Morning All

Gutted, absolutely gutted for the team and supporters that we didn’t get what we deserved from the performance against Championship side Watford on Saturday. For 98 minutes we managed to stop the Hornets scoring either great saves from Vito Mannone or great blocking by the defenders and not forgetting some brilliant last ditch tackling as well. It wasn’t all one way, we created some great chances as well, if only we would take a chance and have a go rather than try another pass – you never know what would have happened.

But in the 99^th minutes with a long throw in which by the way should have gone our way, they managed to get the winner with a stunning volley from outside the area which gave man of the match Vito no chance in saving despite his courageous effort to get to it.

We now head into the league season with a lot more confidence that Colin Kazim-Richards has put together a much stronger squad that last seasons. We are going to surprise many opponents this season with the way we are playing, yes we will have the odd game that we will have an off day but personally I think that they won’t be very often.

On Saturday we have the first league fixture against our Wembley opponents Crewe Alexandra who beat Accrington Stanley 2 – 1 in the cup. We have to be confident going into the game and I’d expect not many, if any changes to the team against Watford – hopefully Gianmarco Di-Biase is not too badly injured and that he came off as a precaution. I’m not really bothered about the Crewe side, it’s what we do that will counts – we know that the team whoever is selected will compete for 90+ minutes to get the result they want.

It looks like Vito Mannone is going to be the No 1 keeper for the foreseeable future, we brought him in as a coach initially to train up the new keepers but again we did that with Glenn Morris and look how that turned out.

I would like to thank everyone who travelled to Watford on Saturday, you did the club proud and the atmosphere in the away end was again amazing, like it is for most away games we travel to.  Over 800 in the stand, everyone joining and it was loud throughout the game – except when they scored – it was a stunned silence, no one could believe what had just happened.

I would also thank those supporters who travelled with us on the two coaches – we got away on time at 11.00am arriving at Watford at 12.45pm despite traffic hold up on the M23/25 junction due to an accident then again between the Leatherhead and the M40 just through volume of traffic on the road but we kept moving. The return trip was so much better getting back to the stadium at 6.40pm. We had many new travellers on the coaches, so hoped that they enjoyed the experience and will join us again for a league match.

We have our next FAB meeting with the club on Tuesday evening – high on the agenda is communications with all supporters in all formats, website, social media and E mails. The delay in kit announcement and improvements to the match day experience. The minutes of this meeting will be published to supporters to read.

Our first away League match is the trip to newly promoted Rochdale, the other promoted side from the National League, winning in the playoff game against Boreham Wood. Full details of the coach travel to the game are below together with details of our trips to both Northampton and Accrington Stanley. We are taking booking for all three games from now.

Our first three Away League matches coming up which we are taking bookings, again if we don’t get the required numbers on any of our coaches then we may cancel – we have to give United at least weeks’ notice if we are going to cancelling. We really hope that we don’t have to cancel any coaches to the away games.

ROCHDALE – SATURDAY 22^nd AUGUST 2026 – 3.00pm k/o

Coach departs from the Broadfield Stadium at 7.00am – cost is £50.00 – We will have a comfort/coffee break at the M6 Toll services at about 9.45am and then a buffet stop at the Fox & Hounds, Spronston Green at about 11.30am – We will depart at 1.00pm to arrive at Rochdale at about 2.00pm. Coach will park up about a 5 minute walk to the stadium. We will depart straight after the game and will have a break at some point on the return journey, depending on traffic conditions – either the M6 Toll again or Warwick Services.

NORTHAMPTON TOWN – TUESDAY 1st SEPTEMBER 2026 – 7.45pm k/o

Coach departs from the Broadfield Stadium at 4.00pm – cost is £40.00. We will travel non-stop to and from Northampton for this game. Hopefully the M25 & the M1 will not be too busy for this trip.  We will leave straight after the game finishes to return to the Broadfield Stadium.

ACCRINGTON STANLEY – SATURDAY 5^th SEPTEMBER 2026 – 3.00pm k/o

Coach departs from the Broadfield Stadium at 6.30am – cost is £50. We will have a comfort/coffee break at the M6 Toll services at about 9.15am and then a buffet stop at the Foresters Arms, Standish at about 11.30am – We will depart at 1.00pm to arrive at Accrington at about 2.00pm. Coach will park up by the stadium. We will depart straight after the game and will have a break at some point on the return journey, depending on traffic conditions – either the M6 Toll again or Warwick Services.

TO BOOK YOUR SEATS ON ANY OF THE COACH PLEASE CONTACT EITHER ALAIN HARPER ON 07771-792346 OR VIA E MAIL  – ghcoachesat@gmail.com   OR PATRICK HARPER VIA X (TWITTER) OR FACEBOOK. WE WILL CONFIRM ALL BOOKINGS – PAYMENT IS VIA BANK TRANSFER TO OUR ACCOUNT OR WITH CASH ALL TO BE PAID BEFORE TRAVEL. WE ARE IN REDZ BEFORE ANY HOME GAME