- 7 hours ago
Matt Pole is joined by Sussex sport guru Steve Bone for the latest episode of the Sussex Non-League Podcast.
It’s been a few weeks since the last pod, so there's plenty of league and cup football to catch up on - including managerial changes at Eastbourne Borough and Worthing FC, who have FA Cup ties against National League opposition to look forward to.
It’s been a few weeks since the last pod, so there's plenty of league and cup football to catch up on - including managerial changes at Eastbourne Borough and Worthing FC, who have FA Cup ties against National League opposition to look forward to.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Welcome to another episode of the Sussex Non-League Podcast, where we take a look at all the
00:04latest goings on at grassroots football across the county. I'm Matt Pohl, and on this edition,
00:09I'm just joined by Sussex Sport Guru Steve Bowen, where we'll be chewing the fat over
00:14the latest news from the non-league scene across the county. It's been a few weeks since
00:19our last pod, so we have plenty of league and cup football to catch up on. But first,
00:23before we begin, everyone at Sussex World was shocked and saddened at the passing of
00:27Chichester City player Billy Vega last month. Our thoughts remain with Billy's family and
00:31friends, with everyone at Chichester City, and with all those affected by the tragic
00:35incident at Wingate and Finchley. Steve, you've been covering this story. It must have been
00:41such a difficult time for everyone who had a connection to Billy.
00:45Yeah, it is. It has been. And just to echo what you said, obviously, we pass on our
00:49sincerest thoughts to his family, his friends, everybody at Chichester City, lots of friends
00:56there and teammates, and people at other clubs, including Eastbourne, Borough, and Hastings,
01:02who knew him well and admired him for the person and the player he was. Yeah, I mean,
01:08three weeks on now since it actually happened, and it's still quite sort of hard to process,
01:13I think, for a lot of people. People can't quite believe that, you know, somebody went out
01:17to play football for one of the teams that we know, and that's how it ended. I think what
01:24has been nice is just the sort of sheer volume of tributes that we've seen from the football
01:35world locally and from Arsenal, where he spent quite a few years as a young player, and also
01:43from a lot of clubs that had no connection to him. You know, it's something that shocked football.
01:49I think his name is going to live on. He's going to be remembered for a long time. I think there's
01:55going to be a good look at the safety of the surroundings of pitches at non-league level,
02:01which there clearly needs to be. And so some good will come out of it in some of these grounds
02:07that need to be made safer will be made safer. I think that's going to happen. There's also
02:12been a suggestion this week that the Sussex Senior Cup should be renamed the Billy Bigger
02:17Cup. That's a suggestion that's come from Simon Leslie at Eastbourne Borough. It's a very
02:22good suggestion, so there'll be a bit of debate about that. But yeah, you know, for a lot of
02:28people, life will never be the same again now that's happened. And I think it's fair to
02:33say that football won't be the same again for a lot of people. So yeah, as I say, as
02:38you've said, really, our thoughts and best wishes are with everyone who knew him.
02:43Yeah, absolutely. Couldn't have put it better myself, Steve. Yeah, it kind of puts everything
02:48into perspective a little bit, doesn't it?
02:49It does.
02:50Yeah, as you said, it's mad that you can go to a game of football and never return,
02:55isn't it? Something does need to be done about that. So yeah, hopefully the FA do get
02:59that sorted. But yeah, we will start this week by taking a look at how Sussex's side
03:04fared in the FA Trophy third qualifying round. Broadbridge Heath, Burgess Hill, Chichester
03:09Lewis and Whitehawk were all in trophy action this weekend. How did they get on, Steve Bone,
03:15and who advanced to the next round and who will they meet in the first round proper?
03:19Yes, we've only had one of those five, sadly, going through to the next round. Burgess Hill
03:26flying the flag for us in the first round proper. They drew with Potter's Bar and beat
03:32them on penalties, 1-4-3 on penalties at Leyland's Park last Saturday. The Step 2 clubs don't come
03:40into the trophy in the next round, they come in the round after that. So they're still to
03:44join in. Worthing, Eastbourne, Borough and Horsham still to join in. Unfortunately, our
03:48other four clubs all lost in last weekend's round. Chichester City, who we already mentioned,
03:53it was their first game back in action after a couple of weeks off and quite understandable
03:59postponements. They actually put up a good effort, but ended up losing 4-2 to Farnham.
