Tuesday 8 February 2011

RYMAN PREMIER DIVISION - SEASON SO FAR

Current Ryman Premier Division Table           LAST SIX GAMES 
                    P  W  D L  GF GA  GD PTS   P W D L GF GA  GD PTS 
1  Sutton United    27 16 7 4  50 24 +26 55    6 4 1 1 14 5  +9  13
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2  Bury Town        27 14 8 5  46 35 +11 50    6 3 2 1 12 10 +2  11 
3  Tonbridge Angels 25 14 5 6  47 31 +16 47    6 5 1 0 17 6  +11 16 
4  Kingstonian      27 14 4 9  39 32 +7  46    6 2 1 3 5  9  -4  7 
5  Lowestoft Town   23 12 9 2  35 14 +21 45    6 2 4 0 10 5  +5  10 
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6  Harrow Borough   26 13 5 8  54 31 +23 44    6 4 1 1 20 5  +15 13 
7  Cray Wanderers   26 12 5 9  47 29 +18 41    6 2 1 3 7  7   0  7 
8  AFC Hornchurch   25 11 8 6  35 29 +6  41    6 2 2 2 6  7  -1  8 
9  Canvey Island    25 11 7 7  39 31 +8  40    6 4 0 2 12 10 +2  12 
10 Concord Rangers  26 11 7 8  43 39 +4  40    6 2 2 2 12 13 -1  8 
11 Billericay Town  26 11 6 9  36 36  0  39    6 3 1 2 10 9  +1  10 
12 Carshalton Ath   25 11 5 9  37 27 +10 38    6 3 2 1 7  3  +4  11 
13 Wealdstone       26 10 5 11 38 35 +3  35    6 4 0 2 13 6  +7  12 
14 Hendon           23 9  7 7  45 37 +8  34    6 2 2 2 10 9  +1  8 
15 Margate          28 8  8 12 33 35 -2  32    6 1 2 3 4  6  -2  5 
16 Tooting and Mit  27 8  8 11 38 56 -18 32    6 3 1 2 11 15 -4  10 
17 Horsham          26 8  5 13 27 51 -24 29    6 2 0 4 7  18 -11 6  
18 Hastings United  27 4  8 15 28 42 -14 20    6 0 2 4 4  10 -6  2 
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19 Folkestone Inv   26 4  7 15 19 38 -19 19    6 1 1 4 6  11 -5  4 
20 Aveley           26 5  4 17 17 40 -23 19    6 1 0 5 2  8  -6  3 
21 Maidstone United 26 3  9 14 24 47 -23 18    6 1 1 4 5  13 -8  4 
22 Croydon Ath      27 6  3 18 29 67 -38 18*   6 2 0 4 6  15 -9  6 

* denotes 3 pts deducted                       red & green denote top/bottom of form table            

The last time the cold end looked at the Ryman Premier Division was on the 25th October 2010 when the top five consisted of Kingstonian, Lowestoft Town, Sutton United, Hendon and Tonbridge Angels. Four of those five teams remain with Hendon dropping down to 14th place with a disappointing run of 4 wins in 12 games following a good steady start to the season. Bury Town who were sixth have replaced them and are currently second. Back in October skybet.com showed that bookmakers never usually get it wrong by making Sutton United 15/8 favourites for the title. Paul Doswell's side are now 4/5 odds on favourites to finish first and although it's certainly not all over yet with the Gander Green Lane side still having to play 15 games they will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season.

SKYBET.COM CURRENT ODDS FOR THE RYMAN TITLE

Sutton United    4/5 
Tonbridge Angels 9/2
Lowestoft Town   9/2 
Bury Town       11/2 
Kingstonian     14/1
AFC Hornchurch  16/1
Canvey Island   25/1 
Concord Rangers 33/1 
Carshalton Ath  50/1 
Cray Wanderers  50/1 

They are followed in the betting by Tonbridge Angels and Lowestoft Town both at 9/2. If The Trawlerboys win their four games in hand they will go above Sutton United which looks a big IF at present as although being unbeaten in their last six games the Suffolk side have drawn four of those with the their last league game being a disappointing 1-1 home draw against relegation threatened Hastings United. A 300+ mile round trip between The Pilot Field and Crown Meadow - How's that for a non-league regional division??

