After the great win against Dorking we will face a new test against
Currently the team from West- Sussex is the number 13 in the table with 15 points out of 9 games.
Last game they won away against Carshalton 2-3 after 0-2 behind. Away they got 9 points and at home 6 points.
Last season we lost away 2-0 and drew at home 1-1 ( goal Tim Olorunda)
And we ? Think it would be vital after the win against Dorking to get another good ( 3 points ) result.
Newcomer Billy Medlock started the game and other newcomer Chris Cumming-Bart came on as a first half substitute because captain Walder left the field injured. It was Dorking first loss and that must give Garry Wilson team a huge boost.
So good to see the wonder strike from gave the team the equalizer and minutes later on Zac Attwood scored the winner.
I think a win is vital to keep the team in the top half of the table. With the help of our supporters i am optimistic about this game.
We are lacking in all aspects of the game.We have absolutely no chance of a play off place this season.We don't have a goalscorer,we don't have a creator and we can't defend.
Do we have a good squad like we all think,or are we completely deluded? Who is to blame? What is going so badly wrong? Very poor
There was a ten minute period of play where I counted us hitting a high long ball 8 times. For the record, Worthing won all 8 of the headers. Summed it up for me.
We are lacking in all aspects of the game.We have absolutely no chance of a play off place this season.We don't have a goalscorer,we don't have a creator and we can't defend. Do we have a good squad like we all think,or are we completely deluded? Who is to blame? What is going so badly wrong? Very poor
Sorry Conquest, but I didn't see it in quite such stark terms. Yes, a very disappointing result , of course; but I thought the first half performance was good, albeit with few clear cut chances created. We were hit hard though by Worthing's early second half goal and looked weak for the next 20 minutes or so. I thought the penalty harsh as it looked to me - not perhaps from the best of positions - that Sean had made a legitimate challenge. At 2-0 down we looked out of it; but I I thought Sam Cruttwell played well when he came on and Billy Medlock's goal was well taken. We looked briefly back in it. But, sadly, we could not build on that and Worthing got back in control.
So, I think we do have goal scorers (Medlock, Zac - not playing today, and others); we do have creative players (Sam Cruttwell plainly); and we had good defensive performances today from Sean (yet again) and Ollie Rowe. But the team is certainly not playing to its potential and Worthing gave us an excellent demonstration that to succeed a team has to play as a team. Much then for the management to work on; but not a situation where we should despair.
That was appalling we don't look like a team, all over the place I couldn't tell what formation we were playing. Passing was again very poor, how long do you allow this shambles to continue we have good players or at least they were at other clubs. Do we look any better than last season, I don't really think so. The crowds are dropping and who can blame people for not wanting to pay to watch the garbage being served up.
Well got the formation and pretty much the line up I wanted and the first half wasn't bad at all really, a few chances to score and lots of corners from which Ollie Rowe was unlucky not to score ( great save from Banks to be fair )
Second half a completely different story and Worthing came out much stronger and dominated the game. Scored a cracking first goal and didn't look back!
Good that Billy Medlock is off the mark already and can see that he will be vital in recovering from this poor run of form.
What was it about the Worthing colours that was so attractive to our players-they couldn't stop passing to them. A fairly even first half could easily have seen Worthing 2-0 up after a couple of horrendous defensive mistakes. We started the second half so badly that Worthing must have believed the game was there for the taking and they promptly took full advantage. Possibly their first goal was more luck than judgement but at times we were badly stretched as we chased the game. Worthing were all over us and didn't give our players any freedom or space. Our pass completion rate must have been close to minus figures. One outstanding exception was the through ball by Sam to set Billy Medlock up for his goal. Disappointing that we are still struggling to play as a team with a system of play that suits our players.
Seem to keep saying " let's hope we get a positive reaction" following poor performances.Have been to all the home games and have yet to see us put together a performance that I would actually enthuse about.Attendances will begin to drop as quickly as our league position.Seems to be mirroring last season in that we assemble a strong squad put can't get the results.
I'm sure as Dawes done his little "keepy ups" to get his goal, I noticed his arm hit the ball, having said he took the goal well if not a bit of a fortuitous lob that if he tried it another 10 times he'd struggle to score it again. As for the penalty, I was at the other end of the ground but thought from where I was that it was never a penalty, it looked just like a strong challenge where Razor won the ball.
Barry it was a penalty you cant challenge like that these days, if you take the man with your feet up, doesn't matter if you take the ball, its still a foul.
Cannot really disagree with anything that has already been said and for me, despite numerous poor performances this season, last night was the biggest worry of them all.
We all expected us to really push on after the great win on Saturday and I think we all agree that the starting 11 was as close to our best as we could get (possibly Attwood for Harris). First 20 minutes were decent and Okoh was causing a lot of problems down the right for Worthing. Billy looked full of running and we looked dangerous from corners with only a magnificent save by Banks from a Razor header keeping it goal less. At the other end Worthing looked quick and dangerous on the break without ever really worrying Josh. At half time I felt fairly content although the passing radar was starting to go astray towards the end of the half.