04:06Broadbridge Heath, the Step 4 club, the only Step 4 club who got through to that round,
04:11again did well, but ended up losing to Billerickey. Lewis went down 2-1 at home to Lyston,
04:18a team from a piece Anglia way, and Whitehawk also lost at home. They lost 2-0 at home to
04:24Canvey Island. So that leaves us, as I say, just with Burgess Hill in the next round. They
04:31have been drawn at home to Folkestone. Folkestone seem to like coming to Sussex for Cup games
04:36at the moment. They were at Horsham in the FA Cup not so long ago, weren't they? So we'll
04:41have to hope that Burgess Hill can get through there and still be in the competition when the
04:46other Sussex sides come in. Yeah, absolutely. It's a tough old tie for Burgess Hill, but
04:50I'm backing them to go through, Steve. Backing them to go through. Absolutely. Backing the
04:55local team. Absolutely. Staying with Cup football, the second round of the Sussex Senior Cup was
04:59played during the week. There were 15 ties played up and down the county last Tuesday and Wednesday,
05:05and there were shots aplenty. What were the standout results in the second round, Steve, and
05:09who is through to the third round, more importantly? Yeah, it was a lively week of second round
05:14games, actually. We had four teams came through against sides from higher leagues. Of the 15
05:22ties played, four of them ended that way. Those four in question were Broadbridge Heath, who
05:28came from behind to win 3-1 at Burgess Hill. Haywards Heath Town, one at East Grinstead. We also
05:37had Crawley Down, Gatwick winning at Littlehampton. And Rofi beat Lewis at the Theatre of Trees. It
05:46was a young Lewis team. Lewis put out pretty much a team of under-18s, but you know, the old
05:52adage, you can only play and beat what's in front of you. So Rofi will have enjoyed coming
05:57through that. Elsewhere, we had wins for East Preston over Saltdean. Hassex put up a good
06:07fight against Brighton under-21s, eventually lost 1-0. Record crowd at the Beacon, 1,004.
06:13They've never seen the like of that before down there, so that was a good night for them.
06:16Worthing eased through, won 7-0 at Jarvis Brook. Three bridges are through. They won at Little
06:21Common. New Haven beat Seaford, 5-1. Horsham YM came through at Peacehaven with a 2-1 win.
06:29Horsham just about squeezed through. As you know, you spoke to Dom the next morning. They
06:33won at Whitehawks, 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Wick beat Lansing. An earlier game,
06:40I think it was played previous week, East Portown beat Crobra. And then on Wednesday night,
06:45Hastings and Bognor both got through tricky away games against Vandenians and Lockswood.
06:51And that just leaves us with one second round game to go, which is East Portown
06:55Borough against Chichester City, which I would imagine will be played in the next week or
06:59two.
07:00Going back to Lewis Ruffey, Steve, I'm quite surprised that Lewis put out an under-18 side.
07:05Obviously not knocking Bradley for his team selection, but if you see some of the sides
07:08who've got to the final have passed Sussex Senior Cup, it's a great chance for, I would
07:12have thought it was a great chance for Lewis to get to the final.
07:15Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise because they've already been knocked out of a couple of other
07:19cup competitions as well. So it's not as if they've got a lot of different balls to juggle
07:23still. Yeah, they've done that for whatever reason. They feel they want to sort of balance
07:30the wider squad out and give those young players a chance. And if they're not going to play
07:35in the Sussex Senior Cup, when are they going to play? I suppose Lewis would say that.
07:38But yeah, we've seen quite a few of the step three clubs get to the final in recent years,
07:44haven't we? Orson, when they were step three, got their Hastings,
07:47have got their Burgess Hill and Bognor before them have got to the final. And the final is
07:51a good night out for a club and its fans, aren't they? So I think there was one year
07:56when Lewis didn't enter at all, actually. So maybe the Senior Cup is just not as high
08:00on their list of priorities as it is for some others. But it opens the way, doesn't it?
