Saints  0

Rugby Town  2     Blythe 50, Kolodynski 57

Calor League Division One Central  (Saturday 6 December)

Saints:  Michael Power-Simpson, Remmel Clarke (Evandro Delgado 64), Ronayne Marsh-Brown (Leon Osei 78), Gareth Paxton, John Carroll, Anthony Lennon, Alex Paine, Davis Haule (Romaine Walker 64), Terrell Lewis, Scott Fitzgerald, Alan Hedley. 

Attendance:  78     Star Player:  Gareth Paxton  

Football is a wonderful game and attracts all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. For better or worse the club has had the spotlight shone on it over the last few days as the Daily Mail picked up a story about one of our junior coaches who expressed some trenchant views about competitiveness within the game that put him at odds with the majority of parents and subsequently with the club.

As a father with a son playing at under-15 level (at another club I should say) I can endorse the growing importance of competitiveness. This, however, usually comes from the boys and needs only to be channeled by the coach. At this age, most boys will have been playing for several years and will have learned the ethos of playing within a team while developing their own individual traits and abilities. To impose it on under-10s, as this particular coach/parent was doing, without this grounding, when the boys and girls are still discovering the game and finding out what they might want to get from the playing experience is both irresponsible and dangerous.

Football is a game, not a sport. It can be played and enjoyed on many different levels. Even from the other side of the touchline the spectator will take different things from the game, depending on his understanding of and attachment to the game.

Fewer and fewer children are playing the game into their older years. To risk losing them before they have even started doesn’t bear thinking about.

Ashford Town (Middx)  0

Saints  1     Fitzgerald 33

Calor League Division One Central  (Saturday 30 November)

A Scott Fizgerald header was enough for Saints to claim the points in their encounter at Bottom-of-the-table Ashford on Saturday.

The home side battled bravely but found keeper Chris Christie in defiant mood in the Saints goals. 

Saints:  Chris Christie, Kevin Ayodele, Remmel Clarke (Danilson Vicente 87), Gareth Paxton, Anthony Lennon, Davis Haule (John Carrol 67), Alan Hedley, Alex Paine, Terrell Lewis, Scott Fitzgerald, Evandro Delgado (Leon Osei 76).

Attendance:  70     Star Player:  Chris Christie 

Saints  2     Fitzgerald 50, Lennon 71

Chertsey Town  1     Betts 66

Calor League Division One Central  (Tuesday 26 November)

Saints finallly came good at home on Tuesday as they secured a vital win against fellow strugglers Chertsey Town. 

Saints:  Chris Christie, Kevin Ayodele, Ronayne Marsh-Brown, Gareth Paxton, Anthony Lennon, Davis Haule (Remmel Clarke 82), Alan Hedley, Alex Paine, Terrell Lewis, Scott Fitzgerald, Evandro Delgado. 

Attendance:  36     Star Player:  Evandro Delgado