Two games later and what do we know?

If a week is along time in politics it can be an epoch at Latimer Park.  From being drenched but happy in Wellingborough on Saturday after beating the Cobblers on the quickest penalty shoot-out in history (yes, it was THAT wet....) we were well and truly slapped in the face with "Deja Vu" by Barwell.

The only Poppies shirt to win headers in the first half

Above is a link to footage of my first ever, shortly followed by my second ever header at a Poppies match in over 35-years of attending matches.  Twice in one game after three and a half decades of waiting.  I have now headed the ball exactly twice more in a Poppies shirt than Nathan Koo Boothe and Oliver Thorne put together.  If you have a strange desire to see a fat bloke unconvincingly head a football, check out the footage between 8.30 and 9.15 minutes.

The new players all seemed to gel quite well.  Not sure of the names of any of them.  Blond one probably called Lyndon?  If previous pre-seasons have taught us nothing else, they have taught us not to get too attached to players who wear the Poppies red during July!  And our second half performance was most encouraging.

Paul White ruined a perfectly fine penalty save by asking me, whilst sheltering under my umbrella (ella, ella) as Brett strode forward, whether this could be the match winning penalty!  I confirmed it was.....pay attention Paul!  You can't very well run around like a headless, celebrating chicken if you don't know the score!

The inevitable bump was served up a few days later when Barwell, making the most of a very benign Latimer Park surface beat us at a canter.  It was a disappointing performance and result very much in keeping with the first couple of months home form last season: -

• Game starts off very even
• Then the opposition score
• Then they score again
• Then they add another, just for the fun of it
• Then Rene gets himself sent off

So, Rene will sit out yet another pointless Poppies ban as the Management need to come up with a Plan B for home games.  Perhaps a plan that doesn't involves heavy defeats?  Just a thought.  Marcus, you can use this plan if you want it.

Not a good start....

...PATGOD has barely got back from the Summer break, ready to train hard ahead of the new season, when the debacle of the Maunsell Cup Final hit us.

Link to - Poppies take it in the Ar*e from NFA and NTFC

Even after putting out two official statements the Club has still to state the actual reason we all should de-camp to Wellingbrough.  It's the pitch.  It's not the pitch.  It's the floodlights.  It's not the floodlights.

All that comes across in the statements is that we've basically been bullied into moving this "prestige" fixture to another ground, in another town.  Sorry, but our Officials would have come out of this better by detailing the exact issues NFA and NTFC have.  And then cancelling the game.  And then refusing to enter the Hillier Senior Cup this season.  Let's face it, other than winning it the entire competition is a joke that gets in the way of proper games.

The Northants Football Association have shown for the umpteenth time they can't run a bath.  We ask once again - just what is the point of the organisation other than to give us a fixture backlog and treat us with zero respect?

Genuinely, what do they do?  Their website lists a whole heap of Chairmen, Directors, Presidents and Vice Presidents.  No doubt all fine chaps who are perfectly at home in the NFA Boardroom, or at the local Golf course, or Tory fundraisers or indulging in obscure Freemason ceremonies, but they don't actually run anything to do with football.  No Teams, no Divisions, no Leagues.  Just a poxy Cup competition that is so popular, clubs are forced to enter or risk being fined.