IT is perhaps the strangest season ever endured by a football club at any level.
Mangotsfield United are playing all their away games first, while waiting for their new 3G pitch to be ready by November (which will start a long period of home matches).
One can only be impressed by the way the team has adapted to this scenario. After the first eight league games, they have climbed to 7th spot, just outside of the play-offs.
After early defeats to Corsham Town and Royal Wootton Bassett Town in the FA Cup, the Mangos had gone seven games unbeaten by the time September’s first two fixtures were played.
Following wins against Thornbury Town, Royal Wootton Bassett Town in the league and a draw against Fairford Town, detailed in last month’s Voice, the Mangos took on two other highly-fancied teams showing early form, Highworth Town and Roman Glass St George.
Both matches ended in 1-1 draws.
At Highworth Town, the Mangos trailed to a 35th minute goal by Sam Packer, but a strong second half saw George Neill equalise on 73 minutes.
At Roman Glass St George, Mircea Ilea levelled on 41 minutes, after Lewis Leigh-Gilchrist had opened the scoring for the Glass nine minutes earlier. This was a particularly pleasing point, as RGSG had been a bit of a bogey side for the Mangos in recent years.
The run of three successive draws ended at the start of September, when Mangotsfield visited old Southern League adversaries Cirencester Town.
Cirencester are much-changed this season, following their drop into the Hellenic League, and the Mangos saw them off 3-0 up at The Talent Hire Stadium.
An early penalty by George Neill set the scene for the visitors, then a header by Mircea Ilea made it 2-0 early in the 2nd half.
A third goal on the hour, a close-range strike by Joe Cattermole, sealed the win.
Another strong performance then came at Slimbridge, where the Mangos have had some good wins in the past.
This proved to be another one, Mangotsfield leading 2-0 at the break through goals from Mircea Ilea from a corner on 15 minutes, and George Neill in the 27th after Joe Cattermole intercepted a pass in the Slimbridge half.
Ilea then added a third in the second half, poking in a rebound in the 68th minute after the Slimbridge keeper spilled a shot from Neill.
Slimbridge put the visitors under a lot of late pressure, resulting in them getting a very late goal back on 90+3 minutes.
Forthcoming fixtures (all away):
September 24: Malmesbury Victoria
September 28: Pershore Town
October 5: Hereford Pegasus
October 12: Sporting Club Inkberrow
October 19: Worcester Raiders
October 26: Westfields
Dave Smale