After the 4-0 win against Greenwich it is another game at TPF now against
Three Bridges are currently the number 17th in the table with 7 points out of 10 games.
They scored 14 and conceded 26 goals. Top scorer is French with 4 goals.
Last time at home against them in a League game was January 2017; we won 3-2.
And we? Surely the 4-0 win is another big boost for the young team. And with Daniel Ajakaije we have a great Top Scorer in our team who can make the difference in each game.
Is Jamie Crellin still with Three Bridges? Not perhaps the most skillfull of players ever to grace the turf of Pilot Field, but someone who I, and I'm sure others, appreciated during his time with us for his effort, enthusiasm and combative tackling. Certainly a player to remember from our cup run season!
Scrappy performance today! But to be honest, just glad to get the 3 points. You can't be great all the time, and these games happen on occasion.The positives I took from today was, we wasn't at our best and still grinded out a result!!
Phew! We managed to see out a lengthy period of added time to secure a 2-1 win in what I thought was one of our worst performances of the season. Three Bridges were poor, guilty of numerous infringements and with several players who seemed more interested in conducting petulant spats than even committing an honest foul. Oh for Jamie Crellin (not playing)! Even so, were it not for some woeful finishing from Three Bridges (their number 9 in particular) and some great stops from Josh, we could very easily have lost by a couple of goals. That doesn't detract from the quality of the two goals we did score. Both from Bamba were of very high quality indeed. But it seemed that many of our other players were having a 'poor first touch day'. Combine that with Mensah playing supposedly at right back when for much of the game he was somewhere else (actually playing quite well - just not as a right back) and a referee who seemed more interested in conducting some Brexit level negotiations with opposition players every time they infringed than making a booking, we really did just scrape this one. On a positive note, I thought Chris made the right substitutions at the right time. We got through it. Well done. These sort of games are the absolute 'must wins'. Today we did.
-- Edited by GeoffM on Saturday 3rd of November 2018 06:21:38 PM
Good summary Geoff although I thought Three Bridges were ok, big strong and ugly but created enough chances that they will feel they should have got a point. We wernt great today, Bamba our best player by a mile but important to get the 3 points when not playing that well and keep on Cray's tail. Well done
Sam Adams has a calf injury that explains his substitution and performance. Danny worked his socks off again but never got the support he needed. I thought that Three Bridges’ game plan was to bully us out of it and they almost succeded with the help of the ref. Both Bamba’s goals were great and the second was worthy of winning any game. Adam was everwhere as usual and I was pleased we ground out a win against a tough side.
Good win against a very physical Three Bridges side. Sure Chris will be happy although perhaps not so happy as the 50/50 winner of £180.00. He was very happy as, believe it or not he won a similar amount against Whyteleafe in our last Saturday home game. What are the odds of that?
Firstly the most important part of the day. What a fantastic and emotional good bye to Mark Cruttwell. He will be sorely missed.
Ill go one further than Geoff and say that was our worst performance of the season, along with Hitchin. Don’t think I have seen us give the ball away so many times and defensively i’m afraid we look a bit of a mess still. One goal conceded in three says otherwise, but that is down to luck, poor finishing and the magnificent Charlie Horlock. Manny continues to struggle at right back and looks too light weight, had a really poor first half yesterday, Sam Beale is no where near the levels of last season, and Tom and Jahmal continue to struggle together. If he is not carrying an injury then it is clear Christie is no longer in favour at the club which is a real shame as most supporters believe he is our best defender.
Despite our defensive frailties , a fantastic 3 points when not playing well and I am sure Three Bridges will be deeply aggrieved not to have picked up at least a point. They completely lost their composure in the second half and had they cut out the constant moaning, winding up and play acting they may have got more from the game. In fact I see this has continued on social media wth their manager being critical of our management team over the sending off, which by the way was the correct decisio. I do believe this is the sort of game we would have dropped points in last season and this set of players certainly have bucket loads of character. As others have pointed out, a big, physical Three Bridges side bullied Hastings throughout and I think we struggled with their physicality but with players like Bamba in the team we can be at 50% and still win games. Both his goals were magnificent and he looks a top signing. Azeez was okay again today, works hard and full of pace but his final ball has been poor but early days and he will only get better. Still Golding for me from what I’ve seen but as I said, very early days.
So three pretty average performances against three of the bottom five, but three victories which tells you a lot about the squad assembled. We absolutely have to tighten up at the back before that huge game on Sunday but going forward we have so many players who can make something out of nothing and Chris and his team continue to do a magnificent job with this group of players.
Tom and Jahmal continue to struggle together. If he is not carrying an injury then it is clear Christie is no longer in favour at the club which is a real shame as most supporters believe he is our best defender.
I do wonder about three at the back. Both of our full-backs, especially Manny, like to get forward and that leaves an awful lot of space for the two central defenders to cover; I can't help feeling that a back three would let the wide players get forward - or, indeed, let Tom Climpson go on a stroll into midfield - without leaving us quite so vulnerable on the break.
Of course, I can say that without having to worry about where the extra player is coming from, which is the joy of posting on a forum rather than being an actual proper real life manager. And I was banging on about not making fundamental changes only a week or so ago. But other than that, it's a flawless plan.
