Wednesday 1st & Thursday 2nd January

[The_Viking_Magpie]

I said this when leaving the ground in a rather reactionary fashion but I kind of agree. Today felt like the perfect example of him being a double-edged sword - first half he was crisp and everything went through him, had time and space and looked the best player on the pitch. Second half, he was the most detrimental player in the side - overplayed and put us under pressure constantly and dropped too deep when we needed to get up the pitch.

I think he’s a brilliant player and when he’s ’on it’ or up against a couple of cloggers then he’s great - the problem is that’s usually when we’re playing against inferior sides and you could argue, we should probably win those games without him anyway.

He did also run the length of the pitch and nearly score the goal of the season late in the game so I can’t reconcile it fully but he does personify the stuff I don’t like about this team which either makes him a culprit or an undeserving scapegoat

You can't draw any definitive conclusion on Crowley today based on such a contrasting performance. Today he wasn't playing inferior opposition and for 45 mins was the top boy on display. Then awful. He was neither at MK or Cheltenham but was effective with goals and assists. That's what he brings to the side.

The only real thing that pisses me off about Crowley is his lack of desire to do anything defensively especially when he loses the ball. He jogs back alongside players but never puts in a tackle or tactically fouls anyone. Just enough to be showing intent with not actual action.

Should have hit the target with that great run and one two with McGoldrick.

As everybody has said game of two halves both sides dominated one and looked world beaters whilst the other looked hopeless. Decent entertaining game in front of a big crowd. Deserved a draw but streetwise Walsall got a fantastic victory.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

You can tell him all about it, twice.

He's already experienced it once, we can tell about what it was like the second time - I thought it was rather fun, (apart from the Bromley bit)...

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

He’s admitted it hasn’t he? Someone at game today reckoned he punched someone

That will get you banned.

 

[Kendalcufc]

Hope no one left Crewe early !

This season 22.4% of League Two goals have been scored after 76+ minutes. A fair portion of those will be injury time goals.

That's 157 goals compared to the 2nd rated of 121 goals in the 46-60 bracket.

A lot of things mystify me in this World and football fans leaving before the full-time whistle in a close game is right up there. Seriously, why?

 

[Optipez]

Aden Baldwin is an absolute idiot.

I said over on BT, that the biggest concern with what he did in giving the pen away is how mindless it was.

No situational awareness given we were in first half stoppage time and no footballing intelligence to just shepherd Dallas to the byline/out towards the corner. No, he sprints 30/40 yards and just jumps in, in the box. Absolute idiot.

He should be dropped after that. Platt was always a decent defender but nothing special and yet he would easily walk into this team and be out best centre half. By some margin too.

Baldwin has everything to play at a higher level. Big, strong, pace, power, good with the ball at his feet. But, and it's an enormous but, he's just incapable of concentrating over a full game and certainly over a five match period without making a massive cock up at some point.

 

[Optipez]

Walsall are going up. A big, strong, powerful well drilled team with resilience and talent. They don't over play but nor are they basic. They can soak it up and break and they can also get on top and pin you in.

Having said that we should have been out of sight by half time. You can't play top teams and not take your chances because top teams will dig in and bite you on the arse an hour later.
Really pissed off with that result and I don't blame Maynard, players have to be clinical and we need another striker to bring off the bench in games.

 

[valefan16]

I think Darren Moore is the most underrated tactician in 4th division football.
Playing a striker as a striker, was quite frankly bizarre, playing a winger as a striker ( missed our 2 best chances) was more like it.
Taking off aforementioned mentioned striker ( having his best game as a striker) to be replaced by a wanker ( who wasn’t that bad , but still)
Looking forward to Donny away.
Please sing congratulatory sings about him, a sizeable amount of our support will surely join in.
12th beckons.
If we’re lucky.

Frustrating all be it was better today than recent weeks, no knocking it around the back three and got it back to front quicker.

Garrity is obviously a big factor as we had a proper midfield today and probably just needed Stockley to capitalise better going long, all be it I thought Curtis did well in that role winning a decent amount of flick ons.

It’s still a bit too negative and whilst I have no issue with it at Doncaster, after all we got deserved wins with it at Notts and MK doing it at home to bottom of the league and then today to a degree against one of the worst away sides in the division who’d been hit for 5 three days ago was not ideal. Surely 2 at the back would of sufficed and had the extra attacker.

