December 2018

ARSENAL

December started well with a 4-2 win against Tottenham. This was followed by a disappointing 2-2 draw away at Manchester United. Given the season that they have had we should have done better. Two wins by a 1-0 margin followed. Firstly against Huddersfield and then in the Europa League against Qarabag.

The unbeaten run came to an end away at Southampton and overall I think that was a good thing because Tottenham would never have let us forget it if they had been the team to end the unbeaten run. We lost to them in the next match in the Carabao Cup and although it hurt if we have to lose to them the Carabao Cup is the time to do it.

We were back to winning ways with a 3-1 win over Burnley but the injury list which has resulted in an unstable back four has seen us draw away to Brighton and lose 5-1 away at Liverpool.

The new year gives us a new start as we face Fulham in the League and Blackpool in the Cup before taking on West Ham and Chelsea. The F.A.Cup fourth round draw will take place after we have beaten Blackpool and the month is finished off with a match against Cardiff.


BRENTFORD

December started with a 1-1 draw away at West Bromwich. Two defeats to Swansea and Hull were followed by a 1-0 home win against Bolton. The christmas period has seen two draws away from home, firstly 1-1 at Bristol City and then 0-0 at Birmingham City.

The new year sees a couple of challenging matches against Norwich and Stoke at home and these are followed by two away fixtures against Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday.


SOUTHEND

Southend have blown hot and cold throughout December. An F.A.Cup defeat by 4 goals to 2 against Barnsley was followed by a 1-1 draw against Luton in the Checkatrade Trophy. The League form shows as Lost Won Lost Won Lost. The winning teams were Portsmouth, Rochdale and Coventry while the two losing sides were Accrington and Oxford.

The new year starts Home Away Home Away Home against Gillingham, Doncaster, Plymouth, Bradford and Luton. Given the hot and cold nature of December "anything could happen in the next half year."


EXETER

December started with a Checkatrade defeat to Peterborough and continued with a league defeat away at Bury. There then followed a purple patch of green (wins) as Exeter beat Crewe 1-0, Oldham 3-2 and Yeovil 2-1. The month ended with a home defeat to Grimsby.

January sees us away at Swindon and then Lincoln, a home match against Morecambe, another away match just over the newly free Severn Bridge at Newport and the month ends at home to Cambridge.


EASTLEIGH

A 2-2 draw at home to Dover was followed by a 2-0 away defeat at Wrexham. The 2-1 win at home to Harrogate was followed by an away draw 2-2 at Havant & Waterlooville. The month ended with a comprehensive away defeat 3-0 at Ebbsfleet.

January sees the return fixture against Havant & Waterlooville which is almost a local derby. This is followed by a trip to Solihull then matches against Sutton and Bromley.


WESTON

 A poor season saw December start with the third of three wins in a row but it was only against Hengrove Athletic in the Somerset Premier Cup. Defeats to Woking, Chelmsford, Truro, Oxford City and Bath followed broken only by a single point earned in a 0-0 draw at home to Gloucester. Perhaps keeping the defence tight is the way to go.

The new year starts with a visit to Gloucester so that point is something to build on. January continues with matches against Billericay, Eastbourne, Truro and Slough.


TIVERTON

The season started reasonably well but things seem to have turned. December saw defeats to Wimborne and Metropolitan Police. The heavy rain saw two postponements and the team returned to action with a 2-2 draw at home to Swindon Supermarine. The christmas period witnessed a 2-1 defeat at Taunton Town but the year ended with a 3-1 win over Frome Town.

January holds matches against Dorchester, Weymouth, Poole, Hendon and Merthyr.


BARNSTAPLE

My bright red spreadsheet shows six defeats in December. The only yellow on show was in the Devon St Lukes Bowl against Cullompton which ended 3-3 but Barnstaple managed to lose on penalties. The defeats in the league were against Totton, Melksham, Cirencester, Cinderford, Bideford and Moneyfields (I love that name).

The new year needs a completely new approach or Barnstaple will be back in the Western League. The first match in January is against Street (another good name) and this is followed by matches against Bristol Manor Farm, Thatcham Town and Slimbridge.