08:05You know, we've still got Brighton under-21s in there. I can see Horsham getting to the final
08:10again, making it three in a row, maybe. But it'd be nice if one of the step three or step
08:15four clubs went all the way as well. Keep it interesting.
08:18Yeah, absolutely. Could not agree more. Now we will take a look at how our sides are faring
08:22in their respective league campaigns. And we will start in the National League South,
08:25where we have had managerial upheaval at both Worthing and Eastbourne Borough,
08:30while Horsham continue to impress in their first ever Step 2 campaign.
08:34A lot going on, Steve. Try and sum that up if you can.
08:38Yeah, OK. Easier said than done. So yes, Eastbourne, as many people will know by now,
08:44decided to part ways with Matt Gray on Tuesday night of this week. No great surprise, really.
08:52You can say it possibly happened a little bit sooner than many people thought. But if you look
08:57at the National South table at the moment, you would have, after last season, I think most people
09:02would have expected Eastbourne Borough to be up there, battling for one of the playoff places
09:05or automatic promotion. The table shows them after 10 games, still looking for their first win.
09:10They've had five draws and five defeats. They haven't scored many goals. I think they've
09:15only scored six goals in those 10 games. It's been pretty dour to watch at times,
09:20according to Kevin Anderson, who keeps a close eye on them for us.
09:23So maybe, you know, with those sort of figures being the case, then it's not a great surprise
09:32that he's gone. He goes with their best wishes. You know, they've said he's been a good person
09:40to work with and done things the right way. It just hasn't happened for him on the pitch
09:44and results business, isn't it, as we know? So that's why he's on his way. No news yet of
09:51who he's going to be replaced by. Worthing will come on to the fact that they've got a
09:56new manager. Chris Agata left for Sutton a week ago. But really, all three of our clubs
10:04just sort of waiting for things to click into gear in that division. Worthing and Horsham
10:10have got identical records with three wins, three draws, four defeats. So they're both below
10:15halfway. Eastbourne Borough actually climbed off the bottom with a draw last weekend or weekend
10:20before it might have been. But they're still down in the bottom four at the moment. So
10:24plenty of room for improvement for all three.
10:27Are you surprised that we'll talk about the FA Cup ties later towards the end of the podcast?
10:32Are you surprised they got rid of Matt Gray before that FA Cup tie with Boreham Wood?
10:38Possibly, because the FA Cup is the competition they've done well in so far. They've come through
10:42against Epsom and Schoeling. So they're in the fourth qualifying round. That's this weekend,
10:48home to Boreham Wood. Good chance of getting a prized place in the first round proper.
10:54But I suppose, you know, if you're being sort of business-headed about it, the owners at
11:01Eastbourne Borough and the chief exec are looking at the league. The league is the bread and butter.
11:06That's the competition they expect to do well in. And they want to be pushing at the top.
11:11And they're a long way off where they need to be in the league. So I think that has probably
11:16governed their decision. I don't think the fact there's an FA Cup tie this weekend, you know,
11:21I don't think that's probably really entered their minds in their thinking of how much longer
11:28Matt Gray should be given.
11:29And have any names, what names, if any, have been linked to the vacant job at Priory Lane, Steve?
11:35There's been a couple of names thrown around, and it really is that at the moment. His name's been
11:40thrown around. I don't think there's anything particularly concrete in any of them.
11:44Mark Rowley, sorry, Billy Rowley is an interesting one. He comes from an academy, pro-academy
11:50background, but he's done very well at Walton and Hersham. And there's been a few people in
11:55Sussex football circles mentioning his name as a possible manager, new manager for Eastbourne Borough.
12:01Mark Cooper, formerly at Yeovil, I think is available at the moment, and he's another name
12:09who's been mentioned. Beyond that, I think probably Eastbourne were interested in, or certainly a lot
12:18of Eastbourne fans would have been interested in Adam Hinchwood, who was, until yesterday, until
12:23Thursday, not tied to a club, because he's now at Worthing. We'll talk more about him in a sec.
