Two months in fact, a long long time. I think Facebook is the culprit - or perhaps a lack of wit as we enter our senior years. 

The blog has seen some good times, good times....

June 4th - you should all be ashamed of yourselves. Has the blogger been killed by facebook? Or is it too complicated for the new players to get to grips with? We did a whole month without a post - I blame myself, which means I blame you.

And the report is confined to Internet history for ever more, detailing in depth the vomit trail left by Miller...

For the benefit of Sillsy.

Shefford FC in Blackpool 2008

Screw, Miller, Miller and Macca arrived first, checked into their rooms and settled in Wetherspoons. Matt, Ads, Lewy and Tony arrived next, minutes before Browny, Smurf, Crabbeman and Shane. All met in Wetherspoons for some drinks and food. Browny ordered a cheeseburger and ate half of it before finding the hairs. So many hairs. Browny got his money back. More beers in other pubs, rancid pubs with smells in toilets that could make you spew. Then back to the B&B for games of killer, more lager, more food and Ben and Gareth turning up, before heading out to empty pubs and bars in a very tired looking Blackpool. Someone nicked a pound off a tramp. Eventually other people started turning up and the rest of the night was excellent. Chris Miller was sick into a pint glass and then staggered home. Browny offered £2000 to drink the contents of the pint glass. No takers. A few harsh words spoken between some drunk Welsh lads and our lads and a retarded Man City fan and Ben. No punches traded. Fake slice of lemon shenanigans from Smurf. Kebab and taxi back. Matt, Lewy, Ads, Tony and Crabbeman asked to move on by the police from a roundabout where they were sat eating a McDonalds. Cute policewomen by all accounts, got fed up and just drove off rather than seeing their mission through. Matt offered a doughnut to a tramp who seemed to take offence at this. Andy Miller found Chris Miller curled up on the floor of the shower, shower on, vomit trickling down the plug hole.

Morning brought heat and humidity to every room. Miller sick again. Breakfast decent. Weather superb. Screw had to hold on on The Big One, Macca made it round with hands aloft throughout. Big One seemed more violent than previous years, lots of jerky lateral movement. New ride called "Infusion" which was very good. Got told off on Valhalla via loudspeaker "Lads can you put your shirts back on while on the ride". I did a "Who's Line Is It Anyway" remeniscent skit with Smurf in the queue for the Big Dipper by inserting my arms underneath him and being his hands, had to stop when some Koreans walked past and, uncontrolled by him, Smurf appeared to be pulling a "slanty-eyed" expression at them (still makes me laugh now thinking about it.)

Crazy golf tournament on the way back won by Ads. Tony and Ben most sunburnt. Gurkha buffet curry for tea. Bars, clubs, lots of people in fancy dress, some of them poledancing, some bird slapped some guy, rubbish gentleman's club, kebab, taxi, breakfast, home.

Simple as that.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Final league table - Shefford finish 4th in the end.

Well done Smurf, that equals the club's highest position set by me, then by Genghis, now by you.

Second highest goal difference in the league, second lowest goals conceded. Would be interesting to see what our relative goals scored/conceded were for the previous seasons, but not interesting enough to actually try and find out.

With a little tweaking, no reason why we can't finish higher next season.

We are currently 4th in the league, although if Bucklebury win by 10 clear goals against Berkshire Arms they'll move above us on goal difference....

Come on Shefford 3 points tomorrow!!!!

Depending on whether I can find something else better to do or not, I might take a trip up to watch the Hermitage game tonight, just to see how they're looking. It's probably beyond us now but you never know how things might turn out for when we play them in the last game. If I go I'll let you know what I see.

I'm not going to be making any predictions as I think (or at least hope) there'll be an upset or two on the cards, although Hermitage do look to be in cruise control at the moment.

Unfortunately it doesn't look like Kennet will put up much of a fight against them as they've lost the last 4/5 on the bounce. Post Office played well against us and the pace of their strikers might cause them a problem or two, they're playing tonight so maybe the Millers or someone will be able to find out their result.

We can only go out and put up a good performance in all our remaining games and if we do we'll create chances - then who knows what'll happen... Can't do more than that.