BUCKLAND

December saw a lot of postponements for the rain but a good victory on 8th saw a 5-3 win over Bridgwater Town. This was followed by a bad defeat 7-2 away at Shepton Mallett. I hope there was a good crowd there for the goalfest. Two draws against Westbury and Roman Glass St George happened either side of a defeat by 2 goals to 1 at home to Plymouth Parkway.

The fixtures in January are against Brislington, Wellington, Hallen and Odd Down.


EXMOUTH

The team are having a good year so it was a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Falmouth Town. Camelford were well beaten 4-2, Bodmin and Newquay were both beaten 1-0 and the only red stripe of the month was against Cullompton. That was a 1-0 defeat on Boxing Day.

January holds matches against Millbrook, Godolphin Atlantic, St Austell and Launceston.


Bonus: ELMORE

Five postponed fixtures is the story of December for Elmore. There is nothing to worry about though as in a good season the two matches played resulted in wins. 2-0 away at Holsworthy and 1-0 away at Torridgeside.

The early 2019 matches are against Saltash, St Martins, Sidmouth and Ilfracombe.


The new year 2019 is going to be a good year. Let there be lots of football.

Boxing Day

No, this is not about the Derby v. Leeds match just posted on the facebook page.

1. Brighton & Hove Albion v. Arsenal

2. Bristol City v. Brentford

3. Oxford United v. Southend

4. Exeter v. Yeovil Town

5. Havant & Waterlooville v. Eastleigh

6. Weston-super-Mare v. Gloucester City

7. Taunton Town v. Tiverton

8. Barnstaple v. Bideford

9. Buckland Athletic v. Plymouth Parkway

10. Exmouth Town v. Cullompton Rangers

And the bonus, just keeping an eye on my Level 11 pick:

11. Elmore v. Crediton United

That concludes the preparation for tomorrow as we are going out for lunch with the family.

Exeter 1 Crewe 0

Check out the only other win for my selections this weekend.

Exeter 1 Crewe 0

Southend 3 Accrington 0

The You Tube video I promised you.

Southend 3 Accrington 0

Loser Weekend

All my selections seemed determined to lose this weekend.

I have just watched my top team end their 22 match unbeaten run at Southampton. The only good thing about that is that Mark Hughes has long gone. Southampton 3 Arsenal 2 was the result and it was two goals for Henrikh Mkhitaryan who has been very unlucky for the past few weeks. I now think he is cursed because he scored two and we still lost. Is there a curse on H.M.?

Danny Ings with two headers and Charlie Austin with one header beat us. Bring back Per Mertesacker. We need a centre half or two that can deal with crosses. We also need a goalkeeper that can deal with crosses so if Petr Cech is anywhere near fit he may well get his place back against Spurs.

Southampton 3 Arsenal 2

I was watching yesterday when Brentford went 2-0 down to Hull City so that was an expected loss.

Hull City 2 Brentford 0

We know from yesterday that two of my lower selections lost. One of these matches was in the F.A.Trophy and my other National League team also lost in the F.A.Trophy.

Hemel Hempstead Town 2 Eastleigh 1

Truro City 4 Weston-super-Mare 0

My Southern league teams might both have lost but Tiverton Town had their match called off as the pitch was unfit. In the other match the two managers were sacked after the game.

Barnstaple Town 0 Cirencester Town 5

Kevin Darch and Dave Griffiths have both left the club following a run of disappointing results. The club has made a quick decision to appoint a new manager, with the implication that it was already set up before this match, and an announcement will be made on Monday evening.

So what else could go wrong?

Buckland Athletic could travel away to Shepton Mallet and lose 7-2.

Guess what.

Shepton Mallet 7 Buckland Athletic 2.

Exmouth Town had their match called off due to the weather conditions so most of my teams either lost or had the match cancelled.

The only chance for wins then are my League One and League Two choices.

Southend United 3 Accrington Stanley 0

Southend must have drunk their milk as they managed to beat the Stanley with goals from Sam Mantom, Taylor Moore and Theo Robinson. Accrington had more of the possession and had four more shots but as we all know it is goals that count.

