a team to play decent effective football. Dynan just appeared clueless.

 

[Paddy]

Dynan just appeared clueless.

Oh good so it wasn't just a select few K's fans that noticed this. The guy was massively out of his depth, that much was obvious after 2 or 3 months of his revolving door player recruitment antics.

 

[Pink Panther]

Oh good so it wasn't just a select few K's fans that noticed this. The guy was massively out of his depth, that much was obvious after 2 or 3 months of his revolving door player recruitment antics.

Our 4-0 win against Ks on New Year's Day last year was the easiest three points of the entire season. It was quite shocking how disorganised the whole team looked.

If Brennan has the opportunity to bring in the players he needs you must still have a chance of a top 5 finish with the core of the squad he's inherited. Maybe a local derby against Not Police in the "Super Play-off"!

 

[Paddy]

The Brennan era gets off to a 1- all tie at home against Carshalton Athletic. Given recent form that's a positive.

 

[Red Deserato]

After a couple of months of shithousery, we proceeded to smack around Harlow, beating them 9-1. Totally made up for some of the dire performances I've seen lately

 

[rudebwoyben]

In Fingate and Winchley’s 2-2 draw at Folkestone Invicta all 4 goals were scored in the 90th minute with Finchley snatching a draw from 2-0 down!

 

[Aberstone]

The Brennan era gets off to a 1- all tie at home against Carshalton Athletic. Given recent form that's a positive.

Dean Brennan will get Kingstonian playing attacking football, the problem is a lot like Dynan though, his Hemel sides were notorious for being leaky at the back and his player turnover, well the less said on that then the better...

What I will say is he's out and about all the time scouting opposition and looking at prospective signings. It used to be a running joke that him and Stuart Maynard would be at our Monday night games without fail.

On a separate note - has anybody on here been to Dorking? 9 point gap at the top now, Aldershot fans are going to relish playing them.

 

[Pink Panther]

On a separate note - has anybody on here been to Dorking? 9 point gap at the top now, Aldershot fans are going to relish playing them.

I haven't been to the current ground since it was refurbished. I'm thinking of going there next weekend as I'm unlikely to get to Torquay for Dulwich's game.