THE CHAIRMAN

Good evening everybody and welcome to Addison Road for our fixture against Newport Pagnell this evening. We are all set for another cold night and a game under the lights and so I hope you are wrapped up warm for the night!

Games at home continue to come thick and fast which I hope can help Sports build some momentum ahead of a tough run of away fixtures. It was great to get all three points at the weekend after a number of games where I felt our performance deserved more. As is often the case, the first goal was all important and although the game became more scrappy at the end, I felt we deserved the points. Andy, his staff and the players continue to work hard to be ready for matches and always give 100% effort and so it was great to see smiles on faces again at the end of the game.

Our visitors are another side pushing for promotion and so matches against Rugby Town and Banbury Untied should help us to prepare for this one. We know we cannot get the consistency of the sides at the top of the league but I do think we raise our game against these sides and so I hope we can be competitive this evening. Last season Newport left it late to snatch the points and they will no doubt be pushing right to the end as they need to make up ground on the leaders. We should therefore be in for a classic United Counties encounter!

I don’t always use the Chairman’s notes to provide updates but I thought I would just add that we have now applied for grant funding to improve the toilets in the clubhouse. With constant discussion around relocation, it is sometimes difficult to know what to do with our tired clubhouse. That said, a refurbishment of the toilets is welcomed and then at the end of the season we will look to modernise and paint the main bar area of the clubhouse. I will let you know when our application to the Football Foundation has been successful!

If you are first time spectators at the ground this evening, we do hope you have a good night watching the game.

Please drive safely and respectfully on the way home to keep our local neighbours happy.

Best wishes

Richard Meadows Chairman

Good evening & welcome back to Addison Road for home game under lights against a very strong Newport Pagnell Town. When we last met a few months ago it was a very tight affair where we wre unlucky not to come away with a point. Pagnell are one of the fancied teams this season winning the FA vase last season which was a fantastic achievement, they are looking to repeat that success this year.

It was great finally getting back to winning ways on Sat against a very physical Oadby team. We controlled the game from start to finish and really the result should have been more comfortable. It was great to see us braver in our play as we created a number of chances. When you are controlling a game with a narrow lead there is always the danger that they will nick one however we held firm and I was delighted with the clean sheet & much needed 3 points. I also want to single out Oli Rose who at just 16 years of age caused an experienced defence a lot of problems, he has a very bright future in the game and we will manage him carefully. I have also been pleased with Coombsy as he now looks back to his best since returning from injury. We asked him to play in a slightly different role sat and he adapted brilliantly. We also returned Watkin in the back 4 and I thought that him and Josh were rock solid.

Tonight will be much tougher test however we are looking forward it, confidence is high and as ever we will give it everything!

Enjoy the match & get behind us, Sharm