Saturday 6th January fixtures

[folletto]

Stunned looking at the stats we have had 12 shots to 2… doesn’t feel that way if im honest. Probably all in the last 10 minutes of the half.

Appleton always sits back on a lead and lets the opposition pepper us, inevitably always ends up with us conceding

 

[leedsvaliant]

Appleton always sits back on a lead and lets the opposition pepper us, inevitably always ends up with us conceding

Nah mate. We'll give you a goal. You're not great but you don't need to be.

 

[hellogregory]

The worst team in League 1 sponsored by Carver are deservedly losing.

Honestly, the difference in class between the teams is scary. It’s hard to convey on a forum just how bad we are. You have to see it to believe it and Exeter fans are getting that privilege today.

100% down this team. We need 8 or 9 more January signings just to become competitive but even that won’t be enough given the dire situation and the time they’d need to settle in and gel as a team.

Awful.

 

[hellogregory]

Still don’t think we’re the worst team in the league Carver?

Why am I the only person who sees it? Everyone gets so blinded by one win and suddenly it’s all positive and we’re fine.

We are without doubt the worst team in this league and it’s not even close.

We either need to really go for it and sign the 9 new players we need to give ourselves a chance of even competing to stay up, even if they are short term solutions. Or we need to simply accept relegation and start planning our squad for League 2 next season by signing players we think can do a job for us in the league below.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Nah mate. We'll give you a goal. You're not great but you don't need to be.

I told you. We've had 27 shots , you've had 6 and scored 3 goals.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Charlton are not good, they're not even average, they're not even poor, but they've beaten us today.

 

[folletto]

7 games in a row conceding after 80

 

[folletto]

Charlton are not good, they're not even average, they're not even poor, but they've beaten us today.

Yeah we’re woeful, didn’t deserve anything from the game so will take a point but to throw away the lead 3 times is hideous. So many things wrong at the moment.

Fed up of the managerial merry go round at the club but I don’t want Appleton here. The way he sets us up from the get go is bad enough but the way we play when we’re in the lead always results in the same thing.

 

[valefan16]

Would have been daylight robbery had we lost that and should really have won that but some suicidal defending to gift wrap them the lead. Massey excellent today and deservedly got the equaliser.

That ref will be on their team coach home.

 

[kieran_vale]

I think partly as both teams defending should really be accompanied by the Benny Hill theme that was very watchable. And there could have been a few more goals too.

Delighted for Uche to get his first goal in this spell. Thought that was his best performance since his return.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Massive result, a real bonus. We can compete with anyone in this league on our day.

 

[denzel ecfc]

If only Carlisle had turned up for the first 80 minutes!
Poor first half, we went through the gears second half and new signing Harris looked excellent, then something switched with ten minutes to go. Holding on at the end.
Big three points that.

 

[valefan16]

I think partly as both teams defending should really be accompanied by the Benny Hill theme that was very watchable. And there could have been a few more goals too.

Delighted for Uche to get his first goal in this spell. Thought that was his best performance since his return.

Yeah I can’t remember a time we’ve had nearly 30 shots in a game. Their keeper made some great saves to be fair. Just need to sort the defence out.

 

[Carver]

Still don’t think we’re the worst team in the league Carver?

Why am I the only person who sees it? Everyone gets so blinded by one win and suddenly it’s all positive and we’re fine.

We are without doubt the worst team in this league and it’s not even close.

We either need to really go for it and sign the 9 new players we need to give ourselves a chance of even competing to stay up, even if they are short term solutions. Or we need to simply accept relegation and start planning our squad for League 2 next season by signing players we think can do a job for us in the league below.

Yes yes we're rubbish I already knew that with this squad, the two new signings looked an improvement but most of the rest are still nowhere near good enough for L1 and yes we do need a big overhaul of players this month to stand any chance of staying up.
Some team selections are to be questioned too like the involvement of Maguire over Garner and Edmondson. He does absolutely fuck all and John Melish is non league standard. Our midfielders like Mcalmont is still weak as piss and Gibson needs to pull his fucking finger out and our full backs got torn to shreds, we need another new centre back as we can't be calling Whelan back ffs.

