Previous page Derek Adams was the favourite to become our manager according to one website. His CV is impressive. Born in June 1975 he played for six clubs, including Ross County and Motherwell. Adams became manager of Ross County in 2007, winning promotion from the Scottish Second Division in his first season, before reaching the Scottish Cup Final two years later. He joined Hibernian as assistant manager in 2010 before returning to Ross County the following year, where he won the Scottish First Division and was voted PFA Scotland Manager of the Year for the 2011–12 season. He left County in 2014. Adams was appointed Plymouth Argyle manager on 11 June 2015. In his first season in English football as a Manager he guided Plymouth Argyle FC to the League 2 Play Off Final at Wembley for the first time in 20 years, which they lost to AFC Wimbledon. In the following season, Adams guided them to a 2nd-place finish and promotion to League One. In the 2017–18 season, Plymouth just missed out on a promotion play-off place as they finished in 7th position in League One. Following a poor second season in League One, which left Argyle fighting relegation, Adams was relieved of his duties on 28 April 2019 12 October. Home to Walsall 3-1 (Widdowson, Harrold, Wilkinson). According to the Evening Standard this is to be Embleton’s last game in charge and he went out with a win. We went a goal down on 21’ when Judd failed to keep up with play and the resulting cross (for the second time in the match) Brill managed to spill the ball into play and despite five Orient players surrounding Sinclair he managed to get the ball into the net. Joe Widdowson has only scored one goal (for Grimsby 23 Jan 2009) in his 402(15)senior appearances and chose this match to score his second. A sliding tackle on 48’ took the ball away from Clay into the path of Widdowson and his first time shot found the far side netting. On a wet surface a bad back pass found Clay clear on goal. He decided not to shoot, a good decision considering his goal scoring record. The defender was drawn towards the ball and Clay passed for Harrold to place firmly into the net. Fifteen minutes later a kick from Brill was headed on by Harrold and chested down by Brophy into the path of Wilkinson and his shot took a deflection into the net for 3-1. Wilkinson was the centre of attention for the second time in two matches when he was sent off after handbags with their Scarr though the ref and the linesman, only yards away failed to spot a smack in the face from him. I say the second time as in the week we were fined £2000 and Port Vale £1750. From the BBC “Both clubs were charged with failing to ensure players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour. The incident was sparked when Vale's James Gibbons reacted after Orient's Conor Wilkinson went down in the box”. After wins against Walsall and Northampton we went above them to 17th on 16 points, nine from bottom placed Morecambe and five from a play off place. Walsall were niggling after going down as you can see from the “foul” on Happe. Team: 1 Brill, 14 Judd, 2 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 4 Gorman, 9 Wilkinson, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 10 Maguire-Drew, 21 Marsh(Gorman 68), 17 Dennis, 25 Ogie, 11 Dayton(Brophy 90+3), Alabi (Harrold 83). Judd looked a yard short of pace and Ekpiteta did not play due to a tight hamstring. Nothing on Ling’s injury. With football for a fiver there were 6,951 in attendance. Away to tenth placed Grimsby next. Video highlights. Backward step. If true, we have offered the job to Carl Fletcher who is Bournemouth’s loan manager. His only managerial experience is 16 months with Plymouth from September 2011 when he won 17 of the 70 games he managed drawing 27, 1.1points a game. Fletcher was sacked on 1 January 2013 after a run of eight defeats in 13 league games left the club 21st in the League Two table. This from the Real EFL website after Southend’s bid to install Hendrik Larsson as manager hit the buffers. “We think that today’s development is a blessing in disguise for Southend. How, with no management experience in the lower divisions, was Larsson going to be a success? What is it about a player who has top flight experience everywhere else that is attractive to a team like Southend? Outside of profile, nothing at all in our opinion. Lower league football is littered with top-flight managers who went on to fail as lower league managers. Chris Sutton set the seeds of relegation for Lincoln City, condemning