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Post by Giggy of Telford on Jul 28, 2014 22:16:41 GMT
Wow, I haven't looked on here for months and there's been a mini-revival! Can't really complain this season, after last season's horrific (but not entirely unexpected) relegation was mainly hoping for us to just start winning games again and show a bit of intent and ideally aim for the top 5 so was pleasantly surprised (read: ecstatic) with our first ever league title as AFCTU and first title a Telford team has won in over 60 years. Last time in the conference premier we took an absolute battering. Expect we will take a couple more along the way next season but hopeful we can hold our own this time. Liam Watson has a reasonable record at the level with Southport on a (presumably) similar budget so just need to hope that will translate across. Next season any position ending in -teen will do for me. Cautious optimism from me. Getting to as many games as I can but the days of my 100% attendance in 2006/07 are sadly behind me. I'm now full time in the hospital, living in Leamington and not driving so midweek games are almost always impossible. Get back for most Saturday home games but as I normally have work to do Saturday evenings I have to be a lot more selective with away games.
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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Jul 28, 2014 22:21:29 GMT
That'll be your first Stafford game in what....five years? Not quite. I managed a Wednesday night away game late 2012/13 season, my first game of any description since 25/04/09 when we beat Hinckley 3-1 in connie north, the last game played in front of the scaffold stands. Then i managed the home game with Rushall Olympic on 01/01/14. I was actually caught on the youtube video (carrying a bright yellow carrier bag) of that game standing behind the goal when Rushall scored what i think was their third goal,at approximately 1min 50 - 2 mins on the video. Despite previous less-than-friendly encounters we've had on here, i did genuinely wish Gateshead well on your quest to return to the Football League. From what i've read, i believe the Heed were done a great injustice in being slung out of the League in the firat place and it would be great to see them follow Accrington in reclaiming their League place. By the way, i recall you printed a pretty impressive projection of the new ground that you planned to build. Is that close to fruition yet? The news of the Malaysian airliner was indeed a shocker. It's a route and an airline that i've flown personally in the past given family connections that i have in Malaysia. A bad business all round. Can't imagine what the relatives must be going through. Many condolences on the loss of your friend.
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Post by peekay on Aug 23, 2014 20:49:34 GMT
Sorry for the tardy reply. The times i have to sit down and write considered postings get fewer and farther between these days. Thanks for asking, our travails are in the process of being addressed. What remains of the board at SRFC has finally sussed that the fans aren't the enemy and a number of initiatives have been set in motion and though the promised land is still far over the horizon, at least we can be a little more confident that the light at the end of the tunnel is not the headlamps of a Virgin Express hurtling towards us. We've been joined now by ex-Rushall boss Neil Kitching and the signs are promising so far. He seems to know what he's doing more than "Gregward" did and he's got a proven track record both at this level and the league above, so i'm cautiously optimistic that we won't be in another relegation battle. I note that our fixtures against you are on Bank Holiday Monday august 25th at Harrison Park and New Years Day at MR (weather permitting). Our shift usually get night shift on Bank Holiday Monday but i may have the chance of attending what will hopefully be a promotion clash on New Years Day. If you make it, look for someone carrying a large bright yellow carrier bag with the words "W Wing Yip" (or Day In Supermarket) and either avoid or make contact as you see fit! Hey, it'll be an early 6 pointer on Monday what with us both going into the game with maximum points. Who'da thunk it? It will also be my first game of the season as my shift pattern reduces me to about 50% home attendance these days. Even then I'll be rushing away at full time as I start a lovely 12 hour nightshift about an hour after the final whistle. P.S Does Dan Cope still do his somersault goal celebrations? Only he's done himself a mischief more than once doing that.
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Post by loy PRA on Aug 25, 2014 15:37:35 GMT
I was meant to have a double match weekend of Gateshead at home vs Grimsby then Sunderland at home vs Man Utd. Unfortunately, getting stuck in traffic on the M1 meant I was only roughly in York enduring torrential rain on the motorway as the radio flickered between Radio Leeds/Radio Newcastle.
Within a few minutes, Craig Baxter scored an own goal followed by a further five ending an impressive home run of form quite spectacularly. Leeds got humped too. What a Jonah!
Having missed Gateshead, I had my doubts about showing up to the Stadium of Light, however I reckon Sunderland were the more disappointed to be leaving with a point. Man United are absolutely woeful at the minute.
