How welcome was the hard-earned point that we won away at in-form Hungerford on Tuesday evening. After five 1-0 defeats, a 60th minute header from Ezio Touray gave us much to cheer at Bulpit Lane. It was a terrific performance from the whole team with exciting new signing Kris Campbell being most observers man of the match. We are now in 19^thplace in the table (P32 W7 D9 L16 30 points) with ten matches to play.

Joe and Pat continue to tinker with the playing squad with the announcement that we have secured the services of AFC Bournemouth youngster Charlie Stevens on a loan deal.

It’s another away fixture this Saturday as we travel to South London to take on Hanwell Town at the Powerday Stadium. We lost the reverse fixture at The Black Gold Stadium 2-1 in November. The Dolphins trailed 1-0 at half time but drew level with an Ezio Touray strike early in the second half. However, Hanwell’s Dan Carr converted in the 63^rd minute to clinch all three points. Things got even worse for the Dolphins as Oakley Hanger was shown a straight red card late on.

The Geordies are currently in 12^th place in the league (P30 W9 D11 L10 38 points) and have won just three home league fixtures. They won their first three home matches in August against Bracknell Town, Swindon Supermarine and Marlow, but surprisingly, they have not won a home league match since. They come into the match on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Hungerford last Saturday which means that they have picked up 9 points from their last six matches.

Hanwell have performed particularly well in cup competitions this season with an extended run in the FA Vase and they recently won through to the Middlesex Senior Cup final to be played at Uxbridge on 19^th March against Rayners Lane.

The club is managed by Chris Moore who has a wealth of experience in league and non-league football, he began his playing career at Uxbridge before moving onto Northwood. He then made a name for himself in league football when he signed for Dagenham & Redbridge and later Brentford. After playing a few games for the Bees, Chris moved back to Dagenham & Redbridge. He took sole charge of Hanwell Town at the start of the 2022/23 season.

Top scorer for The Geordies and currently in 5^th place in the Pitching-In leading scorers table on 18 goals is Jordan Edwards, who joined the club from last season’s champions Chesham. He bagged nine goals in the Southern League last season, although it would have been 11 had his brace against Hanwell not been chalked off after a torrential downpour caused the game to be abandoned.

With still enough points to play for, we go into games like this full of optimism that we can produce the performances that will move us out of the relegation places.

Enjoy the game,

Neil Wellington.