them to a six-year stint in the National League. Didi Hamann took over at Stockport County whilst they were a National League team and lasted 19 games, leaving them 17th in the table. Steve Nicol, Jan Molby, Ian Rush and Mark Lawrenson won every competition going as Liverpool players, but not one of them could make a decent career out of managing in the lower leagues. Across history, few big-name players have succeeded. Why? Perhaps because they’re used to working with a better quality of player, bringing ideas to the table that few of their squad can instigate. Managers such as Chris Sutton wanted to implement a slick passing game with lots of movement and integration, but you can’t do that successfully in League Two unless your squad is spot on. You need to be resilient, have a certain strength and spirit that perhaps you don’t find amongst the managers we’ve listed. Harry Kewell didn’t do terribly at Crawley, he did at least come from a coaching background having been at Watford, but when the chips were down at Notts County he failed miserably. Southend now turn their attentions elsewhere and we think they’ve got to go for someone who understands the club and the situation they’re in. The best candidate will either be working in the English league right now, or will have coaching experience that runs alongside a playing career in the bottom two divisions. He’ll need to understand the club and its situation. Southend will not play their way out of this mess, they’ll have to fight their way out. They conceded three first half goals against Wimbledon at the weekend and have conceded more than everyone in the division, including the so-called whipping boys Bolton. They need to go back to basics, and they need to do it quick. The standout candidate for us is Adam Barrett; he’s currently caretaker manager at Millwall but has experience of coaching and played 250 matches for the club across three divisions. They could do worse than add Steve Tilson to his staff as a director of football, giving Barrett time to focus on coaching and tactics. That pair, both of whom understand Southend and the lower leagues, might be their only hope of getting out of the bottom three. They’ve had a lucky escape; they must now make the right choice”. U18’s were on the receiving end of a heavy defeat as a clinical Northampton Town won Saturday’s game 7-2. TeamByrne, Marfo, Solomon, Francois-Vernal, Dunbar- Bonnie (Frempong 77’), McClenaghan, Papadopoulos (Ifeanyi 77’), Sivi, Lovett, Adeyemi (Young 77’), Hammond. GOALS: Hammond 16’ Solomon 73’. 15 October. Ruel Sotiriou played for 90 minutes in Cyprus U21’s 1-1 draw with Belarus in Larnaca this afternoon. 17 October. Carl Fletcher was installed as the Club’s Head Coach on a deal until the end of the 2020/21 season. I suspect he won’t be in charge of the Grimsby match but will the next match, away at Plymouth. Interesting reading here from the Real EFL website. Including this: In his second season, Fletcher signed players and trained them to play what he clearly intended to be a possession based style. He clearly had a vision and a philosophy as to how the game should be played and a lot of fans really respected him for that. He was clearly obsessed with wanting us to do well and tried many variations on the theme whilst still sticking broadly to the ‘Barcelona’ attempted style that was very much in vogue during that era. More often than not, we’d play 4-3-3 although he’d still occasionally toy with two up top. Just one problem: he was absolutely terrible at implementing it. For whatever reason, it just did not work. Our chance creation was poor in spite of high possession stats. We’d often tap the ball around the edge of the area for what felt like minutes on end before getting frustrated, passing the ball out wide before a tame cross went into the arms of the goalkeeper. For all its noble intentions, it was executed awfully and was painful to watch. Attendances dwindled as supporters grew bored of the tepid style and it eventually led to his sacking. As for young players, he had a weird habit of signing a lot of them but barely giving significant playing time to any. We did have a talented crop of youth at the time and many of them went to waste due to the manager’s insistence on barely using them, which was another contributing factor to the general loss of goodwill towards him from fans.” Worrying. What they said: Martin Ling, Director of Football, said “The board went through the interview process with Carl and he kept coming out on top. He