After a bad run of results and maybe more a bad run of entertainment and performances we face Corinthian - Casuals.
Like a member of this forum wrote after the Chipstead match : It was just so sad to see a team of decent players,showing no fight for their manager and no fight for the fans.
IMO this is the most important issue is this coming fixture against the number 23 of the table with 29 points :
We need a team that will give a 100% !
And Corinthian : just the opposite of ours with the last 3 games won and a top scorer ! Jamie Byatt scored already 18 times this season.
Hopefully Terry and his players can give the Hastings supporters now some positive things to talk about after the game !
Not nervous. Time and time again we've proved we can win, but just not score enough. I'm going in to this game as confident as always this season, even though, this is a must win, otherwise bums will become squeaky as Faversham and Burgess Hill creep up behind!
I think we will start well and score first. We will then win comfortably. If they score first, it's different...I'm not sure we currently have the answers when we go behind......
Hope Terry goes with :- Pelling( been excellent this season) Henson Jirbandey Judge Cruttwell Hassan Adams Olorunda Vickers Pogue Sawyer. Shouldn't matter too much what formation we play. Enjoyed reading Terry's honest assessment in the paper and hope, of course, that the club will stick with Terry as manager. What may be holding us back as a side is our work rate and fitness-especially against the better teams. I would say 3 of our better players are not playing to their full potential because of fitness issues while 2 players stand out for their work rate and effort. If 2 players only stand out surely that is a concern? Another factor in recent games is we are going through a bad patch of putting our chances away.IWhen things start going our strikers way again the wins will start coming.
Today is a prime opportunity for some of the lads to prove their doubters (including me) wrong. Let's come out fighting. Give 100% to the Hastings shirt. Show commitment to the team and club.
I've always said I prefer a player that is less capable or experienced but will run his nuts off and give 100% effort, to a more capable and experienced player that doesn't show this through lack of effort or fitness.
If not let's give some of the younger up and coming lads a chance. They will give their all to play and the experience and opportunity will improve their capability.
C'mon lads, prove to everyone you want it and are willing to fight for it!
Massive result today and could McCreadie's spectacular overhead equalizer be the turning point of our season. First 20 mins lots of possession and a few half chances, but from 20mins to the equalizer Hastings outdid their previous exploits during the season by playing the most dreadful football I have seen. No fight, no skill, unable again to pass a ball 5 yards it really was dreadful and no surprise when Corinthian took a deserved lead after they could quite easily have scored three in the first 10mins of the 2nd half. The penalty really summed up the whole game with Vickers refusing to track back, some half hearted challenges followed by a terrible attempt at a tackle. Hastings continued to huff and puff, Ben White had a swear up at McCreadie, we continued to hoof long, aimless balls and our forward play continued to look dreadful when suddenly a piece of magic from McCreadie after good work by Frankie and somehow we were level. After this the game became more open and the first passing, flowing move of the game resulted in a great ball from Sam Crutwell for Frankie to tuck in at the near post.
So a win at last but don't be fooled. This was dreadful again and the win only papers over the cracks. Once again there was very little leadership on the pitch, a lot of waving and head in hands from the bench, and very little skill on show, but hey we won! Josh Pelling was outstanding yet again and Sam Adams put in a good, overdue shift, but Kenny was poor and defensively we look a shambles. And Taser, 2nd best winger in the league, are you sure? works hard and he needs time but is he another Branco?
Guernsey losing has really opened up 3rd place again, especially as they go to Peachaven next week after playing on Thursday, so a real chance with Crawley and Eastbourne coming up to get back in to the mix.
A positive slant on this match would be to say Hastings did really well to come back from 1-0 down and score 2 excellent goals. Thought Corinthian played some good stuff clearly enjoying playing on the excellent surface. They were prepared to go forward as much as possible and caused our defence a few problems. Thought Sam did well all game but managed to look a quality full back as well. Taser hit some brilliant crosses in the second half and Danny made a good contribution. Great to see Frankie and Trevor score as things haven't been running for them recently. Josh was called upon more often than he should have done and made some good saves. Hopefully, our good last 30 minutes will revive our season.
Today's performance will not be good enough to get a win at Crawley or Eastbourne.Both teams will fight for every ball which is,amongst other failings,what we are not doing.We were extremely lucky today and did not merit a win.
agree with above but hope win give players confidence. our fitness is shocking, some players look like they cant walk let alone run, are they worked to hard in training or dont they train or do they eat and drink to much?
