Would you swap our shot-stopping hero for someone else? It’s a question that stirs both debate and pride among Sutton United fans. This week on the Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast, we tackle the big question: would you swap him?
Mike Dowling
00:58 - 01:29
Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on podcast. It's the Sutton podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike, and with me on our panel today with Joe. It was going to be Mark, but he had a bit of technical problems as well, so Joe's going to fly solo for us. In this episode, we're going to discuss the continuing post-Christmas unbeaten run. I cannot believe how I got this right timing so perfect all the way through the season. I've been saying it's going to happen, and it did. I don't know how I'm going to ever live off this.
Mike Dowling
01:29 - 02:00
I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying. But we won against Eastleigh, and we look forward to the match against Kidderminster Harries. With the engagement, obviously I love it. All the thumbs up, all the likes, all the comments, all the little shares. I really do enjoy it. You may have noticed this week that Gandamonium has made the move off Twitter and they're going onto Blue Skies. So there's gonna be a lot more conversation onto Blue Sky everywhere. So we will try and join in that as well because I've got that, but I'm not the number one Sutton account on Blue Sky.
Mike Dowling
02:00 - 02:19
I probably was at one stage because I was the only one on there, but now Gandamonium's got it. We are going to say hello to Joe, who has got yet another string to his bow. Joe, how are you? What was it and how was it?
Joe
02:21 - 03:01
I'm very good, Mike. For anyone that was at the match yesterday, you will have maybe noticed that it wasn't the wonderful, the dulcet tones of Tony Dolbear over the public announcement system. It was me. and it was fun. It's a really cool job. Big thanks to Jack, Mr Jack Daly. I know he liked, there was a clip earlier in the season he told me about he liked my opinion so if this ever gets clipped and put out there, hello Jack mate, but big thanks to you. That's your cue, Mike, to put it out as a clip.
Joe
03:02 - 03:51
But yeah, no, it was dead fun. Got to play the music before that, so got to throw in a few good songs there and then I was slightly disappointed when we conceded the penalty because like the first goal I'm going to net it's not going to be ours and then when Jack saved it it took everything within my power of being a massive Sutton fan not to come over the PA and start and start to be Jack Timms exactly but then to do the number nine Will Davies that was fun like the reaction from the crowd when I did that was actually really good uh something I haven't heard kind of the goal announcement so you know bit of energy to it, and yeah, it was a lot of fun, bit of a dream, a bit of a thing to say, oh yeah, not a bad thing to say I've done, but yeah, and I'm gonna be hopefully on it in a few weeks time again, so yeah, wonderful.
Mike Dowling
03:51 - 04:06
Very good. So this was the knowing me, knowing you question. Obviously, there's normally a bit of discussion on this, but it's just going to be you here. So what's the best food or drink you've ever had at a football ground? Oh, hang on.
Joe
04:08 - 04:08
I haven't
Mike Dowling
04:08 - 04:08
done a
Joe
04:08 - 04:08
thing.
Mike Dowling
04:21 - 04:46
Oh, that's awful. Terrible. I love it. I'm into forgetting. Obviously the jingle's great. So what's the best food or drink you've ever had at a football ground? And where was it? Now, I was expecting Mark to come up with something like the Fleet Burger. It went down in history years and years ago. It was just an amazing burger and everyone looked forward to it. And then they stopped doing it. But what is your favorite food or drink you've had at any football ground?
Joe
04:47 - 06:04
It's actually this season, it was in pre-season at Brentford B, when we played Brentford B in pre-season at Wheatsheaf Park. And they had a remarkably good and very, you know, as a 17-year-old with, on a budget, for £7.50, they had a double bacon cheeseburger with a drink. And it was something special. Like actual, like, seeded buns, um patty like proper big patties um like american cheese but like not it wasn't it was like proper cheese um bacon but like actual bacon not half fat um and an exceptional drink selection which resulted in me getting a lucasade uh lucasade raspberry and you know that it was just my dream to i was like pitch side by watching it's the first game i've watched in pre-season nice sunny day stood there, eating my burger, having a nougatade, and yeah, it was the best food I've ever had at a football game, even though the stakes were extremely low and it ended in a 1-0 win, and it was against Brentford B, and it was in a place which needed neither of the home grounds.
Joe
06:04 - 06:17
It was actually quite an enjoyable It was a really enjoyable burger and it's the thing I remember most about that day. The only other thing I remember about that day is we had a really good striker we never signed, but we have a really good striker we did sign now, so it doesn't really matter.
Mike Dowling
06:17 - 06:29
No. Well, I'll tell you what, I thought this was going to be a really, really just awful question, but you seem to have dreamed about that burger. Oh, it's something special. You've been thinking
Joe
06:29 - 06:42
about it. Anyone that wants to go to the Stainstown FC, I don't know if it's a solely Brentford thing, but it's where the youth team play. I don't know if they still do it. I hope they still do it because I hope we play there again. But it was it was something special, like generation, generational value for money and burger.
Mike Dowling
06:45 - 07:17
Amazing, right. And I thought I cut myself on mute when I had that last cough, so sorry everyone, I didn't. OK, so let us know where you've had the best food or drink. Does it live up to his generational burger at Staines slash Brentford B? Give us your answers, share your thoughts. So Club News, there was a few, it's actually quite a bit on here actually. Ladies won today. I think I've forgotten to mention them last week when they won their game last week because it's so used to their game not actually being on that I'd forgotten.
Mike Dowling
07:18 - 07:47
So ladies won today, they're through to next round after a penalty, an extra time. I'm pretty sure penalty will come into conversation later on as well. One news report, I'm not sure how good the site is or how reliable, but apparently there's a report of Jack Taylor being scouted by West Ham, Spurs, Millwall, Peterborough and others. What do you think of that? Don't just go look it up, take my word for it. I'm telling you it's true.
Joe
07:47 - 07:57
I am, but I'm just... Jack Taylor Sutton. Hang on. Really? Oh my God.
Mike Dowling
07:58 - 08:03
See, that, oh my God, and that really high pitch, by the way, made me believe you didn't believe me.
Speaker 4
08:03 - 08:06
No, I did believe you, but like, what? Tottenham!
Mike Dowling
08:07 - 08:11
Listen, sending scouts to look at someone isn't actually necessarily mean a bid's coming in. Go
Joe
08:12 - 08:43
on, Jack! Oh, that's huge. I need to speak to Jack now, because I don't know if he moved to Tottenham because Vik said I spoke to Jett Taylor in his prime. Absolutely. I saw him yesterday. No, he was, wow. Yeah, he's good. I mean, like, Hampton, Wax Lyrical, he's come into the team and Hayden Muller, who Steve loves, he's kind of displaced him a little bit. And, you know, he was, you know, everyone's like, pen yesterday. I don't think it really was a pen, but it was very 6-1, half dozen at the other. But it was assured.
Joe
08:43 - 09:51
It was assured on the ball. He's got really good passing range. He's strong. He's calm. everything you need in a National League defender, give him that, propel up the pyramid, I wouldn't, even if we didn't go up this season, I would even see him move if he doesn't go up to League 2 anyway. I could see, as much as I wouldn't want it to happen, I could see a Wimbledon, a Bromley, someone like that taking a chance on him because I think he is, I think he's a very good defender and, you know, from the moment even when Matt was, Matt was the manager, you know, he was always kind of waxy lyrical about him in the youth academy and his name was always mentioned and, you know, it was really good when he came in uh midway through last season under steve so you know it doesn't surprise me but wow it does but it doesn't wow like it the news surprises me but the player doesn't yeah because if there's any player who has, I think, not the highest, you know, I think there are some very, very good players, but I think the player who has the highest ceiling to go far, I could see him, if, you know, the aspect of his game he could improve, I'm sure, but I could see him being a championship player in the not-too-distant future.
