A QUICK FIRST HALF OF SEASON REVIEW

It will be good in some way's to leave the year of 2014 as the first half of the 14-15 season has not gone to well, especially for the 1st X1. Manager Jason Hopkinson who in his second season in charge has found it hard to find the right squad of players to take the club forward. There are many reasons for our form over the last few months, some out of our contro but it has not helped by key players letting the manager down, not turning up when picked or the dual signed not available when needed as they are playing for their Mother club. It has been a testing time for all when searching for answers to the many questions asked as to why things are not working as they should but hopefully some new signings and a sift of the chaff will hopefully see the Team regain a positive team spirit for the second half of the season. It must be noted though that the club acknowledges the loyalty of those players who turn up for every games the can and always put in a good shift whatever the odds.

We made the preliminary round of the FA Cup after beating Corinthian FC 2-1 at home but Mertsham halted anymore thoughts of going further and beat us 4-0 at the Caburn.

The FA Vase was better reaching the first round proper which bought out a nail biting extra time 4-3 finish away against Colliers Wood FC in which Ringmer were extremely unlucky not to win. Ringmer previously beat Div 2 Saltdean 4-1 and Div 1St Francis Rangers 3-2 in the preliminary rounds at home.

The first Peter Bentley Cup (previously the John O'Hara League Cup) was a complete disaster from start to finish. I think all will want to forget this game after losing to Eastbourne Utd 5-1.

The Sussex Senior Cup started well as Ringmer had a 6-1 win over Russtington in the first round, unfortunately lessons were not learnt after the Bentley Cup incident and Ringmer fielded another ineligible player and forfeited the game and out of the Cup.

The RUR Charity Cup went well until Div 1 Loxwood came along and beat Ringmer 4-1 at the Caburn in the quarter finals. The Blues came in at the 2nd round beating Div 11 outfit Horsham YMCA 2-1 away and then Div 2 Mile Oak away, 3-2 after extra time.

But then let's not be glum, a new year awaits and if the performance at our last match v Eastbourne United was anything to go by when we were three up at half time (unfortunately the game was then abandoned due to floodlight failier!!!), things could be looking a whole lot better. The introduction of George Brown and George Cousins in midfield and also a debut game for Abdou Diallo up front gave things a different look & feel to the game, plus a first outing for new goal keeper Jordan Marshall who will share this post with another new keeper Callum Christie. Other new faces in the squad is James Hobbs (Defender) and Bobby Jay Deegan(attacking midfield) There is still a lot of work to be done by Hopkinson for his fight to climb back up the division one table and away fromthe drop zone.

We start the new year with a division one match down at the Saffrons playing Eastbourne Town on Saturday 3rd January 2015, kick off at 3:00pm. Town are currently in 4th position on 42 points but have 3 games in hand on leaders Dorking Wanderers with 47 points. Ringmer sit a lowly 18th with just 14 points from 18 games, that's made up of 4 wins 2 draws and 12 losses. The next game will be half way so now we need to raise everything and aim for mid-table or even above. Lets hope our luck improves in 2015 and leave all the bad luck in 2014. C'Mon the Blues, lets get out there and show them what we can do :-))))