2017/18 National League North

[Inactive]

Match Highlights: Leamington vs Alfreton

 

[Darlo On Tour]

Also, just to add, Jimmy Ball should've been MOTM tonight, as well as last Saturday. Come on in leaps and bounds this season, after being the designated boo boy.

Sam Walker was probably second place, glad to see what he can do when he gets a more central role rather than being stuck out wide like Jim kept doing before. Even Winter, who was woeful against BPA, looked much better.

I thought Jimmy Ball was pretty decent last season against us, he definitely made an immediate impact when he came on as a sub for you guys blasting home to make the game 3-2.
Also didn't he hit the crossbar in the dying minutes towards the end of the match?

 

[Darlo On Tour]

Whats happened to you guys. Seems to have all gone pear-shaped since you beat us, so much so we are now above you in the table

Well from what I've seen we tend to be playing a game of two halves at the moment. Apart from Chorley they we're simply far too good for us plus they had Nick Haughton. I haven't got a clue why Salford didn't sign him full-time.

The 1st half against North Ferriby totally dominated them, 2nd half totally different team.
The 1st half against Southport we should have been 1 or 2 goals to the good, 2nd half again came out a totally different team.
Add Spennymoor to the mix they had the upper hand in the 1st half, and we came out slightly the better in the 2nd. I could even add York to those games exactly the same, got battered in the 1st, and we we're much better in the 2nd half.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Id certainly add Boston in the mix too?

Yes i was thinking about Boston but am unsure on them yet, they seem to swing for a good bet to should be safe.

I would not be surprised this season if a random side got caught in it, I don't see 4-5 real obvious relegation sides......Maybe NFU because only scoring 3 goals so far suggests they simply won't win enough games, but all the rest should easily get to 35 odd points and will see a right scrap to survive....a midtable side who hits real bad form at wrong time could be in trouble.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Same home games as us, the latter game we play on Saturday. If we drop points against these two (no offence to FCUM and Leamington) we are in serious trouble.

Yeah it should be a good chance for you to push back into form.

For us its a case of at least 3 points...............or we are in real relegation sh*t.

 

[Luke Imp]

We loaned Trinity one of our young 'keepers, who Freck decided to drop quite quickly, and brought in another young lad (from Doncaster, I think) and I'm struggling to believe that our lad is worse than his replacement.

 

[DarkSithLord]

We loaned Trinity one of our young 'keepers, who Freck decided to drop quite quickly, and brought in another young lad (from Doncaster, I think) and I'm struggling to believe that our lad is worse than his replacement.

Frecklington cannot survive much longer at Gainsbrough surely? Seemed at breaking point with his players in his last interview? https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=sHNHW8cQWgU

A heavy defeat this Saturday against us at the Impact may be his death knell?

 

[Luke Imp]

He's way out of his depth, but he signed a three year deal in the summer IIRC so I don't think he'll be sacked or leave. Should have been given the boot at the back end of last season because nothing really improved when he came in.

 

[DarkSithLord]

He's way out of his depth, but he signed a three year deal in the summer IIRC so I don't think he'll be sacked or leave. Should have been given the boot at the back end of last season because nothing really improved when he came in.

3 years!? Goodness me. Sounds as though he has lost the dressing room too.

 

[ForzaCounty]

I thought Jimmy Ball was pretty decent last season against us, he definitely made an immediate impact when he came on as a sub for you guys blasting home to make the game 3-2.
Also didn't he hit the crossbar in the dying minutes towards the end of the match?

He's always been capable of being a standout player, I first saw him for Stalybridge against us and he was superb that night. The problem is he was often quite timid looking, didn't stick his foot in or close down, which made him look like a luxury player. We all know what fans are like, we all forgive a lack of ability but we don't forgive not getting stuck in.

Gannon's given him a new role in defensive midfield, he's adapting better to it every game (and, of course, getting stuck in more). He'll never be a Lewis Montrose, but Ball's looking better every game.

 

[Harrier94]

Daniel Nti has left us now. Didn't do a lot while he was here anyway.

He's set to sign for a new club and considering Alfreton have basically signed every wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there .

 

[DarkSithLord]

Daniel Nti has left us now. Didn't do a lot while he was here anyway.

He's set to sign for a new club and considering Alfreton have basically signed every wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there .

And were not done yet apparently!

Nti, however, has signed for Nuneaton - http://www.nuneatontownfc.com/news/new-signing-boro-add-to-our-attacking-options-1979185.html

 

[Darlo On Tour]

He's always been capable of being a standout player, I first saw him for Stalybridge against us and he was superb that night. The problem is he was often quite timid looking, didn't stick his foot in or close down, which made him look like a luxury player. We all know what fans are like, we all forgive a lack of ability but we don't forgive not getting stuck in.

Gannon's given him a new role in defensive midfield, he's adapting better to it every game (and, of course, getting stuck in more). He'll never be a Lewis Montrose, but Ball's looking better every game.

Good for him, at least he fits in his manager's plans for the season ahead. Nowt worse than the boo boys itching to get on a players back.

