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Words from the Woodshed....

Words from the Woodshed....

James Cunneen10 Aug 2014 - 11:39
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the return of proper footie...

Well the world cup is done and dusted and the pre season fixtures are behind us and it is time to get down and boogie...

Im writing this as the tale end of Bertha ruins everybody's Sunday and I'm just glad that Captain Cook and his merry men wrapped up the test against India yesterday.. Wahoo... well done England!

It was a real shame to lose the FGR game through the torrential downpours that hit the area and I guess we can expect more of the same as global warming will continue to wreak havoc with the weather patterns of the world.
Last year I had to rearrange even more league games than the year before but at least the Southern League lets the clubs sort it out themselves, within certain parameters, which means that we can avoid the 17 games in 19 days type scenarios that can happen when you are not allowed to do it yourselves...
Pre season games can be drab affairs and a mass of substitutions can disrupt the flow - but every so often you can get one like our home game against Weston... What a cracking game that was - ok we lost to a last minute goal but we could easily have stuck 4 or 5 away, and their keeper was mom buy a street. The Brimscombe game was surreal to say the least with 11 goals flying in, several contenders for a goal of the season already, and Dunking helping himself to 4 in the second half....
Longlevens showed they will be a force in Div 1 West of the Hellenic and they got off to a cracking 6-1 start in the league yesterday to start their campaign...

Talking of friendlies The Barmy Army took in slimbridge v larkhall athletic in a pre season game and here was another game that had everything - including a fair sprinkling of ex wood players and three penalties. Larkhall could have had their keeper sent off TWICE and there was an 'enforced substitution' too. But the main talking point was the weather. We had finished our prematch teas and the inner me was satisfied with a very nice hot dog and chips and we stood on the side taking in the game when Moons remarked it was a looking a little dark over the back and it might be a good idea to get to the stand...
Within minutes the sky had blackened to an eerie colour and then it started... I thought Milton away was bad last year but even that could not compete with the size of the hail stones that came down. The ref finally decided that enough was enough and the players all tried to huddle into the dug outs apart from Jamie Martin who joined us in the stand. At one point you could only just see the other side of the ground such was the ferocity of the rain and hail.... An extended break followed while the bottom of the end of the pitch was mopped and the game finished - which says a lot for the good drainage at Slimbridge's ground.

And so to yesterday as the new Wood team finally made its start against last seasons FA Vase winners Sholing - the report is up as are Brian's excellent photos. Brian will supply us with a team photo and mug shots of the newbies soon but I just want to say thank you to him for his terrific work for us. His pics are invaluable to me as Press Officer and to Paul the juggler for the programme... Cheers Brian !

Singha has returned to the club and remarkably managed to find his way without help.Unfortunately we lost him after 34 minutes with a tight hammie and Lewis came on and I am impressed with the touch he showed for sucha big man. Morph made his debut and showed that as he gets to know his new team mates he will have plenty to offer. What impressed me more than anything was the defensive attributes shown by Jake Lee, Nick Humphreys and Busy Hancock....
Going forward our supply to the front was poor in the first half but a lot better in the second and we could easily have nicked it by the end. Smash had a header off the line, Busy forced the keeper into a fine tim over and Bam Bam let rip from 30 yards and almost deceived the keeper with a late dip.
Finally a word for the ref Stacey Woodley and his assistants who were excellent throughout. They showed common sense, handled things with a quiet word,and above all communicated with the players... Well done and my marks reflected their performance... Please remember this column when I lit rip next ha ha ha >>>

The New Ressies made a trip to Fairford and came back with a 4-5 defeat... The Chair reckons they could easily have got something out of it and created enough chances to do so ... Fairford are one of the better sides in this division so it is not a bad result... For the record Adam Philp, Craig Mills (pen) Kenna Ngmoa, and Will hawes scored for us..

So what of this week - We welcome Tivvy to Meadowbank on Tuesday (7.45) and then travel to Swindon Supermarine on saturday... The Ressies are at home to Carterton next Saturday if you are not going to watch the ones...

See you Tuesday...

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