One of the biggest games of the season takes place this Saturday when Lowestoft visit Sutton United in a game which is bound to attract a big attendance at Gander Green Lane. They then face play-off rivals Kingstonian at home on the 15th February and travel to Suffolk (and play-off/championship) rivals Bury Town the next midweek on the 22nd February. The Trawlerboys have (as most Ryman Division One fan's of last season would of predicted) adjusted to life in the Premier Division with ease only losing twice against Carshalton Athletic on the opening day of the season and at Harrow Borough on the 7th September.

Harrow Borough were in sixteenth position on the 25th October and after winning only three of their ten games were looking at another battle against avoiding relegation. What a turn around it's been as a run of just two defeats in sixteen games has seen them climb up to the edge of the play zone. The 6-2 win at Bury Town's Ram Meadow on the 1st February really stands out as they were 2-0 down after seventeen minutes but came back to his the hosts with six goals including a Troy Hewitt (formerly of Ilford and Clapton) hat-trick.  Borough followed this up with a 6-0 home win against Horsham.

Chairman and clubs who make rash decisions by sacking managers should take a look at the situation at Earlsmead and see that stability is the key in management! The legend that is Dave Howell took over as Caretaker Manager following Eddie Stein's departure (who he was assistant to) in November 2003 and was made permanent manager in Febraury 2004. Despite finishing in 16th, 16th, 19th (reprieved from relegation following Farnbrough Town's administration - they had best record of 19th placed sides at that level), 16th, 14th and in 13th place last season the club have stuck by Howell and continue their youth and community development now having links with a number of local youth football clubs and schools which is now clearly paying dividends. The cold end is sure a few football league scouts may have visited Earlsmead this season to see if the next Albert Adomah can be spotted..

Adomah started his career at Harrow Borough and moved up to Barnet in 2008 and has since moved up again to the Championship with Bristol City. He is now a firm fixture in the team at Ashton Gate making 32 appearances in league and cup this season. Robin Shroot and Danny Blanchett have also made progression up the football ladder after spending time at Harrow.

Shroot who joined Howell's Harrow Borough after starting with Staines Town and AFC Wimbledon joined Birmingham City in 2009 and is now currently on loan at League Two Chelthenham. Blanchett started at Hendon and then spent some time at Harrow Borough in 2005/06 and has since joined Crewe Alexandra via Peterborough United. He has played regularly at Gresty Road this season.

Just like Enfield Town's Division One (North) there are a clutch of clubs along with Harrow on the edge of the play off zone and with so much football to be played in the next few months due to the enforced winter break any team can move up the league with a run of decent results.

Canvey Island and Wealdstone have both won 4 out of 6 games so could move up if their good form continues.

At the bottom and the battle for the drop appears to be a case of four of five teams to go down as there is a nine point gap between 18th placed Hastings United and Horsham currently in 17th position. Although, as at top of the league, a run of three or four wins could see teams climb out of the league. Although fans of Croydon Athletic (6 wins in 27), Maidstone United (3/26), Aveley (5/26) and Folkstone Invicta (4/26) and Hastings United (4/27) would argue that their teams won't be winning that amount of games in a row this season.

RANDOM FACTS FOR THE SEASON
 
Unbeaten at home        - Lowestoft Town and Sutton United
No home wins            - Maidstone United
Unbeaten away from home - None
No away wins            - None
Most goals              - Harrow Borough (54)
Least goals             - Aveley (17) 
Most goals home         - Harrow Borough and Sutton United (27)
Most goals away         - Harrow Borough (27)
Least goals home        - Folkstone Invicta (7)
Least goals away        - Aveley (9)
Best defence            - Lowestoft Town   (14 goals conceded in 23 games)
Worst defence           - Croydon Athletic (67 goals conceded in 27 games)
Best defence home       - Lowestoft Town   (5  goals conceded in 13 games) 
Best defence away       - Lowestoft Town   (9  goals conceded in 10 games)
Worst defence home      - Croydon Athletic (34 goals conceded in 14 games)
Worst defence away      - Croydon Athletic (33 goals conceded in 13 games)

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