Monday Morning Quarterback – Week 9 Upon Further Review
Let’s go straight to our latest loss against relegation rivals Chesham Utd at the Camrose.
Firstly, that fortress Camrose that some fans talk about in the past, has now flown well and truly out the window this season.
Secondly, the fact that our league record now looks like a cardiac arrest sheet at the moment, does not tend to give us hope that things will change anytime soon.
Thirdly, although continuing injuries to key players have affected our performances, to be perfectly honest we have played poorly in recent games, we have lost that cutting edge in front of goal. Yes we score goals, but miss a huge amount of opportunities.
Fourthly, we still look wide open at the back, and unless we stop teams from putting the ball deep into our box, we will simply continue to struggle.
Without reinforcements at the back, sorry the right reinforcements at the back, then we will likely remain in this relegation dogfight until the end of April.
Martin Kuhl now fully in charge of the squad, has a tough job in front of him and think we need to fully support him over the last half of the season.
Well with us dropping to 20th in the league, let’s take a look around what happened on Saturday. League Leaders Taunton Town were due to play 3rd place Salisbury in the match-up of the day, however with Salisbury still in the FA Trophy the match was postponed. Salisbury however came unstuck as they lost on the road 4-1 to Carshalton Casuals. 2nd placed Weymouth were also in the FA trophy but fared better as they travelled up north to Lancashire to a small suburb of Greater Manchester to play Ramsbottom Utd. Weymouth led 1-2 but the home team pulled out a last gasp equaliser to earn a replay at Bob Lucas Stadium this Tuesday. I will update you on that result on Wednesday evening, however if expected that Weymouth progresses, then our League match at Weymouth on Saturday 2nd February could well be postponed as the next round of the FA Trophy falls on that day.
Ok with these 3 teams idle in the league this allowed 5th placed Met Police to jump up into 2nd place after they were the latest team to beat Hendon FC, as they won convincingly at home 3-0 with more goals by their front three Jack Mazzone, Max Blackmore & Jonathan Hippolyte.
In the last promotion playoff spot is Harrow Borough who slipped to their 2nd consecutive defeat this time 4-1 at Beaconsfield Town. Two goals by Marvin Morgan and goals from Bajram Pashaj and Reece Yorke were more than enough to deal with the Boro. This also pushed Beaconsfield Town upto 6th place with 5pts separating them from a playoff place.
Ok, the top of the table looks like this;
| TEAM | PLD | WON | DRAWN | LOST | PTS |
| Taunton Town | 25 | 16 | 4 | 5 | 52 |
| Met Police | 23 | 13 | 7 | 3 | 46 |
| Weymouth | 22 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 45 |
| Salisbury | 23 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 45 |
| Harrow Borough | 25 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 43 |
So to the bottom of the table, where we sit 20th. Staines Town, remain firmly at the bottom as they lost again, this time on the road 3-0 at Swindon Supermarine. The Marine have proved that you can go on a run and move up the league, as they now sit in 9th place.
Frome Town sitting in 21st place were also another team who were idle this weekend as they were due to play Dorchester Town, but the Magpies were the 3rd team to play in the FA Trophy. The Magpies lost on the road 2-1 at Barnet. Benjamin Seymour were the Town’s goal-scorer.
So sitting above Stoke are Gosport Borough, who were also idle this weekend. In 18th sit our victors Saturday Chesham Utd. Both Chesham & Gosport have just 1pt more than us (29pts), with Stoke having games in hand on both of them.
On 30pts are both Dorchester Town & Wimborne Town. Wimborne destroyed our next Saturday opponents Merthyr Town 4-0 at the Cuthbury. A hat-trick by Tobias Holmes, before Luke Homes added the 4th secured a comfortable win.
On 31pts are three teams, Walton Casuals, Hendon FC and Tiverton Town. Walton Casuals lost 1-2 at home to Hartley Wintney, whilst Hendon FC as stated earlier lost at Met Police, whilst Tiverton lost at home to the improving Poole Town.
The bottom 3 relegation places now look like this;
| TEAM | PLD | WON | DRAWN | LOST | PTS |
| Basingstoke Town | 23 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 28 |
| Frome Town | 25 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 24 |
| Staines Town | 25 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 9 |
Basingstoke Town leading Goal Scorer Chart
Ok the updated list of our own clubs league goal-scorers; 42 in total.
Dean Stow 8
Sam Argent 8
Sam Deadfield 6
Jack McKnight 4 (Eastleigh Town)
Sam Smart 3
Dan Collier 2
Zidane Akers 2
Harry Pearse 2
Ben Wright 2
Callum Bunting 2 (Departed)
Dan Bayliss 1
Shane Hollamby 1
Own Goals 1
Just three matches in our league this week as Dorchester Town host Farnborough, Poole Town host Swindon Supermarine and Walton Casuals host Beaconsfield Town.
Your MMQ – Martin French
English 
Polish 