Lopo’s View

With pre season upon us there is plenty to talk about and with two games under the belt the team is looking pretty good. After a good solid performance on Tuesday against a strong Gillingham side and a game of two halves against local rivals Hitchin we have picked up two victories and two good performances with pretty much a whole new squad.

One thing that has hit me over the last few weeks is the amount of youngsters we have at the club, both from the EFCO and the youngsters who have signed over the last couple of seasons. With the likes of Balderson, Bradshaw, McDevitt, Burke, Luke Cole and Buchanan just to name a few it seems that Westley is going to use the academy more than previous managers have done in the past. Even the likes of James Russell and Michael Bostwick who are considered more first team players are still only 19/20 years old. In the recent friendly with “Gillingscum” Russell looked superb, keeping out their first choice team on numerous occasions and Bostwick looked strong at centre half and his versatility will definately be useful.

Watching Thomas and Morison on Tuesday night was fantastic as they linked up well and definately looked a positive threat. Westley has said that Thomas is a scorer of great goals and can pull something out the bag when no one expects it. Hopefully he will assist Morison to take a bit of weight of his shoulders from time to time. Since my last post, Westley has appointed a new captain in Mark Albrighton which may of come to a surprise to some people who thought that Ronnie Henry was the most likely candidate. Albrighton is extremely experienced in non league football with Boston and Cambridge notably and was always going to be a possibility from day one. I’m not too fussed with appointment myself as both would of done a good job. Ronnie has been a good servant over the last 3 and half years and I’m sure he will continue to put everything in for us.

With Oliver, Henry, Albrighton and Bostwick, GW finally came to an agreement with Ashley Westwood to terminate his contract. It was no shock as he was on the transfer list, didn’t have a squad number and wasn’t in the squad picture taken last week. At least GW didn’t make him feel left out! Another transfer listed player seems to be staying for now and being given a chance to prove himself and deservedly so. Peter Vincenti has continuously put 100% in for Boro and on Tuesday night he showed that as he kept Adam “sniff” Miller in his pocket until he was forced off injured. Despite being told he had no future Vincenti has forced his way back into GW’s plans and might just be at BHW this season after all.

Well with more testing friendlies to come and another long hard season in prospect it seems Westley has won over the majority of fans already and the rest may just follow along with hopefully League 2 football. Sorry Luton we won’t be seeing you next year!

Lopo