Although the many problems the club seems to be in, I really hope there will be many supporters today away to Chipstead standing behind the team and bringing home the first 3 points of the season !!!!!!!
Great to start with a win but definitely not going to get carried away ! Chipstead certainly look like one of this seasons strugglers. A few other thing to note from the afternoon......in our league Folkestone threw away a two goal lead to lose at Crawley Down, Ade got the winner for Lewes and Thamesmead (which represented our best friendly performance) were hammered 4-0 at home by Hendon. Hmmmmm!
-- Edited by Mick on Saturday 10th of August 2013 07:58:03 PM
Yes we got the three points great news, but we did not perform well enough to be considered title favourites, we were dominant the first 15 mins, kenny pogue doing well in being strong and supportive, but other than than that very average, terry white given them a massive vocal bollocking at ht aswell, second half looked better, but all in all should of been at Least 2 or 3 nil up against a poor chipstead, but then again 3 points is a good start, crone looked sharp coming on aswell, onwards and upwards
On what seemed like the longest pre season I've ever known we finally got underway today with a well deserved 3 points albeit against a quiet abysmal opponent. I will be amazed if we play against any team quite as poor all season but you can only beat what is in front of you.
As already reported we dominated the first 15mins before the game became scrappy and pretty boring. But bang on half time an error by the 10 tonne Chipstead keeper allowed Kenny to pull back to Matt to head into an open goal. We really thought that would push us on in the 2nd half but it just didn't happen and poor passing and fruitless long balls to Kenny came to nothing. It wasn't until Kenny was taken off and the inclusion of Jamie and Bailo (why is he sub?) did we start to get on top again and in the last 10 minutes we really could and should have scored 2 or 3 more.
Positives today, apart from the result, were 3 of the back 4 were excellent with Judge easily my MOM. Not sure about Henson at left back and a better team would have really caused him problems. Midfield worked hard and looked solid although very little creativity. Bailo looked really sharp when he came on and did more in 10 mins then Kenny did most of the game although he did put a shift in to be fair. I'm afraid he just looks out of his depth at this level. And finally Matt seems to have that lovely habit of just popping up in the right positions at the right time which will be invaluable this season, just looks like he's running in treacle sometimes.
So a good result today but please lets keep this result in perspective. Even after 1 game I will be amazed if Chipstead are not fighting relegation this season but a nice little opener for the lads after the turmoil of the past week. We weren't great today but I don't think anyone that was there today cared. It was all about the result today and not the performance.
And biggest shock of the day NOT, serious crowd trouble at Maidstone, who were they playing.... Wealdscum. When will someone bring them to book? Utter disgrace!
And biggest shock of the day NOT, serious crowd trouble at Maidstone, who were they playing.... Wealdscum. When will someone bring them to book? Utter disgrace!
I've read they went for a young Maidstone fan... Sounds familiar to me...
Great to start with a win but certainly not going to get carried away ! Chipstead certainly look like one of this seasoned strugglers. A few other thing to note from the afternoon......in our league Folkestone threw away a two goal lead to lose at Crawley Down, Ade got the winner for Lewes and Thamesmead (which represented our best friendly performance) were hammered 4-0 at home by Hendon. Hmmmmm!
Something else which I took from today - £9 entry for adults, which included a match-day program.
It might have been £9 for adults but was £3 for kids leaving me well out of pocket! And if the attendance was 123 it looked like more than half we're from Hastings
A rare away day for me but very happy with the 3 points . Thought we deserved to be in front upto the first 15mins against one of the poorest sides I have seen us play in a long time.Thought Kenny did alright first half with a very cool assist for the goal , which was well taken by Matt. But my man of the match goes to Sean 'Irish' Kelly . I thought he had a blinder myself and looked quite comfortable along side Judge. Nice to see us start with a clean sheet , though they had their moments too. I think there is a lot of room for improvement but these players need to be given time to gel .Terry's half time lash must have been heard on the runways of Gatwick as even my relatives flight turned up on time . I think nearly everybody in the ground heard it !!! Yeah good job done. Makes up for me missing Monday . It'll take me a while to do Monday night football....don't mess with tradition !!!!
It might have been £9 for adults but was £3 for kids leaving me well out of pocket! And if the attendance was 123 it looked like more than half we're from Hastings
I'd completely agree with this - I reckon at least 75 Hastings fans. Unfortunately we probably won't agree on £3 for the kids (I still think we should charge for them - even if we give a vastly reduced season ticket price), but I still think £9 for adult, plus a program is about the right price. Despite there only being 50 from Chipstead, the chairman still managed to sit surrounded the Chipstead fans, which made his goal celebration quite awkward... And got quite a response from a large-ish gentleman sitting just to his right...
All in all, I'm happy with the three points - pitch was quite dry, quite small, and quite undulating... Once we got the ball down on the floor we were a lot better. Still not impressed with Kenny, but he did put the ball away for that odd disallowed goal after 25 minutes. Not entirely sure how it was disallowed and then we were given a free kick inside our own half... But there you go! A couple of beautiful through balls to Kenny in the early second half by Matt Darby; and the only shot on target I can think about that we had to deal with was an offside header which was easily dealt with anyway. We were much better in the final 15, Crone needs to keep his head a little better and keep his mouth shut - but was very effective - and Bailo was once again very good and gave us some useful pace which really put them under pressure.
The only player from Chipstead worth mentioning was Jaydon Gibbs. As I've said hundreds of times, at this level all you need is a player with a bit of pace, and they'll be dangerous. Fortunately, he lacked the cutting edge to do anything with it - I don't think we'll be as lucky against stronger teams.
Incidentally, does anyone know why Judgey refused to celebrate the goal? I thought maybe he used to play for Chipstead, but I couldn't find anything to support that?
Nice little trip to Chipstead though, a very tidy little ground, although for future reference - IT'S A BLOODY LONG WALK!
1 win down...
-- Edited by glenn10 on Sunday 11th of August 2013 11:53:50 AM
This was the same Chipstead side that got beat 5-0 at St. Francis Rangers in pre-season?
Let's get this into perspective. It's 3 points - but probably 3 points that most of the promotion contenders will expect to pick up at the moment. Lets see what happens against someone half decent. The team may perform better against quality opposition - or then it may not.
is this the Lewes forum ? Feels like it sometimes ! Well tomorrow night we face top of the league Walton Casuals who after banging in 5 yesterday obviously know where the goal is so it will be a bit of an early test for us.
The report in the non league paper couldn't have been any further from the truth, I counted all their 3 shots all game. If we play a worse side all season id be suprised, but a win is a win and that's the main thing at the moment
Well tomorrow night we face top of the league Walton Casuals who after banging in 5 yesterday obviously know where the goal is so it will be a bit of an early test for us.