[Div3North]

Things can only get better ..........

When we should have met, on Tuesday 24th November, the MonkeyHangers were 19th in the League, with a W6 D2 L10 record, a minus 9 GD, and 20 points .........like us, they’ve had a series of postponements to deal with, and – apart from a Cup game – they didn’t play between 19th December and 16th January ....

The FA Cup (is there any other?) was ok; they beat the Class of ’92 FC 2-0 in a replay at home after a half-Desmond away (although they needed extra time to do it!), and then succumbed to Derby County (currently third in the Championship) 2-1 at home; I don’t know if you saw that Derby waived their share of the gate receipts - £23,000, apparently; a nice gesture from a club that isn’t the richest in the League .....Respect to the Rams for that! .............The League, on the other hand, wasn’t good; losses at home by 1-0 to Oxford and 2-1 to Plymouth (perhaps not the sides you’d most want to play when you could do with some points) were trumped by a 4-0 smacking at Portsmouth (see “sides you might not want to play” above); only a 1-0 win at home to Wycombe last Saturday, with a goal from Scott Fenwick, lifted the gloom .........and then not much, because it’s now P22 W7 D2 L13 GF21 GA35 Pts 23, and 21st place .......in the period since we should have met, their League form – if you can call it that – has been W1 L3 GF2 GA7 for 3 points. They’ll take some comfort from the fact that they’re level on points with Newport, but have 3 games in hand, and 4 points behind Stevenage with 5 games in hand .............but a point in the hand is worth a pair of birds in a bush ....n’est-ce pas?

They’ve extended a couple of loans in; Middlesbrough defender Adam Jackson and Palace MF Jake Gray are there for the season now; they’ve brought in BrizzleR’s Welsh u21 striker Ellis Harrison for an initial month, and ProperSigned Mansfield winger Nathan Thomas (21) for £undisclosed; they’ve linked up with Finnish “top flight” club FC Lahti (Finland play during the summer, for those who didn’t know ......or care) with a view to player exchanges; and Ronnie Moore expressed the view that the “break” – three postponed games – might rest, and therefore help, his players in the Cup tie with Derby ..............wrong, Ronnie!

If you want to leave your original prediction, it’ll stand for the re-arranged game; if you want to change your guess, Chimer won’t mind a bit (will you Boss?). Above all else, it’ll be nice for some footie to be played at the Wham once again! Assuming that it is ..................

Good luck to everyone! ..... Keep the Faith! ...... And thanks for playing!