...And it's a Goodnight from him....

As Lavery's playing staff shuffle continues, departures were always going to be inevitable.  In his, so far,  successful attempt to keep the chasing pack in touch with his previously imperious Poppies, the rotating door at Latimer Park has slapped the arses of a few players recently.

Even though our stunt signings Gary Hooper and Marvin Sordell still appear as players on our website, there's been scant evidence of them in the post FA Cup, only-5-on-a-bench fixtures.  Are we likely to see either of them again?  Don't know.  Don't really care.

And what of Sidik Atcha, who is patently not in Lavery's plans but was previoulsy to such an extent that he was handed a coveted Poppies contract.  Which I guess is why he's being loaned out by the club to all and sundry rather than cut adrift.

Unlike the above players, this week's departures cut into the meat of the playing squad.  First off, there's the inexplicably highly-regarded Bruno Andrade.  Sorry, but beyond filling a shirt and always giving about 60%, I've never quite seen what it was Bruno brought to the team.  Fascinating fact though - he made two debuts for the Poppies, both away to St Ives.  In the first debut last season he stood around while St Ives ran riot and thumped 6 past us.  In this year's re-debut Bruno scored a lovely goal in our 3-0 FA Cup win.  And pretty much, that was that from Bruno.  He could barely hold his place in last season's Poppies team, so had no chance nailing a spot in the current team.

Dan Jarvis is a different proposition.  Yes, he could drift in and out of games and have spells of anonymity.  But he is also a very skilful player who could walk into any team in this division.  Last year he was one of very few positives to come from that turgid season.  He scored a few goals and played a substantial part in keeping us from slipping even further down the football pyramid.  He also won the "Player of the Season" award, during an admittedly thin season.  You were left wondering how he'd look in a better team.  Well, we soon found out, and the answer was, he looked pretty good!

He carried on where he left off last season, looking quality, scoring goals and leaving fullbacks on their arses with his patented "Jarvis-jiggle", which, to this day, I can't describe or figure out except to say that no defender could read it either*  Dan has joined the sizeable ex-Poppies contingent at Banbury where I just know he'll cause us problems if we ever actually play them this season.

Remember we liked you and please take it easy on us....

*didn't take long.....