Joe
09:51 - 10:01
So, he is a very good player and we're very lucky to have him, but, you know, that is good. And I will say this, Chief Scout from Bromley was there yesterday, um so
Speaker 1
10:01 - 10:01
i
Joe
10:01 - 10:15
don't know if that is he asked me for a team sheet in the pa box there was part of me was like well you were formerly playing so do i give you one i was like i'll give you i'll give you one and there's a part of me which thought i shouldn't have given him one i was like because then he won't then he won't know he's looking at it i can just
Mike Dowling
10:15 - 10:17
say yeah yeah he's got no other way of finding out
Joe
10:17 - 10:38
no but there were there were there were a few there were a few scouts from what i saw yesterday so Peterborough doesn't surprise me as well because Peterborough have a really good track record of picking up gems from non-league, Chris Conclark, Kwame Fokus, people like that. So yeah, wow, go on Jack, it's all I can say.
Mike Dowling
10:39 - 11:20
Well, on Odd Transfer News, it's Jeremy Sivy. By all accounts, that happened really quick. As a club, Sutton have always prided themselves on if an offer comes in, they're going to let the player know. Because if the player knows, they can make a decision. And he's seen different things, but from what I can gather, he wasn't looking to leave. But when the interest came in, he was like, oh, moving to a different country. Oh, let me explore that. So you kind of got to let someone have a go at that. And good luck to him.
Mike Dowling
11:21 - 11:24
I think everyone's going on their sixth in the top flight. I did look.
Speaker 1
11:24 - 11:25
It looks like there's
Mike Dowling
11:25 - 11:27
only 12 teams in the top flight.
Speaker 1
11:27 - 11:27
There is, there is.
Mike Dowling
11:29 - 11:43
literally mid-table, but Andy says four of them go through to, oh, can qualify for Europe. So it could be potentially playing in Europe. That'd be another little nice feather in our caps. And George has left us, gorgeous George, for
Speaker 1
11:43 - 11:43
his
Mike Dowling
11:44 - 12:02
28th days. Some amazing displays, not least mid-week, winning against West Brom. uh his free penalty saves they were great saves um they weren't just excellent yeah they weren't just rubbish penalties they were good penalties and
Speaker 1
12:02 - 12:02
he
Mike Dowling
12:02 - 12:42
made great saves um with that we go into a final match in that thing which i know we've all got different interest on it um but if we win in normal time we're through if forest win in normal time they're through um if we draw and win on penalties we'll be out unless it's a draw of six six onwards so basically we need to win to get through is the the idea um and two other things the fans match has been announced i'm not going to play but you can you can get a t-shirt like this um you can get to play
Joe
12:43 - 12:43
I
Mike Dowling
12:43 - 12:44
am I will be
Joe
12:44 - 12:54
playing this year I'm 18 this year so I will be I will be playing um hopefully hang on the only thing is I don't know is it the 18th of May it's
Mike Dowling
12:54 - 12:55
the 18th of May it's a Sunday
Joe
12:55 - 13:09
so my first A level exam is on the Tuesday so I need to actually show I've done some revision before then to try and let my parents play but to play on the an opportunity to play on the Exactly. It would be an opportunity.
Mike Dowling
13:10 - 13:15
You wouldn't want to be thinking about that the whole time while you're revising, going, oh, why didn't I do it? Exactly,
Joe
13:15 - 13:16
exactly.
Mike Dowling
13:18 - 13:59
We've also got the week after Dundoe's testimonial on the 25th. I know they're away often, I'm probably going to mention them again, but the fans match does get booked up really quickly. So if you're interested, do send them an email. Podcasting news, I was pitch side yesterday with Jenny. I bullied a load of people to get pictures with Jenny, which was great fun. And also young Freddy Dunn, he's got a broken leg on a skiing trip. Harry had to shoot, his wife had to shoot out to get him. So yes, Freddy, I know you listen, so get well strong.
Mike Dowling
14:01 - 14:33
But you will have to go to school again, mate. I'm not saying, like your dad says, maybe not next few days, but you are going to have to go to school. You can't just go, that's it, I'm done now. But yeah, get well soon and strong, very importantly. So onto the match. What did you think of the lineup? What were your expectations? I mean, it was a pretty even, both same number of games, same number of, were 10th and they were 11th. So it was a pretty even expectation for me, but obviously I still went for a 3-1 win.
Mike Dowling
14:33 - 14:37
But what were you thinking when you saw the lineup and what were your hopes, expectations?
Joe
14:39 - 15:09
Well, they aren't at their strongest at the moment. They've got quite a few injuries, McCullum, Turry, Shade. So I thought we're in good form. I thought it could be a good game for us. Their away form isn't brilliant. Our home form's getting better. Line-up was good, Sims and goal. The one thing I was going to say just about Evans, maybe just because obviously the Steve and the Mirwaul connection, I could see perhaps just knowing Arne getting on, knowing he's been injured, knowing stuff like maybe he'll want more game time because Sims is now number one.
Joe
15:10 - 15:49
I would like to maybe see him again, maybe in the summer, maybe to become as a number two to Jack because, you know, he does that job well. We have the number of competitions we do, you know, he's not far off, like shotstopping ability is good, distribution's not bad. But yeah, I didn't expect him to start. Sims and goal, we have to do the thing about National League Cup with playing that. So I thought that Adrien would start and then it kind of now when I see the National League Cup games, I now understand why you think like Sims and Josh start because they have to start on the Saturday.
Joe
15:49 - 16:42
But yeah, it wasn't a I was very happy with the team. Nanna's out, but, you know, Dylan in. Dylan, again, provides something slightly different, man-on-man. Simp's in the middle. Wadham's still come back from injury. Siju on the bench was a nice addition. Having a full bench after not being able to do it a few weeks prior was quite nice. Alex Woodyard really settling in. You know, he's a really nice presence in midfield. Just a bit more like a combination of the aggression from Harris which we we've maybe missed a little bit and also just the calm head which you know Finlay I think has always exhibited uh and then with simps kind of playing a bit more attacking which is quite nice because just his passing you know he's got he's got a strike on him from distance as is Bez, as we saw yesterday.
Joe
16:43 - 17:25
I was happy with the team. I quite like the back line. I know Tyler's been a mainstay. To get Jack to come in, I think the only thing I'd say about when Tyler and Hayden play, something I was just noticing, is Tyler's plays a lot wider and Hayden's kind of like Tyler comes forward a little bit more and that maybe just sometimes leaves us a little bit exposed because now Josh if Tyler and Josh are kind of like on the same wavelength if Josh is playing kind of that wingback role it means that there's no one behind if they're both forward, but when, you know, because Hayden, you know, plays out from the back so well and moves out from the back, it just can mean that we then go far a bit too forward and then we put ourselves under pressure.
