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I did say I’d come off the forum, but I’ll answer a couple of points to give a bit of clarity which I think is fair. Lexus recently has had personal issues going on which I don’t believe is fair to say post match on an interview that will go far and wide. It’s nothing drastic, he’s okay but he’s told us that he’s not been his normal self. He’s also our joint top earner, on a non contract and travels in from south London which takes just under 2 hours at times. If you look at the games in which Dan and Lexus have played CB together in a 4, we haven’t won a single game. The analysis that I do compared to your opinions over the course of watching the game live for 90 minutes, there will be a lot of unseen things. Lexus’ two best games were Tonbridge and Maidenhead at home both as a right back. With the regards to Bayliss, we’ve spoken at length and he feels much more comfortable in a back 3 as does Guy. Probably worded it wrong, but what I meant is that we get the best out of Bayliss in a back 3 as he has the security to go and attack the ball knowing full well that he has two centre halves inside him. Our results last season as a back 3 were much better than playing a 4 and it’s something we want to try and get back to. Bringing Guy back was only possible with the outgoings of one or two, hence the decision that we have made as a management team, and hopefully that was backed up with his performance yesterday! Also, we are hopeful of a left back signing this week, which probably gives even more clarity once again in terms of what the decisions.

Thank you for all the messages regarding the birth of my daughter too! Feel extremely lucky, my wife and Millie are doing well. It’s been a much better week than the previous couple, but let’s hope that we can now back it up Tuesday. See you all then!

As I write down these ramblings, there isn't much left of 2024. It's the time of the year when you look back at what happened in the previous 12 months, and wonder what may lay in store for us in the new year ahead. Our footballing year started with the disappointment of a last minute defeat at Hampton on New Year's Day, and it ended in a surprisingly flat 1-1 draw at home to Chesham on Boxing Day. ( Cracking goal by Scott, mind. ) In between it was 12 months that saw us incredibly only lose two games at home. 12 months that had a season ending in a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful chase to gain a play-off place, and a new season starting which has seen us mostly looking towards the upper rungs of the table from the very first league game in August. 12 months that have quite often seen home attendances of 1,000+. 12 months that have seen us win through a few rounds of both the FA Cup and FA Trophy. The season's come and go so quickly now. They never used to ! Season 23/24 is already despatched to the history books, and it won't be long, as time goes so damn fast ,before season 24/25 is too. I really enjoy the section in our match programme called "From the Archives". Every home game match programme continues to tell the story of a particular season in Slough's past. The one being told presently is season 1991/92. ( By the way I find it hard to believe that there was a glaring mistake in it on Boxing Day ! Commenting on that famous 3-3 comeback game against Reading at Wexham Park in the FA Cup, the article says that our late, late equalising third goal was a penalty scored by Steve Thompson. Errrrrrrr.......no it wasn't. It was a powerful header from Paul McKinnon that went in via the woodwork ! ). Anyway, I love looking back at season's past. The scary thing is though, these current years will be looked back on from the future all to quickly from a distance of five, ten, or even twenty+ years. (Youngsters may think that 10 years is an awfully long time to pass, but believe me, the last 30-40 years of my life have passed in a flash. ) How will these current seasons be remembered then? Others of course may well think differently to me, but I think these last couple of years will be seen as a really fantastic spell in Slough's footballing history. We have an exceptionally popular player/manager with the talent and ability to create a formidable "never say die" team spirit, as well as having a special bond with the supporters, and also having a footballing philosophy of trying to win games by playing good to watch, attacking football. We have owners who were able to secure the future of Slough Town at Arbour Park with a 50 year lease. Also we are playing at a very high and prestigious level of football. I'm very happy watching Slough compete at Level 2. The National League is a different animal compared to the top level Conference League we had many memorable seasons in 30 years ago. The thing is, almost every year the National League gets bigger and more professional teams in it ,and is more expensive to compete in, and this will in turn each year I think make the National League North and South Divisions harder to survive in. We'll have bigger, richer teams than us being relegated into our division from above, and they won't all be able to get promoted back up to the National League straight away, and we'll also of course as always, have ambitious and well financed teams getting promoted up to our division too. Things are not going to get any easier. Standing still will only lead to us going backwards. That's why I think these years are flippin' good years for us. Competing well in a very competitive and strong League. So we're off to Kidderminster soon. I have good memories of going there in our Conference days. Some clubs you get a good feel for, others the opposite, but Kidderminster I've always (so far) had a very positive reaction to. I see they won again on Boxing Day, and have gone top of the National League North. Doh! Bloomin' typical. Not the best time to be playing them ! I can well remember going there for our last game of the 97/98 season. Matty Stowell scored from 25 yards out. Top right hand corner of the net I'm sure it was. I was watching on the terraces from behind the goal and was right in line with the shot if my memory isn't playing tricks with me. A great 1-0 win there to finish 8th in the Conference and an unlucky semi-final defeat in the Trophy that same season as well.. All us Slough supporters left that game full of optimism and confidence for the next season ahead. Little did we know what surprises and disappointments lay in store for us that summer, and the completely new and unknown team we would have in August for that first game away at Sutton back down in the Isthmian League. That's why I'm relishing what Slough are doing now. Nobody knows what is around the corner, and being I think a glass half full type of person rather than a glass half empty one I'm very happily enjoying so very much what we have at this moment in time. Other's may disagree, and want us to aim for promotion some time in the future. Based on our experiences as away fans at current National League clubs Bromley and Woking, and an imminent trip to a previously well established National League club Boreham Wood who have banned Rebels Radio and seemingly very reluctantly allowed us to use their facilities, I think our supporter away days would be much less appetising in the National League than those we have now in the National League South if we were ever to go up ! Good times like I think these are can be taken away from you so quickly and unexpectedly for many differing reasons, as we have seen with our own eyes in the past. And these I would say again are very good days. I say long may these current times last, because sometimes football has a nasty habit of being a very fickle mistress. To finish, I'd just like to wish everyone connected to our special football club Slough Town........... A very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Let's hope 2025 is a good one for all of us.

