After the good win against Crawley we will play away against the bottom of the table Eastbourne Town
They played so far 34 games and got 21 points. Scored 48 and conceded 91.
This year they played 12 League games and won only one ( 6-0 against Crawley ) and drew two and lost nine.
Billy Medlock is their top-scorer with 19 goals.
I think a lot of Hastings supporters will visit The Saffrons for a important match. For the home team only 3 points will give them some hope to avoid relegation and The U's need the points for a Play Off place! The game at The Pilot Field ended 3-0.
On the way back from Eastbourne warming up my typing finger for later. Hastings were an utter disgrace and some of the players should never be seen in a Hastings shirt again. Feel so sorry once again for our fantastic supporters. The team couldn't even be bothered to come over and thank the fans. Total shambles.
Absolutely terrible performance and completely agree with John W. Ok Eastbournes not far to travel but we still made the effort. What got me most though was that I saw a fair few players walking off the pitch either smiling or joking with each other or people they knew in the crowd. There's just no passion out there. Obviously the players don't want to get promoted.
It was the type of game you could tell we would lose as the 2nd half went on. Long ball after long ball and too open at the back, yet Terry made no effort to change things or try something new. Shocking display
John sums it all up clueless clowns from top to bottom off the club, please resign Terry you aren't up to the job. Please sell the club mr chairman as you don't seem capable of appointing a decent manager. This club is a shambles, and some of the players ought to refuse there money as it's theft as you aren't doing what you are paid to do. If you don't want to play for the club please leave and tell us why you have left honestly, no some porky pie like we have had in the past.
Well here we go. Tom Vickers, Timmy O, Frankie and Josh, although he wasn't great, are excused. The rest of the team should hold their heads in shame. First half was very scrappy with not a lot of quality on show. Defensively we were a complete shambles as per usual, but offensively we looked dangerous. Taser looked lively down the right, Frankie was superb and in Tom Vickers we had the best player on the pitch in my opinion. Then came the now famous TW half time speech, or does Ben give it, or Nigel, or Stapes? Who cares it aint working! now me, not having the vast managerial knowledge of those bunch would of though it would consist of something like 'keep feeding Tom down the left because he's tearing their right back apart'. But no, what do Hasting do, they spend the next 45mins hoofing hopeless long balls down the right to the equally hopeless Bailo, whilst Tom spend the next 45mins twiddling his fingers waiting for some kind of decent pass. No leadership, no fight, no heart, and worst of all, no one could be bothered to applaud our magnificent support.
The club is rotten at the moment and we have to many prim donnas who couldn't give a sh*t about wearing the claret and blue shirt. Don't blame Walters, this has nothing to do with him. Ben Judge is completely shot, he's been a great servant, but he's shot! Sam Adams and Danny Ellis, two of my favourite players of all time, look shadows of the players they used to be. Bailo Camara is just plain hopeless, i'm sorry, but he gives nothing to the team at all. Some new player turns up today who looked like he had just been pulled off of Eastbourne beach, he was dreadful....who is doing our scouting? And then the management. TW plays 3-5-2 for 5 or 6 games and decides it doesn't work, although we could all see that after one game. Then the one game when 3-5-2 would have worked with JJ and Crutwell going off injured, he decides to bring on Corrigan and leave Pogue on the bench. We were all dumbstruck.
So where do we go from here? Whitstable I guess for us loyal bunch and another £30 odd quid spent following a team, or the majority, who don't give a toss about us supporters. Well done Eastbourne today, you thoroughly deserved your win, out fought, more heart, more desire and greater tactics from the dugout. Forget next season, clear out the rubbish now!
You can't excuse DW John as he is responsible for these hopeless managerial appointments. Why pay players good money if the manager isn't capable. You might be wasting £30 on Tuesday but I won't be.
JohnW great post agree with everything you say. no fight in our team no player really look as if they care or have pride except Frankie. lots of managemnt but look like none of them can motivate what they all do? really lost for words good support today and not even a thank you from players. embarasing but dont think many of players care as long as they get there money.