That said we’ve had 16 shots and a few on target, more than most games combined recently and Curtis should of scored at least 2 with his one on one and the cut back one late on.

Pleasing to get minutes into Smith and Garrity though and Kyle John so some light at the end of the tunnel, if we can get Harper, Byers and Stockley back in the coming week or two then things may look a lot better.

Overall frustrating not to win today and whilst still a fair way below the standards we set in September/October hopefully it’s a rot stopper like we had at Orient in the promotion season under DC and we can build on it going forwards.

Tricky but winnable one at the weekend (ironically the only place we have won at in 7 weeks!) then a couple of winnable home games against lower mid table sides hopefully bodies back and the odd new signing and we can get back on track.

Looks likely we will be spending again so assume Moore is going nowhere with the Wigan lad up front having a bid in and the rumours looking at the likes of Paterson.

Not great but not a disaster today and some encouraging signs at least. The effort was there which it wasn’t Sunday.

 

[LS Bantam]

I’ve got zero interest in whether Baldwin can carry the ball out once a game if the rest of the time he’s making errors that are costing goals. I’ve not missed Platt to the extent he’s a bang average L2 centre half, all be it a consistent one, our problem in the ‘swap’ wasn’t losing Platt but replacing him with someone worse.

 

[jacobncfc]

Platt is a much better than average L2 centre half because he’s so comfortable passing the ball as well as a bit of a head on a stick. Been a lovely signing for us.

 

[ROVERS⚽️]

Didn’t deserve to win that, we are so difficult to watch at present but a wins a win and hopefully we turn a corner performance wise now.

How many goals do we give away at the moment?. Nice to snatch a win without creating many chances today, we’ve missed our fair share this season though. Nice to see Sharp score again, I still can’t work out what has happened to the Ironside from last season. Fair play to Fleetwood I think they’ll do ok with the new manager and climb the table abit, getting a double over them isn’t a common occurrence for us. How many are Vale expecting to bring on the weekend do any vale fans know?. Be an interesting game, is Moore’s job safe with the big contract or a few more bad performances and could be gone?. Big game Saturday.

 

[JJ1990]

Credit to Carlisle, they were outstanding today. For 85 minutes, I couldn't work out how they were in the bottom as they knocked it around like a side 20 places higher up. Ok, they made the most of some criminal defending by us, but still, looked full value for the win. But then they collapsed and it explained things. Gave us 2 clear chances before we actually scored and both our goals were ridiculously simple.

We were pretty poor and as others have said, the midfield shape doesn't work. It should in theory, but too often they get pulled out of position to leave big gaps for opposition teams to exploit. And the defence in the last few games has shown some worrying lapses which weren't there before, so that needs addressing.

It's clear we need some help in the window. Long can't stay fit, Tracey can't stay consistent in his goal production, so we need a striker to support Lankester, Bogle and the returning Hemmings, who I think we've missed since he got injured. Need a CM who can put his foot on the table and create, although Holicek is doing a good job of that lately. A Joe White style player could be useful. And we need a full back who can play on either side, as we have no back up RWB and to be honest, Cooney's done well, but we could upgrade on him quite easily I think.

Could be a huge 3 points if we can build on this and bring in another win on Sunday.

 

[pontoonlew]

Not only did the ref somehow give a stone wall red card as a free kick the other way, he then gives this as a pen when he wasn’t even able to see it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1874509000445993408

 

[loz]

The Barrow team we saw today was probably the poorest in the league. They were so embarrassed for us that they gifted us a late goal so that we would not lose. Too many poor performances; all 3 CBs Sanderson, Walker and Sarcevic. Sarcs was unlucky to replace our best player but it was his lazy play that set up their break for what should have been a winner(gets on knees to apologise to Stocky who has never seen us play). Just hope he can refind form that matches the pedigree we all know he has.

 

[Gladders]

Annoying not to get 3 points today, not only because it would have been 9 from 9 over the holidays, but we now have three very tough games coming up where we could easily lose all three.

 

[Randolph Haggerty]

Frustrating all be it was better today than recent weeks, no knocking it around the back three and got it back to front quicker.

Garrity is obviously a big factor as we had a proper midfield today and probably just needed Stockley to capitalise better going long, all be it I thought Curtis did well in that role winning a decent amount of flick ons.