12:29Yeah. I imagine there's other names they're looking at. There's always a merry-go-round,
12:37isn't there? It's time of year, and so there'll be a few people out of work at the moment that
12:40would be possibles for Eastbourne Borough. But they need to get this appointment right,
12:46so I think they're going to take a little bit longer than they might otherwise. If it
12:50takes a week or two for them to either wait for the right manager or get the right manager,
12:55get the negotiations done, then I think they'll be happy to have that little wait.
13:00Yeah, we've teased him, but Adam Hinchwood is back in the Worthing dugout. How surprised
13:05were you when it was announced that he would return, Steve? His achievements at Woodside
13:09Road are well documented, but I didn't know until I spoke to you about it that he turned
13:13York City into a cub on the brink of relegation into promotion contenders. Are you surprised,
13:20as I said, about his return, and do you think the Rebels will see an almost instant turnaround
13:24in his fortunes under his tutelage, or will there be a bit of a bedding-in process, do
13:28you think?
13:29Yeah, so to answer your first part of your question first, not greatly surprised. I think
13:36as soon as he left York, and that was a bit of a surprise because he did very well at York,
13:42took them to the playoffs and almost took them actually to automatic promotion. They weren't
13:47that far off that last season. It didn't work out for them in the playoffs, and then literally
13:53a few games into this season, he's gone. And I think from then, from that moment, Worthing
13:59fans were probably wondering if at some point in the future, he might come back down this
14:04way, and he might come back to Woodside Road. He was so popular because of all of his achievements
14:08at Worthing before, took them into the National League for the first time in their history,
14:13had some great cup runs as well, one of the Sussex Senior Cup, which we were there
14:16to see. So I think Worthing fans have probably always kept an eye on what he's up to since
14:23he left. But probably a lot of Worthing fans thought, well, it's a big sort of leap for
14:33Worthing to be able to get him back now that he's managed a season and a bit in the National
14:41League Premier. Worthing's board, I think once they knew Chris Agatha was going to Sutton,
14:49who were also National League Premier, I think Worthing's board would have probably scouted
14:54around to see what sort of names were available. But I think he would probably have been number
14:59one on their list. And we don't quite know how they've done it, but they've worked hard
15:04to talk to him, come up with a package that's right for him. And they've got their man. Worthing
15:11fans delighted. In terms of whether it will bring instant results, I think that's always
15:17dangerous to say. Worthing haven't had a terrible start to the season. They've had an inconsistent
15:22start to the season. We're only 10 games in. So we're at the stage where you get two or three
15:28wins from here and suddenly you're already in the top six or eight. So they're not miles
15:33off it. They've just lost a couple of games where they would have expected to get points
15:38from. Obviously, they're also in the FA Cup as well. Big tie against Forest Green coming
15:44up on Monday night. So that's a great chance for Adam to start. Adam and John Meaney, actually
15:50John Meaney has come back with Adam. He's going to be assistant manager. Very well known
15:55at a number of other Sussex clubs as well, including Horsham, where he did well. So I
16:02think it's fair to assume that later in the season, Worthing will be up there fighting
16:09for either for the title or one of the playoff spots. I think it would be a surprise with
16:15Adam back there if they didn't have a strong season from here on in. And that is the club's
16:21very clear stated aim. We want to be in the National League Premier, they say. And we think
16:26Adam is the man to lead us there.
16:28And that place is going to be absolutely rocking on Monday, isn't it, Steve?
16:31It is absolutely rocking.
16:33And also, I'd like to give a special mention to Worthing FC's media team, who after teasing
16:38a big announcement last night, proceeded to announce a new scoreboard that sent most
16:43Worthing fans into meltdown. But it did make me laugh a lot.
16:47I think if that had been the only announcement of the evening, they might have been upset.
16:51But it was followed about half an hour later by a new manager as well.
16:56Oh, everything was right in the world after Hinge's announcement, Steve.
