Just back from the WHAD

[Scotty Mac]

hopefully the excitement and joy over a last minute equaliser away at cheltenham wont take away from the fact that we were dire

lets be quite honest, we didnt win a point. cheltenham threw it away. they should have been 3-0, maybe even 4-0 up. then martin allen made the decision to take off elvis hammond, who had looked a constant threat in our side even when they were sitting back at 2-0, and replaced him with a centre back. it leadus to attack, and we netted twice against a team who, to be quite honest, had we have had created a meaningful chance against in the previous 80 minutes we could have beaten

best player on the pitch - westlake by a country mile. would walk into our midfield and be by far and away the best player in the team. wants the ball, makes things happen, and looked a danger everytime he cut inside and got in and around our box. corking decision to not follow up our interest in him last season

i suppose adams deserves some credit for actually realising that fraser and el abd is a ludicrous midfield combination. one in there on their own is fine, but both of them together offers us no-one with the ability to get forward and attack, thus our lack of chances created. once loft came on, we had somebody who could get forward, carve out an opening and at least present the front men with a scoring chance. begs the question, when will we start with a positive central midfield player, especially at home

the club had come out all week and said they wanted our support, and they got it today. yet once again they repay us with another shit performance, and the fact that everyone went MENTAL at the end to celebrate a last minute equaliser against f***ing cheltenham shows how far we have fallen

 

[eastlondonseagull]

the fact that everyone went MENTAL at the end to celebrate a last minute equaliser against f***ing cheltenham shows how far we have fallen

We have fallen a long way, granted, but we'd go mental at a last-minute equaliser any time.

.

 

[Scotty Mac]

We have fallen a long way, granted, but we'd go mental at a last-minute equaliser any time.

.

i know - its just a shame to think that four years ago a winner away at west ham got that sort of reaction!

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

are you going to be the first with the players ratings thread ?

 

[eastlondonseagull]

i know - its just a shame to think that four years ago a winner away at west ham got that sort of reaction!

Aye, indeed.

Cheers for the report, Scotty. Shame no one else commented yet.

.

 

[algie]

i know - its just a shame to think that four years ago a winner away at west ham got that sort of reaction!

Ratings please.oh how did Birchall do?

 

[Scotty Mac]

are you going to be the first with the players ratings thread ?

if you are lucky - myself and the complete badger are having a HEATED debate about where to go for dinner first, then i may bow to public demand and provide some ratings

 

[Bozza]

Still in the pub in Cheltenham, but you seem to be forgetting the Fraser and Birchall golden chances that probably could have won us the game. We were dire though.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Ratings please.oh how did Birchall do?

first time ive seen him, didnt even realise he was playing in the first half. second half he did ok, but cut in far too much for my liking - hardly suprising though if he is naturally a central player

 

[Guillem Balague]

It's a point gained and the fact we battled back magnificently from 2 down when heads could have easily dropped shows the players are still with Mickey.

Away from home 4 points from the last 2 games is excellent, we just have to get a result at home where we seem so nervous at the moment.

 

[Scotty Mac]

Still in the pub in Cheltenham, but you seem to be forgetting the Fraser and Birchall golden chances that probably could have won us the game. We were dire though.

frasers header was PATHETIC, but then again he is not an attacking midfield player. i thought brown made a pretty good save from the birchall chance, but you are right, he sould have not smacked it straight down his throat

incidentally, that was a result of birchall cutting inside AGAIN. maybe if adams played him in his strongest position through the middle then he would end up with more chances like that, and we would actually have the more attack minded central midfield player that we are CRYING out for

was basing that mainly on two good sullivan saves in the second half, plus that open goal that they missed when the ball was dragged back across the face of the goal - lets face it, if cheltenham had have won 2-0 we could have NO complaints

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

if you are lucky - myself and the complete badger are having a HEATED debate about where to go for dinner first, then i may bow to public demand and provide some ratings

just order a takeaway and then you can eat it in the bedroom , chaps.

 

[Scotty Mac]

just order a takeaway and then you can eat it in the bedroom , chaps.

cant have the bedroom getting TOO messy - not yet anyway

 

[Jim in the West]

Would agree generally that we were not that good. First half in particular. I thought Adams' two half time substitutions (bringing on Livermore and Cox for McLeod and Fleetwood) turned things around for a good 15 mins. Unfortunately we conspired to miss a few gilt-edged chances, and then Cheltenham scored one of those goals which you can't see properly from the far end - corner came over and everyone seemed to miss it, with some large Cheltenham player getting the credit for the last touch.

Positives for me were:

Birchall got better as the game went on - some nice touches;
Vigs had a storming second half as a centre forward, winning loads in the air;
Livermore can pass (unlike most of the team);
Cox made a few things happen (although he struggles to take decent corners);
Elphick and Forster had very good games;
Sullivan made a couple of really good saves.

Hopefully this will give the players a bit of much-needed confidence. OK, it was only Cheltenham, but they could have just given up when the second went in - instead they upped the ante, and had a bloody good last 10 - 15 mins.

Support was bloody good, by the way - not an amazing turnout (500?), but considering the quality of football on display I think we stuck with it pretty well. Hopefully Adams will acknowledge that.

 

[Jim in the West]

PS: McLeod was totally INEPT/INERT. Hopefully he had a decent excuse, as he didn't look interested, and even his corner(s) were crap today.

 

[Scotty Mac]

PS: McLeod was totally INEPT/INERT. Hopefully he had a decent excuse, as he didn't look interested, and even his corner(s) were crap today.

im pretty certain we only had ONE corner - from cox in the second half - that beat the first man. still, that is hardly suprising given the utter utter shit our set pieces have been this season

 

[Dave the OAP]

sir norman was playing hell about our crossing and corners

 

[Jim in the West]

im pretty certain we only had ONE corner - from cox in the second half - that beat the first man. still, that is hardly suprising given the utter utter shit our set pieces have been this season

We had five corners, at least one in the first half which McLeod took. In the second we had at least three (probably four). All were shit apart from the last one which Hinsh got on the end of.

 

[timbha]

today's corners were terrible, even the one when we scored looked like it was going to be cleared at near post until Hinsh somehow got his head to it. There's no excuse for such poor corners because they are something that can be worked on all week at training.

 

[Taybha]

Slug and lettuce?