But Chris, everyone wanted rid of Razor (not me), so DW got rid. Everyone wanted Maggs (not you) so DW got him in. Everyone wanted rid of Maggs (not me), so DW got rid. Everyone wanted TW (not me or you) and DW employed him. So really all DW has done is what the majority of supporters wanted. I'm with you Chris with 90% of what you say but I do not believe this can be blamed on DW. Nearly 50 players last year, 40 odd this, the money has been there, the appointments have been what the majority have wanted, what more can he do?
Had already left before the end as had to take my daughter to the loo but the apparent lack of a response from the players at the end is completely wrong.
Several well known ex Hastings figures said at the end to us that our guys lacked fight and bollocks and based on today's game they were 100% right.
More or less agree with JW. Would say that Josh had a poor game in goal and Trevor doesn't deserve to be blamed as he worked hard for scraps all game. Can't blame Terry for loosing 3 players to injury, it doesn't leave any options for a tactical change and some players looked as if they knew they couldn't be subbed.
We have no cover in defence and I can't see us making the play offs especially with performances as poor as this afternoon.
John but Sean wasn't up to the job, very similar to Terry they can't get a response from the players. We need a manager who is allowed to manage in his own way without interference. There were issues with Maggs so it was never going to work. We need a manager who has contacts and a track record and they are about. But what needs to happen is that manager is given a budget at the end of this season for next season, and he is then allowed to build a squad himself without interference.
Just got home and have had plenty of time to reflect on today's and recent performances without looking at the post match posts.Come to the conclusion that Terry must go.He cannot take us on any further.Enough is enough.
Understand your sentiment Chris but with non contract players how many would stay ( even the ones who are trying ) within 24 hours of that being implemented?
Sorry DC, it was a great game, all the players gave their heart and soul, like always, I`m so pleased we have such a great bunch of players, There is that better........
DC we had players not making an effort to cover back. Give up on balls that could have been chased down. What are we supporters supposed to think. It is clear to 90% of us there are issues within the squad, so why don't one or two of the players tell us the truth.
Wow! I have to say I am shocked by your statement DC. I am hoping you have based that on what you have viewed on your travels home and away this season rather than a family member being involved in today's debacle?
BAD NEWS: Poor finishing - Poor defending - Poor attitude - Poor Refereeing - Unfortunate injuries - They were up for it, we weren't!
GOOD NEWS: Faversham & Burgess Hill lost
BAD NEWS: Merstham seem to be putting an end of season run together and are looking dangerous.
GOOD NEWS: We do have some depth with some good up and coming players in the U21s squad. We just need to give them some game time and opportunities and they would leap at the opportunity and give 100% instead of bringing in more players. (if we don't give them the opportunities they will end up looking elsewhere for next season!)
-- Edited by Hamilton on Saturday 22nd of March 2014 07:52:33 PM
Mmmmmmmm, Hamilton, is this the same u21 side who have lost 5 of their last 7 games conceding 20 goals in the process? Im a great believer in giving youth a chance, they can't give any worse than what we are seeing at the moment, by I just don't see anyone coming though and knocking down Terrys door. Who do you think is good enough to make the step up?
-- Edited by johnw on Saturday 22nd of March 2014 08:03:49 PM
I thought the whole idea of a forum was to air our feelings about the players and the team in general.
Just as we praise all of the players when they play well, those same players should be open to criticism when they play badly.
I agree with everything that people have posted on here today as they are really annoyed and let down by this team at the moment and the shambles that was on display today.
There was no cohesion among them and no one seemed to know where their team mates were as they were all over the place and constantly kept giving the ball away.
Apart from Frankie Sawyer & Tom Vickers all of the others did not look match fit, and as for Bailo turning up and playing when he can get away from work is not on.
So yes we should all be able to have our say as what is the use of having a Forum.