16:59Yeah, they were all walking on sunshine. Good stuff.
17:02Dropping down a division into the Isthmian Premier, Lewis Whitehawk and Burgess Hill,
17:06unfortunately, have all found form hard to come by since the last pod.
17:10What's the latest from these three clubs, Steve, as well as Chichester City?
17:14Yes. It's a funny division, Isthmian Premier. None of our sausage clubs have sort of settled
17:26into the season, settled into the campaign yet. Lewis have been very inconsistent, but
17:31you look at the table at the moment, as we speak, they're seventh. So they'll be quite
17:35happy with that. They've actually won four of their opening nine games. As we've said,
17:39they've not had a great time. The cup competition has been knocked out of all three that they've
17:43played in so far. Whitehawks sitting in mid-table. Again, they're close enough to the sort of
17:51top group to still make a bit of a challenge over the coming weeks. Burgess Hill, after
17:56a very good start, things have evened out a little bit for them. They have now returned
18:00to home. They're able to play at a vastly improved Leyden's Park. They've got the new pitch,
18:08a lot of new facilities for fans. They've been delighted to get that underway. But at the
18:11moment, they're struggling for league points at home. They lost their first two league
18:16games after going back there. Maybe a bit of an issue with them still getting used to
18:20the pitch and so on and so forth. That will come in time, I'm sure. You do find a lot
18:25of clubs, when they first go on to a new pitch on their, you know, a 3G pitch on their home
18:30ground, they do struggle because it's so different to what they were playing on there
18:33before. But I'm sure Burgess Hill will pick up and having had the FA Trophy win at home
18:40last weekend, that will probably give them a boost as well. Chichester, for obvious reasons
18:46that we've already gone into, haven't actually played in the league, haven't played a completed
18:50game for, it'll be four weeks this week since they last played a league game. They are back
18:56in action this weekend though. Home to Lewis as well, so that will be an interesting game.
19:01Still, it's still asking a lot of Chichester City just to play and have a sort of normal
19:07match day at the moment. It's not going to be normal for a while and I think they accept
19:11that and you have to accept that. Nobody is going to be expecting too much of them in
19:16the near future, that's for sure. But, so early days though in that division and still plenty
19:21of time for any of those clubs to make a good campaign of it.
19:25Yeah, fingers crossed they all turn that around. Moving on to the Eastman South East, we have
19:29clubs battling at both ends of the table with Three Bridges flying high in second and East
19:33Grimstead struggling at the bottom. How have our seven sides been getting on since we last
19:38spoke, Steve? It seems that either they're in sparkling form or in the doldrums.
19:42Yeah, we've got all extremes really in Eastman South East. Three Bridges, as you say,
19:47going really well. One off the top with the game in hand. They've got game in hand on
19:52the leaders, AFC Croydon. Won six of their opening eight games, scoring plenty of goals.
19:56They've actually scored 27 goals in their first eight, so scoring at a rate of more than three
20:00a game. They've had a couple of fives and sixes already. So Jamie Crillin and the team
20:06there doing very well. Eastbourne Town have really picked up after a slow start. I did a
20:11piece with their manager Jude McDonald this week, which is in the Eastbourne Herald today
20:16and on the Sussex World sports section as well. They had five wins in a row Eastbourne
20:21Town at one point. That run came to an end on Tuesday night when they lost 6-3 at deal.
20:27Not the best place for them to have to get on a Tuesday night and got sort of well beaten,
20:34although they did put it back to 4-3 at one point, so they could have got something there.
20:37But they're in sixth place there, which after taking one point from their first four is a
20:41very good return. The two sides who came up from SCFL Premier last season are both doing
20:48OK, both in mid-table. You've got Krober in tenth, had a good win in mid-week as well.
20:53Haseks, who played a couple of games less than quite a number of teams in that division,
20:58are twelfth. And then going down from there, Broadbridge Heath. They've only lost one game,
21:06but they're 17th and they've only played seven games. So there are some clubs in that league
21:11who've already played 10. Broadbridge Heath, because they've made progress in the FA Trophy
21:16and so on, are lagging behind in terms of games played. So they're a little bit too close
21:22to the bottom four for comfort at the moment, but that will probably change when they get
21:25some of those games in hand on the way. Hastings, one of the bottom four at the moment.