Roll on Thursday...

http://football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

This does not register Hermitage thumping Q
A win Thursday should get us definite 4th place at least as Bucklebury can catch us on points but we have better goal difference unless Q and Hermitage both spank us.
Falkland are still in the hunt the top teams games left are as follows:
Hermitage have to play: Post Office,Shefford and Kennett
Q Have To play: Shefford,Falkland and Clock Tower
Falkland Have To play: Q,Berks Arms,Swan and Clock Tower
Bucklebury Have to play: Berks Arms and Hogs Head

I predict
Falkland Getting 12 points
Q Getting 3
Bucklebury Getting 3
Hermitage Getting 7
Shefford Getting 7

End Of Season Table
Hermitage 46 points
Falkland 46 points
Shefford 43 points
Q Assocs 40 points
Bucklebury 36 points

Berks Arms Game First Game Of Season !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps they're both in the final of the Berks & Bucks Cup.

I'm sure the league are just trying to be difficult with our fixtures.

We could easily play either Turnpike or The Clock Tower on Sunday 27th as all three of us have the week off, so there's no need to play mid-week...

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/FixtResMonth.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007&MonthNo=4

Played Won Drawn Lost F A GD Points
Q Associates 18 11 4 3 62 36 26 37
Shefford 16 9 3 4 51 27 24 30
Hermitage Res 16 9 3 4 44 25 19 30
Bucklebury 17 9 3 5 43 33 10 30
Kennet 17 8 4 5 44 33 11 28
Falkland 16 8 3 5 50 38 12 27
Swan 18 8 2 8 39 37 2 26
FC HH Res 18 7 5 6 41 39 2 26
Newbury PO 16 4 5 7 40 37 3 17
Clock Tower Inn 16 4 5 7 41 50 -9 17
Turnpike Sports 17 4 0 13 28 74 -46 12
Berkshire Arms 19 2 1 16 28 82 -54 7

That's how I have the table at the moment. Extremely tight at the moment and too close to call. But if we win our games it's ours no matter what anyone else does. We've just won 3 on the bounce and only one of the teams left to play is above us in the table so it's not unthinkable.

Yeah but we have you Shane and you're good at those though balls that set up goals...! ;o)

Yeah there's a few twists left in it yet.

We have to play Q and Herm Res, but those two have to play each other as well, so there are plenty of points to be won/lost in the final run in.

The recent run of results has put us in the best position though, as if we do our bit then other results don't matter. Turnpike will be happy about the evening fixtures though as we'll have no Lewis on Tuesday night...

Results from the paper:

Q Ass 3 - 3 Bucklebury
Turnpike P - P Kennet
Swan 0 - 2 Falkland
Clocktower 0 - 6 Hermitage Reserves
Shefford 3 - 2 Post Office

The league table hasn't been updated, but by my calculations that moves us up to second in the table on goal difference, Hermitage Res are third on the same points, so they look like they're going to take the challenge all the way too, which makes every fixture a massive one and the games against Q and Herm absolutely crucial....

So... 3 games in a week is just what we need to help our title challenge!

Sorry - the lack of a capital letter on May made me think it was a misconstrude sentence...

13th May - it's in the same sentence where Adam mentions the comedian!

Too much MTV.

Trouble is, I presume the youngsters are all on Bebo or something. They fail to appreciate the history and serenity of the Blogger, as it doesn't allow you top put your 'top friends' on here. I remember when I was one of the youngsters. Happy days.

That comedian is meant to be really good actually, when is he on at South Street? (They had a comedian turn up at North Street once. He got chased out from the Jazz cafe and blamed it on a faulty compass. Apparently also the reason he failed his Maths GCSE...)

I'm in. I like funny people.

South Street is where we saw Milton Jones too. It's confusing because it's called South Street because it's south of Reading centre, but it's also up hill, which to me makes me think it must be north.

We need to get the younger lads on here cos it's better for group conversations than Facebook.

But they probably won't get the jokes.

Im putting forward a possible shefford night out after the success of "Milton Jones Night"

13th May theres a guy on at south street (part of hexagon) called Daniel Kitson.

I keep hearing about how good he is. He's always on other more famous comedian's list of their "favourite comedian's" too.

He's another one like that Milton Jones guy that doesn't want to be that famous. Apparently he refuses all tv work.

Just an idea.

Matty's still having internet issues so he's asked me to post this for him:-


Screw you, you nonce.

