Losing start for the Management

Although this traumatic week ended in a defeat which pushed us down into a relegation place, there is much to be positive about in the response to the loss of Bobby Wilkinson and his support team , together with Chairman Ian Passey. The appointment of Ian Herring and Jon Boardman as caretaker managers has been welcomed by everyone, and the applause as the players left the field demonstrated the support of the fans for the new regime and the players, most, if not all, we hope, will stay loyal to the club a not be tempted to join Bobby at Wealdstone
Bobby Wilkinson has done a remarkable job and has achieved unbelievable success and we shall always be grateful to him for his spell at the club, but sadly, that era is now over and, with the support of everyone, there is still a bright future ahead, indeed we were perhaps a little unlucky not to earn a point in a spirited second-half fight-back, but a difficult trip to Poole is a daunting task ahead and it will need a supreme effort to earn even a point there.
The visitors started well and Lewis Ward was soon in action, whilst goalkeeper Tom Hadler came up to take any free-kicks which were awarded to the City , Ethan Moore heading well wide as he got on the end of one of these kicks. Stefan Brown broke through but delayed his pass and the visitors cleared their lines and it was the City who opened he scoring after 18 minutes , Ed Williams firing in through a crowd of players, but we had a chance when Brown headed over from a James Clark free-kick, and Luke Hopper was unlucky when his powerful shot glanced off the top of the bar .It looked ominous when Joe Parker scored with a powerful header after 34 minutes to make it 2-0, but we reduced the arrears almost immediately when Hopper almost scored from close in, but the ball eventually went in off full-back Keiran Purselle .
The visitors made it 3-1 after 51 minutes after a mix-up in our defence allowed Parker to head into the empty net, but we responded by putting on all three subs and reduced he arrears again when Stefane Ngamvoulou netted midway through the half. We pressed hard right until the end without being able to snatch a vital point, although there was a chance when Hadler somehow denied Hopper with a save right on the line, some thought it was over, oh! for goal-line technology. However, there was no linesman’s flag and the chance was gone, and with it a point.
Team;Lewis Ward, Rhys Tyler, Paul Stonehouse, Jon Boardman, Matt Partridge, James Clark(Ian Herring),Scott Rees(Stefane Ngamvoulou),Stefan Brown, Luke Hopper. Louie Soares(Nicholas Bignall)
Sub;Tom Meecham, Warren Bentley.