Tuesday 15th March

[Roger Stone]

Strong performance especially with half the team out injured. Comfortable for most of the game until we gave away a sloppy goal with 10 to go. Onwards and upwards.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Thought stags were charging for the autos the other week...

 

[AdamStag]

Thought stags were charging for the autos the other week...

nice try lol.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

nice try lol.

...plenty of games in hand. 3 over 5 teams above you. Still well in it imo

 

[Soz]

Amazed Mansfield moaning about that ref they bought with them. The only thing he didn't do was head one in for you!!!

8, 12, 6 could have had about 8 yellows between them. He started off actually punishing the late tackles then thought fuck it I'll wait for vale to time waste once for my next trick all the more sweeter to win a game like that.

 

[chipmunx]

made hard work of it in the end - not helped by the linesman disallowing a 2nd goal that clearly wasn't offside - but 3 points is all that matters and everyone else at the bottom really had a bad day - so.... onto the next game... phew...

 

[Optimistic Poolie]

Garbage game, flat performance, can tell there is nothing to play for really, will probably be the same rest of the season unfortunately.

Bradford fans turned up in good numbers and were loud through the game, but anyone involved in the bullshit towards the end should be embarrassed. Don’t know what was more embarrassing the 16 year olds stamping on someone while they were on the floor, or Cleveland Police stood recording the pools fans while it was going on behind them. Pathetic.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

The bald clogger at the back spent most of that spooning Procs! The number 6.

He did that against Cook the other week, real non league defender in a otherwise good team. He looked more like something from WWE.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

Solid performance, very happy with that. Sparky is really turning this turd around what a man.

 

[AdamStag]

...plenty of games in hand. 3 over 5 teams above you. Still well in it imo

lol nah.

 

[AdamStag]

Amazed Mansfield moaning about that ref they bought with them. The only thing he didn't do was head one in for you!!!

8, 12, 6 could have had about 8 yellows between them. He started off actually punishing the late tackles then thought fuck it I'll wait for vale to time waste once for my next trick all the more sweeter to win a game like that.

it reminded me of a game we won 4-0 on a tuesday night against you a few seasons ago, technically we could really have lost it, realistically we should have taken the lead in the 2nd half, much better last 15 minutes and first 20 of the 2nd but if you don’t put the ball in the net…..

Ironic that our 3rd choice keeper had a cracker for vale, please for aiden, a good lad.

take the rough with the smooth, 1 point off vale in 2 games is a tad tight.

Hopefully we can keep a top half spot.

 

[Agombar stool]

Well that was 'attritional' against a patched up Sutton side. I always try to avoid mentioning officials but I think their equaliser was offside and our winning goal was also offside and the referee and linesman never seemed to be in proper control of the game. That said the incident towards the end which drove the fans potty when he gave Louis Reed a second yellow for diving in the box I think he got spot on.

Ugly ugly game of football and delighted to get the win. Every other bloody result went against us as well, typical!!

 

[Fuzzyvalefan]

I have to say that I thought that was a great advert for League 2 football. Thought overall we deserved the win but there was a 20 minute period in the second half when we were on the ropes. We managed to weather the storm, Stone made a great save to prevent the Smith own goal and then Harratt did his super sub act.

 

[kieran_vale]

I have to say that I thought that was a great advert for League 2 football. Thought overall we deserved the win but there was a 20 minute period in the second half when we were on the ropes. We managed to weather the storm, Stone made a great save to prevent the Smith own goal and then Harratt did his super sub act.

I don’t want to sound like I’m piling on Holy though it’s going to come across that way anyway but feel so much more comfortable with Stone in goal. The two Stone has conceded since coming back in one was a complete fluke and the other a good finish after poor defending.

Wilson was brilliant while he was on the pitch. Just his general movement and intelligence is way above what you normally get at L2 level. I do think the way Hussey limped off it’s time to give Benning an extended run now.

 

[Casey]

Reading through the posts tonight it strikes me how many of us are moaning about referees. Personally I've given up on them. They affect so many games with strange decisions and, to be honest, we have benefitted from it as well as been punished. Tonight we had a decision against us but the way Yems moans about them it doesn't surprise me.

