Looks like the sun is shining for once,so get to The Pilot Field to cheer the lads on this afternoon. In the Whitstable squad should be two former United players, Harry Stannard and Ollie Rowe. Don’t forget your Matchday Programme and 50/50 tickets.
Did not think Whitstable were a bad side,appeared to stick 10 players behind the ball and leave for us to break down. Really had to work hard for the 3 points.
Had to laugh at George and the drum lads behind the goal. After recent criticism of their remarks to opposition keepers ,they today bought the Whitstable keeper a bunch of flowers.Wonderful
Well, I can't quite agree with a comment from the club on Facebook that this was a "quality performance". In fact true quality performances have been rather rare in the last couple of months and this certainly wasn't one of them.... but I'm not here to have a moan.
The all important thing is that we won again on a day that the impressive Ashford side of four weeks ago faltered once again to leave us in a strong position at the top of the league.
What I think we desperately need now is some decent Spring weather so the pitches can dry out and be rolled. Hopefully we can then play our slick passing game again and start looking like the team we were in the Autumn. These slow, boggy pitches just don't suit us.
As far as today's match goes, I think we were given the lifeline of a very generous first penalty but, despite that, all in all we just about deserved the points.
I really do want to see Jack back in the starting line up though. Not only does he pose a genuine goal threat, he also has the vision to time and play the killer pass. Not sure who quite has that in our midfield.
All in all a good day results wise with another excellent attendance.
I agree with Mick's comments. My only reservation is that I would go further; I felt we were very fortunate indeed to get three points today and a point would have been a generous outcome. Our old player, Ollie Rowe, marshalled the Whitstable back four effectively and our slow build up punctuated by a crop of unforced errors gave us few chances in open play. I thought Ben Pope for once struggled to control the ball on the ground; and although Sam Adams gave 100% effort, I thought he was well off his best.
Very fortunate indeed to get the first penalty and the keeper got a good hand on Ben's strike but couldn't keep it out. No such doubts about the second penalty. Hard to imagine what the Whitstable players were protesting about unless it was that the ref played a momentary advantage.
The important thing, of course, is that way off our best we got three points on a day when Ashford got none.
Pleased to get a win in a game where we didn't impress. Feel we could have beaten Whitstable without relying on the referee by playing a simpler and faster passing game to take full advantage of our quality players. Not sure why we decided to play all the first half at a pace which suited Whitstable.
Speaking to the players after the game they said the pitch was very heavy and wasn’t suited to our normal style of play. Whitstable defended well and I thought 2-1 reflected the game. I thought both penalties were justified, the first one their defender came from behind with his arms out. Three points and top of the league.
Fair play to Gorge and the lads, great gesture and the keeper joined in their banter.
I guess the view you got of the first penalty incident was critical.
Nobody in the main stand around me thought it was a penalty. However someone I spoke to who was behind the goal thought it was the right decision. Where's VAR when we need it ?
Pleased that the choir were in a more charitable mood yesterday than against Sittingbourne.
Maybe it's time they dropped their rather moronic "You're f****** s*** !" chant for something more acceptable/family friendly. A few more people may choose to join them then.
Pitch was very slow and heavy so it might have been better to get the ball forward quicker. It seems to be a default setting for our full backs to turn back inside to play the ball back and inside. Daniel, Lanre and Jak needed as much of the ball as possible as they had the beating of the full backs.
Still need a good left footed player to help our dead ball kicks.
Had to laugh at George and the drum lads behind the goal. After recent criticism of their remarks to opposition keepers ,they today bought the Whitstable keeper a bunch of flowers.Wonderful
Ha ha! That's brilliant. I'm one of those who's been critical of some over-the-top abuse, but that's fantastic.
I agree with others who felt that the pitch was a significant factor yesterday. Very heavy, rather unpredictable, not at all conducive to swift passing; understandable that it should be like that, given the recent weather, but not helpful. Bearing that in mind, I thought we did all right. There was a point just after they'd taken the lead when we really couldn't get any kind of rhythm going at all, but we got the ball down, got it moving again, got our match-winners into play, and built up enough pressure to force some mistakes.
Did enough in the final 30 odd minutes to get the win. Everyone wobbles at times, we are no exceptions. Ashford have now lost 9 games, teams that lose that many in a whole season let alone by early March rarely win titles. They will be looking over their shoulders at Whitehawk and Cray Valley. They are where we were in terms of development last season, we are a little further advanced and its interesting to note that the same side for three consecutive games has produced 9 points.
Having said that, why isnt Jack Dixon starting and Ryan Worral was doing ok I thought. But who's complaining? It's in our hands. Well done on Saturday boys.
