AFC Southgate

[Localwatcher]

One of the new South Mids teams this season seem to be making a lot of noise about their signings. Looks like a Kentish Town reunion with a few other established South Mids players joining the ranks.

 

Could they be title challengers? Ground sharing with Hadley so promotion wouldn't be a problem if they were in the position.

[agamemnon3]

As I suggested in an earlier post, Southgate have a pacy attack and may surprise a few teams, and since then they have signed, among others, Adem Ali from Edgware Town.

Ali was Edgware's leading scorer last season, with 17, and is certainly capable of terrifying a few second division defences.

 

But is that enough ?  Both their midfield and defence appear to be made up of overweight pub footballers --- lots of heart, plenty of guts, (some on display !), but pace and skill decidedly absent.

 

Brickfield Lane is my nearest football ground, and so I look forward to seeing quite a bit of Southgate over the next ten months.  While I can't see them winning anything, I don't expect them to be in the bottom three either.  With their lively attack and lumbering defence, I am looking forward to some entertainment --- a couple of nail-biting 5-6 home defeats perhaps ?  

[agamemnon3]

I was at Southgate's first ever senior home game on Wednesday, and while I didn't get the 5-6 I had suggested, I certainly could have done if even even half of the decent chances created had been put away.  What I did get was a spirited 3-2, where, as expected, two lively attacks, (with some rotten finishing), and some seriously sloppy defending meant for an entertaining evening.

 

Southgate, unbelievably, were awarded a penalty in the first minute, (a penalty in the first minute of your first ever senior home game --- come on, how good can it get ?), but potential superstar Adem Ali let the occasion go to his head and hammered it against the bar, and that set the tone for the rest of the game --- end-to-end stuff, with two panicky defences doing their best to deal with whatever came their way.  Southgate's defence is much improved since I first saw them --- the overweight pub footballers have been sent back to the lounge bar --- but they still have a tendency to freeze when the pressure is on.  Amersham, on the night, didn't take advantage of that, but other teams may.

 

Despite his penalty miss, Adem Ali scored two, (and missed about six more), to go with the two he scored last Saturday, and if there is a Golden Boot for this division, then if he wants it, (and he can be bothered), then surely it's his for the taking.

 

Off the field, everything was fine, with Hadley FC people appearing to be efficiently running everything.  I had expected a few more groundhoppers to turn up, if for no other reason than to grab a copy of the first ever AFC Southgate programme, but an attendance of 60 was healthy enough.  All in all, a good night out, and I look forward to the next one.