THE EDMONTON ROVERS FORUM
I am guessing that Loveday is still working in Yorkshire and therefore unavailable for 7-a-side as I haven't heard anything to the contrary, so I am picking a Monday Night squad as follows for our next game against K & M Old Boys. (7.30.p.m. Kick-Off):
Tim Beeden (GK)
Terry Moore
Danny Hagan
Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo
Lexton Harrison
Jerome Harrison
Tem Adil
That's 7, then (depending on availability), I would like one more from either:
Steve Cokell
Tony King
Jim Arrowsmith
Tony and Jim have not signed the League Multi-Registration Form yet, while Steve said he wanted to play 7-a-side on Monday nights but hasn't been playing recently. I don't know why. 
Colin Bester, Dave Bagnall & John Scouller are all on holiday (according to my list).
On Thursday next week (an 8.00.p.m. Kick-Off against North London Rovers), the squad (of 9) will 'have to' be as follows:
Simon Jackson (GK)
Alan Barnard
Yianni Kyriacou
Danny Smith
Terry Brown
Lee King
Ben Keating
Daniel Daley
Daniel Cascoe
It's a complicated situation because John Scouller is on holiday, so that means the only way that Lee & Ben can play is if Danny Smith plays and therefore gives them a lift from Waltham Cross. Lee & Ben are not available on Mondays, so Smithy will therefore have to play Thursday and so will Terry Brown...because he can only play if he gets a lift from Smithy as well !
Yan can only play Thursdays, so can Barney, while Jacko prefers Thursdays. I don't think Daley & Cascoe can play Mondays and they are definitely available for this match. Cascoe gives Daley a lift, so they both have to play on the same night.
Everyone got that ? 
All this means that if Steve Cokell, Tony King or Jim Arrowsmith can't play on Monday night, then Smithy (and probably Terry Brown as well) will have to play both nights next week, but Hagan (if he is fit as he had a rib injury last week) will only be able to play Monday night (when he would like to play both Monday and Thursday), all because he lives in Chingford, not in Cheshunt !
It's the usual problem where we have far too many players who don't drive. This is resulting in us having to field a different team every week on both nights and we have now lost 9 matches in a row because of it, but what can we do
We are now starting to find it difficult to persuade prospective new players to play 7-a-side because we lose every week. Also, regarding the idea of asking opposing players if they want to play for us on Sundays...well, after 9 defeats in a row I don't see how we can really do that. They will just tell us we are 'having a laugh'.
All we can do is just keep on playing until we finally win a game. Smithy thinks that we will if we have somebody on the touchline ranting & raving all match, even though none of the other 7-a-side teams have that ! Personally I just think we need a bit of luck.
Lol - I can play Monday this week at a push, if it makes life easier to balance up the sides, but you'll need to text me to let me know ideally on Sunday or Monday morning.
As for people not driving, I reckon they should get on their bike
Not a bad idea actually, as Smithy has told me he doesn't want to play when we have a squad of 9 as there are too many substitutions...which is something I do agree with by the way. I had to name 9 for Thursday this week though, as I couldn't really leave anybody out.
However, if you played on Monday instead of Thursday Barney, who is going to play in defence on Thursday ?
Mind you, we normally play a 0-3-3 formation anyway ! (Chairman's Blog coming soon about this and our 7-a-side tactical problems in general.
).
Here's the situation at the moment (Sunday evening) and we now have big problems.
For Monday's match we only have 4 players at the moment, namely Tim (GK), Barney, Terry Moore & Danny Smith (who can't play on Thursday this week as he is babysitting).
Kizza says he will let us know later tonight and Lexton has not yet replied to my text, so I don't know whether him and Jerome are available.
Even if all three of them can play, that's just a bare seven. We have nobody else available whatsoever by the look of it as Danny Hagan is injured, Smithy can't give Terry Brown a lift as he (Smithy) won't be in Cheshunt, Tem is working, and none of Steve Cokell, Tony King or Jim Arrowsmith can play.
On Thursday we only have 4 players as well, namely Jacko (GK), Yan, Daley & Cascoe.
Lee, Ben & Terry Brown have nobody to give them a lift from Cheshunt/Waltham Cross and presumably Barney will not be able to play if he is already playing on Monday ?
At the moment we are going to have to cry off for one or both of these games unless those who are playing can bring some mates along or ex-players get in touch and volunteer to play.
Presumably it's all my fault for picking Tem ahead of Danny Green & Scott Jenkins the other week ? 
Just spoken to Gav Mardell, who has agreed to play tonight, so that's one extra person. May be able to find another player as well, so I'll keep you posted.
Cheers
Barney
Cheers
Barney
As long as we have got 7, that will be fine.
Trev can be the 8th player to come on in case anybody gets injured/really knackered. Only problem is, he will need winscreen wipers for his glasses by the look of the weather forecast I have just seen !
I'm struggling to find anyone else, but I've asked Gav if he knows anyone from his Saturday team that might be able to help us out.
Cheers
Barney
Lexton has just left a message on my voicemail saying that he will be there tonight, but might be late. I have texted him back and told him to try and bring Jerome as well.
It might mean myself and Trev both having to start the game if Gav can't get anybody but at least we will not have to concede the match.
If Gav gets somebody good (Aaron Illsley ?) and Lexton is there before the kick-off, we will probably be fielding a better side than we do normally ! 
Lol - Tim/Gav have arranged for one of their Saturday players (Courtney - a good player I'm told) to play tonight, so we should be OK now (even if Lex is a little bit late, and you have to start).
Cheers
Barney
