Not long to go now! Ten days to the first league game at Ryton. The friendlies all following the same path: decent performances, but leaking late equalisers. No doubt Steve and Karl will be hoping to put that right by the real thing.
Great night against Ryhope CW on the first of the month for the Alan Thompson memorial match. Good turn out, and a tough new gateman who made nearly everybody pay to get in. Usual squad claiming “I’m with the team mate”, but he didn’t fall for it - often. Didn’t affect me of course. Still, £300 raised for local charity, so a fair night’s work by the good people of Ryhope, and Maureen Thompson and family and friends were there in force, and delighted with the money raised. Let's hope Alan raised a smile as well.
After Ryton away we have four home games in a row. Is this a good thing? It’ll look good if it works out and the lads get a flyer but, but….not sure our new secretary is up to speed yet, and Ozo is nowhere to be seen to keep him right, although I understand the chairman is trying, very trying.
The Deft obviously loves his new goal posts; they have been up and down more times than the proverbial. And the grass is nice and green, although it looks like it was cut by a drunk with hand shears at the minute.
Under 18s look a likely bunch, and Harry is keeping them close in case someone nicks them! The Durham FA pre season tournament over the next couple of weeks should tell a lot about their prospects for the season, but anyway it is good to see that the County Under 18 League will have 18 teams for this year. Some great leagues have gone in the past few years so it was important that the DFA put some real effort into getting something going for the lads, and it is good to see them getting their rewards.
This is the vital age group when lads discover other forms of entertainment, and they need to be kept going with their football otherwise they can be lost forever to drink and women and other bad news!