Just back...

Questions asked, rightly, after the last couple of games. Feel like they’ve been answered today - more to do of course but that feels a big win.

It reminded me a lot of Halifax at home last season on New Years, whilst that was 1-1 with a late equaliser we went in to it in a similarly poor run. We rolled our sleeves up clubbed together and put in a performance, much like today.

Could see what the clean sheet and three points meant to Crocombe, Waterfall, Smith and Maher at full time.

Many thought it was a back 5 before kick off but good to see we played with the full backs pushed on and it was more a 343, think that really suited us against them. Not sure about it long term but was definitely effective today.

It’s sometimes overlooked in football and sounds quite simplistic, but if you do the basics right; get close, win tackles, block crosses, be first to 1st and 2nd balls it really does help! We had a lot of energy about us today as well as doing the basics right.

Nice 2 weeks off from the league now and thankfully everyone can just calm down a little. Plenty of time now to bring in some reinforcements and concentrate on a decent-ish run of fixtures after Swindon and hopefully push on abit.

Quoted from Mikey_345

Questions asked, rightly, after the last couple of games. Feel like they’ve been answered today - more to do of course but that feels a big win.

It reminded me a lot of Halifax at home last season on Mew Years, whilst that was 1-1 with a late equaliser we went in to it in a similarly poor run. We rolled our sleeves up clubbed together and put in a performance, much like today.

Could see what the clean sheet and three points meant to Crocombe, Waterfall, Smith and Maher at full time.

Many thought it was a back 5 before kick off but good to see we played with the full backs pushed on and it was more a 343, think that really suited us against them. Not sure about it long term but was definitely effective today.

It’s sometimes overlooked in football and sounds quite simplistic, but if you do the basics right; get close, win tackles, block crosses, be first to 1st and 2nd balls it really does help! We had a lot of energy about us today as well as doing the basics right.

Nice 2 weeks off from the league now and thankfully everyone can just calm down a little. Plenty of time now to bring in some reinforcements and concentrate on a decent-ish run of fixtures after Swindon and hopefully push on abit.

Spot on.

Enjoyable game that and we got what we deserved.

It baffles me that Otis can has been regularly played at right wing back by his previous clubs.

Had either of Stockport's front two been in our side today we'd have won at a canter.

Was unexpectedly unable to make today’s game due to a family emergency, but from what bits I caught on my phone I thought we looked pretty convincing.

I said before the game that I feel 3 at the back suits the personnel at our disposal right now, and I still think that checks out. It makes us look so much more compact at the back, and we seemed to avoid giving away those easy opportunities whereby the oppo has the time and space to make an easy finish. The result; a clean sheet, and I hope we persist with it.

Without changing our position in the league, the result nevertheless changes the mood and complexion of where we are at this moment in time, compared to the understandable disappointment and dismay that followed the Salford defeat.

To that end, following a tough visit to Swindon in a fortnight’s time we face a run of 6 straight league games against sides currently below us (16th) in the league. Easy to get carried away, but the potential is there to string some performances and results together for arguably the first time this season.

A lot to be done between now and then, but the prospect of a solid transfer window, a big FA Cup 4th round tie and five or six games unbeaten on the bounce is more than a pipe dream; it’s eminently doable. Especially given that none of those goals are necessarily mutually exclusive.

Great reaction and well done to PH - got us shape spot on. After the game he referred to giving help to certain players with the formation - clearly Michee and Danny Amos - allowing them to push on with Green sitting in front of the back 3. Also allowed Harry and Otis to play ahead of John Mc - so he wasn’t back to goal so much.

I thought on the walk down that we’d finish with a clean sheet today with a Hurst brand, solid yet unambitious on the attack set-up and I wasn’t in the least bit surprised to see five at the back. Whenever we’ve had a couple of bad results in the past he’s nearly always gone back to something like this and he’s nearly always got it bang on and today was one of those days.

Much improved level of application across the pitch. An entertaining game even without many chances of goal. Impressed by the resilience after that shocker the other night. The save by Crocombe was excellent and probably was their only real chance.

More like that please.

Enjoyed todays game but did get concerned at times with only a one goal lead against a team that had being doing well. I'm not the biggest fan of Efete but I think today's formation of three at the back suited him better - a point I made on another thread recently. One thing I did notice was the long throw of Maher, something which I didn't know he possessed. Maybe not as long as Croppers' but still quite effective the closer we got to Stockport's penalty area. Even Smith had a decent throw on him as well.
The great thing about this formation is that the mid-field and front two could be tweaked without significantly changing its effectiveness - Hunt or Morris for Holo for example. Maybe Scans or Kiernan for Khan or McAtee.

Quoted from Gaffer58

If you read their forum we were lucky to get away without a 10 to nil hammering today, their excuses, excrement pitch stopped them playing their Barca style football, their whole squad are infected with some bug that prevents you from running,tackling,passing etc, our time wasting from the 3rd minute prevented them from scoring a hatful, the ref was awful, give them that one because he was awful to both teams, and we play an absolutely crap style of football. The only thing they seem to be missing is the dog excrement on the footpaths, but they’ll prude that one next season.

The sense of self-entitlement is astounding. Some of their fans have very short memories. Less than six years ago they were paddling around in Conference North with serious problems on and off the pitch. Like it or not we are acquiring bogey team status. Always thought quite well of them but the miserable bell-end hoping that we go bust needs a sharp dose of perspective.

Some very odd views from Stockport, who, for me huffed and puffed but didn’t offer much.

It’s not that long ago we did them 7-0 at BP as they hurtled in to conference north.

Massive credit to the players for a fully committed performance. Cannot have been easy after the melt down over the past couple of days. Thought everyone played well, but Holohan gets my man of the match for being everywhere and doing a lot of defensive work. Thought he was excellent,  followed by Kahn and Waterfall who marshalled the back line well.

Today shows we are a good team. Ok we had to dig in but that is were Hursts recruitment strategy really works, a team full of battles determined to keep a clean sheet. Of course we can improve going forward but after the past week today was about the best response we could have hoped for.

The players deserved criticism the other day, however today they deserve praise and everyone who hurled abuse after Salford should have the decency to say today Hurst got it spot on and the players responded.

Are we world beaters? No. Are we in any serious danger of going down? Absolutely not. This team can gain points, maybe not in the style many want but it is the basis of a very good team that in my opinion is probably two players away from being a very good team.