I watched Sutton Coldfield when they entertained Whitby at Coronation Park Eastwood. They were not a great side that day but they may have changed things about by now. Yes November looks a difficult month but confidence must be growing after the win at Coalville. We might be underdogs in a number of Novembers games but on their day Ilkeston can defeat anyone as they proved against Buxton! I still believe we only need to add a couple of players to the squad to have a very good side. The spine of the team is looking stronger Durrant Foster Baker Brown Shelton and now Lavelle Moore give us a core to build around and add flair players to!

I did not get to the game against Barwell but from reading others accounts we definitely missed Luke Foster and Anton Brown. These two are our enforcers and enable our flair players to prosper. If the team can recapture the spirit they showed against Coalville I do not think there is any team in this league they cannot get a result against. Rushall are known as a physical side but you never know they might end up playing like Birminghams Barcelona!
It's been interesting readers supporters on social media complaining about the owners of their clubs! I have also noticed that it is usually teams that are not doing well on the pitch. Unfortunately or fortunately social media means that everyone can now have a say on how they would run their club and more importantly let a much wider audience know how they feel. The down side is that owners will not listen to anyone's opinions if they have to read the bile and abuse to find the sensible suggestions. The biggest solution to any clubs woes is a winning side. Ilkeston Town in the years before they went bust were a car crash waiting to happen. They however got promoted and I can still remember the fans being so excited on that lovely day. Those helping behind the scenes knew by then it was all over and that the players and management were going. It was like the opposite of a silver lining whatever that is! Those years still sadden me but put the present situation into perspective! Not perfect but ten times better than those dark days!

We're now three games into November's fixtures and have just one point to show. The game at Marine which I hoped we would win, ended in a draw. We were two up after goals by Morris and a deflected Rose shot but the goals came against the run of play so when Marine levelled the score there could be no complaints. The second half saw both sides create many chances with Ilkeston twice coming closest to scoring the winner when Baker and Bather were denied. But on the other hand Ross Durrant made several saves to keep out Marine. The ten supporters who came on the team bus saw a decent game in a friendly atmosphere.
Tuesday night we had a difficult home game against a very good Spennymoor Town. Ben Morris gave us the lead with a well taken goal but the visitors levelled just before half time.  Spennymoor showed their class in the second half and Ilkeston were forced to defend for long periods. The visitors eventually went ahead on 77 minutes and doubled their lead 3 minutes from time. Luis Rose got an excellent consolation for Ilkeston in added time make the final score 2-3. No points from this match but that was not unexpected. Saturday we have a rearranged fixture at Skelmersdale which we really need to win if we are to get back on track to achieve my targeted nine points for the month. 

Last edited by Matchman (09/11/2016 3:21 PM)

With just one game to play in November we've only managed two draws from six league matches. Defeats against Rushall, Spennymoor and Workington were not totally unexpected but the Skelmersdale loss was very disappointing. The draws against Marine and Whitby at least came on the back of decent performances. In my opinion we were poor against Workington and the 0-2 scoreline flattered us. Today we had a rearranged game at home to top of the table Whitby and turned in a much improved performance. Whitby are a footballing rather than physical side and that suited us. The visitors had the better chances but we undoubtedly deserved the draw. The more experienced players, Baker, Gordon and Durrant all did well and of the younger players I thought Thornberry was excellent. He's not been in the first team lately but he came in and looked comfortable.  The final game this month is home to Sutton Coldfield. who have lost their last five league games and both teams will be viewing this fixture as a must win match. If we do manage to win then November's results won't look so bad.  If we lose we are in trouble.