It’s still a bit too negative and whilst I have no issue with it at Doncaster, after all we got deserved wins with it at Notts and MK doing it at home to bottom of the league and then today to a degree against one of the worst away sides in the division who’d been hit for 5 three days ago was not ideal. Surely 2 at the back would of sufficed and had the extra attacker.

That said we’ve had 16 shots and a few on target, more than most games combined recently and Curtis should of scored at least 2 with his one on one and the cut back one late on.

Pleasing to get minutes into Smith and Garrity though and Kyle John so some light at the end of the tunnel, if we can get Harper, Byers and Stockley back in the coming week or two then things may look a lot better.

Overall frustrating not to win today and whilst still a fair way below the standards we set in September/October hopefully it’s a rot stopper like we had at Orient in the promotion season under DC and we can build on it going forwards.

Tricky but winnable one at the weekend (ironically the only place we have won at in 7 weeks!) then a couple of winnable home games against lower mid table sides hopefully bodies back and the odd new signing and we can get back on track.

Looks likely we will be spending again so assume Moore is going nowhere with the Wigan lad up front having a bid in and the rumours looking at the likes of Paterson.

Not great but not a disaster today and some encouraging signs at least. The effort was there which it wasn’t Sunday.

Let’s pray she doesn’t give him more money to spunk away.
We just need stay up , and get rid.
The standard we set in October/ September were a blip.
The other 9 months have been the norm .
I admire your passion and patience I really do, you travel further than me, and are definitely more of a hardcore fan than I am now, I’m just very jaded and disillusioned.
She won’t sack him, of that I’m sure, but we also will not go up, of that I’m also sure.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

How many goals do we give away at the moment?. Nice to snatch a win without creating many chances today, we’ve missed our fair share this season though. Nice to see Sharp score again, I still can’t work out what has happened to the Ironside from last season. Fair play to Fleetwood I think they’ll do ok with the new manager and climb the table abit, getting a double over them isn’t a common occurrence for us. How many are Vale expecting to bring on the weekend do any vale fans know?. Be an interesting game, is Moore’s job safe with the big contract or a few more bad performances and could be gone?. Big game Saturday.

Quite a few of late. Seems as though our play has slowed down and a lack of movement up top that is leading to poor decisions giving the ball away in poor areas.

 

[valefan16]

Let’s pray she doesn’t give him more money to spunk away.
We just need stay up , and get rid.
The standard we set in October/ September were a blip.
The other 9 months have been the norm .
I admire your passion and patience I really do, you travel further than me, and are definitely more of a hardcore fan than I am now, I’m just very jaded and disillusioned.
She won’t sack him, of that I’m sure, but we also will not go up, of that I’m also sure.

Not saying Moore is the right man, spent the summer pulling hair out watching England under Southgate waste away a decent squad and feels identical here so patience is thin!

I gave him the benefit last season because he came in after the window closed so didn’t have his squad but he’s been backed with probably the biggest budget in the division and can have no complaints, I think she will throw more money at it to avoid the repeat of the last two Januarys but I can’t fathom why he doesn’t know his best XI or play to positions with his own players now.

Mental as well that losing Garrity is still a catastrophe and one thing we should of recruited better to cover.

September and October is how it should be with the players and money we’ve spent but anything less than promotion be it automatically or via the play offs is a massive failure and probably makes it untenable for him to stay. It’s a huge month for him I would say… but if we are sacking him it needs to be now rather than like last season but I don’t see her pulling the plug and do think with players returning we will see a return to form, it just might be too costly this run in the long term though.

 

[hellogregory]

Really feel for the Carlisle fans, they didn't deserve that. They seemed absolutely stunned.

Don’t think I’ve ever been so stunned at a football match. I was stood there just numb. Took me a good 15 minutes after full time to process what had happened. Then I was fuming.

Even though it was against the worst team in the football league, what you did today was the sign of a promotion team. Finding a way to win a game that you were finding tough.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

Not only did the ref somehow give a stone wall red card as a free kick the other way, he then gives this as a pen when he wasn’t even able to see it

https://twitter.com/x/status/1874509000445993408

We need an expert opinion on this from the Vale fans...

