Pzazz ! The Moors are in seventh heaven again ahead of the big match.

The next match on the road to Wembley from Scotland is MK Dons v Spennymoor Town at Stadium MK on Saturday November the 5^th. The protagonists’ midweek activities have differed this week as the big match hoves into view.  MK Dons have had a week licking their wounds after the calamitous defeat last Saturday while The Moors have, once again been in midweek action. On Tuesday they travelled the short journey to Darlington to take on Darlington Railway Athletic FC in the County Durham Challenge Cup.

Of all The Moors’ objectives for this season, winning the Durham Challenge Cup is probably the lowest priority. With a visit to Milton Keynes just around the corner the manager Jason Ainsley chose to field a team of squad members and players from the Spennymoor U-18s team. The match afforded the youngsters a great chance to show their paces and they did not disappoint. Whatever line up the Moors name these days the chosen players are playing with great pzazz. Two weeks ago the Moors beat Skelmersdale United 7-0 in an Evostik League match, on Tuesday night they were in seventh heaven again. The home side were despatched 7-2 with Mark Anderson, Andrew Johnson and Nathan Fisher among the scorers for Spennymoor. The Moors now play Chester Le Street FC in the next round of the Durham Challenge Cup in January.

The young Moors players celebrating one of their 7 goals on Tuesday night

 The Moors have now gone 9 games undefeated in all competitions and are clearly in rude health ahead of their visit to Stadium MK. One first team regular who was rested on Tuesday was Moors talisman Jamie Chandler. Following his brace at the weekend I contacted Jamie to see if he has any links with Scotland – well, the name Jamie is Scots! Jamie wrote: “Unfortunately I haven't got any links with Scotland however my family have lodges in Dunbar and go every weekend I'm up there myself after the game on Saturday.” I like that! Quite clearly Jamie feels that he is ‘unfortunate’ not to be Scottish. They do say there are two types of person in this world: those who are Scots and those who want to be Scots. It looks like Jamie is in the latter category. However, an affinity with Bonnie Scotland counts as a link to Bella Caledonia as far as I am concerned and from now, for the duration of the cup run, young Jamie will be known on these pages as Jamie McChandler!

Picturesque Dunbar: Spiritual home of Jamie McChandler !

The weekend fixtures are now just around the corner and this will be the last weekend before the big match on the 5^th November. On Saturday the Dons travel to Sheffield with some trepidation as they are about to cross swords with the Blades (!). On the same day the indefatigable Moors are at home to Matlock in an FA Trophy tie as they seek to continue their long unbeaten run. Come back here on Sunday to find out how they both got on and keep reading!