CHAIRMAN NOTES | Cray Valley (PM)
Welcome to the first of two home games either side of Christmas which conclude a tough five-match run against top 8 teams all vying for promotion and bring the first half of the season to a close.
Going into that run I thought we would need two wins and a draw or a win and three draws to go into the new year feeling upbeat about our own promotion ambitions.
Defeat at home to Dover was a blow but after two 2-2 away draws at Lewes and Dartford if we can return to the form that took us top of the home performance table we will be in a much stronger position than last year.
We are only a point better off than we were this time last season but only four points short of the play-offs compared with the seven-point gap we faced a year ago.
This is a far tighter league with only five points separating the 17th placed team from the one in the final play-off spot in 5th (last season that gap was 13 points). Five games ago we were three points off the play-offs and have not won since but after three draws and two defeats we are still only four points behind.
With that recent form we should be further off the pace but all clubs are struggling to put runs together and as a result five different clubs have held fifth spot since we reached that high at the start of November.
While results elsewhere have been kinder than we deserve we have to accept that we have not been good enough over the past six weeks and we can’t keep hiding behind injuries, we have to own that problem and then fix it so it was pleasing to see Dillon, Louis and Max all return to action in the last two games.
We’re back to creating goals again but still capable of giving goals away, consistency will be key in the second half of the season. Home form is top 5, away form is bottom 5, goals scored is top 5, goals conceded is bottom 5.
Fix those discrepancies and we will make play-offs comfortably, fail to do that and we only have ourselves to blame if we fall short again.
On behalf of everyone at the club I’d like to wish you all a peaceful holiday period and hope to see you and any visiting friends and families on Boxing Day.
Chairman notes | Billericay Town 19/10/24
Welcome back to Champion Hill for what is the middle fixture of a run of five consecutive home games and thank you for supporting the team week in, week out.
It was hard to kick off that run with the international break as it is a weekend that always results in a huge spike in our already large crowds and I hope that the next three games give everyone who missed out last week a chance to return.
Last week we could have sold another 700 tickets in advance after having to close online sales on the Friday morning and we still had to turn away more than 300 on the day with hundreds more seeing the queues and deciding not to wait and see if there would be no-shows that allow our team to let more people in.
The worst thing we have to do at the club is not letting fans into the ground and I’d like to thank Gavin and the operations team for managing the situation last week. It’s upsetting for both those being turned away and those having to close the gates once our safe capacity is reached. Believe me they do everything possible to get everyone in.
I know people say you could buy a season ticket or buy online earlier but I think it is important to hold tickets back for walk ups. Local people deciding on the day to go to their local club is critical to our place in the community. It’s how we all started coming, wondering what to do on a Saturday afternoon and wandering down the Lane. I don’t want to lose that connection and become inaccessible.
After the first lockout we often see a dip so while we expect today to be busy it should not be a repeat of last week and then we have the FA Trophy the following weekend which usually draws a lower crowd than the league.
This support is always humbling and I will never tire of writing about it and the one advantage of games coming thick and fast at the Hill is for once, we have a chance of welcoming everyone who wants to come.
Thank you again.
You can see what Ben has to say on Saturday afternoon when we host Hashtag United. You can get your tickets here.
Manager notes | Hastings United | 12/10/24
Hello everybody and welcome back to Champion Hill. I’d like to start by welcoming the players, management, supporters and directors of Hastings United to Champion Hill and wish them a safe journey back to the Sussex coast later this afternoon.
I’d be lying if I didn’t say the last couple of weeks haven't been difficult. 3 away games on the bounce were always going to be a challenge but I’m pleased with how the squad has faced the varying challenges away from home.
The away defeat to Bowers & Pitsea was obviously our lowest point of the season so far. We’ll be working our hardest to ensure we don’t have any more of those low points between now and the end of April.
The reaction following that game was incredible. To go to Chichester on a Tuesday night and keep a clean sheet was important. I felt we did enough to win that game, and, on another night, we would have come back to south London with 3 points.