Joe
17:25 - 17:39
That didn't really happen yesterday because Jack was back all the time and Tyler was assisting him with that and then you had like, um, who played left centre-back? Bez. Bez? Was it Bez? Oh yeah, it was Bez. Who was playing left wing back then?
Mike Dowling
17:40 - 17:43
Dillon. Oh. Baz, wasn't it?
Joe
17:45 - 17:55
No, but am I missing someone? You can see how on it we are. I'm just going to check. You talk about a lot. Well, I
Mike Dowling
17:55 - 18:08
was just going to say about the point you made about George is I'm not sure he would come back to us as a number two because that wouldn't really help his development that much. Wouldn't it be better for him to drop to a lower division or something to be starting?
Joe
18:10 - 18:22
Yeah, maybe, like, yeah, I can see a National South. Um, Edwino, sorry, I just forgot about Edwino. No, no, no. So it was, it was Bez because he, because he came forward a lot as well. It just, it reminded me, but Edwino's playing as like a...
Mike Dowling
18:22 - 18:23
Knowledge.
Joe
18:23 - 18:24
A left wing.
Mike Dowling
18:25 - 18:27
Knowledge, eh? But,
Joe
18:27 - 18:57
um, yeah, no, I liked the lineup. Um, I was really looking forward to the game yesterday for some reason. Uh, it's my first game since... No, no, even before I knew that, I hadn't been to a game since the shot. because Tamworth got delayed. I was going to go to York, but then I had schoolwork and just kind of the sequence of games that I never really got to on. So, yeah, and I thought Easley were a team we could beat. I thought we have the momentum. I think the squad, I felt closer to the squad after last Saturday.
Joe
18:57 - 19:23
I think a lot of people did. I think the squad felt closer. I think, you know, within the club, the atmosphere was really good. I think just last Saturday and everything happened afterwards just was excellent. You know, puts us in there and yesterday, just continuing it. So yeah, I was cautiously optimistic heading into it. I know there's no pushover there for a reason, but I was looking forward to it. Well,
Mike Dowling
19:23 - 19:52
one of the points I've wanted to go through, we've kind of touched on already, Woodyard's coming in to sort of shore us up a little bit. How much difference have you felt it made over those last couple of games? I mean, I'm not 100% sure he's fully matched fit. So it's one of those things like we've been saying with the younger players, he's only going to get better. But how have you been feeling his impact on the side?
Joe
19:53 - 20:28
I think you've hit the nail on the head there. He's not match fit. He had made one or two mistakes in the early exchanges yesterday, nothing glaring, but I think he's vocal. You can tell he's vocal on the pitch, but he's a bit of a bruiser. He throws himself into it, which is something I think you need in a midfield. Eastley had that in their captain, Taylor, who would throw themselves into it. With Wadham, let's say it's Wadham, Simper and Finlay. Finlay can be that, but he's better when he's turning away from players and moving the ball about.
Joe
20:28 - 21:04
Simpson's quite aggressive and Wardham's quite aggressive. That means when we get to that midfield, in the battles, you don't have the person who's just willing to just fight and scrap. And that's the thing I've noticed. He's not the person playing the balls out to Josh or onto Will. He's the person who's willing to knock down. If Will's backing into a defender, he's the person, let's say, Simps picks it up, he'll offload it to Adil, he'll offload it to Finlay, and then it'll go out wide. So he's never like the final executor of the ball, but he's the link which we have missed in, I don't know, Simps to Jadon, if you know what I mean.
Joe
21:04 - 21:23
And, you know, it feels much more complete, which is a really nice thing to see. And, like, it's clear he's made a difference, because we have been on an unbeaten run, you know, barnet but I feel like the last two like last two league games it and Tamworth we didn't even play the play he
Speaker 1
21:24 - 21:24
played
Joe
21:25 - 21:36
he didn't play Tamworth but last two league games in particular it feels like our midfield's a bit more complete uh and it's a bit more of a less of a defensive attack if you know yeah
Mike Dowling
21:36 - 22:14
I feel it's um Again, it's a silly one where he's coming in doing that and everyone else is looking going, okay, I better follow suit and just have that little bit of aggression in there. We will, I mean, this is going to jump around. I'm just moving it around. So let's talk about Will. 13 now for the season, I think. So a bit of pressure to step up for the penalty, because obviously, as Steve said, if Sigi had been on the pitch, he wouldn't have got anywhere near it. How was his overall performance? And how did you enjoy the celebration when he ran?
Mike Dowling
22:14 - 22:17
I don't know what he grabbed from the side. I really don't know.
Joe
22:21 - 23:00
Anyone want to ask Matt O'Brien? Just to make sure. Yeah, it wasn't like York where the chances came and they were really well taken goals. Chances weren't really there for him yesterday. You know, we weren't the game in the first half apart from Bez's hit and the pen. pretty bog, standard, rubbish National League football. It was very middle of the park, very few chances at either end, and if the ball did go into the box, it kind of just got cleared away. But when the chance came, he was there. He didn't actually have a chance before then, really, that he really should have buried.
Joe
23:00 - 23:42
I mean, I'm massively here for it. I've been since last Saturday. just back and forth with York fans on Twitter. And, you know, everyone's like, a lot of York fans are like, oh, it was his attitude at York. Yeah, okay. And he could have, like, both club and thing realised it wasn't right. He didn't want to live up north. And he wanted to pay out to live to another club. Yeah, but Braintree or Leyston or Sutton have had that attitude problem that you talk of, or Bromley. you know, you're saying he's a decent mid-table striker, he's a decent this, so you don't score 13 goals in the national, you don't score 13 goals in the season if you're just, you know, mid-table bog-standard.
Joe
23:42 - 24:14
You're doing something right. So, I think props to him. There's League Two interest, from what I've heard. I hope he doesn't, I don't, he won't leave this window, I don't think, at all. I think, you know, to show he's kind of not the finished product, but a bit more flashed out, stay for the end of the season. If we make a playoff run, we do, you know, it's a long shot, but if we do, we do, you know, teams like Oldham and teams above them, Solihull are slipping up a little bit and we're, you know, one win and if the results go away, we're up into the playoff.
Joe
24:14 - 24:49
So, I feel like we can only get better or stay at our quality. I think we've beaten our troubles earlier in the season, which is kind of what Steve alluded to throughout the season and we've trusted and it's actually starting to come fruition as people start to get into match fitness and games, you know, if we get through to the FA Trophy, but National League Cup, barring, it might stop, but it might not. I don't actually know what the format is past the group stage. So, I'm dead happy for him because he has, we've always said, I remember just in previous podcasts and previous seasons, Mark, we've just talked about like our Tony Golas season striker.
Joe
24:49 - 25:21
I was like, oh, do we get an handicap? Do we get an handicap? We have Will Davies. He's pretty, pretty, pretty much it. 13 goals at this stage of the season. He's very much on track for that. He's not just a striker. The role he plays for us is much more than that. It's the role, let's say, Omar Boazil played for us plus a $20 season striker. Exactly. Which is something a lot of, a lot of teams would die for and understand why there's interest in him. And, you know, if we don't go up and we don't, we don't get playoffs and he leaves in the summer, props to him but if he does, I think he really is loving his time at the club.
