Pre-season pointers ...

As always not really sure what can be read into pre-season results. If you lose the lot then presumably a tough season awaits. On the flip side, if you win the lot then promotion is surely nailed on!! Hmmm ... not quite that cut and dried but I guess a strong pre-season does offer hope and with it often rasised expectation. I think in our case we've every reason to look forward to the new UCL season and to some of the football we're likely to see Saints dish-up. The squad looks really strong, lively and capable of scoring goals. New system with a few quality signings should provide foundation for yet another successful season. No-doubt the league will be tough (with St. Neots, Kings L etc) and realistically Saints will do well to make the top 4 but who knows - great thing about pre-season is you can still dare to dream. What I do know is that as supporters we need as always to get behind the team and support Jez and Woz - best management team in the league. Looking forward to tonight's game at WWR V Soham. I saw alot of the Zam league last season (mainly Slough Town) and I always thought that Saints could hold their own on the pitch. What is clear is that the step up is a big one in terms of funds needed, travel required and that any club has to be ready in all senses before climbing the ladder. At WWR we've great support and a team/set-up with real possiblity of expansion. We need to do this sensibly and at a pace that works for us. Equally important is that we keep to our principals and retain our community links. There's lots of really great things about our club ... just look around you ... love it.
Cheers
Tim H

Thoughts from the weekend

Good to see football back at WWR and a really decent sized crowd on a nice sunny day (good showing from Cambs Utd as last season which is great to see). Perfect really. Bonus that Saints played really well particularly in the first half which we dominated and on another day could have scored 3. Thought Scotty looked sharp and another impressive performance from Lee Ellison and Dave Cobb. For second game in a row Matt B put in a really good performance at full-back and JP looks a great addition at left back. Fantastic especially to see Carl and Danny Moyes involved - both really talented players and our strength in depth generally is looking pretty solid. So all smiles at the moment and really looking forward to the new season proper. Good cup draws and a few cracking aways to look forward to in the early months (and possibly a home FA cup tie with St Neots?). Like to also thank all involved for getting things ready for Sat - couldn't make it down to WWR on the Fri night but clearly lots of hard work put in by some real stars. Hopefully we can sell lots of season tickets this year and build on some of last years gates. Only £40 for adults is a real bargain and unlike the Premiership you can be assured 100% commitment and effort.

Cheers

Tim H

No really pre-season starts here ...

So 1 down, about 70 to go! Chatteris away gave the boys a good run-out against a pretty decent team. Surface looked ok and earlier rain gave it a bit of zip at times. 4 goals but only caught 3 of them. All well taken starting with a simple knock-in from Connor following a mix-up in the CT defence. Lots of new faces throughout the side (and rolling subs bench). As usual Danny Newman kept Saints back 4 pretty solid (alongside Steve Poore). Pick of new faces was Lee Ellison and Dave Cobb (looks like a player). Between the sticks Gav and Niall took a half each and both looked excellent. All-in-all a reasonably competative, well paced pre-season opener. Solid all-round performance from the boys and on this evidence we should do ok this season when things start proper away at Holbeach. Caught a preview of the new kit - looks smart as a frog (cross between Partizan Belgrade and a B/W version of an old Ajax kit). Anyway looking forward to Cambs Utd on Sat at WWR. Got around 6 CUFC mates coming along so hope to direct them to the bar for a few before KO.

Saints on the scoresheet: Connor (carefully crafted knock-in), Lee (nice, flicked header), Matty (60 yard screamer) and Fox in the box (in the bar so missed it ... sure there's more to come though)

Til the next time cheers and see you down WWR.

Tim H

Here we go again...

As the first game gets closer and closer and the Cambridge United friendly is less than two weeks away you can keep logging back into my blog to get my insightful viewpoint from the terraces

Keep the faith - Up the Saints !