"DURRRRRRRRR-RRRR-RRRR-RRRR"

Heads Are Gonna Roll

Free Header for the first(Atkins Man) from corner that wasnt a corner (Atkins Told Ref It Was))
Atkins Got Sat On His Arse Diving In For The second
3rd Was 1 on 1 After Atkins Lost Ball On Edge Of Box

Bit Of A Pattern There

Matty's having web problems so he's emailed me this:-

Shefford produced a battling performance topped off with a double hat-trick from Dave Lewis to take all three points from Kennet.

Lewis was on hand twice in the first ten minutes to punish the Kennet keeper for his mistakes and put Shefford into a comfortable lead. His strike partner Andy Miller followed up to extend the lead and leave Kennet shellshocked, before the visitors pulled a goal back courtesy of a goalkeeping error by Steve Taylor in the Shefford sticks.

Lewis completed his hat-trick just before the half time whistle.

Kennet looked totally out of the game before Shefford keeper Steve Taylor gifted them a second early in the second half, by basically being a spazzer. Kennet were right back in the game moments later when Taylor went "durrrrrr-rr-rr-rr" whilst slapping himself repeatedly on the forehead instead of saving the ball.

Gareth Withers then produced some fine work down the left hand side to supply Lewis for his 4th and Shefford's 5th, before Withers again set Lewis up for another fine finish. Goal machine Lewis completed his double hat-trick with aplomb before Miller made it 8 for Shefford with a tidy finish from close range.




Sounds pretty good to me. I look forward to seeing whether we get the headline in the NWN.

"DURRRRRR-RR-RR-RR"

http://www.blackpoolvipwristband.com/index.htm

Click on promotions for all the places it can be used only costs a fiver give me your feedback on it.

By the way Hermitage Reserves drew with Swan moving us above them

http://football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Matty wheres your report

Is he the one on the left, with the goofy grin that suggests he just touched the girl in front...?!

Was that on Sunday? I wondered what was happening; the birds near our house went very quiet, then all started flying around in crazy patterns, gathering into groups of two, then three, then four, all the way up to one large group of thirteen.



Then they died.

FUCKING FREAK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too many of these Bellamy.... :o)

For the benefit of JS.

A record breaking 13-1 victory for Shefford. They said bad weather can be a great leveller, well tell that to striker Shane Bellamy who scored all 13 goals for Shefford, each one better than the other and using a different part of his body. He'll be walking gingerly after number seven. Nobody else even got an assist, as Bellamy worked hard to get the ball for himself each time, often deep within his own six-yard box, before one-twoing the ball with himself up the pitch, dinking it over midfielders, nutmegging defenders and screaming at his own team mates to GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY before drilling, placing, heading, punting, spinning, volleying and even drop-kicking the ball home.

Even the one goal conceded was a Bellamy own goal struck with enough aplomb to warrant a round of applause by the referee, both linesmen and the four teams playing on the pitches either side of pitch 7 at Henwick, now to be known as Pitch Bellers.

The opposition substitutes refused to go on and Shefford manager Smurf had to be sedated after his 8th orgasm midway through the first half.

Shane Bellamy was unavailable for comment, though the Newbury Weekly News is rumoured to be giving the story front page coverage with the headline simply, "Shane" and no other words on the page. Record sales are expected.

Why thank you Mr Atkins, a very comprehensive report... Shane who?

Perfect hat trick.

League table is all over the place, as are the results.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Good to hear that the team wanted it this week. We'll need to want it again on Sunday against Clocktower, whose results range from the sublime to the ridiculous - as do ours really. We're a long way from being out of contention, with 2 games in hand on top spot and still to play them again yet. Really can't stress how much easier it is to motivate yourself when you're already top, so we're at a disadvantage being where we are in the table, which means we're underdogs, which means the pressure's all on them, which means we're favourites. I've been drinking.

FAO: John Sills in the absence of SB.

Hogs Head 1-3 Shefford

I'm not very good at reports so I'll just type what I can remember!

Tough game as Hogs Head are a decent side with a lot of older but very experienced players, many of which have played at a decent level.

We conceded after about 30 seconds with a combination of mix up at the back followed by poor marking allowed them to take the lead with a free header at the far post.