Joe
25:22 - 26:07
I found it funny how he chucked the bag at Edwina and Edwina got hit on the head with it. The collective thing with it and the little celebration in the tunnel afterwards, I mean it's just it just reeks of someone who's, you know, been pushing to try and get this going and he's found a club and found a manager who brings the best out of him and that's props to the club for signing him and props to Steve and Will himself just for, you know, you may say, oh he's a great player but then the return wasn't there at York and Bromley last season, the return was there in the National League South so Steve's evidently found something there to work with now just to work with Sims, to work with Josh, to get him in a really rich vein of form like If you're putting money on someone to score in a match for us, I'm putting money on Will every time now.
Joe
26:08 - 26:21
It might have been earlier in the season, Josh, but he's always on the end of a cross and his confidence in himself is massive right now. You can tell in the way he plays, there's a certain swagger about him, not arrogance, but just like, this
Mike Dowling
26:21 - 26:21
is my role,
Joe
26:21 - 26:22
I'm going to do it well.
Mike Dowling
26:25 - 26:50
I think it's 89 now. I think the whole Gucci bag thing is funny for us because we've been able to latch onto it and it gives us a little bit of a focal point to kind of have all a bit of a sort of getting together and a bit of a laugh because no one's taking it seriously but obviously York fans are. um but i did see one big difference with his celebration yesterday in that he he was proper smiling um and
Speaker 1
26:50 - 26:50
i
Mike Dowling
26:50 - 27:04
mean it was a i mean i know he does the cover the mouth um and stuff but some of the other celebrations like yeah it's good but it was like a proper beaming smile across his face and i was like oh he's loving this whole whole gucci bag thing so uh yeah i think it's great but what did you think about the I'd like
Joe
27:04 - 27:09
to say I triggered, well, I'd like, I tagged Matt Ogler last weekend. Yeah,
Mike Dowling
27:09 - 27:10
I know you sent it to me and I was like,
Joe
27:10 - 27:23
who's he? And everyone was like, oh no, he won't arise to it. I sent it to a bunch of people. I was like, I don't know if it was me directly, but I'd like to have an influence in the ensuing seven days. Well,
Mike Dowling
27:24 - 27:43
I, there was one, there was a lot of anger that he'd gone over to what's called the disabled section of the stadium to celebrate in front of the fans there. And people go, oh, that's terrible, terrible. Someone did say to me, so what, they're disabled, they can't join in the banter, is that what they're saying? And it's like, no, they deserve the banter just as much as everyone else.
Joe
27:44 - 27:48
And also, I don't think he, you know, it's not like he went, oh, let me run around half the pitch
Mike Dowling
27:48 - 27:48
and
Joe
27:48 - 27:50
go to this group of people
Speaker 1
27:50 - 27:50
because, I
Joe
27:50 - 28:18
don't know, he's celebrating a goal against a club who literally, before both games, were saying, oh, he's rubbish, he's rubbish, what a waste of talent, exactly. and there was a York fan I was talking to this morning who was like, oh this all started because he cupped his ears at the 2-2 draw earlier. Your fans were all in our comments on the game of that day saying he's rubbish, Will Davies won't score and then all came back to it and even York fans when we scored last week were saying ah this aged well. So it came from the moment we signed him that York fans were bitter towards him.
Joe
28:19 - 28:40
And they were saying, oh, it's because he had a bad attitude. We bought a flat for him. We did all this. It shouldn't matter what he does off the pitch and how he's feeling and what issues he's dealing with. On the pitch, he's performed for a new club and you lot have taken the piss out of him. That's not our problem. And we're going to enjoy it. And, you know, Van Aram and Netfootball have reposted it on Instagram. So we're having a great time and we'll take it as much as you want from York. You know, like we will get promoted at the end of the season.
Joe
28:41 - 29:21
Yeah, but we don't care. You've lost two in three. You're like, oh, we got Josh Stones for 350k. Well, we got Will Davis, who you couldn't make before when he's got a better scoring rate than Josh Stones. So, you know, we would never take a switch. Go away from us. And I hope I never had a problem with York. But at the moment, I'm not rooting I don't like any of the title contenders at all, and Barnet, how have Barnet become the ones I would mind the least? Just because York fans have annoyed me, Forest Green are Forest Green, and no offence to Forest Green, but just because of, you know, they're Forest Green, and Barnet, even though, you know, 3-3, but they're the least just annoying, out
Mike Dowling
29:21 - 29:40
of the lot. What did you think of Dylan's run and change of direction for the penalty? The guy literally had, he couldn't do anything about it. It wasn't a horrible foul or anything. It was just the way Dylan kind of suddenly switched direction. The bloke was like, there's nothing I can do here. So yeah, pleased with
Joe
29:41 - 30:56
that? Yeah, I'm pleased. Dylan's been good. He hasn't been, In pre-season, the last game of pre-season we played Welling and I watched him and I was like, this kid's going to be special. And then he got injured at Tamworth and was out for three months. Now, he hasn't got consistent game time because Josh Nadas and Will and Jack and Sins, they've all been really good, even though results maybe haven't been there. That front three of Nadas, Will and Josh has kind of been pretty consistent. um or switching around that uh even even Jez before he left so you know he hasn't really got his time but that's I remember there was the first goal of that last preseason friendly he skipped past two defenders and the defenders had no idea they sent a half and literally fell over just because he changed you quickly and hit a ball from 20 yards out and and scored a brilliant goal and I was gutted to see him go off but that felt like that's what Dylan De Silva can do that's what Torquay fans were saying you know him taking on a defender it's a scary prospect and him running like it was pressing like like like mad yesterday and even sand that when he came on as well both of those two were instead of will because will in the past has led the press it's now actually the wingers who lead it and charge down the keeper and that put the pressure on it it just the mentality around the side because they got their tails up it is different so i was really pleased from yesterday played really well
Mike Dowling
30:57 - 31:09
yeah I mean one little thing on that defender who was given away the penalty just a few a little bit a few minutes before um some of the Sutton fans who was just standing behind me were giving um this great big baldy song
Speaker 1
31:10 - 31:11
so I kind of just turned my head like
Mike Dowling
31:11 - 31:31
that looking at them and one by one they went a little bit oh hang on this one sort of like just carried on and on and on wondering why everyone stopped and then suddenly turned to look to me went Oh, I don't care really, I'm just playing. I hope they all got rattled. Yeah, what do you think of me dying? Hang on.
Joe
31:33 - 31:36
For audio listeners, Mike is taking a sip of water.
Mike Dowling
31:37 - 31:45
So Jack's penalty save. That was an excellent save. The photo sequence from Paul is amazing, but talk us through that while I cough.
Joe
31:47 - 32:19
It is a stunning save. Well, Mike just slowly coughed his lungs up. I'll give you a nice little thing. For anyone who wasn't watching, we have, considering where we were with not getting penalties and conceding penalties last season and not saving any of them since Jack Rose against Cambridge, we've come on leaps and bounds. We now score our penalties. Oh, well, barring nano-boating on Tuesday night, but other than that, We do well. It was a really good save. And it wasn't like leaned down. He used his top hand to flick it over the bar. And that takes power.
Joe
32:19 - 32:49
And it wasn't a bad penalty at all. It could have been a bit more maybe top left. But to flick it over the bar and get that much power, because I thought it might have dipped in. But yeah, excellent from Jack. I mean, he got in Team of the Week for National League Natter on Twitter. But then again, I think that everyone's like, oh, should Tim be at Man of the Match? Should Dave be at Man of the Match? Bez was in the papers team of the week. I was like, there's not really anyone yesterday who's not outstanding.
