Gong With The Luminous Nose
I had a few options for potential artists to include this week, as Robert Fripp, Gordon Haskell, and Al Stewart have all lived in the town, so it was a bit of a late sixties / early seventies’ fest. I’ve gone with a track from the sixties’ freakbeat group The Fleur de Lys, for whom Gordon Haskell was bassist. I have a lot of their stuff on vinyl from Acid Jazz re-issues from just over ten years ago, and this one is a track Haskell wrote and was a 1968 single release on the Polydor label. It didn’t chart at all, and isn’t their best track, but it’s a nonsense title, and so goes perfectly with a nonsense performance. And I have two identical Fleur de Lys fridge magnets which were merch from Acid Jazz with purchases of their albums.
First up, the answer card from last week’s questions.
It was suggested by Sooty that all this performance needed for a write up was two words and based on it being an FA Cup game it should be ‘fucking awful,’ but I’ve never been one for using two words where a few thousand will do.
Last week drew interesting debate about the game’s sending offs. The Oldham Athletic Supporters Association wrote a letter to the league about the ref, pointing out that he has only ever sent off seven players, five of which have been Oldham ones. And how he booked one of their players for feigning injury whilst suffering from a dislocated shoulder. Both appeals against the red cards were turned down as well. And the crutch picture has been seen all over the place. We may have benefited from this one, but we’ll be on the receiving end soon enough. Officiating is a thankless task.
Monday saw the restarting of eye injections for me, with both eyes stabbed by a needle in the first of another run of five monthly treatments. Having strange floating things in my eyes for hours afterwards and the difficulty focusing makes me wonder if eye injections pre-game is de rigueur for EFL referees.
October player of the month was up on Tuesday (may have been Monday and I didn’t see it due to the above injections), and the voting box was headed September, so usual standard there. The four options were Stephen Duke-McKenna, Kai Jennings, Dylan Morgan, and Priestley Farquharson. Would imagine Billy Ocean will indicate who wins this one.
Goal of the month saw both of Stephen Duke-McKenna’s efforts in the game against Bromley in the Jersey Mikes Trophy, and then two Dylan Morgan goals, from the games against Shrewsbury Town, and Tranmere Rovers. I thought SDM’s second against Bromley was a shoe in at the time, but Morgan’s one against Shrewsbury is class as well.
On Wednesday it was confirmed that the Rotherham United away game next weekend has been postponed due to them having international call ups. So, I definitely made the correct decision in not getting game and train tickets sorted before hand for this one. Once bitten twice shy as they say.
Then the winners of the two monthly competitions were announced on Thursday evening, with it being a double victory for Dylan Morgan, with his goal against Shrewsbury Town winning goal of the month to go with the player of the month award.
And the news didn’t stop, on Friday there was more sponsorship extensions announced, and then that we had signed free agent Ben Heneghan on a short-term contract until the start of January. He brings height and experience to the defence, something interim boss Kevin Blackwell had spoken about previously. He last played for Port Vale last season. Also announced was Jordan Tait was joining us as permanent first team coach after whatever family issues have been sorted. That was followed on Saturday by the announcement Pele Arganese-McDermott has gone out on loan to Tonbridge Angels.
I got some more items from Mick Fox last week, which as well as a whole batch of programmes from the sixties to the eighties which I haven’t started cataloguing yet (but did have a scan through for Dorset related programmes which I’ll come to later), there were some other interesting curios. Such as some fanzines. I had mentioned in one of my write-ups a few weeks ago that I had seen a couple listed in an old When Saturday Comes, so Mick had found a few duplicates out from his collection for me to have.
The only thing is when you start to look through them you find other things you had no idea about and start searching for online. Such as Roy Of The Drovers, which I can’t find on eBay or Amazon, so if anyone has any suggestions for where I might find that, please let me know.
