OFFICIAL CHAMBERS RESIGNS

Weymouth 4 Yeltz 1

The club has released the following press release:

Halesowen Town FC Official Club Press Statement "Following Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Weymouth John Chambers has resigned. The club have accepted his resignation. Assistant Manager Alan Moore has been put in temporary charge of team affairs."

The Weymouth game was one of the worst from a Halesowen team that many people can remember - our goal was a first half equaliser from Stuart Payne - but then we went down 4-1 to give Weymouth their 1st win of the season, and our 4th defeat out of 5.

We're not bottom of the table as Tamworth don't have any points at all, but it's already looking like we're in for a long, hard relegation struggle.

Tuesday brings old rivals Burton Albion to The Grove in a warm-up for our FA Cup game later in the month. I've decided to concentrate on the cups this season.

Match Report from Dave Johnson

Weymouth: Potter; Cameron, Hale, Hare, Browne, Cross (Funnell 15), Gammon (Spiller 78), Hutchinson (Nicholson 76), Robotham, Underhay, Tilley

Halesowen Town: Quy; Wood, Owen, Comyn, Ford, Cartwright, Collins, Mansell (Dodd 65), Griffiths (Piggott 61), Payne, Hines. Sub: Lloyd

Booked: Wood, Hale, Payne, Collins Referee: B. Baker (Andover) Attendance: 730

John Chambers resigned as manager of Halesowen Town after two years in charge at The Grove following another disturbing defeat against a Weymouth side without a win and suffering from a number of key injuries. Harry Rudge would have called it a "bad day at Black Rock" with another chapter in the history of HTFC about to close and all the pre-season promise finally turning to ashes.

One bright spot was the form of goalkeeper Andy Quy who put in an another excellent display for the Yeltz. The tone of play for the afternoon was set in the 5th minute when Quy saved Martin Underhay's 15 yard drive. Quy went on to make further tremendous first half saves from Underhay and Darren Robotham with the visiting defence unable to close down the Weymouth attack. However, Quy had no chance as Weymouth took the lead in the 31st minute with the unmarked Ian Hutchison powerfully heading Anthony Tilley's corner home from 12 yards.

In truth, apart from some early neat play, Halesowen lacked the organisation or balance to pose a serious threat to Weymouth, registering only one shot on target all afternoon. Ross Collins did well to rob the Weymouth midfield and set up Stuart Payne to easily slot home an equaliser in the 43rd minute.

The brief period of hope for the Yeltz faithful disappeared as Weymouth took second half control and went back in front after five minutes of the restart. Quy saved Matthew Hare's goalbound drive from Anthony Tilley's freekick but the defence failed to clear the danger and Robotham was able to latch onto the rebound.

John Chambers introduced Garry Piggott for Michael Griffiths and Andy Dodd brought short Craig Mansell's return to Weymouth, but the substitutions failed to breathe life into the Yeltz who fell further behind to two late goals. Matthew Gammon played a neat interchange with Robotham in the 72nd minute and Matthew Hale had the easy task of beating the exposed Quy from close range. It was no surprise when Hale added a fourth goal five minutes from time after being set up by Robotham again as Halesowen's heads dropped in despair at their dreadful start to the new season.

CAN WE START AGAIN PLEASE?

Yeltz 1 Newport 3

I know my results in Anorak Corner only go back 6 years or so, but I really can't remember such a bad start to the season.

The latest disappointment was a 3-1 loss at The Grove to Newport. They took the lead just before half-time, and then got a second with 20 minutes to go. A goal from Woody promised a tree-men-dous comeback, but a late Newport third clinched all three points for the visitors, and left us in a very worrying 20th place . Not surprisingly, we've got the honour of being the league's lowest goal scorers with a mighty two. :-(

Saturday brings a long trip down to Weymouth , who've also had a pretty poor start. It's going to be a thriller.