Fortunately we seemed to want the win this week and didn't lay down and die, but got straight back on the game and pushed forward creating a few half chances. However, we had to be on our toes as they moved the ball forward very well so a lot of hard work in the middle of the park and good defending limited them to a few chances in the first half.

We were finally rewarded with a goal about 10 mins before half time. I can't remember the build up, but the ball some how looped high into the box towards Andy Miller, the keeper started to come and then changed his mind and fortunately Miller had enough time for his brain to engage and nut it over the keepers head into an empty net.

1-1 at half time. Lewis off for The Brown Man was the only sub we had/made.

Second half was pretty similar to the first, we had to battle hard all over the pitch and continue to defend well and soak up a lot of pressure. We rode our luck a few times, with them creating a few chances albeit mainly long shots, but poor shooting and an alert Smurf kept them out.

The second came from a long ball over the top which was flicked into Miller path via one of their defenders and a one on one race between the keeper and Miller saw a outstretched (right foot) toe poke beat the keeper by inches.

They pushed forward going three up front and hit the post with a great effort that Smurf will tell you he had covered!

We also continued to attack and played some of the best football of the game creating some good chances, Brown man had the chance to reward his good performance and hard work with a pretty much open goal when the ball was squared to him at the far post, he struck it well but unfortunately for him the keeper made a superb save flying back across his goal.

Three upfront didn't work for them and we were breaking away on the counter attack and finally one paid off with the ball being squared to Miller at the far post and he slotted it away with his left peg for a perfect (or natural if you're Tony) hat-trick. Well deserved and much needed 3 points.

Certainly was. I have always wondered what the true effect of having someone like Crabbeman on the pitch really is. He was loud and positive on Sunday, each time we went behind all you could hear was him screaming encouragement - and it's always encouragement. You certainly can't say that nobody else would have been up for it if he wasn't there doing it, but he was anyway, and rarely (if ever) gives any less.

For me, psychology is a major factor in Sunday league football and Crabbeman is a big asset for us in that department. It was a pleasure to watch their player get sent off on Sunday. Not that I would encourage anyone to deliberately wind another player up to the point where you get elbowed, but that player was not a bad player at all and yet he couldn't handle it. Crabbeman never deliberately hurt him but he was 110% competitive and could handle being deliberately elbowed without reacting, whereas there player, who'd scored 2 goals already that game, couldn't handle being tackled (particularly a tackle on him as he scored - what a prick) so he went looking for Crabbeman and ended up off the pitch. You can be as good a player as you like but if you're stood giving people abuse from the sidelines and telling your mates how hard you are then you're no use to anyone. Crabbeman wins.

Not sure I've ever seen him lose in those little personal battles on the pitch. He can stop skillful players just as well as he can stop total cocks. If everyone else was half as loud we'd never go more than a goal behind.

Next week; "Kirkham. What's that about?"

Yeah I'll back Crabbman up. It was his deflected shot that set Glen up....

I bet some of there players had sore shins in the morning though, Crabb pretty much kicked them all in the air at some point during the game! Superb performance from him/you though.

I didn't see it so if anyone else wants to make a claim on the cross then go for it. Can't imagine it was really Crabbeman - why would he have been out wide when there were plenty of men to kick in the middle of the pitch?

Shane that was my pin point cross i skinned the guy as well!!! just thought i would let you all no
: 0 )

A great report, of what seems like a great game. However, if you're not going to make it a fair report, you might as well just write the last paragraph again.

'A great match, Shefford dominated. The other team were rubbish'

The frost may have melted but the Henwick pitches were hard underfoot as players went through the ritual studs v moulded debate before kick off. Q Associates started strongly and kept Shefford pinned in their own half for the opening 10 minutes, before the visitors began moving slightly further up the field.

A worrying sign for Shefford with Q getting a free header from a corner was turned into worse news shortly afterwards. Another corner swinging in, another free header well saved by Smurf but it fell to a Q player to finish from close range. This actually sparked Shefford into a response and the rest of the game was played pretty much in the Q half. Chance after chance went over or wide until Gareth Withers picked the ball up on the left wing, jinked inside and fired a looping shot into the top right hand corner to equalise with the last kick of the half.

