Looking forward to this game, sorry (in a way!) to miss seeing Ross Allen; but it should still be a most interesting encounter. Quite unbelievable, given our position in the table, that if we avoid defeat we will be unbeaten for eight games........
Kennys hard work keeping the ball from going out and then bending the ball away from the keeper was great but a game of two halfs again afraid people should have been out of sight before they thought they had a chance,
Seems to be a pattern developing Dave, start off well get a 2-0 lead and almost lose it. Should have been four or five up at half time. Then we either run out of steam, lose concentration or unable to adjust when opposition change tactics. Will have to learn and hopefully quickly.
Dave and Phil are quite right. Yet again we dominated the first half and then lost our way in the second. In its way, the first 30 minutes of this game were among the strangest I have seen in a competitive match. Hastings seemed to be attempting to walk the ball into the net while Guernsey seemed content to watch. I can't recall from either side a physical challenge - beyond the goal line ping pong for our first goal - in that period. Sam Adams hit a well struck shot just before half time to give us a deserved two nil lead; but, as many suspected, the second half was an altogether different affair. Guernsey appeared to have woken up to the idea that it was OK to tackle (in fact they managed quite a few fouls too) and that knocked us out of our stride. For a period around Guernsey's goal we seemed to be trying to find imaginative ways of giving away possession. Fortunately the substitutions helped settle matters down and Kenny, in particular, put in a good shift and deserved his rather odd goal in the dying seconds. A pity though that his attempt a few minutes earlier had failed to find the net because that - a great run and cross from from Dayshonne and a good header just wide of the post from Kenny - would have been a goal of the season contender.
-- Edited by GeoffM on Saturday 25th of November 2017 04:39:16 PM
Pedestrian first half with Hastings content to stroll their way to a 2-0 lead against a very lack lustre Guernsey. Second half was very poor from a Hastings point of view. Would be nice to think we are improving as a team but little evidence of it today.
agree with Tim. First half I didn't think there was any opposition. Guernsey were shocking and we only managed a scrappy first goal against them and the second I missed. Guernsey must have had a right good team talk at half time and they came out fighting and we could not handle them. Great effort they had that struck the crossbar then they blazed over from 8 yards out. Let off the hook big time and glad we got the third to make safe the points. I think our 7 Rodari needs to be dropped. Lost count how many times his crosses failed to find a team mate, most of the time he could not even get the ball in the air. At times we played the ball nicely but with Guernsey standing off watching it was easy to look like a pretty passing side first half and look decent. Think we have been lucky with a run of easy games but on today's showing I can't get excited by our overall performance and ability
Not too much to add.
Think we were all shocked at how awful Guernsey were for half an hour. We kept the ball with ease, scored one and should have had two or three more. Guernsey then decided they needed to start pressing a bit higher up the pitch and the game started to change. Suddenly we looked heavy legged and were a little fortunate to get the second in Guernsey's best spell of the half, thanks to two bits of quality from the two Sams.
Second half was pretty dire from our perspective and our opponents, who had barely created a chance up to then, were well in control. Fortunately their finishing didn't improve too much and we were rather flattered by the final goal and score line.
Plenty to admire in those first dominant 30 minutes but, I feel, any positives were rather outweighed by our concerning disintegration after the break. Can anyone explain this ? Are we just not fit enough or strong enough ? It was pretty well the same last week and better teams than VCD and Guernsey will make us pay.
Never going to get a perfect 90 minutes like that first half against VCD the previous weekend. The Guernsey game at it's best wasn't on a par with the VCD effort but then few performances like that happen, it was that good. Yesterday it was ok from United in that first half while Guernsey - a shadow of what they were when they first joined this league - were totally negative. As is so often the case, half time destroyed the momentum and United were down several pegs while Guernsey raised their game. That was what concerned me, they raised their game and our lads didn't seem to cope too well with that and it was soooooo unsurprising when they got a goal back.
But it's a young team which is still adjusting, Agutter is giving plenty of opportunities to the boys to show what they can do and is reaping benefits. Most improved of all for me is Ansu Janneh who gets better every game - and there I was baffled - why was he subbed?
Whatever, get a win at Hythe next weekend, and with this team, we can start looking at the (gnash of teeth but they'll have to do) playoffs. It's a young young side but we can now see the direction the club wants to go, we do have plenty of very decent players and while I will always wish we had Medlock knocking them in and Johnno running midfield - that is the way we are going. But let's see if the Jekyll and Hyde performances can be sorted.
Great goal from Sam, well set up by Davide and Kenny worked so hard for that quality finish to wrap it all up.
Got to say that on a rarish pilgrimage on Saturday, I rather enjoyed it. True, we ran out of steam, Guernsey were dreadful, we don't always look to pass the ball forwards and sometimes don't go at people when 1 v 1, but there are some good signs. I was, as is always the case these days, humbled by my welcome, and to spend a bitterly cold afternoon in the company of a shed load of Collins's (is that grammatically correct), was an absolute joy. And to see old friends such as Pooky (who never seems to change), Tupps , Glyn and a few lifelong supporters was great. I know things don't always go smoothly (a bit of an understatement!) - however, the heart and soul of the club still exists and sometimes you have to be mildly detached to realise it.
Yes Mark, it was good to have the attendance increased by the large turn out of the Collins family. Was trying to think of a suitable collective noun-so far the best I've come up with is a collation of Collins's.