has leadership skills, which he obviously had as a Captain of many teams he was at including his country. Everything that we were looking for, he ticked every box” “Everyone we spoke to said everything we wanted to hear. We spoke to Stephen Purches at Bournemouth, we had people speak to Eddie Howe and Charlie Daniels. We spoke to a couple players who played under him at Plymouth as well as the people at board level at Bournemouth and they all said the same thing – they believe he’s going to make a top-class football manager.” Nigel Travis, Chairman, said, “We are delighted to welcome Carl Fletcher to the Club. Carl brings not only plenty of football experience but also the modern up-to-date skills in managing a football team through the last seven years at AFC Bournemouth. Stephen Dawson has agreed a deal with Hereford. He was with Bury. Yeovil Town mourn the passing of popular web editor Martin Baker. Visit his website, pity we don’t have something similar. AFC Fylde manager Dave Challinor became the third National League boss to get the chop in 72 hours on Saturday when he was sensationally sacked. Challinor and his number two Colin Woodthorpe were shown the door at lunchtime, 48 hours after Ebbsfleet terminated Garry Hill’s contract on Thursday and Hartlepool United dispensed with the services of Craig Hignett. For the Grimsby match assessments will be made for Ling (groin) and Ekpiteta (hamstring) whilst Wilkinson starts a three match ban. Lee Angol, Jamie Turley and Jobi McAnuff continue to make steps in the right direction, though remain unavailable through injury (a hamstring and two groins). 19 October. Away to Grimsby 0-4 (Happe, Coulson, Alabi, Wright p). We were two up within 21’ thanks to defenders. First was Happe after eleven minutes his first EFL goal followed by Coulson. Happe’s was a right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner at the second attempt following a pass by Ekpiteta. A set piece from Wright found Coulson following a foul on Dayton. Grimbsy failed to clear the ball and Coulson chested the ball down before blasting it into the net. Dayton and Ekpiteta were booked for time wasting as early as the 37’. Alabi had only been on the pitch 12’ before he made it 0-3 following a fast break on 80’. Four minutes later he was in the action again being bought down in the area. Wright converted the penalty. Great result for Embleton to finish on. Team: 1 Brill, 2 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 5 Ekpiteta, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 4 Gorman, 11 Dayton, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 10 Maguire-Drew, 21 Marsh(Gorman 74), 17 Dennis(Dayton 57), 25 Ogie, 14 Judd, Alabi (Harrold 68). Highlights. Up to 12th in the table on goal difference. Joint 10th with Colchester, Cambridge and Crawley. Stevenage went bottom after Morecambe won at Colchester. Yeovil Town have signed striker Chris Dagnall, 33, on a deal until the end of the season. FA Cup: We were drawn at home to Maldon & Tiptree. The tie be played w/e 8/9 Nov. A potential banana skin if ever there was one. 22 October. Away to Plymouth 4-0. Many unhappy returns or as Benny Hill put it in Ernie - The Fastest Milkman In The West “Things didn’t go the way Ted planned” For Ted read Carl. We were two down in 17 minutes and four down at half time. Controversy as the first goal was handled before the ball entered the net. For the fourth Brille palmed away a cross onto the back of Widdowson for an own goal. Still, gave Fletcher something to moan about. Be interesting to see what team he picks for the visit of Carlisle. He started with the same team as at Grimsby but Judd and Ogie made way for Turley and Kyprianou. Team: 1 Brill, 2 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 5 Ekpiteta, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 4 Gorman, 11 Dayton, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 10 Maguire-Drew(Gorman 72), 26 Kyprianou, 17 Dennis(Dayton 45), 23 Turley, 21 Marsh, 27 Alabi (Harrold 64). Down to 17th. Highlights. U18’s lost 1-2 at home to Stevenage. Lawrence Hammond scored his 8th of the season. Team: Byrne, Solomon (Frempong 69’), Marfo, Francois-Vernal, Dunbar-Bonnie (Staerck 69’), McClenaghan, Papadopoulos (Mirza 57’), Lovett (Young 77’), Hammond, Sivi, Ifeanyi. 26 October. Home to Carlisle 1-1 (Wright p). Nothing’s changed. Fletcher opted to Drop Gorman for Marsh. 