Good afternoon and welcome to Longmead Stadium for today's Bostik League match. We extend a warm welcome to our match officials as well as the players, officials and supporters of Haringey Borough FC.

I trust everyone will enjoy their afternoon with us and wish you all a very safe journey home.

Our visitors have having a great season and are sitting top of the league and after their cup heroics they are on a high. So we can expect a very hard and competitive game.

This week has provided the Angels with both sides of football, the elation of winning at Bishops Stortford and the disappointment of going to Wingate and Finchley only to find it being called off due to snow. The battle through the M25 and the north London traffic is not one that I would recommend and as one of my passengers commented it would have been quicker to get on a plane and go to Spain.

There is a new found confidence with the team and it would be nice for this to spread to the stand and terraces. We all have our views and of course are disappointed when a shot goes wide or a pass goes astray but the lads keep on trying right to the last which is why we watch and love non league football. The highs and lows can be extreme but it is great to see so many of you keep the faith.

To demonstrate one of the lows on Sunday the ladies played a cup game against Diamond and within the first twenty minutes there was a serious injury, a dislocated knee, to one of the Diamond players and an ambulance had to be called. The player was in agony and could not be moved. The pressures on the emergency services meant that there was an hour delay before help arrived and the player was taken to hospital. Despite this trauma for all concerned the game continued which is a great testament to both sides.

The injured player had her knee put back and was discharged and we all at the club hope that she makes a speedy recovery.

This time of year is one that most non league club's dread as it is where we have most strain on our finances with income from matches not being as great. Fewer events and the need to pay the various tax bills is always a challenge and needs careful planning. The Board are therefore looking again at ways to promote the club and bring in income from sources other than football. All ideas are gratefully received.

Clint Pearmain is looking at new ways to encourage the visibility and merchandising of the club and is in the process of asking the owners for their views on various items. If you could take time to look at it and comment it will be most useful because unlike most surveys your comments will be read and replied to where possible.

Pete and I have had a meeting with both the FA suppliers now regarding the grant money and we will be able to soon let you know what use we intend to put the money to, providing of course that the FA consider it a suitable way to spend it.

We have the application form for this year for groundsman of the year 2018/2019 which will be sent off very soon and with the hope that Pete will be recognised again by his peers as one of the best groundsmen in the country.

You may recall that I mentioned that we have a further water leak on the main water supply pipe to the club. The location of the leak has been found but its repair is a bit more difficult than first thought so it is still ongoing.

We unfortunately had some unauthorised visitors in the marquee on the night of 11 Jan and whilst nothing was stolen damage was caused to the CCTV system wiring which has now been repaired and is up and running again. Vandalism is a problem and the club knows that it is a target but CCTV is a great deterrent and we are looking at extending the camera coverage to other areas of the ground.

Good luck to all our teams this weekend and please enjoy your afternoon with us

Dave