And I was amused by the chants top ten included in one of them. Especially after I noted the obvious new entry from the fans at the Oldham game last weekend. It may be something I try and keep an ear out for at games, but a top ten might be stretching it, five would be easier for me to manage.
There was also this little gem from 1991, all the data for which is now on the CTFC history web site, but it’s interesting to me to have it in print. I did notice it was complied by Leigh Edwards, whose name we see pop up in football programmes at home and away as he writes the various top tens (i.e. strikers, managers, defenders, etc.) which are licenced to various programmes.
And a Nationwide League handbook from the 2006/07 season, which will have a few pages feature later in the year when we play against sides in there. (Or later in this piece when I get around to talking about Dorset.)
Whilst I may not have been through all the older programmes I got from Mick, there were a handful of others including the one for Tamworth away game in the 2010–11 season which I mentioned in the Oldham piece as well.
There is no overlap of players between the squads, and I spent more time searching than I really should have done but still couldn’t find any players to have played for both teams. I did find a card for a former Wimborne Town player though as Luther Blissett did play for them towards the end of his career. And elsewhere, Jimmy Glass, famous league place saving goalscoring goalkeeper for Carlisle United was born in Wimborne Minster, and Eddie Howe went to school here.
We haven’t played Wimborne Town before in any competition or friendly game. So I had a look at the wider county, and we have only played four sides from Dorset. Three games against Bournemouth, thirty each against Poole Town and Weymouth and a whopping fifty-two against Dorchester Town. Overall the record against Dorset clubs is played 115, won 40, drew 31, and lost 44. In Dorset it is played 59, won 18, drew 15, and lost 26. This will be our third FA Cup tie against Dorset sides, and they have all been away. We lost both the previous ties, to Bournemouth in 2021, and a third qualifying round tie years ago at Weymouth.
There are programmes from games against the Dorset clubs in the collection. (It was interesting to see that on one of the Poole Town ones, it had their ground’s address — Wimborne Road.)
And a random one from another Dorset club — Sherborne Town.
Plus some Wimborne Town ones which have turned up this week, ordered especially as we are playing them.
And as mentioned before, the Nationwide Handbook had pages on two of those sides — Dorchester Town and Weymouth.
Back to today’s opponents, they were formed in 1878, and were founder members of first, the South Hampshire and Dorset Football Association, and later, the Dorset County Football Association. They have played in the Dorset league structure, the Western League, the Wessex League and more recently the Southern League, and have been in the Southern League South Premier Division at step 3 since the 2024–25 season after winning the Southern League South Division One title, the highest level reached in their history. (The same division as nearby Poole Town.) They were also FA Vase winners back in 1991–92.
They are currently ninth in the league, which means they are fifty-seven places below us in the league structure. With it being a non-league versus league team game with the former at home, and Crawley not on a very good run being stuck at the foot of the EFL structure, the game is being televised, probably with the mind that this is prime upset material, especially if you look at us against Maidenhead two years ago with a ninety-fifth minute equaliser to take it to extra time and for us to squeak by, and the humbling away at Boreham Wood. More of the same is expected.
Wimborne Town sold their home allocation of tickets in record time. We were given an allocation of five hundred, but final figures on how many we sold haven’t been seen, but there were still some left at the deadline of 1pm on Friday.
A drive over there in the fog of the morning saw me there just after midday with a chance to have a wander around Wimborne Minster, the town. After all why wouldn’t you go and have a look at Wimborne Minster when in Wimborne Minster.
A stroll to the ground, a bit of merch and the match programme, which is full of content, and easily the best away programme I’ve seen this season.
Being inside early and no obvious seating (there were some arranged by Emma for the DSA), I picked a spot at the front near the corner flag and settled down. It’s well documented that I’m not the most sociable of people, so when a random wanders over to talk I did well and was actually sociable. It turns out that the guy was Ethan Abi-Jaoude, and he is currently training with Crawley with a view to getting a playing visa. He’s been playing and training with Worksop Town and Worthing before coming to us. He’s only nineteen and comes from Canada but also qualifies to play for The Lebanon and is looking at playing for them at international level. He is also angling after the world record for the longest throw recorded by a goalkeeper. He already has the distance, but just needs for a game time opportunity to do it for it to be ratified by Guinness.
