Budget Cuts.

Following two disappointing away defeats at Dover & Staines plus two postponements which have clogged up the fixtures schedule the curtain has come down on the play offs and we now aim towards the London Senior Cup to salvage some pride.    

Dover saw Joe Welch sent off and he will face a one game ban for this a week on Saturday when we travel to Weston Super Mare. Staines saw us capitulate after going in front early on and missing a penalty, we certainly need to get a good performance under our belts this weekend to arrest the decline.  

The rumours going round of budget cuts and possible player departures have turned out to be true, Ali Fuseini the highest profile departure so far. There is still an extensive injury list too and we had to name a very young bench for Tuesday’s game with more Academy lads being signed on forms this week. The season could be coming to a very disappointing end after some notable achievements in the cups at the end of 2012. We’ve flirted with relegation and the play offs in recent times, but now neither look a possibility to again I hope MG does the right thing by the fans and fields the strongest team available for the Wingate & Finchley semi final on 9^th April.

Ahead of that we host strugglers Eastbourne at home on Saturday and then travel to AFC Hornchurch on Easter Monday, what kind of fight we put up against sides desperate for points remains to be seen, but to use a seasonal term out eggs all appear to be left in one basket as far as 2012/13 is concerned.           

Silverware or Fools Gold?

After a stylish 4-0 win over Truro we consolidated our ninth place in the league, there has been talk of the play offs, but really this is fools gold given the small squad we have, the injury list and the fact we are seven points off the last place.

On Tuesday Mark Goldberg took the gamble of playing a young reserve side in the London Senior Cup Quarter Final, this time the gamble paid off with a 2-0 win over Tooting with some good displays from reserve and academy players. We now travel to Wingate & Finchley in the semi’s on 9^th April, only a week before the final. The advantage of this is that we will know where we are in the league by then and hopefully put a strong enough team out to get into the final where if successful we would face either Cray, Dulwich, Hanwell or Kingstonian. It’s been six years since we lifted a trophy and the fans deserve a good night out, although sadly the supporters seem to be very low on MG’s priority list.

On Saturday we travel to fifth placed Boreham Wood and then to Dover on Tuesday, a couple of wins would keep the play off talk alive for a few more days, but with only one recognised centre back fit a couple of points would be a good result against two strong sides.     

Time to Start Another Run

After another impressive win on Saturday over an in form Dorchester we moved up to ninth place and the relegation fears of a month ago were lifted, sadly we couldn’t make it six games unbeaten on Tuesday as we lost away at Sutton 4-3. With Moses Swaibu & Liam Harwood injured out teenage centre backs were unable to cope with the power of Craig Dundass and Sutton’s set piece delivery. There was a 15minute flicker of hope when we came back from 2-0 down to 3-2 up, but then again the home side showed they wanted it more and could have won by more in the end, eventually scoring the winner in the 95^th minute.

Saturday sees Truro City come to Hayes Lane, the Cornish side look certain for relegation after financial problems and a points deduction, but they have not rolled over for anyone this season. With Elliott Buchanan scoring off the bench in the last two games it would be good to see him given a start alongside Louie Theophanous and us taking a more attacking approach.

Following that Tooting & Mitcham Utd rock up for a London Senior Cup Quarter Final on Tuesday, arguably the most important game we have left this season given it’s the only thing we can still win and a mid table finish now looks assured. The fans deserve a cup final to end an interesting season on a high, let’s hope MG sees it the same way.