Nice to have you back Neil...

RW - when he got into his natural position wide right he did swing a few good crosses in, notably the one in first half where Podge should have done better.

It felt very conference south today. O'Brien and Bennett aren't natural passers of the ball so a lot of hoof ball seemed inevitable, add in our poor run and lack of confidence Mickey and butler were putting a lot of long balls in too. I like butler but as soon as he comes up against a pacey right back his threat is limited, and he is one of our main threats! Forbes is lacking confidence too, but can understand why after being at fault for a number of goals when he has played.

I think we have been found out and will now fade into mid table mediocrity.. which is no shame for a club like us. League two is most certainly our historical home.

bishbashbosh wrote:Nice to have you back Neil...

RW - when he got into his natural position wide right he did swing a few good crosses in, notably the one in first half where Podge should have done better.

It felt very conference south today. O'Brien and Bennett aren't natural passers of the ball so a lot of hoof ball seemed inevitable, add in our poor run and lack of confidence Mickey and butler were putting a lot of long balls in too. I like butler but as soon as he comes up against a pacey right back his threat is limited, and he is one of our main threats! Forbes is lacking confidence too, but can understand why after being at fault for a number of goals when he has played.

I think we have been found out and will now fade into mid table mediocrity.. which is no shame for a club like us. League two is most certainly our historical home.

Well .... that's lightened my mood !! Thanks

What exactly is "a club like us" ?

Dos wrote:

Corpaboy wrote:Just a thought , but .........

Do the Board get an idea of the Club's financial position around Dec/Jan time ??
For a few seasons now we've seemed to have got ourselves in a good position in the League only to fall away after January ?
Even under Edinburgh , we were towards the top and then it's almost as if we think "Oh ... hang on ... we might go up here !! Are we ready yet ?"

Like I say .... just a thought .....

Most common answer I’ve seen to this type of question is county can’t afford to go up

Exactly the point I was making .....

Corpaboy wrote:

bishbashbosh wrote:Nice to have you back Neil...

RW - when he got into his natural position wide right he did swing a few good crosses in, notably the one in first half where Podge should have done better.

It felt very conference south today. O'Brien and Bennett aren't natural passers of the ball so a lot of hoof ball seemed inevitable, add in our poor run and lack of confidence Mickey and butler were putting a lot of long balls in too. I like butler but as soon as he comes up against a pacey right back his threat is limited, and he is one of our main threats! Forbes is lacking confidence too, but can understand why after being at fault for a number of goals when he has played.

I think we have been found out and will now fade into mid table mediocrity.. which is no shame for a club like us. League two is most certainly our historical home.

Well .... that's lightened my mood !! Thanks

What exactly is "a club like us" ?

A club that has little history above this level, with no ground to call its own and a fan base that doesn't exceed 3500 on a regular basis. We are at the peak of our powers, league one would tear is a new one...

Your go.

Yelwarc wrote:Well, home at last.
That was all rather tiresome wasn’t it.
A great point for us though, because we are really,really crap away from home.
You lot are out of form, but in all honesty in the two games I’ve seen you this season, you have looked oh so similar to the side that nearly went down last year...which gets me thinking.
How can a side that was pushing for an automatic slot, let alone a play off place suddenly find themselves so far off the pace.
I can’t believe for one momont that my two game assessment could be accurate or relative.

I suppose our two clubs are very similar actually.
Similar stadia, similar fan base and similar football league history

"Same football league history" ?
How do you work that one out , Creepy Boy ?
You obvioulsly don't know your "football league history" ......
Thanks for bringing about 35 fans btw ....

Are you suggesting that the management team and players are being instructed by the Board to deliberately under-perform?

Corpaboy wrote:

Yelwarc wrote:Well, home at last.
That was all rather tiresome wasn’t it.
A great point for us though, because we are really,really crap away from home.
You lot are out of form, but in all honesty in the two games I’ve seen you this season, you have looked oh so similar to the side that nearly went down last year...which gets me thinking.
How can a side that was pushing for an automatic slot, let alone a play off place suddenly find themselves so far off the pace.
I can’t believe for one momont that my two game assessment could be accurate or relative.

