THE EDMONTON ROVERS FORUM
Our next match this coming Sunday (31st March) is at Home to Division One leaders Enfield Crusaders, although whether Hazelwood will be fit to play on is another matter going by this picture taken just before our postponed game against Rosemill over there on Sunday (24th).
Another possible problem is that the clocks go forward an hour the night before (and players are bound to 'forget'), while it is also Easter Day, so some players may well be going away for the Bank Holiday weekend. Hopefully they will tell us as soon as possible if they are, so that we have time to call up replacements...if we have any left ! 
The only player unavailable at the moment is Gavin Mardell, although I would guess that Terry Moore will still be unable to play due to his rib injury ?
With Simon Jackson now having left the club, we were originally hoping to re-sign goalkeeper Darryl Johnson in time for this match (if the League allow us to after the deadline), but that didn't happen because the Rosemill game at which he was due to attend and sign up ended up being postponed. We are therefore going to have to hope that Garry Cover is definitely available for this match and goes in goal.
Training at the Southgate Hockey Centre is definitely on this coming Wednesday night (at 9.00.p.m.) as long as there is not snow & ice on the pitch. Current players will all be notified via Teamer if it is called off.
We also have at least two prospective new players for next season attending, while George also knows a couple of others who are interested, although unfortunately he cannot attend training himself.
The squad for Sunday's match will appear here on Thursday morning.
Trevor will still be away in Australia, so Terry Moore will be Caretaker Manager, although Barney and myself will probably have some input into team selection and tactics as well. 
We had a good training session last night with eleven of us there. Those in attendance apart from myself were Lexton, Cascoe, Daley, Barney, John, Krishan, Garry, Raf, Jack & Darryl.
I didn't chase up any of the prospective new players to attend in case we had a poor turnout, while there was also the possibility of the SHC calling it off because of snow on the pitch. There was...but they had managed to sweep it all off to the sides.
Trevor is of course still away in Australia, so I have named a squad of 15 for this Sunday's match as follows:
Garry Cover (GK)
Alan Barnard
Lexton Harrison
George Stahlmann
Ali 'TJ' Sowe
Daniel Cascoe
Danny Hagan
Krishan Singh
Younes Jouied
Ben Keating
Riaz Daniels
Rafiel Johnson
John Scouller
Jack Bangs
Daniel Daley
However, Riaz was not at training last night because of a knee injury (as opposed to the ankle injury he picked up in our last match), while George did not reply to my text asking players to let me know if they are available or not if they were not coming training. Ben also did likewise, but John was at training to assure me that Ben is 'definitely' playing...and that he will wake him up when he forgets to put his clock forward ! 
Everybody else who was not at training has confirmed their availability by text or on Teamer.
Terry Moore will be there as Caretaker-Manager (and a substitute if players drop out ?), while Darryl is also going to come along to help Terry out on the touchline. We would prefer it if one of the substitutes runs the line though.
A lot of players were asking me last night how many wins we need from our four remaining games in order to avoid relegation. Well, here is the current Division One table.
Only the bottom club will be relegated because there are only 9 teams in the division instead of 10. Asco are bottom at the moment, three points below us and with a vastly inferior goal difference to us. They have three games remaining, which are Away to FC Alpha this Sunday, then Away to Rosemill and Home to Turnford Geese. I cannot see FC Alpha failing to beat Asco, but yes, it's possible that Asco could get at least 4 points from their matches against Rosemill and Turnford Geese, so we really do need to win one of our remaining four matches and not get thrashed in any of the others.
Enfield Crusaders desperately need to beat us on Sunday to be able to clinch the Division One title in their one remaining match, so this is almost certainly going to be our toughest match of the three we have left.
Also...to answer another question...we can only finish higher than second from bottom if we win all four of our remaining matches ! 
Enfield Crusaders have told me they will be fielding all their 'star' Semi-Pro players on Sunday who don't normally play (i.e. Dave Hicks, Ryan McMenemy, Tom Dos Anjos, Mark & Steve Summers, etc.).
However, despite that, I will be recommending to Terry & Barney that we rotate our squad for all four of our remaining matches whatever the strength of the opposition, so that everybody gets a full game in at least two of those matches or a longer run-out in the Second Half than the 15 minutes that Trev invariably gives them when they are a sub. Whoever is named as substitutes this Sunday will start against Rosemill the following Sunday.
Everybody I spoke to at training last night was in full agreement with that, and like me, they all feel that as long as we have somebody who is actually willing to go in goal (i.e. Garry Cover) and enough 'proper' defenders to play in a back four (instead of Daley having to play there !), then we are capable of beating anybody as long as we have eleven or more of the squad listed above actually turning up on the day.
As for the weather, it is supposed to be dry right up until after Easter, so there won't be a problem with waterlogging at Hazelwood this week. However, a frozen pitch could be a problem as it is supposed to go down to -2C on Saturday night, then of course we are effectively kicking-off at 9.30.a.m. (current time) because the clocks will have gone forward an hour the night before, therefore meaning less time for the sun to get on the pitch and thaw it out...that's if the sun actually comes out of course !
So...it's a pitch inspection by the Ref at 10.00.a.m. I'm afraid...which means that everybody has to turn up whatever.
If anybody does have to drop out (e.g. Riaz & George), please try and make a decision on or before Friday. Like the Enfield Rangers match, I will be out all day on the Saturday (filming Ebbsfleet), so I will not be able to do anything about it if players drop out then.
Looks like Asco have just folded !?
Their fixtures for this Sunday (Away to FC Alpha) and the 7th April (Home to Turnford Geese) have just been wiped off the list here.
We won't find out for sure until the minutes are published of this coming Thursday's League Management Committee...unless somebody in the know knows !?
If they have gone, then we will finish 8th (i.e. bottom) 'whatever' but we will not get relegated, so we can then relax and enjoy ourselves in our last four matches. It would be useful knowing that before this Sunday's match though.
