Lordswood FC
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VIEW FROM THE BENCH
JOHN GUEST REVEALS PRE-SEASON DETAILS [11 Jul @ 8:56pm]
Pre-season, end of season and the beginning of the next season - in all honesty we have not stopped. We, the staff, had a week off at the end of the season before we were right back at it sorting trial dates, pre-season friendlies, the new kits etc. To be fair we have worked hard with trials for three Saturdays in June and we then started back pre-season the first Saturday in July. The boys have quite frankly worked their butts off. The varied training we have tried to put in place like stretcher runs, log runs, circuit training, road runs and some others not mentioned yet. It has made the pre-season and this comes from the lads who have done a few. A great way to build up and not boring in any way, shape or form and that is what we wanted. Enjoyable team spirit and I think we have all delivered, the players and the staff have put on and worked to a hopefully great start to the season. Every player has been superb, to mention one or two of the lads, Marc Morrison has come back 5lbs heavier (and yes all the players were weighed before the end of the season and again now) but his BFI(Body Fat Index )was lower which means he has worked right through the close season. Also Marc’s brother Bill is here having left Maidstone. I could say lots of names and will as the pre-season pans out. The muscle statute is much better through out. One of the new boys Callum Jackson, who is only sixteen, has been out standing .With Mams and Liz sorting out the pulls, tears and strains we are looking very positive for next term. Our pre-season fixtures are published elsewhere on the site but if you are reading this and you can still come down just get in touch with me 07966 464212 or email jg0060509@blueyonder.co.uk I will reply to or phone any player and you will get the opportunity to come down (That is any age group from 8 upwards) John Guest
JOHN GUEST LOOKS AHEAD [18 Apr @ 12:02pm]
Well the season is coming to a close and we can now not win the league, I say smiling. Having sat down with Jason and the reserve team manager we decided it is the time to give younger lads a chance not only to the first team but to the reserves also. The name of the reserves next season will be the Under 21’s. There will be the exception’s as we have some excellent players over that age who will bring on the younger lads as well as players who are returning from suspension or injury turning out for them. With players like Rob Norman, George Hayes, Nathan White, Dan Delaney and Chris Le Mar all playing or being involved with us and the likes of Adam Whitnall, Alex Shell and Charlie Lillis (yes the Gaffers son - having seen him play for the reserves, I did not hesitate to suggest to the Gaffer to give him a feel of first team football). All of the above having the odd game and we will see more from them next season. The reserve team management have done us proud since we arrived back in October as you can see. A quick mention about the reserves yesterday with only three players over 21 and four being 16 the future is looking quite bright. We have also made big strides to bring the Lordswood youth into the fold and have given, between all of the coaching staff and management, various coaching sessions and meet the players etc. for all age groups starting at under 8’s who you will see Saturday as ball boys. This has been very important, as these groups as well as players filtering in from various other teams will be the future We will be fielding one under 15 team next year in the Kent League with Trevor Kitto managing, and hopefully more in the league the following season. There are a number of reasons. The first being to get a better bond with local players and more will become Supporters of our club and the other obviously to bring through quality players to help us progress up the division’s Thanks for your support this season Jason and John
JOHN GUEST REFLECTS AFTER NORTON [8 Apr @ 12:51pm]
“I have not said much about the result of the game against Erith and Belvedere simply it is three points, a win and a very good performanceâ€. This was part of my notes on Saturday in the programme against Norton Sports and as you can see we did not get too high so I am not going to get too low after our 1-0 defeat at home. After our excellent win on Saturday away to Erith and Belvedere 6-1 and a new situation as we were on the money and deserved the result we felt the boys might not focus mentally for the Norton game. Never a more true statement as we did not get out of the blocks and the instructions of what we wanted the players to do to win the game were not implemented until the 43rd minute rather than at the very start. Enough said about that but if we learn from this we will be a better team and I am sure we have because the whole group were gutted with the display and as the dust settled from the gaffer registering his displeasure the team were telling us that that was a harsh lesson but it is an important one Thanks for your support John Guest
GUESTY LOOKS AHEAD TO NORTON [4 Apr @ 7:54am]
Where do I begin? As you have seen in previous notes and the discussions we have had about adding to the squad for the balance to be right we needed a forward that would link the play between back and front. Eleven goals in three games and it looks like we have found him. To be fair the gaffer has been on Dimmo`s case since we arrived and finally got his man. The forwards Dom (Elmes) and Rob (Norman) can now be the runner off the big guy rather than trying to hold it up against big centre halves. The balance is looking better week-by-week. For the first time since our arrival we could sense we were sending out a team today not just eleven men. I don’t mean that disrespectfully to the boys but to have a team can take a long time in football and sometimes you won’t get that at all. So for us as a group to get that is special (long may it continue). As the result shows, every player on the park grafted for everyone else. Hopefully we can continue the trend and put in the same shift at home on Monday. I have not said much about the result of the game against Erith & Belvedere simply it is three points, a win and a very good performance. Today’s game is not about winning as much as to continue the progression as a group. If you play good football the results will come is the firm belief in the management and coaching staff and we have shown against Erith & Belvedere we can play. I would like to mention from Jason and myself the coaching staff - Martin Telford, Steve Arnold and Trevor Kitto who have all come on board with the way we want the game played and are doing a great job. Well done boys. Thanks for your support John Guest P.S If you know of any youth groups that would like to have a coaching session with one of the first team coaches prior to a game at no cost as part of our youth in the community please have a word with me at any time. There are still places on our soccer schools running from Tuesday 7th of April this week. Please speak to Steve Arnold or me the cost is £20 for two days.
