Hemel Hempstead Vs Weymouth
National League South, Vauxhall Road, Saturday 14th December, 15.00 GMT
How are we feeling, Terras fans?
Does this week feel real yet?
Well, it has been four days since we beat our rivals for the second successive time, and the first on their turf in a competitive game for just 16 days off 36 years.
The celebrations after the full-time whistle showed just how much that result meant to everyone at the club.
But there is no time to rest, as another crucial game lies just around the corner, our next opponents being Hemel Hempstead Town.
The Tudors have not crowned themselves in glory of late, losing their last eight league games.
But, as our interim boss Jason Matthews pointed out, they will have a point to prove under their new manager Lee Allinson, who was announced as boss exactly one week ago.
CLUB NEWS
We don’t have to remind you what happened recently, do we?
A night in Somerset that was so special, the fact that we have now entered the FA Trophy Fourth Round almost seems forgotten about.
Two goals from goal-machine Brandon Goodship were enough to seal our first competitive victory in our biggest rivals’ back yard since Boxing Day 1988.
Importantly for Goody, this leaves him just two shy of joining the Weymouth 100-club, a feat that only 12 players have achieved before him.
So prestigious, in fact, is this club status that the last player to reach it was David Laws in 1998, another goal machine who netted 219 with us.
But, without spoiling the mood, there was a less-than-positive individual situation on Tuesday night.
After Tom Bearwish began brilliantly at right-back, our skipper was forced off just before half-time.
This morning, Jase told us that although there was initial fear over ligament damage, the club will be further assessing one of our most crucial players.
Let’s hope we can get Bear back on the pitch terrorising defenders very soon.
TERRIBLE TUDORS
When the Hertfordshire side convincingly beat us 2-0 in the second league game of this campaign, the mood surrounding both clubs could not have contrasted heavier.
Whilst today’s opponents were languishing in top spot, we had already slipped down into the dreaded drop zone.
The managers of both sides had differing thoughts after the game, too, our most recent gaffer Mark Molesley declaring the result “a steep learning curve” for us, on a day where he felt we were “schooled in the harsh reality of non-league [football].”
Meanwhile in the opposing dugout, Bobby Wilkinson praised his “clinical” side on his return to the Bob Lucas Stadium.
But, as is often the nature of football, a few things have changed since then.
The Tudors are no longer at the top of the table, far from it now in fact.
After an unbeaten start in their first nine league games, their first match in October was marked by a defeat away to Truro City.
That defeat then started a sudden switch in fortunes for The Tudors, as they lost their crown.
Their next five games saw them pick up just one point as they conceded 14 goals during this time.
But if anyone was expecting an upsurge in form after this initial slump, they would instead see the Hertfordshire side lose their next nine (yes, really) games in a row.
Some of these games included a 5-0 loss away to Salisbury, after a 7-1 loss at home to Dorking Wanderers.
Unsurprisingly, Wilkinson was let go around this time.
But as the club themselves have stated, they have suffered an astonishing amount of injuries, Wilkinson reporting 13 in total before his departure.
Though as Christmas is just around the corner, it appeared fitting that today’s opponents were awarded with a couple of gifts.
The first was their first victory since September, a 1-0 away win to Hitchin Town in the Hertfordshire Senior Cup Second Round at the start of this month.
The next boost came for the club just three days later, when they announced the appointment of Lee Allinson, who had been in charge of Hendon for over five years before stepping down to head ever so slightly up north.
You remember the club’s new manager being in the dugout when Hendon knocked us out of the FA Trophy last season as we were defeated by two goals.
So, after all of Hemel Hempstead’s misfortunes, the last thing we will want is to face them at just the wrong time.
But, as Jase told us this morning, we will need to “take momentum” from Tuesday’s huge win going into today against a side about to begin a new era…
