Match day thread 19/09/15

[BarnwoodCTFC]

Cheltenham only got 400 more than us at home last. Not the gulf there used to be.

On another subject, can't help but feel sorry for Torquay. A club that should be challenging in this league, losing 7-3 to bromley is awful. They need to appoint a experienced conference manager, who will guide them through this season and rebuild in the summer.

Woking fans.. what did you make of cheltenham? As mediocre as everyone is saying or genuine title contenders?

Not one for debating crowds but I suspect we will be bringing in the region of 1500 fans to you on Tuesday would FGR bring that to Whaddon on a Saturday? Just remember we've had three years of being absolutely terrible, the feel good factor is coming back and our crowds will rise again hopefully to 3500 home fans like we used to get.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

CLEAN SHEET!

Seemed a straight forward win.

I'm so jealous, so are several thousand others who originate from Lincolnshire. My kids are jealous as well, none of them even born in Lincolnshire, probably a few hundred people dotted around the world are as well. The male lead in This Is England 1990 probably sent a text to female lead Vicky McClure BAFTA winner 2011 today, saying "I'm really jealous of that Lincoln clean sheet - I want a clean sheet more than sex followed by sausage and chips". I also expect a certain former Tory chancellor of the exchequer remarked to his wife at 16.50 on the austerity of the Lincoln defence today. Mr Hurst, if Lincoln can do it, please get us a feckin clean sheet...

Forget all this leagues top scorers shoite (well equal now with Bromley), I would like a half dozen 1-0 wins on the bounce, really flukey ones, with the defense and keeper playing blinders in every game...Mr Hurst please arrange this...

 

[Shotsfan1993]

Finally home (just) from the 600+ mile trip to Barrow and have to agree with Slaphead, the first half was pretty even although we had the better chances fell to us (personally feel Browne should have done better with the open goal) and of course Charlie Walker's opener. The penalty is one of those that some refs give and some dont, but if it was the other way round I would be screaming for a penalty so no issues with that.

2nd half we were the better side after the match winning substitution bringing Dan Walker on for Hatton. It contributed to both goals as for the 2nd goal had Hatton taken the free kick it probably would have landed on the clubhouse based on a couple of his efforts first half. Anderton took a very good free kick and C. Walker popped up with his 2nd poachers goal of the game. The 3rd goal was good play by Dan Walker and a very good finish from Alexander. After that Barrow came into it but other than 1 save when Thomas had to rush out and save it at their forwards feet, most of Barrow's shots were more of a hazard for the stewards in the segregation area than our goal!

 

[Back in the DHSS]

If you have plenty of time then a visit to Steels Corner House in The Market Place is essential. It is like stepping back into the 60's inside but their Jumbo Haddock, Chips and Mushy Peas is legendary. Steels is only a restaurant and if you want takeaway then Ernie Becketts across the road is recommended as is The Ocean Fish Bar on St. Peters Ave, which is the main shopping street off The Market Place. Remember though, wherever you go it's Haddock not Cod in these parts. Cod is only fit for pet food and visiting Yorkies in these parts. Also avoid the chippys on the actual seafront and promenade as they cater more for the holidaymakers.

For real ale you have the No.2 which is actually on Cleethorpes railway station, only a very small pub but always has a good selection of real ales on and a bit further away along the seafront in Willys which has it's own microbrewery. There are also plenty of other pub around including a recently opened Wetherspoons (The Colosseum Picture House) on The High Street.Your best staying up there until near to kick-off time as there;s not much near the ground and it's only a 15 minute walk, although you can get a beer in the ground. You can even take the scenic route and go down to the end of the prom and walk along the seafront and over the railway bridge rather than walking down the main road,

Enjoy the day but hopefully not the result.

Went to the Ocean fish bar, Steels was too busy. Never the less I enjoyed excellent large haddock and chips washed down with a couple of pre match pints in the No 2. Great recommendations, thank you very much.