Great to read your thoughts on these matters Scott. If you're still reading these latest posts first of all very many congratulations on becoming a daddy. Your life is, I imagine going to be soooooooooooo different from now on. Good Luck! Just only being a regular supporter I am acutely aware that there must be so many unknown things to us fans that go on behind the scenes at a football club. Probably some things I can't even imagine. Football is a much easier game watching from the side lines. Your insights today and in the past have been so very welcome.

Very grumpy on here aren't we, not least because we got stuffed 4-0 (deservedly). As for Kidderminster, excellent ground, full time squad and obviously on the back of what must have been a poor performance against Rushall took it out on us! Pretty sure Manager Phil Brown doesn't come cheap either. Agree with previous comments, silly 2pm turnstile opening, no clubhouse for us to go to without paying £2 entry, expensive food etc. and generally regarded as socially undesirables (at least I wasn't searched!). Having said all that I thought the stewards and the locals were friendly and it was nice to mingle with them in the Harriers social club. Whatever the situation regarding promotion to higher levels it won't stop me going to watch the Rebels home and away, I just hope our club continues to be as hospitable to away support as is practical. The Chesham supporters in The Rebels Bar for instance were friendly and typical Step 2 non league supporters not a bunch of trouble makers and that goes for most clubs, even Farnborough. What we have to guard against are those clubs with sizeable away support, which comes with promotion to NL. For instance 1000+ from say Aldershot, for example, would be a nightmare to accommodate. Our ground is not suited currently to comfortably hold 2-3000., let alone be friendly to them all!! I'm sure this is all in hand in due course and there's the little matter of replacing the 3G pitch to contend with as well in the near future. Money doesn't grow on trees!!