Butterworth took his goal well and proved that if you shoot you may just score unlike others today who just fannied around.

 

[kieran_vale]

Yeah I can’t remember a time we’ve had nearly 30 shots in a game. Their keeper made some great saves to be fair. Just need to sort the defence out.

You’re right their keeper was outstanding which is counter-intuitive after letting in 3 but it’s true. Would have to see it back but thought he made a great reaction save from Devine when I thought it was going in.

Last three fixtures involving us and Charlton given us goals

Charlton 3-2 Vale last season
Charlton 2-3 Vale earlier this season
Vale 3-3 Charlton today

I think it speaks more to both teams defending like pub teams but at least it’s entertaining.

 

[folletto]

You’re right their keeper was outstanding which is counter-intuitive after letting in 3 but it’s true. Would have to see it back but thought he made a great reaction save from Devine when I thought it was going in.

Last three fixtures involving us and Charlton given us goals

Charlton 3-2 Vale last season
Charlton 2-3 Vale earlier this season
Vale 3-3 Charlton today

I think it speaks more to both teams defending like pub teams but at least it’s entertaining.

He’s a great shot stopper although his decision making leaves a lot to be desired at times. Unlucky not to be in the Australian Asian cup squad as he’s regularly been called up for them this season.

It’s been the story of our season, we constantly have to try and out score our poor defence. We’re tackling that issue by signing two inexperienced midfielders and Clarke Harris it seems rather than trying to address the defence

 

[kieran_vale]

He’s a great shot stopper although his decision making leaves a lot to be desired at times. Unlucky not to be in the Australian Asian cup squad as he’s regularly been called up for them this season.

It’s been the story of our season, we constantly have to try and out score our poor defence. We’re tackling that issue by signing two inexperienced midfielders and Clarke Harris it seems rather than trying to address the defence

Fair enough, I think that’s something you can at least coach into him over a period of time. In a sense it ties in with what you’re saying about signings. The biggest one Charlton could make is someone who is a real leader and organiser at the back but I guess it’ll be fun to watch with JCH and May up top.

We need similar at the back too. I’ve gone into this window thinking the attacking options need boosting but scoring hasn’t been a problem of late it’s the other end. In all honesty the only defender we have I think has a long term future at this level is Debrah and he went off injured today.

 

[hellogregory]

I’ve said it plenty, we’re 100% down. We’re the worst team in the league (sponsored by Carver) by a mile. Our fans don’t want to admit it, but we’re that bad that I don’t think the season is salvageable. Even if we do get the required 8 or 9 new signings it would be a huge ask for them to bed in straight away and hit the ground running.

Looking at our next set of 6 fixtures, they include games against the teams in 5th, 6th, 2nd and 1st. So I expect by the start of February most of our fans will finally join me in realising that this team is relegated. By then we’ll be 10, 12, possibly 15 points adrift of safety.

There’s no way out of this mess unfortunately.

 

[valefan16]

Felt like the Burton league game where we’ve battered them, their keeper had a worldie and we gifted some poor goals but thankfully got the point at least, that’s probably the most one sided half you’ll see it was like a shooting gallery but we’ve had a mare at the back there.

Watched the goals back to be clear on them, first Ripper gets megged, second is a calamity of errors and third Ripley should save that but pushes it in the net.

Crosby was seething in his interview which is rare, he was less angry after the 7-0 loss to Barnsley! Like he said gift a team two presents and regardless of how much you dominate you don’t win. On balance of play we should be winning that 5/6-1 and it’s something we need to be better at, sloppy defending has cost us 5 points in five days.

Going forward was largely decent, Massey had a great game, just need consistency as he’s awful at times, Uche had his best game for us and could see how much the goal meant. Devine was superb but played the ball that got us in trouble for the second, unfortunately we haven’t got the likes of Hojberg or Reguillon to play those balls to in that position so he needs to maybe learn from that.

