Without doubt this is a very big match if we wish to remain serious contenders for the league.
A win will leave us seven points behind Cray with two games in hand.....which all sounds very doable. However a defeat would open up a 13 point gap which will take some overhauling and the need for a pretty impressive sequence of results just to make up the difference. Even in November this feels like a genuine 'six point' match.
However the major concern is our recent slump in form that has seen us suffer three defeats to opponents at our level, against all of whom we would have expected to get a result of some sort.
Clearly we are missing Gary, not only for his presence in the back four but for the disruption his absence has caused by having to shuffle the pack to cover for him.
Let's hope he is back for Saturday and we can put out a strong side and get our challenge back on track. Hopefully too there will be another thousand plus gate who will witness a much improved performance both in terms of entertainment and the outcome.
The enthusiasm and excitement at the club is certainly higher than it has been at any time since our 2012 FA Cup run, and look how quickly the crowds disappeared after that exit. The absolute last thing we all want is for the league challenge to peter out now.
This game and the remaining games in November are very important.
Spot on Mick, after Saturdays performance we need a great improvement. What is interesting is that the League table after 10 to 12 games is very close to the final table…..we shall see.
Mostly hoping for us to play positively and in a manner which justifies our position as promotion favorites. Remembering the way we played under Darren Hare and in our previous promotion season makes me realize how different our style of play is now. Don't think it is an improvement.
We deserved a point from a feisty entertaining encounter. We didn't get that thanks to inexplicable inaction by the officials to stop play for a clear foul in the immediate build up to Cray Valley's last gasp winning goal. To add insult to injury the referee then gave Sam Adams a straight red presumably for 'dissent'.
There were positives in our performance, we came back well to equalise after Cray Valley's second half opening goal. Hard to think about those positives just now, however.
First of all well done to Mr.Wright who won £150.50 on the 50/50 . As for the game thought we deserved a point, did not see foul or why Sammy sent off. Still a long way to go and no doubt Gary will sit down with Management team to try and ensure that we at least make play offs.
That was a hard one to take. Felt we deserved a point in a pretty even match.
We certainly had the better of the first 20 minutes without coming too close but Cray seemed to seize control the longer the half went on. Not too much of a surprise when they opened the scoring but we responded well and deserved the equaliser and probably looked the more likely to grab a winner......until they did!
And 'Yes', it looked like a clear foul that robbed us of the point we deserved.
Good to see Jack playing further forward supporting our front three and getting the goal. Was that really his first of the season ?
All in all a disappointing outcome but I felt many more positives today than from the rather dull defeats against Ashford and Felixstowe. Think the playoffs may be the best we can hope for now.
Liked the way the ref was handling the game up until that last decision to play on when Ollie looked to be impeded. Needed the linesman to help him out. Also enjoyed the way we started the game aggressively causing Cray a few problems. Thought they got control of the match after our first flurry and kept control until they scored. We hauled ourselves back in the game and got a deserved equalizer. That last minute winner was a big set back. For once I agreed with the man of the match award to Kane, must be his best game for Hastings. Why is Ben trying to get himself red carded every match- does he need a few weeks off? Disappointing for everyone today and worrying that Marcus has to keep on going off.
Liked the way the ref was handling the game up until that last decision to play on when Ollie looked to be impeded. Needed the linesman to help him out. Also enjoyed the way we started the game aggressively causing Cray a few problems. Thought they got control of the match after our first flurry and kept control until they scored. We hauled ourselves back in the game and got a deserved equalizer. That last minute winner was a big set back. For once I agreed with the man of the match award to Kane, must be his best game for Hastings. Why is Ben trying to get himself red carded every match- does he need a few weeks off? Disappointing for everyone today and worrying that Marcus has to keep on going off.
with you on most of that tim, considering we were without craig stone today i felt our defensive play was quite good considering...i would be really worried if imo this seasons standoutt marcus goldsmith wasnt on the pitch and im sure hes playing at borderline match fitness...we just aint used to this amount of injuries over the last 4 years and our squad needs adding to which im sure will happen over the next few weeks 🙏
As for beb i felt he got hard done by on a few calls and he is always going to be aggressive...we arent getting the rub of the green and hes isolated up front you can see how frustrated he is that we arent doing better
Mixed opinions on the Facebook Fans group regarding the referee and their winning goal.
My personal opinion is that Ollie was fouled and that was the one decision that turned the match. We can therefore consider ourselves a bit unlucky.
Was the ref generally as awful as some are saying ? No, I think that is very unfair. There was barely a foul in the first half but a few incidents, mainly involving Ben, seemed to spice things up after the break which I felt the ref handled pretty well.
I reckon we have had a few breaks at home this season with the odd important decision going our way so I don't think we can moan too much. Just a shame this happened in such an important match.
We have now played all of the top 5 bar Haywards Heath. Lost to Cray, Ashford and Ramsgate and drew unimpressively with Herne Bay. Think this shows Gary has a big job to turn our season round.
Thought it was a fairly even game yesterday and we both sides had dominant spells in the game. I wasn't sure about the Cray Valley goal at the time but having seen the footage I can't really see it was a foul. Just looks like Ollie wasn't as strong as the Cray player to hold off the challenge. Definitely not a clear cut missed foul by the ref or linesman and overall I thought the officials had a good game, much better than some I've seen at a higher level of football when they can't get things right even with VAR.
Disappointing to lose and I think Gary has a lot to sort out to make us unbeatable. It really looks like Agutter got out because he knew the squad he put together wasn't going to be able to challenge so hopefully the club will support a rebuilding exercise and maybe we will sneak into the playoffs. Hope so.
Wasn't there on Saturday so I can only go by what I saw from the highlights. First half looked like we were in control and liked how we moved the ball up the pitch and didn't revert to going back so often. I watched over the incident at the end about three times and was surprised by how the officials did not notice it but as we all know that's just how football is sometimes and they'll be those kinds of days. Defiantly think we would have got a well deserved point from that. Without anymore moaning let's focus onto his Saturday and put last Saturday behind us.
I think we have established whether it was or wasn't a foul is pretty much a matter of opinion....and you are right that the time has come to stop moaning about a marginal incident, Tom.
I reckon we got a very generous penalty awarded at Hythe which swung the game our way and I can recall a couple of other penalty incidents at home that have gone our way too.
These things tend to even themselves out.....and blaming the ref for every defeat is just a bit sad.
Sorry to disagree Chris but Three Bridges much more important. Gary has to make sure that he puts out his strongest team then,would expect a few youngsters at Burgess Hill
lots of positive from last night, jack bates looks a good player 👌 knory also looked fantastic in his half he got 💪 as one of the burgess hill fans said we looked like man city first half...ill take that 😁