Posession shared at the start of the 2nd half until Q's main player muscled the ball through nearly the entire Shefford defence. Tackles went in but none strong enough to get the ball off him and he eventually fired a low shot into the bottom corner. Shefford responded well and Withers again made an excellent run down the left to feed a neat cutback to debutant Glen Canning who only needed one touch to side foot it past the keeper.

Shefford now looked the stronger team and began limiting Q to chances, before an effort from outside the box squirmed out of Smurf's hands and dribbled over the line. The shot was accompanied moments later by a typically timed Crabbeman tackle so the scorer then spent the next 5 minutes seeking him out for retribution, which came in the form of an elbow and a second yellow card, putting Q down to ten men. Suicide against a pressing Shefford side and duly punished when a cross from (insert who crossed it here I can't remember) was headed home by Canning for his second on his debut to make it 3-3.

It was all Shefford for the last 10 minutes but the closest they came was a Crabbeman effort close in but at a tight angle and the ball wouldn't come out from under his feet.

Points shared - probably fair enough cos I haven't mentioned Q's disallowed (rightly) goal or their shot that hit the inside of the post and rebounded across the goal and out. But Shefford made more chances and scored better goals. Familiar story.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Kennet lost as well so although we actually dropped a bit in the league we're still in a healthy position. But we can see now that it's not just between us, Kennet and Q anymore you can add Hermitage Reserves and Bucklebury to the equation. It's all nice and open still. Thought we showed good character throughout yesterday and created far more chances than they did. Unlucky not to grab all 3 points, just shows we'll not be able to just turn up against anyone - we need to put some real effort in.

The John Sills match report follows.

Remember the last game of the season before last? (the relegation one) when we lost 3-2 to Hampstead Norreys who got promoted (think they even won that league). Well we were very poor that season and still only lost 3-2. No surprise then to seem them rock bottom of the Prem Div, having played 10, won just 1 (against Partick) and lost the other 9. Their keeper was a retard.

Yeah there's still tons of twists and turns to go yet. Think about last year when we ended up winning by 10 clear points and it never really felt certain until 2 games to go.

I have no doubt that Kennet will drop points, as will everyone, but other teams are having some good runs of form. Like you say, anyone from the top 7 are still well within grasp of the top. We've still got some good teams and some bad teams to play.

We'll have to see what Q are like on Sunday. They've had some bad results recently but we missed a trick last week as if we'd beaten Kennet then Q might have come into the game secretly expecting not to get anything out of it. As it is, they'll now be going into it in the same mood as us, off the back of a disappointment and knowing that the other team aren't invincible.

We've got a strong squad out on Sunday, only Lewis missing, so it'd be nice to play some decent footy - we know we can pressure them and we know they don't react well to conceding. Might be nice to let them hear that we only had 9 men last week against Kennet...

Just had a good look at the league table and who's played who etc and we're still in the mix, I think the top seven teams will be thinking they'll have a chance to get up there if they can get a winning streak going. We still have the advantage (looking at it positively) of games in hand over some and Kennet who are 8 points ahead of us now are going to drop points before the end of the season.

They have Hogs Head to play twice who look in good form, Bucklebury - who we know only too well can be a tough team to beat on their day and Hermitage Res who they've already lost too once. Plus they need to beat the other teams at the bottom, as just turning up doesn't guarantee a win....

Obviously we still have to beat these teams as well, but just trying to put a positive spin on things on this gloomy Friday morning!!

First things first though, massive game on Sunday - where we really can't afford to drop points.

Been a long time since we've conceded more than 2 goals in a league game. I take it as a personal insult. Hear that noise? That's the sound of heads rolling. Heads.

I didn't think there would be a big write up on here today after that shower of shit yesterday....

Apparently it wasn't a free kick from Ben but a goal from open play and quite a strike by all accounts. 7 goals and Lewis didn't get one - he was not happy.

Amazing, these write ups get better and better. And it sounds like a superb performance, although I'm left wondering whether the phrase 'this is for you, Shane/James' was shouted every time someone kicked the ball, just in case it went in...

It's getting tasty at the top eh? Hermitage Reserves are right on our arse too and haven't lost since September - though that was one of those games where we were all over them for 90 minutes and came out with a draw wasn't it?

It'd be funny if it came down to us v them again but I think there will be more teams in it this season.

The John Sills write up follows - adapted from a Matt Atkins report as I was in Torquay this weekend...

