Great performance. All teams around us in league dropped points. Shame to see Adam go off injured. When the club restructured a few weeks ago I was scepitical. I admit i was wrong. The club and team have continued to impress, magnificent football and a big well done to all the players management and board. Well done Billie, Keep up the good work. One last thing the atmosphere was the best of the season . Behind the goal supporters singing their hearts out for the whole game. A big thank you to you all especially the drummer ( can any please tell me his name so I can message him). My nephew went to his first ever game and to say he enjoyed was an understatement. He was singing and drumming with the rest of the supporters. Thanks for making him so welcome.
Another enjoyable afternoon at the Pilot Field. Thought the final score flattered Phoenix Sports-some of our attacking play was very good. Only downside is our injuries-Adam, Gary and it seems Ben is struggling a bit. All the team were excellent today-not forgetting Louis for that wonderful save from their freekick. Was Jake really just a county league player last season? Great stuff Hastings.
First of all it was nice to have a game not played in a downpour. Thought we thoroughly deserved to win today and as Tim indicated it could have been more. Although there was a case for Jack to be Man of the Match ,am so glad Jake won it.Excellent game and his Mum and Dad had driven all the way from Bath to see him play.
Another performance on Tuesday like this please.
The only surprise today was that we didn't get six or seven and someone is going to get a hell of a beating some time soon when we actually start getting a few breaks. Jake was excellent today but my MOTM had to be Jack who was outstanding and unlucky not to get a hat-trick. That said there were good performances all over the pitch.
Great entertainment for a very decent crowd. As Tim has said, Phoenix will be grateful to only concede three today...they didn't look like a team on a hot streak against an impressive United.
An excellent win. Like Phil, I thought there was a good case for Jack to be MoM but I too was very pleased for Jake to have won it. We looked very very good going forward and the 3-1 score indeed flattered Phoenix; we should have had at least a couple more. Excellent performance too by Lanre who (like Daniel) had to cope with some pretty rough handling from the Phoenix defenders.
On the downside; another injury - to Adam - which I hope is not as serious as it looks. But should we be deprived of his services along with those of Gary for an extended period then we are facing a significant difficulty with a very thin squad. Also, by his standards, Ben had a disappointing game. He looks to be carrying an injury and tired. Perhaps best if he was rested until the next league game (Guernsey at the end of the month)?
I know it is part of Chris' game plan, and I know and I respect that we have achieved much better defensive success playing this way than I thought we would, but I still have acute anxiety about our playing the ball back to Louis - almost it seems as a first option. The injury to Adam came about - it looked to me - through his attempt to deal with a poor backpass and there were other near disasters. As pitches get heavier, as we have to vary our team through injury then the risk of error surely increases.
We are in an excellent position right now. Chris deserves huge credit for what he has already achieved. To sustain this I think he will need to strengthen the squad through loan or transfer to get us the automatic promotion which for the first time in many seasons I think is a realistic possibility. Let's hope the money is available - certainly our record attendance yesterday (with very few from Phoenix) should encourage those who hold the purse strings that making additional funds available to Chris at this point would be money well spent.
To pick up your point, Geoff, our persistent passing between the goalkeeper and the rest of the back four is, I am sure, a point of discussion and at times great concern between groups of supporters as the game develops. Certainly the phrase "we're going to gift them a goal" was on the lips of our group quite a few times yesterday.
However, what we have to appreciate is that it was EXACTLY this approach that forced Phoenix onto us once we took the lead, which in turn opened up big spaces for our midfield to find time and space for the killer pass and forced their defence to push further forward than they were comfortable with against our pacy wing men. This in turn so nearly resulted in us going on and getting a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth !
I guess it's all about risk and reward. We WILL come unstuck and we will lose the odd goal playing like this. However yesterday we played it to perfection and it resulted in a hugely entertaining second half and, on another day, more goals must surely follow.
However, what we have to appreciate is that it was EXACTLY this approach that forced Phoenix onto us once we took the lead, which in turn opened up big spaces for our midfield to find time and space for the killer pass and forced their defence to push further forward than they were comfortable with against our pacy wing men. This in turn so nearly resulted in us going on and getting a fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth !
Yes, absolutely. I also think it's easy to file goals conceded by misplaced passes under "Problems With That System", whereas goals conceded by whacking it forward, losing the ball and then getting caught on the hop are often treated with a bit more generosity. That said, Geoff's point about deteriorating pitches is a good one: it's one thing to knock it about on a bowling green, another when the bounce is unpredictable.
For me, Saturday showed how far we've come since last season. Then, a team planning to sit in and break up play had a fairly limited list of things that they needed to stop us from doing. If you sat deep and made it hard to play around the eighteen yard line, we often started to look a bit predictable, lots of intricate passing without a final ball, not a lot of physical presence.
Here, on the other hand, there was huge variety: our chances came from distance, from set pieces, from midfielders bursting into the box, from forwards on the shoulder of the last defender, from wide players cutting inside, from full backs pushing up, from pretty much everywhere and anywhere. We did all of that without becoming cavalier in our attacking, as we were somewhat prone to do before. (Think Ollie Black deserves a round of applause for stepping up after Gary Elphick's injury.)
Glad Ollie's name has come up, always liked him, he has really come along well this season, he looks a lot more comfortable on the ball, long may it continue, and I'm sure he will.
Glad Ollie's name has come up, always liked him, he has really come along well this season, he looks a lot more comfortable on the ball, long may it continue, and I'm sure he will.
One of the really positive things is that if you look around the squad, it's absolutely full of improving, developing players. It's not just the kids either. That's a tremendous tribute to Chris and his staff, and, of course, to the attitude and ability of the players themselves; it also reflects a settled system which has evolved gradually, so that players have had a chance to settle into roles. It ought to be a great help at the point when we do need to strengthen.
