FOOTBALL: The Big Step Up
By Cassie Mandrake This time last year, at age 18, Jamie Fielding was a second choice right back in the Hastings United squad playing in the Bostik League South-East – the eighth tier of English ; In April, after eye-catching…
FOOTBALL: Credible Challengers
Hastings United 1, Whyteleafe 0 Hastings have made a solid start to their league season: two home wins, two away draws, only three goals scored but none conceded. The 1-0 victory last Saturday at Pilot Field over previously unbeaten Whyteleafe…
FOOTBALL: Peaking For the Play-Offs?
Hastings United notched a fourth successive Bostik League victory at Pilot Field last Saturday, overcoming tidy but limited opposition from visitors Ramsgate to win 3-0. This followed a 3-1 away win the previous Saturday at Three Bridges, where the ‘U’s…
FOOTBALL: Rodari Returns, United Revive
Young Italian striker Davide Rodari, top scorer last year but out since pre-season after surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament and not expected to play at all in the current campaign, is back in Hastings United colours. And his re-entry…
FOOTBALL: Agutter – A Forthright Interviewee
Hugh Sullivan asked questions of United manager Chris Agutter shortly before the match with Sittingbourne last Saturday. He is never afraid to give straight answers HS: You’ve explained in the past that your style of playing out from the back…
United Rue Missed Chances
Hastings United lost 2-1 to Cray Wanderers in their top-of-the-table clash at Bromley on Sunday. Cray thus march on with 34 points from 12 matches in the Bostik League South-East, representing 11 wins and just one draw. Hastings remained in…
FOOTBALL: Pilot Field To Premier League?
A high percentage of Premier League players started their careers within a top level academy like Manchester United or Chelsea. More were bought in with a multi-million pound price tag from Italy, Brazil or beyond. But the cheaper way for…
FOOTBALL: Confident Agutter Plays It Southgate Style
On 24 October last year Hastings United slipped to 15th in the Bostik League South after conceding two late goals in a 2-1 home defeat by Thamesmead Town. Manager Chris Agutter, elevated from assistant less than a month before following…
FOOTBALL: The World Cup – A Morality Play
Many years ago – before Britain even entered the EU, let alone determined to leave it – a well-travelled South African explained to me a fundamental difference in outlook between the English and other Europeans. ‘If you call a Frenchman…
FOOTBALL: Less games, less travelling, lesser opposition?
Last year the Ryman League became the Bostik League in a shift of commercial sponsorship that brought little change in playing arrangements – or fortunes – for Hastings United. Next season the seventh and eighth tiers of English football will…