Previous page 7 December. Home to Swindon (4-1 Drinam 2, Smith 2). Unlucky 13. Drinan and Smith both bought their tally to 13 for the season. We went a goal up after a fine cross-field ball found James. Chesting the ball down his low cross, first time ball, found Drinan meeting it and his shot hit the roof of the net at the near post. Three minutes before half time Kemp’s attempt to play their 11 offside failed and they equalised. Kyprianou was missing due to a hamstring strain before ko and was replaced by Prately. Mitchell returned to replace Thompson. Fourteen minutes after the restart two touches from Archibald a a cross found the incoming Drinan for his second. On 64’ a foul and booking for their 11 and a pass by James found Archibald. Again two touches and a cross found our man, this time Smith, who controlled the ball with his right and slotted home with his left. Eighteen minutes later Pratley dispossessed their defender and found Drinan. He raced towards goal and his shot could only be parried onto the head of Smith for his second. Team: Vigouroux, James, Ogie, Beckles, Mitchell, Kemp, Drinan, Smith, Archibald, Clay. Subs: Byrne, Omotoye(Smith 90+2), Happe, Sotiriou(Drinan 90), Thompson, Young. BBC report. Video highlights. Swindon had 62% of the play but like us last year failed to turn it to their advantage. Up the 7th, six points behind second place which is where we would be had we beaten Northampton and Port Vale. Home to 18th placed Crawley on Saturday. 11 December. Home to Crawley (1-2 Morris o/g). Anonymous. If there was a man of the match then they did not deserve it. Nobody shone in this dire match. Plan B? Didn’t see one. We went a goal down on 32 the result of having wingers (Archibald) defending though Ogie was on an away day. Beckles was missing do to a Covid related problem. Kyprianou was still missing. On 62’ a lifeline. Archibald lofted a ball to the far post which had form Orient keeper Glenn Morris back peddling backwards. The ball hit the post and his back into the net. But four minutes later the defence went missing and Crawley took all three point sending us down to ninth. Ogie, Wood, Happe and Smith were booked and Pratley sent off for a second bookable offence. 63% of the play and only seven shots, none of which were on target. Team: Vigouroux, James, Ogie, Thompson, Mitchell, Kemp, Drinan, Smith, Archibald, Clay. Subs: Byrne, Omotoye, Happe(James 38), Sotiriou, Young(Mitchell 74), Wood(Ogie 74), Papadopoulos. BBC report. Video highlights. James limped off on 38’ with a suspected hamstring injury. The U18’s went out of the Youth Cup losing 4-1 at Chelsea. Team: Phillips, Eaton, Kwatchey, Harvest, Apat, Obiero, Tanga, Clements, Kouassi (Davies, 68), Nkrumah, Pegrum. Goals – Tanga 63. I thought that Ogie would be suspended for the next match but there is nothing on the Club’s website. Left is what is on the FA website. Basically if you amass five yellows between the start of the season after 19 matches you will get an automatic one match ban. All of Ogie’s six cards are in the league and in last 17 matches 20 League matches overall. If he picks up another four bookings before 37 games he gets a two match ban. 18 December. Away to Tranmere (1-0). Covid strikes. With James out for 12-16 weeks, Kyprianou and Beckles still out the Omicron variant of Covid. Archibald, Mitchell and Omotoye did not feature in the match for the same reason. Sweeney was recalled from Wealdstone and Young got his first start in senior football. Wood was also in the line up. But we still only fielded four on the bench. We were doing well up to the 58th minute when they took the lead and all points. Symth returned to play after 66’ replacing Kemp whose poor cross lead to their goal according to some supporters. To others Young’s début rated only 4-5 stars. Fourteen shots but only four on target, that’s four in two games. Smith and Drinan had open goals at their mercy but failed to score. Team: Vigouroux, Wood, Ogie, Thompson, Happe, Sweeney, Kemp, Drinan, Smith, Young, Clay. Subs: Byrne, Sotiriou, Papadopoulos, Smyth(Kemp 66). BBC report. Video highlights. Video highlights a closer look. Away to Colchester on the 26th but with 50% of matches in England off due to Omicron and with the possibility of a further lockdown it may not happen. 24 December. Colchester called off the Boxing Day game. They had covid issues. 26 December. Newport called off our home match on the 29th as they had covid issues. 31 December. We finished the year in 10th place on 31 points. Previous page Next year 2022.