RYMAN PREMIER RELEGATION UPDATE

RYMAN PREMIER DIVISION - CURRENT TABLE
BOTTOM EIGHT ONLY

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
17.	HARROW BOROUGH	31	9	9	13	47	54	-7	36
18.	WINGATE AND FINCHLEY	30	9	4	17	40	57	-17	31
19.	GRAYS ATHLETIC	24	8	4	12	35	44	-9	28
20.	THAMESMEAD TOWN	35	6	9	20	42	77	-35	27
21.	EAST THURROCK UNITED	29	6	8	15	35	51	-16	26
22.	ENFIELD TOWN	29	6	6	17	37	67	-30	24
23.	CARSHALTON ATHLETIC	30	4	5	21	24	64	-39	17
24.	CRAY WANDERERS	32	4	4	24	28	99	-71	16

It's really tight down at the bottom of the Ryman Premier Division with many twists and turns to come with much football left to play. With all the weather postponements incredibly Grays Atlhetic (in 19th position) have played nine games more than Thamesmead Town (20th) so are potentially 27 points better off. What a week it is for games in the fight to stay out of the bottom four with Thamesmead Town travelling to East Thurrock United on Saturday and then Enfield Town on Tuesday evening going to Bayliss Avenue.

Many fans consider Cray Wanderers and Carshalton Athletic as doomed in their current positions but they will certainly not be giving up just yet. The next goal The Wands concede will be be their 100th let in this season!

The questions are -

With Harrow Borough five points above Wingate and Finchley could it be a battle between the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd placed teams to stay out of 21st and 22nd place? The two local rivals play are due to clash on Saturday where a win for W&F could be vital. It's a massive week for The Blues as they then travel to Grays Athletic on Wednesday evening.

Could Grays Athletic count on their massive amount of games in hand to keep them away from the relegation battle - Are points gained better than games in hand? Their current form of eight defeats in eight suggests they could be pulled down further.They play draw specialists Lewes at home tonight.

Here is the current form table for 17th down to 22nd place -

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
17.	HARROW BOROUGH	6	3	0	3	12	12	0	9
18.	WINGATE AND FINCHLEY	6	2	0	4	7	13	-6	6
19.	GRAYS ATHLETIC	6	0	0	6	5	15	-10	0
20.	THAMESMEAD TOWN	6	0	1	5	5	13	-8	1
21.	EAST THURROCK UNITED	6	1	1	4	5	13	-8	4
20.	ENFIELD TOWN	6	2	2	2	9	10	-1	8

Forthcoming fixtures of bottom eight clubs -

Thursday 27th February 2014
GRAYS ATHLETIC v LEWES

Saturday 1st March 2014
AFC HORNCHURCH v GRAYS ATHLETIC
CANVEY ISLAND v CARSHALTON ATHLETIC
EAST THURROCK UNITED v THAMESMEAD TOWN
ENFIELD TOWN v BOGNOR REGIS TOWN
MET POLICE v CRAY WANDERERS
WINGATE AND FINCHLEY v HARROW BOROUGH

Tuesday 4th March 2014
CARSHALTON ATHLETIC v HENDON
EAST THURROCK UNITED v WEALDSTONE
HARROW BOROUGH v MARGATE
THAMESMEAD TOWN v ENFIELD TOWN

Wednesday 5th March 2014
GRAYS ATHLETIC v WINGATE AND FINCHLEY

FA VASE UPDATE

The remaining fifth round games of the 2013/14 FA Carlsberg Vase were played yesterday with a shock result coming when Newcastle Benfield (who were 20/1 to win the competition) defeated favourite's Spennymoor Town 1-2.

Other side's through are St Andrews, Dunston UTS, Sholing, Eastbourne United and West Auckland Town

FA VASE QUARTER FINAL DRAW
St Andrews v Newcastle Benfield
Eastbourne United v Ampthill Town

Sholing v Wisbech Town

Dunston UTS v West Auckland Town

 

 

BetVictor.com's adjusted odds are as follows (along with each team's respective league position) -

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 7/4 - 3rd Northern League Division One

SHOLING 3/1 - 2nd Wessex League Premier Division

DUNSTON UTS 5/1 - 13th Northern League Division One

NEWCASTLE BENFIELD 8/1 - 15th Northern League Division One

AMPTHILL TOWN 12/1 - 2nd Spartan South Midlands Premier Division

EASTBOURNE UNITED 14/1 - 1st Sussex County League Division Two (Step 6)

WISBECH TOWN 16/1 - 7th United Counties League Premier Division

ST ANDREWS 25/1 - 8th East Midlands Counties League (Step 6)

 

As you can see there are six Step 5 sides and two Step 6 sides. As usual the Northern League (who have provided the winner's of the last six seasons) is well represented. Dunton UTS won the competition in 2012 defeating West Auckland Town so their Quarter-Final is a repeat of that Wembley final. Dunston are the only former winner's of the Vase still in this season's competition.

