The latest news on Tooting and Mitcham United FC from guest blogger, Roger Butcher

Tooting’s last few games have been a bit low key. We are safe from relegation and we cannot get promoted, so there has been nothing riding on our last 10 games or so. It must be difficult for manager, Craig Tanner, to keep the intensity up, and because of this our performances have been a little bit patchy of late. This has been matched by our results as we suffered three straight defeats in April at the hands of promotion contenders.

However, on the plus side, it has given the manager the opportunity to play some of the younger players from the academy who might not otherwise have got into the team.  Amongst these, one of our highest rated prospects, Leon Lalor-Dell, has featured in most of our last few games.  He is a pacy attacker who likes to take on defenders. Just the type of player the fans love to watch. Leon played a key part in our 2-0 victory over East Grinstead in our penultimate league game of the season, in which Dan Summers bagged another two goals to take his season’s tally to an impressive 34 so far.
 

Also, Max Noble’s rehabilitation continued when he managed his first full 90 minutes of the season against East Grinstead. Has he done enough to force his way into Tanner’s London Senior Cup final team? Incidentally, the date for this final has been put back by a day and will now take place on Thursday 7th May, the same day as the General Election. For anyone planning to attend this game, it takes place at Metropolitan Police’s Imber Court Sports Club, Ember Lane, East Molesey, KT8 0BT and kicks off at 7:30pm. Our opponents will be Hendon.

We will start this game as outsiders as Hendon have had an outstanding season. They look like finishing runners up in the Ryman Premier Division, one league above us, and will be looking for promotion via the play offs. They have also picked up some silverware already this season by winning the Ryman League Cup a couple of weeks ago. So our work will be cut out, but we have proved that we can beat teams from higher leagues already this season, and we should go into this game confident that we have the ability to cause an upset.

Before that, though, we will complete our league programme on Saturday with a home game against Horsham. If you haven’t been to a game at Imperial Fields yet, why not come to this one.  The sun is usually shining, and there is normally a decent crowd as we get our last bit of live football till August. Unfortunately for Horsham, their recent financial and ground problems have culminated in their relegation this season, and although we wish them all the best in their attempts at a quick return, we don’t want to offer them any sympathy on the pitch!
 

And immediately following the match, the supporters club will be handing out their annual awards in the bar. Dan Summers will be hot favourite for the main award with his tremendous goal contribution, but there have been a number of unsung heroes this season, who have been very consistent over a long and testing season. Last season’s winner Bashiru Alimi must be in with a chance, as will solid performers Billy Marshall, Harry Knock and Nathan Gordon.

Please note the new website address is www.tmu-fc.co.uk

Upcoming fixtures:  

• Horsham on Saturday 25th April at 3:00pm. 

Come along – the 280 bus stops just outside the ground!