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There is no change to the starting eleven from the team which struggled to a win against Oldham Athletic last week, but with it being an FA Cup game we can have a couple of extra subs on the bench and so there is the return of Malcolm Ebiowei to the squad, and new signing Ben Heneghan joins in.
It was another game prefaced by remembrance silence. Wimborne didn’t have a bugle player playing the last post but instead had a recorded version of it piped through the speakers. Only for them not to react quick enough at the end of it to stop the first few bars of Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” playing before the silence began.
Wimborne Town, living up to their nickname of The Magpies, were in black and white vertical striped shirts, black shorts, and black and white socks, whilst we were in out all red with white trim home kit.
We attack from the kick-off with a long ball down the right which Stephen Duke-McKenna gets to on the byline and crosses in, Danilo Orsi gets his head on it, but it is over the bar. We get a corner and put it into the box and Wimborne clear, they attack and get into our box and one of their players goes down claiming a penalty, but the ref just plays on.
Vito Mannone goes to throw a ball out towards Lewis Richards down the left and gets it all wrong and it goes straight to a Wimborne player, it’s played down the wing, and then inside to a player on the edge of the box, and they dig out a great shot which goes into the top corner and we trail 0–1. Al our own doing again. Ethan goes back to the dressing room to get his bag at this point as it was near the entrance into the changing room and he doesn’t want it being kicked when anyone goes back in.
We have a free kick in midfield and Kellen Gordon looks to have got too much on it, but SDM rescues and gets a cross in, there’s a blocked shot and a bit of pinball in the box and it is cleared. There’s a foul by Charlie Barker in the Wimborne half and there’s a bit of handbags after it. Wimborne win a corner and we break with a Barker surge forward and Wimborne hack it out for a throw. We work it into the box and get a shot away, but it goes wide left.
Jonny Russell is taking long throws, one from either side, the one from the left is headed out for a corner. It is taken deep and headed back across the box and the second header in the middle of the box is straight at the keeper. At the other end after a spell of head tennis, there’s a volley from distance from Wimborne which dips late but just goes over the bar.
A Crawley attack is broken up and a long diagonal ball out finds a Wimborne player through, he looked offside but was probably in his own half when the ball was played, he’s caught by our defender but still got the shot off and Mannone saves. Another Wimborne player is allowed to run from midfield without much of an attempt of a challenge on him as he gets into the box and we put it out for a corner, which we clear. Then Priestley Farquharson lets a ball run past him thinking it would go out, and didn’t realise there was a Wimborne player nearby, and then he bundles them over trying to see it out of play and gives a free kick away on the goal line on the edge of the box. The cross comes in and is headed over.
We have the ball in the Wimborne half for more than a few seconds for a change, and both Gordon and SDM put crosses into the box, but we can’t seem to work a shot from them, and it ends up with the keeper. Then we break from midfield and Orsi is running through with it, but instead of continuing into the box and having a shot, he plays it across to the left to Dylan Morgan who is closed down and we end up losing it. Gordon is slid through a week late after the ball has gone. Somehow that isn’t a foul and it’s a throw for Wimborne. There is one added minute at the end of the half and then the half time whistle goes and we trail 0–1.
I had asked Ethan if he was going into the changing room for halftime, and he wasn’t keen on that idea, as he’s working on the basis of not being in line of sight if things are going badly. Can’t say I blame him. We make three subs at half time with Kai Jennings, Richards, and Orsi making way to be replaced by Pemi Aderoju, Josh Flint, and Nathan Tinsdale.
