FIXTURES

  • Saturday 24 August home to Rushall Olympic League kick off 3.0pm.
  • Our game at Kings Langley due to take place on Monday 26 August has been called off due to problems with the kings Langley pitch. They have not played a home game this season and player safety is the reason for the cancellation.

FA CUP DRAW
The draw for the first qualifying round of the FA Cup will be published on the FA website before 2.00pm on Tuesday 27 August.

FA YOUTH CUP
Our FA Youth Cup game away to Netherton United has been arranged for Tuesday 3 September kick off 7.45pm.

PLAYER NEWS

  • Jay Dowie has received a one game suspension for his sending off at Alvechurch and will miss the Rushall game.
  • Jack Green, Charlie Horlock and Jay Bird remain on the injured list and will miss the Rushall game.
  • Jay Bird needs an operation after his recent injury. There are fears he may be out until December.
  • James Verney played and scored for Cockfosters last Saturday.
  • Charlie Thake played and scored for Arlesey last Saturday.

MANAGER’S NOTES WITH MARK BURKE

ALVECHURCH

After our first two performances against Stourbridge and Needham Market I was bitterly disappointed with our display at Alvechurch on Saturday. In those first two games we showed a determination and work rate that will be required if we are to have a successful season. On Saturday we let our standards slip and were duly punished. I think this could have been a combination of complacency setting in and a dip in form from a very young side that can happen.

Not to take anything away from an Alvechurch side who I thought played very well and with an intensity that we lacked on Saturday but I know we are well capable of as we demonstrated in the first two games. I had only made one change from the side that played at Needham Market and kept the same shape and tactics so I was very surprised by the two contrasting performances.

MONDAY/THURSDAY

On Monday we had a strength and conditioning evening at Pure Gym in the town centre. Their staff led the session and we then moved to the Hitchin swimming pool. This proved a very good team bonding exercise and the benefit from the evening will be a tighter bond between the players. We are working toward that all important team spirit that we have had in the past.

On Thursday we carried out a post mortem on the Alvechurch performance and worked on learning lessons from the defeat.

RUSHALL OLYMPIC

Rushall have made an excellent start to the season and beat Leiston 6-0 last Saturday. They are unbeaten and will obviously provide stiff opposition. I will be looking for us to get back to the level of performance we showed against Stourbridge and Needham Market and expect a reaction from the players after the disappointment of Alvechurch.

I hope our supporters continue to get behind the team and the players are really keen to produce a performance to allay the memory of last Saturday.

KINGS LANGLEY

The postponement of the Kings Langley game on Monday will at least give more time for the injured players to recover. We will now train on Tuesday instead.

BY ROY IZZARD