I suppose our two clubs are very similar actually.
Similar stadia, similar fan base and similar football league history

"Same football league history" ?
How do you work that one out , Creepy Boy ?
You obvioulsly don't know your "football league history" ......
Thanks for bringing about 35 fans btw ....

I know it very well, and it’s very recent.
In fact it’s very similar to yours,and that was my point.
I remember a few great southern league encounters at our old Town Mead ground in the mid 90’s.
I think we entered the football league just a season or two before you.
It’s actually quite good to see two ex southern league foes doing a good job in the real league isn’t it?

bishbashbosh wrote:

Corpaboy wrote:

bishbashbosh wrote:Nice to have you back Neil...

RW - when he got into his natural position wide right he did swing a few good crosses in, notably the one in first half where Podge should have done better.

It felt very conference south today. O'Brien and Bennett aren't natural passers of the ball so a lot of hoof ball seemed inevitable, add in our poor run and lack of confidence Mickey and butler were putting a lot of long balls in too. I like butler but as soon as he comes up against a pacey right back his threat is limited, and he is one of our main threats! Forbes is lacking confidence too, but can understand why after being at fault for a number of goals when he has played.

I think we have been found out and will now fade into mid table mediocrity.. which is no shame for a club like us. League two is most certainly our historical home.

Well .... that's lightened my mood !! Thanks

What exactly is "a club like us" ?

A club that has little history above this level, with no ground to call its own and a fan base that doesn't exceed 3500 on a regular basis. We are at the peak of our powers, league one would tear is a new one...

Your go.

We had unprecedented income from our cup run last season yet if anything appear to have got worse.

A club that has little history above this level, with no ground to call its own and a fan base that doesn't exceed 3500 on a regular basis. We are at the peak of our powers, league one would tear is a new one...

Your go.

Your first sentence is undeniably factual, and doesn't even mention we have no financial backing, save a fans trust. However, although that reduces our odds I don't believe that makes it impossible for a 'club like ours' to gain promotion to League 1. I accept it is unlikely this season, but I believe we should always aspire to improve, otherwise acceptance of our lot can so easily lead to relegation.

No, don't buy that "we can't afford to get promoted" nonsense. Cross that bridge if we ever get to it.

Best chance for years to get a play-off spot though as Lge2 is really poor this season.

We're facing that moment which all small clubs who are over-achieving face ..... a few key injuries or players below par and little/no money to improve and push on. This is the time when an experienced manager like John Coleman or Warnock open their contacts book and look for help, whether help to coach the current squad or a player or two on loan. MF a bit hamstrung there - his contact book only has Lee Johnson's telno in it and those who could help coach (like Pipe or Byron) are either part of the problem or have been moved on.

Time for Lennie to step up to the plate and see if someone like Spurs or Brighton have got an unpolished diamond to send on loan.

Plus the current squad need a day off team-bonding to get their heads sorted again.

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:Poor quality game from both sides I thought today. County played like a team lacking in confidence and composure. Traits mirrored by the supporters also. I suppose the positive, if any, was it was marginally better than a defeat

Good assessment. Other than Wrexham on TV the last game I saw was Colchester who were streets ahead of Crawley in every respect, but the confidence we were bristling with then just wasn't there. Two or three players seemed to be nursing themselves from very early on. And when did we last have no loanees in a starting lineup?

Impressed with Mr Coggins, not for the first time. The useless Boy Wonder has become a very good referee.

Well that was awful
Can it get any worse?
How can the same squad turn from a promotion chasing outfit into looking like relegation fodder ( It wont happen)
Mike are you morphing into Feeney or even worse Westley?
Did you instruct the defence to hoof ball everything?
FFS play Robbie out wide right
Everybody can see that's his only position
Crawley were terrible
Another 90 minutes and it would still be goal less

The following maybe a bit harsh but that's how I feel

Joe 6 Time to read a book nothing to do
Forbes 4 poor going forward
Franks 5 Just okay
Mickey 6 tried his best
Dan 7 MOM for me
Crofts 5 Nothing special and over the hill?
Robbie 5 FFs he is a right winger not his fault
Bennett 3 Awful
Dolan 3 Awful and not fit
Matt 4 A big fella not a lot more to say
Padraig 5 Ran and Ran with no success
O Brien 3 Legend but useless at distribution not league 2 standard
Bakinson 6 Promising return
Harris 4 Did one thing and got a yellow

