Tuesday 28th match thread

[Si Robin]

Alfie May's been a fantastic signing for us - 3 in 4 games and should have scored at Crewe as well.

Think he and Varney could be devastating between now and May.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Bowman was yes, how he didn't get booked I don't know.

You fell apart like wet kitchen roll mate. Could have been 5/6. Deal with it.

I heard that Bowman had a goal wrongly chalked off.
One poor half in quite a while. I'll deal with being second at the moment thanks.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Would have taken a point before the game but we really should have won that in the end. One way traffic after the red card but couldn't quite nick the second goal. Bradford were obviously hindered by the red but they did not have the look of a playoff team, can see why their fans are losing patience.

 

[Moomin]

Sounds dreadful from us. We do throw an absolute wank performance every now and again, and the second half tonight was one of those. Fair play to Vale sounds like a thoroughly deserved 3 points.

First loss in 12 so we need to get back on track very soon. Nice easy trip to Swindon coming up. Ideal.

 

[ShrimpsMeltdown]

What a win!

 

[The Terminator]

Frustrating to lose that, we had chances but failed to capitalise and take them and despite dominating possession for long periods second half, we didn’t offer enough.

First goal hugely frustrating for us, it can happen - having said that Crewe should really have scored afterwards, game could’ve been 5-3 at half time alone.

One of those narrow grinding out wins for Crewe where you don’t play well and win, we’ve got to be better at taking chances right now, because we’ve always been shit at the back.

 

[AdamStag]

2-1 up! Young lad Jephcott with a guided header into the back of the net. Fifth goal in as many games. Get in. Got to hold on now, results gone our way tonight.

Thanks for costing me £92 ffs

Ollie Palmer should have been shot at birth

 

[LS Bantam]

Never seen us give the ball away so easily in all my years watching us, after the red we made literally no attempt to venture up field.

 

[shoddycollins]

I’m the most pessimistic but even I knew that was never going to happen. Barring stoppage time it was totally comfortable. I’ve literally no idea where that performance came from, best tenner I’ve spent in a while.

Probably from debutants and recent signings, feels like a much different team to the one who started the season with the additions of Anderton and Alessandra; and I hear Kayode and Hunt both impressed too. These additions have added to improvements that were being made with Hayden being rescued from obscurity by Beech, Webster looking more like the player we thought we were getting and Thomas has been a lot more consistent under Beech.

Wish I'd not been otherwise occupied as would have watched it on iplayer.

 

[hellogregory]

Probably from debutants and recent signings, feels like a much different team to the one who started the season with the additions of Anderton and Alessandra; and I hear Kayode and Hunt both impressed too. These additions have added to improvements that were being made with Hayden being rescued from obscurity by Beech, Webster looking more like the player we thought we were getting and Thomas has been a lot more consistent under Beech.

Wish I'd not been otherwise occupied as would have watched it on iplayer.

Hard to judge hunt as the game was won when he came on.

That performance was a thousand times better than Saturday, something just clicked tonight. So as I say I’ve literally no idea where it came from compared to 3 days ago.

Have to say Kayode was excellent, he’s everything Loft isn’t. He’s good in the air, quick, strong, good touch, a bit raw but playing alongside someone with an actual football brain (Alessandra) certainly helped him tonight.

 

[EricSabin]

Red card made it a comfortable win but we were well on track by that point after big Vadaine finally grabbed himself a goal.

Scunthorpe huffed and puffed by their threat died off second half. New lads looked decent. Good night considering the other results.

Oh and Charlie Goode is my favourite human being

 

[GTFCfish]

Oh and Charlie Goode is my favourite human being

He’s my second favourite, the first is your ref tonight who fell for it.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Not sure if it's worrying that we're playing so utterly shite at the moment or satisfying that we're consolidating top 3 and closing gaps regardless of performance and injuries. A win's a win and results went our way, mustn't grumble too much.

 

[EricSabin]

He’s my second favourite, the first is your ref tonight who fell for it.

The icing on the cake is it was Van Veen who walked. Pretty heavily disliked around here and the red card was greeted like we’d scored a goal. My loudest cheers of the night were certainly for that Dutch twat trudging off

 

[Casey]

Thanks for costing me £92 ffs

Ollie Palmer should have been shot at birth

I don't know. I quite like him at the moment.

Really pleased with the result. Especially as we kept going. We are beginning to be a team. Not the greatest team but a team.

Casey

 

[Simpo]

Least mansfield were consistent

Shit in the first half
Shit in the second half (until 60 mins when I left)

I could see you.
I could see you.
I could see you sneaking out.
I could see you sneaking out.

 

[Chris FGR]

The one real positive tonight was we actually scored a pen. Unbelievable scenes.

 

[dedwardp]

Scratching my head about we didn’t win that. Their keeper MoM sums it up. 1-0 up and had 3 absolute first rate chances and he saves every one.

They bring on the lumps, couple of set pieces and we’re done. Thought Colchester were poor throughout but got lucky.
Shit happens.

Yeah, that's fair. We got away with it a bit tonight.

I thought we started off reasonably well for the first 20-25 minutes or so, but then started to drop off and let Swindon start penning us in for the rest of the first half. Gerken made a few excellent saves and just before the equaliser I couldn't see a way back really, we weren't creating anything of note and it looked more likely to go 0-2 than 1-1.

For once though we made subs earlier than the 85th minute and it paid off. Three attacking subs, finally left more than one up front and it changed the game.

 

[AdamStag]

I could see you.
I could see you.
I could see you sneaking out.
I could see you sneaking out.

