After the narrow but deserved win against Ramsgate we will now face
Chipstead is currently the number 23 in the table with 11 points out of 25 games. Won 3 and lost 20 and conceded 61 goals.
They lost last Saturday against Hythe Town 1-2 ( winner 88th minute )
Last season we lost both games! At home 0-1 and away 1-2.
This season the campaign started with a 6-0 win ( hat-trick Jack Harris ) at TPF.
Chipstead plays at: High Road , Chipstead
And we? Ramsgate was a good win but why seems that we can only play one half decent football? Think if we can perform for 90 minutes it will be more easier to win games. Good to see Zac Attwood scored after his return from injury. Hope a lot of supporters will make the trip, drive safely and support the team 100%.
wow certainly didnt expect to see that. they are far off safety in table and we can only get a draw and just read twitter and it sound like we had very few chances and pelling made some good saves. see he was injure to and hope that is not thatbad. does anyone know how he is?
Chipstead have practically a new squad since we played them the other week and are making vast improvements in the way they're playing. I didn't go tonight but I'm not surprised we had a tough game. Giving the improvements they have made recently I would have taken a point if offered. I think Folkestone will win the league comfortably now and already believe it's all about the play off places. A point tonight isn't as bad a result as coming away with nothing. Not sure how long Chipstead can carry on paying an improved squad with attendances of around 56 though. Biggest concern tonight for me would be the injury to Pells, we will need to get cover ASAP, I believe Matt Crutwell is now home from uni so he may be persuaded to cover in case Josh's injury is to severe for Saturday.
Interesting how Chipstead have a new manager, practically a complete new squad and are making vast improvements in a very short time. And then there's Hastings, new manager, practically a complete new squad and are making vast...........sorry, need time to build a team and gel together, it could take a season! Very disappointing against pretty much the worst home record in non league football and surely we have to be setting our sights higher than a point and not one shot in the first half, or do we these days?
And anyone know why arguably our best and most creative player in Sam Cole was playing left back Last night? There's a certain player called Alfie Hall, who has barely put a foot wrong when he's played this season, not getting a look in for some reason, and yet Sam Crabb continues to put in mediocre performances week after week.
Fingers crossed for Pells. Really hope everything is ok.
agree with john as well and really dont understand your comments lenny. chipstead only points in seven games before last night was against whitstable and sittingbourne! they probably have no budget with there crowd so low and i know i did not see game but from read the twitter comments it look like they had most of the play and we scrape a draw with a penalty. john said last week about hythe got a new manager in and change things around, if chipstead have as well and so quick then what with the budget our manager has it really asks lots of questions. i think whatever happens there should not be a manager change during season but if we dont go up then i think the question must get asked because if you spend all this money on quality player and it dont work it is a failure. if you want to go a different way of developing young players then i think a manager should have 3 years at it but when you have the budget that we must have one season should be enough to decide if he keep the job or not. at moment i am not convince and with the quality we have it does ask questions if the players want to play for the manager or they just want the money.
I don't think I wrote anything that isn't easy to understand Peter, Chipstead have got almost a new squad and are improving, they're not letting in goals like they were. As I said I never went last night but knew that this would be a tough game, Hythe only managed to beat them late into the dying minutes on Saturday and they've won 8 out of 9.
To be fair Peter I think you will find that Chipstead have raided Dulwich Hamlet for a load of quality loan signings over the past couple of weeks or so. My point was not how good Chipstead maybe now, but how quickly other new managers such as Hythe, Ramsgate, Carshalton and now possibly Chipstead are turning things around. These guys didn't need a season and are getting immediate results. There again if this point is now part of a long unbeaten run I guess no one will care. Its just that inconsistency once again in how we can play like we did first half against Ramsgate and then fail to have a shot on target in the first half against the worst home record in non league football.
It was awful, we didn't deserve a point, and if you'd asked which team had just been put together you would have said us. Why do the two xxxxx in charge think Attwood and Harris can play together, with Medlock Cole Adams and Cruttwell probably not playing in their favoured positions, is it any wonder that we were outplayed until they were reduced to 10. And one of our management team was heard before the game making reference to state of pitch, well why give players an excuse before game even starts.