The game itself, on the balance of play very happy with a point. I think Gary Brabin got his tactics right for once, going for a more defensive formation. Best defensive display I've seen from Tranmere in a long time against a very good Grimsby side, can see why they are most people's favourites to go up this season.
I've not visited Blundell park since the old 4th division days of the 1980's and the stadium hasn't changed, give a few seats where the terracing used to be and unusually this great old stadium hasn't lost any of its match day atmosphere either. Thought the Grimsby fans were terrific, felt like there were a lot more than 4,500 people in the ground.

 

[Son of Cod]

I'm so jealous, so are several thousand others who originate from Lincolnshire. My kids are jealous as well, none of them even born in Lincolnshire, probably a few hundred people dotted around the world are as well. The male lead in This Is England 1990 probably sent a text to female lead Vicky McClure BAFTA winner 2011 today, saying "I'm really jealous of that Lincoln clean sheet - I want a clean sheet more than sex followed by sausage and chips". I also expect a certain former Tory chancellor of the exchequer remarked to his wife at 16.50 on the austerity of the Lincoln defence today. Mr Hurst, if Lincoln can do it, please get us a feckin clean sheet...

Forget all this leagues top scorers shoite (well equal now with Bromley), I would like a half dozen 1-0 wins on the bounce, really flukey ones, with the defense and keeper playing blinders in every game...My Hurst please arrange this...

Sod that, I've tasted back to back 4-1s and now I want them every match!

 

[Si Robin]

Not one for debating crowds but I suspect we will be bringing in the region of 1500 fans to you on Tuesday would FGR bring that to Whaddon on a Saturday? Just remember we've had three years of being absolutely terrible, the feel good factor is coming back and our crowds will rise again hopefully to 3500 home fans like we used to get.

There is not a cat in hell's chance we will take 1500 on Tuesday. You're saying there will be 600 CTFC fans in the home end? If they'd given us a 1500 allocation I doubt we'd have sold it out, in fact I'm certain we wouldn't have.

As for having 3500 home fans, you're talking about when we were at our absolute peak. When our attendances were averaging over 4,000 that was more due to the number of away fans we'd be getting. We will never average 3500 in the Conference.

There's no doubt that we have a larger fanbase than FGR, the fact we'll take more to them on a Tuesday night than they will us on a Saturday will be proof of that, but don't over-egg the pudding.

 

[Monkey Tennis]

Not sure about played off the park first half, given out keeper didn't have a shot to save. I thought the first half was equally balanced in both teams played horrible shite hoofball up the middle of the pitch. I though we were the better team second half when we decided to get the ball wide, and Dan Walker coming on changed the game in our favour, the Barrow fullback couldn't handle his movement and strength.

All in all, a good day out, nice little club is Barrow and the locals were very friendly and with 3 points well worth the 650 mile round trip. Can't see either team threatening either end of the table, so I'll look forward to my visit next season.

Yeah, didn't really mean "played off the park", but at half-time it felt like we would be the only winners. Aldershot had the better chances, where as our attacks were all crosses gobbled up by Beckles.

I was right behind it for the penalty, and his arm did come out a long way to stop the ball - had to be a penalty.

Was most disappointed with our defence, who just seemed to give up for the last half an hour.
Have to echo the sentiments from the Radio Cumbria team, Aldershot are easily the best team to come here this season, though we've only had Dover, Guiseley, Southport, Eastleigh and Lincoln. You're head and shoulders above all of those.

 

[Sparrow]

As has been said many times already, we're not part time!!!

How do you afford to be full-time? Where's all this money coming from?

 

[Greenacres]

There is not a cat in hell's chance we will take 1500 on Tuesday. You're saying there will be 600 CTFC fans in the home end? If they'd given us a 1500 allocation I doubt we'd have sold it out, in fact I'm certain we wouldn't have.

As for having 3500 home fans, you're talking about when we were at our absolute peak. When our attendances were averaging over 4,000 that was more due to the number of away fans we'd be getting. We will never average 3500 in the Conference.

There's no doubt that we have a larger fanbase than FGR, the fact we'll take more to them on a Tuesday night than they will us on a Saturday will be proof of that, but don't over-egg the pudding.