 

The games are due to be played on Saturday 8th March.

 

 

 

 

THURSDAY NIGHT CUP FOOTBALL AT POTTERS BAR TOWN

This coming Thursday evening (27th February) there is a chance to see some stars of the future over at Potters Bar Town as they welcome Championship side Watford under 18's for a Hertfordshire Senior Cup Round Two game. The Hornets have already visited The Pakex Stadium in the First Round when they defeated ground-sharer's Hadley 0-2 thanks to goals from Bernard Mensah and Luke O'Nien.

More details on the match can be found on The Scholar's website - Potters Bar Town FC

The winners will travel to Skrill South side Boreham Wood in the Quarter Final. The three remaining ties in the last eight have been played with Bishops Stortford beating Barnet 3-0, Hitchin Town defeating local rival's Stevenage 1-0 and Hemel Hempstead Town edging past St Albans City 4-3.

The Semi-Finals are Hemel Hempstead Town travelling to Bishops Stortford and Hitchin Town awating a home tie versus Boreham Wood/Potters Bar Town or Watford.

THE ROAD TO LETCHWORTH CONTINUES!! 

DID SUN POSTAL CONTINUE THEIR PROMOTION PUSH AT ARLESEY?

Arlesey Town  Reserves joined the Spartan South Midlands League Division One in the summer and up to this game had only won one of their twenty-one league games played which came against Chesham United Reserves (2-3)back on Saturday 31st August. Wednesday evening's home game against promotion chasing Sun Postal Sports was their first game since Saturday 28th December with numerous postponements over the past couple of months and it was also a re-match of the Division One Cup played on the 12th November which Arlesey won 2-3 at Sun Postal.

Sun Postal went into the game with a record of 16 wins from 22 league games and were two points off of table topper's Bedford meaning a win here would put them top. Match highlights are below so you can find out by watching.

Above - Rufus Brevett watches some Spartan South Midlands League action and his reserve side on Wednesday evening 

The game was watched by Arlesey first team manager and ex Doncaster Rovers, Queen Park Rangers and Fulham (amongst others) player Rufus Brevett.

BIG GAMES COMING UP IN THE RYMAN PREMIER THIS MIDWEEK

Ryman Premier Division Current Table
TOP SIX

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1.	MAIDSTONE UNITED	32	18	9	5	69	36	+33	63
2.	DULWICH HAMLET	31	20	3	8	71	42	+29	63
3.	WEALDSTONE	27	17	7	3	63	27	+36	58
4.	AFC HORNCHURCH	28	17	5	6	57	34	+23	56
5.	BOGNOR REGIS TOWN	28	17	3	8	66	43	+23	54
6.	KINGSTONIAN	29	17	3	9	53	32	+21	54

BOTTOM SIX

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
19.	GRAYS ATHELTIC	23	8	4	11	34	40	-6	28
20.	THAMESMEAD TOWN	33	6	8	19	39	73	-34	26
21.	ENFIELD TOWN	28	6	6	16	36	64	-28	24
22.	EAST THURROCK UNITED	27	5	8	14	33	48	-15	23
23.	CARSHALTON ATHLETIC	27	3	5	19	23	58	-35	14
24.	CRAY WANDERERS	29	4	2	23	24	91	-67	14

Hopefully with the weather getting a little better most of the midweek games will take place and there is a really important one tonight at Grosvenor Vale when 3rd placed Wealdstone take on 4th placed AFC Hornchurch. A win for the home side would put them two points behind the current top two of Maidstone United and Dulwich Hamlet (who both lost on Saturday) with two and three games in hand. There is one other game tonight when Kingstonian entertain Wingate and Finchley who still need to pick up points to stay away from the drop zone. The K's will be looking to put their unexpected 1-4 home defeat to Hendon on Saturday behind them.

COULD ENFIELD TOWN MOVE OUT OF THE BOTTOM FOUR?