There is a song us olden's know called "What a difference a day makes." I'm not sure about the difference a day makes , but what a difference 27 years makes. Back in 1998 I walked out of Aggborough after a well deserved 1-0 win thinking only good thoughts about Kidderminster. Fast forward to yesterday, and I walked out of the same ground after a well deserved 4-0 thumping with not so rose-tinted views on the same club. I like to believe that I'm mature enough to think that my post match views are not just based on the score line. Don't get me wrong, Aggborough is a fantastic ground nowadays. Two tremendous standing terraces behind the two goals, with very impressive stands running down both sides of the pitch. ( Have they got an electronic clock though ? I couldn't see one.) How wonderful would it be for Slough to have anything like what Kidderminster have ? We've got a clock so it's a start ! But.................................... the Aggborough of 2025 was missing something that the Aggborough of 1998 had. That....................... "spark". I'll come back to that "spark" shortly, but first I have only one thing to say about the 90+ minutes of football that we watched yesterday. I have absolutely no pleasure at all in highlighting one incident in the game, that I felt summed up our performance on the day. It happened in the second half, and to me it had no place being seen in a game played in a match on a park, let alone at our level. It must have been halfway through the second half, and Scott had the ball at least 45 yards from the Kidderminster goal. He just let fly with an almighty thwack of the ball, which ended up at least 30 yards high and wide of the Kidderminster goal. This wasn't an attempted chip of the goalie, ( who was standing well inside his area anyway), which incredibly Scott has done several times in the past. This was just a wild, futile booting of the ball, caused I guess by total frustration by the way the match had gone. Scott is so much better than this. He knows it. We the fans, know it. I just thought it set a terrible message to the rest of our players, and to us fans too. If I was a Kidderminster player or fan ,seeing the opposition resort to tactics such as those, I would know that the opposition felt they had been totally and comprehensively outplayed on the day. We were mind you, but seeing that silly attempt wasn't good. When we arrived at Kidderminster, we all got off the coach and were told that we were not allowed to go into their clubhouse. Of course not. There was though a "member's club" just around the corner behind one of the stands that we could use. After paying a whopping £3.50 for what was a very average match programme, I headed off with others to this "member's club", in what was a quite chilly temperature that was only fractionally above freezing. Reaching this establishment, I got told that I would have to pay £2 to have the pleasure to enter and use their facilities. Call me petty, but having already paid over the odds for a match programme there was no way I was going to pay £2 just to get inside the building, despite it being cold outside. Others paid it, I damn well wasn't going to ! I thought I'd go around to the away section and get inside the ground and wait there for the game to start. It wouldn't feel so cold I thought with a roof over my head. I got to the away turnstiles, and found they were all shut. I asked the stewards standing outside when would they be open, and was told 2 pm, which was still over 15 minutes away. Almost every club we visit open their turnstiles at 1.30, but not this "big and grand " one. Very fortunately, the supporters coach was only parked 20 yards away, and Amy the driver let about 20 of us Slough fans on the coach to keep warm until the stadium gates opened. On the coach the only conversations you could hear were moans about the way Kidderminster were dealing with us away fans. As well as a very expensive match programme, Kidderminster were charging £7.50 for Slough fans to park their cars in the club carpark. I heard someone else say they had paid £3.70 for some chips that were inedible, and later on I heard moans about the availability of items at the only food outlet in the away section of the ground that we were in. I spoke earlier about the "spark" that was missing from my previous visit to Kidderminster 27 years ago. This "spark" has been noticeably absent from our visits recently to Bromley, Woking and Boreham Wood. Anyone notice a similarity between these clubs? In the 80's I had a season ticket at a big Premier League team, and went to most of their away games too. As an away fan in that era, I was treated as scum. No other word for it. These are different times now, and I don't for one second think that Kidderminster thought of us as badly as that. The stewards I spoke to were all polite and mostly friendly, but I had a definite feeling that Kidderminster the club felt we were , let's say, "unwanted undesirables". Perhaps I overthink things too much. It felt the same, and sometimes a lot, lot worse, at some of the other three clubs that I've mentioned above. It seems to me that the "spark" that I enjoy and like so much experiencing at Slough matches home and away, has been extinguished and replaced by what I can only call "professionalism" at these richer and extremely ambitious non-league clubs. I was prepared to be regarded at away grounds in my 20's as unwanted and unwelcome. Do I want that now I'm in my mid-sixties ? No complaints on the defeat we suffered yesterday. I wish Kidderminster all the best in the next round and their attempt to get promoted up to the National League. They have got everything required to make that step up.(and more). Well, everything apart from that "spark". P.S. After yesterday I guess every Slough fan is rather downbeat at the moment. Always realise though that there is somebody worse off than you. Forum member "Bonjour" has got his mother-in-law coming round to his place today.

A few bad results lead to mass panic and pathetic over reaction... Rome wasn't built in a day, and only a few over excited fans expected us to get promotion this season.

