TSBW blog

It’s been one year to the day since we left EP for the last time following a 1-1 draw against Barnet. Since then we have been under lockdowns and restrictions and have temporarily lost part of our lives. Since the early days of the league-wide suspension, we have been desperate to be back, amongst our friends, belting out songs in support of the lads, and the fans aren’t the only ones to want those days back too.  The photos of the Barnet game which accompany this article were published in the May 2020 edition of When Saturday Comes . As we all know, County rarely get national press coverage so they provide a prominent and poignant look back at EP in all it’s glory for the last time pre-Covid. With that in mind, I would like to say a huge thank you to Paul Thompson for granting permission for us to use his photos in this piece. Click here to see the full gallery or to purchase photos from the game. You can also follow Paul on Twitter . From the springtime lockdown novelty of home ...

Welcome to the second part of February’s review. The intensity and frequency of the games haven’t let up, by the end of this review Simon Rusk will have been in charge for eight games and it’s fair to say it has been an incident-packed few weeks since my last piece.  After the second stalemate in a row away to Maidenhead United, County made another long journey south to Eastleigh, a side hunting a play off place and who recently beat promotion contenders, Hartlepool United at home. Our strength in depth was tested one again as we were still without Mark Kitching, Connor Jennings and Ryan Croasdale, but now Tom Walker was sidelined through injury and a suspended Jordan Keane joined the growing list of absentees. Will Collar, whose performance was one of the few positives taken from Maidenhead, and Harvey Gilmour, injured and nearly forgotten for much of the season, stepped into midfield. Richie Bennett and Sam Minihan also started and loan signing Sam Dalby was a substitute.  L...

Hello and welcome to February’s review. Despite the still-smouldering debates which erupted after Jim Gannon’s sacking the team certainly didn’t break stride and the 4-1 win at Woking in Simon Rusk’s first game as County manager, was arguably the best, in terms of the manner of victory, we could have hoped for and we could all now look forward to a mouth-watering clash with fellow challengers Sutton United with much-needed enthusiasm.  Before that though, the National League invited clubs to vote on whether to continue (or conclude) the season. Clubs have 28 days to vote, with Wrexham already stating their intention to abstain as they are not eligible for funding through the Sports Winter Survival Package.  Early indications suggest that the two steps will be treated as separate entities and the National League will continue, whereas the National League North and South may well be declared null and void. Without access to a grant, it’s easy to see why many step two clubs aren’...

Welcome to part two of the TSBW review of January’s action. Well, we left part one with Jim Gannon’s sacking. The devastating news has taken a while to sink in, since then we have seen more arguments, debates and accusations than an episode of Question Time, but more on Jim Gannon, Simon Rusk and the future later on.  Just 48 hours later, while the dust was still settling and with the debates in full swing the team had to return to some kind of normality (if one can perceive any kind of ‘normal’ these days) with a game against Boreham Wood at EP. Dave Conlon, in temporary charge of the first team, named Ash Palmer and Macauley Southam-Hales in the starting line up but dropped the rapidly improving Ryan Croasdale, as County set up with a back three.  Boreham Wood, impressive in their double dismantling of County last season, went on to make the play offs and rightly deserved to be named among the favourites to repeat the feat this season. County, with all the turmoil of the pr...

Welcome to TSBW January review and what a month it has been. County kicked off the year at home to Altrincham, looking to finish off what they started against them in the reverse fixture on Boxing Day. After the Wrexham victory and in particular the manner of victory, a similar performance; one of consistency and tenacity, would be very sweet indeed.  We barely had time to settle down on the sofa before a dominant County surged forward and Alex Reid fired in from close range following some fine work by Macauley Southam-Hales down the right. Almost a carbon copy of Richie Bennett’s goal against Wrexham it set the tone for a jubilant first half, one which mirrored that of the Wrexham game. Surely this was the moment we had been waiting for? The moment when all the “when will the team gel?” hand wringing finally came to an end.  Well, the second half gave a little indication that we still had to wait sometime yet. The half time substitutions of first half heroes, Reid and Southam...