Tomorrow night the focus goes to the relegation fight where Enfield Town could possibly move out of the bottom four with a home victory over Lewes. This is dependant on Thamesmead Town's result on their away trip to Margate. Carshalton Athletic and Cray Wanderers who are now well adrift at the bottom of the table are also in action with The Robins travelling to Bury Town and Wanderers welcoming Leiston. If either of these two sides avoid the drop they will have performed a minor miracle from the position they are currently in.

Wednesday evening see's another massive game with Grays Athletic looking to get the three points to avoid slipping further down the table and their visitors Lowestoft Town needing a win to stay in touch with the top five play off zone. The TrawlerBoys are currently in seventh position. Grays have been worst affected by the weather postponements having only played 23 league games so far which is in stark contract to the 33 played by Thamesmead Town just below them in the table. Their home League Cup tie against Division One (North) side Chatham Town has been switched and is now scheduled to be played tonight in Kent.

FA VASE QUARTER-FINAL DETAILS

The draw for the FA Carlsberg Vase Quarter Final has been made today with matches due to be played on Saturday 8th March 2014. Several of the Fifth Round and Fourth Round tie is yet to be played due to weather related postponements.

FA VASE QUARTER FINAL DRAW
East Preston or St Andrews v Spennymoor Town or Newcastle Benfield

Eastbourne United or Morpeth Town v Ampthill Town

Sholing or Larkhall Athletic v Wisbech Town

Dunston UTS v West Auckland Town or Hallen or Brightlingsea Regent

 

The three teams definately through are Ampthill Town (Spartan South Midlands Premier), Wisbech Town (United Counties League Premier) and Dunston UTS (Northern League Division One).

 

BetVictor.com are still offering odds as follows -

 

SPENNYMOOR TOWN 2/1

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN 2/1

SHOLING 7/1

DUNSTON UTS 8/1

AMPTHILL TOWN 14/1

WISBECH TOWN 14/1

NEWCASTLE BENFIELD 20/1

EAST PRESTON 25/1

LARKHALL ATHLETIC 25/1

EASTBOURNE UNITED 33/1

MORPETH TOWN 33/1

BRIGHTLINGSEA REGENT 40/1

HALLEN 40/1

ST ANDREWS 66/1

 

The remainder of the Fifth Round games are due to played next Saturday along with the one Fourth Round tie outstanding. Just a 500+ mile round-trip for Hallen to West Auckland! -

 

DUNSTON UTS v BRIGHTLINGSEA REGENT

EAST PRESENT v ST ANDREWS

EASTBOURNE UNITED v MORPETH TOWN

SHOLING v LARKHILL ATHLETIC

SPENNYMOOR TOWN v NEWCASTLE BENFIELD

WEST AUCKLAND TOWN v HALLEN (Fourth Round)

AMPTHILL TOWN THROUGH TO THE QUARTER FINAL OF THE VASE

"You've got a Lidls, You've got a Lidls, we've got a Waitrose.....you've got a Lidls!!" sang the home fans at the FA Vase 5th Round tie this afternoon in a classic piece of terrace banter. This tie was first v third in the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division as Ampthill Town entertaining Hanwell Town. Ampthill have played 28 league games with 22 wins and 68 points with Hanwell on 20 wins from 22 games and 61 points so it was always going to be tight encounter here which was indicated in their league game earlier in the season which ended 0-0.

Hanwell came into the game on the back of a Fourth Round tie played on Thursday night at Ashford United. The game was originally due to be played at Town's home ground but was switched following numerous postponements due to the weather. They had won this game 1-2 with an 87th minute winner.

Above - Ampthill Town's main stand has been spruced up with a new paint job since The Cold End's last visit in 2009

Below are the highlights of the game which went to extra-time and saw Ampthill Town the eventual winners to qualify for the Quarter-Final of the FA Vase for the first time ever. The were three red cards shown right at the end of the game following a melee in a game which was competitive but never nasty up to this point. The referee blew the final whistle shortly afterwards.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

THREE MORE POINTS - THE GREAT ESCAPE IS ON!

You can find below highlights of Enfield Town's deserved and hard fought victory over Bury Town from Tuesday evening which moves George Borg's side just two points from safety. There is still much more football to be played and many twists and turns so I'm sure none of the players (and certainly not the supporters) will be getting too carried away just yet. However, The league table does look an awful lot better than two weeks ago!

Bury Town were reduced to nine men with Seb Dunbar receiving a straight red card, which as you will see on the video, was for a very late challenge on Towner's captain Mark Kirby. Joe Whight was somewhat harshly given a second yellow in injury time.

Watch out for a 'Football Genius' moment from Jamie Richards who was making his home debut for Enfield Town.

