[utube]

*BS*I have been bemoaning the lack of first team football for some time now and Saturday we finally got back to playing competitively at home to Truro.*BF*

However, after an uncharacteristically poor start and having gone a goal down I wished the pitches had been out of action once again.

The goal was what both we and Truro deserved and in truth it was what we needed, as from that point on we began to find our passing range and within ten minutes were level with a neat finish from George.

The final scoreline may have flattered us a little but having not been at our best the win was pleasing. The irony of football is that we have played far better than that this season and yet not come away with three points. Eastbourne Borough away springs to mind, and as much as I want the combination of playing well and winning at this stage of the season the three points is all that matters.

It was pleasing to see all three goals scored by our strikers, which will do them no harm for their confidence. It shows the depth of our squad that we could bring on a completely new forward line in Donovan Simmonds, Billy Bricknell and James Walker, three players that I’m sure would get in most Conference South teams with ease.

I must say that Saturday’s team selection was the most difficult I have had to make since my time here, a sure sign that players are all performing well and deserving of a white shirt which is a headache but a nice one!

We now turn our attentions to the next fixture, which sees us entertain Welling at home in a mouthwatering game between two teams aiming for a top five finish.

I’m certain that there will be many twists and turns along the way but for sure these games against the teams above us will go a long way in deciding our fate.

I hope that as many fans as possible from both clubs make the effort to come along to Crabble to make it an atmosphere to remember.

Fozzy

*BS*If you have a question for Nicky, leave a message below or via Twitter: *Link1**BF*

*BS*AFC Wimbledon 0 Dover Athletic 2*BF*
Goalscorers: Watts and Harrington

*BS*MATCH REPORT:*BF*

This was the first game back after three weeks out for the boys due to the bad weather. We expected a hard game due to the weather conditions and they were a good passing team.

The game was even for the first 10-15 minutes, Dover having more of the ball. Lloyd Harrington played a great ball down the line to Pouty, who whipped the ball in first time to Connor Coyne. He set the ball back to the edge of the box for Corey Watts, who hit a sweetly struck shot into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to Dover.

Dover were playing against the wind in the first half which made it very difficult. Despite the conditions we continued to try to create chances, building from the back.

Tom Axford came off injured after about 30 minutes so Joe Blyth was his replacement. There were very few chances in the first half but when Wimbledon did break the Dover defence goalkeeper Charlie Evison was on hand to keep them out with a few great saves.

Wimbledon kept the ball well but Dover worked hard to regain possession of the ball and kept it themselves.

In the second half, Dover were keeping the ball really well winning many corners and creating some good chances. Every ball that was going up to our forward Connor Coyne was held up well, linking the play with our midfield.

Once again Connor Coyne drew the free kick which lead to a wonder strike from Harrington from 30 yards that was too much for the keeper to handle who fumbled into his own goal. This was Harrington’s 3rd goal of the season, two coming from free kicks.

Wimbledon created one or two chances but once again Charlie was solid in goal. Dover continued to create some good chances, one attack starting with Sean Raggett playing the ball into full back Scott Crane who passed the ball into Jack Crittenden. He played a perfectly weighted ball down the right Wing for Corey Watts, who produced some individual skill inside the box before setting up Scott for a shot which was blocked. Excellent build up play that deserved a goal.

Connor Coyne was denied to make it 3-0 with an excellent save one on one with the goalkeeper.

Overall this was a great performance from the Academy boys in a difficult game. The result leaves Dover in a good position in the league.

[utube]

*BS*I have been bemoaning the lack of first team football for some time now and Saturday we finally got back to playing competitively at home to Truro.*BF*

However, after an uncharacteristically poor start and having gone a goal down I wished the pitches had been out of action once again.

The goal was what both we and Truro deserved and in truth it was what we needed, as from that point on we began to find our passing range and within ten minutes were level with a neat finish from George.

The final scoreline may have flattered us a little but having not been at our best the win was pleasing. The irony of football is that we have played far better than that this season and yet not come away with three points. Eastbourne Borough away springs to mind, and as much as I want the combination of playing well and winning at this stage of the season the three points is all that matters.

It was pleasing to see all three goals scored by our strikers, which will do them no harm for their confidence. It shows the depth of our squad that we could bring on a completely new forward line in Donovan Simmonds, Billy Bricknell and James Walker, three players that I’m sure would get in most Conference South teams with ease.

I must say that Saturday’s team selection was the most difficult I have had to make since my time here, a sure sign that players are all performing well and deserving of a white shirt which is a headache but a nice one!

We now turn our attentions to the next fixture, which sees us entertain Welling at home in a mouthwatering game between two teams aiming for a top five finish.

I’m certain that there will be many twists and turns along the way but for sure these games against the teams above us will go a long way in deciding our fate.