Being 12000 miles away gives me no right to observation on the current position of the team, in terms of management, budget or players. Suffice to say it has been a disappointing season so far. Mathematically our chance of staying up diminish with each loss and/or each victory of those clubs just above us. I note the comments on both sides of the debate re next season. To me the debate is simple- if we go down we just try again next season and the next. Look at the Isthmian league this year. Billericay, Dulwich Hamlet, Dartford, Whitehawk and not forgetting Cheshunt all had time in the National league structure. Dartford had about 15 consecutive seasons there until last season. It won’t be the end of the world. We will have the benefit of the current ground improvements and no doubt several new players. i am a former director and current life member of a club here in Victoria. When I was immersed in all aspects of the club some years ago we went on a five year run that saw us promoted to the Victorian Premier League. We had by far the lowest budget in the league and we were competing against teams with players who had played in the Australian National league. We gave it our best shot but it was a one year stay at the top. To make matters worse some of our better players got offered payments the following season that we had no hope of matching. So it became two relegations on the trot. The second was much harder to bear but we are still battling away trying to get promoted as high as we can. Come what may I will be paying my membership and donation next season even though I will not get to any matches. I remain committed to what was started 23 years ago. I wish everyone at the club the very best.

He certainly does as he commented on it in the radio chat on Mixlr! Good to get a much needed clean sheet yesterday - our first at home since the 3-0 win against Jerry Gill's Bath in early November - and frustrating that we couldn't take one of our chances late in the second half. Though both Amartey and Spasov took one touch too many before shooting which lead to a narrower angle and felt Spasov should have attempted a shot across goal rather than trying to hit the near post but they certainly looked a lot better than their full time equivalents from Eastbourne, who much like the away game were pretty toothless. Bamba's pace, when introduced, allowed for the counter attacks from their left and he was giving us a torrid time, but much like most of the game, could not get a clear sight of Horlock's goal, thanks largely in part to a tactical foul from Ochieng which earned him a booking, very much taking one for the team in that instance!

Steve, do you know you won the 500 Club monthly draw ? I'm sure I heard your name read out at half time as the winner. Nearly £400. Personally, unless you are living in this country I don't think you should be entered into it ! 😄 Redraw please ! I never bloomin' win.

What a difference a week and a Hollis makes. A miles better performance from the whole team and such a shame Salvi couldn't keep his header down to put the cherry on top. Defensively so solid and u don't believe Horlock had a save to make. Moving up the pitch a tough Eastbourne side pressed well and made it difficult for us which is to be expect. A nice foundation to build upon. Well done to Scott who learnt from last week and put a couple of balls away rather than trying to be "cute" with them, a far better performance today. Special mention for Guy who looked like he'd never been away. Fingers crossed he can perform like that week in week out as for me it was between him and Bayliss for MoM. Now onto Torquay, if we can push them hard and be solid like today, I'm sure we can pick up 3 more points. Adrian - Flashscore have a live table minute by minute. I knew the results and out league position before we got back to the car.

i don't think hollis is the right fit for our team taking on ex players has never really been good for us , yes we need experience but do we need to dig over old ground to get it. i think we need to look towards new areas and bring in experience perhaps from a higher level but that will bring some new ideas. i think that scott is right to take a back step from playing what with all of his personal pressures just moved /new baby due plus all the pressures of managing the team his play has not been at his high standard for a while now and can only benefit the team imho.

Anyone in the mould of Eric Young, Jeff Bateman or Darren Anderson will do me. I'm old.

I'm in shock that some supporters are surprised that our performances have dropped off. What were we honestly expecting? Good start to the season but a touch of realism is needed because the situation we're in it was never going to last. For all the reasons we know about, budget/squad size and some young inexperienced players at this level, it was never going to last the distance. Our two defeats against B/W and Kidderminster was no great surprise and yesterday's 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Hemel was just down to a truly all round poor performance. We do look to be short on confidence and need to freshen things up and it looks like a couple of new players will be coming in very shortly. Hopefully they are the right players that will strengthen us and not just to sit on the bench to make up the numbers. As for one of the new players, if the rumours going around the ground yesterday are correct it could well be Guy Hollis. Personally I'm not convinced bringing Guy back will be the right move but hopefully I'm wrong and he can shore up our defence.

