Hayes & Yeading United Fans' Forum

Obviously I can't divulge the score but lets just say there were four goals and we got three of them.

It was a bit of a case of men against boys because it was largely men against a young Watford side.

Some things haven't changed from last season: the stand's not open as hell has not yet frozen over, the public address system sounds terrible and we had lots of good chances we failed to turn into goals.

The team looked sharp, the level of understanding between the players, given that many are new, was excellent. Most of our attacking threat came down the left with 10 and 11 combining well. Defensively we played three at the back with the ball becoming five when we lost possession and that seemed to work much better than when we tried it last season. When they ran at us we seemed to back-off quite readily, but we weren't punished for that, so maybe it's better than diving in too early.

A lovely left foot volley for our first, a fast counter and well taken goal for theirs on the brink of half-time, a powerful dominant far-post header for our third from a substitute. And yes, I forget what happened for our second.

So "only a friendly" against a pro but youth side, but a positive one, good play, attractive football, not the intensity of what's to come but it's left me feeling positive.

Don't tell him, Pike!

The Sound System…… I was not there unfortunately but I know Dave from the Wednesday Crew has been trying to sort the wiring out after various visitors from our animal kingdom had a lot of it for breakfast! I haven’t been able to help on a Wednesday due to Grandparent duty but hopefully will next week to help Dave. DONT forget, anyone at a loose end on Wednesday mornings, please come on down for fun, friendship and possibly a bit of light work, always appreciated by the Boss!

Ah, as someone's been very kindly volunteering their time and expertise on the tannoy system I probably need to give a fairer assessment...

In the main stand volume was fine, it was just indistinct. There was no use of the public address system apart from announcing the 50/50 results and I suspect the poor quality was down to the microphone end of things (too close to the person speaking?) and the fact that it was a hurried impromptu announcement.

While I'm here, some others may not be aware the main entrance turnstiles have switched back to the "new stand" end and Frank's burger bar is also back down there in its position from a few years ago. The building which used to be part of the original Warren is becoming a (the?) bar and there will be a retail opportunity in the ground, near Frank's, selling beer in the not-too-distant future. Some of this may be well known to those close to the club or possibly wildly inaccurate if I was being spun a line, but take it as you will.