National League Fixtures - 23/03/21

[Master D]

They can’t afford to go up.

 

[Who Needs Mourinho]

One of the best performances of the season for us tonight against Eastleigh despite missing Hogan and Rooney through injury.

Thankfully Maynard was also away on international duty so that gave Will Collar a chance and he took it with both hands with an assist after some brilliant play and he then scored an absolute screamer.

Madden continued with his barren run in front of goal but his overall play was great and it looks like he’s getting back to full fitness after Covid.

Ironically, for all the the money we’ve spent it’s the couple of loanees from Chorley in Newby and Cardwell who’ve been are most consistent players in the past month.

 

[GTFCfish]

Is it too late to null and void the season?

No, let’s get it done.

 

[CFC91]

Ground that one out but a big 3 points for us. Was fairly comfortable really in a game that was definitely not a classic.
Win on Saturday and we are right into the mixer

 

[chief]

Notts County sacrificed 2 points for the greater good, but the rest of you are a bunch of shits.

 

[Soup Ladle]

By all accounts we were excellent second half and should've won by 3 or 4 but for the Daggers keeper having a blinder.

We won't catch Sutton, no one will. I'm starting to think they might be thinking they can actually afford to go up.

 

[Hollywood Red]

We remain 5th after not playing in the last 2 rounds of matches. Good to see Sutton breaking clear leaving 7 or 8 teams left for 6 play off places.
Even though next season is our season we will still have a big say on who goes up as we still have Torquay Stockport County Bromley and Chesterfield to come to us

 

[Chief Rocka]

By all accounts we were excellent second half and should've won by 3 or 4 but for the Daggers keeper having a blinder.

We won't catch Sutton, no one will. I'm starting to think they might be thinking they can actually afford to go up.

Better team second half, solid defensively although Dagenham rarely posed a threat going forward, their keeper made three or four excellent saves, then Armstrong fluffed a 1 on 1 at the death which he should've buried, if all them players are fit that started yesterday I'd pick that team every week, they look really solid.

 

[B2TF]

A good night for us, and we weren't even playing

 

[MrGloverLover]

Reuben Reid with a very honest - maybe too honest some would say - assessment of our poor performance last night and the team overall. He says the way they trained before Saturday's game wasn't right which contributed to the bad performance but it was better before last night's. Also he's never been in a team before which expects something bad to happen even when it's winning.

 

[Master D]

We won't catch Sutton, no one will. I'm starting to think they might be thinking they can actually afford to go up.

It’ll be the death of them. On their heads be it.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Better team second half, solid defensively although Dagenham rarely posed a threat going forward, their keeper made three or four excellent saves, then Armstrong fluffed a 1 on 1 at the death which he should've buried, if all them players are fit that started yesterday I'd pick that team every week, they look really solid.

Yeah we've got a good side and he's done well with that budget and the options we have. Some of the Twitterati wanking themselves silly saying he's the best manager we've ever had, errrr try winning something first?

Did you hear him give a target for winning the league the other day? Said we'd need to win 10 and draw 2 of the remaining games and hope Sutton fall off a cliff. Pressure on the 3G ers right there.

 

[Wooderson]

Reuben Reid with a very honest - maybe too honest some would say - assessment of our poor performance last night and the team overall. He says the way they trained before Saturday's game wasn't right which contributed to the bad performance but it was better before last night's. Also he's never been in a team before which expects something bad to happen even when it's winning.

Very odd game, we pretty much dominated the opening 20 mins, had about 8 corners but did nothing apart from Big Ben Turner managing to shoulder one over the bar from on the line, Yeovil score with their second corner after Doyle got caught on the edge of his own box, then Turner, who is fast becoming a fairly hapless liability, gives away a daft pen and its 2-0 at HT.

We make two changes for the second half, including moving Enzio from RWB to further up the field, and sure enough he digs us back into it with another beauty out of nothing. Although he has performed admirably there, please let that be the end of Enzio at RWB, when we already have a perfectly good one in Dion Kelly-Evans. A bit of attacking drive gets us level, and then an identical move almost nets the winner, but Kyle Wootton, who looks in need of a rest (he’ll get one on Saturday as we are in FA trophy action) inexplicably sidefoots it wide.

I can’t really add much more on Ardley than Jacob has accurately described above. I would dearly love to see the young central midfielder we signed from Barnsley given a run, but he seems to be permanently injured. Feels like a lot of our hopes are resting on Roberts coming back from long covid and being the same player, and a striker we signed from Bradford Park Avenue who was working as a barista a few weeks ago turning out to be good.