Sam and Rhys both in TOTW and deservedly so

Regardless of how the rest of the season goes, I think some of the grief aimed at the gaffer on this forum is way out of order. He has had one problem after another to solve all season. Apart from Forster, Parcell and Youngs, the rest of the current starting 11 are new. So continuity and team spirit have had to be built pretty much from scratch. People can say we weren't prepared but the reality is that unless the club owners i.e. us are able to increase our monetary support, combined with an increase in sponsorship, grants etc., our playing budget was always going to be one of (if not the) lowest in the league. You gets what you pays for ..... Saturday was a very encouraging performance. First half was scrappy but I thought we edged it, and we were certainly the better team in the second half. Our defence and midfield look pretty solid now. It will be interesting to see if Parcell retains his position in central midfield or reverts to the right side of a 3-man defence against Maidstone. I thought he played well on Saturday and cut out most of of the misplaced passes that plagued him earlier in the season. Youngs was outstanding - covered a huge amount of ground, skillful on the ground and aggressive in the air. Chelmsford couldn't handle him. And I agree with others that the introduction of Kaunda up front in the second half was a game-changer. Hutchinson worked hard but he lacks pace. Kaunda looked like he had bundles of pace and energy. I can see he and Hutchinson forming a decent front 2 that dovetail off each other if given the chance. But then I thought Shakpoke looked good in his first game so won't count any feathered friends just yet 😉 Anyway, a valuable 3 points. Let's see how we get on at Maidstone (which will be tough).

Hi. Harriers fan here. I also run the Harriers Online website at www.harriers-online.co.uk and our forum is at www.harriers-online.co.uk/forum. I will be C&P'ing to there but first I'll try to help here: [quote]( Have they got an electronic clock though ? I couldn't see one.) [/quote] Yes we have but it's on the roof of the stand you were in. Not the best place for it but it's also knackered and hopefully it'll be replaced by next season. Not much use to you unless you can get into the National League (if we somehow manage that) [quote]When we arrived at Kidderminster, we all got off the coach and were told that we were not allowed to go into their clubhouse.[/quote] That was the Harriers Arms and because there isn't a lot of room in there they limit numbers. That also goes for Harriers fans too but they can opt to sit outside. The Social club around the corner does charge for away fans but myself and my partner are also charged with an annual subscription. That does include free car parking on site (not the council/club car parks) though and for myself with the inability to walk distances due to Myeloma it's a godsend and I don't mind paying for membership. [quote]After paying a whopping £3.50 for what was a very average match programme[/quote] I don't blame you. It's crap and very few Harriers fans buy one now. On away trips I don't mind paying for the memory value so it's personal really but I can see, and understand, your point of view. [quote]I asked the stewards standing outside when would they be open, and was told 2 pm, which was still over 15 minutes away.[/quote] Same for home fans. Better than Hereford and Altrincham who don't open up until 30 minutes before the start of the game. [quote]Kidderminster were charging £7.50 for Slough fans to park their cars in the club carpark.[/quote] Again that's the same for home fans at the home end. At one time (20 years ago) you could park in the side roads and also pieces of wasteland but since the previous off road areas got built on that's no longer the case. We asked for a park & ride system but the club and the council didn't want to know. [quote]I heard someone else say they had paid £3.70 for some chips that were inedible[/quote] Fully agree. The caterers were changed by the new owner when he took over and the old Aggborough Soup and Cottage Pies vanished. Pressure made them bring back a version of the pie but the soup recipe was a secret. I hated the stuff anyway and don't buy food in grounds. I did have some nice sour bread with cheese followed up with some superb Panetone at home before we left for the game anyway As for the 'spark' the 'spark' is what you make it. Go to a game looking for faults and annoyances and naturally the spark won't be there. Go looking forward to the game and discovering somewhere new then that spark will happen. The only place a spark will never happen is AFC Fylde. I don't know if Slough have ever played there but believe me the place is depressing and overpriced. We, the fans, didn't think badly of you and in the Social we were all chatting with each other in the queue for the bar. There were a lot of you in there and you would have felt at home there. With the owners it is different and they have alienated the fans a bit due to their strange aversion to the fans trust, KHIST. The owner will have nothing to do with them and won't even enter into a conversation with them. KHIST could do so much to help but we're not wanted. He's more interested in his rich mates with their Porsches and Lamborghinis that get free parking. Very sad state of affairs really. As for the game itself it was very enjoyable for us but your persistence in using the high line even when you went two down was strange. Slough are not Liverpool! Maybe when Davies brings in these new defenders you'll drop a bit deeper and look better for it. I hope that helps to explain things about us and we look forward to meeting you again one day. Can't wait for a trip to yours and a new ground ticked off. I'll find a 'spark' somewhere in Arbour Park Phil... Made this a bit long haven't I

16 pts off relegation, but were only 6pts from 20th now, struggling to see the positives going forward our form has been awful, when will we win again in the league , our last league win 26th November. It's hard to stay positive, but we go again Tuesday, COYR !!!!

