“Bouncebackability” is what our remarkable group of players have in spades. To come off the back of a home defeat, then travel to Eastbourne and get a result is truly impressive against one of the favoured teams to get promotion. The team spirit and ability to fight right to the end made all Tanners fans very proud.
We then had a real roller coaster against Dulwich where we again were the better team but somehow lost 3-2. This showed I felt that at this higher level any mistakes will get punished and we need to be on it 100% in every game. I have no doubt we will have ups and downs while the boys find their feet in the Premier division but with the management team we have I’m sure we will soon settle down and get some constancy in our results.
Congratulations this weekend to our Ladies team who had a comfortable 3-0 win against Three Bridges and continued their impressive start to the new season. They dominated the whole match and on another day could have scored even more.
Now we have a weekend to put the league on the back burner while we concentrate on the magic of the FA Cup, a competition we as a club have a great history in. Older supporters still talk about our journey to the FA Cup 4th round, where after a run that saw us beat-
Croydon Amateurs 2-0
Hornchurch 5-0
Dagenham 3-1
Walton & Hersham 7-1
Bishop Stortford 2-0
Colchester United (then in the 3rd division) 1-0
Brighton & Hove Albion (then in the 3rd division) 2-0
before coming up against 1st division Leicester City in the 4th round. For younger supporters who may not know the story Leatherhead went 2-0 up at half time before fitness told in the second half end Leicester came back to win 3-2. The match at Filbert Street was filmed by the BBC for Match of the Day and over 32,000 fans attended. Had we won we would have been drawn away to Arsenal in the next round, something I’m sure our current manager would love to do. We can but dream, as they say, that is the magic of the FA Cup.
More recently we also reached the 2nd round in the 2017-18 season and who can forget beating big spending Billericay (live on BT Sport), who’s team included, Paul Koncheskey, Jamie O’Hara and Jermaine Pennant, 3-1 away before eventually losing by the same score to Wycombe Wanderers.
On off field matters I wanted to give thanks for the outstanding job that the people who look after out pitch have done during the hottest summer on record. Martin and Sam from Groundforce and Mark Allan who is responsible for its care internally. You have all done a great job gentlemen and given us a pitch to be proud of when many other clubs have struggled.
Today we welcome AFC Croydon as both clubs start what they hope will be another cup run full of exciting moments and memories. To the Directors, officials, players and supporters of Croydon, I hope you enjoy your day at Fetcham Grove.
UP THE TANNERS
JD
