Welcome back, it’s time for March’s action! Hopefully we can have a better time of it than we did last month…
The board are still happy with my performance, although they didn’t rate our limp defeat to Wealdstone last month. Neither did I, we were so toothless it hurt. The squad are still looking like a harmonious bunch, the dressing room atmosphere is solid as ever and their support for me is ever strong. We’re one big happy family down here at Treyew Road.
So our youth intake beat our Under 18’s. Not hugely surprising, our U18’s are greyed out players, but as mentioned in my previous post, our intake didn’t come out looking like a whole lot, so a convincing win was nice to see for them. The two strikers both got in on the action, Bastick grabbing 2 and Edge getting the other. In terms of the most promising players from the intake, Wayne Winter was solid without being anything special, whereas central midfielder Daniel Ashton was very impressive. Promising signs.
TRURO CITY (8TH) VS HUNGERFORD TOWN (11TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH
After three defeats in a row, I wanted to try something new. I may be binning of some subtle role tweaks after just one game, but I just don’t like how we’ve been playing lately. So a flat 4-4-2 today, Harvey Moss comes in on the left, he hasn’t played much but he’s quick and direct, he’ll be a threat. The changes worked as we battered Hungerford, Tyler Harvey putting us ahead after just 15 minutes. Jake Watkins grabbed us a second before half-time, and that knocked the stuffing out of Hungerford a bit. They never really looked like getting back into it, and substitute Jordan Copp put the gloss on the result with 8 minutes left to end the game 3-0. A very pleasing performance, but more importantly 3 points to stop the rot.
ST ALBANS CITY (17TH) VS TRURO CITY (8TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH
The 4-4-2 stays after our convincing win last time out, but there is a personnel change. Danny Racchi is injured and replaced by Cody Cooke. Niall Thompson takes a spot on the bench, now that we’re using wingers he may actually get some game time. We were pretty abject here, far too passive and no real threat to the St Albans goal. Substitute Shaun Lucien, only on the pitch because of an injury, scored a brace after half-time to put St Albans out of sight, before being taken off with a minute to play!
TRURO CITY (8TH) VS CHELMSFORD CITY (3RD) – VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH
Another 4-4-2, and another couple of personnel changes. Alawode-Williams gets a rare start at right-back in place of Billy Palfrey, and Andrew Neal replaces Tyler Harvey up-front. Now usually I’m not a man who loves a 0-0 draw, but Chelmsford have been very good this season, and this may be the first time that I’ve seen us defend well enough that I felt they would never break us. We were completely toothless at the other end, we didn’t have a sniff and quite honestly we were outclassed all game, but do you know what, I won’t just tolerate it, I’ll enjoy it.
EASTBOURNE BORO (21ST) VS TRURO CITY (9TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
Tyler Harvey comes back in for this one, albeit a forced change with Andrew Neal picking up a knock in the last game. Noah Keats comes onto the bench, he’s our striking change after finishing his new position training with glowing reports. Young winger Harvey Moss put us ahead just before the hour, with Tyler Harvey adding a second with 10 minutes left in the game. This was a very routine win, we defended well again and restricted Eastbourne to the kind of long shots that you’re happy to see, if one flies in the top corner then all you can really do is stop and applaud. We weren’t dominant of the ball, but we were very efficient and solid.
As the end of the season is approaching, it’s time to start thinking about plans for next season, and it starts with offering new deals to Cody Cooke and River Allen, two players who can comfortably sit in our midfield next season.
TRURO CITY (8TH) VS HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (7TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
This is an absolutely huge game. Hemel are a place above us and a result here could be influential of sneaking a play-off place. Danny Racchi comes back into the team, replacing River Allen, meaning Cody Cooke moves into a central role. There is also a place on the bench for Connor Riley-Lowe, returning after a four-month injury lay off. Tyler Harvey has been playing really well lately as our Advanced Forward, and put us ahead here after half an hour. He doubled our lead on the brink of half-time, to give us a very solid-looking lead at the break. The game completely blew up in the second half, however, with Harvey sealing his hat-trick a minute after the break and Greg Cundle pulling a goal back 60 seconds later to give Hemel Hempstead a way back in. Sam Hatton scored to reduce the deficit to one goal, before a three goal blitz from Danny Racchi, Jake Watkins and Ben Harding sealed a crucial, and emphatic victory.
EDITOR NOTE: MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN AN OVERVIEW SCREENSHOT!
I must be doing something right. My deal is coming to an end as the season finishes, and it’s nice to see I’m still wanted here. I’ve confirmed I’m happy to hold talks, but I have a couple of bits I’d like to see from the board.
So a fairly good month, a disappointing defeat to St Albans aside. As it stands a play-off place is in our hands, although if either one of us or Hemel Hempstead go on a run then the other will have to play out of our skins to keep up.
So contract talks did indeed begin. After asking for extra wage budget, and being given a slightly disappointing £400 p/w increase (barely enough for a good first team player), as well as pushing a personal pay rise, this came into my inbox…
So a new one year deal, and hopefully it can provide some momentum for our play-off push, and a chance to push on next season. As you can see, social media was rocking!
Poppy doesn’t seem convinced, and John’s mouthing off like he was in the room with us!
That’s it for March, next time we’ll have the end of season run in. Thanks very much for reading.
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