21:30They're on eight points after eight games, a little bit up and down. They did have a good win
21:34at Sheppie a couple of weeks ago. But again, they've also been a little bit inconsistent.
21:41They've had, I spoke to Lee Carey this week, they've had six players, six regulars out injured
21:46for sort of more than one game. People like Dean Gunner and Brad Barry. So that's bound
21:52to affect them. Hopefully if they can get a settled team together, things will improve.
21:56Not looking too good for East Grinstead at the moment. One win from their opening eight,
22:00so they're still bottom. But in terms of points, they're not adrift yet.
22:04So time for them to turn it around if they can. They've had a good few years
22:08in that division where they've sort of punched above their weight really.
22:11So let's hope they can, they can sort of use the experience of those previous seasons
22:16to go on and do a bit better as the season goes on.
22:19Yeah, absolutely. And staying in step four, Little Hampton Town and Bognor
22:23have experienced contrasting fortunes in the Eastman South Central.
22:27The goals appear to be scoring goals for fun at the moment, while the rocks remain
22:30mired in the relegation zone. But there have been positive signs for Bognor,
22:33more of them there, Steve. And what's the latest on these two?
22:36Yeah, Bognor do finally seem to be picking up, actually. They've had two wins in the past
22:43week, beat Ascot in the league last Sunday, and then won, well, as we've said earlier,
22:49in the Serie Cup in midweek. I just think that, you know, Jamie Howell is sole manager
22:55there now after Michael Birmingham left at the end of August. You know, maybe he's just
23:01sort of finding his feet as the loan manager. He's brought some new players in. They've had
23:06quite a turnover of players since the end of last season, really. But it's just signs
23:11that it might be settling down a bit now. They've played a lot of away games at the start
23:16of the season. They have got some more home games to go. Obviously, home games for them
23:20at the moment are still on the 3G at Chichester City. But they're hoping to go back to Nywood
23:25Lane to their own new 3G pitch at the end of November now. So that will help settle them
23:31down as well. So at the moment, they're only, what are they? They're still in the bottom
23:35four at the moment, the 20th. But that win against Ascot last week will give them a lift.
23:40That was their first win since the opening day of the season. So they just need to build
23:45on that. And if they can get a run of two or three wins together, that will really lift
23:50them up to mid-table. Yeah, Little Hampton, a little bit inconsistent, but lost to Met Police
23:56last weekend, I think it was. And also they'll have been disappointed to lose to Crawley Down
24:01Gatwick in the Cup in midweek, especially having got to the final last year and had a great night
24:06out with all their fans at the Amex last May. But top half of the table and all the time
24:14they're in the top half, they'll be happy with that. It's a bit of an unknown quantity
24:18this division, as we've said before, for both Little Hampton and Bognor. It's a lot
24:23of new teams and new grounds for them to go to. So I think either of them, to keep their
24:29heads above water at mid-table or top half is probably a good outcome for them.
24:34Yes, absolutely. A special mention as well, going back to Little Hampton, to Horsham's
24:39Freddie Hammond, who is dual registered at the Golds, he scored a brilliant free kick.
24:44He's done very well. He's only a young lad. Yeah, looks like a promising young talent.
24:48So yeah, I hope that can be nice. Last but certainly not least, we will turn our attention
24:52to the SCFL Premier, where one side has already opened up an eight-point gap at the top, thanks
24:57to their flawless 100% record. Not a bad start for them, Steve. Who's leading the charge and
25:03who is struggling at the bottom so far?
25:05Yeah, so it's all about Hayward's Heath and their start to the season in the SCFL Premier.
25:11I spoke to Kev Green at the start of this week for a piece in the Mid-Sussex Times.
25:16And as you'd expect, he's not getting carried away at this stage. I've only played 10.