5,765 saw Wright score from the spot after Brophy was bought down after seven minutes. But the usual goalmouth scramble on 48’ saw Carlisle equalise. The BBC said “A goalmouth scramble following a corner for the visitors saw the ball break to Jack Iredale, who slammed his shot home from close range for the equaliser.” I was at a reunion for this one but my brother had this to say “First half we were all over them, got a penalty, but second half with one up front we couldn’t clear our goal mouth and they got one back. We had two shots on goal and ended up just defending.” Team: 1 Brill, 2 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 5 Ekpiteta, 15 Happe, 21 Marsh, 8 Clay, 11 Dayton, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 10 Maguire-Drew((Dayton 63), 17 Dennis(Harrold 72), 23 Turley, 14Judd, 4 Gorman(Marsh 83), 27 Alabi). Up to 16th but 13th with four other teams on 20 points. Video highlights. Away to bottom placed Morecambe next. Ex O’s elsewhere: Abrahams scored for Newport, Parkes for Exeter, Cuthbert got the winner for Stevenage as did Kashket for Wycombe whilst Bonne was scoring his sixth goal in seven starts. U18’s FA Youth Cup. Despite beating Wimbledon at home 7-2 earlier in the season we lost 5-0 at their place. Team:Campbell, Papadopoulos, Sweeney, M. Young (Mirza 68), Marfo, Francois-Vernal, Sivi (Mothersille 68), McLenaghan, Hammond, Lovatt (Ifeanyi 77), Adeyemi. SUBS: Dunbar-Bonnie, Frempong, Solomon, J. Young. Ruel Sotiriou has made a short-term loan move to National League side, Dover Athletic. 2 November. Away to Morecambe (1-0). Can’t beat the bottom club. It took a fine strike from their sub to secure all points despite us having 57% of the play. We fielded the same team that started against Carlisle. Wilkinson, having served his three match ban was on the bench replacing Judd. He came on for Dayton but only lasted 16’ before getting injured. On supporter described the match as a debacle on Facebook. Team: 1 Brill, 2 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 5 Ekpiteta, 15 Happe, 21 Marsh, 8 Clay, 11 Dayton, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 10 Maguire-Drew((Wilkinson 76), 17 Dennis), 23 Turley, 9 Wilkinson(Dayton 60), 4 Gorman(Ekpiteta 80), 27 Alabi). Video highlights. Still 16th. Leasing.com Trophy next at home to Brighton U21. With three points from a possible nine, one goal scored, six let in from three games some supporters were calling for the head of Fletcher. This from the Real EFL website following a poor interview after the match: Blaming the Morecambe change of management for the result lol. You are also a new manager... Guy has zero charisma. Epic failure of a signing. Poor from the board. Queue the ‘we are lucky to have a club’ mob. Really hate to publicly slag off Orient's manager, but this is the most insipid, languid and uninspiring interview I have ever seen. Most worryingly, the team seem to be playing in this manner. Something has to change to reverse this dip in form. I'm worried ..very worried... I'll be surprised if he sees the month out. Really worried about this appointment. I feel like he has a lack of enthusiasm and energy which maybe rubbing off on the team based on the performance. It's still early mind and i would love to be proved wrong. I hope we can get on a winning run soon. Terrible interview, doesn’t seem phased by the fact we didn’t turn up and fans travelled to one of the furthest games of the season... Early signs though, are that Fletcher is making things even harder for himself. Playing with just ONE striker at Morecambe ???!!!! 6 November. Home to Brighton (1-1 Dennis, won 4-2 on penalties). James Dayton’s precise penalty ensured the O’s claimed two points in their final Leasing.com Trophy Group game, as they defeated Brighton’s U21’s 4-2 on penalties. Danny Cashman gave the visitors the lead just before the break, before Louis Dennis headed home to take the match into a penalty shootout. Orient’s progress in the trophy now hinges on the outcome of the tie between Wimbledon and Southend next week. Team: Sargeant, Judd, Ekpiteta, Turley (Happe 60”), Ogie, Maguire-Drew, Clay (C), Kyprianou, Brophy (Dayton 60”), Dennis, Alabi. SUBS: Janata, Widdowson, Coulson, Sweeney, Wright. Only 709 turned up to watch. Video highlights. Home to Malden & Tiptree in the FA Cup next. 10 November. Home to Maldon & Tiptree FA Cup (1-2 Dayton). Banana skin realised. Fletcher decided to play Sergeant, Ling and Maguire-Drew. We went a goal down on 43’ and another on 65’. Dayton got one back on 67’but we could have been playing to doomsday and not won. Same old story as we play across and back giving the opposition all