A few games between now and then including 4 in 11 days for us. But they're currently struggling a bit and have a very young squad, all but 2 of starting 11 are under 24.
I fancy us to give them a decent game.
That's a real pity as the ground is within 5 minutes walking distance from the station.
It is a fairly easy journey by car from Welling (A2, M25, A3, A31, A331, A323) which normally takes just over an hour, but allow an extra 15 minutes on a Saturday early afternoon on the Guildford by pass (A3), as it clogs up going up the hill to the A31 turnoff. There is a large multi storey car park about 300 metres after passing the ground where you can park for 3 hours at £1.50, but beware that is the maximum stay. Otherwise carry on for about another 600 metres to park under Morrisons where it is free for 4 hours (but I will check that on Saturday as it might have changed since I last shopped there). If you do park under Morrisons consider eating after the game at Mimosa, which is an Asian buffet type (eat as much as you like) restaurant right next to Morrisons. It was the place we often went when I was working in Aldershot.
For the benefit of Mark Doig, there is a Real Ale brewery (Hog's Back) in Tongham, about 10 minutes drive away.
I was looking at some National League football recently after wondering what the difference is between our current League and the one above, and if we could handle the step up if getting promoted. I felt overall the standard is fairly similar. But the chance to actually play a National League team like Aldershot and find out how we fare takes away the guesswork. So although it would have been nice to get an easier draw against a lower team, our records this season are interesting (us P18 W 6 D 7 L5, them P19 W6 D2 L11) so we have a definite chance!
I think the South and National Leagues are closer than may be immediately apparent. There was a point I read somewhere along the lines of teams promoted from the National League to Division 2 stay there, rather than being promptly relegated, which differs to the Championship to Premiership jump, which often ends with the promoted teams going straight back down. The same applies to the jump from South to National.
This may be because non league teams have much closer incomes to each other than higher up Leagues, where rich clubs buy success. Teams are more closely matched in non League, and why I moved attention from the Premiership.
So with us, Havant and Ebbsfleet look most likely to be promoted to the National League at the moment, we have played them 3 times so far this season, and are unbeaten 1W 2D, so have shown we can match probable soon to be National League sides. And in the cup games South League teams regularly beat National League teams.
I don't doubt the very top placed National League teams, like Wrexham with many thousands of fans, have a big advantage over South League teams with lower attendances and lower incomes, but midtable teams from each division aren't that far apart.
There are six matches in the third round of the FA Trophy between South and National League teams, highlighted in bold. Once the matches are played I will update this thread, though I may accidentally forget to if the National teams prove me wrong...
15 Southend United v Boreham Wood 16 Woking v Eastleigh 17 Yeovil Town v Dorking Wanderers 18 Maidstone United v Worthing 19 Heybridge Swifts v Hungerford Town 20 Farnborough v Braintree Town 21 Banbury United v Bognor Regis Town 22 Dagenham & Redbridge v Uxbridge 23 Slough Town v Taunton Town 24 Torquay United v Chippenham Town 25 Aldershot Town v Welling United 26 Chelmsford City v Wealdstone 27 Swindon Supermarine v Harrow Borough 28 Folkestone Invicta v Leiston 29 Hemel Hempsted Town v Maidenhead United 30 Barnet v Plymouth Parkway 31 Bath City v Bromley 32 Eastbourne Borough v Bracknell Town
-- Edited by Johnny Hartley on Friday 25th of November 2022 01:38:32 AM
I think the South and National Leagues are closer than may be immediately apparent. There was a point I read somewhere along the lines of teams promoted from the National League to Division 2 stay there, rather than being promptly relegated, which differs to the Championship to Premiership jump, which often ends with the promoted teams going straight back down. The same applies to the jump from South to National.
This may be because non league teams have much closer incomes to each other than higher up Leagues, where rich clubs buy success. Teams are more closely matched in non League, and why I moved attention from the Premiership.
So with us, Havant and Ebbsfleet look most likely to be promoted to the National League at the moment, we have played them 3 times so far this season, and are unbeaten 1W 2D, so have shown we can match probable soon to be National League sides. And in the cup games South League teams regularly beat National League teams.
I don't doubt the very top placed National League teams, like Wrexham with many thousands of fans, have a big advantage over South League teams with lower attendances and lower incomes, but midtable teams from each division aren't that far apart.
There are six matches in the third round of the FA Trophy between South and National League teams, highlighted in bold. Once the matches are played I will update this thread, though I may accidentally forget to if the National teams prove me wrong...
15 Southend United v Boreham Wood 16 Woking v Eastleigh 17 Yeovil Town v Dorking Wanderers 18 Maidstone United v Worthing 19 Heybridge Swifts v Hungerford Town 20 Farnborough v Braintree Town 21 Banbury United v Bognor Regis Town 22 Dagenham & Redbridge v Uxbridge 23 Slough Town v Taunton Town 24 Torquay United v Chippenham Town 25 Aldershot Town v Welling United 26 Chelmsford City v Wealdstone 27 Swindon Supermarine v Harrow Borough 28 Folkestone Invicta v Leiston 29 Hemel Hempsted Town v Maidenhead United 30 Barnet v Plymouth Parkway 31 Bath City v Bromley 32 Eastbourne Borough v Bracknell Town
"So with us, Havant and Ebbsfleet look most likely to be promoted to the National League at the moment..."
IMO you must be watching different matches to the rest of us. On current form we should looking at the other end of the table and be worrying where we will be next season.
-- Edited by Johnny Hartley on Friday 25th of November 2022 01:38:32 AM
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In three words I can sum up everything i've learnt in life; it goes on.
Just to clarify, when I said, "with us" I was talking about the South League in general, rather than just talking about Welling. Earlier on in the season I privately thought we were a great play off chance, as we had a strong pre-season (admittedly against lower teams, but were sound in all our pre-season games) then carried that form into our early season form. But since then errors crept into our games, we stopped playing to our strengths and didn't fix our weaker areas, so have stayed still while other teams have improved. Like everyone else, I can see we started off with promotion form and now have relegation form, and want to see what is actively going to be done about this, apart from a post match interview once again saying how disappointed one is with ones players.
