Today we welcome Hornchurch to the Mangata Pay UK Stadium, may I wish their Directors, Manager, players and supporters an enjoyable time with us and a safe journey home.
Well, it’s been a productive few weeks, where we’ve taken our unbeaten run to seven matches. In that time, we’ve beaten Chippenham Town 1-0 away, Carshalton Athletic 4-0 at home and drawn 0-0 down at Weston-super-Mare.
In that time, we’ve progressed to the first round proper of the FA Cup for the 11th time in 13 seasons, and drawn a great ‘old school’ club in Leyton Orient at home for our troubles. These are all indicators and building blocks after our relegation last season and I hope to prove to be signs that contribute to our return to the National League at the first attempt.
Tonight gives me the chance to welcome back to our humble abode two old friends and employees who now ply their trade at Hornchurch, in Manager Daryl McMahon and the mercurial Angelo Balanta. Both did well when they were with us, both are great guys and I hope they enjoy their night, but not to the extent where they disappear into the darkness with the three points!
Over the coming weeks, the FA Cup will loom ever larger on the horizon and is of course a very nice distraction – but it’s our next group of league games against the likes of Hornchurch, Eastbourne Borough on Saturday, and Farnborough three days after the Leyton Orient FA Cup tie, that will shape the start of our season and are our season’s bread and butter.
So, hopefully we can deal firstly with our league business in the next four days, before turning our attention back to Leyton Orient and the chance of FA Cup glory and another shot at creating a giant killing. We must also then deal with the fallout of an FA Cup run, whether we’ve won or lost, as there is always a reaction to a cup run, whether good, bad or ugly, and you must be ready to react as a club to any upturn or downturn that might creep into people’s mindsets and body language.
We are happy with our twenty-man squad and I feel at present that, though it can of course be slightly improved, it does have a nice balance to it… It’s not easy though keeping everyone happy regarding their game time as you can imagine, but if we are to mount a concerted title challenge, then we are going to need a very strong, fully focused and completely motivated squad with a winning mentality.
We knew in May that we needed a squad with experience of winning things and with talent, but that also works tremendously hard. We also needed both youth and experience, who when called upon, can come into the team or come on during a game, make their mark and hit the ground running.
At present, we still have two or three injuries to cope with, but I’m told those are nearing a conclusion and hopefully by the time our cup tie comes around Luke will have a full complement of players to call upon.
Since Luke returned to the fold, we have won five and drawn one of our last six games and in that time we’ve scored 14 and conceded just one. Hornchurch will know what to expect from us this evening and that three points are vital to our momentum and progress. In truth, Luke’s return has had the desired effect we all hoped for and though it’s very early days, long may that continue.
Club info
Next week, I am due to meet key Hertsmere Borough Council councillors and officers to discuss the South End of the ground, Meadow Park’s completion and the Brook Road car park groundworks. I’ve done a lot of work off my own back over the last five years, I’ve genuinely kept to my side of the bargain and rebuilt much of the club and as a major stakeholder around Meadow Park, and I’ve done my homework on its future-proofing.
If HBC is now serious about progressing things forward at their end, then as always, I’m ready to work with them and history shows I’m a great collaborator… As such, let’s hope this meeting is not yet another false dawn and we don’t end up with a meeting about a meeting about a meeting, and we finally stop kicking cans down the road. I genuinely hope to have some positive discussions this time with forward-thinking people and then subsequently have positive news to share with you and our local residents over the coming months.
FA Cup ticket info
We have set a capacity of 3,800 for the Leyton Orient game and I must remind everyone that this game is all ticket and will be fully segregated. At present we have given Orient 1,250 tickets and if needed that can rise to 1,400. That will please our publicans, food outlets and retailers in the town, who will have their businesses packed no doubt on the day.
That will leave my home supporters with 2,400 tickets, however at present the Orient supporters are out buying our home supporters by roughly three to one. Should I be worried? In truth, I’m not worried at all, as history shows our supporters are notoriously slow when taking up their ticket allocation for these all-ticket games.
That said, we hope that you’ll all be here in your numbers, in full voice on the day and I would remind everyone that the FA have given us a Sunday, November 3rd date with a 2pm kick off. Please note, as an added incentive for those fans who are not season ticket holders, but do intend on coming to the FA Cup game – if you do attend the FA Cup game, you will also get half price entry for our top of the table clash against Farnborough FC three days later on Wednesday, November 6th.
As I end my programme notes, can I thank our very loyal group of away supporters who are with us it seems wherever we go. Again, I am in awe of the commitment shown by those of you who travelled down to Weston-super-Mare last Saturday with the M4 shut… And I must say you are just a pleasure to be associated with.
Your loyalty, humour and friendship are very much recognised and appreciated by myself, the staff and the dressing room – so, can I thank you all once again on behalf of the whole club for your loyalty and no doubt I’ll see most of you down at Eastbourne.
As a gesture from myself to those supporters who are travelling on the supporter’s coach to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday, you will receive a free FA Cup ticket paid by me as a thank you for your considerable efforts. Eastbourne Borough away is a vital game towards our ambitions of lifting a league title and your presence and voice will give us a better chance of getting a result on the day – so, please book your seat early and no doubt I’ll see you there.
Lastly whoever you support, let’s hope for an open, attacking game and may the best team win.
Take care,
Danny
