Sausage Baguette

Yes I know we've got 2 wins on the trot, Rocco scored in his last game at the ARS for a few months and, cor blimey, a clean sheet to boot. But let's not get carried away just yet.

Whyteleafe on Saturday. Never a dull moment down there but don't tell anybody about the sausage baguettes from the tea bar. They're darned good and tend to sell out, so be quick. Decent cluhouse as well, usually with real ale and food available.

To get to the ground you need to walk the mean streets of Whyteleafe. The lack of meanness will hit you full in the face but there's leafiness aplenty. Not too many boozing opportunities however. There's the Whyteleafe Tavern at 208 Godstone Road, which is passable for a pre-match refresco, but better still is the Radius Arms a few doors away at number 205. A micro-pub that's been open 18 months serving proper beer and fruit based drinks gleaned from apples and grapes. No Europiss however.

Trains from London leave from London Bridge or Victoria and arrive at Upper Warlingham or Whyteleafe. Fastest service is Victoria to Upper Warlingham which leaves at 23 or 53 minutes past the hour (there's just a few minutes walk between Upper Warlingham and Whyteleafe stations).

A note of caution, there's due to be a strike affecting Southern services at the weekend, so it might take you a little longer than expected to get there. Don't take it out on the railway workers though, they've got your best interests in mind.

Hopefully we'll see Rocco for a last hurrah before he selfishly buggers off to see a bit of the world whilst his knees are still up to it. If not, I'm sure he knows we wish him well 'til the next time (and beyond).

Keep it Green

Allez les Verts!!

A cat called Gareth.

Since we were last here we've had a few ups and downs, mainly downs unfortunately.

The trip to Bromley for the match against Cray Wanderers wasn't quite what you may have read elsewhere. There was little sign of any ambition to win on the night, although we did have the odd chance to nick something from the game. Mainly it was about 2 rows of 4, staying fairly close and frustrating what looked like a talented Cray side.

There was a lot of defensive discipline on show though and that's why we left the ground in a fairly upbeat mood after a 1-0 defeat.

Very nice clubhouse at Bromley, complete with its own cat. Gareth is his name. Like GFC at the ARS, Cray make absolutely sweet fa from it but they are hopeful of a home of their own at some point. Plans are at an advanced stage but stuck in the mire of endless referrals to this, that and the other.

Upbeat thoughts soon took a nosedive with a disappointing home draw against Godalming Town. The real downer was the double leg break suffered by Chris Tardif. 1F is always worth a good few points over a season so this is a real blow to hopes of maintaining Step 4 status, particularly given the seemingly never ending problem of getting a full squad out for matches.

It got worse still a few days later with Jack Domaille suffering knee ligament damage that will keep him out for a prolonged period.

Fingers crossed for a reasonably trouble free recovery for both players.

The gloom was lifted slightly with a somewhat rare 3 points against Sittingbourne last weekend, this despite a degree of profligacy in front of goal that, if we're not careful, could become as worrying as our frailty at the other end.

Good to hear there was decent support from the Garenne, us Manelanders need to pull our socks up in that respect when we go to Whyteleafe on Saturday.

Tomorrow it's Chipstead at the ARS, another must win. So get your arse to the ARS and sing yer 'earts out for the lads. OK, you won't be able to talk on Thursday nut, between you and me, your work colleagues don't really want small talk with you so it'll save embarrassment all round.

With new kit recently arrived at Ormering Towers hopefully these ramblings will start to become a little more frequent than they have been of late. There are a few things to be said after all.

Keep it green (and keep the faith).

Allez les Verts!!