Joe
32:49 - 33:49
And there wasn't anyone who wasn't as bad. Everyone was solid and good. Davies had a quiet game, but took the chance when he needed. Dylan created the chance and was decent throughout, so was the back line. Like, Woodyard, Barbrook was good in midfield. Sims was creating chances, wasn't bad. Like, the subs came on. Jack made the save, but other than that, had very little to do. And as did the Eastley goalkeeper, weirdly. Like, that was only... there weren't really many clear chances in the game. um you know easily keeping McDonald a bit more to do but not not masses it wasn't like it was a barrage from us it was a bit just like we took our chance so excellent save um I think that gave us momentum because I think half first half an hour it was very even I think we were starting to give a little bit and then easily just had a five minutes where they looked a little bit threatening and then the penalty was awarded, but then it swung back the other way and after half time I think second half we were better, much, much, much better.
Joe
33:51 - 34:21
Even though that didn't convert into shots and chances, we were just much more comfortable and it, you know, When Kirky came on, it was partly was like, is this another Aldershot? And I was actually like, no, it's not because Aldershot actually looks slightly threatening. I wasn't worried in that last however long it was because it was like, we've got control, we've got a backline who I really trust, no one looks tired, whereas Aldershot was the end of a long December where we had injuries left right and centre. So yeah, it was it was a great save.
Joe
34:21 - 34:25
I think I really I think it shifted the tide of the game quite significantly.
Mike Dowling
34:26 - 35:03
Yeah, I didn't die by the way, everyone. But on the, I was around the other side, I was sort of behind the bench when that happened. And I think it was John Meaney and Steve both went up and gave like a great big celebration with Andy, the goalkeeping coach. And I know Steve mentioned in the post match about that's what some of the work that goes into these penalties, trust what they say. So it just shows that togetherness there. And I mean, Yeah, great save, great sequence. Everything's fantastic on that. But you mentioned the back, the back line.
Mike Dowling
35:03 - 35:37
I mean, you mentioned it earlier. You're right with Steve. When Lewis was given man of the match, his interviewing was, was he? I didn't think he did any more than others. And I was like, oh, but as you just said, there wasn't anyone who stood out. Everyone was at a good, good level. So could have given it to a few different people. Could have been anyone, yeah. But you mentioned also the substitutions as we get into that sort of late moments where we all start to sit back and think, oh God, hang on a minute, is it going to happen again, again, again?
Mike Dowling
35:38 - 35:57
But we saw it out. I've now said that's it, done and dusted, those six minutes don't count for nothing anymore. Psychologically, we've done that now two weeks in a row. We're holding on to a lead, six minute goes up. Fine, whatever, bring it on. We don't care anymore. Are you going to be nice and calm next time Six Minutes goes up?
Joe
35:59 - 36:36
No. Too many times I've tried to be and it doesn't work. There'll be no football match when you're leading by one goal where you're like, ah. Especially not Saturn. I think yesterday I actually wasn't nervous, but I was more focused on giving the man the match to the right person and just making sure I did the added time right. Yeah, the substitution, substitutions reinforced it. Sidhu looked really good considering he'd had a dislocated shoulder, like he dominated that midfield. Kirk looked good at the back, like he played quite aggressively, like winning headers comfortably. Sandat looked good on the hold-up play.
Joe
36:36 - 37:01
um and you know I remember I think it was a corner for them and we cleared it they passed it back to McDonnell and he just came from like somewhere in the box just roared down the field and before like it was there properly and forced him forced the keeper to just kind of lob it up and it bounced out of play and the round of applause which came from that was very rightly served because he could have just, you know, pressed but not pressed it a lot but he was sprinting like properly quickly towards the keeper.
Joe
37:01 - 37:35
You know, that was indicative of the kind of momentum and the mood of the camp and the match at the time but it was, yeah, I'm looking forward to February because we've got quite a few big games, like away games at Oldham and Gateshead, who, you know, Oldham got two games in hand, but they're only four points ahead, and they're not in a good round of form. You've got Kiddie, which could, you know, if we win, that takes in the quarterfinals of the quarterfinals, I think, of the FA Trophy, if I'm not wrong. So, you know, that,
Mike Dowling
37:36 - 37:36
yes,
Joe
37:36 - 38:02
an FA Trophy run, you know, if we keep if we keep the momentum going up, that's a hope, maybe a day out of Wembley at the end of it. And then You've got other league games in there. Hartlepool, not an easy game. Braintree at home, you know, you might think that's an easy game, but Braintree don't. They're no pushover. You know, we only beat them one nil away and it wasn't the most comfortable game. So I think February could be a good month for us. We've got a lot of teams who have changed. You might have thought Oldham and Gateshead earlier in the season.
Joe
38:02 - 38:33
I would if, you know, if you're looking at current strength, I think we are in top five, six in the league in terms of where we're at. Oldham have lost Stones and they've gone to York, but they've lost other players as well. They've got some older players in, we've got a lot of young players, fitness might help there, and then we go up to Gateshead who have lost even more players to this endless cycle of Crawley, MK, Dons and like the weird feeder system that's going on. So, um, They're two games which could be massive for any playoff run.
Joe
38:33 - 38:44
You've got other games which you might perceive as easy around them, an FA Trophy run, possibly a National League Cup run. We've got a fit squad, maybe a few more additions in the next few days just to bulk up the numbers and
Speaker 1
38:44 - 38:44
bring
Joe
38:45 - 39:36
some quality in maybe the wide areas now that Jez has gone. I think it's a really quite dare I say, exciting time to be a fan because you might have thought, let's say, November, October, it's going to peter out, it's going to be 11th, 12th, something like that, decent season, maybe a trophy run, but not too fast, if not. Now you've got a team which, talking point on social media, taking a look at league leaders, a confident front three, a confident back line of which multiple of them are getting you know, interest from higher up the pyramid, a goalkeeper who's, you know, getting well praised by other players, a manager who's looking more and more just embedded in the system, you know, a year now in charge, which is mad to say, considering just the mad year it's been.
Joe
39:36 - 40:19
I think, I'm going to make a little prediction here, I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of February we're in the playoffs. I think, you know, the way things are going, we're top I think we're top three or four in terms of points per game over the last five in the league. And that's outscoring York, I think that's outscoring Barnet. We've got momentum and we know how important that can be. It's just whether we can see it through. Now it brings back to mind the second season in the EFL where we had that crazy unbeaten run in in January to March and then injuries and tiredness and just teams getting their second wind in April meant that we just dropped down to 14th.
Joe
40:19 - 40:42
But it's a different team. It's a younger team. It's a different league. Maybe this could be a season where, look, we come out of nowhere and a lot of people on social media are saying, don't take your eyes off them. We've got a bit of a countdown earlier in the season. I think now Inadvertently, eyes are on us for other reasons, and we can use that to our own benefit, which I don't think the players might at all.
Mike Dowling
40:43 - 40:59
No, I mean, yeah, I'm delighted that it's timed it so perfectly, but I have said all the way through, it's going to take time, it's going to take time, but maybe after Christmas we're going to go on a great run. And I got a new yellow coat for Christmas, so obviously we need to put a lot of it onto the new yellow
Joe
40:59 - 41:01
coat. It looks so comfy.