I would agree with this, well at least the comments about the crowd prediction for Tuesday, I can't really comment about how many you have previously shoe-horned into Whaddon Road. I think you were allocated around 900 tickets, which appear to have sold out already. I can see there being a fair few Cheltenham fans in home parts of the ground but nowhere near 600. Last year Bristol Rovers managed to sneak a few extra into the home stands, maybe something like 80-100.

I don't think you will average anything near 3500 in the Conference, unless you are pushing for promotion and have a radical rethink of your pricing structure. I know a few people who watched you play in the Football League and even then they thought that tickets were a bit on the expensive side, most aren't prepared to pay the same amount for Conference football and some have stopped attending games. Much to my pleasure I have converted a couple of occasional attendees at Whaddon Road into regulars at the New Lawn, where it is far more affordable. I don't doubt that you will bring far more to the game on Tuesday than we would bring to yours for a Saturday game, but you might be pleasantly surprised if our current league positions are roughly similar by then.

 

[Master D]

Just caught up with all this. Mills' rock solid, organised defence grinding out a win away from home I see. FGR getting smashed now that they are actually playing some decent sides just tells me that there are no outstanding sides in this league once again. Feel sorry for the Torquay fans though.

 

[FrankTheTank]

Well we were pretty poor yesterday, Parkin should have put us 2-0 up within 10mins but basically had an air-swing at a ball 8 yards out with an open goal (then did nothing for the rest of the game). Maxted's howler has to be seen on the highlights, hilarious! We were 2nd best in midfield (not for the first time Sincs was clear thru on goal and froze before having the ball nick off him - he is not in good form anyway) and O'Connor constantly offside. None of our fans saw Sincs handball but he had no complaints. The body language when our players emerged after HT was terrible. 2nd half with three at the back, there always seemed to be a Macc player free in our box not being marked. I think if we'd stayed 4-4-1 we actually could have nicked a draw because we didn't look to bad defensively, most Macc efforts from distance and main threat from set-pieces. DSY had two good chances but couldn't hit the target, story of our last two games. Definitely a false position in the table.

 

[Chris FGR]

Did anyone play well? We sounded utter garbage from what I've heard. The fact Maxted got motm despite making a howler and conceding 4 says a lot.

AP needs to sort it out quickly, or we're going to have our arses handed to us on a plate several times over the next few weeks, what with Chelts, Gateshead, Grimsby, Eastleigh and Tranmere coming up, with a live TV (guaranteed to be crap) game at Aldershot sandwiched in there.

 

[Tom Fgr]

I think the standard in the conference is as high as it has ever been. So many shocking results over the course of the 11 games so far, and plenty more to come im sure.

So onto Tuesday, massive game for us. Win and we are 6 points clear and confidence will be back. Lose and we will lose our top spot. A real 6 pointer.

Should be a cracking atmosphere, and with reference to Cheltenham's away following, i think they'll have at least 100 in the home end, and the 867? in the away end. Around 1000 in total i'd imagine!

Our team will obviously be slightly depleted, with Wedgbury and Sinclair both missing. AP needs to regroup his thoughts and relax. Playing 3 at the back with 10 men, with 45 minutes remaining to me comes across as being desperate for a win. IF we played 4-4-1, i wonder if we could have sneaked a draw from the silkmen.

Out of interest, what is the largest away following of the season so far? Chester at Tranmere?

Cheers,

 

[FrankTheTank]

Did anyone play well? We sounded utter garbage from what I've heard. The fact Maxted got motm despite making a howler and conceding 4 says a lot.

AP needs to sort it out quickly, or we're going to have our arses handed to us on a plate several times over the next few weeks, what with Chelts, Gateshead, Grimsby, Eastleigh and Tranmere coming up, with a live TV (guaranteed to be crap) game at Aldershot sandwiched in there.

Maxted made some good saves but he should have been impossible to get MoM after that mistake. Our back four actually looked fine until we went to a back three and you could tell they were not used to it. Guthrie is no winger, Parkin and OC don't work together, KMB did some good things but looks better when he has OC and Guthrie to pick out up front. We just didn't recover mentally from those two big first half moments.