the time in the world to get 11 players behind the ball even when it is still in our half! Brophy was hopeless as was Clay and I don’t have a clue what Magire-Drew was supposed to be doing. With 64% of the play were were again unable to turn possession into goals even when their first half goalscorer got sent off six minutes from time. Few crosses into the box found any of our players. But of course the box was full of defenders. Dayton was only on the pitch 19’ before coming off. Earlier I saw him clutching the back of his left leg. Another hamstring? Team: 24 Sergeant, 2 Ling, 3 Widdowson, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 17 Dennis, 15 Happe, 10 Maguire-Drew, 8 Clay, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 1 Brill, 5 Ekpiteta, 11 Dayton 60(Dennis 59), 21 Marsh, 14 Gorman(Dayton 78), 27 Alabi(Ling 74), 25 Ogie. Video highlights. Home to 21st placed Scunthorpe next. One bright note was that Sotiriou’s goal for Dover took them through to the next round to the exclusion of Southend. Took him three minutes after coming off the bench. Earlier in the day the death was announced of former O Dennis Sorrell a month after his 79 birthday. He had been ill for some time. This from Tony MacDonald: A diminutive, tough-tackling wing-half, Dennis had two spells with the Os – between 1957 and 1962 and again from 1964-67 playing 111 league games scoring four goals. Fans of a certain age recall how Dennis expertly man-marked Scottish star Denis Law out of the game when Huddersfield Town visited Brisbane Road in the early 60s. Between his time at Orient, where in the early 60s he was kept out of the side by the consistent form of Cyril Lea and Malcolm Lucas, he played three League games for Chelsea (1962-64). After leaving Orient, Den finished his playing days with Southern League Romford. In his post-football career, Dennis became a successful East End publican, owning The George Tavern in Commercial Road, E1 and nearby Sorrell's nightclub. Midfielder Hector Kyprianou has been called-up by Cyprus Under-19 for their UEFA European Championship qualifiers across the next nine days. We went out of the London Senior Cup away at Hendon 1-0 fielding a young side. Team: Janata, Marfo (Sanders 81’), Sweeney, Judd, Turley, Ogie, Sivi, Papadopoulos, Hammond, Lovatt (Adeyemi 57’), Ifeanyi (Dunbar-Bonnie 87’). SUBS: Campbell, Francois- Vernal, Adeyemi, Dunbar-Bonnie, Sanders. BOOKED: Judd (44’) 14 November. We sacked Fletcher after 29 days. He just didn’t fit said Ling. It didn’t feel right. From the Daily Mail “Carl Fletcher was sacked by Leyton Orient after he struggled to earn the full respect of his players, Sportsmail understands. The 39-year-old lasted just 29 days in charge before being let go by the club on Thursday, with Orient sitting 16th in the fourth tier. Fletcher won only one of his first five matches - but it was issues behind the scenes that derailed his short tenure at the League Two club.” NEXT LEYTON ORIENT BOSS ODDS Paul Tisdale 15/8 Neil Harris 4/1 Ross Embleton 7/1 Neil Smith 9/1 Tim Flowers 9/1 Harry Kewell 12/1 Kevin Nolan 12/1 Henrik Larsson 12/1 Danny Webb 12/1 Jobi McAnuff 12/1 Shaun Derry 12/1 Derek Adams 20/1. Nobody told them that Adams is the new Morecambe manager? Ignore Embleton and Webb and McAnuff, can't see Harris dropping two divisions, don't want Larsson - not British, Kewell has no record and left Crawley in a good position to join Notts County in a bad position and got sacked. Nolan also has no track record. Why would Flowers leave Solihull? Derry kept Notts County up with six wins in nine games but sacked a year later with Notts County one place above the relegation positions in League One on goal difference and having won only three games in their previous 24 league matches. Cambridge United, appointed manager on 12 November 2015. On 9 February 2018, following a poor run of form, Derry left the club by mutual consent. That leaves Smith at Bromley and Tisdale and he managed Team Bath, Western Football League First Division: 2000–01, Western Football League Premier Division: 2002–03. Exeter City Conference Premier play-offs: 2008, Football League Two runners-up: 2008–09. Milton Keynes Dons EFL League Two third-place promotion: 2018–19. Honours: LMA Manager of the Year: 2008–09 League Two, EFL League Two Manager of the Month: August 2017, October 2018. 