2019-20 National League South

[John Still]

Blaming the people who have given his son abuse for why he's walking away

https://twitter.com/x/status/1174643672534671360

He did the same when he pulled out of buying us, he claimed his son received lots of abuse at a game I was sitting directly behind the said son who received no abuse whatsoever. All poor excuses, he put his son in the firing line what did he expect.

He clearly thought he would be out of the south by now but the appetite has clearly gone when result this season weren’t 5-0 wins each week.

 

[Harrier94]

Been following this on twitter and I've never seen anyone abuse his son online, only seen people question the tactical choice to bring him on in games.

 

[Aberstone]

His oxygen is publicity so I'm not buying this one iota that he's gone for good. This is just his cry for attention.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

His oxygen is publicity so I'm not buying this one iota that he's gone for good. This is just his cry for attention.

And the sympathy he's getting is sickening. They're telling him he's a legend and thanking him for all he's done - IF he does actually walk away, Billericay probably will cease to exist.

 

[The Terminator]

The only decent thing he's done, is improve the facilities at the ground and I guess he got them into this league - albeit with a bottomless pit of money for the level the Ryman League is.

He's an attention seeker and personally I cannot wait until he goes.

As already mentioned, he thought he'd be in the National League by now - But it doesn't work like that.

 

[iron4ever]

When we played them early this season (local game) he didn't attend. To be fair if I remember correctly his son at that time wasn't even on the bench. Feel sorry for genuine Billericay fans as its possible they wont have a club to support soon.

 

[Raymondo316]

Gavin Gunning & Craig Robson are the latest to leave the circus

 

[Raymondo316]

Well that was a weird game, we didn't exactly play great but won the game so easily, it almost felt like we didnt have to get out of second gear at times. If 3 or 4 teams were going down this season instead of potentially 1, St Albans would be worrying right about now......they honestly look terrible.

As for us, Elokobi (hes become quite the fan favourite), McClure (first player to score a hat trick for us since our Ryman days) & Wishart (didn't have his best game today) are the clear stand outs for us this season.

 

[Pinner Stones]

Ten matches won on the spin comes to an end. Not quite a 1-4 but whoever finishes above Havant will win the league. First twenty minutes we were all over them, scored and looked very comfortable. Then we had an error/mix up between our keeper and Okimo which let Havant back into the game.

Moments after they equalised we had a gilt edge chance to retake the lead. Lafayette should have done better but the keeper will get the plaudits. Havant scored against the run of play to lead 2-1 at the break and took control of the game. We huffed and puffed in the second period but they used their vast experience to kill off the game.

We ended up with ten players as McLennan was carried off with a broken ankle after a nasty challenge from Rutherford. The scissor tackle only merited a booking! Rutherford was already lucky to stay on pitch in any case.

Well beaten on the day and we will see what this team is made off to see if we can go on another run like we had.

 

[Aberstone]

Havant did have 2 or 3 really good chances in the second half too which were missed so it could have been even worse (wouldn't have been merited however).

Yesterday was the first time all season that I thought both centre halves weren't imposing in their play - Ayunga and Kedwell were both menaces in their own ways but both Okimo and Stevens were surprisingly error prone. We also persisted to play a high line which Havant clearly had worked out before the end of half time.

Rutherford's challenge was cynical and completely meriting of a red card.

One game does not make a season, hopefully we'll learn some lessons from this and look to see if we can go on another long winning streak starting next Saturday.

 

[#Beebot]

Dorking sign Jack Barham on loan from Barnet until the end of the season.

Great signing who should score a hatful for them if he is deployed correctly. That's the second forward to leave us in two days - what were Aldershot thinking signing Bettamer when Barham was available?

 

[Aberstone]

Great 3-1 win at Chelmsford today. Rod Stringer's post match interview is hilarious, even Clarets fans on Twitter and their Soapbox are wondering what match he was watching, once we got the first then we were in complete control and had several further chances to increase the lead before Chelmsford's late consolation.

Nick Arnold's post-match interview said it all for me, Stringer had delivered the team's talk pre-match with an utterly moronic comment two days before playing us:

You're just asking for trouble saying stupid things like that. Glad we gave his side a right hiding today.

 

[Pink Panther]

Great 3-1 win at Chelmsford today. Rod Stringer's post match interview is hilarious, even Clarets fans on Twitter and their Soapbox are wondering what match he was watching, once we got the first then we were in complete control and had several further chances to increase the lead before Chelmsford's late consolation.

Nick Arnold's post-match interview said it all for me, Stringer had delivered the team's talk pre-match with an utterly moronic comment two days before playing us:

View attachment 12050

You're just asking for trouble saying stupid things like that. Glad we gave his side a right hiding today.

In fairness that's not a direct quotation, someone else has paraphrased his comments so they may have lost a little light and shade.

