I want to start with an update following the great FA Cup adventure and the honour it was to have our club represent our town live on television. It was a tremendous evening with our players, management, volunteers, officials and supporters doing the club proud. However, as we know, there were a pocket of exceptions to that which has cost the club money and will continue to do so going forward.
We are still awaiting the fine from the FA for two incidents that took place, but we know that we simply cannot afford to have flares in the ground or objects thrown on the pitch in future games and therefore will be paying to have additional stewards to carry out searches on supporters entering games in the future. This will be on top of extra stewarding around the ground, and a police presence at matches. We cannot comment anymore on the incident whilst it is being investigated, but the individuals involved will not be welcome at The Meadow until we can make a decision after the outcome of the police investigation.
The two young lads that entered the field of play during the match will be receiving letters in the next 48-hours explaining that they are not welcome at the ground. We have also banned three boys that were caught smoking where they should not have been, whilst a fourth who was present with them but not smoking has sincerely apologised and offered to do voluntary work at the club. He will not be banned, this is not a part of the role I enjoy, but we simply cannot tolerate bad behaviour at the club and we are determined to nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand and starts to spoil the enjoyment of others.
This weekend we are back in cup action, this time in the FA Trophy as we welcome Chippenham Town to The Meadow for the second time in the space of a month. I have no doubt that our visitors will have last month’s late turnaround in the league game on their minds and will be fully out for revenge. You may recall that we were trailing that game until late on, when they received a red card and we scored three goals to make the result look comfortable, it is going to be another very tough game, and your support will be needed. If there is to be any more late drama tomorrow it could well come after the 90 minutes as there are no replays in this competition, it will be straight to extra-time and penalties – hold on to your hats!
Talking of penalties, on Tuesday night we bowed out of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup to an Amersham Town side that are having another excellent season and look on course to continue a climb up the non-league pyramid. Whilst losing to your local neighbours is never a good thing, the game was an excellent opportunity for some of our squad players to get some minutes under their belt, a chance for a couple returning from injury to have a run out and most importantly it enabled us to give some of our Under 18’s side a run out in the first team shirt.
The game was ultimately lost on penalties after a 1-1 draw, but how good was it seeing Karl Oliyide getting back on the score sheet? And it was very exciting to see some of our young talent mixing it with more experienced players, that is a key part of what we are trying to achieve as we build a squad not just for this season, but for the longer term.
Last Saturday we recorded an excellent 2-0 win against a Worthing side that very much have promotion in their sights, and I am sure will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. However, last weekend it is safe to say that they were tactically outclassed by our management team who did a fantastic job of preparing our team so soon after the highs of the Lincoln City game. If you have seen the post-match interview from the Worthing manager you will know that he seemed to be in shock from the defeat, critical of the way we had played I think, although he did not actually use such words, but reading between the lines it looked to be a case of gutted to lose a game that on paper they would have expected to win at the start of the season.
Thank you as always for your magnificent support, please keep spreading the word and bringing your friends and families along to games. I appreciate we have a lot of home matches coming up, but if we can regularly top the 1,000 mark at home matches that will be a big help towards achieving great things at this club. The FA Cup run was good, but we do need to keep attracting the crowds on a regular basis. The women’s team were back in FAWNL action last Sunday welcoming Chatham Town Women to The Meadow. Chatham came to Chesham 3rd in the league and approaching half-time the game was tied at 1-1 with Chesham’s goal coming from the head of Becky Fraser. However, the visitors scored twice more to run out 1-3 winners. It was a solid performance against a team playing in tier three last season. Next up the women’s 1st team head to Penn & Tylers Green FC, this Sunday in the County Cup quarter-final and the senior Development team play Milton United in the League at home (at Chiltern Hills Academy).
A reminder also that as a club we are looking for our supporters to help to give less fortunate families in the area a Christmas they might not otherwise afford. You can make donations in the clubhouse. Financial contributions are always appreciated, cash cards for the supermarkets are very useful as the Foodbank can get what they need when they need it and advent are also a good inclusion. In addition, Chiltern Foodbank are putting together hampers which require tinned ham, tinned salmon, chocolate biscuits, Christmas cake, Christmas sweets, instant coffee, chutney/pickles, cooking oil, UHT milk and generally any sustainable tinned food is welcome. However, they do not currently need baked beans or dried pasta, and it goes without saying that all items must be within the sell by date. Just adding a couple of extra items to your weekly shop can make all the difference.
Looking further ahead we have Father Christmas and the Rotary Club float coming to The Meadow for our home game on December 21st, a match that we hope will bring some festive cheers to everyone.
Thank you for your support, I look forward to seeing you back at The Meadow tomorrow.
Peter Brown