16 November. Home to Scunthorpe (0-2). Lame. With only 24 hours to work with the players Embleton stuck with the players from the last game that were fit and replaced Sargeant with Brill and Widdowson with Ekpiteta. As there was no club briefing it is not known if Widdowson or Dayton were injured. They got a goal after four minutes from outside the area and and another on 79’ after Happe was take off for Angol and Brophy dropped back like last week when we put Happe up front. It was 294 days since Scunthorpe had last won away, we had 57% of the play but managed only five shots on target against their 4 and only three corners. Team: 1 Brill, 2 Ling, 5 Ekpiteta, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 17 Dennis, 15 Happe, 10 Maguire-Drew, 8 Clay, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 21 Marsh, 4 Gorman, 27 Alabi(Dennis 74), 19 Angol(Happe 65), 23 Turley, 25 Ogie. Video highlights. Down to 17th and home to second placed Forest Green next. The problem is we are lacking in confidence. Too many forwards are getting into goal scoring positions then passing the buck and ball for someone else to miss. Goal scorers go in pairs, Dunmore and Graham, Bullock and Fairbrother, Bullock and Queen. Our problem is that we had no goalscorers in this match who have recently got into double figures. Harrold 2011/12 18 goals for Bristol Rovers, 2008/09 12 for Wycombe. Dennis 2017/18 Dennis 13 for Bromley. Angol 2015/16 11 for Peterborough. Clay and Brophy are never going to score more that four a season. Too many injures and no experienced replacements. Wilkinson and Dayton being the latest. Wilkinson scored 12 for Dagenham last season and Alabi 17 for Chester 16/17 also in the National League. We travel to Bristol Rovers in Leasing.com Trophy second round after Southend beat Wimbledon. Further details of the tie are yet to be confirmed. In the U18’s we gave away a two goal lead to draw. I cannot find a report on this match from the club’s website but the Hatters reported that one of their shots was deflected into the net whist the other went through the keepers hands. 23 November. Home to Forest Green (2-4 Harrold, Maguire-Drew). Cheats. Their team was full of them and prime culprit was former loanee Adams. Twice went down as if poleaxed hitting the ground with his fist as if in agony then got up and walked away as if nothing had happened. The referee Chris Sarginson was hapless. Adams scored two goals on 15 and 33’ the first of which Brill spilled back into play. In between them Embleton got sent off after Forest Green boss Mark Cooper made an "unacceptable" jibe about late Orient manager Justin Edinburgh in a touchline row. Two minutes before the break we we were three down. Maguire-Drewe replaced Gorman at half time and ten minutes later Adams fouled Ling with Maguire-Drewe’s resulting free kick finding Harrold to head powerfully into the net. On 78’ Adams lost possession in our half and Angol’s cross was put into the net by Maguire-Drewe. Later Coulson hit the crossbar but two minutes from time FGR got a fourth. Turley was my man of the match but failed to mark his man for the third goal. Not sure what Brophy was doing on the pitch. He didn’t look like he did either. Though the man in front of me though his late cross should have been headed home by Alabi whereas I thought it was well wide of him and a poor cross. Team: 1 Brill, 2 Ling, 23 Turley, 4 Gorman, 44 Wright, 6 Coulson, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 18 Harrold, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Sergeant, 5 Ekpiteta, 21 Marsh, 27 Alabi(Ling 90), 17 Dennis, 10 Maguire- Drew(Gorman 45), 25 Ogie. No match next week as we are out of the FA Cup. Down to 18th and six points off the relegation place. Joint bottom are Morecambe and Stevenage. Away to 20th placed Oldham next in the league. Video highlights. There has been talk amongst supporters that Martin Ling should not be involved in selecting the next manager given his record is 2/3 bad appointments. Also the merit of issuing contracts to players who have little experience or success in this division. Given the amount of long term injuries we have had, McAnuff has missed 23 games, Turley 17, Dayton 15 (but not played 90 minutes in any of the other eight games), Angol 9 we should have loaned in experienced players to replace them. 4 December. Away to Bristol Rovers in the Leasing.com Trophy 1-1 (4-2 on penalties). Roul Sotiriou had returned from his loan to Dover no doubt to play in this match. Rovers went a goal up on 15’ but Angol equalised five minutes later. In the penalty shoot out Wright and Sotiriou failed to score. Team:Sargeant, Ling, Widdowson , Ekpiteta, Wilkinson (Sotiriou 60), Maguire- Drew (Dayton 82), Angol (Harrold 73) , Marsh, Turley, Kyprianou, Wright. SUBS: Brill, Gorman, Happe, Dennis. 