Pelling mom today by a mile, 3 pts and 2 good goals were good points of a poor performance, but like john says maybe a turning point mccreadie goal cos we never look like scoring really
Wasn't pretty but showed what we showed earlier in the season by winning games when behind and grinding out a result. Two great goals and agree with Pells being MOTM ash he's done a lot already this season. Hope we can kick on Tuesday now.
Agree with Peter and John - I did think that once we scored we looked much more positive and definitely won the last 20 minutes. Poor between the first ten minutes and then , but I just wanted a win today and I don't really care how it happened. We have to kick on now and get another 3 points on Tuesday. We must concentrate on our own performance now each and every game. What the others do is out of our hands. Still concerned about a lot of things but so pleased we turned it around. - with two classy goals as well.
-- Edited by Pat on Saturday 15th of March 2014 07:21:33 PM
A great bit of individual skill by Trevor and an excellent team goal got us a win that we desperately needed but barely deserved. However just nice to see Hastings players finish the game with a smile on their faces because I can't remember a Hastings team EVER squabbling with each like I witnessed today. It seemed to be going on all over the pitch and clearly under-performing as a team is causing a lot of tension in certain individuals.
Thank goodness for Josh P. who came to our rescue with a handful of great saves though even he seems strangely indecisive behind JJ .....something that we never saw earlier in the season. Without his saves we could have easily been two or three down and it would have been all doom and gloom on here tonight.
Of course the biggest concern is that for an hour we looked second best to the team next to bottom of the table who looked far more comfortable on the ball than we did.
Really not sure what the rest of the season holds. We ground out a result today but performances like that won't get us promoted. Clearly the whole squad needs a big injection of self-confidence because both our team and individual play were just so below par.
One final observation...Terry turfed the team onto the pitch TEN minutes before our opponents at half time. Any idea what's behind that ? I would have thought he should have had plenty to say at half time.
Massive result today and could McCreadie's spectacular overhead equalizer be the turning point of our season. First 20 mins lots of possession and a few half chances, but from 20mins to the equalizer Hastings outdid their previous exploits during the season by playing the most dreadful football I have seen. No fight, no skill, unable again to pass a ball 5 yards it really was dreadful and no surprise when Corinthian took a deserved lead after they could quite easily have scored three in the first 10mins of the 2nd half. The penalty really summed up the whole game with Vickers refusing to track back, some half hearted challenges followed by a terrible attempt at a tackle. Hastings continued to huff and puff, Ben White had a swear up at McCreadie, we continued to hoof long, aimless balls and our forward play continued to look dreadful when suddenly a piece of magic from McCreadie after good work by Frankie and somehow we were level. After this the game became more open and the first passing, flowing move of the game resulted in a great ball from Sam Crutwell for Frankie to tuck in at the near post.
So a win at last but don't be fooled. This was dreadful again and the win only papers over the cracks. Once again there was very little leadership on the pitch, a lot of waving and head in hands from the bench, and very little skill on show, but hey we won! Josh Pelling was outstanding yet again and Sam Adams put in a good, overdue shift, but Kenny was poor and defensively we look a shambles. And Taser, 2nd best winger in the league, are you sure? works hard and he needs time but is he another Branco?
Guernsey losing has really opened up 3rd place again, especially as they go to Peachaven next week after playing on Thursday, so a real chance with Crawley and Eastbourne coming up to get back in to the mix.
Agree 100%. Some players (particularly the ones you would expect to lead) seem to have responded to criticism by giving even less effort. Thought Sam showed the right attitude though and Pelling was brill but others seemed to have turned into precious divas!
PETER R: You hit the nail on the head. Squad showing lack of fitness and effort but for some reason training was cancelled this week! What's that all about?
A rare missed home game for me, but was delighted to see the win, and even more so to see Sawyer get the winner. Of course I didn't see the game, and can only comment based on others views. The abuse Frankie got from the man next to me last Monday against Chipstead was harsh. He missed some sitters that night but I thought he worked hard, and continues to get into the right positions. So I was pleased to see he scored, and hopefully that will kick some confidence back into him. Sounds like McCreadie's leveller was something special to!
A crucial win though and with a few other sides slipping up, let's hope they're beginning bad patches of form. 6 points from our next 2 next week would be key.
Just thought I'd mention the ref who I and several others considered the best this season.
Two great goals from Trevor and Frankie, lets hope it kick on from here.
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