Phoenix Sports Club are currently the number 9 in the table with 61 points out of 40 games.
They scored 71 and conceded 61 goals.
Remember our away game: https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/match/isthmian-football-league-south-division/phoenix-sports/hastings-united/12582 With Medlock still with us.
And we? 6 games to go so hopefully we will be the number 9 in the table after this game.
This will be your first opportunity to vote for the player of the season. Voting slips will be available next to the Programme/50-50 table. If you cannot make it you will be able to vote at the Shoreham game.
The Pilot Field pitch has passed a morning inspection and therefore game against Phoenix Sports goes ahead. If weather did deteriorate the match referee will make any decision required.
-- Edited by Dave R on Saturday 31st of March 2018 08:53:22 AM
I thought we played okay and some nice build up play and good ball retention but completely toothless upfront. For all his improvement this season Rodari is not good enough to play the lone striker role and for me is not as good as Callum Davies in that position. I assume his parents were the match sponsors today because i Have no idea how anyone else could give him MOM today. For me, I thought Dixon had a really decent game today along with Christie at the back but no one player really shone today. Thought 1-1 was about right but could have been so much better had Dayshonne not been so wasteful. Just think he tried to hard against his former employees. And as for the penalty, possibly one of the softest I have ever seen.
Just a horrible time of the season now with nothing but pride to play for and for me, I just can’t wait for it to be all over now and start looking towards next season but my god do we need a top striker for next season.
We had a top striker in Medlock but was sold the devolpment idea and sold our striker
We have nothing up front and nothing to bring on ... we were 2 players away from winning the league 2 months ago ... now all I was thinking today was the 2 hours before my dinner
Yes I am grumpy , love my club but this is all a bit of a mess this season
Apart from the little dog with the Hastings Scarf my only highlight was Sonny Dullaway who for me has an edge
I thought we played ok, and a draw was a fair result. However, we do need a good quality striker for next season - currently in front of goal we couldn't hit a barn from 2 paces!!! I'm sure Chris will sort this for next season.
Seem to sort out one problem,then create another.Look solid enough through defence and midfield and get into good situations around the opposition area and then we lose our way.
I think it’s harsh to blame Rodari as I think Medlock or Collin would struggle to score with the rather inept final ball which we constantly play. Thought a draw was about right, and like you John I just want the season to be over.
A very forgettable game today. Yes, I suppose we were just about worth a point; but I thought, as others, that the penalty was very soft indeed.
I'm glad that Chris will be staying next season and I'm glad that the players who have committed thus far will also be with us. Despite the joke of naming him today's MoM, I include Rodari in that. But I agree with Madster that we need a quality strker. Rodari cannot do the job on his own. He has good ball skills and he showed today that can learn - he was not getting caught offside to the extent he has been in the past - but John is right, he does not make the runs which Callum Davies was doing game in game out. I would like to see Rodari playing up front alongside an old style forward player like Ade was 10 years ago. Then his close control could pay off.
What a good game Christie had today! (yes, I know there was one reckless tackle for a deserved yellow) but he saved a certain goal after Charlie's error and made umpteen brilliant challenges and at the end of the game he was hunting up front for a winner. We really must make sure he is with us next year.
Agree with Geoff about Christie. Sam Beale was as good as ever and he would be a top signing for next season. Adam Lovatt was excellent again. Tom Climpson very promising but Ollie Rowe looks a better centre half at the moment. Don't get Chris's point that when we have possession we are tiring the opposition out. Phoenix players were doing remarkably little as we passed the ball back or sideways but they did have to shift a bit when we did get forward quickly. Thought it a bit ironic that after we had lots of possession, Phoenix nearly scored when a long punt from their keeper nearly resulted in a goal. We played well enough to get a draw but, worryingly, without the ref's assistance don't think we would have got a goal.
Agree that it was a bit of a joke giving mom to Rodari, not sure if sponsors are football people but maybe they were his family. Thought Dixon was just about our best player. It was never a penalty in my opinion but did find Phoenix diving and rolling around to be very irritating so think they deserved to concede a soft penalty. Poor game, not much quality, Horlock had a poor game looking quite uncertain and we never really looked like scoring whereas Phoenix had more threat. Season is over and it felt like a meaningless game but still need to entertain to get my £10 but I think this team is a long way off being a play off side from what I have seen. Definitely missed Cruttwell today and as others have said a striker is badly needed and what a mistake it was getting rid of Medlock and maybe even Pogue who is scoring lot of goals.
One of those games which never gets to the boil, remaining at a light simmer throughout. Perfectly watchable but immediately forgettable.
As others have said, a real lack of potency up front. I'd persist with Rodari in that position for the rest of the season...and it's not as if there's much competition. But if you can fill in the gaps - teach him the right runs and how to time them, work on his anticipation, get him to understand the striker's art a little better - then you'd have a hell of a player. If he could really make a position his own, you could build something around him as we built around Callum Davies and his runs-in-behind for much of the campaign. Nothing to lose by giving that a go at this point.
It's all linked together, really, and I don't see it as necessarily being a long way off. Once you start addressing the small things, the big picture might start to change quite quickly. There's a chronic lack of a final ball from the flanks, for example, but there often isn't a lot in the box for those wide players to hit, partly because there's no height, partly because Rodari is a bit passive and partly because you haven't got midfielders bursting in from deeper. I thought Chris Agutter's criticism of Jack Dixon's misses against Hythe was a little misguided: you need him getting in those positions, you don't want him to be hesitant about getting there and missing. I'd praise him for being there instead.
Disappointing to have to rely on a soft penalty when, really, Phoenix didn't manage an effort on goal in the entire second half, unless you count a shot from about forty yards that went a similar distance over the bar. Work on the attacking details with a settled group of players and some well-judged additions and you can win that by three or four next season. I might have got rid of my cold by then too...