And Tinsdale and Aderoju link up early as a Tinsdale ball over the defence finds Aderoju in behind and his first time attempt as it comes over his shoulder is straight at the keeper. Definitely a feeling of should have buried that one. Russell comes out of defence on a rampaging run, beats a couple of men before being upended by the third, which gives us a free kick and a yellow for the Wimborne player. The free kick is very deep and bounces up and hits Barker in the chest and goes out as he tries to retrieve it.
A long ball down the right is gotten to by SDM, and he cuts it back into the box to Jude Arthurs, only for his first time shot to hit Aderoju and get cleared. A high ball into box is headed into the air a couple of time before coming out to Tinsdale on the edge of the box, and his shot looks like it’s heading into the bottom corner but goes inches wide. There’s another yellow for a Wimborne player for a high boot, but Barker had ducked quite low into a header. A Gordon cross in is collected by the keeper, as it was SDM challenging to try and get to the header.
Flint and Morgan are combining down the left, Flint goes on the overlap and is bundled over, so Morgan cuts inside and has a shot but drags it wide. Then Morgan puts a deep cross in, and it’s headed back and put out for a corner. That’s taken deep and ends up coming back to SDM on the left and his next cross is cleared. Farquharson is down injured in the box and ends up being helped off the pitch by our trainer helped by the Wimborne keeper. He is replaced by Ben Heneghan for his Crawley Town debut. Not long after a Wimborne player is down and the ref blows for a stoppage as we attack down the right, and they have to be subbed off.
Wimborne get a free kick down the right wing and Arthurs picks up a yellow card for kicking the ball away. We make our final substitution with a tweak to formation as Russell is replaced by Malcolm Ebiowei. Wimborne have the ball on the left and play it into box and there’s a severe lack of Crawley challenges, and there is a shot from what looks like a tight angle from our end. It also looks as if it goes straight through Mannone in goal and we trail 0–2.
Barker picks up a yellow for a foul in the Wimborne half. A ball down the right skims off Barker’s head straight to a Wimborne player in the box, their shot is saved, but they work it again, and another shot forces save of the match from Mannone as he tips it over the bar for a corner. That’s taken deep and we put it out for a corner on the other side. It’s taken short and worked in and we manage to clear, and there’s a yellow card for a Wimborne player for something or other down that end.
The ref adds seven minutes at the end of the game, which does show a bit of a sadistic streak. We have a free kick on the left, it’s whipped in and we’re stood in offside positions. Then another one from the other side and Barker’s header six yards out is over the bar. There’s a yellow for another Wimborne player for kicking the ball away. Another free kick goes into the box and is cleared, and that is it, the full-time whistle goes, and we have lost 0–2 and are out of the FA Cup at our first hurdle.
We still haven’t won an FA Cup tie in the county of Dorset.
The away support are somewhat restless. As the home support celebrate with a pitch invasion some of ours are abusing Malcolm Ebiowei, and Charlie Barker goes and leads him away. Yet, that wasn’t the worst of it. A number of our so-called fans forced their way into the Wimborne club house trying to get into the away dressing room. I understand disappointment and anger, but abusing players and trying to get in to fight with players isn’t going to help us. I’ve said it before, and miserably it’s likely I will again in the future, but abuse like this is unacceptable, and those involved should be identified and banned.
It was another foggy drive home, especially on the A29 stretch, and this took longer to write than expected as I’ve one eye on NFL RedZone. At least my team is winning on that.
The latest in the long, pointless line of quiz cards is below.
Next action is another cup game on Tuesday night, with Brentford U21s playing at The Broadfield in the Jersey Mikes Trophy. Before another weekend off due to international call ups, and then a week on Saturday we end a three-week break of no league games with the visit of Fleetwood Town.
Come on you reds.
For other Crawley Town pieces from this season check out the list below.
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Away With The Faeries
My story of Going To All Of Crawley Town’s 2025–26 League Two Away Games As An Aid To Help Battle My Mental Health Issues.
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