25:21And he says it's a very good start, but that's all it is. You know, if we lose our next 10,
25:26nobody will remember that we won our first 10, which is a fair comment. But scoring plenty
25:31of goals, they've scored 30 goals in those opening 10, with I think about 12 different
25:36goal scorers already this season. So it's not like they're relying on one person with
25:40the goals. It could turn into a procession like it did for Hassek's last season at the
25:47moment, if you look at that. Eight-point lead at this stage is quite a big gap. But at the
25:53same time, Hayward's Heath know that the others will soon close in if they drop points in a
25:57couple of games. They've got a big one this weekend, which we'll come to at the end.
26:01of the podcast. Main chasers for them at the moment, Forest Row, eight points behind them
26:08with the game in hand. Horsham YM are up there. Pagham are doing very well. And Levy Ewing
26:13down at Nye Timberlane had a very good win in Guernsey last weekend. I think the first
26:21team to go to Guernsey and win in the league so far this season. So that was a good effort.
26:26Bexhill and Newhaven are also in the top six. At the other end of things, Lansing,
26:31surprisingly, Lansing are still marooned at the bottom. Just appointed new managers since
26:39our last podcast. Dean Cox has stepped down from his second span on Lansing. Dale Hurley
26:44and James Rhodes, who have both managed Lansing before as joint managers, are both back there
26:50now. They are now the joint managers. So they'll be looking just to stabilize and slowly move
26:56Lansing away from the bottom. It's about survival for Lansing. I think now this season they need
27:00to, you know, after a really sort of troubled 18 months, they just need a bit of stability
27:08and a chance to sort of build for next season, really. Other clubs down at the bottom, and there's a couple of surprises
27:15among them. Lingfield, Crawley down Gatwick have only won one game, which is a major surprise. You'd
27:21not expect to see them down there, and they probably won't stay down there, in all honesty.
27:25And Van Dienians and Seaford are the other two in the bottom five.
27:31Yeah, speaking of surprises, Forest Rowe. I know they're not a team they normally cover, Steve, but they're going great
27:36done since their promotion last season, aren't they?
27:38Yes, that's right. Got promoted end of last year, didn't they? I think one of their first games
27:46was away to Lansing, and you'd have thought Lansing, having just come down from step four,
27:50that would be a comfortable win for Lansing. They went there and won, and I think from that moment
27:56people were just starting to sit up and take notice of them a little bit. I think there's a little bit
28:01of investment that's gone in there. They put a good squad together for that level. Their ambitions
28:08are clearly to go up a little bit more, you know, go a little bit higher in the pyramid. So, yeah,
28:13looking good at this stage for at least a good run to the playoffs.
28:16Yeah, they are indeed. We're looking ahead to this weekend too. Sussex sides, as we mentioned,
28:20will welcome National League opposition in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.
28:25Eastbourne Borough will host Old Foes Bore and Wood on Saturday, while Worthing will entertain
28:29Robbie Savage's Forest Green Rovers in front of the TNT sports cameras on Monday evening.
28:34Both tough but very exciting ties for the sports and rebels, Steve. How do you see these two
28:40going, and will we have Sussex non-league representation in the first round proper, do you think?
28:44We always hope so, don't we? We've been spoiled actually in recent years by, chiefly by Worthing
28:51and Horsham, you know, between them. They've got to the first round a couple of times each,
28:56haven't they, in the past three or four years. I think it's going to be very difficult for
29:01Worthing against Forest Green. You know, Forest Green were in the Football League until quite recently.
29:06The question there is how much of a factor will the new manager and an assistant be?
29:15That clearly is going to create a cracking atmosphere. There's going to be a big crowd in there.
29:21The draw for the first round has been done in the clubhouse and live on TV before the game.
29:27So, it really is all eyes on Worthing on Monday night, not for the first time in recent years.
29:33So, if they can just sort of build on that and get a fast start, maybe there could be a shock there.
29:40Eastbourne Borough, they're playing Boreham Wood and they haven't got a great record against Boreham Wood
29:46in recent years. They always seem to draw them in the cup competitions.
