FC United take on Retford United this Saturday at Gigg Lane hoping to continue an excellent start to the League season and make it three wins out of three. The 1-0 win at home to Nantwich on Wednesday evening leaves FC in 4th place on goal difference in the early season table. Margy was pleased with the win but feels there is still room for improvement.

"I thought on the whole it was another good performance against Nantwich. Obviously it’s always pleasing to get the three points, all the more so whilst keeping a clean sheet. That said, I thought we should have capitalised on our forward play more – we got in a lot of good positions during the ninety minutes but only managed the one goal with the final ball letting us down. From my angle on the touchline it’s not always easy to see why players’ decisions are being made as they are from those wide areas - sometimes it’s because the runs aren’t there, for others the pass lets us down and of course there are times when you have to give credit to the defenders too for blocking off the route to goal."

"At the other end I don’t think they had any real clear cut chances, which we were pleased about though we stopped playing our football in the second half to a large extent and, whilst they didn’t really create anything, I think it allowed them to put us under pressure. We coped well though, and there were times last year that we would probably have conceded a goal in those circumstances."

"A bit of credit goes to Nantwich because they changed their game plan after the break and looked to stop us as much as playing their own game. At halftime we told the players to be patient and keep playing the football because if we carried on moving the ball the way we were doing then we had the pace down the flanks to exploit."

"Crowd were fantastic"

"With that in mind it was disappointing to a certain extent but I suppose understandable at the same time because we’ve got a lot of new lads in the side and it’s the first time they’ve played at Gigg Lane. There was an element of wanting to bomb on and get the second goal instead of carrying on the passing and working the opening."

"Ironically part of that could possibly be down to the great support - I thought the crowd were fantastic and maybe one or two of the younger lads got caught up in the occasion rather than playing the match. Not that that should stop you, it’s my job to ensure the players learn!"

"As for the winner, it was a great goal from Jerome, a well worked and patient build-up, followed by a great first touch and fantastic finish. It should’ve been more - we hit the bar three times – but we’ve got six points on the board which is something to build on, especially as in recent years we’ve been terribly slow starters and have been playing catch-up straight away. At this time of year the games come round very quickly so it’s a good chance to build up a bit of momentum. We’ve got another tough game on Saturday - Retford might have lost both their matches so far but that’ll count for nothing as their players will be coming to Gigg Lane with the intention of enjoying the day and leaving with the points. If any of our lot are in any doubt about that there’s only one reminder they need and that’s Durham last season!"

Get yourself to that football ground, FC United V Retford United, Gigg Lane, Saturday 28th August , kick off 3.00 pm.

Jerome Wright celebrates the winner

FANS CORNER

World Cup Wallies

Looking back on the summer, the whole of England must owe a debt of gratitude to the French, whose football team decided with typical Gallic conceit that they wouldn’t even allow the England team the honour of Most Shambolic of the Tournament, by staging a spectacular implosion of their own.

Not that we didn’t try. The aborted ‘Capello Index’, Robert Green’s horrendously ill-timed impression of an English goalkeeper, and a predictably dim-witted attempt at mutiny by John Terry that was more ‘On the Buses’ than ‘On The Bounty’.

Perhaps most distressingly of all though was the inclusion in the squad of Shaun Wright Philips, (a man whose first touch control of a ball leaves it further away than most players can kick it). SWP’s terrified and perplexed face constantly betrayed his bewilderment over the very concept of ‘direction’.

So, in the end, England’s World Cup campaign was at worst merely rubbish and at best reassuringly unexceptional, leaving behind only the pledge that never again would the country give in to wild hysteria and insane over-reaction. We are left with the newly accepted knowledge that this England side are the worst team ever, ever, and that football itself in the country will take at least 140 years to recover. ... or at least until the new season starts!

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Not the best of days...

Only a chilly December afternoon in Bury last year FC United suffered from an invasion of Badgers. Not the short-legged heavy-set omnivores that live underground and live in the woods. These had Nottinghamshire accents, were long-legged and scampered freely on the Gigg Lane turf, punching holes in the FC defence, feasting on four goals within the first hour of the game and showed why they were topping the Unibond Premier Division table.

Retford United quickly adapted to the gloomy conditions and paraded a lethal strike pairing in Daryl Thomas and Colin Marrison. Within 3 minutes Thomas sniffed out an opening, shrugged off the retreating Nick Swirad and buried the ball past a startled Sam Ashton. It was Marrison’s turn in 18 minutes as the home defence went on badger watch duty at a corner, allowing the front man to fire a low shot into the net.

Six minutes later Retford scavenged a third when Thomas again scurried past Swirad and planted a measured finish inside the near post, before racing towards the MRE sett for a group hug. With the interval nearing, Carlos Roca unleashed a right foot thunderbolt from the edge of the box which flew into the visitors’ goal and reduced the arrears.

Any hope of a revival was snuffed out in the 58th minute when Marrison hunted down a loose ball following an Ashton save from Thomas, despatching a low drive through a forest of players and into the goal. The baiting from the small gathering in the away section was briefly silenced in the 61st minute when Simon Carden climbed to head in a Deegan cross, but the scoreline remained at 4-2 and it was the Reds that wore the persecuted looks at the final whistle.