I hope that as many fans as possible from both clubs make the effort to come along to Crabble to make it an atmosphere to remember.

Fozzy

*BS*If you have a question for Nicky, leave a message below or via Twitter: *Link1**BF*

*BS*I would imagine that every local newspaper could tell you a tale about its most irritating pushy parent.*BF*

Take it from me, there are one or two out there but a particular favourite came to me courtesy of an old mate who works for a local rag in Nottinghamshire.

He came to dread Monday mornings in the summer months in that his first duty would always be to open a weighty envelope that had been delivered by hand at some point during the night.

Contained therein would be a 2,000 word account of how a local lad had done over the weekend in his favoured athletics event which I recall involved chucking something or other into the middle distance. Let’s say the discus for sake of simplicity.

Attached to each report would be a photograph of the young shaver in question who my friend described as “a blubbery, pasty-faced chuffer with a face like a welder’s bench. The sort only his mother could love.”

No matter, as it seemed the lad had talent. Every report featured expressions such as “new personal best” and “Olympic hopeful.” Even in 2007, his place at London 2012 was all but guaranteed save for some unfortunate sequence of events, it seemed. Following an all-county event held in Newark, Mum’s report hit 3,000 words for the first time as her not-so-little soldier missed out on a bronze medal by a fraction of centimetre; a wonderful effort for a 13-year-old so gifted that he was competing at Under-16 level.

Despite earning great money as a freelance and living with a former Miss Junior Venezuela, my friend recalls that his days in the summer of 2007 had never been longer. He would spend most of Monday cutting the report down to the 200 words it just about warranted and ignore the photo in the time-honoured belief that ugly beggars don’t sell papers unless they come from huge, prosperous families. Following Tuesday’s publication, much of the remainder of the week was spent fielding phone calls from an barely sentient parent, outraged at the fact her reports had been cut down to a fraction of their original length.

Though brow-beaten, my friend put forward the not unreasonable point that, whilst he welcomed her missives regarding “the new Geoff Capes” (try Google), he didn’t feel it was appropriate to give him more coverage than Nottingham Forest, Notts County and the county cricket club put together. ‘Twas a viewpoint that cut no ice, sadly, as he was constantly rebuked for “stifling natural talent and hating to see our young local kids doing well.”

Then one glorious happy day an anonymous caller told my friend that just a modicum of research would reveal that the bane of his life was actually a pompous, talentless, no-mates Mummy’s boy whom the right-thinking would happily shove out of a high window.

It transpired that our budding Olympian’s Mum had told nothing but the truth in her fulsome reports. Research and reading between the lines gave a whole new different perspective, however. First, our hero didn’t compete at U14 level for very good reason, in that there wasn’t enough interest in his event to form an U14 category. But in his most recent meeting, he did indeed finish fourth… out of five competitors.

Naturally, there are two ways of looking at this. Firstly, the charitable amongst us might stress that here is a lad who had given the burgers and Playstation a miss in favour of getting off his backside and trying to be the best in his chosen sport. The cynics – and you know who you are – might stress with equal accuracy that, out of maybe one million kids who were eligible to take part in this event, our hero was only better than one of them. By the same token, the personal best of which his mother so proudly spoke was shy of the Olympic qualifying distance by about half the width of the English Channel.

Five years on, I’ve no idea if this young fellow and his doting Mum will be packing their bags ready for London 2012. As a betting man, I’d imagine that the odds on this happening are slim to the point of anorexic; which is a shame, really, given his steadfast adherence to the true Olympian ideal.

They say that nobody ever remembers who finished second and I suspect this is true to the greater degree. That said, everyone remembers the have-a-go duffers, who embrace the great British characteristic of failing to accept they’ve no discernible talent despite all evidence to the contrary.

So if I should discover that Nottingham’s latter day equivalent of Eddie the Eagle Edwards is competing, I’ll make sure I tune in for a chuckle.

With Wimbledon and the Olympics to endure in 2012, it’ll be a damnably long summer without one.

NULL

*BS*I would imagine that every local newspaper could tell you a tale about its most irritating pushy parent.*BF*

Take it from me, there are one or two out there but a particular favourite came to me courtesy of an old mate who works for a local rag in Nottinghamshire.

He came to dread Monday mornings in the summer months in that his first duty would always be to open a weighty envelope that had been delivered by hand at some point during the night.

Contained therein would be a 2,000 word account of how a local lad had done over the weekend in his favoured athletics event which I recall involved chucking something or other into the middle distance. Let’s say the discus for sake of simplicity.

Attached to each report would be a photograph of the young shaver in question who my friend described as “a blubbery, pasty-faced chuffer with a face like a welder’s bench. The sort only his mother could love.”