JOHN GUEST ON BENGAL [21 Mar @ 8:52pm]
Well we beat Sporting Bengal 4-1 at their place and seeing that the next two sides above us were playing top of the table teams it would be fair to expect us to be off the bottom of the table as we were only three points below and with a better goal difference. Well you guessed it and I couldn’t believe it they both won. Which leaves us still bottom but since the arrival of the Gaffer and I we have played fifteen league games, with seven draws and two wins. Too many draws which we think we have addressed by the signings on Friday 19th March. On the positive side it keeps us in touch still but it took the shine off a good win. Still being positive we have been getting better defensively and the goals against column is looking better every week but we needed a forward, a big forward who can hold the ball up so we can go and join in knowing it is not coming back to quickly. That is not saying the boys we have did badly they have done very well but they are runners off rather than the main striker. Hence the arrival of Dimmo (Richard Dimmock) and to be fair he has not played at this level for a while due to work commitments but you could see straight away that that he had an impact for us and the partnership between Dimmo and Dom (Dominic Elmes) improved throughout the game with both scoring two and Dom having the assists for one and the other for Dimmo a penalty. The shape of the side is improving week after week and as other clubs are looking to release players at this time of the season we are looking to sign the right player or two as we want to hit the ground running in pre season. Talking of pre-season we are looking to have some very good sides here. The list of which will be added to the programme over the coming weeks We also signed Robert Hicks from Lingfield a midfield ball player who also had his debut against Sporting We hope you enjoy the game Thanks for your support John Guest Assistant Manager
GUEST PLEASED WITH DEAL DISPLAY [18 Mar @ 8:11am]
Deal away on a misty Tuesday night. As the gaffer and I travelled down to the coast we had a phone call from a couple of players telling us that the Medway bridge was closed due to an accident. We arrived at the ground just after six and spent the next 45 minutes clock watching and not being able to name the team until 7pm (thank god for sat nav the boys could give us an exact time of arrival). So the preparation was not what the lads needed for such a tough game. Well done to Martin and Steve for juggling the entire warm up to fit and getting the boys motivated. I thought we took a few steps forward tonight and some of the stuff we played was great to watch. We defended with a passion and after the game as we walked into the dressing room the boys bellowed at us “A CLEAN SHEETâ€, that is exactly what we want. We were absolutely delighted with no goals against and it is another step forward. Wes Hammond stepped in for Nick Berkhauer in central defence and did not put a foot wrong. Alec Osborne came back in on the right side of defence and had his best game for us so far. Danny Cook carried on where he left off on Saturday with a resolute performance in midfield and a sound performance from James Humphrey on his full debut. To be honest all the lads were right on it and right up for it and but for a couple of inches in neck or the stretch of a foot we could have had all three points. The game ended all square at 0-0, another draw but another point and one away from home, Let us see what Saturday brings against Sporting Bengal, we are a better side and a side that is not now looked on as an easy three points. There will still be good days and bad but hopefully more good. Onwards and upwards Thanks for your support John Guest
JOHN GUEST ON FAVERSHAM [15 Mar @ 3:58pm]
First of all I would like to apologise for no notes for the midweek game against Hythe. Frankly it was because I only saw ten minutes as my car broke down about five minutes from their ground and I had to be recovered by the AA back to Chatham and then with Martin Telford we drove back to Hythe to see the last ten minutes of the game. The gaffer did say at 1-1 it was a well-earned point. On to the Faversham game, we spent most of Friday afternoon talking on how to suppress them and how we could nick something. We have defended well and are getting better and decided to go with a 4-1-4-1 system with Danny Cook sitting in front of the back four and Luke Wallond up top. The gaffers pre-match brief to the boys really had them going, and you could see they were right up for this game. The game kicked off and technically this was by far our most impressive performance we defended as a team superbly. With Danny Cook having an outstanding game and Luke Wallond leading the line against Shearer for Faversham who is at least a foot taller than Luke and beating him in the air on a good few occasions. You really could not tell who was top and who was bottom and it would stay like that ‘til late in the second half when they clipped one over the keeper to the back stick to see it drift into the corner of the goal (gutted).We still carried the game to them and a number of good crosses and fortunate bobbles went to the away side. From a corner and where we had done so well, we went to sleep for a few seconds and the six feet five inch Shearer beat one of our defenders to head the ball back across our goal and made it two nil. We changed things around with Jamie Humphris on as a sub and within 10 minutes he hits a worldy into the top corner we are back in it at 2-1 to them and looking good for a point. The game went end to end until the 87th minute when Richard Sinden nicked it for the visitors with a header from six yards. This was definitely a step forward against the side ten points clear in the division. We competed for 90 minutes and competed well and that is a good feeling. Thanks for your support John Guest
