After our exit in the Cup against Worthing we now meet for a league game
The Rams are currently the number 3 in the table with 46 points out of 26 games. Hastings is currently the number 15 in the table with 33 points out of 18 games. So the visitors played already 8 more games.
Last season we won both games against them 1-0. Sam Adams twice the goalscorer.
Ramsgate have 2 great strikers in the team : Joe Taylor scored already 17 goals and Ian Pulman 12 goals.
They have a small squad and signed Ollie Brown from Sittingbourne this week. They are unbeaten in 6 league games.
And we ? Think we are on a crosspoint in the season; after our defeats in the cup matches it is all the league that counts.
So is this a must win game? Yes, i think it is and hopefully the supporters will come with many to TPF.
The chuckle brothers return!! For anyone who has not witnessed the fun and games associated with joint managers Dan and Jim Ward are in for a treat on Saturday. Anyone who was at Sittingbourne a couple of seasons ago will know what I am talking about and they are usually more entertaining than the game itself. Can't wait.
Oh my God, it really is no fun being a Hastings supporter. First half was as good as I've seen us all season. We were pressing high up the pitch, the movement and energy levels were fantastic and we kept the ball on the ground. Cole scored an absolute stunner and Zac deservedly put us two up. At half time I think the only disappointment was that we had not gone in four up which would have been deserved. But yet again this season we came out in the second half looking a completely different team. I really would love to be a fly on the wall at half time as our second half performances are becoming so predictable now its almost laughable. It was back to the bad old Hastings with long balls and misplaced passes and if it wasn't for a last second clearance we would have drawn that game 3-3, it really was very average.
But back to the positives, it was a massive win against a play off contender and first half was excellent. I thought Zac looked really sharp on his comeback and Cole was probably MOM for me. So a big well done but Gary and Danny have got to sort these second half performances, it really is no good for the heart.
I do agree with your analysis john, although personally i'd of given MoM to Sam Crabb. But no matter how bad the second half was a win is a win (if you get 3 points chest pains are a small price to pay) and it was against a ramsgate team that were on reasonably good form(key word: WERE) so hopefully this can give the team some momentum and confidence, which is something we severely lacked at herne bay and worthing.
Also some of the behaviour from some ramsgate team and staff was attrocious.
Well I certainly agree that our second half performance was poor after a good first half; but at least part of the equation was that Ramsgate were much better in the second half. Even then, they failed to convince as a top three team; but they started to play like the sort of team (Poole, Merthyr, etc) which consistently gives us trouble. We do have a problem with big physical counter attacking sides when they are playing even half decently. And John is right - our long balls in the second half were more often than not way off target - sometimes laughably so. We really need to work on 'Plan B' when we get knocked off our game.
Plenty of positives though - most obviously the result; but also a very good comeback performance from Zac; and (with others starting to fail) a good second half from Sam Adams.
I think we have to give Ramsgate some credit for their second half performance. They pushed us deeper and showed why they are in a play off position. The pass for their first goal from the number three was brilliant and he was their best player in my eyes.
First half was, as John said, as good as I've seen but several of our players have had long lay offs and in some ways it wasn't a surprise that we didn't carry on in the same vein after the break. I think we deserved the three points over all and I for one am happy for an early Xmas present. Nice to see our strikers getting goals and what a sublime finish from Sam for the opener. Brilliant technique from a class act. I thought that Sam Crutwell was MoM for a great display of the midfielder's art, but there were several contenders which cheers me up no end.
On to Chipstead, hope to see many of you there.
Entertaining game and I think we did just enough over 90 mins to say we deserved the win . However , there was a marked difference between the two teams when they returned to the pitch for the second half .Ramsgate ran back and immediately got into a pre match style warm up whilst we just took up our positions and boy did it show ? They wanted it more than we did ! I thought our defence had a good game although I find Sam Crabb very frustrating . At one stage he lost the ball on the half way line and we were all alarmed to see him virtually strolling back , whilst Zac , of all people covered him . He worries me ! Zac had a good game especially first half . Didn't stop running . We had a few clear chances second half too but didn't take them . 3 points though and against a fairly good physical team ! So overall well done !!
Entertaining game with Hastings in control in the first half with Ramsgate looking dangerous in the second when Hastings became very disjointed. Lucky not to concede a goal in the last few minutes when we managed to turn a Hastings free kick on the edge of Ramsgate's area into a goalscoring chance for Ramsgate, thanks to a terrible free kick and then the concession of a silly free kick at the other end of the pitch. Sean Ray was excellent at the back looking after Pullman and Taylor. Unfortunately they had more luck when up against our other defenders. Sam Cole showed great skill when scoring of one of our goals and creating another. We remain a rather frustrating side capable of playing really well and then looking a bit of a shambles.
Had to follow this on line. Main reason for poor second halves? Half time! How many perfect 90 minute performances does any team produce? South Park was a good example - but a rare one. So many times a good performance is disrupted by half time - momentum goes.
Good win though - well done all and good to see Zac appear on the score sheet.
Garry and Danny will still be fine tuning the side. Plenty more ups and downs to come from a squad that is as good as any we've had.
I believe our second half 'problem' occurred yesterday because we were so in control in the first half that the half time talk was probably nothing more than 'keep doing what you're doing'.
First half we were sharper, more incisive and certainly better disciplined then them.....but they were third for a reason and it was inevitable that a different Ramsgate team would come out for the second half....and we simply weren't ready for their higher energy/higher tempo approach. (I guess the 'hair drier' was in use in the opponents changing room at the interval...I just wonder if the players could understand what was being said ! Those two certainly didn't disappoint with their antics yesterday. I have never seen a bottle of water slammed onto the roof of the dug out at such regular intervals ! Great 'people watching' entertainment.)