No matter, as it seemed the lad had talent. Every report featured expressions such as “new personal best” and “Olympic hopeful.” Even in 2007, his place at London 2012 was all but guaranteed save for some unfortunate sequence of events, it seemed. Following an all-county event held in Newark, Mum’s report hit 3,000 words for the first time as her not-so-little soldier missed out on a bronze medal by a fraction of centimetre; a wonderful effort for a 13-year-old so gifted that he was competing at Under-16 level.

Despite earning great money as a freelance and living with a former Miss Junior Venezuela, my friend recalls that his days in the summer of 2007 had never been longer. He would spend most of Monday cutting the report down to the 200 words it just about warranted and ignore the photo in the time-honoured belief that ugly beggars don’t sell papers unless they come from huge, prosperous families. Following Tuesday’s publication, much of the remainder of the week was spent fielding phone calls from an barely sentient parent, outraged at the fact her reports had been cut down to a fraction of their original length.

Though brow-beaten, my friend put forward the not unreasonable point that, whilst he welcomed her missives regarding “the new Geoff Capes” (try Google), he didn’t feel it was appropriate to give him more coverage than Nottingham Forest, Notts County and the county cricket club put together. ‘Twas a viewpoint that cut no ice, sadly, as he was constantly rebuked for “stifling natural talent and hating to see our young local kids doing well.”

Then one glorious happy day an anonymous caller told my friend that just a modicum of research would reveal that the bane of his life was actually a pompous, talentless, no-mates Mummy’s boy whom the right-thinking would happily shove out of a high window.

It transpired that our budding Olympian’s Mum had told nothing but the truth in her fulsome reports. Research and reading between the lines gave a whole new different perspective, however. First, our hero didn’t compete at U14 level for very good reason, in that there wasn’t enough interest in his event to form an U14 category. But in his most recent meeting, he did indeed finish fourth… out of five competitors.

Naturally, there are two ways of looking at this. Firstly, the charitable amongst us might stress that here is a lad who had given the burgers and Playstation a miss in favour of getting off his backside and trying to be the best in his chosen sport. The cynics – and you know who you are – might stress with equal accuracy that, out of maybe one million kids who were eligible to take part in this event, our hero was only better than one of them. By the same token, the personal best of which his mother so proudly spoke was shy of the Olympic qualifying distance by about half the width of the English Channel.

Five years on, I’ve no idea if this young fellow and his doting Mum will be packing their bags ready for London 2012. As a betting man, I’d imagine that the odds on this happening are slim to the point of anorexic; which is a shame, really, given his steadfast adherence to the true Olympian ideal.

They say that nobody ever remembers who finished second and I suspect this is true to the greater degree. That said, everyone remembers the have-a-go duffers, who embrace the great British characteristic of failing to accept they’ve no discernible talent despite all evidence to the contrary.

So if I should discover that Nottingham’s latter day equivalent of Eddie the Eagle Edwards is competing, I’ll make sure I tune in for a chuckle.

With Wimbledon and the Olympics to endure in 2012, it’ll be a damnably long summer without one.

NULL

*BS*Shane Huke on Whites’ 3-1 win against Truro:*BF*

Saturday’s performance was again a tale of two halves. We started the worst we have been this year by a country mile. We didn’t look at the races at all.

After a few minutes we conceded a penalty, a decision we felt was very harsh. This rattled a few cages and within minutes we equalised with a good move.

Corcs picked up the ball and used his pace and strength to go past a player, slipped the ball to Terry who played it across to George. A good swivel on the spot from George and excellent finish across the keeper, sending him the wrong way.

Next was our turn for a “HUH?” moment! A soft penalty but for once in our favour. So up stepped new signing Jemal Johnson to send the keeper the wrong way to score on his debut, but this all came from a great ball from Corcs to switch the play, a bursting run down the right from Starkey who played Jemal in. He crossed it to hit the lads arm in the box.

Over the past few weeks the weather has made the pitches tough to play on and Saturday’s pitch was no exception. Our groundsman has been fantastic in preparing the pitch for us and I’m undoubtedly sure we have the best pitch in the league today and throughout the season, so thank you to him.

Second half we seemed to be a bit brighter and started a lot better. We continued to press and create chances against tough opposition. The two centre halves Ed and Sim’s were excellent at controlling the back and competing against an ex-Premiership opponent (Barry Hayles). These two won everything in and around them.

Our 3rd goal come from a great counter attack. Donovan drifted the ball into Batti, who with one touch found Bricknell in the box. A good half-turn and with one touch he sent the keeper the wrong way to nestle his shot nicely in the bottom corner.

So another win for the lads against difficult opponents, that’s eight games unbeaten in a row now.

A big shout out goes to the lads in the bar afterwards. It was nice to hear a bit of noise and support after the game… cheers!

Hukey

*BS*If you have a question for Shane, leave a message below or via Twitter: *Link1**BF*