Isthmian Fantasy Five-a-side: Matt Shotter

Goalkeeper: My personal favourite ever player, Dave Root. 442 appearances, over 8 consecutive seasons.

He had a couple of weaknesses in his game, but neither of them would be a problem here, because dead ball kicking and coming through a ruck of player's for crosses is not necessary in this type of football.

This was mainly because of his slim build, but what that did allow him to have was supreme agility. He was a fantastic shot stopper and a one on one specialist, and I hardly ever saw him beaten by an on rushing striker. That would be essential in five a side football.

Defender: Phil Gridelet. 264 appearances, 8 goals, over 6 consecutive seasons.

Gripper, to give him his nickname, is probably the best sweeping centre half I have seen in my time watching Non League Football. In a similar vein to Des Walker at Nottingham Forest, he had pace, power and a particularly nasty streak if it was required, when football was still very much the stereotypical ‘man's game’ and tough tackling was still a big part of that.

Barry Fry turned him into an all action central midfielder in his time at Barnet, which also shows just how versatile he was, but I prefered him playing in the sweeper role- because you don't get too many that are that good in that position.

Midfield: Duncan Hardy gets the nod as a defensive midfielder. 111 appearances, 18 goals and 4 seasons over 3 spells.

Duncan was a hard man, tough as old boots but fair with it, who could also play further forward and come up with a goal- which is an added bonus in five a side. Attacking midfield was always my preferred position for him, but the player I am putting in that position was always going to be dead cert.

Duncan picked up a very bad knee injury in a match against Croydon Athletic, on a cold, wet and windy Tuesday night at our Old Claremont Road Ground. He eventually recovered and returned to action, but left shortly afterwards, before returning and winning a trophy with us, which was no less than he deserved.

Midfield: My attacking midfielder is the sadly departed Dermot Drummy. 348 appearances, 62 goal's and 8 seasons over 2 spells.

Dermot was one of the best attacking midfield /wingers I have seen in Non League Football, up there with the likes of Derek Payne (Hayes/Barnet), Frank Murphy (Barnet and later Hendon Manager) and Paul Showler (Altrincham/Barnet- although when I saw him, he mainly played for the later, in The Football League).

All of these showed great skill in dribbling and taking on a player, as well an excellent passing range, crossing ability, and were dangerous from set pieces too, but Dermot would have been my personal choice because of course he played for my beloved Hendon and fed many a goal on a plate for my striker.

Striker: That striker, is of course Iain Dowie. 132 appearances, 78 goals, over 3 seasons.

Dowie was the perfect target man, a right bloody handful for any central defender, unbelievable in the air and better than most gave him credit for on the deck. Harry Redknapp was once supposed to have told him to stop playing football, and instead to occupy the opposition central defenders, because “that's what I pay you for.” Emile Heskey would perhaps be a more recent equivalent. Although Dowie didn't quite have Heskey’s pace, he was by mo means slow.

I could have gone with Paul Whitmarsh- who was a more natural finisher- but Iain had a slightly better goal per game ratio and all of my team played together, so I believe that that continuity, would reap richer rewards in a five-a-side match. Perhaps Paul can be my substitute.

My team has a total of 1297 appearances, 166 goals, over 29 seasons between them, which is not to be sniffed at. Three of them went on to play League Football, with Dowie making it to the Premier League and International Honours.

Thanks Matt- now would anyone else like to have a go? You must have a goalkeeper, a defender, a midfielder and a striker- so you can have two of any of the outfield positions to make up your five. And if you like, we'll allow a substitute!

Get your teams to Ian and you'll see them posted here in the near future.