Our FA Trophy campaign started with an important win against Dartford something I know a number of our fans would have enjoyed seeing. I felt the game was very scrappy, but we did enough to win the game especially with our 2nd half performance. Jameson has come in and done incredibly well for us between the sticks and kept us in the game with a number of important saves.
Our focus now though turns to this afternoon and an incredible run of home games here at Champion Hill. Six out of the next seven Saturdays are home games and we will need you all here at Champion Hill.
A run of fixtures like this is unheard of. We know that we have to hit the ground running from today and with you behind us in your thousands anything is possible.
Thank you for your continued support.
Hak.
You can read more from Hak on Saturday in our matchday programme when we host Billericay Town. You can get your tickets here.
Chairman notes | Hastings United 12/10/24
I spoke about needing a response after our defeat to Leatherhead and we got it and if we ever needed another one it was after finding ourselves 4-0 down 30 minutes into our game against the team second from bottom in the league. Again, we got it. We shut the back door for the next hour and then in the three hours since at Chichester and Dartford that door has stayed shut. The most important thing is that the back five who shipped the four goals is the same one that has delivered those clean sheets. That speaks to coaches and players stepping up together and fixing the issue rather than the knee jerk reaction of the revolving door I know fans dislike. Also we have a recent history of a rot setting things at the first sign of trouble. This side is different.
The win at Dartford puts us in the next round of the FA Trophy and the home draw means the men will play five consecutive games at home and another potential home draw would make it an unbelievable seven consecutive Saturdays at home so please keep an eye out for fixture news and with today looking like a sell out we are doing everything we can to get people in and making it an enjoyable experience.
It’s days like this that remind us why we need the new stadium, I am so conscious of the problems a sell out brings for fans it is all I think about in the run up to a game. Progress with the new stadium has always been stressful but it feels even more so now with the clock ticking down to the deadline to start work and the club is still being dependent on developers, council planning and politicians which are out of our control.
So it is apt that today we welcome again the family and friends of Duncan Chapman who did so much to save the club and work with those politicians to get us through the planning process. It’s on us to finish that work and I hope to have news for you all in the near future.
You can read Ben's next set of Chairman notes on Saturday afternoon when we host Billericay Town. Tickets are available here.
Ben Clasper | Chairman's notes | Horsham | 21/09/24
The boom and bust of the annual fixture list is upon us as we flip from four home fixtures in August to today’s hosting of Horsham being our only men’s game at the Hill during September.
Of course, some of that is down to the cup exit and the randomness of cup draws which could also mean we only have one home game next month as well so keep an eye out on the usual platforms for fixture announcements.
After the nature of the disappointment against Leatherhead we were clear that we wanted to see a response and as responses go I can’t think of a better one than the shift the team put in at Canvey Island.
That win leaves us six points better off than we were after the same number of games last year but it was not so much the result that was remarkable but how we secured it.
I would not mind betting it is the first competitive game in which the keeper was the only player to finish in the same position they started with half a dozen injuries requiring not just a shuffling of the pack off the bench but those on the pitch having to swap positions with every substitution.
There were not too many challenges that I felt were nasty or cynical but Canvey were certainly physically present and picked up a handful of cards as a result. So it was pleasing to see that our own team did not get drawn into the conflict and looked intent on winning the game rather than the battle.
A late winner and no bookings was more than I expected to leave with when things were at their toughest. Horsham had the better of the fixtures against us last season on their way to the play offs and will be looking to improve on their semi-final defeat this time around.
They are also on another FA Cup run following their victory against Dorking last week (who they also beat least season on their way to the first round proper where they took Barnsley to a replay).
So we should expect them to be high on confidence and I hope our week off gives us a better chance of fielding more of the players who hobbled out of the Canvey game.
Address
Champion Hill Stadium,
Edgar Kail Way,
East Dulwich,
London.
SE22 8BD.
Information
Social Media