 

[BornUnderTheElmslie]

Piss poor stuff from the Stones again last night against an equally piss poor Woking. Isthmian League standard fare from both sides. I suppose we should be thankful for the pandemic in some ways because this Stones side would get relegated if performances like the last few become the norm. Big rebuilding task ahead for Maynard and Saunders.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Yeah we've got a good side and he's done well with that budget and the options we have. Some of the Twitterati wanking themselves silly saying he's the best manager we've ever had, errrr try winning something first?

Did you hear him give a target for winning the league the other day? Said we'd need to win 10 and draw 2 of the remaining games and hope Sutton fall off a cliff. Pressure on the 3G ers right there.

DC has done well but he's still got some way to go before topping Neale Cooper's first spell with us which was nothing short of phenomenal.

Despite how coy Jared is they've won it, we all keep eying up games in which they'll drop points but they don't, it's going to take a monumental fuck up now, we just need to solidify 2nd or 3rd, I'd fancy us in the playoffs at home against anyone.

 

[Sestonpoolie]

DC has done well but he's still got some way to go before topping Neale Cooper's first spell with us which was nothing short of phenomenal.

Despite how coy Jared is they've won it, we all keep eying up games in which they'll drop points but they don't, it's going to take a monumental fuck up now, we just need to solidify 2nd or 3rd, I'd fancy us in the playoffs at home against anyone.

Agree.
People keep whittering on about how many away games Sutton have left,but seem oblivious to the fact that they keep winning away from home.
Altough i'd like to see us convert more of the chance's we create,we are very difficult to beat & i'm confident that when we go one up,we'll go onto win.
Massive game Saturday against a County side running into form.

 

[Aberstone]

Piss poor stuff from the Stones again last night against an equally piss poor Woking. Isthmian League standard fare from both sides. I suppose we should be thankful for the pandemic in some ways because this Stones side would get relegated if performances like the last few become the norm. Big rebuilding task ahead for Maynard and Saunders.

Can't knock the effort but last night was boring to be quite frank, I was having conversations at home and in doing so barely kept focus on the game.

Any new supporter watching that last night will probably wonder why they keep bothering. The club will have a job on their hands keeping new supporters engaged and motivated to come down to the Vale when the new season starts in August.

 

[Soup Ladle]

DC has done well but he's still got some way to go before topping Neale Cooper's first spell with us which was nothing short of phenomenal.

Despite how coy Jared is they've won it, we all keep eying up games in which they'll drop points but they don't, it's going to take a monumental fuck up now, we just need to solidify 2nd or 3rd, I'd fancy us in the playoffs at home against anyone.

For me he's behind a number including Cooper, Danny Wilson and Chris Turner but if he gets us up, I'd have him second behind Cooper. It would be some job bearing in mind we have barely any staff, a much smaller budget than some of the top 7 and he has to deal with Raj Singh.

 

[jacobncfc]

Very odd game, we pretty much dominated the opening 20 mins, had about 8 corners but did nothing apart from Big Ben Turner managing to shoulder one over the bar from on the line, Yeovil score with their second corner after Doyle got caught on the edge of his own box, then Turner, who is fast becoming a fairly hapless liability, gives away a daft pen and its 2-0 at HT.

We make two changes for the second half, including moving Enzio from RWB to further up the field, and sure enough he digs us back into it with another beauty out of nothing. Although he has performed admirably there, please let that be the end of Enzio at RWB, when we already have a perfectly good one in Dion Kelly-Evans. A bit of attacking drive gets us level, and then an identical move almost nets the winner, but Kyle Wootton, who looks in need of a rest (he’ll get one on Saturday as we are in FA trophy action) inexplicably sidefoots it wide.

I can’t really add much more on Ardley than Jacob has accurately described above. I would dearly love to see the young central midfielder we signed from Barnsley given a run, but he seems to be permanently injured. Feels like a lot of our hopes are resting on Roberts coming back from long covid and being the same player, and a striker we signed from Bradford Park Avenue who was working as a barista a few weeks ago turning out to be good.

As I saw someone say elsewhere, Lewis Knight is currently undergoing his defensive shape conversion therapy before he can be considered for selection.

