On behalf of everyone at Milton United FC, I would like to extend a warm welcome this afternoon to Holyport FC and their supporters. I have forgotten the number of times I have sat down to write this pre-match article, not sure if the grounds are going to dry out in time to get another game played. However, if you are holding a programme and reading my notes, it obviously means Friday and Saturday mornings weather has been kind to us and we have a game to watch.

Today’s teams last met at Summerleaze Park on the 23rd of September and it was the Miltonians that ran out 2-1 winners on the day, with goals from Bloomy (37), Cam Mills (60) and a consolation goal in the 84th minute for the hosts. From what I can remember it was a competitive game, with both teams creating several opportunities but neither really taking control of the game for any prolonged periods of time. What we do know is that Holyport arrive today sitting 5th in the table off the back of a five-game winning streak and will look quite different to the team we played last year! In comparison, Milton are desperately struggling to get a result and after four loses and a draw in the last five, we sit bottom of the league form table. It is frustrating times for the Players, Management team and supporters, especially when the performances have not been bad, just avoidable mistakes have led to conceding too many goals.

Last Saturday we travelled to Reading City, off the back of a midweek 1-1 draw against our local rivals Wallingford & Crowmarsh FC. As the lads arrived at the ground the heavens opened and an already swamped pitch, turned into a lake. However, the surface water cleared in time for KO and the Referee passed the pitch as playable. If I am honest, if we had not been nearing the end of the season and Reading did not have such a backlog of games, the match would not have gone ahead. After only 20 minutes we found ourselves 2-0 down after dominating the game and once again both goals were avoidable. Then Harry Thomas (HT) was put through and when he was dragged down from behind, the resultant action was a red card and a penalty. You know when your luck is not in, when the penalty is saved and the rebound ends up in Reading city centre! An early goal in the second half was the ‘nail in the coffin’ and regardless of the amount of possession, we never looked like scoring and getting anything from the game.

On Tuesday night, after a late notice fixture reversal, we faced a strong Burnham side at home, who are currently sitting comfortably in a play-off position, with three wins, a draw and one loss in their last five games. What followed was a very entertaining game of football, especially for the neutrals amongst the crowd. Boasting two of the three top goal scorers in the league, Burnham always looked dangerous going forward. Although our visitors took an early lead, when a shot from distance went in off the post, Milton weathered the storm and started to take a hold of the match, however a ‘sucker punch’ of a goal late in the half, resulted in a 2-0 deficit at half-time. We came out firing in the second half and deservedly pulled one back on the 54th minute, when HT finished well after some good interlinking play. However, poor defending led to conceding two more goals and another mountain to climb. The team continued to battle and produce chance after chance and even when Cam Mills pulled one back on the 85th minute, we still had opportunities to even level the game. You must take the positives from the match and to be honest, that was our best team performance for weeks, so lets hope we get the rub of the green this afternoon (fingers crossed).

Club news: our youth teams continue to impress and battle the conditions, hunting down pitches throughout the county to try and get their fixtures played. Notably our U14s have made it to their league cup final and on the 28th of April will face Didcot Casuals at the Oxford City Stadium, so get yourself there to support our youngsters. Our U18 girls were unlucky last weekend, when they lost their semi-final to Reading Miami Belles 4-1, in a game which could have gone either way. The Ladies senior team continue to improve and with four wins from their last six league games, including a 2-0 win over the recently crowned league winners Long Crendon, it shows how well the team are growing and how well our young management team have developed their squad.

The committee continues to forge ahead and with the planning deadline approaching, so let us hope everything starts to fall in to line and we can look to start the demolition of the existing building as close to the 1st of May as possible.

As ever, a big thank you to all our Club and Team Sponsors, our Volunteers, and today’s supporters.

All the best and enjoy the game and UP THE MILTONIANS.

Gareth Woodward