Hastings Supporters Forum - 100% Unofficial!

Four of the next five games at home, got to be 11 or 12 points minimum.

So who will we be playing in defence today ?
It sounds like Butcher will be fit (hopefully as fit as his own dog) and Ollie and Crutts will play in the middle. But who will fill the other full back spot ? I imagine Thorburn and Pritchard still have PTSD after Monday's game and without Sam and Richard we are struggling. Have we managed to get anyone in or could Dickinson play in there ? Not sure how else we could reshuffle without seriously weakening us somewhere.

Having written the above I have just spotted on the website that we have a midfielder named Jordan Robins available today. Also just read the bad news about Sam Cole...out for the season it seems.

Think I would start with Dickinson and Rowe in the middle with Butcher and Crutwell as full backs. Not the best use of Sam but it might avoid a repeat of Monday.

Probably not the best time to write just 20 mins after the whistle as I have still not calmed down but here we go. That was totally unacceptable from any Hastings team. Frannie, Bodkin and Crutwell apart, the team lacked heart, effort and energy, were second to every ball, and just lacked the general knowhow in how to break down a decent Cray team, and I include Watt in the criticism. He appeared to lack any energy from the touchline, and his decision to bring himself on and leave Dullaway on the bench was just embarrassing. At Sittingbourne and East Grinstead we were so poor, but the lads never lacked effort but today was a huge worry and concern. Not since the Kane days have I seen a Hastings team go out and not look like they care and if Hughes Mason dares go and take his weekly wage from the club he should be sacked on the spot. That was a disgrace of a performance from him, no effort, no care, bottled every challenge and no pride in the Hastings shirt. I would not care if we never see him again and by the sounds of the fans around me I wont be the only one.

So proper angry today as we can all take losing but not trying is the ultimate insult to us paying fans. Only saving grace today is that not many above us won either. Going for a lie down

Yes, very frustrating today, John. Despite what you say, I thought we just about deserved a draw against a decent Cray side who clearly like to pass it about like we do.
Totally agree about Hughes Mason....he may have scored four last weekend but he was pathetic today....as he was at Horsham.
Thought the two new lads did well enough. Jordy looks like he can play a bit in our style and the young full back did OK and not too much danger came down his wing. Have to say I thought Butcher did well today. He was against a decent winger and after a torrid opening played him REALLY well second half.
Also agree about Watt coming on. If he went up front to cause havoc with his head it would have helped if he'd been capable of leaving the ground. Utterly riculous with the lively Dullaway sitting it out yet again.
I wasn't as wound up as you when I started writing...but am gradually moving that way !

I disagree with Mick on this occasion. Cray fully deserved three points and we deserved what we got - none. Yes, a very decent goal from Frannie Collin (but a bad miss too); a good second half from Crutts; and a good debut from the young chap at right back. But overall we were woeful. Steve Watts' decision to bring himself on up front was simply absurd. He did not win a SINGLE ball in the air; he never got beyond a light jog; and his attempts to win a penalty were embarrassing. It would so obviously have been better to have brought on Dullaway or Bradley Pritchard. I hate to post comments like that; but, as John says, we deserve better. We are a professional club and we are entitled to expect professional standards.
Of course, we have an injury /suspension crisis, but on this forum we have been pretty much unanimous for weeks that the side desperately needs strengthening. If we haven't the money; fair enough; but if we have then it needs to be spent now or this season will be a write off - regardless of how many goals we score when things are going our way.

Was thinking the same Mick, how much did we miss Harry today. And still none the wiser on Harris, is he fit or not? If not, get him out of the squad because we appear to be destroying the lad at the moment.

4 wins in 10 league games now and something has to change quickly. As Geoff says do we have money to spend or not? If we do it needs to be spent now, if we don't we either gamble or settle now for a mid table finish. After so much excitement this season it now looks like being yet another damp squib. The thing is do the likes of Bodkin, Stannard and Collin accept that?

-- Edited by johnw on Saturday 7th of January 2017 07:12:17 PM

Thought we were very poor in the first half. Not surprising that the biggest round of applause came after 30 minutes when John Akoto put in a tackle on his winger- I think that was about the only tackle we made in the first half. We competed so much better in the second half and started to give Cray a game. I thought John at right back and Jordy in midfield both made promising debuts and was very surprised when Jordy was taken off. After a difficult first half Stephen got to grips with a good winger and did well considering he got no help from Kieran. In fact I'm pretty sure he was more of a hindrance when the right winger got free for their second goal. Thought Cray just about deserved the 3 points and demonstrated what an advantage it is to have 2 big centre halves. Not that Ollie and Sam didn't play well- Sam having 2 great surges forward in the second half that deserved better. Need to bounce back with a good performance against troublesome opponents.

The free kick you speak of Simon should have been a penalty as the tackle on Kiernan was at lest three foot in the box. I think we just about deserved a draw but couldn't understand why Steve came on and ambled about up front. John did well at fullback and deserves more chances as do some of the other youngsters.

I don't usually get  wound up at matches with our players, but yesterday was a disgrace at times.

There were players , who have already been named so no need for me to to name and shame as well, that just didn't try . Honestly , these players need to come to our 5-a-side supports club training sessions on a Wednesday night...JohnW would have strung them up !! You don't get away with it ...  something that clearly happened yesterday when Jordy , who i thought had a fair game...at least he kept running , was taken of when there were players who John would have pulled off ..no problem ! Quite rightly too. I didn't even hear  any constructive shoutings coming from the bench either ....and why wasn't Sonny given a run out ? John Akoto had a great game at right back . I just wonder if Sonny would have had a run out if Darren Hare hadn't been ill  ?

Yeah not a good day but we were lucky that quite a few clubs above us had bad days too .
However, with the likes of South Park on fire and the others being so far ahead in points, I'm starting to think we won't make it out of this god damn awful league yet again .Hope the lads can prove me wrong.

 

We go again on Tuesday against Three Bridges , but as we know this is never an easy game against them 

 

Did you see Simon Johnson pace out the distance to the wall? He was clearly only six yards from the ball. The ref was behind the Cray wall after pacing all of seven yards and failed to get them to that mark.

-- Edited by FatherXmas on Sunday 8th of January 2017 12:04:34 PM

😄

Made me laugh.