Probably could, any reason to spend as little time in Oldham as possible is a bonus

 

[AR27]

A lot of effort from us tonight which you couldn't say after saturday.

Having said that, we never looked like scoring aside from that ridiculous penalty we were given.

If cheltenham could cross or finish they would've won easily tonight. We just put ten men behind the ball, lumped it forward and invited them on and got away with it in the end. 38% pass accuracy says it all.

Keeps bowyer in a job for a few more days too.

 

[valefan16]

Back and defrosting from that.

If ever a game summed up our season it was that, the very bad (1st half) and the very good (2nd half).

In fairness credit has to go to our assistant Dave Kevan who spotted a huge weakness in Exeter’s back line that if we keep the winger on the opposite side of the pitch to the play higher and switch it you’d get in and boy we did time after time. That little tweak and our players finally getting fired up which seemed to stoke up from Bowman elbowing Brisley and getting away with it seemed to change the game.

First half we were lethargic, didn’t seem up for it, losing all the second balls and being bullied a bit, Exeter basically play a long ball game where they hit the channels and do it very well but we often got dragged into their way of playing and didn’t get it down and impose our game at all, that said as bad as we were we did have two great chances with Conlon heading over from six yards when he should score and Amoo on half time blazing over a chance far easier than the one he buried last week so their defensive frailties were there which was surprising given their record lately.

Second half with that little tweak changed it, we nearly conceded but that cross field pass set Amoo free and straightforward penalty, Bennett buried it which is where he then went from being really shit to pretty decent and the Bennett we’d had in August/September seems a confidence player!

That seem to pick us up and we battered Exeter from there on, that switch across the pitch setting Amoo or Worrall free was killing them every time, Burgess blazed over from six yards when it was easier to score, Bennett had a free header that Pope would of dreamed about which he had a 50p head on! Legge then scrambles us in front then straight from the kick off we won possession and Worrall nearly scored their keeper saving. Soon after though Bennett did make it three and by the time the woeful Dickenson was hauled off the game was gone. He was in that awful MK display against us in the FA Cup in November and he was absolutely woeful tonight. He’s probably still spinning around after being ragged by our wingers!

And so the only top side to beat us until Swindon last week turns up on a decent run and is well dispatched... if only we could be as deadly against the mid-lower sides! It’s mega frustrating but I’d put this up there as the best win of the season purely down to the way we came back, the devastating second half and the fact we had so many key players missing tonight. Thought Conlon and Brisley did well.

Vale Park is a real fortress this season which is a remarkable turnaround considering we had a record amount of home defeats at VP only last season!

Exeter were as I said at half time a bit Stevenage 2010 vintage and probably will go up. They were physical and solid in midfield but if teams pick up the weakness on the switch that we exposed tonight it could be interesting, Swindon play a very similar system to us with the high wingers so will be interesting to see what happens Saturday.

That kit though is pretty grim! Something you’d see in the 90s!

 

[dannyc5]

As for Crewe. Tom Lowery should never be on the bench again. Even if he is on his death bed.

 

[Simpo]

Probably could, any reason to spend as little time in Oldham as possible is a bonus

Fair, only third home game I've travelled to, from leafy boomtown Bolton.

 

[Pennywise]

Devon Lad, you okay hun? x

 

[Crewelad87]

We started well, after being gifted a goal in the first minute by the Orient keeper who looked very shaky throughout. Kirk could have had 4 in the 1st 20 mins. But after that we seemed to drop deeper and deeper, stopped playing our usual football and let Orient get on top. To be fair they passed the ball better than I've seen any other opposition Vs us. They were just about toothless upfront, and although will made a few saves, none of them really truly stretched him. 2nd half we just seemed to get worst and worst until Lowery came on and atleast put a bit of pressure on the Orient players and he was more positive on the ball. A great goal from Powell to wrap it up, those type of goals are his trademark, pace, strength and direct running.

Great to get a clean sheet though, especially with our 11th different central defence partnership of the season, one of which was an academy graduate making his debut. Plenty to improve of on, Orient will probably feel hard done by to lose. But it's a good sign to win when not at our best.

 

[AdamStag]

Fair, only third home game I've travelled to, from leafy boomtown Bolton.

Ha just meant how cold it was really, even by oldhams standards.

Our record there is terrible.

 

[Carver]

Hard to judge hunt as the game was won when he came on.

That performance was a thousand times better than Saturday, something just clicked tonight. So as I say I’ve literally no idea where it came from compared to 3 days ago.

Have to say Kayode was excellent, he’s everything Loft isn’t. He’s good in the air, quick, strong, good touch, a bit raw but playing alongside someone with an actual football brain (Alessandra) certainly helped him tonight.

What has helped the defence recently is they are not being told to fanny around passing it out as Pressley had them doing, especially with Webster. Plus now we have two compotent full backs playing and Bridge looks far more useful out wide.

 

[Carver]

The one real positive tonight was we actually scored a pen. Unbelievable scenes.

Which you JUST managed to creep under our keeper. Lol

 

[BlackHaddock]

Stevenage brought 21 fans.

 

[Roger Stone]

Very hit and miss at the moment. Hopefully Innis and Labadie will be back in tomorrow, missed em v Orient. Sleet forecast tomorrow so should d be a cracker. Reminded of our game back in 2013 when the ref blew up early. First silverware of the season on offer too with the Paddy Power SOS Trophy up for grabs.

Improved performance particularly first half. Macc keeper played a belter with a string of fine saves. Green on loan from Barnsley looks sharp for us and Labadie had a fine game. Tough February coming up starting with a trip to Plymouth this weekend.