Promotion out of the question

Ref one of best this season

Mike get a grip please

Corpaboy wrote:

Yelwarc wrote:Well, home at last.
That was all rather tiresome wasn’t it.
A great point for us though, because we are really,really crap away from home.
You lot are out of form, but in all honesty in the two games I’ve seen you this season, you have looked oh so similar to the side that nearly went down last year...which gets me thinking.
How can a side that was pushing for an automatic slot, let alone a play off place suddenly find themselves so far off the pace.
I can’t believe for one momont that my two game assessment could be accurate or relative.

I suppose our two clubs are very similar actually.
Similar stadia, similar fan base and similar football league history

"Same football league history" ?
How do you work that one out , Creepy Boy ?
You obvioulsly don't know your "football league history" ......
Thanks for bringing about 35 fans btw ....

I would agree that we are similar to Crawley in regard to stadia and fan base but any comparison in regard to football league history is off the mark. However, it does illustrate that 25 years of non-league obscurity will take time to eradicate. I thought 10 years as a football league club would re-establish us but maybe it will have to be 15 years as posited by Newgroundrodney. There are a couple of generations of football fans who recall nothing of our history prior to 1987 and would therefore put us in the same bracket as Crawley. It shouldn’t bother me that this is the case but it does.

Frank Nouble 3 wrote:Well that was awful
Can it get any worse?
How can the same squad turn from a promotion chasing outfit into looking like relegation fodder ( It wont happen)
Mike are you morphing into Feeney or even worse Westley?
Did you instruct the defence to hoof ball everything?
FFS play Robbie out wide right
Everybody can see that's his only position
Crawley were terrible
Another 90 minutes and it would still be goal less

The following maybe a bit harsh but that's how I feel

Joe 6 Time to read a book nothing to do
Forbes 4 poor going forward
Franks 5 Just okay
Mickey 6 tried his best
Dan 7 MOM for me
Crofts 5 Nothing special and over the hill?
Robbie 5 FFs he is a right winger not his fault
Bennett 3 Awful
Dolan 3 Awful and not fit
Matt 4 A big fella not a lot more to say
Padraig 5 Ran and Ran with no success
O Brien 3 Legend but useless at distribution not league 2 standard
Bakinson 6 Promising return
Harris 4 Did one thing and got a yellow

Promotion out of the question

Ref one of best this season

Mike get a grip please

Yes mate, it certainly comes to something when Coggins was probably the best performer on the pitch! Scandalously poor fare for a football league game wasn’t it? Looks like any hopes of an exciting end to the season are over - unless it’s fighting the drop , because on that performance......

lowandhard wrote:

Frank Nouble 3 wrote:Well that was awful
Can it get any worse?
How can the same squad turn from a promotion chasing outfit into looking like relegation fodder ( It wont happen)
Mike are you morphing into Feeney or even worse Westley?
Did you instruct the defence to hoof ball everything?
FFS play Robbie out wide right
Everybody can see that's his only position
Crawley were terrible
Another 90 minutes and it would still be goal less

The following maybe a bit harsh but that's how I feel

Joe 6 Time to read a book nothing to do
Forbes 4 poor going forward
Franks 5 Just okay
Mickey 6 tried his best
Dan 7 MOM for me
Crofts 5 Nothing special and over the hill?
Robbie 5 FFs he is a right winger not his fault
Bennett 3 Awful
Dolan 3 Awful and not fit
Matt 4 A big fella not a lot more to say
Padraig 5 Ran and Ran with no success
O Brien 3 Legend but useless at distribution not league 2 standard
Bakinson 6 Promising return
Harris 4 Did one thing and got a yellow

Promotion out of the question

Ref one of best this season

Mike get a grip please

Yes mate, it certainly comes to something when Coggins was probably the best performer on the pitch! Scandalously poor fare for a football league game wasn’t it? Looks like any hopes of an exciting end to the season are over - unless it’s fighting the drop , because on that performance......

Both teams came to the game following a dreadful run of form. The result and lack of quality was predictable.

Let's hope the clean sheet has stopped the rot and our poor run is behind us.