Mike Dowling
41:02 - 41:02
I've got a new
Joe
41:02 - 41:14
coat. I've got a new coat. I've got a gilet and a coat now and they're both so, they're something special. I have now found the love in it, in a nice coat. I can feel myself getting old. Whoa,
Mike Dowling
41:14 - 41:17
whoa, whoa. This is just suddenly taking a nasty turn, isn't it?
Speaker 4
41:18 - 41:21
In comparison, in comparison!
Mike Dowling
41:22 - 41:31
You mentioned Zidji, there was a moment where he came on and he'd done this wonderful piece of control and I swear he tripped over the ball and we managed to get a free kick for it!
Speaker 4
41:31 - 41:32
It was
Joe
41:32 - 41:47
so good! I said, did you just trip over the ball but it he did actually hit the player's knee yeah he just tripped over and the referee was gonna he looked up he smiled because i was like he didn't smile at me obviously but i just smiled like you've got lucky there
Mike Dowling
41:47 - 41:47
but
Joe
41:47 - 41:49
you know we've got the rub of the green when things go well
Mike Dowling
41:50 - 42:24
That's what happened. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there was one, there's one area perhaps we could slightly improve on, the set pieces. I was really surprised when Will scored at York that everyone's going, I think that's like the first sort of set piece or corner we've scored from. So set pieces we could, I don't know, you know I don't check these things. Again, something that is going to come, now we get a bit more, set aside a bit more confidence. What do you think? You're pulling a face like you don't believe me.
Joe
42:25 - 43:05
No, no, no, I'm just, I'm just thinking, I'm just comparing it like the previous season. To be fair, with previous seasons, set pieces were a big part of our game, because we had the Harry Smiths, the Joe Kizzies, the Ben Goodlifts, the Libby Johns of this world, who just could stand and flick it on it and cause a problem. But the remarkable thing is, I think we've scored free kicks and things, you know, I haven't scored many, but is it's a positive that actually most of our goals are coming from open play because that's a sign of a team who doesn't need the scenarios to score and it shows the difference in team.
Mike Dowling
43:06 - 43:40
This is what I was thinking is, where does the count stop from a free kick? Because a lot of our free kicks are taken very quickly to keep the ball moving, to keep the play moving. And it's a case of, OK, well, we take a free kick up here. So the move starts from a free kick. There's like 15 passes or whatever to suddenly get the ball into the box and shoot. Does that still count as a set piece? So, at what point do you count it? So, I don't think it's a major thing. It might be something else that would be great to have as a threat, but the way they take free kicks and so on, I don't think we're going to need to worry too much because we tend to just keep the ball moving really, really quickly.
Mike Dowling
43:40 - 43:41
Same with
Joe
43:41 - 43:48
corners. We take them, half the time we take them short, we have the thing, we play it short and play it to the edge of the box. And if not, then we rebuild from there.
Mike Dowling
43:51 - 44:23
Well, give us a chance to take our phones out, guys, because none of us are catching any of these goals. Oh, it's gone. Right. You've kind of covered some of this, the momentum. We're now 10th. It's building. I mean, we didn't move. um but it's a nice little gap now between us and 11th and I think obviously everything being all equal next league game if we win um we've got to sixth um but we've got the trophy game I don't know if there's any other games being played over next weekend I should imagine so because there's a few
Speaker 1
44:23 - 44:23
teams
Mike Dowling
44:23 - 44:42
with games in hand on us Um, but are you, are you, well, you've already covered it. You're confident of the momentum going now until the last bit of the season unbeaten in January. Um, I've been since Christmas. Um, and do you feel, do you want to go out really confident and go, we could be unbeaten by the end of February?
Joe
44:48 - 45:06
No, I'm not going to, I'm not going to go that far. I'm not going to go that far. just because they are hard games and I, you know, Oldham and Gateshead are having a great form, but they are very, two very tough games away in quick succession. Braintree, and there's another one at the end of the month, I don't know what it is, or is that in March because this is the 22nd Braintree, no?
Mike Dowling
45:07 - 45:26
It might be this Rochdale, but that might go away. I think Rochdale's 1st of March, but that might go away because it's depending if either of us get through. So we've got Gateshead. So we've got Kiddie next week, Hartlepool, Oldham, Gateshead and Braintree. And then I think it's the Rochdale match after. Yeah,
Joe
45:26 - 46:07
it's on the 1st because it's the 28th. Yeah. I think I think we just got, as he keeps saying, game by game is the best way to think about it. I mean, we've got a National League Cup game between against Notts Forest and the 21s. There'll be no pushover. There's a great mood around that club at the moment, so I'm sure they'll be up for the fight. I think it means a lot to them as well, the National League and 21s, because I know, you know, National League clubs aren't taking it the most seriously, do take it seriously, but you know Youth Academy's come into it a lot, whereas it's important for these under-21s, maybe in the, what is it now, it's not the Bristol Street Motors, what's it called, it's a new name isn't there?
Joe
46:09 - 46:11
Is it called the
Mike Dowling
46:12 - 46:12
Invicta
Joe
46:12 - 46:13
Trophy?
Mike Dowling
46:13 - 46:17
I think Bristol Street Motors only got it because it was like they had no sponsor and they offered them like five or something.
Joe
46:18 - 46:52
Virtue Trophy, that's what it's called. So Bristol Street Motors Trophy, now the Virtue Trophy, well most of them I think are out now because the new clubs are in, so it's actually quite an important competition for them. But I think even Steve takes them somewhat seriously because they help to bring momentum, as you said, into the camp. And home, the VBS is starting to become fortress, but it's starting to become a place where we start to seem confident going into games.
Speaker 1
46:52 - 46:52
There's an
Joe
46:52 - 47:38
expectation. Yeah, there is an expectation. It's not like last season where it'd be like, oh, well, anything can happen, you know. Being at home, being away, being in the middle of nowhere, we'll lose. So I'd like to hope, like, I'd hope for wins at Braintree and hopefully Kiddie next week. Next week it's away, but it doesn't really make a difference home and away for us. It seems like it's pretty much even. And I would actually back us to get a result at Oldham. I don't know why, just because I think their fans, the way they were a little bit earlier this season, and I think there's a bit of a bit like York, a bit of an underdog bias, just because obviously York and Oldham are traditionally bigger teams.
Joe
47:38 - 48:09
I think there's a bit of an we quite like being Sutton, you know, little old Sutton. I think quite, I think being that underdog is quite, it suits this squad, especially the likes of Will. I think, I think you really, they really enjoy it. And point to prove, and I think Steve enjoys it as well, being there with a point to prove, it's quite, it's quite a nice feeling. So I wouldn't say I'm beaten, but I certainly don't, I don't see it. And, you know, I don't want to give it the kiss of death here, but I don't see it all going, going wrong.
Mike Dowling
48:10 - 48:30
No, absolutely. I'm going to go with unbeaten. It's fine. Right. We lose it. No, we won't. No, we won't. Points of use. I've only got one question sent in. Is Jack Sims the best keeper in the league? What's the
Joe
48:30 - 49:03
claim? He's up there. He's top five. You know, I'm not here for free. It's hard to quantify because he's actually not made any glaring errors at all this season. He hasn't made an error that is massive this season. He's been good on penalty saves. His distribution is really quite good. He's comfortable playing out from the back. Old York, Harrison Marley's not bad. But again, you know, they've had problems recently. Forrest Green, I don't even know who their keeper is.