JOHN GUEST REFLECTS... [15 Mar @ 3:57pm]
Sometimes when you don’t have a game you are not that disappointed as you want to get on the training field and sort some things out. Well on Saturday we got to Martyn Grove at 12.30 and finished just after 4.30.There were lots of defending sessions taken by the gaffer (Jason) and on this occasion I worked with the forwards. It was a very successful afternoon as its not often so much time can be given to training during the season, patterns of play etc. The boys were a total credit to us all and worked their socks off. Well on to today (Tuesday) and we have Hythe Town tonight so you will have the benefit of knowing the score as you read this. We did say in previous notes that three steps forward and one back and we are in the one back at the moment, so hopefully the shoulders are leaning forward for the feet to follow. Keep the faith we will get there. Thanks for your support John
JOHN GUEST COMMENTS ON THE 1-1 DRAW AT FISHER [21 Feb @ 5:29pm]
Where do I begin with this one? Fisher, just above us in the division and if we win we would be off the bottom of the table for the first time this season. Where we had been a little slow out of the blocks in the last couple of games we were right at it from the off .The pitch was very boggy but the sun was shining. We worked hard and created chance after chance after chance .We eventually notched one with a quality move down the left Roy Guiver’s back heel to Jamie Humphris and a perfect knock to the back post for Luke Wallond to score an excellent header. My thoughts at this stage were we are going to score more and hopefully 3-0 so reversing the result at Martin Grove at the beginning of the season. A London Radio station called the Fisher commentator for an update and he said we are losing 1-0 and it should be 10. I think that gives an idea how much we were on top. Still only one nil at half time but well in control of the game we came out for the second half and continued where we left off with more chances until the last fifteen minutes. They made a couple of substitutions and changed their shape and we then struggled to get the ball into the corners and turn them around, giving Fisher the chance to press us back to our box. The inevitable happened in the last 5 minutes with a speculative strike that Rowan Arnott had covered but struck Nick Berkhauer and looped over Rowan and into the top corner. On a positive note we have only lost one in six. We just need to convert some of the mirade of chances we have had. We are talking to a couple of players this week with a seven day notice going in for one on Monday 22nd February so watch this space. Thanks for your support John Guest Assistant Manager
JOHN GUEST - LORDSWOOD 0 v 2 HERNE BAY [15 Feb @ 12:00am]
Well this was going to be a tough 90 minutes and it certainly proved to be just that. I have not seen Herne Bay before as a team and The Gaffer as I am sure you are aware was the manager there for three years. Sadly he did a very good job of putting together what I would consider to be the best side we have played against up until now. Before we started today we were missing Guives (Roy Guiver) with a calf strain, Alec Osborne with a knee injury and Jamie Humphris with a hip injury. We started quite brightly and the game was fairly equal until two of our boys went for the same ball in our penalty area and it bobbled just outside the box for Michael Jenner to strike a good ball through a maze of defenders and right into the bottom corner. One nil down we continued to play but our impetus and pace was slower than normal, but having said that some of the football we played was exactly what we are looking for, we just want it a bit quicker but that will come. The eventual result of 0-2 wasn’t what we were hoping for. We have progressed a lot in only a short period of time, as we were all disappointed not to have got something from the side second in the division. We are going to have times where our performances will dip slightly that is due to us ( Jason, myself and the coaching staff) changing the way the side played in the past. We can already see improvement as up until today we had gone four games unbeaten. We will hopefully go on another winning run. Please be patient. It was good to see so many of Lordswood’s youth players at the game, meeting the players, programme signing, having a coaching session with the reserve team. Managers Steve Coates, Dennis Overton and reserves captain Matt Wood worked with Lordswood under 10s and they also had lunch in the Main club. The under 10s manager Jason Webb and his assistant Jim Frazer are dong a great job. To Steve, Dennis, Matt, Jason and Jim, and also their team who were all the ball boys today. WELL DONE A special thanks to you the supporters… 172 today. The best attendance this season please keep it up. Thanks for your support John Guest Assistant Manager