 

[Cloudy]

Couldn't see the pen incident - moved into the covered side stand in the hail storm at HT. Fair play to the Accy stewards they asked home fans to move so nearly all 760 could get in the side stand. That ref is terrible - loves to influence the game - sent Rodger off v Donny for arguing after he'd wrestled to the ground. Required us to move the ball to "correct" free kick positions 3 times at the end with the clock running down. Don't know what happened with the third Accy goal - I'd assumed it got a deflection. Should have buried them before the pen though.

The ref was definitely ‘me,me,me’ however Harvey R wasn’t wrestled v Donny, he miscued a clearance after someone brushed him. Then made an arse of himself

No deflection for their 3rd, we just set up too deep and Wright saw it late and let it slide under his body.

Silly forfeiture of the points which sums up the league thus far. Win unexpectedly & then lose at the same stage. Seems similar to most of the clubs.

Any club hits some consistency gets promoted

 

[Cloudy]

We need an expert opinion on this from the Vale fans...

No need to attempt a challenge. Gave the ref a decision to make and he was always going to be star of the show ( even though he couldn’t see it)

 

[dedwardp]

I think that's a pretty fair assessment. I'll never revert to blaming officials for results, but some of his decisions were questionable for sure. Your second penalty for sure. Personally I thought Gordon went studs up on Barden and probably should have got a second yellow, but he chose to let play go on and Barden decided to waft out a foot. I assume Anderson thought he would get Barden sent off by falling down instead of shooting into the open goal?

I think by the letter of the law ours was a penalty but the handball rule is vague and confusing anyway. I had money on us to miss a penalty today at 20/1 before the game so was delighted to lose that particular bet!!

Personally I thought we ended the game much stronger than you guys and we also hit the bar and the post twice and had a couple of efforts just wide. Delighted to get all 3 points and its now 2 from 6 at the foot of the table.

The only thing I would say for the second penalty is that in real time at first glance I thought it looked as though Gordon had got to the ball first and kicked it against the goalkeeper, but he clearly doesn't on the replays. Even more surprising as if he had got to the ball first you'd still half expect the keeper to get the benefit of the doubt as they so often do. Bizarre.

I agree that in today's game the handball decision is probably correct, even if it felt a bit harsh/soft/balancing things up a little. I was probably more aggrieved at the sending off to be honest. As you say though, there was only one team that looked likely to win that towards the end so no complaints. Thought we were looking very leggy today so it will be good to get a week off after Saturday.

After Sunday I was expecting us to rotate the front three which we did, but with Tovide out injured we just have no alternative threat to Taylor. But I was ok with almost writing today off as long as we can attack Accrington on Saturday with those three back in and take three points at the weekend instead.

 

[RavenBish]

I’ve got zero interest in whether Baldwin can carry the ball out once a game if the rest of the time he’s making errors that are costing goals. I’ve not missed Platt to the extent he’s a bang average L2 centre half, all be it a consistent one, our problem in the ‘swap’ wasn’t losing Platt but replacing him with someone worse.

Yeah nothing average about him, as good a centre-back as we’ve ever had when it comes to winning headers and doing the ugly stuff, comfortable on the ball and seems to read the game exceptionally well - we were told he was slow and couldn’t turn by Bradford fans and that’s either nonsense or he is but reads the game so well it doesn’t matter that much.

I was expecting a big no nonsense ‘head on a stick’ as Jacob puts it but I’ve been ridiculously surprised by how much more he is than that. Similar can be said with Bedeau who I thought would be a finesse player (a faster Kyle Cameron if prepared myself for) but he’s so much better than Cameron it’s silly to even compare the two.

Don’t get me wrong, our defensive record isn’t the best so it’s probably hyperbolic to pretend they’re all Premier League standard but I think the goals we concede this year are far more down to system-based flaws (and set fucking pieces) than the comedic moments of panic and blunder last season

 

[dannyc5]

Credit to Carlisle, they were outstanding today. For 85 minutes, I couldn't work out how they were in the bottom as they knocked it around like a side 20 places higher up. Ok, they made the most of some criminal defending by us, but still, looked full value for the win. But then they collapsed and it explained things. Gave us 2 clear chances before we actually scored and both our goals were ridiculously simple.

We were pretty poor and as others have said, the midfield shape doesn't work. It should in theory, but too often they get pulled out of position to leave big gaps for opposition teams to exploit. And the defence in the last few games has shown some worrying lapses which weren't there before, so that needs addressing.