 

[Darlo On Tour]

National League North fixtures for Saturday 9 September 2017

AFC Telford United vs Harrogate Town
Alfreton Town vs Gainsborough Trinity
Blyth Spartans vs Boston United
Bradford Park Avenue vs Nuneaton Town
Curzon Ashton vs FC United of Manchester
Darlington vs Leamington
North Ferriby United vs Chorley
Salford City vs Brackley Town
Southport vs Kidderminster Harriesr
Tamworth vs Spennymoor Town
York City vs Stockport County

Interesting games this weekend, obviously if Salford City win this one they will be firmly in the driving seat. As for ourselves I think a draw would be no good, saying that anything will do at the moment?
I would imagine Alfreton, Curzon, Bradford and Chorley will be looking to take maximum points from their fixtures if possible?

And obviously Harrogate Town will be looking to get back to winning ways with AFC Telford's abysmal home form.
Also an interesting game down at York with the visit of Stockport County, should be a close match.
And Kiddy also have a tough trip to Southport this weekend.

 

[Darlo On Tour]

Took in the delights of the Spennymoor - York game last night. Thoroughly entertaining game for a semi-neutral. I left the game devastated that Spenny lost in the end. First half was fairly even, although York showed more promise and controlled the game. Two hand balls from Joe Tait and two well dispatched penalties from Jon Parkin made it 2-0, then a lapse in concentration from Tait lead to Louis Almond slotting home nicely. 3-0 to York at half time. Thought that would be curtains for Spenny, especially as they were now playing up the bank. The pitch is genuinely about 10 ft lower at one end to the other, couldn't believe it.

Anyway, second half was an absolute onslaught from start to finish from Spenny. York didn't get out of their own half. Spenny had about 5 or 6 clear cut chances, and they should've been walking out of the game with a comfortable win. Tait made up for his mistakes by slotting home yet another penalty that was awarded for hand ball. A nicely worked goal for the Spenny sub (not sure on name) to make it 3-2 with about 10 mins to play made it an exciting finish. Spenny could've had another 3 in the 10 mins, but after throwing everyone forward in the last minute the ball fell to a York player in the centre circle and with the keeper out of his box he slotted the ball away to make it 4-2, much to the pleasure of the travelling, very disgruntled York fans. "Well that will paper over the cracks" they said on the way out.



Based on that one game, of the two teams I would expect Spenny to be up challenging at the top end, and York to be well below them. Some very nice football from Spenny, better than most of the turd I have watched Hartlepool serve up so far this season. Number 8 (Ramshaw??) and the right back (Griffiths??) the standout players for me. Very good. Almond the best of the bunch for York when he was involved, although he was fairly quiet.

Two good teams I've seen them both this season, we were fortunate not to feel the presence of big Jon Parkin. But against Spenny they have a brilliant attacking player in David Foley.
Very skillful and tricky and very confident with the ball at his feet, and he scored a brilliant goal against us. He could easily make his presence felt at a slightly higher level.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Massive massive game for us this weekend......If it were not for Salford Vs Brackley i'd have ours game of the weekend, but in fairness for us and FCUM fans it is probably our biggest game of season so far.

Of course there is 4 manc sides, but i'd say this is the one which has more of a 'rivalry' to it. Stockport just see the likes of us, fcum and salford as 'local' sides and not genuinely care on either club other than 'easy to get to' as their rivals are more probs Rochdale or Oldham or Chester or Macc. Salford have a deep old rivalry with Curzon, but that has got lost because apart from 100 of their fans the rest don't even know Curzon exist and think Salford are rivals of bigger clubs and while they have a Man Utd rivalry to fcum i think resentment on the fcum side means its a worthless rivalry.

Which leaves us with this game, which i think has a friendly dig rivalry to it....played plenty of times, pretty much rose up leagues together, fcum played at Curzon for a while etc, etc...good bit of history to it now. Add in that this season either Curzon or FCUM or both could easily finish bottom 3 and this game has a real significance because this league is very much split 3 ways....the promotion battlers, the in the middle group and the relegation battlers and it looks unlikely to change so games between them other dog-fight sides are vital.

Our problem is we never seem to beat fcum, our hope is this is probably first time we do have a much much better on paper team than them, I am not that surprised they are struggling, look second poorest team after NFU. Have no real clue how game will go, it may not even go ahead as heavy rain today and tomorrow and winds and maybe thunderstorms........this may dictate game.

i'll be fair and say we have two huge home games, but just need to make sure to win one of them, be good here to take pressure off Monday.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Home to Gainsbrough for us tomorrow. They look to be in a bit of a mess, so it represents a good opportunity to make it 4 unbeaten and move in to the top 10. No excuses if we dont pick up the 3 points.

 

[PoolieTom]

Two good teams I've seen them both this season, we were fortunate not to feel the presence of big Jon Parkin. But against Spenny they have a brilliant attacking player in David Foley.
Very skillful and tricky and very confident with the ball at his feet, and he scored a brilliant goal against us. He could easily make his presence felt at a slightly higher level.