Referee was dire, Charlton had about 5 clearly offside first half but the linesman couldn’t keep up, didn’t give a stone wall penalty when the Charlton defender pretty much saved James Wilson’s strike with his hand and failed to hand out cards for some rough treatment for Chislett but the worst was at the end! Ripley throws a ball to Chislett who’s virtually about to go 1 v 1 and he pulls it back to book the Charlton player! Deal with it when the balls dead but we’d have had a great chance to win the game at the death there. You know it’s bad when Crosby even gets booked!

Overall enjoyable but we’ve gone from barely scoring but being relatively solid to scoring hatfuls but having a defence like a sieve. Need to find the happy medium between the two really but it’s difficult with 10 key players missing, huge blow losing Garrity long term as well. Game we’ve dominated far more one sided than a 3-0 win last Friday but only got a point… funny old game really but finally at the point we have a few midweeks free so time to work on things.

 

[Randolph Haggerty]

Enjoyed the mid table scrap at vale park today.
2 teams with obvious deficiencies , but great fun nonetheless.
Not often I enjoy myself up there.

 

[Gassy]

Massive result, a real bonus. We can compete with anyone in this league on our day.

It’s amazing what a manager can do really. Imagine saying this a few months ago when you hadn’t even scored a goal in the first 10 games or something.

You’d have absolutely pissed yourself if I said that to you. Fair play to DC, could put himself in contention for manager of the season tbh

 

[Si Robin]

We rode our luck today, but that we didn't cave when going 1-0 down sums up just how much we're prepared to battle to keep our place in the division. As CTFCfan99 says, the first half penalty decision, the ref got spot on. The one in injury time really should have been a pen though.

Never mind though, we've just beaten top of the league and taken 4 points off them this season. Darrell Clarke has been such a breath of fresh air for us. This was a group of players who, at the end of September looked scared to be on the same field as other League 1 teams.

Now, this team does not get relegated this season!!

 

[valefan16]

Chuffed for DC, he’s a great manager and the tragedy he suffered I wouldn’t wish on anybody. He’s taken the break he needed and has come back strong.

Will rightly always be a Vale legend.

 

[leedsvaliant]

If we weren't so poor at the back, we're winning that game comfortably. I don't think I've ever seen us have nearly 30 shots. However, we were pretty poor first half....we just never really got going and sat off.

Charlton, as I suspected, have a great forward line but were dog awful elsewhere. I bet they couldn't believe that they were up 3 times. Their keeper made 2 unbelievable saves, one that deflected I'm not entirely sure how he saved it!

Entertaining game but we can't keep giving away these goals...a couple of them today were genuinely like kid's football.

 

[leedsvaliant]

We rode our luck today, but that we didn't cave when going 1-0 down sums up just how much we're prepared to battle to keep our place in the division. As CTFCfan99 says, the first half penalty decision, the ref got spot on. The one in injury time really should have been a pen though.

Never mind though, we've just beaten top of the league and taken 4 points off them this season. Darrell Clarke has been such a breath of fresh air for us. This was a group of players who, at the end of September looked scared to be on the same field as other League 1 teams.

Now, this team does not get relegated this season!!

He's a great manager when the world is against you...someone you can really relate with and his post match interviews are always bang on the money.

He lost his way a bit with us when we weren't against the odds but understandable in a way. He wasn't just sacked for football reasons at our place though....I think he lost his head and did some things he probably regrets.

Legend at Vale though and will always be welcome.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Just seen Crosby's interview....I don't think I've ever seen him that angry. I think he's right in that we probably should be 15 points minimum better off but we give away so many appalling goals it's become a joke.

Ironically, we've started scoring a ridiculous amount of goals!

 

[folletto]

Felt like the Burton league game where we’ve battered them, their keeper had a worldie and we gifted some poor goals but thankfully got the point at least, that’s probably the most one sided half you’ll see it was like a shooting gallery but we’ve had a mare at the back there.

Watched the goals back to be clear on them, first Ripper gets megged, second is a calamity of errors and third Ripley should save that but pushes it in the net.