I'm not sure they accept objections written in crayon.

Gutted, I wanted to get my seat early....😂

You have a Mrs ???????? 🤯

I can only imagine what its like at NLS level and so on, its mad enough at Step 7 with two mens teams in different leagues. The amount of admin/meetings and yes even seven day approaches and transfers is crazy at our level as well.

I really like Lexus, no nonsense player imo, my type of lad.

HR 1st time of winning so a fab surprise 😎 🌞

Spencer Day is very upset about Guy leaving saying he renaged on his agreement

No worries, but you are right, it was a crap performance.

Wish we did...

Stats mean nothing. Play like we did on Saturday and another defeat is on the cards.

Honestly, there's no right or wrong here... it could have ended 4-0 if we'd started with 2 up front, or played 90 minutes with 1 up front. We need to be less fixated on formations, accept there are teams that are much better than us and that we'll get well beaten at times, and try to back the team as much as possible. Still think there might be a couple of twists to come, we're obviously bang up against it, but that's not making me want to support the players and manager any less.

Back in the real world, out-classed by the full-timers 4-0 and we swiftly move on.

Not sure i agree with that Rebellier. He has been one of the best players this season, although I suspect (and haven't researched his history) we are seeing why he isn't playing higher up at this stage of his career. He certainly has the ability but perhaps the discipline isn't there. Losing him for 4 of the next 11 games when we play the tougher teams is a big blow. I'd like to see a return to the 352 / 532 formation of earlier in the season. This gives us a little more defensively and still allows the forward players options. I have been saying since the beginning of the season we have needed a left back and probably 1 more central defender as well. This would allow a better squad balance and not confirm that regardless of a clean sheet or shipping 5 goals the defenders pretty much play every week. Will be an interesting week for the squad moving forwards.

Game on

Don't think this season has or will be decided in any one game. We are playing in a much tougher league and this is a million miles away from PBT, Wingate and the A10 Classico....with all due respect to those clubs. I've watched the likes of Torquay and BW's warm ups recently and kept a little eye on ours. When doing their shooting drills those opposing sides are absolutely clinical. I believe one of Torquay's players was on loan from Plymouth, a far cry from who we have been trying to recruit. I commented I think 2 months back that we had used nearly 50 players. That number will now be closer to 60. Yes the side has been more settled recently however if you look at where our goals have come from this year very few have come from midfield. Again, not to critique our effort here as don't think any players can be criticised for effort this year but as said above we are trying to punch well above our weight. Would things be slightly different if we had 2 up front? Possibly, but still don't think it would have a major impact on our position in the league. would things be different if we still had Marcus? Possibly but again one player wouldn't get us out of this mess. We've scored less goals than games played and in addition are allowing on avg more than 2 goals a game. You cannot look past Rhys for player of the season which is a complete contrast to our attacking last season. Our recruitment is the MAIN reason for our situation. Fan owned club, the fact that other teams are operating as a professional outfit and you can talk about formations, positions of players and so on and our situation still probably would be no different. I'm not sure what we'll learn from this season apart from the fact that we (and I mean the club) did not do a good enough job of recruitment during June, July and August and this is where we are now. Agree FJ, I do enjoy coming on here but isn't positive for anyone if we can't be civil to each other. Hopefully the discussion can continue with reasonable positivity. The league wasn't lost on New Year's Day, it happened long long before then. Happy New Year all

Sometimes you make me laugh....when we are competing in midfield better, getting good service from the wings, who would you like to bring off to put on the other striker?? I know let's just play 2 at the back 🤦‍♀️

Heavy defeat and another pointless red for Gilbert. Bloody shambles.

Promotion to the NL is certainly a double edged sword. It has it's benefits, mainly the prospect of playing against the bigger clubs but the negatives are plain for all to see.