Not sure what was said at half time but the 2nd half was quite possibly the worst passing display I have seen from a Hastings side in many a year and that's saying something. It was almost comical as every time we got the ball we passed it to a Worthing player and when we finally worked out we were no good at passing short what did we do? hoof it long. As I have said on numerous occasions, for a big lump Harris is poor in the air so why we keep trying to stick it on his head is a mystery. And something that has not been mentioned by others, have you ever seen a team at this level get caught offside on so many occasions? they are not even tight decisions and very often, the worst culprits, Harris and Cole, are the other side of the pitch looking right across the line....no excuse.
Hard to find positives last night but Medlock was decent, worked hard and will definitely be a better option than the two big lads. Crutts also did well when he came on.
We have all mentioned the negatives from the game and ill add to that the huge lack of pace in midfield which Crutts wont help that even though he was excellent. We need pace in midfield and a new signing in there rather than yet more strikers. Still think we have an issue at right back as well.
So another hugely frustrating night for us all and it seems to be one step forward 2 steps back at the moment. Any budding coach out there will understand how frustrating it can be when you can teach a 12 year old to play quick, one and two touch football to feet and they can take it out on match day and produce exactly what you have taught them and yet players of great experience are unable to pass an accurate 10 yard ball to feet. Our passing has been dreadful all season and just not good enough from players of this quality on the best pitch in the county.
We have always had this incredible ability to sign quality players, who have done it for years and years at other clubs, but then they come here and look ordinary, Cook, Dolan, Hammond, Harris, Attwood, Hassan, Sawyer etc etc. You can look back over 6 years of quality signings and I still say our 3 best players are Razor, Adams and Pelling.
At the far end but it looked a good challenge to me. I thought 3-1 flattered them but the best player on show was their number six. I lost count of the number of brilliantly timed tackles he made in the box.
I thought we shaded the first half but they were better in the second. After the penalty we through everone forward and that gave them the third goal. Billy scored a good one lets hope for more like that.
Wasn't at last nights game but all sounds rather disappointing and on a par with some recent home performances in the league (and the Cup wasn't much better.) Those heady days against Hythe and Chipstead seem an age ago now and it is rather concerning that we have produced very little to encourage home support against anyone other than the very poorest in our league.
I'm as baffled as anyone...we APPEAR to have assembled a strong enough squad that will play decent football but we constantly resort to hit and hope, head high long balls to guys who don't win them.....and it's really poor to watch.
I'm sure this isn't the Garry Wilson way really so why are we playing that way ?
Anyway...I remain optimistic that something will click/gel/whatever in the next three important away fixtures.
Curiously the last time we lost three successive home league matches was exactly a year ago.....and that sequence was broken with a good hiding of Guernsey.
Clearly we disagree about aspects of last night's game (whether it was a deserved penalty or not, whether there were any positives in our performance, etc); but there are some common threads: I think we would all agree that throughout our passing was very poor, that in the first half we at least attempted a passing game with Okoh causing problems for Worthing on the right, but we were knocked sideways by Worthing's first goal (be it lucky or brilliant as you might see it) and we then lost the plot and despite Medlock's well taken goal (great ball from Cruttwell) we could not recover and resorted to a long ball (supposedly) to Harris which was futile.
As John has posted, the inept passing and rapid loss of a credible game plan are very worrying; as is the sequence of poor home performances. I still suggest we have a very good squad and that our only chance this season of achieving anything is to support the management team and hope that we are all together at the end of the season. It will take time and it might appear that progress is slow or at times non-existent; but I hope we have learned the lesson of past seasons that premature change - no matter how superficially attractive - is seldom beneficial.
Did not go last night either and surprised when i see score as thought after saturday and even though it was not a convincing win that we would get 3 points against Worthing. it is hard to understand what is so wrong when we have got good and probably expensive players for this standard league and we still cant sort out a decent performanace. other game assisstant manager said in programme about folkestone manager has been there ages and taken him that time to build but a lot of that time he has not had money like we have now. you either build through youth and be patient like Burgess Hill and Worthing have done or you splash the cash like we do. unfortunately if splash the cash and it dont work out then questions need to be asked even at this early stage and when it look like we going backwards and not improving. if we decide to change and go down youth route then i think supporters would accept that sucess take longer. but what we have to have which ever way we go is football that is entertaining. john says we have a good pitch and it is massive but we cant pass 10 yards. this is basic. we have wide pitch why dont we play expansive football, we have become so narrow and one dimensional and just lump it forward. if in another 10 games we still have not clicked then we will know that play off out of reach and tactics and approach must change and possibly a player cull to save money and blood some youngsters. That started to happen end of last season and it was refreshing to see Holden but now he is not even in squad.
usually see nice comment on other forums from clubs that visit us but Worthing supporters did not have much good to say about Hastings last night which is shame.
gave the team the equalizer and minutes later on Zac Attwood scored the winner.