Seven not out and sitting on top of the heap, are we the Snow White of the Northern League? I go back a long way and I can't remember a start like this, but is it wise I ask, is it wise? Will the lads get a nose bleed being on top of the pile? Can we handle the pressures of success? Will the little Scotsman's voice last the season?
And more importantly, what the hell happened in the cup ties? Call me greedy if you like, but I reckon a little run would have been nice, if only to stop the League Secretary rearranging games from next April into this October. He might worrit on and on like an old woman about postponed games, and it's not like the old days when he played in two foot of snow and twenty below, but I notice he always manages to get everything done and dusted in time for his May holiday. The way we are going we will be finished in March, just as the weather gets half decent for football, presumably it makes sense somewhere. But I digress.
All in all, happy times and not much to moan about, except, except, where is the crowd? Talk about one man and his dog, does no one in Ryhope know the way to Meadow Park? The ground looks well, the pitch is a picture, or for now at least, until somebody plays when they shouldn't and it gets chewed up, plenty of goals going in from the first team and the Under 18s, maybe even the Sunday lads when they get started, what more could you want for a few quid on a Saturday afternoon, or even better, a Wednesday night? Anyway at least us lads up top can see the game without a crowd getting in the way, a small mercy. and some good games we have seen, and not just from the first team, the Under 18s look like a real good squad this year, but in a stronger league. The defeat by Nissan was a cracking game, with a lot of good lads on show, has Hicker got them signed up? He was there and looked very interested, will we see some more local lads getting a chance as the season wears on? Knowing how he feels about cup ties, I wouldn't bet against a very youthful side turning out in the County Cup and the Ernie Armstrong this season, and maybe no bad thing, every chance they would do fine, and get us to another cup final...