Ok lenny but then back to the point that john makes and that is so valid if a club like chipstead, hythe ramsgate and others can improve things so quick and probably some on no money or all less than us it is a joke what we put up with. and why play players out of position what with tactics, selection and sound like motivation with manager saying about pitch maybe the players dont have confidence in managers. maybe i was wrong saying stick with managers for season. maybe if it get to point that we cant get to play off maybe then time to thing of changing manager and go with johnw cos i always think he talk a lot of sense
I'm afraid Peter I can't tell you why they've all gelled better than we have. Believe me I get as frustrated and baffled by it as much as you and others do.
It is hard to put your finger on exactly what is going wrong and how a team can play so differently from game to game and even half to half. I think one of the main problems is the balance in our squad which just looks all wrong still. Take last night, putting to one side Sam Crabb who cannot defend for toffee, we had in our starting lining up Harris, Medlock, Attwood and Adams, who I still think is more effective up top. Then on the bench we had Temba and Richardson Brown. That is six strikers in a sixteen man squad. Throw in Crutwell, who is much more effective going forward and Hollobone and Cumming Bart who have shown absolutely nothing defensively then there is one of your problems. I think Ray, Rowe and Pelling have had very little protection in front of them this season from the midfield and certainly not from the right hand side. This is why big, strong, fit and well organised sides do very well against us, whilst the weaker, poorly organised sides are beaten easily, with the amount of firepower we have up top. We look a little more solid when Walder sits in to make a three but then you must have quick, hard working wing backs that get up and down. Sadly they are decent at going one way but not getting back. This isn't pick on Sam Crabb time but as Windy pointed out on the Ramsgate thread, a group of us watched his work rate on Saturday and it was shocking and puts the guys at the back under so much pressure. We all saw it but others cannot..
Whatever we think about individual players I'm starting to think that certain players, who came in with big reputations and have not performed so far, perhaps now need to be moved on and budget released for fresh players at this crucial part of the season. As in previous seasons we look vulnerable in the full back positions, we lack a bit of muscle and strength in the centre of the park, we have way too many strikers and at least a couple of our bench are not quite good enough just yet. As I said in a previous post, I believe, perhaps wrongly, that this squad has been assembled for immediate promotion and not for the future. Just too many individuals, big personalities and big names. The squad just looks totally unbalanced.
Medlock was lethal when he first joined and clearly can be a big asset for us but does seem to be played further and further back now to allow another two strikers in and its just negating his strengths and just dont think he's creative enough to justify playing him in that role ( which i think is perfect for Sammy Adams to sit behind or move into the space behind the two up front. )
The biggest worry right now is Pells though, if hes out for a while then we may have a bit of an issue if Matt Cruttwell cant stay around locally beyond the holiday period.
Perhaps more homework should be put in before signings are made, especially in the work rate department we clearly have players that are on the lazy side, some have been mentioned in this thread. As john said the squad has no balance and only 1 person can carry the can for that. Obviously now we will have to spend money on a keeper, and the decision will have to be made however brutal it may sound, is it a loan or permanent signing. We are miles away from a promotion top 10 is best we can hope for.
Remember we lost a good keeper in Matt Armstrong-Ford just before Christmas a few seasons ago and managed to replace him with a certain Liam O'Brien.Let's hope we can make such a signing for the duration of Josh's absence.
We will miss Josh during his absence. Let's hope that's not too long. But, because goalkeeping is a specialist position with many good players not getting (and keen to get) a regular game it shouldn't be too much of a problem to arrange a decent loan on not too onerous terms.
What does worry me - given our recent low gates and the comments about Peacehaven in another thread - is how the budget will hold up if we have to make new permanent signings to stand a reasonable chance of a play off place. (Automatic promotion now looks quite beyond us.)
Whatever we do we must not compromise the financial security of the club. If that means making the best of what we have, then so be it.
Hope a lot of supporters will make the trip, drive safely and support the team 100%.