After the great play and result against Tooting it is now for a game against
Faversham are currently the number 14 in the table with 28 points out of 20 games ( we also played 20 games)
Scored 42 and conceded 30 goals. Top scorer in all competitions is Grant with 14 goals.
And we? 4-0 win against Tooting, clean sheet, some outstanding display from the lads, Bodkin scoring twice how things can change within a week.
Of course the situation is not completely different because the gap stays huge to the play off places. But confidence is another thing and surely after the game against Tooting the team and Management have made a huge step.
Hopefully a lot of supporters will watch this game and support the team to victory.
Saw a different side of the team tonight.The attractive,open,passing game was missing but was replaced by the resilient,digging deep game.Well done to each and every one of the team to have played so long with ten men,playing against eleven plus one absolutely awful referee.
Pretty fair assessment.
Even with 11 men, we certainly weren't knocking it about as we have done this season....but grinding out a win was important today.
While I like to see Crutts in midfield he does seem to make an excellent partner to Ollie. Plenty of solid if not spectacular performances today but a very classy goal that deserved to win the match.
Equally unimpressed with the ref.
An unattractive game of football but a most pleasing result. As Conquest says, we dug deep and somehow ground out a result with only10 men (and seemingly 14 against us) for the larger part of the game. I'm certainly greatly encouraged by that. It's what we have to do to get anything out of this season. Quite why we are so often at the wrong end of such shockingly bad decision making by officials is quite beyond me. I couldn't judge whether Callum's challenge merited a straight red. It might have done if it was a two footed lunge. But it was immediately preceded by two clear fouls on Hastings players one right in front of the assistant. It was followed by a mini brawl in which at least one Faversham player appeared to throw a punch. No cards for them there or later in the game despite some very 'robust' challenges. Extraordinary! I might well go on about the couple of pretty good penalty appeals which went unheeded; but the focus deserves not to be on any of that but rather on a very good team effort in adversity.
-- Edited by GeoffM on Wednesday 21st of December 2016 08:16:42 AM
Enjoyed the game last night. That was how you win games in adversity. Thought ref and his team were poor. But once its done you have to get on with it and thats what we did. What i would also ask is did you go home happier after a pragmatic win. Or after a entertaining 3-4 defeat. I know which i prefer!!!
Dead right Chris - a few 1-0s will do nicely. Last night was a top rate job. Referee started the inevitable melee that resulted in Emptage red card by not dealing with the first heavy challenge from Faversham. Other poor decisions made the task harder for the ten which made the perfornance all the better
Tough to fit in both Collin and Harris and keep it tight though, we seem to need that extra centre mid it seems to keep clean sheets! Frannies got 8 goals in his last 10 games so does deserve to start.
Chris makes an interesting point. Whilst I can appreciate a backs to the wall 10 man win, there were times in the second half when I cursed the ref for ruining my evenings entertainment. So whilst I was happy to walk away with three points my appetite to return might soon wain if I knew I was going to have to watch the same every week.
I thought Collin was excellent last night. Other than the well taken goal, he put a shift in for the team. Difficult to drop him currently.
Frannie is a goalscorer we always feared coming up against him. Why play him anywhere else. Agree Jack looks sharp but if you play Harry and Matt thats 4 players not great at defending. Which is a luxury.
I thought the front 3, being Bodkin, Stannard and Collin, worked tirelessly last night. After a slow start I really think Frannie is starting to become the striker we hoped he would be when he joined. Fantastic finish from him last night.
I too am growing in appreciation of Frannie. it was indeed a very good goal from him last night and he - along with others - worked exceptionally hard. Jack, I felt , did what was asked of him last night. A very difficult situation to come on as the central striker of 10 men clinging to a one goal lead; but he took some pressure off the defence and mid-field and I thought him hard done by not to have won a penalty. The more I think about yesterday the more I believe it to have been a very positive result indeed.
Really enjoyed the commitment and effort shown by all the Hastings players last night. Thought Ollie Rowe had a very good game and there were some really incisive moves put together by Hastings-if not so many as usual. Interesting to see Sam at centre half again and Callum playing just in front of the defence. Thought the side looked better with Harry starting. Difficult to fit Frannie and Jack in the same side -2 excellent strikers. Very good 3 points as Faversham had some useful players.
Good showing from the 10 men of Hastings although things were a bit tricky at the end but we hung on for another good three points. At last some positivity from all
how things can change within a week.