Seventh Heaven

[Bins]

Got to applaud Mick and the team for winning a tough game against Colliers Wood Utd side on Saturday. To be pegged back twice but retain the determination to win was impressive. That was an inspired late change when Ben was taken off, and the forward line put some excellent passing moves together as we upped our game to grab the decisive 3rd and 4th goals.

 

On the down side was the discipline. More cautions and far too many lectures. The referee may have appeared too keen to stop the play, but the warnings were there. Let's not lose players to dissent as the season reaches halfway.

 

Also congratulations to Ian, Lewis and George for the pitch. Despite the rain in the week it looked superb and encouraged an exciting game.

 

To reach 7th place - albeit having played more games than those above us - is a great achievement, and this was the 3rd successive victory. Impressive and very entertaining.

[Don't Blame Me]

9 wins in our last 11 games? Something is obviously working and enormous credit must go to Mick, his support team and the lads for such an impressive run. Loving it from afar.

[Windsor_Sec]

Got to say I concur completely with both posts. It's amazing to see the transformation in some of the younger lads who've upped their game and the team spirit in the whole squad is second to none. The next step is for all of them to realise that dissent doesn't do anyone any favours and it certainly won't get a decision changed so keep schtum and get on with it because with the squad we now have if you miss games through suspension there's no guarantee you'll get straight back in the team afterwards..

Ian Gould told me Friday afternoon there would be no problems with the pitch to the point where he mentioned something about buying everyone in the clubhouse a drink if the game was off but when I saw him at the game on Saturday he said it had been squeaky-bum time that morning with the unscheduled heavy downpours !

Must also say I'm not at all surprised with our league position, in fact I had a bet with another long-standing Windsor supporter when the changeover happened that we would finish in the top ten [i actually thought 8th] but I may have underestimated as I now believe a top 6 place is possible if we keep this squad together.

[Rother]

Indeed - I remember you telling me you thought we could get Top 8 and that was while we were still well in the bottom half and had only won a couple of games against teams at the bottom under the new structure.

 

I looked at you slightly quizzically at the time but have to say you were spot on - good judge!

[Chris Clapham]

Well done on your win on Saturday.

You certainly have the potential to rejoin step 4 in the very near future.

The pitch was excellent and encouraged us to play our brand of counter attacking football.

Overall, we were very pleased with our performance but, obviously, not the result. We are still conceding too many soft goals although I would back us to score against anyone in this league! There have been 90 goals in our league matches so far, second only to....Windsor at 102!

Your next four matches are distinctly winnable and, if you were to secure maximum points, then a top 4 finish is a real possibility.

Then, who knows?

Finally, the match programme is superb. Obviously with regular 3 figure gates, sales must be decent. Just wondered how you afford that quality with no real advertising inside?

See you on April 13th.

[Windsor_Sec]

Some very kind comments there Chris thankyou. We won't be going anywhere just yet as we also concede to many soft goals but if the vultures leave us alone I think we could be challenging next season with the same squad. For me Guernsey are still favourites, Egham are desperate to go up, Badshot Lea always seem to wobble at Christmas but then come back strong and you have South Park and Hanworth Villa who finished strongly last season and have games in hand at the moment. Molesey should also be there or thereabouts and the two surprise packages this season Cove and Epsom & Ewell might figure if they keep their form so it's a bit more interesting this season for all concerned. As for your team, having seen them twice, I don't undertsand why you're strugglling as they play good football and you've definitely got goals in the side but you do have to cut out the goals conceded !

With regards to the programme, although we do get decent attendances only about half seem to buy a programme so it just about covers its own cost for each game although some extra advertising is something we're working on at the moment to help swell the coffers but, as many clubs will testify, any form of sponsorship/advertising is very hard to come by at this time with the current financial situation and we are just grateful for anything we can pick up as we look to expand all avenues of income to help run the club and build a reserve pot for when our redevelopment plans fall into place.

[Rother]

I appreciate squads change throughout the season but I can't see you staying down there if that team plays regularly.

 

As a little aside on Windsor's team - we seem to have inadvertently followed the path trodden by Keith Scott last year in that we have loads of (too many?) strikers. On Saturday Ben Harris and Josh Parker were both playing out of what I assume is their favoured position to accommodate Dowdican and Kane Jones up front.

 

They did nothing wrong but we clicked much better when Wright came on and Parker pushed forward - suddenly there was more pace and movement and (admittedly against 10 men) and we played some really good football in the last 15 mins. Chris, your comment that CW ended up on top (from memory...) did raise my eyebrows yesterday!

 

Maybe there was a little bit of square pegs and round holes on Saturday but from where we were 2 months ago it must be a delight to Micky to have a selection dilemma up front!

[Chris Clapham]

I appreciate squads change throughout the season but I can't see you staying down there if that team plays regularly.

 

As a little aside on Windsor's team - we seem to have inadvertently followed the path trodden by Keith Scott last year in that we have loads of (too many?) strikers. On Saturday Ben Harris and Josh Parker were both playing out of what I assume is their favoured position to accommodate Dowdican and Kane Jones up front.

 

They did nothing wrong but we clicked much better when Wright came on and Parker pushed forward - suddenly there was more pace and movement and (admittedly against 10 men) and we played some really good football in the last 15 mins. Chris, your comment that CW ended up on top (from memory...) did raise my eyebrows yesterday!

 

Maybe there was a little bit of square pegs and round holes on Saturday but from where we were 2 months ago it must be a delight to Micky to have a selection dilemma up front!

 

Wrong choice of wording maybe but we had three clear chances once 2-4 down and my real point is we went for it with 3 up top and caused problems.

[Don't Blame Me]

Well done on your win on Saturday.

You certainly have the potential to rejoin step 4 in the very near future.

The pitch was excellent and encouraged us to play our brand of counter attacking football.

Overall, we were very pleased with our performance but, obviously, not the result. We are still conceding too many soft goals although I would back us to score against anyone in this league! There have been 90 goals in our league matches so far, second only to....Windsor at 102!

Your next four matches are distinctly winnable and, if you were to secure maximum points, then a top 4 finish is a real possibility.

Then, who knows?

Finally, the match programme is superb. Obviously with regular 3 figure gates, sales must be decent. Just wondered how you afford that quality with no real advertising inside?

See you on April 13th.

 

Janet and Matt are doing an excellent job on the programme. I also concur with Steve's comments regarding the challenges faced with advertising but, given the choice of a programme packed with adverts or one with good quality reading material, I know which one I would prefer.