The sun rose over the Henwick mist like a lava lamp in Genghis' living room, hallway or bathroom. Shefford took to the pitch against a team they'd already destroyed 5 - 0 in arguably one of their best performances ever, but finding themselves a place behind them in the league. 3rd placed The Swan would have approached this game confident in their own ability but with bad memories of a footballing lesson from Shefford earlier in the season.

What better way to start then, than with Matt Atkins growling around the box from a corner and shouting "this is for you Shane!" before stabbing the ball in from close range.

Shefford enjoyed the confidence this early lead gave them and after half an hour of almost non-stop one-touch passing, Dave Lewis threaded and incisive ball through to Andy Miller who yelled "this is for you Shane!" before beating the advancing keeper.

This seemed to spur The Swan into some resistance and they clawed their way back into the game just before half time with a powerful strike into the top corner. He didn't shout anything.

Half time regroup with the game in the balance. The Swan started strongly but Shefford restored their two-goal cushion when Gareth Withers worked his way down the left wing and crossed for Simon MacIntyre to shout "this is for you Shane!" before finishing with a tap in at the far post.

But The Swan didn't want to give up and forced their way back into the game with a decent passing move to create an opening that was finished well to make it 3-2.

Shefford kept their heads up well and one dangerous ball forward required The Swan keeper to charge out of his area and head the ball clear. But it fell to Atkins and in the mode he's in at the moment it couldn't have fallen to anyone better as he shouted "this is for you Shane!" and coolly lobbed the ball from 40 yards out, over the retreating keeper and into the net to once again restore the two-goal advantage.

The Swan now had two goals to catch up and had seen how much effort it takes to put two past Shefford, so they faced a big mental battle to stay in the game. Basically, they lost that battle, when Withers produced some good skill again to feed Adam Davies on an venture forward. Davies received the ball, shouted "this is for you Shane!" and finished from close range.

The Swan players looked at each other and knew this was the end. All their training, all their hard work, for this. What a crock of shit, they probably thought to themselves. So imagine how they felt when the diminutive Ben Kirkham was somehow allowed to take a free kick from the edge of the area (this will be discussed in training) and launched and unstoppable goal of the season contender into the roof of the net, after shouting "this is for you Shane!" during his run up.

"Fucking cock off" probably said the goalkeeper, under his breath.

All that was left was for Chris Brown to finish off the scoring, shouting "this is for you James!" before lifting a deft lob over the keeper from 10 yards out to make the final score 7-2 to Shefford and send out a chilling message to the rest of the league.

Clocktower had a few better results in recent games - considering we haven't played them yet we'll need to make sure we don't take them for granted just because (at the moment) they're below us.

A draw between Herm Res and Q would probably be a better result for us. I think there'll be a few twists and turns before the season's out - all seems to be who does what on the day. Nobody's gonna run away with it. If we can get our heads focussed it's all there.

That's one of the most beautifully constructed match reports I've ever read. Very Stuart Hall.

We're sneaking up the league, but it's bloody close! Hermitage Res are in the same position as us, although they might have played this Sunday and their result hasn't been recorded yet.

A lot of hard work ahead...

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Just thinking Smurfy - you now face something of a dilemma.

We play The Swan next and you have pretty much everyone except Screw available. So do you go with the team that whacked em 5 - 0 before Christmas or do you go with the team that didn't allow Berks Arms a shot on target 2 days ago? Those were our last 2 clean sheets.

Haha - glad I'm not manager anymore :-)

I won't be there by the way, I'm afraid I'm away for the next 2 weekends. Though after my performance on Sunday I don't think you'll exactly miss me on the pitch. Big games too. Lots of pressure. Make or break the season.

For the eyes of John Sills.

Shefford took to the pitch in the early morning sunlight, their bright yellow kit clashing horribly with the tangerine orange of Berkshire Arms. What a bunch of uneducated morons those people really are.

A rare start for Bellers up front had got the crowd eager to see what delights he could conjur up. Some of them are still there waiting. Shefford started brightly with most of the posession and all of the early chances. When Berks Arms did venture forward, they didn't kick the ball properly and were shit.

Bellers got an early touch and played a simple ball to Lewis a few metres away. This was arguably the highlight of his appearance, as with the following sprint he realised just how useless gym-work is for match fitness and felt a bit sick.