Match Report from Dave Johnson

Halesowen Town: Quy; Wood, Hines, Comyn, Ford, Cartwright, Crisp, Mansell (Collins 65), Griffiths, Payne, Dodd (Piggott 65). Subs: Owen

Newport County: Mountain; Robison, Benton, Davies, Kemp, Thorne, Rose, Donovan, Hunt, Sheppard, Flynn (Bale 82). Subs: Beckett, James

Booked: Collins Referee: M. Forder (Hereford) Attendance: 532

Halesowen's dismal start to the season continued as they were well beaten by a lively Welsh outfit. Newport were quick off the mark with Garry Sheppard stabbing the ball just wide in the 5th minute before seeing his shot hit the post three minutes later when Andy Quy in the Halesowen goal failed to gather his shot cleanly. Halesowen were lacking penetration up front but Michael Griffiths did turn to fire a 15 yard shot at Pat Mountain in the 11th minute. Newport's pressure finally paid off in the 39th minute when Dave Hunt lashed home a right wing cross from Matt Rose from 12 yards out in front of a vociferous band of travelling fans.

Quy made two excellent blocking saves from Hunt and Sheppard as Newport continued to dominate the start of the second half and saved Halesowen's blushes again in the 63rd minute when Sheppard broke free of the home defence with Jason Donovan and Mike Flynn unable to turn the follow up home. Newport went two goals ahead in the 65th minute when Donovan broke through the heart of the Halesowen defence again but this time made no mistake when clear on goal.

Halesowen eventually pulled a goal back in the 82nd minute when a free kick from Les Hines was met by the head of Phil Wood at the far post. However, Newport made the points safe three minutes from time when Sheppard turned to drill the ball past Quy from 20 yards.

GETTING BETTER

Yeltz 0 Margate 0

First point of the season, and we're creeping slightly up the table .

In a desparate attempt to try and keep positive, I checked last season's results and found that we're much improved this time round - we've actually scored a goal.

Monday evening brings Newport County to The Grove . I'm sure you all know by now that it was rearranged from Newport because a load of drug-takers will be running round the track down there.

Match Report from Fady

Bloody hell! Anyone who saw Clinton miss after ghosting past two defenders and the goal keeper, before shooting wide at Bromsgrove last year will have thought they saw miss of the century. On the evidence of today, not so. At the start of the second half Michael Griffiths broke free from the Margate defence to win a 50-50 ball with their keeper and find himself right in front of the goal with the closest defender 10 yards away and the keeper sprawled on the floor. He had time to sit down and prod it in with his arse. Instead, he tried to place it in the bottom corner and only succeeded in hitting the post, before putting the rebound (which incidentally, you'd have backed Clinton on a bad day to tuck away) wide. Madness.

And that was the highlight (or lowlight, depending on our viewpoint) of the match. An inept Halesowen display in the first half saw the team leave the pitch to jeers and cries of 'Rubbish'. And to be honest, it was. Free kicks were constantly wasted, balls hoofed into space, and it is a fair comment to say it was like watching a Sunday morning pub side. Margate hit the underside of the bar, not once, but twice, and the Yeltz did not like anything like the side who had been so promising in the pre season games. Needless to say, John Chambers looked a very unhappy man, with a few words to say to his players.

To be fair, the second half was quite a lot better, but still not brilliant. Griffiths wasted the afore mentioned chance, and Scott Darroch was also unlucky not to open his Yeltz account when a rasping 20 yard drive went just wide. Stuart Payne could also have scored when his shot from the by line was well saved by the keeper, and Halesowen were unfortunate not to score. The defence looked solid, and Les Hines was excellent getting forward. It should prove to be a solid unit in a few games time, especially if you consider four of the back five were playing Conference football last season. However, concerns remain, like the inability to use free kicks effectively, and likewise corners, although, some optimism can be taken out of the match.

BOTTOM

Yeltz 0 Stafford 1

OK, it's not quite technically true - we're only in 21st place with a bottom of the table clash against Margate coming up on Saturday.

We have got a whole bunch of new players, so we know it's going to take a bit of time for them to gel together, but let's hope this is going to happen sooner rather than later. If this bad start continues, I'd hate to think what the crowds will drop to. :-(

You can read all about the disappointing defeat by Stafford in the match reports .

A PROMISING DEFEAT

Salisbury 2 Yeltz 1

After the fine performances in the pre-season games, the mighty Yeltz were brought back to earth with a disappointing defeat at Salisbury . However it was a promising performance; we played some nice stuff at times without ever quite gelling as a team - hopefully that will come soon. A few more details in the match reports .

Tuesday brings Stafford Rangers to The Grove for our first home game of the season. Come on!

LET'S GET IT ON

Yeltz 2 Causeway 1

Friendlies over and the real stuff starts now.

