Fernhill County Sports Bench Talk
Saturday 22 March 2003

A warm welcome to everyone for this afternoons fixture here at Tally Ho. Whilst we all think that our game of ‘footie’ is important, it’s all put into perspective when you think of the current conflict in Iraq. On behalf of everyone at the club I would like to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all those involved and we hope there is a speedy resolution to the war with minimum loss of life and injury to our brave men and women.

It is three weeks since our last league match, a very disappointing 4-2 defeat at home to Coleshill Town. The following Saturday saw the postponement of the game at Cheslyn Hay due to waterlogged pitch, whilst last Saturday was a blank for us on the fixture list.

Last Tuesday saw us play Fife Police in the quarter final of the British Police Cup here at Tally Ho. Fife defeated us in the final of the competition in Scotland last year and once again triumphed, eventually running out 4-1 winners.

The first 45 minutes saw us put in one of our better performances of the season. We responded well following the early loss of a goal, and Mark Bellingham equalised after 20 minutes when he broke clear from a Dave Blake pass and tucked the ball past the advancing keeper. Unfortunately we had already missed two gilt edged chances and despite edging the next 20 minutes we were made to pay for those missed chances when Fife scored in the dying seconds of first half injury time.

Fife were clearly the stronger team throughout the second period. Having said that we missed another golden opportunity on the hour mark. The last half-hour was one way traffic towards our goal and Fife scored twice in the final 12 minutes to take a deserved victory.

We have to take heart from our first half performance and carry that level of commitment into today’s game as we continue our struggle to remain within the Premier Division. Fernhill are no doubt quietly confident following their 2-1 victory at Alvechurch in midweek.

Dave Blake is out injured with an ankle knock and Andy Reece and Mike Mason are also missing. Dayle Speed is probably out for the season following a re-occurrence of his early season ankle problems. Neil Tiller and Lee Wharmby are both recovering well from their recent successful major knee surgery and will be back in time for pre-season training. Darren Carmell is still recovering from his recent shoulder operation and we are not quite sure when he will be fit to play again. Neill Hornby is having major difficulties with his knee following the repair of his cruciate and other knee ligaments and the prognosis for him is unclear at the moment. We wish them all well.

Keep the faith and support the lads during this difficult time and we look forward to seeing you here on the 5th April for the game against Romulus.