Dover's blotter ensured that the game was on last Saturday. At half time City looked good but the loss of Ben Adelsbury at half time did for us and we lost 2-0 in the end.Now I love all that technical stuff about football. Formations and probing weaknesses etc. But in the end on a muddy pitch lighter skilfull players struggle. Bigger City players like Preecey and Ben Adelsbury do better. So its all very simple really. Dover had more bigger blokes so they won.
I was 'cheerfully' predicting that both the Dover and Weston games would be off and was proved wrong.
We really are lucky to have such a good surface at May day Trust Park. Other Clubs face a huge fixture backlog whilst City do not. That has to help in the League run in.
It seems clear that extreme weather events are here to stay. Climate change has brought more intense rain storms so Non league football is going to face a problem year on year. Spending money on drainage (or in Dover's case the pitch 'blotter') and a dedicated team of people looking after the pitch has certainly helped City but might teams have to look at synthetic pitches in the future? They are not a perfect solution of course. Keynsham Town's synthetic pitch has carried surface water which they have been unable to clear on at least one occasion.
As fans we are going to have to get more used to uncertain diaries and blank Saturday's I am afraid.
On a personal note I am still keeping up the fight against global warming and I hope the next Government takes it more seriously than the current one.
Returning to the 'size and surfaces' theme, I read Ben Adelsbury's comments in last week's Chronicle and then realised why City had put in a 7 day on Weston's big striker Chas Hemmings. Physical sides do better in these wet conditions and we'll need a bigger stronger squad to make that top 5. It was interesting that Hemmings played against a City side that he could very well be joining. At the game on Tuesday He seemed to impress the weston officials but City fan's we're split on whether he will add anything to us.
The defeat at Weston was a key moment for me. Obviously I want us to go on and get the 8 or so wins we need to make the playoffs and I really hope we can keep the season alive but I was so disappointed by the performance that I am really not sure that we are good enough. Archie says we are tired, have too many injuries and can't cope with the heavy pitches. On top of that we can't traain. On the one hand I have sympathy for our plight but on the other have to say that we must put it right if we want to progress. We need some more resilient players and are crying out for a midfield prompter. Weston had one. Maybe we are looking at the wrong player?
This Saturday brings another must win fixture for City. Basingstoke are mid table and 9 points adrift of City but with 3 games in hand. Home form is improving for us and we have to be confident. I am worried about the state of the squad after Archie's comments!
What great news it was that the Foundation received the £15,000 grant from the Conference Trust. This will directly benefit the football Club is so many ways and will certainly help the playing budget. This is a direct result of the change at Board level. I spent many months trying to secure this funding with colleague Foundation Trustees but we met with resistance from the previous Club Chairman. In all my years in the professional and voluntary world I had never encountered anything like it. This is a tremendous result and I did permit myself a celebratory beer when the news came through last Friday.
Don't forget the community day on 22nd March at May day Trust Park. Spread the word!
The Northern exiles are meeting in Manchester Saturday 1st. The Port Street bar at 1 p.m. and we hope to listen to the Bromley game over Bath City Internet radio, a few pints and the usual wisdom that flows when sage City fans get together.
I must also put in a plug for the DVDs. Skyblue as he is known on the official Forum, does a brilliant job filming games. He is in fact Jason Mellor's dad! The family will have a brilliant collection of Jason's best moments on film. I remember when Kenny Allen came along for a legends night at Twerton a few years ago. We had a few stills but very little film other than his appearance for Torquay at Wembley. We had much more film of Paul Evans and his many sterling City performances. Thanks to his dad Jason should have a pretty comprehensive library of goalkeeping heroics.
Don't forget the Mendips expedition to Cheddar in the Somerset Cup next week. Its a chance for Jim Rollo to get some game time again but hopefully not the 2 hours Jim did in the last round!
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