JOHN GUEST REFLECTS ON THE ERITH & BELVEDERE GAME [11 Feb @ 8:15am]
We thought the Erith and Belvedere game was going to be tough, well they all are at this level and they are third in the division. This game was an excellent advert for the purist fair tackles flying in, both sides dominating the game at different times, four goals scored. The only pity is it was a cold Tuesday evening and not a Saturday because quite a few supporters would not see the game. We had our chances as well as Erith and to be fair a draw was what both sides deserved. Adam Ling came in on the left of midfield; Roy Guiver was back from his calf injury, only for the first half as he broke down again and will not be available for the Herne Bay game through suspension. The second half we brought on Rob Norman and he did not disappoint scoring an excellent goal, well done Rob he’s only sixteen On a final note the officials were absolutely outstanding so well done to them Thanks for your support John Guest Assistant Manager
JOHN GUEST PREVIEWS THE ERITH & BELVEDERE GAME [8 Feb @ 2:21pm]
Managers Notes One of the things that we have been excellent at as a side since Jason and I took over is not allowing the opposition the opportunity to get into their stride, as once you do it is very difficult to regain the advantage. Well you guessed it for some strange reason, and that’s football sometimes, we did not get out of the blocks early enough at the home game against Sporting Bengal in the first half and the same was the case in the away game to Greenwich Borough. Once we had a chance to regroup at half time as can be seen by the results (a very creditable 4 points out of 6) we then started to play. To be fair to the boys we have had quite a few enforced changes from the starting eleven in that Roy Guiver (calf), Adam Hooper (holiday arranged before he signed for us) and Jamie Humphries (Hip) have been out. Added to the injury list is Alec Osborne who has a knee injury and at the time of writing these notes (Sunday) I am waiting for a phone call from Alec as to the extent of the damage. We are waiting on a result from an x-ray on Jamie but Roy and Adam will be added to the squad for tonight’s game with Erith and Belvedere. Having said that the boys that came in, Chris Le Mar, Fozzie (Andy Forster and Adam Ling(Lingy) all acquitted themselves well We will be doing all we can to ensure we get going early tonight. Thanks for your support John Guest Assistant Manager
JOHN GUEST GIVES HIS VIEW ON JANUARY 2010 [1 Feb @ 7:20pm]
The game against Greenwich Borough eventually went ahead last Saturday. This was the first game we have had since Early December due to the snow. This did not stop us from preparing properly and we were in Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday throughout the Christmas period with only 2 sessions called off due to icy roads. Every session finished off with a snowball fight the gaffer coming off worst in most of them. Back to the Greenwich game… Most clubs having looked at our position in the table think this is going to be an easy three points and hence Greenwich started off very brightly, and within the first twenty minutes a through ball led to Roy Guiver pulling their forward back and he was sent off. From the resulting penalty Greenwich were one nil up. Down to ten men and a bit of re-jigging we went to 4-4-1 and finally got into our stride, and over the next 70 minutes we battered them with our work rate and determination having had five or six keeper to beat chances, hitting the woodwork more than once. On eighty-two minutes and with Greenwich on the rack, Jamie Humphris drove in from the left, took on two defenders and the second brought him down in the box. The referee did not see it waved play on and from the resulting attack Greenwich scored their second. We kept on working hard but a third followed just before the referee called time. The work rate from the boys was superb and the result was not a fair reflection on the game and this was said even by the Borough support. Jason was delighted with the boys and as a reward gave them Tuesday night off .It only shows how much the boys want it as they all turned up on Tuesday anyway. Where do I begin with the Beckenham Game? The Gaffer said it was like a carpet to play on and they are a very good footballing side and he was not wrong. They came out of the blocks and as we say passed for fun but yet again we dug in for the first fifteen minutes and eventually got on top only for a sloppy clearance allowing Beckenham a simple pass from thirty yards into our unattended goal. Undeterred we piled on the pressure. You could see the effect it was having as a number of Beck’s players got booked and one sent off while we equalised through Dominic Elmes on 19 minutes. We now had most of the play with sporadic raids from Beckenham. Half time came and the game was still all square at 1-1.We were convinced that we could achieve our fist win but within five minutes of the restart a free kick from our right to the far post saw the ball lofted back across the box for a free header and we were 2-1 down. We dominated for the rest of the game and eventually a penalty was awarded in the last ten minutes and Luke Wallond kept his cool and slotted past the keeper. We were very pleased to get a point but we were worthy of all three.
