Good team performance and valuable 3 points. Sittingbourne not the strongest of opponents and handed us a couple of goals. Ben Pope and Sam Adams were excellent. Good to see James Pool looking to play the ball forward whenever possible and our defence very solid. Need to get more from our wide players to see us back to best form.
Yeah, a solid if not wholly spectacular victory today in which we were slightly flattered by a four goal margin thanks mainly to a pretty inept performance from our opponent's goalkeeper in the first half. I think that may have been his first game for Sittingbourne...it may be his last.
Good to see Sam get his hat-trick but it was Ben who continues to impress me with his hold up play and ability to play others in with a killer pass.
Thought Adam was good today too in midfield and the defence gave very little away and Louis dealt superbly with the chances our opponents did get.
Really need to get Lanre back on his game as he seemed lacking a bit of confidence today. I saw him get a brilliant solo goal at Sittingbourne last Easter and I felt he needed a moment like that today to restart his season.
I agree with Tim that today's was a good performance; but we were indeed pretty much handed the game by the absolute nightmare the Sittingbourne keeper had in the first half. The first two goals were down to him; indeed, of the first half a dozen balls he had to deal with I think he spilled five. I felt genuinely sorry for him. It was a nice touch that our staff spoke sympathetically to him as he went off at half time. But there was no disguising the fact that by then the game was over as a competition.
Given that it is hard to judge just how much substance there was in our bounce back after the hugely disappointing defeat to Ashford. There were some very clear positives. Sam Adams had a great game and no one could possibly have disputed his MoM award. He was playing noticeably further forward with Jack Dixon staying on the bench. It worked. He combined with Ben Pope - who just keeps going putting in these huge efforts game after game - and Sam deserved his goals. Adam Lovatt looked very solid, Craig Stone and Jake had excellent games and so did Ollie Black. He is now much more than the long throw man and thoroughly deserves his place.
Where I particularly agree with Tim is that we still need more from Daniel and Lanre. I thought Daniel did OK today while not at his best, but Lanre just does not seem to have the touch of earlier in the season despite having a reasonable amount of the ball.
We have winnable games ahead of us, it's all in our hands, let's hope for the best!
I have been thinking about the game last Saturday and finally decided to express my feelings about the atmosphere at the ground...apart from the four letter chanting, ugly but inevitable, there was the baiting of the opposition keeper after his errors led to a couple of goals. Despite being pleased that we went into an early lead I really felt for the bloke as he had a bunch of baying HUFC fans rubbing salt into an open wound. If they were face to face with him I doubt that they would have the ‘testicular fortitude’ to have a go at him. They are protected by the group mentality and the barrier around the ground. Eric Cantona remains one of my favourite players, not only for his football ability.
On another matter. The Manager, in his programme notes, urged the fans to support the team and the way that they structure their game: play football from the back and through the lines. When supporters in the main stand had a go as our defenders endeavoured to play out with the ball, Chris turned around and shouted “support the team!” I said this on the Forum a long time ago....Chris will only stay at this club if the fans appreciate his PROVEN methods.
I hope the club, if it wants to progress, makes every effort to sort out the filthy toilets and promote a family atmosphere at the club.