There just seemed to be something missing from York. Something Spenny had that they didn't.

Yeah, know all about Foley. He was with us for about 8 years before moving to America or somewhere. Played close to 100 games for us. Not sure he could make it at a higher level though, he never scored a league goal for us in them 100 games! Saying that, he did score an absolute worldie against Stoke in the FA Cup. Maybe League 2 was actually below him, and he belongs in the Prem!

 

[wilsontown]

Daniel Nti, another player we seem to have managed to ruin. Good luck to the lad at Nuneaton.

Stockport Co at home tomorrow, we might have 4,000 in which would be healthy in League 2. Sigh. Gainsborough Trinity at home on Tuesday night. We need at least 4 points from these, and preferably six so we at least stay vaguely in touch.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Think our game and possibly Salfords (not sure what its been like there) has an extremely limited chance of being on.

Overnight and this morning its been torrential constant rain.

 

[ForzaCounty]

Of course there is 4 manc sides, but i'd say this is the one which has more of a 'rivalry' to it. Stockport just see the likes of us, fcum and salford as 'local' sides and not genuinely care on either club other than 'easy to get to' as their rivals are more probs Rochdale or Oldham or Chester or Macc.

Can't speak for all County fans, but we never had much of a rivalry with any of them, either. You don't tend to think of teams as rivals when you take more away fans to their ground than they have home fans - not the case with Oldham though, but then again we rarely share a division with them. 'Dale, Oldham, Bury, and Macc were always seen as big days out rather than something that stirs up intense emotion. If anything, there's a small sense of empathy with them, since they have to put up with so many fans of the Manc teams in their home towns, as well. That's not the case with Salford and FCUM, whose supporter bases seem to be drawn from that lot, so if anything there's a bit more enmity there

Due to geography we've never had a traditional rival, our rivalries tend to stem from contentious games during a certain period - games against city in the late '90s/early '00s, Burnley & Stoke from the early '90s, Wigan and Bradford from before then, always with varying degrees of reciprocation of course.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Fair enough, very much like Carlisle then.

Game on at Curzon and fair play our groundsman.....pitch is stunning considering the rain.

Conditions may dictate game, goes from dry to torrential rain in random spells.

Crowd looks hit today, mixture of terrible form, low morale and heavy rain means it is looking like a lot less FCUM fans than usual. Normally about a thousand......think half that today

 

[Luke Imp]

Boston and Gainsborough both 3-0 away from home after 15 minutes...

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

Curzon 1-0 up vs FCUM at half time even though most sites say 0-0.

Been an even and gritty game so far. Started in shocking conditions. FCUM probs better team opening 30 mins, but created nothing from it. We are passing now so look better, but our more defence style means attack is limited.

At least on top of now passing, manager realised to play Leonard up front than stupidly in midfield....him and Cummins link well. We had really only a handful of chances, but each looked a near goal and Leonard had 3 great chanced one ended up in net finally before half time.

 

[Harrier94]

We've got a 2-0 lead

 

[CFC4LIFE]

Solid performance against a team who will definitely struggle. Roll on Tuesday!

 

[DarkSithLord]

Alfreton 4-1 Gainsbrough

Easy street for us today as we barely got out of first gear and raced in to a 4-0 lead inside 25 minutes.

Predictably Gainsbrough were absolutely diabolical Gainsbrough are probably the worst side I have ever seen at the Impact Arena. Embarrassing. Their heads went down after the first goal and I dont think their defenders believe in marking.

Tom Platt hit his 3 of the season and Westcarr his 4th. Ricky who looks like a very good player scored on his first start while Brendon Daniels fired home a free kick for the fourth.

Second half was a bit of a non event with both sides not interested.

10 games in to the season now and we are look to be in a really strong position. Already on the edge of the play offs with a manager who doesnt know his first XI and a team who are just beginning to find their feet. Southport apart, we have been brilliant at home. We have had some kind fixtures to say the least (played 8 of the bottom 10) but you can only beat whats put in front of you and we have certainly done that at home. Very pleased at where we are at as I believe we have more to give.

 

[Tom-tfc]

Tamworth 3-1 spennymoor

Deserved victory for us with 3 very good goals. Bradley Reid in for injured styche with his 3rd of the season and 2 very well taken goals from Daryl Knights.

Was expecting much more from Spennymoor after reading positive things about them on here. Didn't really look like scoring other than their free kick. Looked very suspect at the back including their goalkeeper. Next up an interesting game against Kidderminster.

 

[DOLF87]

Salford beating the only two unbeaten teams with in a week, must have put them on a high. There was maybe doubt that the title was defiantly theirs at the start of the season, but after seeing them play on Tuesday, I can't see past them. There defence was solid. If there is a challenger, its Harrogate.
Managed to score 5 on our travels with our star striker out for up to 3 months, shows we can score without him. I can see us been in the race for the title. . . until at least Christmas.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Thats 17 goals conceded in 5 home games now for Telford!?