Agree with HR, I'm happy where we are also, especially having been relegated to Step 4 and almost Step 5 in our homeless days. We were sneered at by a host of clubs when we visited them back then. Who can forget AFC Hayes (Brook House)?! The prospect of a promotion to National League should never be turned down however, but having seen how poorly treated away fans are at current and ex NL clubs it doesn't hold much glamour for me. It would of course be nice to host the likes of Southend or Aldershot competitively, but the prospect of some of their supporters maybe not (I've seen Aldershot's in action at Maidenhead for example). I like the prospect of seeing/meeting opposition supporters in our bars rather than viewing them as some kind of enemy corralled in a section of our ground. Apart from last season's Farnborough experience we've had no trouble that I'm aware of at Step 2.

More accurate to say an old player - Sonny Dutton of last minute against Haringey Borough fame.

I am a big fan of playing 3 at the back in this league. But to do it the two wing backs are critical to its success. At the start of the season we had 2 players who could have played the role - Nathan Green and George Saunders. However the manager has determined that a 36 and a 37 year can do it better instead and that may be the case but it has proven to be a stretch to expect them to do it well. But the manager is determined that we have two wide players by either being short in defense or on midfield. if we were creating lots of chances and scoring goals then fair enough. But we are not. All we are doing in showing everyone what an excellent goalkeeper Mason Terry is. In terms of who we have available a 4-3-2-1 makes more sense to me. You cannot then go wide towards the end of the game when you want and fresh attackers can take on tiring defenders.

Picking up 3 points every Boxing Day is one of the few positives from going down i suppose. Also gives our local rivals a cup final and one decent attendance per season. Might be nice to play at the old Cheshunt ground one more time as well before the flats go up.

No surprise by the gulf in class yesterday. Cant remember Ashmore having to make a tough save. 1st goal shows what we re up against...quick kick by Rhys, intercepted and 1 pass later we re 1 down. 2nd before half time couldnt have come at a worse time and 1st half was largely chasing shadows. 2nd half they werent as positive and saw the game out quite comfortably. Sides at this level are SO much more clinical and we cant hold the ball against these better sides. Their right back was decent against Lennon we dont seem to know what to do in the attacking third. Hoping we can be better against St Albans.

Stop bringing the Tottenham negativity It's only half way through the season.

The class difference was quite evident today but it was expected so I'm not disappointed. We looked better in second half but Wood didn't look like they were trying much then either, so not so much an improvement from us but more they knew we would never score so just let have the ball a bit more and flattered us. Likelihood is we are going straight back down (miracles aside) but did we really, really think we had a team that could be mid table? Seriously? It's a good learning curve for the club and instead of moaning non stop about it we should view it as we now know what is required to compete at this level....so in the coming few seasons, if we seriously want to try and bounce back up, then we need to invest in players whilst in the Isthmian that could play at step 2 (like Hornchurch did and walked the Isthmian and are holding their own in NLS). We know we will need a bigger budget so how can we achieve and maintain that? We need to look at increasing revenue first and build from there.

Happy with a point however it's another match where we start with questionable tactics and starting lineup, countless misplaced passes, no pattern of plays and again left wondering what must we do in training as there's times where it looks like we've plucked 11 strangers to turn out for us. Thank you Mason for another top performance. Where would we be without him? Probably in the relegation zone I'd imagine.

Wasn't at the game, but agree completely... and there are enough sides that aren't miles better than us for us to secure the points we need to survive - we just need to find a way to consistently beat them. That's how I'll judge Gavin and the team, not on a 4-0 defeat away to Maidstone.

I have deleted several posts from this thread, as it was in danger of getting out of hand. Reasoned discussion is acceptable, abuse, obscenities and name-calling, however, are not. Please play nicely, or the whole thread will be removed.

Collapsed like a pack of cards I fear for us next week

Now official that this game is NOT segregated and away fans will have full use of the club house/facilities.

Simply put, poor 1st half by us and reasonable 2nd half. Where would we be without MT, probably down much closer to Aveley. He has saved us so many points.

The way I see it is that we are developing a squad of players in & around their mid twenties that are doing well at this level & should still have the ability & drive to want to develop & play at a higher level in the next two to three seasons. Bayliss, Beeden, Ochieng, Parillon, Gilbert, Ogbonna, Amartey, Spasov…… I would say all have done well so far this season & will be even better players next season. They are not going to be players that will attract transfer fees from Football League clubs…… Max Kilman was a 20 year old playing at National League level when he was signed by Wolves…… but they could be the players that give us a good chance of promotion to the National League in the next three seasons.