Have to do the long drive back down to London today and somehow avoid the Notting Hill Carnage. Bumped into a mate hurrying to get the bus to Gateshead vs Altrincham, pleased to report we won 1-0 getting the promotion push back on track.
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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Aug 26, 2014 9:20:29 GMT
Peekay- I'm not surprised that leek are up there again. You should've gone up last year and to my mind you have a Premier Division team stuck in the wrong league. Seeing postings on the Stafford forum after yesterdays 0-2 reverse at hp it looks like we've still got a long way to go if we're to be serious promotion challengers in this league. We have some experience at the back but in other positions a lot of young players who've not been at this high a level before. I regard Leek as the benchmark club this season. It will be interesting to see how we bounce back from such a comprehensive defeat. The NYD return at MR will show how much progress, if any, we make. (edit) Oh yes, and Copey still does his backflip celebrations, hopefully you'll get a chance to see it live at MR on NYD Loy- That was two points dropped for SAFC i'm afraid. Still it makes a change for you to take some points off the rags. I daresay you will get your customary 1-0 win againat City at SoL again this season. Last 4 years now, isn't it?
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Post by Giggy of Telford on Aug 31, 2014 21:06:15 GMT
We seem to have changed our minds, a battling display on the opening day where we were well worth our point away to Welling* despite playing nearly half the game with 9 men, followed by at best inconsistency. We seem to have a half where we play well and another where the defence switch off and we ship 2 or 3 careless goals. Macclesfield at home we were excellent second half but had killed ourselves off before half time. Dartford away we were comfortable 1st half, go 1-0 up, hit bar start of second half, conceded minutes later and seemingly gave up.
*Also my ex-girlfriend's home town and as we were both in attendance it was absolutely vital we did not lose.
It's tough to predict at this stage, in theory we have a manager who has done well with a club I'd guess has similar resources to us at this level, he has publicly said the resources here are good enough, has a decent record of bringing players up from lower leagues and also brought in players he knows that have done a job at this level before. We aren't playing attractive football but to be honest we didn't really in Rob Smith's era and definitely didn't with Andy Sinton. At the moment things aren't clicking and we definitely have to improve but it's early days and if nothing else I'm holding onto the fact Liam Watson sides usually seem to improve as the year goes on???
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Post by loy PRA on Sept 16, 2014 20:55:11 GMT
It's tough to predict at this stage, in theory we have a manager who has done well with a club I'd guess has similar resources to us at this level, he has publicly said the resources here are good enough, has a decent record of bringing players up from lower leagues and also brought in players he knows that have done a job at this level before. We aren't playing attractive football but to be honest we didn't really in Rob Smith's era and definitely didn't with Andy Sinton. At the moment things aren't clicking and we definitely have to improve but it's early days and if nothing else I'm holding onto the fact Liam Watson sides usually seem to improve as the year goes on??? I wouldnt say its that tough to predict, I think that most would agree you're down already. Gateshead held by macclesfield away which isnt a bad result, id hope for another promotion push. Barnet dont look convincing at thr top of the table and someone has to win it....
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Post by peekay on Nov 12, 2014 19:30:07 GMT
Peekay- I'm not surprised that leek are up there again. You should've gone up last year and to my mind you have a Premier Division team stuck in the wrong league. Seeing postings on the Stafford forum after yesterdays 0-2 reverse at hp it looks like we've still got a long way to go if we're to be serious promotion challengers in this league. We have some experience at the back but in other positions a lot of young players who've not been at this high a level before. I regard Leek as the benchmark club this season. It will be interesting to see how we bounce back from such a comprehensive defeat. The NYD return at MR will show how much progress, if any, we make. (edit) Oh yes, and Copey still does his backflip celebrations, hopefully you'll get a chance to see it live at MR on NYD Loy- That was two points dropped for SAFC i'm afraid. Still it makes a change for you to take some points off the rags. I daresay you will get your customary 1-0 win againat City at SoL again this season. Last 4 years now, isn't it? Things going a little awry already. We had a decent wee run in the FA Cup to the 4th qualifying round before being knocked out in rather sickening fashion by Blyth (boooooooooooooo!), a game where a few Worcester fans turned up for reasons I've not been able to find out. We've also made it through couple of rounds of the FA Trophy with another to come this Saturday but it's left us with a hefty fixture backlog already and we've had a couple of thumpings when we have squeezed league games in. So we're down in 9th right now, 5 points behind Stafford but with 4 games in hand on you and as many as 6 on some. It's going to take a long run of maximum points to haul ourselves into contention now. Mickleover are absolutely flying and Sutton Coldfield look like being the closest challengers. The play-offs might be the best we can hope for this season. That and a run in the Trophy for old times sake! Hehe. Hope everyone is well?
