Southampton sack Mark Hughes

After just eight months in charge Southampton have sacked Mark Hughes. His win percentage was even worse at Southampton than his time at Stoke. 

Match of the Week – Fulham v Southampton

Gibraltar were soundly beaten 6-2 by Armenia to end any promotion hopes in the UEFA Nations League. 

Fulham have a new manger Claudio Ranieri who guided Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2015/16. Fulham are currently bottom of the Premier League, having lost five on the trot and face Southampton, managed by former Stoke boss Mark Hughes. They are just above the relegation places having picked up three draws in their last five games. I am going for a Fulham win 2-1 and hopefully they will hasten Mark Hughes getting the sack as he will ruin Southampton like he did at Stoke and QPR previously.

Stoke’s U21 game at Port Vale in the Checkatrade trophy will take place on December 4 at 7pm. Stoke have been allocated 4,000 tickets and despite the early kick off should see a decent sized crowd.

Stoke host QPR tomorrow, with QPR on a good run of form and Stoke need to find that goal scoring form again. Etebo looks set to miss out having got back only yesterday from international duty, whilst Tom Ince has only trained recently following an injury. Maybe we can start with Bojan?! Former player John Eustace is current assistant manager at QPR.

Didcot Town won 2-1 away at Barton Rovers midweek to lift them to eleventh in the table. Next game is at home to Kempston Rovers this Saturday.

Didcot Town add two new players

Didcot Town have added to last month’s loan signing of Oxford Utd striker Brandon Taverner, adding Greg Hackett from Ardley United, who has scored sixteen goals in sixteen games (Benik Afobe take note!!!), and winger John Dennis from Reading City. All three will provide much needed cover and competition for places, plus hopefully a few goals between them!

Next up is Dunstable Town at home in the league this Saturday 3PM KO.

Bug hotel open for business :)

You can find more on how to make your won bug hotel on the RSPB website

It is not to hard to make (even for a DIY challenged dad like me!), I simply sawed up an old pallet we had taking up space and then my son designed & filled the hotel. It includes leaves, conifer, cardboard & an egg box with straw and sand on the ground floor and a felt roof, covered in soil. Aiming to spread a few wildflower seeds on top next year. Hopefully it will welcome its first guests soon!

More hedgerow disappears in Didcot…

Taylor Wimpey destroying more hedgerow. During the past couple of years since moving here it has been host to lots of birdlife including sparrows, starlings, wood pigeons, robin, dunnock, wren, blue & coal tits and magpies. The wood pigeons and magpies did nest here and in a nearby tree, also removed by the developers.

There is still a little bit of hedgerow left, although not much cover left for the smaller birds and nesting sites hasve gone. Having a bit of hedgerow at the bottom of a new home should be a good selling point? I guess it doesn’t fit the neat new home plots they wish to create, which makes a mockery of their supposed environmentally focussed development plans.

Only a small piece of hedgerow granted, however it won’t be replaced and it has dispersed local birdlife and wildlife, which is being replicated daily throughout the GWP development. I don’t disagree new homes are needed, however brownfield sites such as the power station and an overall plan as part of the Didcot Garden Town plan should be adhered to, not just greedy developers building and be damned to the consequences on local wildlife and infrastructure.

The current allotment plan you can comment on until this Friday 9^th November 2018 by visiting here

It sounds good, new allotments with parking, however as always the devil is in the detail and if approved it will see spoil from elsewhere on GWP used to raise the level of allotments; a busy footpath to West Hagbourne closed (one nearby has been closed since December 2017 until 2020!); high trees planted blocking views of the nearby countryside and increase in flooding risk.

#birdlife #savethecountryside #didcot #taylorwimpey

Match of the week – Didcot Town v Magnotsfield United (FA Trophy 1QR)

Last weekend’s Match of the Week saw Kidsgrove Athletic lose 1-0 at Hartlepool United. Despite losing they fare well against a team currently vying to get back into League 2.

This Saturday I went along to the Match of the Week to see Didcot Town get a draw with Magnotsfiled Utd in the FA Trophy 1st Qualifying Round. An entertaining, full blooded cup tie that saw Didcot take a deserved lead through Luke Carnell. They really should have doubled their lead and put the tie out of contention in the first half as they had plenty of chances, however they lack a big man up top to finish off the chances. Magnotsfield took advantage of this and got a deserved equalizer, meaning a reply this Tuesday over in Bristol.

Didcot played well, despite a raft of injuries and again Leigh Bedwell was impressive in goal (he recently joined the England C squad for a game against the Falkland Isles), as was Sam Barder making his one hundredth appearance for the club. They just need to sign a goal poacher (easier said than done I know) and they will have a very good squad.

Magnotsfield had a useful number six (big lad and a Tony Pulis pin-up style defender!), who I think is former Bristol City and P*** V*** player Clayton Fortune. Also their pacy number nine, Kyle Tooze, made a nuisance of himself harrying the Dicot defence.

Didcot Town official match report

 

Charlie Adam and Kevin Kitson

Charlie Adam talks about his dad’s suicide in 2012 on World Mental Health Day yesterday (10 October).

Also former player Dave Kitson was recalling how he attacked manager Tony Pulis with a pair of scissors! Kitson is thought to be the person behind the Secret Footballer. Kitson never settled at Stoke and was certainly not the prolific goalscorer we thought we had signed based on his Reading career.