Hayes & Yeading United Fans' Forum

A valiant effort but Hayes fell short just.

The first half was fairly even and Hayes rode their luck a couple of times to go in 0-0.
The second half Bracknell got on top and and Hayes conceded two goals and looked to be dead and buried. Finally Hayes started to look dangerous and were unlucky not to to score with some dangerous balls across Bracknell six yard box. Finally Hayes pulled one back from a Bettamer free kick which cannoned off the post onto their keepers back and then into the net. Hayes poured forward and scored from a melee from a corner don’t know who scored but it was a scramble.

Game on back in the game with the momentum with us and with a good chance of scoring more with Bracknell looking rattled. Then Hayes did what Hayes have been doing all season conceding a soft goal. Once again Hayes failed to clear the ball a player runs across our box goes unchallenged and goal. This was a real heart breaker but Hayes pushed on again and were awarded a penalty. Bettamer stepped up and missed with a good save from them keeper but he followed up the rebound to pull Hayes level at 3-3. This would have been a great result but Hayes needed the win and time ran out and we were relegated.

Some good performances and Gamblin was our MOM in my opinion he has put in some real decent performances recently just a pity it took him so long to really show us what he is capable of.

A great effort after going two down but conceding soft goals has been a problem all season and lacking creativity at front has resulted in this major disappointment.

Time to lick our wounds and start rebuilding again. Most of this squad will not be playing for us next season and I say good riddance to them because in the end they were not good enough. Sad but true.

There needs to be a different topic to discus what wrong this season I expect some lively opinions

Thanks for the excellent report. It sounds like the team put up a good fight at the end, but too late at the end of a season the like of which I didn't see coming.

Looking at the final table, we are 20th based on goals scored but 10th based on goals conceded. A strong pointer to where our problems lay, and a surprise to no one who's been watching this season. But that's for another thread...

Elsewhere, our erstwhile manager hasn't lost his touch with Weymouth bottom of the form table and 2 points from their last 5 matches since he took over.

I think it is a little harsh to say "good riddance" to most of the current squad as was suggested in the opening post of the thread.

We are going to be playing in a lower division next season and the difference in standard should be noticeable. Take a look at the final Isthmian South Central table and you will see a lot of clubs near the bottom who have barely managed to average one point per game. We know that Farnham Town, Flackwell Heath, Beaconsfield, Harrow and possibly Rayners Lane are potential opponents next season so our recruitment needs to be far better than it was last summer and (more pertinently) throughout the season.

i did not see any logic whatsoever in playing Tommy Wood for the entire 90 minutes yesterday. He let us down getting sent off against Dorchester the other week and I just cannot see what he offers. Norman Wabo may not be the answer but how he never got on the pitch at all yesterday is baffling, Likewise taking Ayo off when he has generally been one of better attacking options made no sense. Mo Bettamer has been a credit to himself in recent weeks as he has been playing through the pain barrier with a shin injury severely inhibiting him. I am not sure he will be around next season but I think a fully fit Bettamer could score and create a fair few goals at a lower level.

in terms of next season I would personally like us to keep the following players.

Marvel, Tarik or Salmon, Max Hudson, Jack Williams possibly.

Sammi, Amos and potentially Gambin.

Ayo and Bettamer (perhaps non contract and certainly on less money).

I think there is zero chance that Cole Brown, Paul Field or Ronan Silva will stay and I would not be fussed to lose Jerry Wiltshire given the amount of time he is either injured or on international duty.

I'm also fairly sure that Wabo will not be around nor Jacob Adams although I am pleased that he at least ended his time with us by doing his bit in the last two games rather than being bombed out by the former manager. Salifu is nowhere near good enough and the less said about the absentee trio of Omar, Ngunga and Hagen the better. Not sure about Billie Busari as I've not seen much of him but wouldn't be bothering with Charlie Owens moving forward.

Whilst I'm probably not best placed to offer an opinion on who should stay or go, I guess a lot of it also depends on which players (if any) are contracted for next season. I'm guessing Bettamer's contract is up this summer? Many players I'd hazard a guess are on non-contract so it's not a problem to move them on if the club decides to.

For anyone who remembers our last foray into Step 4, it took at least half that first season to get the right players together before we started to become formidable, ultimately falling just short in the playoffs to Cambridge City. We had some total dross in the months before that and must've used close on 50-60 players that season before getting a settled side together. Then the second season we just blew everyone away.

Hopefully this summer Andy Leese and Simon Lane can get the right players in. Andy says he has a strategy already mapped out so that's reassuring. It's going to be a tough division as already mentioned. Some clubs in there throwing some decent money around and will naturally attract good players.

PS: Curiously, there is one positive this season and that is our average home attendance which, according to FWP, increased from 208 in 22/23 to 247 in 23/24. Still the 3rd lowest in the division but an increase nonetheless.

Good report of the game Hog. Wasn’t at the game Saturday but they gave it a good go but conceding that 3rd goal was the killer. Don’t think it was a surprise that we got relegated in the end, performances haven’t been good enough for a majority of the season. Inability to score goals the ultimate failing this season.

Andy Leese seems to be staying from his interview after the game on Saturday, extremely harsh judging him on the 6 games he had to save the club from relegation. Got to the last game with a small chance of staying up so credit him for that, I’m still convinced the previous manager would have given us that?

After the debacle at Plymouth regarding players availability, I’m not sure how many of this current squad will remain for next season? Listening to his interview after that game he wasn’t happy about the commitment of the squad that evening.

Into next season, completely new squad would make it extremely difficult to bounce straight back? If possible keep a few of the current squad
Amos Nasha, Ayo Faniyan, Marvel, Sami(think he will leave this season though) Luke Gambin step below think it would suit him gave it everything in the last month or so. Mo Bettamer would be a real handful step below, think he will move on, shame we never really got to see a fully fit Betts.
Possibles Max Hudson some good performances and didn’t do too much wrong.
Cole Brown far too good to play at step 4 Nls player if not National league right back, don’t think there many better in this league in my opinion.
If we can keep 4/5 and freshen up the rest of the playing squad.

Andy Leese must stay and be given a fair crack of the whip.

In all honesty he was given a free hit. If he kept us up he would have been viewed as a miracle worker we have gone down this is not his fault as we were in deep cack when he took over. No one can blame him. The blame lays elsewhere. However he has a clean slate and with the way he talks he looks like a breath of fresh air and its either his way or the highway. If he can get a decent side and bench together and keep everyone happy then we will soon forget about this terrible season. It looks like he has made his mind up about who he wants to try and keep and who can go. Let’s hope he receives decent backing and we can then see if he is as the right fit. At the moment it looks like he could become very successful here only time will tell

Great final performance but shame we couldn't see that all season, new manager (Mark) bringing in average players and dropping regular players cost us but I think Andy steadied the ship a bit but was appointed too late.

Hope we don't lose too many of the core hardworking players and hopefully all the backroom staff stay and hopefully Gus and Craig can keep the players fit and on the pitch

We go again next season