The thing is. What on earth can we do to improve them?

Casey

 

[BogDaddyO]

Still yet to be awarded a penalty this season. Be a nice time to change that.

It's been 2020 since we last scored a penalty in the league...

 

[Bottega Don]

We now have more red cards then wins this season, what a year

 

[JaredSUFC]

Well that was 'attritional' against a patched up Sutton side. I always try to avoid mentioning officials but I think their equaliser was offside and our winning goal was also offside and the referee and linesman never seemed to be in proper control of the game. That said the incident towards the end which drove the fans potty when he gave Louis Reed a second yellow for diving in the box I think he got spot on.

Ugly ugly game of football and delighted to get the win. Every other bloody result went against us as well, typical!!

I think that’s a fair assessment of the officials. When both sets of fans think you’ve had a bad game, you’ve had a bad game!

When I saw our lineup I was more than a little concerned- Lovett has been on loan at Tonbridge Angels in the Conference South all season up until the last day or so, Omar Bugiel was joining him in the centre of midfield- Omar has never played centre midfield for us. And our bench consisted of a goalkeeper who couldn’t get game time on his loan at carshalton athletic, an 18 year old, a 41 year old and Ricky Korboa.

I felt Swindon were far more effective when they moved the ball upfield quickly rather than trying to pass us to death. Both goals were essentially route one.

I felt we held our shape well, however there was a lack of clear chances for us.

 

[saddler78]

Entertaining game and great result against a team playing for their lives.
Imo Oldham aren’t the worst side I’ve seen this season by a long shot and hope they survive at the expense of a non entity club like Stevenage.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Well that was a poor game and a poor performance but I will take the three points. The decision on our second goal was at the other end but it seemed pivotal and we may have benefitted from it. Having said that, in the second half we were given nothing. Fortunate to get away with clear chances in both halves. We will have to find a way of coping without Nombe, not sure Zanzala or Phillips are the answer.
And how are we still only fifth??

 

[AnotherStagsFan]

Dreadful again, where’s that mid table thread

 

[Chief Rocka]

Garbage game, flat performance, can tell there is nothing to play for really, will probably be the same rest of the season unfortunately.

Bradford fans turned up in good numbers and were loud through the game, but anyone involved in the bullshit towards the end should be embarrassed. Don’t know what was more embarrassing the 16 year olds stamping on someone while they were on the floor, or Cleveland Police stood recording the pools fans while it was going on behind them. Pathetic.

Think our pond scum matched theirs after the game, bricks flying on Clarence Road, Cleveland Police fucking hopeless as usual.

Night games always bring the divvies out in greater numbers.

 

[The Terminator]

A draw was a fair result at the New Lawn, thought we performed very well in the second half considering the awful run we’ve been on, but now 4 draws in a row at least and in Wellens 2 games so far we look a better side, our midfield looks better.

Both sides scored their only meaningful chances all game, FGR I thought ran out of steam second half after bossing us first half.

Mr Kettle let us off at the end though, thought it was a clear foul by Ogie on March I think and a red card.

New club record 15 games without a win, thankfully won’t be going up that hill next season!!

 

[hellogregory]

Strong performance especially with half the team out injured. Comfortable for most of the game until we gave away a sloppy goal with 10 to go. Onwards and upwards.

It was exactly how I thought it would be. A comfortable routine win against a poor side. Better quality 9 times out of 10 comes out on top and unfortunately for us we’re coming up against better quality most weeks.

 

[Boz]

The referee in Rovers game, Darren Handley was fairly inept, but as he sent a Harrogate player off in the first half and gave us a penalty in the second, can’t complain too much. Despite being against ten men for the best part of an hour, didn’t get things all our own way. The opening goal from Everton loanee Lewis Warrington was special.

 

[RLC]

I thought Armstrong should have received a straight red for the initial challenge, let alone the second one, but Weaver has predictably claimed Harrogate were robbed of a result. We had struggled to break down their back five when they had a full complement, but it is impossible to know how the game would have developed without the sending off. We did enough to deserve the three points without being scintillating.