 

[Cardsfan]

I think the standard in the conference is as high as it has ever been. So many shocking results over the course of the 11 games so far, and plenty more to come im sure.

So onto Tuesday, massive game for us. Win and we are 6 points clear and confidence will be back. Lose and we will lose our top spot. A real 6 pointer.

Should be a cracking atmosphere, and with reference to Cheltenham's away following, i think they'll have at least 100 in the home end, and the 867? in the away end. Around 1000 in total i'd imagine!

Our team will obviously be slightly depleted, with Wedgbury and Sinclair both missing. AP needs to regroup his thoughts and relax. Playing 3 at the back with 10 men, with 45 minutes remaining to me comes across as being desperate for a win. IF we played 4-4-1, i wonder if we could have sneaked a draw from the silkmen.

Out of interest, what is the largest away following of the season so far? Chester at Tranmere?

Cheers,

1734 Grimsby at Lincoln (sell-out)
1689 Grimsby at Kiddy
1526 Chester at Tranmere
1512 Tranmere at Alty
1450 Tranmere at Southport (sell-out)

 

[White Army]

1734 Grimsby at Lincoln (sell-out)
1689 Grimsby at Kiddy
1526 Chester at Tranmere
1512 Tranmere at Alty
1450 Tranmere at Southport (sell-out)

We won't beat 1512 this season now I don't think, not with the chester and Wrexham allocations looking like they're going to be pretty small. Apparently Wrexham are limiting us to 1200 tickets, don't really understand the need for increased segregation in an already separate stand.

 

[The_Boss]

How do you afford to be full-time? Where's all this money coming from?

Because we don't pay big wages maybe? Vast majority of the squad are local to Macc/Stockport/NW so dont need to pay as much to attract from further afield.

I guess the same can be asked of you, why do you bother being part-time when able to pay the wages you do to attract the likes of Rendell, Goddard, Yakubu, Murtagh, Morgan (last year I know) et al?

 

[wrexham]

We must have the worst conversion rate in the league. Should have won about 6-0 yesterday as usual. A better side than Boreham Wood and we'd have been punished again.

 

[Sparrow]

Because we don't pay big wages maybe? Vast majority of the squad are local to Macc/Stockport/NW so dont need to pay as much to attract from further afield.

I guess the same can be asked of you, why do you bother being part-time when able to pay the wages you do to attract the likes of Rendell, Goddard, Yakubu, Murtagh, Morgan (last year I know) et al?

I only asked as it seemed money was tight around your club not too long ago.

If we were full-time we wouldn't be able to afford Rendell and Yakubu. We picked Goddard up in pre-season three(?) seasons ago. Before that he'd only been coming off the bench for Hayes and Yeading. He'd have only started catching the eye of clubs last season but he wouldn't be near what we're paying Rendell and Yakubu - our two highest earners.

 

[Semi-skimmed Silk]

I only asked as it seemed money was tight around your club not too long ago.

Money is still tight, with a couple of injuries we now won't be able to manage a full bench on Tuesday (and having just replaced Diagne at LB he's now straight back into the team filling at CB).

 

[SamScfc]

Why? Yes Our numbers are all the over the place. Dont see it as a major crime?

Should result in a ban IMO.

 

[EnglishRed]

We won't beat 1512 this season now I don't think, not with the chester and Wrexham allocations looking like they're going to be pretty small. Apparently Wrexham are limiting us to 1200 tickets, don't really understand the need for increased segregation in an already separate stand.

The fact you are in that stand at all is a bit of a sore point.

 

[White Army]

The fact you are in that stand at all is a bit of a sore point.

Surely made worse by the fact that we're not getting the full stand anyway?

 

[EnglishRed]

Surely made worse by the fact that we're not getting the full stand anyway?

It does add insult to injury. The problem with not owning your ground.

 

[Boz]

I'd imagine we'd sell out our allocation for Wrexham 1.2k and Chester [guess about 1k] Unless there's something hanging on our final away at Eastleigh, the only other away game we'll get close to 1k is Macclesfield on Boxing Day.