You're too old!

Apparently from this weekend onwards anyone who feels their employment status suffers because of their age can take their employer to a tribunal where the employer faces an unlimited fine. So how will the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 apply in Football? Does this mean West Ham will have to keep bringing Teddy Sheringham on for the last 30 seconds of every match until he's 65?

What's on TV?

On UEFA cup nights there are often lots of different games on TV. I bet I was not alone, after sitting through the first half of Newcastle's game tonight, in looking for something with a smidgen more entertainment value. I came across this site which helped me out atleast with where else I could get football. I might be the last to know about it but I'll certainly use it again. Great to know it's there in this so-called multi-channel age. I'm told I should have stuck with Roeder's side for a few more mintutes. The second Martins' goal is a peach and by then I'd switched to Hearts... grrr.

While I'm writing I'll also mention We Will Follow. co.uk who sent me an e-mail this week. It's a good idea; a site for fans to offer & request lifts to games from. It's probably marginally safer than hitching? It got me thinking though. It's a pacifist hooligan's dream. Instead of beating up rival fans why not arrange to take them to the game but instead take them on a long journey so far from their match that they miss it. Cruel, but much less violent.

Anyway, enough. It's unlikely to interest fans at a club like Berwick where, to be honest, you probably know the e-mail address or mobile no. of the guys who could give you a lift if you're stuck. Or you'd use Kev's Berwick forums travel section of course.

Finally, here is another shot from Saturday, this time of Super Kev destroying the Elgin defence just before he put us 2-1 ahead.

Dennis the Menace

After a performance in the first half of the Elgin game almost as bad as last weekend, it took the introduction of on-loan Denis McLaughlin at half-time to turn this game around and save Berwick from an embarrassing defeat.

With his first touch he put the ball narrowly wide and his second effort had us back level.

Kevin Haynes got the winner with a great move. He set off on a diagonal run, easily shrugging off the home side's challenges, before reaching the box and calmly tucking the ball into the net. Super Kev was back with his first of the season. Super Kev was later subbed - after getting a yellow late on JC was not risking his second red of the season.

Losing centre halves to injury is becoming a regular occurance this season. Smith, McNicoll, Horn, Brittain and Wood have all missed games through various knocks and losing both McNicoll and Horn by the start of the second half today was typical of the way we've been afflicted this season. Any prospect of scoring seemed to evaporate when Wood had to move to the back line but then Dennis was introduced later on and the rest you know... The lad looks a good prospect.

above: Gary Wood

above: the train home.

Spot the difference

Not much else to say after today's 2-0 defeat. Pretty poor performance all round I felt. We played with an odd 3-5-2 formation which didn't seem to pay off - despite having that width, it was never used to punish East Fife. Having said all that stuff about us being a strong squad with depth, the view at the match today is that the performances since I last saw Berwick, whilst not ending in defeat, weren't great. Good news was the return of McNicoll and Wood from injury so, with only Swanson not available to the manager now, he's pretty much got his whole squad to select from again.

Hopefully we'll not be gifting Elgin their first points of the season and can claim the 3 points next Saturday that everyone else has got against them so far.

above: Ian Thomson in action today

Always look on...

Tomorrow sees Berwick travel to East Fife. Hopefully we will soon start to see the various walking wounded returning to the first team. It's a long list who are out at the moment. I was at Hamilton when Gary Wood (left, after the recent Dumbarton game) took a blow to the face which required a metal plate to be inserted in his cheek. Three other players left the plastic pitch that night with injuries. With Swanson yet to play a game and Steve Notman having had to cut short his loan spell and return to Hibs, it's been a wretched start to the season injury wise. On the park the results haven't been bad at all given the circumstances (performances good too) so you must allow me to be optimistic about this season, if we can get some more players fit. There are the makings of a squad at Berwick which has some depth to it and will create competition for places and this, I presume, is down to John Coughlin's eye for players from lower down the ranks who can compete at this level.

Tomorrow could see us go top if we beat East Fife and other results go our way. The early league leaders lost to Montrose last weekend while we drew with the Shire in what was apparently a poor game from a Berwick perspective. I always enjoy seeing how any 'old boys' (or Berwick rejects) are getting on. It helps add to the fixture I reckon. Kevin Gordon and Elliott Smith should play while Paul Hampshire has been out injured. If you get along, enjoy the game.

Trust Back Online

The Supporters Trust have recently renewed their web presence and committee member Paul Smith has given the site a refresh and very smart it looks too. Welcome back.

One item of interest was their proposal to go "paperless". Having spent over £500 on postage and envelopes they are going to ask all 170+ Trust members to opt for e-mails and PDF attachments instead. What an excellent idea. Having spent much of today filing various items of mail, if more people adopted this it would really start to make a difference on a number of fronts.

Banks are offering paperless statements now. BT, mobile phone companies and some power companies have switched too. I've also seen some magazines are now available as pdf files only too. With the Royal Mail now charging by size rather than weight it's likely to force some organisations to change the format of their literature to avoid increased costs so why not change completely and go paperless if it's appropriate? With Broadband so widespread now it makes real sense. Count me in.

theducket.com

Time to try something a little different. As well as sticking up photos as usual I'm going to start adding a few thoughts on things loosely connected with the club. There have been a few times since the start of the season that I've wanted to offer some thoughts on various matters (should anyone out there be interested!) but it's only this week I've had the time to set up the blog the way I want it. Drop me a line if you'd like to comment at all.