A hand ball shout in the box was waved away by the ref but minutes later a second one resulted in the ref shaking his head to say no and then blowing his whistle and pointing to the spot. Up stepped Lewis keen to restore his confidence after seeing his last penalty saved, to see his penalty saved.

Shefford didn't let their heads drop and continued to press forward. Soon enough, Withers jinks inside and is felled inside the box again. Everyone was keen for Lewis to step up again and he rewarded himself by absolutely spanking the ball into the top right corner.

Within minutes good work from Genghis put Withers in position to cross the ball and Atkins was waiting at the far post. One touch to control and one touch to score.

2 up at half time and Smurf hadn't had a save to make. Been a long time since we mentioned him, so it's important to know that Bellers is still on the pitch at this point.

2nd half kicks off and begins much the same way. Shefford with most of the play, not playing brilliantly, but Berks Arms are pretty much beaten. A corner to Shefford and as Chris Miller knocks it short to Withers, you can hear Asst Manager Bellers moaning that we shouldn't do short corners because they never work, as the ball is crossed over and Atkins heads in from a tight angle at the far post. With that, Bellers is off the pitch.

After that the game really petered out. A few chances for Shefford but the goal mouth is in a bad condition so lots of miss-hit shots - pick of the bunch was a quality through ball from Ads but Browny couldn't steer it in past the advancing keeper. But lots of hard work from everyone and good discipline at the back means a clean sheet is kept and Smurfy a full 90 minutes without having a save to make.

A healthy 3 - 0 win which hopefully can kick start Shefford onto a strong run to make the most of their games in hand.

Good stuff, means everybody is there for the taking. To be honest, when we were sweeping past The Swan I remember at the time thinking that they weren't that bad a side, particularly the quality of some of their play in the final third. We rode our luck but we also defended well and played with such enthusiasm and energy that we took the game to them to the point where they almost expected to lose.

We need to be setting that sort of performance as our minimum standard though, because anything less than that and we open ourselves up to dropping points. I have no doubt that there was a link between the fact that we kept a clean sheet and the fact that we scored 5 goals. It wasn't because The Swan were rubbish because they weren't.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Q Ass lost their first game of the season last Sunday to The Swan (2-1). All other games were cancelled.

We're at a really important stage of the season now where all games are 'must wins' as our games in hand only move us around the 2nd and 3rd mark.

Hopefully the games will be on this week as the rain has been light if at all.

Dickhead Arms will be well up for it against us so the fact they're bottom counts for nout.

http://www.football.mitoo.co.uk/LeagueTab.cfm?TblName=Matches&DivisionID=2479&LeagueCode=NDSFL2007

Latest league table following yesterday's results of

Berks Arms 2 - 1 Turnpike

Clocktower 2 - 3 Swan

Hogs Head Res 1 - 1 Kennet

PO 0 - 4 Q Ass

Leaves us 9 points behind the leaders (Q Ass) with 1 game in hand.

But...

Q Ass have played all the shit teams. From the teams in the top half of the table, they've only played Swan (and won 2-1) and Kennet (and drew 1-1). We have to play them twice in the league, and rolled them over 5-2 in the cup.

Our 2 biggest wins of the season have come against Q Ass in the cup and Swan in the league. Q are top, Swan are 3rd.

What this shows is that the league is still wide open and if we can continue putting in performances like yesterday where everyone worked very hard, then it doesn't take much for us to be up there. A little bit more luck in front of goal and little bit more concentration and better decision making at the back and we'll be a difficult side to beat.

I thought we worked hard yesterday and while both goalkeepers made excellent saves and both teams saw shots come back off the woodwork, their keeper was far busier than ours. The goals we conceded showed how a tiny lapse of concentration can cost us, and we need to improve on that. Always better to just deal with the ball and then have people tell you that you didn't need to. But Bucklebury aren't a bad side at all and we played some good stuff, particularly all across the midfield they struggled to cope with us when we were on the ball.

Overall I thought it was a good return after the break, the result was fair enough. But we've only taken 1 point out of a possible 6 from them, despite being the better team on both occasions, and that's not the sort of numbers that get you up the table, so we need to start digging out those wins next Sunday against Turnpike.