We have another Pre-Season Friendly this coming Sunday on Pitch Two at Enfield Playing Fields against Premier Division Side Lea Valley Royals. 10.30.a.m. Kick-Off.

The situation we are in at the moment is that anybody who makes themselves available for this game is likely to get a full 90 minutes or as near as dammit !
We have so many players going down with injuries now or suddenly having work, family & social commitments/'issues' that are going to rule them out for a while that we only really have 8 players who I think we can say are 'definitely' available for this match at the moment. These are:
Garry Cover (GK)
Terry Moore
George Stahlmann
Daniel Cascoe
Ben Keating
Ali 'TJ' Sowe
Martin Cruickshank
Ollie Blake

One of the biggest problems we are having at the moment is prospective new players saying they are really keen to join us, but then they either drop out the day before a match or simply just don't turn up, and with no explanation.
Why do people keep doing this to us ? It happens every pre-season.
If these new players do not turn up to this match (and with a photo for their registration), then we can forget about them as far as I am concerned. Turning up to training in midweek is no good if they can't get out of bed on a Sunday morning.

If anybody else can play this Sunday in addition to the 8 players I have named above, please let myself or Trevor know.
The 50/50 players at the moment (because of the reasons I have mentioned) appear to be as follows:
Danny Hagan (Injured)
Daniel Daley (Injured)
Jack Tompkins (Injured)
Lexton Harrison (Missus expecting a baby any day now ?)
Ivan Bass (Family Commitments)
John Scouller (Working...trying to change shifts)
Leon McKenzie-McKay (Injured)
Krishan Singh (Car problems ?)
plus numerous prospective new players who have not turned up yet.

Alan Barnard, Jack Bangs & Younes Jouied are all definitely unavailable due to holidays and social commitments.

Here are the 'Should Be Available's for this Sunday at the moment:
Adam Griffin (GK)
Garry Cover (GK)
Terry Moore
George Stahlmann
Adam Krstic
Daniel Cascoe
Ben Keating
Ali 'TJ' Sowe
Martin Cruickshank
Ollie Blake
Lee King

...and here are the 50/50's at the moment:
Danny Hagan (Injured)
Jack Tompkins (Injured)
John Scouller (Working...trying to change shifts)
Leon McKenzie-McKay (Injured)
Krishan Singh (Car problems ?)
plus numerous prospective new players who have not turned up yet.

and now, definitely not playing (in addition to Barney, Jack Bangs & Younes) are:
Daniel Daley (Out for 6 weeks with an ankle injury)
Lexton Harrison (Babysitting...Missus now works on Sundays (as opposed to expecting a baby)...apologies for the mis-information given to me by somebody. )
Ivan Bass (Similar problems to Lexton by the sound of it ?)

So...we should have eleven there at least on Sunday, but with about 5 or 6 first-choice players missing as well as several others who are probably better than those who are going to have to play.
As far as I am concerned though, we will only get 'thrashed' if players give up and do not encourage each other. All we have got to look at is that game last season where we played Enfield Crusaders with only 9 men including me and we only lost 2-1. More of that and we will be fine.
Also, new players will get better the more they play. We have just got to be patient.

Danny Hagan is now playing this Sunday but Jack Tompkins and Ollie Blake are not. (Both away for the weekend).

Martin Cruickshank has also dropped out. He is starting work on Sunday.
Not sure if that is every Sunday.

A triallist has phoned Trevor and is definitely playing this Sunday but he needs to borrow a pair of size 8 or 9 boots.
This might make the difference between us playing with 10 or 11, so if somebody can help, that will be great.

In addition to the player with no boots, we have three other prospective new players who are supposed to be turning up this morning, so even though Leon, Krishan and several others have not bothered to get in touch, we should still just about have eleven, then John Scouller to turn up for the Second Half after work.

I am assuming that Garry, Cascoe and TJ are all playing because they said 'see you next week' after last Sunday's match. Neither myself or Trevor have heard from them since.