JOHN GUEST UPDATES AFTER LORDSWOOD'S FIRST WIN UNDER THE NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM [14 Dec @ 6:35pm]
Over the last couple of weeks since our 6-1 defeat at Erith we have played a few of the first team against Dartford in a reserve team fixture so we could see the blend between some of the younger lads in the reserves and the senior squad. hence Chris Le Mar was drafted into the senior group as well as Dale Kitchener and Jamie Humphries. Sadly for Chris he had to miss the cup game due to illness when he was going to start. We also had a friendly against a strong Folkestone side who played 6 of their first eleven as well as four YTS (Youth training scheme) players from Gillingham .We lost 0-2 but quite easily could have drawn as we had 3 or 4 good chances throughout the game As the heading shows we now have our elusive first win and away from home too and it was against Erith who defeated us 6-1 which we feel shows good progression over the last month or so. As we settle down and the squad starts to take shape the confidence in the dressing room is getting better with every game as the boys put into practice the way the Gaffer wants the game to be played. After Hythe at home our next game is not until the 2nd January, but the players will be in over the Christmas period to maintain fitness levels so we can start 2010 with hopefully where we leave 2009. From all the players and staff we would like to wish every one a very merry Christmas and hope 2010 is going to be a good one for all of us. Onwards and upwards JOHN Thanks for your support John Guest (Assistant Manager) Billy Somerville has left the club and wish him all the best for the future
John Guest reflects on life at Lordswood following the 1-0 defeat against Deal Town [25 Nov @ 12:00am]
I have to say it was a disappointing result to lose 0-1 when we had made some good strides in the first two weeks but on reflection we have begun to change the way we play it will take time. This was not helped by losing Danny Cook (dislocated shoulder) and Aaron Burrett(suspect knee ligament)in the first half. The boys yet again and I am not just saying this for the sake of it gave us 100 percent and as the weeks progress and they have the opportunity to take on board more of the way we want to play then the results will follow. We will be playing most of the first team on Tuesday (24th November) in the reserves. This will help with the formation changes and also give us the opportunity to see one or two of the up and coming players in first team surroundings John Guest Assistant Manager
ASSISTANT MANAGER JOHN GUEST GIVES HIS VIEWS AFTER TWO WEEKS AT THE CLUB [20 Nov @ 4:29pm]
What a fortnight it has been since Jason and I have taken the helm with players coming and going. The list is at the bottom of these notes .We are still looking to bring in one or two more to strengthen the squad even further. Having said that we are absolutely delighted with the effort that all the boys have put in and the future is starting to look brighter with an excellent performance from the boys last Saturday 1-1 away to Tunbridge Wells. We hit the bar and had other chances for the three points. In the words from the Gaffer they certainly were prepared to die for the cause. As can be seen from the Tunbridge game we are looking to the long term and if a player is good enough he’s old enough with under 18 player, 16 year old Rob Norman in the squad and was given his chance with a second half appearance and did well .With help he has a very bright future. Our longer-term aim for this season is a mid table finish and hopefully a decent cup run. Short-term get off the bottom of the table and a few more through the gate. PLAYERS IN: DANNY COOK (Herne Bay) ALAN SCOTT (Herne Bay) ADAM TODD (Norton Sports) SCOTT PUNTON (Hythe) ADAM HOOPER (Hythe) ROY GUIVER (Hythe) AARON BURRETT (Erith & Belvedere) Thanks for your Support John Guest - Assistant Manager
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