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The Briefing is our weekend round-up where we try to go behind the scores and pull out the interesting momenets, milestones and non-league silliness.
Want to add your own? Scroll to the comments.
Danny Robinson has hit a 1,000 games as a manager, his club Hungerford Town announced at the weekend.
I’ll level with you, I don’t entirely know where this sits in the pantheon of non-league managers (for example Alan Devonshire must have passed this mark?) but I had a quick look at Football League manager on Wikipedia and the list has Sir Alex Ferguson at the top with ‘only’ 2,155. Neil Warnock is second with 1,960.
Look at Danny’s achievements though from Winchester City Reserves through to managing Hungerford Town in the National League South.
He won the FA Vase and Hellenic League with Thatcham Town in 2018 and the Kingfishers were top of the Southern League Division One South in 2019/20 when COVID curtailed the season.
He’s packed a lot in, including keeping Hungerford in the National League for consecutive seasons – still amassing 40 points even when the Crusaders were eventually relegated.
So he’s packed a lot in, he’s always a WhatsApp away when we’ve got questions and has plenty more games to come. All the best to you Danny!
No not yellow card.
Over the weekend Callum Willmoth made it 300 appearances for Thatcham Town, marking the moment with a coolly taken penalty at Balham (who play at Tooting & Mitcham United) in the FA Vase.
Unfortuately the 2018 Vase winners were beaten 3-2 on the day, but Willmoth’s achievement is an impressive one having split his time with former boss Danny Robinson at Hungerford Town in recent seasons.
Congratulations Callum!
The Cityzens have finally reached the FA Vase Second Round Proper and are in the hat for Monday’s draw (which may have been released by the time you read this – in which case you can click here).
Simon Johnson’s side have had three First Round ties in the clubs eight year existence, losing 1-0 to Lancing in 2020, and 2-1 to Steyning Town in 2023.
An impressive 4-0 win at home to Baffins Milton Rovers was no more than the Cityzens deserved with the home side leading 3-0 at the break courtesy of a Stefan Brown hat-trick while new signing Bobbi Emery made it 4-0 and safe at the restart.
There was time as well with five minutes to go, for a cameo from former Maidenhead United striker and non-league goalscoring hero Dave Tarpey, who is the Cityzens assistant manager.
Elsewhere in the Vase, Windsor & Eton are now a game from matching last seasons Third Round achievement, winning 2-0 at Whitchurch United while Tadley Calleva, Burnham and Berks County also went through.
This was a lovely moment as Binfield ended a run of five defeats with a 4-1 win at home to Fareham Town.
The clubs under 10 Foxes girls side were mascots for the day and spent a bit of time getting manager Ross Weatherstone and his players autographs.
It’s the embodiment of what Abi Ticehurst was talking about here.
A full gallery is on the Binfield website here.
Both Maidenhead United and Ascot United negotiated their FA Women’s National League Plate First Round ties.
The Magpies beat Bridgwater United 2-1 at York Road after Izzy Stockton opened the scoring on 49 minutes but the score was level on 65, only for some last minute heroics from Megan Harper.
Moments earlier Sarah Sparrow had seen a shot tipped round the post to deny Maidenhead, only for Harper to seal the win on 90 minutes and send the Magpies through.
Ascot meanwhile put a tough run behind them to beat Chesham United 4-1 away. The Yellas goals came from Anais Harney, Beth Lloyd and Darcey Maxted plus an own goal after Chesham had equalised Ascot’s opener.
Okay I think we had a couple of good moments at the weekend you may have missed. Plus other amusement thrown in for good measure.
Assetts of Community Value incoming..
Honestly still not sure I spelt it correctly..
For context on this next one. You need to check the original Tweet here.
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