It was good to see Zac score and you could see how relieved he was....let's hope he gets back to full fitness and confidence and starts delivering on a regular basis. He SHOULD be outstanding at this level but too often has fallen short for me.
I presume Jack Walder was too injured to continue when he was substituted. He appeared to have got over his knock and it was noticeable that they got their second goal only moments after he left the field and I felt we hadn't got ourselves organised quickly enough.
Finally, I WISH we could put games to bed. In the last 15 minutes we got into so many threatening positions but couldn't pick out the telling pass or the decisive finish. Those missed opportunities could have cost us.
I appreciate I have focused on a few negatives which is probably unfair. All in all it was a game with plenty of incident, good entertainment and the right result. What a shame more locals weren't there to see it.
I know the gate was down again yesterday , probably as a result of Christmas stuff , but the club must be generally worried about falling numbers . Yesterdays game was very entertaining but the apathy surrounding the local football fan seems to continue . Understandably maybe because whenever we have had a large crowd this season we have played awful football . We were all assured that when DW was replaced that the fans would flood back ... Not happened !!! I think the price of the ticket is still the main issue . Not for me but I know my brother would come a bit more if it was less but I guess that would be a massive gamble with the club to try that . Also , it was only three years ago that the club had quite a young following from St Richarda school and the academy based in Parkstone Road . Even thats virtually disappeared . Not surprising when they use to get moaned at by certain quarters for getting consessions . Maybe they would probably have been there yesterday paying normal prices . The St Richards lot were a particularly nice bunch of well behaved kids . Maybe gates will improve if we get up into the play off positions in January ? But don't hold yer breath !!
The St Richards lot mostly have Saturday jobs or play at a reasonable standard themselves. They have also discovered "girls". Difficult for a club to compete with that!
There is a new generation of the St Richards lot. Unfortunately they have got themselves in trouble with the stewards a few times for taunting the away fans. (One of the ramsgate fans threatened them yesterday). I'm sure that they would love to stay and make some noise with the home fans, but the singing seems to have disappeared a bit lately .
Is that taunting or having a bit of banter Dave ? There's a difference ... There is one steward who is renowned for stopping people for making any noise at the moment . Like the other week when a couple of lads were using the side of the stand to drum up some noise . Yeah technically it's not right but we could always relocate the ground to The Library maybe some would be happuer then ? The boys are always welcome to come and join in with the singing , they know that . Jobs , girls or football ,,,, mmmm interesting dilema though 😂😂😂
mostly just banter, but there was a sweet throwing incident a few weeks ago! To be fair I think the stewards are thinking as much of the lads safety than anything else. You only have to get one idiot to over react for it to get serious
I suspect nearly all of us are quite a long way away from this to say whether this is friendly banter or something a little more sinister. However I would suggest that this behaviour is actually something the club should discourage. If they want to support the team,I feel these lads should join the other 'singers' behind the opponents goal and forget this idea of 'winding up' opponent's supporters.
There are a couple of examples I can refer to. In last years play off semi finals, some 'occasional' young Folkestone supporters made life very uncomfortable for the travelling Whyteleafe fans and the whole incident rather escalated resulting in a lot of bad feeling between the clubs and a lot of criticism of the Folkestone stewards. I'm not saying these St.Richards lads are capable of this but why take the risk ?
Secondly, I recall a game at Hornchurch a few years ago where the travelling Hastings supporters were subjected to a tirade of abusive, obscene foul language from some local urchins who decided they would set up camp right next to us. There were no stewards to be seen and the situation could have become very unpleasant if Hastings supporters had chosen to react. There were some young children with the Hastings supporters and they should not have had to listen to this.
So I would certainly support the stewards if they decide they need to 'nip this in the bud'.
I don't think anyone is suggesting that anything on those levels happened on Saturday Mick but take your point ,things like that need nipping in the bud . Also as I said before most kids that attend our games, especially the ones that I know from St Richadds are extremely well behaved . I recall being on a coach to Middlesborough with about 20 of them and I have never seen a bunch of kids so well behaved for so long and i wrote to their head of school to congratulate them for that, so I don't think we need to be framing . It's not really answering my point of falling attendances . That for me is a much bigger worry .
wasnt at game on saturday but good we got 3 points but sounded from twitter like we make things difficult with the second half perormance. but it is 3 points and a rare win against a team at the top. was surprised with crowd tho i know it is near christmas but when you compare ours with other teams our crowd look like they are getting smaller and smaller. we always had bigger crowds than Folkestone and Worthing and theres was 368 and 448 and we always had a lot more than Carshalton and they had just 1 less than us. i can afford a tenner even though i think it is to much for this level of football but i dont think it is affordable for a person in early to mid twenties with wages so bad in this town and rents so high. we are still 3rd in attendance chart but 333 is so low and with colder winter games still ahad see it dropping more.like Windy says it is a big worry.
i think it's already been said that it's no coincidence that our three biggest home crowds of the season, versus Folkestone, Carshalton and Poole have been three of our worst performances. Newcomers are inquisitive and come to take a look at the new squad but are left disappointed and disillusioned and don't return. I brought some family members to the Carshalton game who hadn't been for years and they were bored stiff by what was on show. I think things have improved slightly since then and the crowds will come back but when you are sitting in mid table those that are not die hards will not come on a cold Saturday or a Tuesday when England may be on the box. Five or six wins in a row and your sitting in the top three is different and that's the only reason why Worthing and Folkestone are attracting more. I think in the winter as well, once the weather turns bad you will attract a lot of the local footballers. Remember there are 70 odd local teams playing on a Saturday afternoon and the weather has been pretty decent and mild so not a lot of postponements. I think we will be okay but a lot depends on what is going on, on the playing field. Results bring crowds.