Not fashionable to say this about the standard of play in the Ryman South, but both Corinthian Casuals and Eastbourne played well for 2 teams at the bottom of the table. Eastbourne had nothing to lose in this game and gave Hastings a hard time. However, injuries and some refereeing decisions went against Hastings in what ,I thought, was a hard fought and exciting local derby. Thought our ex-player Steve Elliot was excellent at the heart of defence and Tom Gilbert also played well. Hastings battled well enough but we looked a bit light weight in central midfield, although the debutant showed some nice touches.
Forum very busy at the moment.This shows how passionate Hastings supporters are about their team.Obviously,many have forthright views about what is going on.The first half was passable for Ryman South but the second was purely county league.We are NOT motivated enough against county standard teams like Eastbourne.What are peoples views on this? Is it time for the manager to go or do we need to off load half the team?
OMG is it a full moon tonight?you have got to be taking p*as Tim, you cannot be serious with some of your comments? Hastings battled well, the new lad showed some nice touches. I'm going for a lie down.
Mmmmmmmm, Hamilton, is this the same u21 side who have lost 5 of their last 7 games conceding 20 goals in the process? Im a great believer in giving youth a chance, they can't give any worse than what we are seeing at the moment, by I just don't see anyone coming though and knocking down Terrys door. Who do you think is good enough to make the step up?
U21s is about being able to view new/young potential talent and developing that talent. It is also about giving injured 1st teamers run outs at the end of their recovery.
It's not about results, otherwise we would be fielding a consistent team each match and could vastly improve on those results. The very nature of the team means that there will always be a large turnover of players.
There are plenty of up and coming quality players in there that would give 100% and be proud to put on the Hastings shirt (although some have already stopped hoping and have walked away). They should be knocking on Terry's door, but if the door is locked and nobody is listening or even prepared to answer the door then it is very easy to quickly lose faith.
-- Edited by Hamilton on Saturday 22nd of March 2014 08:21:21 PM
Tim was watching a different game John, sadly people defending today's effort will only make the players think it's just a few moaning fans, who has this new guy played for and who has seen him play, cos' it looked to me like Steve wonder recommended him.
It's not often that I'm stuck for words after a match....today is such on occasion....but after a good drink I'll give it a go and apologise now for rambling. (I needed a bottle of Pinot Grigio before even considering reaching for the iPad after what I saw today.)
So....let's be honest,today we were very very poor. Ok....on another day we would have got a result. The ref did us very few favours and we didn't actually get any breaks in their box. However I'm not making excuses. Today, Eastbourne mastered the conditions better than us and showed more commitment than us to deserve their win. The point being though that we feel we should be head and shoulders above the likes of our hosts today and a few breaks going against us should make no difference. We should be stuffing them whatever ! And this surely is what hurts ! Just how low HUFC have sunk relative to other clubs in Sussex.
Not that long ago, there was BHA and then HUFC and Crawley battled it out for the number two spot. Today, Crawley, Eastbourne Borough, Lewes, Bognor, Whitehawk, Peacehaven can all look down on us. We are on a par with Horsham, Eastbourne Town and, from the near vicinity, other county outfits like Mertsham and Redhill. That is hurting. Quite simply we are practically County League in quality these days.
I don't think I'd have been quite so damning as John regarding some individuals (but understand you anger, John) and would agree that there were a few performances today that were totally unacceptable. We continue to produce Jekyll and Hyde performances that leave us supporters bemused and frustrated but, as a general rule, we have under-performed throughout the season, despite our lofty position. I expect us still to make the play-offs but that will probably be it....that's where it will end and for many it will be a merciful release.
Going forward, I don't think Terry is the man for the job.....then again, I never did and that's where we need to start the redevelopment in order to win the league next season.
Good post Mick, I totally agree with everything you`ve said, our position reflects our standing at present, this is our level for the time being, it`s what can be done about it, and when? but for now we better get used to it.
