John's Page

Page Updated 5th February 2000

Added 5th February

A Saturday Afternoon at Carshalton

Well, it wasn't very pleasant really. An erratic but strong wind, one side scrapping for its life, the other suffering a hangover from their exertions earlier in the week at St Albans resulted in a scrappy and inconclusive affair.

DagRed also featured an unusual lineup with several changes from Monday night. Clearly Mark Keen is attempting a world record of playing in every position in the minimum number of games - today it was centre-half.Even odder, once Janners hamstring went the way of Owen was the strange occurrence of 5 left sided players trying to gel in the Daggers cause! Keegan received a call on his mobile at this point!

The game itself had little in the way of football action to commend it. A secure home keeper, an enthusiastic home side who tried and tried and an opposition who just couldn't get it together in the manner of 20 other performances earlier in the season were the constituent ingredients. Add to this the wayward peace of mind that is Matt Jones and the homecrowd certainly had something to shout about.

On the Thameslink train on the way home I was surrounded by football programme reading personages - some Crystal Palace fans satisfied with a 2-2 draw against Huddersfield and a lone Southport fan who'd clearly trekked all the way to Sutton to see his side gain a1-1 draw.

Ah the family world of football!!

Ex non- league grounds I have known personally:

Granleigh Road - Leytonstone, Ilford and Leytonstone, Leytonstone-Ilford Green Pond Road - Walthamstow Avenue , Redbridge Forest and....Barking (Vicarage Field?), Ilford (Lynn Road), Slough (Dolphin), Enfield (Southbury), Leyton and Leyton-Wingate (Hare and Hounds although a Leyton FC still appear to play there), Bishop's Stortford, Weymouth and Hednesford (I think they both have reasonably new grounds?), Horwich (or is that Leigh?), Wycombe Wanderers (Loakes Park), Oxford City, Chelmsford City, Dartford and possibly, although certainly not definitely, Cray, Milton Keynes City and Hatfield.

My brain will be racked and my annals explored (only recommended under local anaesthetic) to see if there are more plots of land that I have visited which no longer entertain a round object and lots of running about.

Added 26th January

What a great result! Even if our lads did have us on tenterhooks throughout the match! Truth be told I was a little disappointed with the Saints - they were no better than Chesham or Gravesend for example. They caused us problems but then most teams have this season. After the usual frenetic start where it seems we're still on the teamcoach we actually notice that the home side are virtually naked down their left flank and Janners takes them apart. Naive? Surely they'd heard of him? 0-1.

Big but not so clever in the air either - 2 onward flicks and a very expensive and arrogant 'keeper is rooted to the spot.0-2.

We're looking susceptible to the cross and it's a shame but no surprise when pensioner Clark scores. Good first half set up for a storming charge by the homesters in the second. Wrong. Despite the entry of this month's most fanciable non-league property Wayne Andrews (Stevens and Mc Ewan being last month's) St Albans fail to put us under siege. Our defence regains composure, 50/50 tackles are won in all parts of the pitch and we look fairly comfortable apart from a header through Newell onto the bar.Bodders third raps it up - again the Saints defence opens up before us exposing the greedy goalie.

I suppose it was yet another game that could have gone either way but whilst we keep scoring (just to keep up with the points) so freely no one's in the same race.

And at least this time we started as we normally finish - in freescoring mode.

Film Review: Angela's Ashes 8/10. 146 minutes flashes by. Grim but with flashes of humour and tons of humanity this is well worth seeing. The 3 Franks were/are stars! But why cast 2 'names' as Irish people - there must be plenty of good Irish actors/actresses?

Added 19th January

Some useless stats for 'my' page:

1) One year ago last Saturday the Ducks were top of the league and we were 13th - how things change in a year!

2) Billericay 3 Hereford 1 !! How bad could Hereford possibly have been given the home side's abject display against us the previous week? NB smaller crowd than against D and R.

3) We now have twice as many points as half the division!!

4) Late Trophy 3rd Round goals caught my eye:

Last 10 minutes 19 = 23%
Last 15 minutes 26 = 31%
Last 20 minutes 32 = 38%
Total 84 goals.

5) Christmas viewing - forgot the lovely film 'Il Postino' - more tears!