Crosby was seething in his interview which is rare, he was less angry after the 7-0 loss to Barnsley! Like he said gift a team two presents and regardless of how much you dominate you don’t win. On balance of play we should be winning that 5/6-1 and it’s something we need to be better at, sloppy defending has cost us 5 points in five days.

Going forward was largely decent, Massey had a great game, just need consistency as he’s awful at times, Uche had his best game for us and could see how much the goal meant. Devine was superb but played the ball that got us in trouble for the second, unfortunately we haven’t got the likes of Hojberg or Reguillon to play those balls to in that position so he needs to maybe learn from that.

Referee was dire, Charlton had about 5 clearly offside first half but the linesman couldn’t keep up, didn’t give a stone wall penalty when the Charlton defender pretty much saved James Wilson’s strike with his hand and failed to hand out cards for some rough treatment for Chislett but the worst was at the end! Ripley throws a ball to Chislett who’s virtually about to go 1 v 1 and he pulls it back to book the Charlton player! Deal with it when the balls dead but we’d have had a great chance to win the game at the death there. You know it’s bad when Crosby even gets booked!

Overall enjoyable but we’ve gone from barely scoring but being relatively solid to scoring hatfuls but having a defence like a sieve. Need to find the happy medium between the two really but it’s difficult with 10 key players missing, huge blow losing Garrity long term as well. Game we’ve dominated far more one sided than a 3-0 win last Friday but only got a point… funny old game really but finally at the point we have a few midweeks free so time to work on things.

Agree the officiating was poor and in general went in our favour which seems to make a nice change.

We very easily could have been given a penalty right before Ripley threw it, it was unintentional so would have been harsh but the handball stopped the ball going to Lloyd Jones for a tap in. However, if you’re not going to give it, stopping play as you’re on the attack to book someone for dissent is ridiculous

In typical fashion, our entire fan base is getting on our keeper’s back for a poor performance… they have to scapegoat someone I suppose

 

[Moomin]

A thoroughly deserved win today and we’ve certainly massively improved lately, although by no means perfect.

Bringing Harris into the midfield made us look so much better as it gave Aitchison more freedom and we kept the ball really well. Add to that, we created quite a lot of chances with Sonny Cox having a fantastic game again. He will be huge for us in years to come and so pleased he got another goal. Diabate kept Armstrong very quiet and Carlisle did very little until 2-0 down. They look devoid of confidence, similar to how we have been recently. How Armstrong missed from about 3 yards just before their goal I’ll never know.

Onto the next, Blackpool away.

 

[valefan16]

Agree the officiating was poor and in general went in our favour which seems to make a nice change.

We very easily could have been given a penalty right before Ripley threw it, it was unintentional so would have been harsh but the handball stopped the ball going to Lloyd Jones for a tap in. However, if you’re not going to give it, stopping play as you’re on the attack to book someone for dissent is ridiculous

In typical fashion, our entire fan base is getting on our keeper’s back for a poor performance… they have to scapegoat someone I suppose

Yeah saw that, despite your keeper making three or four cracking saves! Only one he could of done more about was the Uche header but even if he gets more on it, Wilson is likely to put it away when it comes back out.

16 goals in three games (8 each) between us so at least we get some entertainment when we meet!

 

[leedsvaliant]

Agree the officiating was poor and in general went in our favour which seems to make a nice change.

We very easily could have been given a penalty right before Ripley threw it, it was unintentional so would have been harsh but the handball stopped the ball going to Lloyd Jones for a tap in. However, if you’re not going to give it, stopping play as you’re on the attack to book someone for dissent is ridiculous

In typical fashion, our entire fan base is getting on our keeper’s back for a poor performance… they have to scapegoat someone I suppose

Your keeper made two unbelievable saves and another couple of good ones. I'm bewildered as to how anyone can criticise his performance....Uche was really close in with his header, so it would have taken a ridiculous save to keep it out.

Just seen the first penalty we should have had....you can tell it's a penalty by the reaction of the Charlton players and also the crowd near the incident were going nuts. Couldn’t see your claim for a penalty buy it seemed like only one guy was claiming for it.

Awful refereeing performance and both linesman I don't think understood the rules.