Mike Dowling
49:03 - 49:06
Let's just say, would you swap him for anyone else in the league?
Joe
49:06 - 49:06
No.
Mike Dowling
49:06 - 49:13
There we go. That's the answer. I'm with you. It's not just the saves.
Joe
49:13 - 49:19
They're all the best. It's just everyone's against us and we are actually just the best.
Mike Dowling
49:21 - 50:01
It's the things like, he just keeps us on our toes as well. He doesn't make mistakes. He just kind of decides to flick the ball up a little bit just to make sure we're all awake, you know, just, just keep us going. And the shit housing is amazing. Love it. Yeah. Right. So this is going to be a really super quick, good, bad and the funny, because it's only you. That one is terrible. That's great. Well, do you know
Speaker 4
50:01 - 50:07
what? It's nowhere near, on the scale of knowing me, knowing you, it compares at no level.
Mike Dowling
50:08 - 50:34
No. I mean, I've said it before, but I'll explain what it was supposed to be. So at the end, instead of wah, wah, wah, it was supposed to be Fozzie Bear going waka, waka, waka. But he doesn't say waka, waka, waka. The only sound clips I can get is him just going waka, waka. doesn't work. It needs to be free. Yeah. So yeah, if anyone's got a sound clip of Fozzie Bear going whacka whacka whacka send it and I can fix that. Anyway, what was good yesterday?
Joe
50:36 - 50:37
I'm going to be selfish.
Mike Dowling
50:37 - 50:39
Match day, it doesn't have to be on the pitch, sorry.
Joe
50:39 - 50:59
I'm going to be selfish. Announcing the goal, Will Davis' goal. I'm glad I didn't film it, but just the reaction when saying our number nine, Will Davis, and then just the cheers and the finger around the ground. For someone who supports the club, you know, it's a brilliant feeling. Yeah, that was dead fun.
Mike Dowling
50:59 - 51:03
You'd have to get yourself a second phone or something just to have filming you for the whole thing. No, no, no. I
Joe
51:04 - 51:12
filmed other ones. I filmed me introducing the game. I filmed me the substitutions, but I had my phone set up, but in the moment, because obviously as a fan, I reacted, I've just forgot to turn it off.
Mike Dowling
51:12 - 51:16
Yeah, but you just get a phone on, stick it on there for the full match and you then got it.
Joe
51:17 - 51:19
Battery life's going to have to be impeccable.
Mike Dowling
51:19 - 51:24
Plug it in. I'm sure there's plugs. What was bad about the day?
Joe
51:27 - 51:30
What was bad? It was
Mike Dowling
51:30 - 51:35
colder than I expected. I was lured in by that sunshine. I was like, oh, it's a lovely day. It
Speaker 4
51:35 - 51:45
was a lovely day. I should have said the weather. It wasn't, it could have been colder. Food was all, food was nice.
Joe
51:47 - 52:03
Oh, I always go on about the train, so I'm going to go back to the train. What was I going to say? Oh, yeah. We got stuck at Warden for five minutes on my train home. And I mean, it's just, I mean, if that's the bar for bad, it's not.
Mike Dowling
52:03 - 52:05
That's quite a good day, to be fair.
Joe
52:06 - 52:08
Yeah, exactly. There's worse places to be stuck for five minutes.
Mike Dowling
52:09 - 52:13
Yeah, well, my brother lives that way, so maybe. What was funny about the
Joe
52:13 - 52:47
day? What was funny? I spoke to Steve. I made Steve laugh, so I'm taking it. Made Steve laugh, cracked a joke. He was testing the mic for the interview. I went, uno, dos, tres. And I said, tag my ugly, stick that on a TikTok. uh our manager's mum's bilingual uh and he laughed so that's a good and a funny so for all these for all you guys saying that you don't like Steve Morrison well some people can make him laugh so.
Mike Dowling
52:48 - 52:52
Was he laughing with you or at you? That's a big question. We'll have to ask him.
Speaker 4
52:54 - 52:59
I'll ask him at Hartlepool. Yeah no no no no when Jack told him I was gonna do
Joe
53:00 - 53:12
PA. He was like, I guess he's on PA today. He's like your boy. I was like, yes. So I don't think you like, I mean, I've only actually spoken to him once before, but like, you know, I'm making progress. I'm going, I'm going up in the world.
Mike Dowling
53:13 - 53:47
Exactly. Right. So we are going to talk about Kilimanjaro. Um, So they're all but top of National Dorf. They've got a game in hand. If they win that, they are top. Do you think we are going to use this to give players minutes, or what used to be called the fringe players? Or do you think we've got to go, no, at this stage, that's it. We've got to go full strength. We've got a midweek game, but I don't think we've got a midweek game to one after. We don't. No. So what do you think we're going to do?
Joe
53:47 - 53:54
What is a fringe player? Because I don't think we have fringe players. I think we've got a few first names on the team. I know that's why you said it. That's why I said
Mike Dowling
53:54 - 53:55
it that way. Come on.
Joe
53:55 - 54:08
I know. I know. I think we have five names which go on the team sheet first. They are Tyler French, Jack Sims, Will Davies. No. Finlay Barbrook. Four.
Mike Dowling
54:09 - 54:09
Josh.
Joe
54:11 - 54:45
No. I think he's great and I love him, but I don't think he's a first name on the team sheet. I think Jez is up there, Dylan's up there, Ash is up there, Jack's up there, Wadham. So I think we treat it like a Saturday game. We've got National League Cup midweek. we maybe bring a few players in, but that bench yesterday, you've got Harry Ransom and Hayden Muller, they're two really amazing players. You've got Ryan Jackson at right back, maybe get Edwina at left back, that's a brilliant back four. Then you switch the midfield up and maybe you keep Alex Woodyard in for a bit of stability, but then you create a midfield, let's say, of Jack Wardham coming back and Sidhu, another excellent midfield.
Joe
54:45 - 55:13
Then you maybe put player, I don't know, Nana Boateng, keep Will up there and bring Ashes in back into the team. You take that starting line-up for a league game. That is a very solid line-up. Brings the base in there, gives the likes of Finlay, Josh, keep Jack in goal because uh just because Matt or Sam, Steve isn't back yet, Matt and Sam, good Sam's gone on loan as I need to start
Speaker 1
55:13 - 55:13
my
Joe
55:13 - 55:52
rovers so Matt obviously as a backup now that George has gone but I just just for security because I think playing the way we do I think Jack is so integral to that I don't think we can discounting. But you know, that keeps the backbone of the team. But because we don't have a midweek game, we don't have a midweek game this week, or the one week after, we just treat it like a Saturday league game. We're into the advantage of the competition, builds up momentum around the club, and then you've still got a game on Tuesday where you've got a very capable academy group, like, you know, Liam, Joden, Vinny, I don't know, Sam, can he play?
Joe
55:52 - 55:53
I think he can.