7 December. Away to Oldham 1-1 (Maguire-Drew). Embleton decided to make wholesale changes or as the club’s website would have it, one change from the Rovers game, Happe for Ekkpiteta. Things didn’t go to plan as we were a goal down after two minutes when Kyprianou misjudged a header and the ball went over his head and into the path of the scorer. Others not to make the cut were Brophy, Coulson, Gorman, Clay and Harrold while giving a league début to Kyprianou. Maguire-Drew equalised on 25 following a low cross from Angol and that is how it stayed. Team: 24 Seargeant, 2 Ling, 23 Turley, 21 Marsh, 26 Kyprianou, 44 Wright, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 9 Wilkinson, 10 Maguire-Drew. Substitutes: 1 Brill, 5 Ekpiteta, 6 Coulson, 18 Harrold(Wilkinson 72), 4 Gorman, 11 Dayton(Angol 81), 16 Brophy(Maguire-Drew 63). Video highlights. Still 19th. Home to sixth placed Bradford next. The way others see it. I spoke during last week to one of the most pessimistic supporters I know who queried letting Sotirou go on loan to Dover whilst we were short on strikers. Are we? Then asked who I would prefer, Sotirou or Alabi. When I replied Alabi he was amazed. My reasoning being he has more experience. But he doesn’t score goals came the reply. Go to You Tube type in James Alabi and see his goals. Balls need to be played to his strength or just to him which isn’t happening now. He then went on to run down Harrold for his lack of goals. Same answer, play the ball to him early. Too many passes and too long to get the ball forward. Unless Sotirou is a Faribrother or a Cunningham there is no point in playing an untried young forward if you are languishing in the lower half of the division. Arthur Janata joined John Mackie’s Potters Bar Town on loan. Bradley McClenaghan and Sweeney are on loan at Bishop’s Stortford. Macclesfield are the latest shambles from the EFL whose job it is to make sure club owners are fit and proper people. Their players went on strike after not being paid. The view from the Real EFL: The EFL’s laissez-faire approach to football governance is finally coming home to roost. After failing to deal with the Bolton and Bury situations in good time and with transparent propriety, they now face another almighty mess at Macclesfield. The integrity of League One this season is already in doubt, and it would now appear the same problem is set to occur in League Two. The whole governance of football in this country is a disgrace. Of that, there is little disagreement amongst the most important people in football, the fans. 14 December. Home to Bradford 0-0. Wilkinson had three chances to score but none were on target. Ling and Widdowson were still suffering from unnamed injuries and Coulson remained on the bench. The defence of Turley, Ekpiteta, Happpe and Judd looked solid and though I thought Turley was man of the match they gave it to Marsh. Team: 24 Seargeant, 14 Judd, 23 Turley, 5 Ekpiteta, 21 Marsh, 44 Wright, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 9 Wilkinson, 10 Maguire-Drew. Substitutes: 1 Brill, 26 Kyprianou, 6 Coulson, 18 Harrold, 4 Gorman, 11 Dayton, 16 Brophy(Maguire-Drew 81). Video highlights. Still 19th. Away to 11th placed Cambridge United next. Ross Embleton doesn’t feel as though we need to make “massive changes” in the upcoming January transfer window according to the local Guardian. Lloyd James left Forest Green for a months loan to Torquay. 21 December. Away to Cambridge United (2-3 Turley, Wright, Maguire-Drew). The Club Briefing stated Ling and Widdowson were doubtful. From Twitter “Dean Brill misses with a hamstring injury, paperwork not processed by FA in time for Arthur Janata[on loan to Potters Bar] to be named on bench. A late change in the Starting XI as James Brophy has come in for Conor Wilkinson - not sure what has caused that but we'll find out more after the game. Jordan Maguire-Drew's free-kick is headed across goal and Turley slams home!” That was on 29’. On 35’ Angol got a penalty. Penalty saved from Wright but he put in the rebound. “45+3: Jordan Maguire-Drew lines up to deliver what appears a cross and suddenly curls one into the top corner!” We are winning 5-2 on yellow cards at this stage. Maybe the secret is to have less of the play as we have had only 42% of it? On 69’ The U’s got a goal back through substitute Rolls. On 81' Turley gave away a penalty to make it 2-3. We are winning 7-4 on yellow cards and 1-1 on