Now if you can remember and if you follow The Terrors, how could you ever forget, in our first game at Northwood we gave away a 3-1 lead and in the space of the last 15 minutes conceded 3 goals and lost the match 4-3. At H&Y in the space of 12 minutes we gave away a penalty had a player rightly sent off for a two footed challenge, gave away another scrappy goal and then to top it all off let in what was in all truth a fantastic shot to make it three goals and a sending off in 12 minutes. A bit later on the H&Y goalie made a good save from a penalty from Peter Wedgeworth after Isiah Jones was brought down after a good run into the box.
Brilliant......
Yet another large group of travelling Terrors made the journey along the A40 to west London for yet another fun filled afternoon this time in the middle of an industrial estate stuck in the middle of nowhere. Hayes and Yeading are second in the division and in all honesty were favourites' to win. Maybe if we'd not given the penalty away and had a player sent off we may well have lost anyway, but to hand the game to them on a plate when we were more than holding our own hurts. No chips on sale in the ground and building work still being carried out on what I'm sure will turn out to be quiet an impressive ground when the work is complete just added to the "Match Satisfaction". Just outside the ground is a beautiful looking Sheik Temple which brought back memories of Hendon away where the ground is overlooked by another very impressive and again beautiful Sheik Temple. Another thing that brought back memories of Hendon away was that there, last year, the same player was sent of for another bad challenge which lead to us getting stuffed 4-1 when trying to play a team at the top of table with only ten men. We have been described as "Promotion Favourites" by a number of people connected with the Bostik League, I can only imagine they have spent the last few months sniffing their company products and talking to people who haven't seen us play over the last 12 months. All clubs have high expectations for their respective teams. It seems like many over at Hayes and Yeading, players and supporters think they already have this division sown up and maybe they are right, quite a few of the travelling Terrors said as much themselves, but whether this was said to make themselves feel better about the result must also be taken into consideration. Many said the same about Staines Town last year after they totally stuffed us both home and away and they finished outside the play off places.
I don't expect TMUFC to win every match and I fully understand that there will be times when the footballing gods will laugh in our faces and the forces of darkness will descend upon us the great fury and anger. But we need to sort out this out sooner rather than later. We can look at the table and see other clubs who may well struggle in this league and who could be said to be out of their depth but we said that last year about Burgess Hill and Harlow who held up the bottom of the table until we stepped in near the end to take the one relegation place on offer. Two teams go down this season we need to make sure that we aren't one of them. We may well arguably be one of the best known teams in the Bostik South Central. I'm pretty sure we are the best supported at home and away. Tooting and Mitcham have a great History and are a well known club.... But that counts for nothing if the club doesn't start to gel together. Yes I know.... More Doom and Gloom but I care about this club and it's future and I honestly say that we could / should end up in a few years time in the Conference South which I believe a club like Tooting and Mitcham should aim for. This season I'll be happy with a mid table finish which will hopefully give us a stronger base to build on ready for the 2018 -19 season. Good cup runs would be a bonus and help take any pressure of the league. Don't let anybody tell you the Surrey and London cups aren't important. I've seen Toots win a couple of London Senior Cup Finals and loved every minute of it.
Yes there are a number of plus points. The two home crowds have been significantly higher than expected and a lot of new faces have turned up to watch us play. The social media and promotional side has improved thanks to a large number of volunteers who have help spread the word. On the pitch Isiah Jones is getting better every game and is a joy to watch. The goalie Liam Sallis is now finding his feet and showing what he can do after the unfair criticism which came his way at the start of the season. Many of the younger players coming through from the Under 23's are looking good and match experience at this level can only be good for their long term development.
Next trip for The Terrors is over to Horsham YMCA in the FA Cup. Will we be dancing like Village People or shoe gazing like Joy Division at 6pm next Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment