I'm going for a 3-1 win and I think we'll do a gate of 370+ due to the predicted weather being cold but dry with little wind and the locals being starved of football over the last few weeks.
Get ourselves in a match winning position.This time the match is abandoned due to fog.No official attendance given as crowd has disappeared in the haze
Well I made that a game of three thirds !
First half hour we were very poor. The passing was DREADFUL and we just played totally ineffective kick and chase football. Meanwhile they were making some decent half chances. At 35 minutes things started to improve and we had our first spell of pressure and either side of half time there was little to choose between the teams. But in the last half hour I felt there was only ever going to be one winner as we pitched camp around their penalty area. That said I felt it was going to come from Tom (my MotM again) rather than KP but it was a brilliantly taken winner when it came.
All in all though it was a rather unconvincing victory....and we've had plenty of those this season.....pleasing only for that final half hour of dominance......something that doesn't often happen.
Thought Sam Cruttwell had a very poor first half, unless he was passing it sideways to Ben he was giving it away. He did at least improve a little after the break but the full backs again looked vulnerable. Thought Tim did well in the middle.....very effective at breaking up the opponents attacks.
So yet again we 'got out of jail' thanks I guess to our superior fitness. Just hope Trevor is OK.....it didn't look good though.
I agree with much of what Mick has had to say. Yes, great effort from Tom; and yes, Kenny's winner was first rate; and a good hardworking overall performance from him - he is noticeably winning far more headers than he was earlier in the season. In my view, however, over the 90 minutes the most deserved MoM was Josh. Once again, he made some really effective saves and he kept us in the game in the first half when we looked well off the pace against a very determined Herne Bay side.
Let's hope that Trevor's injury is not as serious as it might have appeared.
The great positive of tonight's game was that we actually succeeded in upping the tempo in the last half an hour. We needed the win and we really went for it. I thought that an unexpected factor in that was Ronnie Dolan's performance when he came on. I don't know what others might think; but I thought he finally gave a positive display - could that be because he was playing further forward?
Cannot disagree with any of the above, one more comment though, I thought we played more like a team 3rd from bottom, not 3rd from top. Josh for me was MOM again. But most importantly 3 pts.
Big win, they came to defend and did it well, as nick said first half started badly but we grew into it and the second half was all us. Their keeper did well and they were putting everyone in front of shots etc.
Great goal by Kenny who ran the channels all night and never gave them much rest.
Hope Trevor's ankle is ok but didn't look great at all, if ever we needed Billy Medlock back it is now!
Obviously we still have problems scoring,looking at the league table shows this.With this injury to Trevor,we have got to get a quality striker in,and NOW!.Thought Kenny played really well last night but needed the support that was missing from the injury.
Everything pretty much covered by others and I agree with most points but once again I was left with more questions than answers.
Lets put things in perspective, we were playing a pretty average mid table Ryman south team who had conceded 9 goals in their last 2 away games. For a good hour they were probably the better side and had the bulk of chances and only the excellent Josh Pelling, who has a strong case for being the best keeper in the league in my view, kept the scores level. Yes we did show some real fight and heart in the last quarter and looked much the fitter of the 2 sides but how many more times this season are we going to put in a 30 minute performance against average opposition? There just still seems to be a real lack of quality throughout the squad although no lack of effort.
Thought Vickers and Kenny were excellent last night, Sammy worked his socks off and Josh superb but the full backs were average at best again and where was Henson and Bailo? A couple of supporters were saying Bailo has gone. Is this true or just work commitments yet again? With Trevor's injury the squad is once again looking thread bare and with the Leatherhead game not likely to go ahead, Maggsy has a good week and a half to get in a couple of good signings before our next home game. Lets get in MEDLOCK NOW!
10/10 for effort last night by all but performance was a 6/10 against average opposition.
Henson was injured and with Bailo it sounds like once again it was work commitments, don't believe he has gone though, such a shame he's not available enough as a really decent player at this level for us. But something has to change with him unfortunately ad 1 game in 3 just isn't enough :(
I spoke to Trevoors Dad in the tunnel last night he said he was ok, I'm hoping him going off to hospital is precautionary, although I didn't see the challenge I understand he walked off, I think it may be a difficult to walk on a broken ankle but I'm no doctor.
I saw Bailo on Sunday and he said he was working, not great but that's the retail trade I'm afraid and unless the club match his wages he gets it will always be his main source of income and he has to put his family first. Not a great situation I know but it is what it is.
Before we become negative about Sam Cruttwell let's remember its his first start and he's only 16 and he would obviously have an element of nerves. He's probably the best naturally left footed player we have in the U18's and U21's and will be a fantastic player in the years to come. He's head and shoulders above any player of his age in the entire Ryman youth league and is not out of place in the U21 league either. He needs time to settle and develop and we will see what he's capable of so let's just give him a bit of time, last night was a big night for him.
In all honesty, and no disrespect to our opposition, but if we are serious challengers for promotion (by whatever route) – we should be battering teams like Herne Bay. More and more I find myself just being relieved that we scraped a win and that cannot be right. I note the comment that three points is all that matters and I guess it is, but its like going to a restaurant and getting served a plateful of rubbish but thinking “ well at least im not hungry anymore”!
I thought the first half especially was the most shockingly dire and unambitious football that I have ever seen at any level. We played a team that are leaking goals and barely troubled them until the end. I agree with John about Tom and Kenny, and Josh Pelling was superb especially first half. We need to get some players in. Every team going for the promotion places are strengthening. Theres a striker not very far away banging in goals for fun for the team that’s propping up the table. Its not ruddy rocket science is it?
I didn't realise Sam was only 16 Barry so fair play to him, thought he was pushing 21!. Certainly no worse than anything else we have had there this season. Positional play was decent, just needs to work on his final ball, but at 16 has years on his side.
I very much agree with what Lenny says above re. Sam Cruttwell. He is a real prospect who should be developed and encouraged. But as so many of us have said so many times, to sustain a realistic promotion challenge this season we really do need at least one experienced quality fullback and another goal scoring striker.
I didn't realise Sam was only 16 Barry so fair play to him, thought he was pushing 21!. Certainly no worse than anything else we have had there this season. Positional play was decent, just needs to work on his final ball, but at 16 has years on his side.
He may of just turned 17 in the last few days John but I can guarantee he's not older than that.
Ha Ha! Grumpy old Pat still not over Leeds 6nil hammering.
p.s Totally agree with your comments.
I do try not to be grumpy John, but it gets harder and harder. Even the rose tinted specs dont work anymore. Guess thats a side effect of supporting Leeds and Hastings! Strange as it is , it hurt me more to see Hastings play like they did in the first half last night than it did to see Leeds lose 6-0.
I didn't realise Sam was only 16 Barry so fair play to him, thought he was pushing 21!. Certainly no worse than anything else we have had there this season. Positional play was decent, just needs to work on his final ball, but at 16 has years on his side.
He may of just turned 17 in the last few days John but I can guarantee he's not older than that.
He may have started with a few nerves last night and been over cautious not to make any blunders, but Lenny is spot on. He's certainly a good quality young player who will only improve. He has a good football brain and can pick out killer passes. Certainly a very bright prospect, the main question will be how long before he gets spotted by a club further up the football pyramid.
Just need to be sensible with the credit we give and keep his feet firmly on the ground. Certainly didn't see any killer passes last night as you state Hamilton but I agree he seems to have a good footballing brain. Just wondering who holds the record for youngest ever first team appearance over recent years. Cannot remember many 16 year olds playing for the first team.
There's been a few 16 year olds in the squads john In fact my lad was in the squad a number of times including the loss to Belmont in the Fa trophy just after Hopkinson departed aged 16. Aaron Parris played a number of games as did Glen Whittaker at 16 all from that crop of U18's.
Sam has a superb left foot and has attracted interest from a number of pro clubs but for one reason or another never took up the offer, in fact he even had a England Schools trial last summer however got injured and was unable to go. I can hear people saying put him on a contract but as Sam is at college full time league rules stipulate he can't sign a contract.
Just need to be sensible with the credit we give and keep his feet firmly on the ground. Certainly didn't see any killer passes last night as you state Hamilton but I agree he seems to have a good footballing brain. Just wondering who holds the record for youngest ever first team appearance over recent years. Cannot remember many 16 year olds playing for the first team.
Wise words JohnW and I agree. Too many good prospects are ruined by being built up too much too early and then make the fatal mistake of believing the hype and think they've made it already. Although I'm sure there should be enough wise heads around him to prevent that and as you say 'keep his feet firmly on the ground'.
He just missed out on the 16 yr old tag as he was 17 on the 3rd January!
Another good up and coming prospect was on the bench last night, Jacob Shelton.
I think he's a very promising player on what I have seen and agree with you John - must keep his feet on the ground. I do believe though that if youre good enough, you are old enough. Wasnt it our under 21's who gave Faversham a 4-0 booting in the league cup a few months back? I may be wrong, but the beauty of the youngsters is that they have no fear and just want to get out there. Whilst that has its disadvantages, I can certainly think that young Sam could do no worse than our current backs.
Trevor has just said to me that he just smashed his shin and should be back in a few weeks which is great news for the lad and hopefully he will have a big say in the rest of the race for the title
( although we went down this road with BG last year didn't we, although I think that was more a case of MG not wanting to risk his sons career in any way and looking at how he's done this season from Bromley you can see why he did it! )
Still think that we need to bring Billy Medlock over the line ASAP which may not be that easy but defiantly a striker in form and as local as we can hope for at this level so it's defiantly a priority.
Don't think it would be too difficult Dan would it? Make an approach would be an ideal start and then see what happens next. At the moment we haven't even made an approach .
Hope I didn't come over as too critical of young Sam. I'm sure the game was far faster than anything he has ever played in before and I felt he was so anxious not to be caught in possession that he was treating the ball like a hot potato, rather than picking out a pass. My honest assessment is he is a great prospect for the future, but maybe not quite ready yet.....and certainly not against the toughest teams in this league who may find him out. Give him a couple of years to fill out though ..........
One further comment on last night; after half an hour of aimless rubbish I turned to my dad and said "there is absolutely no way this team should go up this season". Yet somehow we again did enough to win the match.
The whole season is so hard to assess. Very few convincing performances but masses of commitment. A few fabulous goals but not enough of them. A few disappointments but so often we have taken points that we didn't fully deserve. Far better placed than any of us ever expected but still frustrating us with our performances.
I can't work it out...but I do feel that if somehow we do go up, we will need the biggest injection of quality we have ever had if we're not going to crash and burn horribly next season.....because this team is considerably weaker than the one that won promotion in 2007.
On the subject of Sam Cruttwell, there is no chance that any credit would go to his head, he just likes to play!!! If he was that sort of lad, then he would have taken up the opportunities he received from several pro clubs!! A bit of credit goes a long way and can only help him settle in and improve.
