GUT FEELING SIMON STODDART’S

My views - not United's - on semi-pro football and occasionally, other topics.

GREEN? WHAT GREEN?

We didn't get any rub of it back on August 20th, our 3rd game early in the new season when we travelled to Hornchurch. Truly a day to forgetbefore I got to the Dartford Tunnel it was going belly up starting with the car letting me down, getting to the ground (having missed the first 20 minutes) to find us 2-0 down and a man short following the early dismissal of Finn O'Mara for handbal l on the goal line. The resulting penalty followed by a quality free kick saw U's on the back foot. And for all that they actually played plenty of decent football and were on top much of the second half but it was to be one of those days when nothing was to go right and Hornchurch duly rubbed our noses in it with a late third. 0-3 and the U's making an early visit to the bottom of the division. Things have improved considerably since then and let's see if we can get things to go our way in this return fixture with the league leaders.

Two Big Sussex Tests

4 points from Lewes here and an away trip to West Sussex for Monday's highly entertaining 0-0 draw at Horsham who included Daniel Ajakaiye in their ranks. I thought Lewes were the best opposition we've faced this season. They were far more in our faces - I thought - than the Lewes we played at The Dripping Pan back on the summer bank holiday.

Works Two Ways

It's right what they say about things evening out over a season eh? Deflected free kick to get the 3 points from the Lewes game .........

- but credit where due, the U's should've grabbed a couple more. And Harry Kane's big miss being copied to a T when Horsham's Tom Kavanagh missed from the spot in the last minute on Tuesday.

Night shifts and away games rarely go well together so I listened to the Horsham game on Adam Carder's excellent radio channel.....

You'll find it at hufcradio.co.uk. Give it a whirl and drop Adam a few quid towards the running costs he incurs.

The highlights from an entertaining draw at Horsham are on YouTube. Said it before and I'll say it again - how things have moved on in the last few years when it comes to keeping up with semi-pro football. Special mention for the post match interviews with Gary and Louis.

Some great attendances in these grim times. United pulled in 1,677 for Lewes, there were 1,316 at Horsham on Tuesday, Lewes had 1,295 in for their New Year win over Bognor Regis and Folkestone demolished plummeting Margate in front of 1,179. And in Isthmian SE, 1st vs 2nd, Ramsgate Chatham saw 1,271 through the turnstiles to see Ramsgate open up a 6 point gap with a big big 1-0 win.

Bearing in mind the current grim times, semi-pro football is holding up pretty well. Let's hope it continues. And happy to hand out a pat on the back of whoever puts the Boxing Day and New Year fixtures together - plenty of good ol'fashioned local derbies.

Ben Pope Beer Basher

Old Boys

Remember Jordy Mongoy who played here back in 2018-19? Wasn't here long but looked a decent prospect. Now way up North playing for Northern Premier Premier League leaders, South Shields. And look who got Wingate & Finchley's first goal in their surprise 2-0 win at Potters Bar - Ansu Janneh.

Fwp

Football Web Pages - as close as you'll get to comprehensive semi pro football coverage - well, it is if you follow Isthmian or Northern Premier League affairs. All the stats you could want and you can be sure that U's followers studying their phones during games will quite likely be consulting FWP to see what's going on elsewhere in the Isthmian League.

But forget it if you're looking for Southern or National League updates. Ex Isthmian clubs who've gone up to National South will feature but generally speaking, clubs from those leaguesNational, National South / North and all the Southern leagues aren't interested in coverage by FWP. And FWP are as frustrated by this weird turned up nose attitude of those leagues as anyone as I found out on Twitter recently .......

Good old Twitter. Pick up some real gems on here. (Ben has offered to compensate Charlie for his lost refreshment)

So it's not for want of trying on FWP's part! Makes no sense at all. The site manages to just about get the scores from those leagues and that's about it. You can generally forget scorers and attendances because the clubs don't supply the stats.

Concerning to hear Tom Chalmers taken off so early in the Horsham game. Hope all is OK, fella.