Great Expectations

Well, we are exactly half way through the league programme and up there where we need to be. It's much too soon to get our hopes up too much, but the team is playing better now than at any time this season, we have a strong squad and have nothing to fear from other teams near the top. Obviously the home form has been rather a worry, and Shep may well be right to suggest that some players have been affected at PP by the weight of fans' expectations. However, hopefully the Manotsfield result will have laid that bogey to rest (unless the noisy Mango's fans made it feel like an away game to our boys!). It may also be true that the pitch is not great, but quite a few away pitches seem to have been as bad if not worse and that hasn't stopped us. I think that one or two good additions up front have also brought out the best in Ryan Prosser and we are now more direct and incisive when teams try to shut up shop. We still have a tendency to over-elaborate rather than get the ball into the box, but there were clear signs today of a more goal-hungry approach.

The games are mostly free-flowing, end to end affairs, entertaining and good value for the entrance money. If attendances were better, the fans could become a real 'twelfth man' and help give the team that extra push which will bring promotion. Onwards and upwards.