reds as a result of two yellow cards for Judd and their Lambe. Coulson came on for Brophy on 88’ and he had to see out seven minutes of added time but the U’s failed to level the scores. Team: 24 Seargeant, 14 Judd, 23 Turley, 5 Ekpiteta, 21 Marsh, 44 Wright, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 10 Maguire-Drew, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 26 Kyprianou(Marsh 77), 6 Coulson(Brophy 88), 18 Harrold(Maguire-Drew 77), 4 Gorman, 11 Dayton, 20 Sotiriou. Video highlights. A leap of four places to 15th no doubt in part to Macclesfield being deducted six points. Next is a home match with Colchester on Boxing Day. ATT: 5,408 (1,206 Away fans). In the division we have come out of Barrow lead by three points from Yeovil whilst Chorley, Ebbsfleet, Chesterfield and Wrexham are at the bottom. Attempting to get out of the southern section are Wealdstone whilst Kings Lynn are at the top of the Northern section. Brill is to undergo surgery on his hamstring that could keep him out for the rest of the season. Now is the time to keep faith with Janata and not get a keeper on loan that will never play for us. Janata will benefit in the confidence show in him. Wilkinson’s absence was due to the warm up. Ling underwent surgery and would be out until March. 26 December. Home to Colchester 1-3 (Sotiriou). With Judd suspended and six players, McAnuff, Wilkinson, Widdowson, Ling, Brill and Dennis injured we fielded four youngsters (Janata 19, Ogie 18, Sotiriou 19, Kyprianou 18)on the bench though no reason for Alabi not to be there. With no right back we played Marsh there. When did a midfielder playing as right back ever work? It lasted 41’ before the U’s scored through the unmarked Robinson and two down on 64’ when the Colchester’s attackers responded the quicker after Sergearnt did well to parry the ball out. Sotiriou came on for Happe on 73' and scored from the same situation as their last goal. But when did substituting a defender for a forward ever work? Not in this game as Turley threw himself into a tackle and missed. I thought Sergeant should have done better but the shot was hit at pace into the net. Marsh was chosen as man of the match and Clay picked up his 6th booking of the season. Team: 24 Seargeant, 23 Turley, 5 Ekpiteta, 21 Marsh, 44 Wright, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 10 Maguire-Drew, 11 Dayton, 16 Brophy. Substitutes: 24 Janata, 25 Ogie, 26 Kyprianou, 6 Coulson, 18 Harrold(Dayton 70), 4 Gorman, 20 Sotiriou(Happe 73). Video highlights. Down to 18th. 29 December. Away to Newport County. 1-1 (Sotiriou). Sotiriou was preferred to Dayton and scored via a header after two minutes. We held out until nine minutes from time. Like Boxing Day, no marking on the right hand post. Tristam Abrahams turned out for County. Team: 24 Seargeant, 14 Judd, 23 Turley, 5 Ekpiteta, 21 Marsh, 44 Wright, 19 Angol, 15 Happe, 8 Clay, 20 Sotiriou, 10 Maguire-Drew. Substitutes: 24 Janata, 26 Kyprianou, 6 Coulson, 18 Harrold(Sotiriou 84), 4 Gorman, 16 Brophy(Maguire-Drew 71), 11 Dayton. Video highlights. Up to 17th. Away to the team just above us Walsall next then a gap as Northampton the team we were playing on the fourth are still in the FA Cup and the game will now be played on the 21st. Marsh wi1l be returning to Spurs next month. Not sure why we have not employed any unattached players as there seems to be plenty available. This month Grant Ward joined Blackpool, Jordan Archer - Oxford United, Joe Ledley - Charlton, Ousmane Fane - Shrewsbury whilst November saw David Jones join Oldham, Paul Caddis Swindon, Chris Taylor Bradford, Armand Traore Cardiff and Rakish Bingham Doncaster. Peter Taylor was sacked from his post as manager of Dagenham after a 3-0 defeat at Bromley leaving them 18th in the table after losing nine of their last 11 games. Abingdon Town refused to play after going 8-0 down to rivals Abingdon United. Town, who are bottom of Hellenic League Division One East and won just twice all season, travelled to second-placed United. In the National League Paul McCallum tops the scorers for Solihull Mooors whilst Harry Beautyman has ten for Sutton. Top are two players from the west country in Murphy at Yeovil and Reid at Torquay both with 16 goals. That was the final game of a dramatic 2019 and left us managerless and 17th in the table on 26 points having played 24, winning 6, drawing 8, losing 10, scoring 32 and letting in 41. To 2020. Injuries. I spoke to a physio and asked if over training would cause these injuries and the reply was yes.