Southam United
Saturday 7 December 2002

Welcome to everyone from Southam for today's fixture here at Tally Ho. I hope the pitch continues to be the excellent playing surface that it has all season and that is a great credit to the ground staff when you consider how much rain we have had in recent weeks.

Last Saturday saw us defeat Cheslyn Hay by three goals to one to continue our improved form of late which has seen us slowly climb the table and close the gap on some of the mid-table sides. I am not getting carried away with the results but there is an improvement in our overall level of performances and consistency. The return of some of the injured with a slight improvement in player availability has also helped.

What is also encouraging to see is the progress that some of the players continue to make. Dave Blake continues to lead the line well and his confidence grows with each passing game. Pete Lee was not even playing for the Reserves at the start of the season but has grasped his opportunity well and continues to make steady progress. He still has a lot to learn but he obviously is a player who does take on board what he is told and even when all the lads are fit I am sure he is going to make a decent fight of trying to hold onto his place.

Mark Delaney is a player who has been involved with the Reserves for two years and I seriously doubted whether he had the attributes to be a first team player. Well, he is doing his utmost to prove me wrong. Injuries have given him his chance and last Saturday was his fourth start of the season with four more appearances off the bench. He has shown good attitude on each occasion, listened to what he has been asked to do and his two goals last saturday were clear evidence of that. Both quality finishes.

I will repeat what I have always said. If you come in and do the business to a high standard then you keep the shirt. Do it often enough and you keep a regular shirt. In fact the competition for strikers is starting to give me a bit of a headache. Kevin Usher grabbed a hat-trick for the Reserves last Saturday and Neil Tiller also got on the score sheet. It's nice to see Kevin get his confidence back after a lean spell which saw him lose his place after an outstanding start to the season. Dave Harnett missed out due to work last weekend and Neil Jones has just joined the set-up and has impressed. So with Mark Bellingham also likely to be back in the frame in about 5-6 weeks competition is certainly hotting up amongst the strikers.

It was nice to see Mickey Hart return from injury against Cheslyn and add his stabilising influence to the side. Now that Paul Webb has finished his initial training I would like to think that he will exert a stronger influence on the team. It's never easy for any of the players when they are trying to get through training school and it generally lowers all of their performances to some degree or other.

I have to give a special mention to my captain Darren Carmell who continues to perform to a high level between the sticks. I am sure that the competition from Richard Knott may have something to do with that.

Player availability seems to be improving and I am hopeful that I will have some difficult choices to make this weekend as I know that Dave Harnett, Andy Reece and Ian Millward are all available. I know that Dayle Speed and Darren Wilkinson are not far away from making a recovery from injury and that is before I have heard about the fitness of Gavin Smith or the availability of Mark Langley and Carl Hancox.

I hope that you enjoy the game and look forward to seeing you down here next Saturday when we take on the league leaders Rugby Town.