Good answer Hamilton, cannot disagree with any of that. Sounds like you have some first hand experience?
Without blowing my own trumpet I have a lot of experience of U21 football both at Professional and Semi-Professional level and I'm a great advocate of it. Also as I have previously mentioned, I do have a distant family member in the squad and so I'm maybe more aware of it than most.
They played at Whitstable today and narrowly lost 2-1 with a goal in the dying minutes. But they travelled with only 12 players (mostly 17 year olds) and their manager was at the first team game in Eastbourne. So they could have played like a world cup winning team today and there still wouldn't have been much chance of their performance being fully reported back to Terry.
This in itself is confusing, as players such as Woody weren't with the first team, so why weren't they with the 21s. It's not as if they couldn't do with the fitness and match practice.
I promise you this, there are at least 2 to 3 diamonds in that team that we will hear big things about in the future. Hopefully that will be in a Hastings shirt, but if not it will be us that has missed the opportunity.
The phrase "Can't see the wood for the trees" comes to mind. I hope we don't miss out.
Really interesting Hamilton, and if true, what a poor show that those youngsters travelled all that way to represent their town whilst the manager went to Eastbourne. Would love to hear why he did that.
-- Edited by johnw on Saturday 22nd of March 2014 09:06:14 PM
Really interesting Hamilton, and if true, what a poor show that those youngsters travelled all that way to represent their town whilst the manager went to Eastbourne. Would love to hear why he did that.
-- Edited by johnw on Saturday 22nd of March 2014 09:06:14 PM
Sam crutwell was one who didn't always give 100% tracking back. As he is a young lad wasn't going to name him, but as you mentioned him thought a balanced argument to be fair.
No contracts that I know of at our club although it can happen elsewhere. Not sure if you you can change a players wage and conditions once registered for a season even without one though?
No, a contract would entitle you to refuse bids and receive compensation when player is sold. Registration alone doesn't provide that. I was intending to mean that I've not heard of any occasions with us or other clubs where players wages were reduced etc after the registration for the current season.
Maybe because as DC says he was still performing ok after the injury both him and the management thought it was something that could could be run off, especially as it would/did reduce our attacking sub options...
Come on Dan he was either fit or not, if it stopped him tracking back he wasn't fit so he should have been withdrawn. Its time to stop finding excuses and blame those at fault. Soccer doesn't have a no blame culture so let's get rid of all these under performing players and management.
By having to sub him it prevented us bringing on a extra striker so to delay the substitution so to delay the sub until he had a few minutes to attempt to run it off is very common in football. We gained no tactical advantage from that substitution.
You would want to make wholesale changes in players and management right now? If we were mid table then you could possibly make wholesale changes maybe bring in a number if U21s but when in playoffs still how could you justify changing yet another manager and a large set of players? There's been enough disruption this season now. It is still likely ( IMO ) that we will finish top 5 and although not good enough it still gives a chance for promotion albeit it could be considered slim by many considering the opposition but stranger things happen in football. Still need strengthening especially in defence but wholesale personnel changes would be more disruptive than effective. More of a mental attitude issue than a squad one IMO.
I would select 2 of those managers coaches and tell them them to run the team, we don't need all those we have at the moment. I would get rid of all those players who are clearly not giving 100% or are often not available. Replace them with u21 players who want to play, and let's see what happens, we are getting worse at the moment with better players, something is wrong and it needs sorting NOW. How many of those Eastbourne players would you have Medlock any others no more than 2 I would think. Yet they wanted to win and we had 5/6 players who couldn't care less.
Steve Elliott is a good shout, been with us before and looked solid, he came across to us afterwards in the clubhouse and had a good chat, said he'd always appreciated the Hastings supporters.
So contract was the wrong word, but my point is some players are comfortable at this level. Do they all have the incentive to get promoted when they will have to travel more, play tougher opposition, without getting paid significantly more money. And some will realise that they might not cut it at a higher level and do have no future at the club at all should they be successful .