It's clear we need some help in the window. Long can't stay fit, Tracey can't stay consistent in his goal production, so we need a striker to support Lankester, Bogle and the returning Hemmings, who I think we've missed since he got injured. Need a CM who can put his foot on the table and create, although Holicek is doing a good job of that lately. A Joe White style player could be useful. And we need a full back who can play on either side, as we have no back up RWB and to be honest, Cooney's done well, but we could upgrade on him quite easily I think.

Could be a huge 3 points if we can build on this and bring in another win on Sunday.

I don't agree that the midfield shape should work 'in theory'. I think the theory is pretty mental. Sanders deep, Holicek and Tabiner in front playing a box to box role is so obvious I don't understand why he doesn't do it? He usually plays a 10 slightly deeper than the striker and always 2 wing backs. The midfield shape I've outlined above is one of only 2 shapes that will work within our current formation (the other is 2 holding 1 advanced).

 

[saddler78]

Going to be very funny when 12 sets of fans say we’re the best team they’ve played and we inexplicably finish 8th

Top 3 have faith lol

 

[kieran_vale]

How many goals do we give away at the moment?. Nice to snatch a win without creating many chances today, we’ve missed our fair share this season though. Nice to see Sharp score again, I still can’t work out what has happened to the Ironside from last season. Fair play to Fleetwood I think they’ll do ok with the new manager and climb the table abit, getting a double over them isn’t a common occurrence for us. How many are Vale expecting to bring on the weekend do any vale fans know?. Be an interesting game, is Moore’s job safe with the big contract or a few more bad performances and could be gone?. Big game Saturday.

Not sure how many we’ve sold to be honest. I’ve got one for it. Hazard a guess it might be a similar number to what we took to Bradford but that’s pure guesswork. Moores job is almost certainly safe not necessarily because of the contract (we did sack Darrell Clarke after giving him a similar deal) but our owner is notoriously slow on these things and in her eyes he’s a “Championship level manager” and yes she has said that recently. My guess with the window open we are going to go for one more big heave in the transfer market than change manager.

 

[Moonie]

We can't defend. Our midfield is too easily bypassed. We lose games, even when we lead in the 93rd minute.

We're actually going down, aren't we?

I'm close to being done with this crap.

At least, until Saturday - Birkenhead beckons. I'd say I can't wait, but I'd be lying.

 

[hellogregory]

We can't defend. Our midfield is too easily bypassed. We lose games, even when we lead in the 93rd minute.

We're actually going down, aren't we?

I'm close to being done with this crap.

At least, until Saturday - Birkenhead beckons. I'd say I can't wait, but I'd be lying.

The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be.

Easier is maybe the wrong word, because it’s not easy. But Ive thought we’re going down for a good while now, and I accepted it fully a few weeks ago and now I’m coming to terms with it, it is a bit easier to deal with. It still hurts, but gradually the hurt begins to fade. Time is a healer.

I’m now looking ahead to the National League next season. I’m really interested to see the foundations we can lay ahead of it and the team we can put together.


Don’t mistake this for me being ok with it. I’m absolutely not, it’s devastating. But it’s inevitable, it’s going to happen whether we like it or not. Its about bouncing back as quickly as possible.

 

[Optipez]

Top 3 have faith lol

Not without an extra strike option. McGoldrick is a good footballer but has lost his acceleration so doesn't get as many chances as he once did and Jatta needs a rest now and again.
Half a season to go with players coming back to fitness so we shouldn't be a million miles away.

 

[Optipez]

The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be.

Easier is maybe the wrong word, because it’s not easy. But Ive thought we’re going down for a good while now, and I accepted it fully a few weeks ago and now I’m coming to terms with it, it is a bit easier to deal with. It still hurts, but gradually the hurt begins to fade. Time is a healer.

I’m now looking ahead to the National League next season. I’m really interested to see the foundations we can lay ahead of it and the team we can put together.


Don’t mistake this for me being ok with it. I’m absolutely not, it’s devastating. But it’s inevitable, it’s going to happen whether we like it or not. Its about bouncing back as quickly as possible.

It's easier to stay up from your position than it is to get promoted out the NL. Very few teams bounce straight back and if your new owners get bored and sell up its very easy to do a Scunthorpe or Stockport and spend years down there.