I think the winter weather/pitches factor is less relevant than it used to be as the standard of pitch maintenance is much higher than it used to be, most clubs don't really have regular reserve fixtures on the pitches anymore, and several clubs use 3G pitches anyway. The league fixture list is somewhat lopsided in this division with a quarter of the matches played by the end of September and I think the momentum gained from a flying start probably trumps other factors such as experience.

Last season the league table didn't seem to shift much from this stage onwards. Hampton and Eastbourne both slipped into a relegation battle after decent starts while Torquay overcame a slow start following the appointment of Gary Johnson; but all the other sides that finished in the top 7 were there or thereabouts throughout, while the three that went down all started poorly and never recovered.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Just spotted that Steve King took over at Dartford on October 10.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Club Statement from the Oxford City FC Board of Directors
Following discussions today we must announce that by mutual consent Oxford City Football Club and First Team Manager Mark Jones have parted company.

 

[Seventyseven]

After a very disappointing game on Saturday (Angels 1-0 up against a strong Chelmsford side going into 6 mins added for injury time to then go and lose 2-1) it's the small matter of league leaders Wealdstone at the weekend. It's going to be a long long season.

 

[DarkSithLord]

https://www.thenonleaguefootballpap...ourne-borough-as-club-appeals-for-investment/


Manager Lee Bradbury has left Eastbourne Borough with the club needing to close a £40,000 shortfall in the next month.

On a seismic day at Priory Lane – a place not known for drama or sudden surprises – the club has today announced a financial appeal and a major re-structuring both on and off the field.

 

[Aberstone]

After a very disappointing game on Saturday (Angels 1-0 up against a strong Chelmsford side going into 6 mins added for injury time to then go and lose 2-1) it's the small matter of league leaders Wealdstone at the weekend. It's going to be a long long season.

We've got a few people out today, specifically in the full back areas so as good a time as any for Angels to come up here and get something.

 

[Aberstone]

3-1 win this afternoon but that was comfortably our worst performance of the season, I'm not sure what happened but after the 40 minute mark we seemed to have the power pulled out of us, no movement, uncharacteristic errors and struggled to get to grips with Tonbridge's tight man-marking.

Angels looked completely hopeless however, maybe I'm being harsh but that's the first time all season I've thought that the opposition look out of their depth. The game should have been all over within those first 40 minutes. We won't be winning many more games if we play like we did in that second half.

Despite all that, 36 points out of 42 and seven points clear at the top, it's been an unbelievable start from us this season.

Good following from Angels I should add too.

--------------------------------------------------

Interesting that Weymouth got past Braintree quite comfortably, as I've mentioned before they're the best side I've seen us play so far this season and I think they'll be right up there come season's end.

Onto Dorking and our first game this season on the plastic.

 

[iron4ever]

First half we were all over Weymouth, hit the post twice had shots blocked on the line and the keeper made 2 excellent saves and had we been 2 or 3 ahead they couldnt have complained.
Weymouth went ahead after about 30mins from a free kick when our keeper let a wet ball slip through his hands. That was their only meaningful attempt on goal the 1st half.
Different story 2nd half, we changed our shape and it didnt work. We were nowhere as threatening as before and it was no surprise when we again made 2 defensive errors that led to the 3-0 scoreline.
As usual if you dont score when well on top footie has away of kicking you in th b@##s.

 

[Pink Panther]

3-1 win this afternoon but that was comfortably our worst performance of the season, I'm not sure what happened but after the 40 minute mark we seemed to have the power pulled out of us, no movement, uncharacteristic errors and struggled to get to grips with Tonbridge's tight man-marking.

Angels looked completely hopeless however, maybe I'm being harsh but that's the first time all season I've thought that the opposition look out of their depth. The game should have been all over within those first 40 minutes. We won't be winning many more games if we play like we did in that second half.

They've always been tactically quite savvy under Steve McKimm and given us (Dulwich) close contests but relatively speaking their recruitment has had a frugal look about it for a couple of years now, compared to 3 or 4 years ago when they appeared to be one of the bigger spenders in the Isthmian Premier. They basically fluked promotion by winning three play-off matches (which of course is an achievement in itself) but I think they lost 14 league matches, so it's hardly surprising they're struggling to get results at the higher level with many of the same players. It's all very well having play-offs to "keep the season alive" for more clubs but I don't really see the point when you get promoted beyond your natural level. We saw what happened when Braintree won promotion from 6th place a couple of years back, and I dare say it would have been a similar story for your own club had you held on against Woking then defeated Welling in last May's final. Dulwich had a sequence of play-off failures when finishing well adrift of second place; when we finally had a really consistent season and racked up 95 points we won the play-off final and were promoted on merit. For me it was worth waiting just to be able to compete properly now we're here.

 

[Aberstone]

Dulwich to my mind have more than equipped themselves at this level, funnily enough if you looked at our end of year finishes since we've been in the Conny Sarf (2014 onwards) objectively you would think that the same would apply to ourselves too but that definitely wasn't the case in our first season up. We were bottom until around this time from memory and the squad that had won the Isthmian at a canter were really struggling with the step up.

