SoccerBlogs

We have five matches for you this week as our non-league videos of the week. First up is the match from the Blue Square Premier between Ebbsfleet United and a club that has been having renewed difficulties off the pitch again, Darlington. Next up are the goals from the Blue Square North match between Altrincham and Gloucester City.

Last year was pretty clear cut in the Conference North, Alfreton were pretty much definitely going up despite having a ridiculous backlog of games, the play-off places were fairly clear early on and Redditch were dropping like a stone from around February time, but this season it looks set to be a bit closer at both ends of the table and closer still in the middle.

One of English football's most desperate races at present is that to avoid the drop from the Blue Square Premier at the end of this season. There are just four points separating Cambridge United in sixteenth place and Altrincham in twenty-second position and, with Eastbourne Borough and Histon already all but condemned, this means that any two from seven could join them, with just five or six matches depending on which club we are talking about left to play.

It's time for a bit of a non-league round-up (as is our wont at this time of the week), with highlights of three matches from the last couple of weekend's worth of matches. First up, we're taking the opportunity to catch up with one of the matches from the weekend of the 15th of January, with the FA Trophy Second Round match between Blyth Spartans.

Football supporters perusing the website of the commercial and retail property company GVA Grimley might have recently spotted something that would take their fancy. "The property comprises a purpose built non-league football stadium. The stadium, its immediate surroundings and surfaced car parking stand on 1.

I can't really sum it up any better than my dad did, just the other day he said he'd love to follow City again, "but that's not Manchester City". It's exactly how I feel, that the club I grew up supporting just isn't really there any more, and something else stands in their place. There's an odd disconnection in attempting to write about the two things together, but I'll do my best.

The first player to extend his contract with Stevenage this summer is Charlie Griffin according to this morning's NLP. The paper says that he has signed a one year deal and plans to return from injury in time for pre-season. It's the first bit of news that we've heard regarding new contracts for both players and the management and I think it's safe to assume that Westley's contract has been sorted if he has started talking to players about next season.

Well we never do things the easy way do we? We were by no way at our best last night, but we did just enough to come away from Moss Lane with 3 vital points. It's these sorts of games that if you win then you just know it's going to be your year. However, it certainly didn't look like that 10 minutes from time.

Saturday's win against Forest Green, plus Luton's failure to beat Tamworth means that Stevenage will clinch promotion from the BSP if they collect maximum points from their next two games. It's fitting that those games are against two sides that have been in and around the Conference for as long as we have.

Two wins from the next four games is all that is needed to win Stevenage promotion to the football league. Boro's 2-0 win against Forest Green, plus Luton's failure to beat Tamworth means that if Graham Westley's side beat both Altrincham and Kidderminster away from home this week, they will be confirmed as Blue Square Premier Champions for 2009/2010 with 2 games still left to play.

I haven't got an internet connection until the weekend, but thought I better put something up tonight after a superb result and performance away at Luton Town. I arrived about 45 mins before kick off after finding somewhere to park in the ghetto! The atmosphere was electric in the ground. The Boro fans can be very proud of themselves tonight.

With Luton, Cambridge and Oxford all dropping points, Stevenage missed a big oppoortunity to close the gap on the leaders of the Blue Square Premier after being held at home by lowly Grays. The Essex side came into the game after a run of 3 straight defeats, but frustrated Westley's side all evening.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the Easter period, but I've been very busy. I hope you all had a great easter. In football terms, it couldn't of got much better on the pitch. After bouncing back last Tuesday with a win over rivals Cambridge, Graham Westley's side have gone back to where they were before the defeat at Kidderminster.

My Football Manager journey began back in 1993. I was playing the Commodore Amiga, the game was called Championship Manager and the makers went by the unimpressive name of Domark. If you are wondering how this relates to the game currently known as Football Manager then this story is probably not for you.

I've seen this idea implemented on other sites many times, but thought I'd execute it as comprehensively as I could on the blog a side made up of players whose surnames are also names of countries. If you have any other ideas of who could be in this team then please leave your suggestions in the comments section.

Next up for Stevenage is the longest trip of the season and hopefully, like last season, the venue where Boro win their first 3 points of the season. The start of the season has been a bit of an anti-climax compared with the way we ended the last campaign. At the moment, two poor performances have yielded just two points against newly promoted opposition and a lot more was expected when the fixtures were announced.