We wrappped up a pretty successful warm-up with a 2-1 victory against tenants Causeway United. After going behind early on, we equalised through a Crispy penalty, and then got a second half winner through Gary Piggott. Full details in the match reports .

Saturday brings a trip down to Salisbury for the first league game of the season. Hurrah!

Match Report from Dave Johnson

Halesowen Town: Quy, Comyn, Hines, Lloyd, Collins, Cartwright, Crisp, Dutton, Payne, Griffiths, Mason. Subs: Dodds, Thomas, Piggott, Owen, Darroch

Causeway United: Sidaway, Powell, Taylor, Shilvock, Burley, Hancox, Mole, Wood, Williams, Dixon, Skidmore. Subs: Wilson, Hollis, Lewis, Pestridge, Reeves, Hall, Saunders

Referee: B. Green (Oldbury)

Causeway made a lively start and a mix-up at the heart of the Halesowen defence in the 5th minute allowed Simon Dixon to nip in and poke the ball past Andy Quy to give the Grove tenants an early lead. Dixon then blasted high from 20 yards for Causeway before Halesowen's Michael Griffiths shot wide from 20 yards in the 13th minute and then saw his 20th minute header fly over the bar. The Yeltz eventually recovered from their shaky opening and equalised in the 39th minute when Craig Burley upended Michael Griffiths in the box and Richard Crisp tucked away the penalty past Matt Sidaway.

Halesowen took greater control in the second half following five half-time substitutions and scored the winner in the 49th minute when Gary Piggott stooped to head home a left wing cross from fellow substitute Andy Dodds. Dodds then forced an excellent save from Sidaway in a quick Halesowen break six minutes later before Sidaway was on hand again to hold onto Craig Dutton's drive at the foot of the post on the hour.

DRAW!

Yeltz 1 Telford 1

Just two weeks to go now to the real thing, but things are looking quite promising for the season ahead. Saturday brought another creditable result against a Conference team, starring Ralphy Crisp - remember him? :-)

If you're interested, there's a new vote out in the Yeltz Polling Booth . Go to it.

One more friendly game to endure - home or away to Causeway United next Saturday.

Match Report from Kieron

What's Black and Yellow and scares the sh*t of everyone? Apart from Forrest that is. Well the Greater Horntail that came towards me as I was leaving the house certainly has the necessary intimidating credentials. Plays in the right colours too. Did you know such fearsome creatures can cut through sheet metal? Mind you, our midfielders now carry a sting in their tail.

Tenacious Scouse proffered at the beginning of the game. Belligerent maybe? And these are friendly games. Bring on the Salisbury for a 'mons game.' The pre-season programme is the best we've seen for years.

Three Conference outfits to test all departments and none has been found severely wanting. Sure there have been faults - Telford's goal was a right cock-up at the back but the promise of our new blokes has more than compensated.

Slinky skills were once again displayed and some of the movement and passing was tremendous. Scott Darroch was inspired at times - Ralphy was an early benefactor of a superlative display of his ability to shake off close attention and he almost repaid with a brilliant strike which skimmed over the bar. Looking as fit as ever in his first game, Ralphy snuck upfront to receive an audacious flick from Neil Cartwright who seemed to be relishing the contest with his old team.

Fortuitous maybe but Ralph managed to lob the flailing keeper who was caught off guard. The scorching weather put paid to a second half slog and most players wished they were on the touchline with the subs soaking up the sunshine. Hope someone's taped these games for John Chambers.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Halesowen Harriers 1 Yeltz 7

A complete stuffing of our "local" rivals to keep them in their place. Goals from Payne, Mason, Dodds, Griffiths, Clinton, Darroch and an own goal lead to our biggest win since the last big one (you can find results for the last five seasons in Anorak Corner if you fancy looking - although I guessing it was before that)

Saturday brings another Conference team to The Grove - this time old FA Cup rivals Telford United .

I REMEMBER...

Yeltz 0 Hednesford 1

NOT TOO BAD FOR STARTERS

Yeltz 1 Hereford 1

OK, it was only the first friendly of the season, but it's a promising start.

Plenty of details are now in from some excellent match reports (thank you all), although which new blokes are trialists and which ones of actually signed seems a little unclear (to me anyway). Our goal was scored by Mr. Hodgetts, the new blokes looked quite good and even Gary Piggott made an appearance!

Next up Hednesford on Saturday, then Cradley Harriers next Tuesday.