Looking at DB's interview pre-Dorking, we're minus 3 of our 5 starting midfielders through suspension or injury and Ross Lafayette is out for the next 2-3 weeks, good time potentially for the sides behind us to bridge the gap. Reece Beckles-Richards being recalled from his loan spell at Oxford City indicates to me that he'll be starting in one of the wide positions on Saturday with Sanchez Watt on the other side.

 

[iron4ever]

Home to Hungerford tomorrow and after our spirited comeback Tuesday against full time Maidstone, will need a win if we are to be considered serious play off contenders.

 

[Kim Mitten]

Went to Concord 3-1 Hemel Hempstead today. Firstly both teams played pretty nice passing football, offered good width and I was impressed with both.
Concord went 2-0 up in 8 minutes and completely bossed the 1st half, was surprised to see how lacklustre the team 2nd in the table were.
Speaking to their fans at half time, good following btw around 50-60 there, they said it was the worst performance they'd seen all season.

2nd half was more Hemel but the wind made it farcical at times, one of those where keepers were kicking it and it wasn't going any further than 25 yards then suddenly a gust would catch it and the ball would fly straight right and out for a throw.
Hemel got one back, piled on the pressure and Concord were happy to play on the counter, which is how they killed the game off at the end.

I went mainly to see Concord's left back, Tom Clifford, as he's on loan from Southend, was an assured performance and he's been getting plenty of game time there which is good.
MOTM though would have to go to the big 11 for Concord, who I believe is Frank Nouble's brother. Was a handful all day and scored the 3rd.

 

[Pinner Stones]

We would have taken a point at the start with at least four missing players from our normal starting line up, but frustrating having been two up to not take all three home, though a point a piece was about fair. We had the better of the first, whilst Dorking were much better in the second half. Crucial moments came just after half time when in the opening five minutes we had three good chances to go three up and didn't take them. From there, Dorking grew and whilst there was a clear foul on Watts for their opening goal in the build up, Dorking could have easily won the game in the second period.

Two good footballing sides served up a treat for any neutrals in the crowd. I found the Dorking experience rather strange. It was akin to watching a rugby match. Obviously lots of people new to football and even when they scored all rather muted. They have some wrong enders as well, but they eventually moved away from the cover down the side. Friendly enough welcome, neat and tidy ground but they have quite a bit of work to do to get it to standard from where watching whilst standing is a pleasurable experience. The cover behind the goal, for example, was so badly placed that trying to see the goal was impossible with a decent sized crowd in, 817 with about 200 Stones.

The notorious stewards stayed well away from doing anything to antagonise the crowd.

 

[Aberstone]

We lost control in the midfield in that second half which was very uncharacteristic from us, as Brennan mentioned in his post-match interview, we really need Billy Clifford in the middle.

 

[Pink Panther]

Went to Concord 3-1 Hemel Hempstead today. Firstly both teams played pretty nice passing football, offered good width and I was impressed with both.
Concord went 2-0 up in 8 minutes and completely bossed the 1st half, was surprised to see how lacklustre the team 2nd in the table were.
Speaking to their fans at half time, good following btw around 50-60 there, they said it was the worst performance they'd seen all season.

2nd half was more Hemel but the wind made it farcical at times, one of those where keepers were kicking it and it wasn't going any further than 25 yards then suddenly a gust would catch it and the ball would fly straight right and out for a throw.
Hemel got one back, piled on the pressure and Concord were happy to play on the counter, which is how they killed the game off at the end.

I went mainly to see Concord's left back, Tom Clifford, as he's on loan from Southend, was an assured performance and he's been getting plenty of game time there which is good.
MOTM though would have to go to the big 11 for Concord, who I believe is Frank Nouble's brother. Was a handful all day and scored the 3rd.

Concord played very open attacking football when they visited Dulwich in August, which is rare in this division, and were still pushing hard for the win right to the end despite blowing a two goal lead.

Joel Nouble first played against us for Grays as a 17 year old six seasons ago and has since had spells at Thurrock and Haringey. I'm surprised it's taken him this long to get picked up by a club at this level. His strength and direct style of running at opponents with the ball make him a really awkward customer.

 

[iron4ever]

We were dire Saturday. A real Jekell and Hyde side at the moment. Play well one day awful the next.

 

[DarkSithLord]

We were dire Saturday. A real Jekell and Hyde side at the moment. Play well one day awful the next.

I see Glenn Driver has quit as your manager? Bit of a surprise.

 

[Raymondo316]

A real Jekell and Hyde side at the moment. Play well one day awful the next.

That pretty much sums us up this season.

The team has no consistency whatsoever, we will play brilliant one game & I think wow we might actually challenge for promotion, then the next one we're the drizzling shits.