Mike Dowling
55:53 - 56:01
I don't know, but I think Matt might play. Yeah, you'd probably get that. Sorry, I just got the wrong way around. We haven't got midweek this week, but we've got Forrest
Joe
56:02 - 56:03
That's what I mean. So we don't have
Mike Dowling
56:03 - 56:03
one this week,
Joe
56:03 - 56:04
but we
Mike Dowling
56:04 - 56:04
have
Joe
56:04 - 56:17
one next week. And then the week after that, we don't have one again. So it's not as back-to-back as it has been over the last few months. So I think we treat it as, maybe again to get a few players minutes, but you know, the players I'm saying we bring in, Hayden Muller,
Mike Dowling
56:17 - 56:19
Ryan
Joe
56:19 - 56:51
Jackson, Nanna Boateng, still an excellent goal on Tuesday night. They are just as able, just as in tune with philosophy, and can get a result against, you know, it's been around National League North, but they did go down last season. There is, I think, a bigger drop from between League One, League Two to National League, then National League to Step Two. I think there's a bigger shift. I don't think National League North is as strong as National League South either. I'm not discounting it as a league. I just think South is of slightly better quality.
Joe
56:53 - 57:21
And I think we should be looking to get a good result because I think, you know, a cup run is another thing just, you know, in previous seasons, we'll be like, you know, we're pushing for playoffs, maybe let's just focus on that. Great. I think actually, game congestion isn't something which worries these players a lot, maybe injuries does, but it seems like we've come out the worst of that. And we've actually got a decent lead to that squad and our only long term absentees are Steven and Jadon. That gives us a cup one gives us impetus.
Joe
57:22 - 57:38
And you know, our next league game's not for two weeks. We don't need to think about Hartlepool, we just need to think about... I also don't think, from the sounds of it, they don't really categorise maybe the National League Cup games, but they don't really categorise it as competition. It's another game. It's a game of football.
Speaker 1
57:39 - 57:39
It's a game
Joe
57:39 - 57:41
against this opponent. We want to win. We want
Speaker 1
57:41 - 57:41
to play the
Joe
57:42 - 58:15
football we want to play and we want to put on a show and make people enjoy the football we play. And I've really liked that attitude because prioritising competitions gets tricky because then you're like, oh, we don't really mind what we do. And that sets a culture, which is like, that's not a positive culture to have because it's like it's okay if we don't get a result in this game. Steve's completely against that it seems, it's just like we we are a club who should be doing well and should be winning as many games as we can that's what you want to do now rather than prioritising competition so I think it was just going to with a base game, but there's no there's no player in the squad where I think maybe in previous seasons who I think, oh, that could be a casualty case.
Joe
58:15 - 58:35
There's no player in this squad who I'm like, no, I believe that they can do the job. We all make mistakes. They have made mistakes this season. They'll learn from them. They're young. And that's what you keep saying. And I'm really starting to believe that this squad is actually capable of things. And it's my positivity, which has come in previous seasons and it's kind of dwindled from last season at the start of this season, starting to come back up again.
Mike Dowling
58:36 - 58:48
Yeah. No, it is. I mean, he's positive. They do want to win every match. There was, you mentioned Jayden there, he, a little bit of news, he's off the, he's still got the boot, but he's off crutches. So he was hobbling around the place yesterday. He
Joe
58:48 - 58:49
was on the bike yesterday.
Mike Dowling
58:50 - 59:07
Yeah. He was told about that. Do you think Kiedeminsa are going to take it, not seriously, obviously they're going to take it seriously, but they're going for the league. So do you think they're going to be like, right, we're going to go for both? Or you think they might just go, oh, do you know what? Let's concentrate on the league at this stage.
Joe
59:08 - 59:37
I think there's a higher chance of them doing that than us, because I think a return to the National League is because, you know, they are a former football league club. You know, they're Phil Brown as their manager last season, so not a small club by any means, and they're doing well at the top of the National League North. However, it's a Saturday 3 p.m. I don't think they've got, I checked earlier, I don't think they've got a game this week. So, you know, I know they do. They've got Brackley away and Brackley are fourth.
Joe
59:37 - 1:00:04
So I wouldn't be surprised if they prioritise that away league game, third v fourth, and then maybe to the Hicks. I think they're one of the only step two competitors left in the trophy. That leaves only National League clubs. the chances of a National League North side going through the next three rounds in a title race is slightly smaller than a National League club who is, I think, I don't think, are Kiddie Pro?
Mike Dowling
1:00:06 - 1:00:08
I'd imagine they only went, yeah, I don't know. Because they
Joe
1:00:08 - 1:00:29
only went down, are Kiddie Professionals, let's have a look. They are professional. So, you know, I would imagine they might have prioritised Tuesday, but again, there should be no reason to write them off because, you know, National League North, top of the National League North, you don't get to that position without some
Mike Dowling
1:00:29 - 1:00:30
bigger
Joe
1:00:30 - 1:00:30
players.
Mike Dowling
1:00:30 - 1:00:44
Years back, it was only three up, three down, and it used to be the playoff final for the National League North and South was against each other, so only one of them came up, and I think it was the South were winning it all the time, so that's when I stopped that.
Joe
1:00:44 - 1:00:47
Three up, three down. Hear that, AFL?
Mike Dowling
1:00:47 - 1:00:48
Hear that
Joe
1:00:48 - 1:00:50
one? Three up, three down. Great idea.
Mike Dowling
1:00:51 - 1:00:59
Come on. What is your prediction? You're still bottom of the prediction league with your one injury. But what is your prediction for this match? 4-2.
Speaker 4
1:00:59 - 1:01:00
4-2 to Sutton?
Mike Dowling
1:01:00 - 1:01:11
Yep. Yeah, excellent, lovely. Well, hopefully they think that it's Sutton Coalfield that's rocking up to them, because that would be nice.
Joe
1:01:11 - 1:01:14
There is a Sutton United in Birmingham who just keeps popping up on my feed every now and then.
Mike Dowling
1:01:14 - 1:01:42
There's Sutton United, yeah. Jenny was furious because I was like, well, they must have been, they were formed around the same time, and they were so low down that everyone thought, oh, it's never going to be a problem. But yeah, they were formed in 1947, I think, and we're 1898, so they should change their name. um but um i'm gonna go with oh god i didn't think about it let's go no two one son i'm gonna go back retro two one son um it's a cup game
Joe
1:01:42 - 1:01:44
retro retro from like a month and a half ago
Mike Dowling
1:01:45 - 1:01:52
yeah yeah so um we're gonna wrap up this episode of something podcast i'm gonna get you to say it joe as always
Speaker 4
1:01:53 - 1:01:57
i can't no i can't because i had the reactions better
Joe
1:01:57 - 1:01:58
than me saying it say again
Mike Dowling
1:01:59 - 1:02:18
Come on, we appreciate your attention and we value your feedback. Get involved in our Knowing Me, Knowing You section. What is the best food or drink you've ever had at a football ground? I'm not sure anyone's going to be able to put something better than Joe's burger. I mean, I'm just going to put like the musical J'TAM to Joe's burger or something.
Joe
1:02:18 - 1:02:19
I didn't hear any of that.
Mike Dowling
1:02:20 - 1:02:50
You didn't hear any of that? OK, lovely. Great. You took your earphones out. But follow, like, share this episode, give us a thumbs up on YouTube, and don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. We are back after the Kid Amidst the Match. I haven't organized the planner yet, so I don't know who's going to be on. I know one of them is going to be JR, but I don't know who's going to be with him. But thank you today to Joe. Thank you to Lucky Star Gene. I don't know why, do you think you're signing or something?
Mike Dowling
1:02:50 - 1:03:01
Because you're not. I'm doing subtitles. Thanks to everyone for listening. I hope you've enjoyed this episode and take care. We will catch up soon. Bye bye.
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