The Southern United Herald
Squad21 Dec 2026
Chris Fenton keeps Southern United in it on his own
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jai Barbarouses
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Southern United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Dec 2026
Southern United taken apart
1‑4 to Canterbury United, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Bill Van Hattum out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Southern United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Francis Just stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francis Just and Southern United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Owen Bell
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
- Boardroom Nobody left the Southern United dressing room in a hurry
- Player ratings Tim Just changes it off the bench
- Player ratings The referee tires of Michael Waine