RICHARD KAY

A warm welcome to the players, staff and committee of FC Stratford to BHP for today's league game.

The reverse fixture back in August saw us gain our first point in the league in a very entertaining 0-0 draw The game could easily have finished 3-3 but both teams were wasteful in front of goal on the night.

Going into today's game, both teams sit side by side in the league. FC Stratford will still have faint hopes of making the playoffs with their games in hand, but at this stage of the season it's all about points on the board

For us, we can have a relaxing end to our league campaign We have met our target of consolidating our step 6 status long ago We want of course to finish as high in the league as possible, but with us already in one major cup semi-final, and with the possibility of a big cup quarter final in the challenge cup if we can overcome Cirencester, we look very much this season to be a cup team

We have had so much league success since the relaunch, but have failed to go deep in a cup competition or two This season we are not quite consistent enough to be a top six team, but I firmly believe we can play like a top six team on any given day At this stage of our development, as a team and a club, we just lack that real squad depth and a reserves or 18s to call on throughout a season.

We are operating on a 17 man squad I feel our strongest 11, give or take a few rotations, can compete with most teams in the league However, as seen last week, if we miss 4-5 players it has a real impact.

Again I thought in a scrappy game, we edged the game on chances and looked really solid I thought a draw would have been a fair result but we were sucker punched late in the game. We have had a fair few fine margin games at home We have lost too many fine margin games where to progress as a team we need to nick these games and come out on the right side of the result instead of losing them.

The stats don't lie We have only been beaten away from home 3 times in all competitions this season It's an outstanding away record For us to be at the sharp end of the table we have simply lost too many cheap points at home

For the first time in 4 years I will miss my first competitive game as Southam manager. It will feel strange, but after a really hectic Christmas and New Year period at work, it will be great to have some R&R and charge the batteries. The team will be in great hands with Champs as acting first team manager and Petch and Boots in support. Hopefully it'll be three points to go along with a glass of bubbly

It's a local derby, so get right behind the team as you always do and enjoy what I think will be a cracking game.