 

[John Still]

We should have been 3-0 up but wasn’t due to atrocious finishing on two glorious headers and a good block on another before Pools scored. Their goal which was far too easy free header from a corner, after that it was one way traffic but little surprise at all with our last fit regular midfielder went off injured at half time the rest signed from lower down in the last few weeks.

McMahon thinks we’re a whisker away from being a top team, deluded to say the least. He’s covering his arse from what had been awful job from him on a top 5/7 budget, we’re below many teams who have spent less than half of what he has had and are part time.

We’re stuck with him just like we’ve been stuck with other managers who woefully underperformed over the last 10 years. Why don’t we sack managers when required is anyone’s guess, anyone else looking in from the outside can see it’s at shambles, 30+ players used etc etc. Repeat next season no doubt.

 

[Chief Rocka]

We should have been 3-0 up but wasn’t due to atrocious finishing on two glorious headers and a good block on another before Pools scored. Their goal which was far too easy free header from a corner, after that it was one way traffic but little surprise at all with our last fit regular midfielder went off injured at half time the rest signed from lower down in the last few weeks.

McMahon thinks we’re a whisker away from being a top team, deluded to say the least. He’s covering his arse from what had been awful job from him on a top 5/7 budget, we’re below many teams who have spent less than half of what he has had and are part time.

We’re stuck with him just like we’ve been stuck with other managers who woefully underperformed over the last 10 years. Why don’t we sack managers when required is anyone’s guess, anyone else looking in from the outside can see it’s at shambles, 30+ players used etc etc. Repeat next season no doubt.

Good summary, I think Wilson's (?) header in the first few minutes was the worse miss of the lot, how he manages to hit it three foot over the bar from the six yard line unmarked was something else.

Vilhete looks like a great pick up though, thought he was excellent last night, same with the left back who also looked decent.

 

[John Still]

Yeah Wilson’s was the worst, Balanta from a corner which was more difficult but should hit target,.

Vilhete has been very impressive so far, surprised no one else took a punt. Gordon is the left wing back, on loan from Bolton after he left for there last summer very good going forward but a bit more to do defensively.

You guys are solid, not one stand out player just a really good team who all know their jobs to a tee. Your manager will do well the level up too, Sutton are up for me but no doubt on play offs you guys all over as the rest are too inconsistent.

 

[GTFCfish]

Even though next season is our season.

Don’t mean to sound like a twat here but you must’ve put this about 20 times recently, I think everybody gets it mate.

 

[EnglishRed]

Don’t mean to sound like a twat here but you must’ve put this about 20 times recently, I think everybody gets it mate.

We are just softening the blow of another underwhelming season.

Next season we will think of an excuse why we are comfortably midtable. Im going to go for "we are building our success slowly".

 

[AdamStag]

Mixture of things. He’s been a bit unlucky in losing Cal Roberts, comfortably our best player, to Long Covid for basically the whole season, as well as Wes Thomas earlier in the season wanting to move closer to home.

But.. it’s still pretty much his fault. He’s absolutely insistent in trying to impose a possession-based style with two ball playing midfielders sat in front of our defence. We’ve even made a hail mary switch to 3-5-2 recently, but they’re still there, passing it diligently between each other. They’re both decent players individually (Doyle and Reeves), but as a pairing they’re totally unsuited to this division. Leaves us completely at the mercy of what the opposition do - if they sit off and let us play then we generally win, if they press then we’re fucked and can’t do anything.

We also feel like a team that is constantly playing with the handbrake on. It seems like it must be deliberate, but god knows. We played as an attacking force for about ten minutes tonight, scored twice and missed a late sitter to win it.

He’s clearly under pressure - post-match was probably the angriest and most critical of the players that I’ve heard him. But I don’t think he accepts what the underlying issue is.

Ah just saw that.

Guess the issue has been solved now

 

[Soup Ladle]

Yeah Wilson’s was the worst, Balanta from a corner which was more difficult but should hit target,.

Vilhete has been very impressive so far, surprised no one else took a punt. Gordon is the left wing back, on loan from Bolton after he left for there last summer very good going forward but a bit more to do defensively.

You guys are solid, not one stand out player just a really good team who all know their jobs to a tee. Your manager will do well the level up too, Sutton are up for me but no doubt on play offs you guys all over as the rest are too inconsistent.

We have a terrible play off record but as long as we finish top 3 I think we've got a real chance.

 

[John Still]

You have a massive chance, I can only see Stockport being a problem as their players might turn it on for a big match although the manager lacks that experience where as you’re manager has seen it all before at this level.