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Post by ambersalamander on Nov 12, 2014 21:55:09 GMT
Very well, thank you Peekay. How are you?
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Post by loy PRA on Nov 17, 2014 3:40:19 GMT
Peekay, youve got to remember when blyth won the title they faced a massive backlog of fixtures and pretty much destroyed all before them. They didn't do in a style reminiscent of accrington stanley but won them none the less. Have faith Leek can haul themselves into the lottery of the playoffs...then you might do a Gateshead and actually win them.
Good to see Sutton Coldfield do well also, played them in either the trophy or the cup years back and they had a nice ground all the more improved by J Esaj being there and Gateshead beating them in the claret and blue of yesteryear.
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Post by peekay on Jan 4, 2015 13:42:48 GMT
Well, we're still hanging around the fringes and now have even more games in hand due to a few postponements before Christmas. Interesting stat - We've played so few games that even if we had a 100% record, we still wouldn't be top! Recent form has been good (when we've actually played) aside from a 1-0 reverse at Stafford on New Years Day, courtesy of our ex striker, Leek native and grandson of the guy who writes our (extremely biased) match reports. Big game next Saturday when we play Mickleover who are currently knocking in 6 or 7 most games, indeed they beat us 5-1 in the away fixture earlier in the season. Win and we stay in touch with them, lose and they look likely to win the league comfortably. It's making for an interesting season. Oh and I'm very well thank you Sal.
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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Jan 21, 2015 11:50:22 GMT
Hi Peekay. Sadly i was unable to make what i was hoping was going to be an annual quest to MR but that was a welcome 3pts for us, just hanging onto the outer reaches of the play-offs. Since then, you've had a great run of results and you're right back up there in it. Looks like there may be a few twists and turns left in this season yet. Maybe i'll get the chance to look you up in next year's fixture, hopefully in the Premier Division instead of this one.
Copey's winner pays you back about 0.0000001% for that FA Trophy semi final in 1990, when your winner was scored by an ex-SRFC man from Stafford. I still get nightmares about that because my late Father had his stroke during the following Italia 90 World Cup and that defeat robbed him of what would have been a last Wembley day out with the Borough. Such is life.
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Post by peekay on Feb 5, 2015 14:56:40 GMT
Hi Peekay. Sadly i was unable to make what i was hoping was going to be an annual quest to MR but that was a welcome 3pts for us, just hanging onto the outer reaches of the play-offs. Since then, you've had a great run of results and you're right back up there in it. Looks like there may be a few twists and turns left in this season yet. Maybe i'll get the chance to look you up in next year's fixture, hopefully in the Premier Division instead of this one. Copey's winner pays you back about 0.0000001% for that FA Trophy semi final in 1990, when your winner was scored by an ex-SRFC man from Stafford. I still get nightmares about that because my late Father had his stroke during the following Italia 90 World Cup and that defeat robbed him of what would have been a last Wembley day out with the Borough. Such is life. I wasn't aware of Dave Sutton being from Stafford? I thought he was a Stokey? He'd been in Stoke's team when they won the FA Youth Cup and played briefly for Crewe but I didn't think he'd played for anyone else v=before joining Leek? Coalville game postponed last night after the Staffs Senior Cup game vs Chasetown had been postponed on both the previous 2 Wednesdays. I'd prefer us to be knocked out of the SSC at this point as well as the League Cup which we're still in. We still have 19 league games to play before the end of April. Yikes!
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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Feb 6, 2015 22:19:10 GMT
Sorry, Peekay, for some reason i got Dave Sutton mixed up with Alan Somerville, who was an ex-SRFC player at Leek. Maybe that was another competition and another time!
The fixture pile up for those around us remains our best hopes for getting back into a play off spot. All we can do is try and win as many as we can and br in a position to take advantage of any slip ups. I don't have a clue where things will be when the dust finally settles but it'll be fun finding out!
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Post by Sultan of Cannock- SRFC on Feb 19, 2015 12:07:20 GMT
After our win at Newcastle last Saturday, the table could look better for us after this weekend, assuming we manage to beat Stocksbridge. Look at the other fixtures for this Saturday!
Gresley v Leek (7th v 4th) Newcastle v Mickleover (2nd v 3rd) Spalding v Sutton (6th v 1st)
That's 6 of the top 7 playing each other!
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