6) Rugby - I just don't totally get it! From spending most of my life thinking the main object seemed to be to kick the ball off the pitch into the crowd I now have the chance to watch games (with people derived from Wales) and reassess.

Harlequins 26 Cardiff 30. Visitors storm into unassailable lead in opening minutes, then rest up and allow significantly inferior opposition back into the game and take the lead! Body language suggests only a passing interest in events but suddenly another try and it's as if they'd won the lottery! I really don't get it! More exciting than darts though!

7) My paperboy somehow manages to push my paper the wrong way and wedge it in the letterbox resulting in alaughable early morning scenario of tug of war just to extricate the damn thing. Mechanical engineers and the fire brigade are often called upon. Perhaps he's a St. Albans supporter and didn't want me to read last night's result.

There is a God and he lives in deepest Eastern Essex!!

Added 15th January

So, what's the secret?

Until last Saturday I've been trying to work out why we are so good this season. Then an excellent all-round display at Billericay when most things slotted into place crystallized the reasons. Obviously we have good players with good replacements to cover injuries and suspensions (what happens when all are available?). Secondly a never say die attitude (even against the 11 man Burton defence we kept going)....How many times have we gone a goal down and ended up winning by 2 or 3? Reminds me very much of Leytonstone-Ilford's Isthmian Division 1 winning season (early 80's?) when we'd go 1 or 2 goals down only for George Brooks and Neville Fox to start firing and score 4 or 5. So fitness/stamina is playing a part also? Next large slices of good fortune. I don't know if I've ever seen our woodwork hit so many times in half a season - it's bizarre! But you clearly need the rub of the green to win things. Finally, tactics, I'm growing to like and rate extremely highly our man Gary. Several second half substitutions (often at half-time) and/or changes in line-up have really done the business in matches I've seen. Lastly a growing team spirit and understanding both increasingly in evidence. Not surprising I suppose when you've won most of the games you've played! I've found it somewhat difficult to adjust to constantly winning (but I'm fast getting used to it!). It's good though, isn't it? Roll on 100 goals and 100 points! Seriously though everything may become clear at Clarence Park on the 24 January.

Random thoughts:
Wasn't Christmas TV dire?

Highlights for me David Copperfield and Channel 4's On The Line.

An example of great PR = Man Utd in Brazil. South Africa get 2006 World Cup

Good films recently:

East Is East hard comi-tragic mix 7/10
World Is Not Enough typical Bond 8/10
Buena Vista Social Club brilliantly charming 10/10

What do women think about a convicted racist gaining entry to this country? Or a murdering dictator come to that.

Supports: Dagenham & Redbridge
Vocation: Higher Education Adviser

My love for the non-league game started in around 1964 when a neighbour took me to see the local team, Leytonstone, play Hitchin. Thus began a love affair which still has its moments all these years later! Of course the Sixties had some glorious times including winning the Isthmian League and The Amateur Cup at Wembley against Chesham in 1968. If not quite so glorious, watching Leytonstone-Ilford was still fun but ended very sadly when we left Granleigh Road in the mid-80's. Ever since then 'my' team has assumed names and locations more and more remote from Leytonstone but I still retain an active and at times passionate interest in the club. I was Press Secretary for Leytonstone and Leytonstone-Ilford on 2 occasions in the 70's and 80's (always an eye-opener for a fan to see the other side!) and more recently have written stuff for the Frankly Speaking/ Into The O Zone fanzines (great fun) and now seem to be involved on this website of mega proportions/quality etc..

My profession is Higher Education Adviser in a 6th form college in Islington and I do freelance and consultancy work which includes writing about Higher Education in The Guardian. I live in Leytonstone where I was brrung up so it's a good 20+ mile round trip to the Vic. I have a smashing partner Karen (a deputy head) who isn't so smashing when she comes to Dagenham for a 'big' match - we've failed to score on 3 out of the 4 times she's turned up!

On this page in future expect my thoughts on our games and probably my thoughts on various sporting events (bound to include cycling and cricket - 2 of my other great loves), entertainments and current affairs.

Finally, did you cry and applaud your telly last week when Muhammad Ali won his BBC award?? Go on admit it!