Exeter City 1 Crewe Alexandra 0

This was a hard fought match but the difference was the goal scored by Lee Martin.

So two wins out of ten is a poor return on a bad week for my selections. Those results fit my mood so I do need to get myself out of this slump in time for the Carabao Cup match against Spurs.

Reader, I married him, no only joking.

Reader, I will make the next blog more exciting, maybe by adding a video from You Tube.

LOSERS

I think I will avoid blogging tonight.

Weston-super-Mare lost 4-0.

Barnstaple Town lost 5-0.

I don't want to check any more results.

Just sulking for a few hours.

Eastleigh Signing

Eastleigh Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of attacking midfielder Jack McKnight from Basingstoke Town.

The 21-year-old has already scored more than 10 goals this season from midfield, and won Basingstoke’s Player of the Month award twice in successive months.

The club have beaten off interest from several National League clubs, as well as sides in the Football League.

McKnight will wear the number 7 shirt at The Silverlake and link up with former Basingstoke Town manager Jason Bristow, who joined as Assistant Manager last month

Ben Strevens said; “We are very pleased to get the deal for Jack over the line. He is an exciting addition, and exactly the type of player we need for both the short term and long term. He’ll offer us something different and will be another option for us in midfield.”

The signing is subject to National League and FA approval.

The coming weekend

Shock, Horror, Probe: Arsenal are playing at 3:00pm on a Saturday. Are we no longer attractive to the TV audience? Has the ban on betting during big games made THAT much difference? Is it winter when mud replaces grass and Stoke become the team to watch? It must be an anomaly.

Anyway ...

Arsenal are at home to Huddersfield in what we hope will be the 21st match unbeaten.

This run has seen 15 victories and 5 draws.

Brentford are at home to Swansea City following a series of 14 matches with only one win.

8 Defeats, 5 draws and the only win was at home to Millwall on 3rd November.

Southend are away to Portsmouth so I am anticipating a defeat.

My spreadsheet is very colourful with reds and greens in the league and yellows in the cup matches.

Exeter are away to Bury at Gigg Lane which is one of the many stadiums I have visited in my time.

My spreadsheet show lots of green followed by lots of red interspersed with much yellow as well.

Eastleigh are away to Wrexham who are flying high.

The early reds turned to a patch of green which has gone on to yellows interspersed with green. The expectation is that Eastleigh will get a red blip against Wrexham but anything else will be a result.

Weston-super-Mare have won three on the trot and now face Woking at home.

It has to be said that only one of those three was a league match. The first was a 3-2 win away to Slough in the F.A.Trophy and the third was a 4-0 win away to Hengrove Athletic in the Somerset Premier Cup. I have the team have taken a liking to winning and continue this against Woking.

Tiverton started the season with quite a lot of green that has turned to a red and yellow circus tent.

Tomorrow sees them away to the Metropolitan Police where they earned a 3-3 draw in the F.A.Cup back in October. They lost the replay at home though so the Met have the upper hand psychologically.

Barnstaple Town are away to Melksham Town tomorrow.

The scores show a huge page of bright red with a purple patch of three green when they took on Paulton Rovers, Winchester City and Yate Town. We must expect the red to continue.

Buckland Athletic are at home to Bridgwater Town and according to my spreadsheet their last three results have been Postponed, Postponed, Postponed. I hope they remember how to play the game.

Exmouth Town shows a good amount of green although the last two home matches have been 0-0 draws. The defence is holding but perhaps there is a problem with the strike force. Tomorrow they take on Camelford but I can think of better things to do than watch a 0-0 draw.

Elmore Eagles, like Buckland, have a last three results of Postponed, Postponed, Postponed and now travel down to Brixham. I wonder if the Mrs would like a trip to Rockfish in return for watching a football match?

They said that writing a blog teaches you a lot about writing and I agree. It does not matter if people read it but if you do then please let me know.

Young Bees progress

The Brentford B team beat the Metropolitan Police in the London Senior Cup.

Young Bees in Action

Did you spot any stars of the future?