At the moment we are assuming that the following 18 players are available for our Pre-Season Friendly in Harlow next Sunday...because they have not told us that they are UNavailable:

Paul Woolston
Alan Barnard
Terry Moore
Tony Speller
Tem Adil
Clark Williams (First Half only due to family commitments)
Danny Hagan
Paul Ellerker
Steve Cokell
Gary Cokell
Kris Spyrou
Tony King
Derek Dorward
Daniel Daley
Foysol Ahmed
Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo
Nick Vertigans
& possibly Leon Mc,Kenzie-Mc,Kay and two mates of Daniel Daley's who are apparently quality players.

At the moment we have no goalkeeper available whatsoever, and unfortunately it is quite likely that we will have to 'force' two different outfield players from the squad listed above to go in goal for a half each (and play as an outfield player for the other half).

So far we have Manager Trevor Hughes (Arsenal have a 12.00.p.m. kick-off at Home to Fulham) and numerous players all unavailable for this match.
These include Stuart Dorward and Peter Murphy (who are both playing for their work 5-a-side team instead), Conor Mc,Govern (On Holiday), Robin Pryke (On Holiday), Simon Jackson (Playing Cricket) and Darryl Johnson (Broken Thumb).

We also have three or four good quality prospective new players unavailable for this match due to holidays and family/social commitments. However, I believe we have a strong enough squad now to be able to give any team a good game, although it is obvious that we must try and find a proper goalkeeper as soon as possible who is not injured or tied up with other commitments.

Russell Beeden will be Manager for this match and he has been re-appointed back onto the Management Committee exactly for this situation as it is quite likely to occur in League matches this season. This is therefore is an ideal opportunity for us to find out how we can cope without Trevor and Stuart, and also of how strong our squad is.

Please note that Russell will NOT be acting as Club Linesman and that I will definitely be filming this match. That means that players will HAVE to take it in turns to run the line when they are not on the field of play.

As discused earlier this evening! I've now got tickets for the Arsenal on Sunday, so I cannot play.

Nick Vertigans is also not playing.
No need to panic yet though.

...and Tarby is not available to be Manager. Tim is going to do it.

At the moment the only players who have confirmed their availability for this match are Alan Barnard, Terry Moore, Tem Adil, Danny Hagan, Daniel Daley & Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo.

However, Tony King, Derek Dorward & Foysol Ahmed haven't said they are NOT playing, while Steve Cokell appears to be in a 'Want to play but will have to check with the missus' situation, Clark Williams is in a 'Want to play but can only play the First Half because of family commitments so is it worth it ?' situation, and Paul Ellerker wants to play but said (three days ago ?) that he will let us know if he can or not 'a.s.a.p.'.

We also have three mates of Daniel Daley's who might be available...he is still in the process of finding out. One of them is Leon Mc,Kenzie-Mc,Kay, who lives in Wembley now but is apparently thinking about re-joining us, and the other two are quality ex-Semi-Pro players who Daley presumably works with.
Danny Hagan's Dad's work-mate (who has played for Leyton in the Ryman League Premier Division) is another possibility...we should know by Saturday if he is available or not, while Alan Barnard is going to ask our ex-keeper Stavros Elia if he can go in goal (before he plays cricket with him for Edmonton in the afternoon) and also possibly bring along an A.F.C. Bush Hill Park outfield player from the Monday Night 7-a-side League (although I don't think it is that quality youngster they had playing against us who has just been released by Q.P.R. ?).

Unfortunately though, Simon Jackson (GK), Paul Woolston & Gary Cokell have not replied to texts and e-mails and have all 'disappeared' (probably abroad on holiday ?).
'Jacko' will probably be playing cricket anyway, but Wooly is off work until Monday 20th August and apparently Steve Cokell hasn't seen or spoken to Gary for 'weeks' (since Steve's Wedding !?).

At the moment then, we should be able to get a team out with the help of people's mates, but it could only be a squad of no more than 12 and with an outfield player in goal.

Thankfully though the weather forecast is not for blazing hot sunshine and 90° heat !

When I saw Wooly at the last 7 a side game he said he was going on holiday to Ireland. I think it was for two weeks but I can't remember so it is not his fault that he has not replied to e-mails.

Wooly is still not on speaking terms with me, is he ?
He wont even e-mail or text me, so it's no good assuming he has told me what he has told you.

Also, Kizza will not be playing on Sunday as his mother passed away this morning.
I have sent him our condolences on behalf of the club.
Apparently she had been in hospital for some time with a terminal illness which is why Kizza has not been playing much recently.

Daniel Daley has got one of his mates to play on Sunday, but he can't get any reply from the other two (including Leon).
Dan's mate who is playing on Sunday (Emmanuel Peter) is the defender who played for Thurrock Reserves last season...I think ?, so at the moment it looks like a 3-5-2 formation with Emmanuel, Barney & Terry our only defenders available.

I think it's pretty obvious that a lot of players are going to make up their mind on Saturday evening as to whether they are going to be playing or not.
Definitely a case of waiting to see who else is playing.
All I can say to that is as long as we can find a goalkeeper and 11 or 12 outfield players from those mentioned already, we will NOT 'get thrashed'.
I can't see any 'poor' players there whatsoever (unlike other Pre-Season Friendlies we have played in the past).

I will be there sunday.

The situation at 4.00.p.m. on Friday is that we have 8 'definites', which are Barney, Terry, Del, Tem, Daniel Daley and three prospective new players.

The 3 prospective new players are Emmanuel Peter (Daley's mate), Shen Plumb (a mate of Tem's who is a half-English, half-Turkish midfielder) & Martin Loveday, who played one match for the Reserves about 4 years ago. I'm not sure if Martin wants to play regularly for us on Sundays but he is a good player and is capable of playing in goal or at centre-half.
I would rather Martin play as a defender in this match though, and we still look for someone else to play the whole 90 minutes in goal. (Please can everyone keep doing their best to find someone ?)

Danny Hagan texted me this morning to say he played last night and has now got a massive blister !
He has not dropped out yet, but it doesn't sound good.
I suggest Danny (and everyone else) have a look at this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/treatment_room/features/newsid_3811000/3811589.stm !

I am still waiting for Paul Ellerker, Steve Cokell, Gary Cokell, Foysol Ahmed, Tony King & Clark Williams to make their minds up whether they are playing or not.
I suspect that most of them won't do so until Saturday night or even Sunday morning, which is very frustrating for me as our opponents are getting worried that we may not be able to field a team and they have already paid for the pitch.
We need at least 3 of those 6 players to play, otherwise we could be in big trouble.

We therefore need players who are 'definitely' playing to continue asking prospective new players to come along on Sunday, but no more than another three in total.

Just in case anybody was getting a bit worried, it's not looking too bad now.

We have 12 definites and then 2 or 3 other possibles who are making their mind up in the morning if they can play or not.

Game on.