Former captains Sam Adams and Jack Dixon have headed the exit queue. So have regular full backs Jake Elliott and Kane Penn, midfielder Ryan Worrall and forwards Ben Pope and James Hull. Goalkeeper Louis Rogers and central defender Alex Brefo were said to be undecided on their respective futures at the time of going to press, but are also expected to quit. Loan players Joe Gbode, David Smith and Kasim Aidoo have returned to parent clubs.

There’s a rather shorter list of those who are staying with newly appointed manager Paul Barnes. Craig Stone has become his assistant, with Oli Black, Finn O’Mara, Tom Chalmers (assuming recovery from his cruciate ligament injury), Knory Scott and Freddie Legg also retained. Juniors Kian Moynes, Finley Chapman and Alfie Peacock are added to the roster on the club’s Facebook page.

Barnes has worked as a football coach and administrator for around 17 years, serving as a development officer within the Chelsea FC Foundation and then as head coach at Westminster School. He’s still based at Greenwich University and, with his pedigree in youth training, has presumably been hired to make best use of the young talent coming through the academy at Hastings. 

His previous experience in management roles at adult football clubs has been limited, however, with successive short stints within the last six years at Ashford United, Greenwich Borough, Welling United, Staines Town, Guildford City, Redhill and Dulwich Hamlet. He was head coach at Dulwich for most of last season, but was sacked in March after a ten-match spell in which the team lost nine and drew one (they were eventually relegated). How will he cope at Pilot Field? Time will tell.

Potters Bar Town 1,
Hastings United 4

Hastings United 0,
Horsham 0

Hastings United 3,
Bognor Regis 2

HUGH SULLIVAN

The ‘U’s ended a run of four consecutive home draws last Saturday when they defeated Bognor Regis 3-2 at Pilot Field. In doing so, they kept their prospects of a top-five league finish and promotion play-off place still mathematically alive. However, Cray Wanderers’ 2-0 victory over Kingstonian on the same day kept the Kent side six points clear with a comfortably superior goal difference. Even if Hastings (who have a game in hand) were to finish the season’s fixtures with two victories of their own –at home to Billericay on Tuesday of this week and at Bowers & Pitsea tomorrow (Saturday) – and Cray were lose their final fixture away at Haringey, there would also have to be a swing in goal difference of 12 goals over the three games for the teams to switch positions. At the time of going to press, the odds against such an outcome look remote; after Tuesday’s match they may already have been extinguished.

Cray have come into form at the right time – or the wrong time for Hastings – with seven wins and a draw in their eight games since the beginning of March, including five-goal hauls against Potters Bar, Horsham and Herne Bay. Hastings have only suffered a single defeat in the same period (away at Canvey Island, in a game where they held the lead for quite a time). But those four draws have cost them precious points that can’t be retrieved now.

The game against Horsham on Easter Monday was perhaps typical. The ‘U’s had defeated their West Sussex opponents 4-1 less than two weeks before in a Sussex Senior Cup tie with a hat-trick from teenage loanee striker Joe Gbode. They had also hit four goals at Potters Bar on the Saturday before. A holiday crowd of over 1,500 came to the league re-match at the Pilot Field hoping for a similar goal spree. But Gbode was closely marked throughout, the visitors crowded the midfield and, despite valiant efforts throughout the team, Hastings could not force any clear opportunities. Horsham went close themselves on a few occasions, and it could not be said that the eventual 0-0 draw flattered them. 

Against Bognor Regis the ‘U’s hit their stride rapidly, with a goal scored by Freddie Legg – man-of-the-match for the second time in five days – followed by two from David Smith within the first half hour. If that suggested an opportunity to narrow the goal difference with Cray, Bognor had other ideas, getting one goal back before halftime and another ten minutes from the end to set up a tense finish. Hastings celebrated their 3-2 victory but knew quickly that it was unlikely to prove enough. 

Hastings United rose to seventh position in the Isthmian Premier League last Saturday after four straight wins – two at home, two away. Only one goal was conceded altogether in those matches: a 2-1 victory over Folkestone Invicta on 7 February was followed by 2-0 success away to Corinthian Casuals, 3-0 over Kingstonian, then 1-0 back home against Cray.

Saturday’s crowd of 863 spectators at Pilot Field saw a triumph of defensive discipline and resilience. The first half was a fairly even affair, both sides taking time to adapt to a bobbly pitch and swirling wind. Ben Pope put the ‘U’s ahead from close in after Ryan Worrall’s rifled drive from outside the penalty area ricocheted to him. 

In the second half, however, possession was largely ceded to the visitors, as United’s central midfield pair, Worrall and Jack Dixon, played ever deeper. Cray fed the ball out to their flanks, won a host of corners and lofted a regular stream of crosses into the Hastings penalty area. There, despite contest from some tall attackers, Craig Stone, Alex Brefo and Jake Elliott proved indomitable, heading or booting the ball clear time after time. There was simply no way through them, and goalkeeper Louis Rogers enjoyed a relatively untroubled afternoon between the posts.

It’s been the pattern of the season so far. A glance at the league table confirms that all six teams ahead of Hastings have scored markedly more goals, but only leaders Bishops Stortford have conceded less. On Saturday’s showing this defensive record may keep propelling the ‘U’s up to the fringes of the play-off places (second to fifth will qualify). Will it be enough to maintain their challenge through the remaining 12 games? It could be. 

The telling statistics are that the ‘U’s have won 15 and lost only three matches against teams outside the top four in the league table – but lost all six matches (three at home, three away) against those four, with only two goals scored and 12 conceded. Thus, at the highest level, they have been found consistently wanting. 

However, the good news is that only two of the last 12 fixtures pit them against these apparently superior teams. If they can keep defeating the lesser sides, they could well sneak through into a play-off position – and then who knows?

They learnt last week that they will have to do it without their most skilful attacker on the ball, Tom Chalmers, who has suffered an ACL tear that will keep him out of the side for many months. Sam Hasler is also currently out of contention with a shoulder injury. 

In Saturday’s game Kane Penn supplied some attacking verve from full-back. Ben Pope was his usual combative self, and Sam Adams inspired more incisive passing when he was brought on as substitute in the second half. But the role of a strike partner for Pope remains unresolved. David Smith, a loanee from Bromley, and young academy graduate Freddie Legg had both scored against Kingstonian in midweek, but neither made any great impact against Cray.

Manager Gary Elphick has plugged the gap in his ranks with a succession of short-term loans. But there’s a problem in that. If the loanee is a success – step forward, Joe Gbode of Gillingham, who led the line with aplomb earlier in the season – he’s likely to be recalled by his parent club. 

There’s a further question of whether United have a big enough squad as further fixtures come thick and fast. On Tuesday this week (21 February) they were due to play again at Pilot Field against Essex strugglers Bowers & Pitsea, then tomorrow (Saturday) they travel to Carshalton, who retain play-off ambitions of their own. Don’t expect too many goals at either end in that one.