29:49Obviously, Boreham Wood is a team that came through the National South playoffs last year
29:54and got up to National League Premier and they're doing okay in that level.
29:58I think that might be where Eastbourne Borough's run ends.
30:02I hope it's not because we'd love to see them in the first round.
30:04They played Blackpool in the first round a few years ago. That was a good occasion for them.
30:09Well, that was in COVID times, so they had to play pretty much behind closed doors.
30:13I'm going to stick my neck out and say Worthing are the more likely of the two to get through.
30:19But maybe Eastbourne Borough can at least force a replay and just keep your interest going.
30:25Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think Worthing might win, Steve.
30:28I reckon Hinsherwood's going to turn it round.
30:30And that's not because I can't stand Robbie Savage.
30:32It's because Adam Hinsherwood's a good man.
30:34Nothing to do with Robbie Savage.
30:37We'll have some theatrics going on, I'm sure, on Monday night.
30:40Oh, absolutely, yes.
30:42Finally, as is tradition, we come to our Games of the Weekend
30:45where we select the match in Sussex we think you should keep an eye on.
30:48Steve, you've hinted at it, but what have you gone for?
30:51Well, Haywood's Heath against Eastbourne United for me in the SCFL Premier.
30:57When I spoke to Kev Green in the week, I was talking to him about the games they've got coming up.
31:02And although Eastbourne United are bottom half of the table so far,
31:06they've had a bit of a slow start.
31:07As Kev pointed out to me, they often start slowly, but they pretty much always come good after a little while
31:13and end up in the sort of top five or six.
31:16And I think that probably will happen again.
31:18Eastbourne United in recent weeks, they've had a couple of big wins.
31:21They put seven past...
31:23Who was it? Was it Shoreham?
31:25They put seven past, I think, last week.
31:28Yes, I think it was.
31:28So, that is going to be one of the hardest games that Haywood's Heath have faced so far.
31:34If Haywood's Heath can win that sort of game comfortably, 2-3-0,
31:38that perhaps is a sign that the Haywood's Heath bubble is not about to bust
31:42and they're on for a sort of long, successful season at the top of the table.
31:47But Eastbourne United will see this as a good chance to sort of measure
31:51how much they've improved since the start of the season
31:54and whether they're up to another play-off bid this season.
31:56Yeah, absolutely. I've kept mine quite simple.
31:59I think, obviously, that normally we would go for the FA Cup ties.
32:03But I've gone for a Sussex derby between East Grinstead and Krober
32:05in the Isthmian League South East.
32:07As we've said, Krober have done ever so well since last season's promotion
32:10and find themselves 10th.
32:11Well, bottom of the table, WOS will be desperate to claim
32:14just their second league win of the season
32:15and just get the season back on track, really.
32:18I think it should be a good game down there.
32:20But, yeah, best of luck to all our sides in action this weekend.
32:24That's about it for this episode.
32:25My special thanks to Steve for helping me man this podcast.
32:30Hopefully we can get some guests worried our star power is waning, Steve.
32:35You know, maybe we're not offering to pay them enough.
32:40Maybe they're all too busy in the manager merry-go-round
32:45worrying where they're going to be manager next week.
32:48But, yeah, hopefully we'll get some of these new managers
32:51on the podcast pretty soon, including Mr Hinchwood.
32:54If you're watching, Adam, we'd like you to come back on.
32:56Yes, we'd love you to have back on.
32:58Yes, don't forget as well that you can forget to keep checking out
33:03at sussexworld.co.uk forward slash sport for the best coverage
33:06of local football plus your local Sussex weekly newspapers.
33:09And as ever, keep your eyes peeled where we hope to have a special guest on,
33:14be it the tea lady at Eastbourne United or someone who mans the gate
33:17at Forest Row.
33:18So we will have a guest on in the coming weeks.
33:20Again, my thanks to Steve.
33:22Thank you very much for listening and watching.
33:24We will see you all when we see you.
Recommended
4:53
|
Up next
1:41
38:35
1:02:07
32:08
Be the first to comment