If there is a better midfielder than Lewis Warrington in this division, I have not seen him.

We can always rely on our home form, but we are going to need at least a couple of away wins to be serious automatic contenders. Can we get one at injury ravaged Sutton on Saturday ?

 

[valefan16]

Finally home!

Chuffed to bits for the lads and nice for us to actually beat Mansfield for once and us actually turn up and put in a performance against them!

3-5-2 and we’ve scored 7 goals in 2 games after barely threatening the weaker sides in previous games… wasted five games there and that may cost us but tonight felt like one of those performances that had us in second for a large spell of the first half of the season.

Intensity was there, pressing was there and some decent bits of quality, especially Wilson who as mentioned is way above league two level and by far the best player on the pitch tonight, as he should be. His touch is on another planet and in his rightful position rather than stuck our side he’s looking good again.

First half we dominated but didn’t create much for the pressure and had our one usual costly error when Martin slipped allowing their lad a simple finish.

Wilson’s goal was well hit although the keeper looked to have sponges for hands on that. Couldn’t really tell what Mansfield’s game plan was first half, they seemed to come for a point and were time wasting relatively early on in the game, lot of poor tackles and leaving a foot in which the referee dealt with the first couple of times then bottled giving cards after that. Every ball into the Mansfield box was a free kick.

Second half we started well, looked a stunning block to stop is taking the lead but have to see it again to see if it was good as it looked, all seemed to go to plan until the 60th minute where our midfield seemed to tire and Mansfield finally got on top of it and we had a rocky patch, although Stone wasn’t really tested at this point.

Walker for Charsley was crucial and Mal for Hussey and that seemed to swing the pendulum back to us, great persistence for Harratts first after the keeper made a decent initial block, we seemed content then but had a wake up call with the strike off the bar (think Stone saved it?) and then Mal delivered a decent free kick for Procs to set up Kian for a decent finish to kill it.

Referee seemed to swing to giving us free kicks for every cross second half but was useless with some of the treatment Procs was getting, about as big a cheer as the goal when he finally gave him a free kick.

Decent night, good atmosphere and good away crowd, got chatting to a couple of their fans who parked up near me who were in their 70s and were decent lads, and gracious when I saw them after.

Good result. Annoyingly despite 1 loss in 12 we still can’t seem to close that four point gap though! Enjoyed that, as said if we can get the momentum going with these humdingers against sides around us we have a good chance.

 

[AR27]

We were good tonight. Two teams trying to play football but I thought we generally had control of the game. The Hartlepool midfield couldn't get near Cooke, Watt and Pereira for the most part and the first two are nearing their best now that they've got a manager who allows them to play.

 

[MadJohn]

Dull tonight, but not as dull as Saturday, which was up there with the most tedious two hours I've spent anywhere this year. And I live in Hartlepool.

I get the need to try to rest and rotate with 4 games in 9 days, but that was one weak midfield, and we made it easy for a Bradford side who didn't need to be anything more than moderate. They weren't very good, but I didn't begrudge them their win any more than I would have begrudged Orient a win on Saturday. We were probably worse. It was flat as fuck.

On boring nights like that, you take your amusement where you can . Bradford fans singing "you're only here cos it's Bradford" and "2-0 in your cup final" to the third lowest Pools turnout of the season was funny. Self-awareness is clearly in short supply in West Yorkshire. Those lads really do think that they're something special, don't they

I heard that there was trouble afterwards. Hopefully nobody got too badly hurt. God knows we've got some bellends following the club at the moment, and I'm sure Bradford are no different.

Can we start 2022/23 yet?

 

[The Jovial Forester]

I emulated the team last night and fell asleep after our good start (wee small hours here) and getting the first goal for first time in ages. By sounds of it Orient bossed it from then on and more than deserved their point. Seriously lacking a Plan B and while you can see why Edwards wants to stick with the side that got us right up the top, no-one who could really freshen things up brought in in January will likely bite.
Plus side is can still play well enough and there'll be a couple of teams who while they know what we're going to do won't be able to stop or will get unlucky. Limp over the line.