WITH Christmas fast approaching, it would have been great to have wrapped up four points from our weekend games on the road.

Of course, it is disappointing to come away empty-handed, but we showed how well we had lifted ourselves after our disappointing home game against Peterborough.

We outshot both Milton Keynes and Sheffield and battled hard. We’re creating plenty of chances but not putting them away.

We just need to keep work-ing and hope that a game-changing goal will come our way to take us out of this rut and help us to start putting a string of wins together.

We’re delighted to welcome back our gold-medallists Cameron Wynn and Declan Balmer this weekend for our games against local rivals Bracknell and Guildford.

Matt Selby, the Great Britain captain, unfortunately picked up another concussion during the tournament so we have arranged for him to attend a neurologist in the new year to advise us on his rehab.

We say goodbye to Ricky Skene, who stepped in for us to cover their absence. This is a very busy time for him in his business and we thank him for helping us out.

As this is my last diary until the new year, I would like to wish you all a happy Christ-mas and a healthy and pros-perous new year.

As always, the support we get from the local community is such an important part of the success of the club. We thank our sponsors, our volunteers and the fans.

For those of you with families, looking for a special night out, there’s a very busy schedule of matches over the holiday period. Why don’t you join us at Basingstoke’s best supported sports team?

All the best,

Doug