FOOTBALL versus HOMOPHOBIA

 

"We want football to take a clear stand against homophobia so that everyone can enjoy the beautiful game and so that football leads the way in removing discrimination and prejudice based on gender identity and sexual orientation."

The Cold End has long been a supporter of the Football v Homophobia campaign and would like to direct all readers to the organisation's website here which details their current month of action during February.

ENFIELD TOWN V LEWES PITCH INSPECTION TOMORROW AT 9.15am

Before and After - The Donkey Lane pitch this afternoon.

The above before and after pictures show the Donkey Lane pitch this afternoon. The pictures come courtesy of groundsman @JackLucas20 who, with a team of volunteers, has been working extremely hard to try and get the surface playable after the deluge of rain over the past few days. As you can see some fantastic work has been carried out but with yet more rain due to fall overnight and tomorrow morning the Town supporters and travelling Lewes fans will have to wait until 9.15am when a pitch inspection takes place. Let's hope the weather is kind and all of the grafting this afternoon will be worth it!  As I write this there are still a hardy group of volunteers at the ground working on the pitch and the worst affected areas will be covered to protect overnight.

Hertford Town's pitch hasn't been so lucky as you can see from the below picture.

Hertford Town's pitch (courtesy of club photographer Mattie Crook)


 

JAMIE RICHARDS IS A FOOTBALL GENIUS - THE TOWN WIN AWAY!!!

What a fantastic evening The Towners had at Earlsmead against Hendon. Enfield Town recorded their first away league win since Saturday 20th April 2013 when a 2-3 victory was recorded against Hendon and their first away clean sheet since Saturday 23rd February 2013 in a 0-0 draw against Lowestoft Town. New signing Jamie Richards scored on his debut and is was thought by many Town fans present he is a very similar player in style to centre-forward Richard Cherry who played for the old Enfield FC under manager George Borg in the 1990s. Richard was a real terrace legend and a football genius. Welcome to the club Jamie, The Cold End hopes to hear 'Jamie Richards is a football genius' chanted on Saturday against Lewes. To single out one player would not be right as everyone gave 100% for the whole 90 minutes to bring the all important three points back to Donkey Lane in the big battle to get out of the relegation zone.

Coach Barry Bolton wrote the following on social media last night which sums up the positive feeling around the club at the moment -

"Buzzing tonight as the boys were tremendous and showed fantastic team spirit. Well done to Jamie Smyth in his start as first choice right back who along with all his team mates defended brilliantly! Another huge plus is Jamie Richards who worked his socks off all night and scored on his debut. However man for man great all round performance from every player who fought like gladiators and scrapped... for everything. A couple of crucial outstanding saves from Noel and good finishing from our attacking players made all the difference. Nonetheless we still realise we have lots of work to do and plenty of football to play but now we have some momentum and that precious commodity called belief! Come on you Towners!

Next up u21's at home in the league this Wednesday against Leiston 7:45pm kick off where we hope to resume our fight for the league after an impressive quarter final away win in the London Senior Trophy. As ever you support is much appreciated and valued by not only the young players but the coaching staff as well. Until then though I shall enjoy our much needed, long awaited but thoroughly deserved first team away win! and long may it hopefully continue"

@enfieldfanzine wrote "George Borg drank from my Tyskie. I can die a happy man."....this was after the Town manager had a sip of Mr Fanzine's beer to celebrate the win!

Another positive is that in the last two matches The Town have drawn against Canvey Island (14th place) and won last night against Hendon who are currently in 9th place. The only way is up from here!

Match highlights are below which includes all three goals scored on a memorable and historic night for Enfield Town Football Club -

NO GOALS AT THE GRASS ROOTS STADIUM

The vast majority of non-league matches in the local area were called off due to water logging today. Some were played and The Cold End visited Tring Athletic's stadium for the first time and my first impression were how good the pitch looked despite the bad weather we've been having so full marks to the ground staff at The Grass Roots Stadium.

Tring welcomed Hadley in a eleventh v sixteenth match-up which ended in a 0-0 stalemate. The windy conditions affected the play and there weren't many goal scoring chances. When the home side did get in a position to hit the target their players blazed the ball high over the bar! It was just one of those days - I think the teams could of played 180 minutes and they still wouldn't of scored.

Tring's ground is very nice and I highly recommend a visit to a club which gave a very warm and friendly welcome on a somewhat chilly day.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS



GROUND PICTURES

Hadley's goalkeeper was Tom Le-Tissier who has represented Guernsey...so he must be related to ex Southampton legend Matt ??