U's:0 Sports:1

Gah, can someone please put this terrible season out of it's misery; if it was a race horse it would have been shot ages ago, if it was a car it would be on the scrap heap, if it was a pop star it would be, er, David Sneddon (left).

I'm sure that's enough similies to convey my displeasure at having to witness another dire display against opposition who we would have beaten comfortably in the good old days. The performance wasn't quite as bad as that game against Chester before Christmas, but it was still pretty crap, and suffice to say I'm not particularly looking forward to having to endure another 90 minutes on Tuesday night.

I'd like to blame our young, unfamiliar, back four, but you couldn't really fault any of them. In fact the two debutants - Hudson and Palmer - were probably our outstanding players. Hudson looks a real prospect, and paired with a senior partner I think he could be a first team regular next season. Meanwhile Palmer was pretty solid and put over a number of useful crosses, although my only slight worry about him would be that he got caught upfield on a number of occasions.

Our problem was the front six, none of whom covered themselves in glory against part time opposition. Fair play to Eastbourne, who defended in numbers, but we really should have put them under more pressure. There were too many channel balls up to Crow and Holroyd, and when we did get into crossing positions, more often than not the opportunity to test Danny Knowles in the Sports goal was squandered. A note, too, on our set pieces, which were uniformly dreadful. Why are none of our players capable of whipping in a cross with height and pace ala someone like Gareth Gwillim? The tame, floated, deliveries Willmott and co persist with are never going to test any centre back worth his salt.

It's getting to the stage where I really don't care if any members of our underperforming squad leave, and that includes Holroyd, heavily linked with Brighton in the papers this morning. We're not going to get promoted, and due to the amount of shit in the division we're in no danger of being relegated either, so really the whole campaign is a total write off. I suggest we withdraw from all remaining league games and let the pools panel decide the results, we might pick up a few more points that way.

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Orient re-union continues as Aiden Palmer signs

For someone who supposedly set up a scouting network for Hibs while he was between jobs, Lingy's little black book seems suspiciously full of players with Leyton Orient on their CV.

Nothing wrong with that of course, just so long as we're not going to restrict ourselves entirely to ex-O's men when it comes to boosting our squad - I'd hate to think that we might end up doing something heinous like re-employing Luke Guttridge.

The arrival of left-back Aiden Palmer, formerly of Orient, Bishops Stortford, and, er, Edmonton Shankstarz, will no doubt cause much grumbling from those who believe we shouldn't be signing someone who was jailed last year for his involvement in a "bloody street battle". But personally I don't think you can deny anyone a second, or third, or 500th chance at turning their life around. What kind of society would we be if we just wrote people off when they did something wrong? Not a very nice one, that's what.

What concerns me most is whether Palmer will be able to step into the sizeable shoes of Tonks on the left side of our defence. After a quick glance at the Orient messageboard, it would seem that the answer is an emphatic maybe:

"He was awful"

"Watched him twice over the Christmas, New Year holidays when Braintree played Bishops Stortford and he was a class above everybody else.
"He'll do OK at Cambridge, there's a decent little full back in there somewhere."

"Palmer will do alright there. Did have a decent run a few years back but seemed to lose it."

"Never rated him."

So there we go. While it's not the kind of ringing endorsement they gave Saah, on the other hand he doesn't sound like a complete Trevor Robinson. It's also unlikely the Orient fans appreciate the complete rubbishness of Conference football, which allows even the most average of players to make a name for themselves. And if our new man applies himself properly, it sounds like he has the talent to do the bizzle, fo shizzle.

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