Taken from Twitter:

"I'm sorry for my performance tonight hold my hands up miles off it"

Fair play to him.

We go again.

Period of time out the starting 11 is needed. Pearson was quality last Tuesday and deserves a run in the team.

Thought Boyce looked a pretty decent player for us during his loan spells, but he's not played a lot of football since then so not perhaps surprising he's been out of sorts.

Even if Pearson comes into the team as first choice, I don't doubt Boyce will have a big part to play this season so let's hope he can cut out the mistakes and become more like the player we saw a year or two back.

He's not exactly had great reviews from the League Two sides who've had him has he? Hope he can improve because Hurst obviously likes him enough to be a starter. I'd definitely be looking for another option if PH can produce one though.

Quoted from Belfast Town

Taken from Twitter:

"I'm sorry for my performance tonight hold my hands up miles off it"

Fair play to him.

We go again.

No. Sorry. Apology not accepted, you play shite, you et dropped and you certainly don't gloat with your new Merc onTwatter.

Weird how he's been viewed as shite in L2 but was well thought of in L1 with Scunny. Also, 'gloating on Twitter'? Car company takes picture with very minor local celeb and puts it on Twitter, hardly gloating is it.

Dear me,apologising on Twitter :-/

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No. Sorry. Apology not accepted, you play shite, you et dropped and you certainly don't gloat with your new Merc onTwatter.

You'd have probably kicked off if he hadn't said sorry TBH.

Boyce was subbed before half time for two reasons ,

1, He was very poor tonight,

2, The ref had already booked him and was looking if he was going to send him off after another couple of bad tackles,

The ref was crap btw

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No. Sorry. Apology not accepted, you play shite, you et dropped and you certainly don't gloat with your new Merc onTwatter.

He's clearly had a bad game but at least he's held his hand up and apologised. There's no need for comments like that. Get a grip

Fair do's to him, it wasn't that he tried to play so badly, and credit to PH fior acting quickly, he could easily have waited until half time and risked a sending off

It's a decent thing for Boyce to say. And to be fair he wasn't the only one ball watching and playing 'after you Claude' for their 2nd and 3rd goals.

On the way back my son read something from JT saying the coach had been delayed so the pre-match meal was missed. That may account for the shocking performance in the first half.

Yeh but how can a league centre half play so badly - he just stood and watched as the ball bounced in the box and it was smashed in for their second Never ever in all my years watching Town seen a centre half subbed 10 minutes before half time

So it's Ok for him to be responsible for Wycombes winner on Saturday and his performance last night as long as he says sorry?

Isn't that the whole point of saying sorry, that he has taken responsibility?

Fact is, he'll probably be dropped on Saturday, but that's the managers responsibility.

At least he acknowledges that he is wrong - many of the mercenaries that took us to non-league were only interested in a pay cheque and didn't care about a bad performance!

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No. Sorry. Apology not accepted, you play shite, you et dropped and you certainly don't gloat with your new Merc onTwatter.

We all make mistakes.Learn from them and try to move on for the better

Quoted from MuddyWaters

No. Sorry. Apology not accepted, you play shite, you et dropped and you certainly don't gloat with your new Merc onTwatter.

Love old people whinging about "Twatter".

Just accept it mate.

He did not need to apologise, the fact that he did means he cares IMO, he will be Ok but does not need to seen as automatic choice.
Persons turn now, done nothing wrong and deserves a start

Perhaps it was summed up by a Hartlepool fan who said that he'd seen milk turn faster.

Fair enough, he's apologised.

But why is nobody asking why Boyce was playing in the first place? We lost at Wycombe (albeit playing pretty crap) because the defence was ball watching. Boyce isn't the only culprit but he has been the weakest member of that defence and culpable of letting attackers get behind him. Pearson has played well when he has had the chance so you have to ask why was it Boyce and not Pearson out there to start with last night?

It's not as if last night was a sudden blip from a player who has been playing out of his skin for weeks is it? The signs of poor form have been quite noticeable to everyone prior to Colchester.  OK, the manager was ruthless after half an hour but if he'd been ruthless before the start we might not have had so much of a  mountain to climb.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Fair enough, he's apologised.

But why is nobody asking why Boyce was playing in the first place? We lost at Wycombe (albeit playing pretty crap) because the defence was ball watching. Boyce isn't the only culprit but he has been the weakest member of that defence and culpable of letting attackers get behind him. Pearson has played well when he has had the chance so you have to ask why was it Boyce and not Pearson out there to start with last night?

I think a few of us are asking. I'm bemused as to why Pearson has had such a long stint on the bench.

Quoted from Grantley

Weird how he's been viewed as shite in L2 but was well thought of in L1 with Scunny. Also, 'gloating on Twitter'? Car company takes picture with very minor local celeb and puts it on Twitter, hardly gloating is it.

Why isn't he still at Scunny then?

I agree. Boyce isnt a player I particularly rate and I think it's become evident that we need a better defender, underlined last night. Pearson hasn't done anything wrong and should've played IMO.

I really do hope we can sign a quality CB before the end of the month because it's much needed, as is another striker - both acknowledged by Hurst.

I just have this nagging additional feeling that we need a better centre midfielder too. A winner. Mobile and athletic.

Gone up a league and swapping toto for boyce is a step backwards imo.

As much as i like boyce he might be a decent option from the bench if needed but we are desperate for a defender with league experience to raise the confidence back there.

I think all our central defenders are good enough but we need someone in to help them.

Problem with central midfield is that, once again, they are all pretty much one-paced. Disley is still great in the air and will get up and down the pitch all game, Berrett and Summerfield have some ability and McAllister looks competent, but none of them have a burst of pace over a couple of yards which can make a real difference in the middle.

I think Boyce has more pace than Pearson so is seen as having more potential. Truth be told, he looks to have bulked up quite a bit from his previous loan spells to me and this doesn't seem to have improved his game in any way.

Hurst obviously sees a lot in him but Pearson should certainly come into the team if Boyce is in poor form.

I remember rob Jones didn't particularly start well with us first season ... Let's give him a chance before we destroy him I'm still hopeful about him

Quoted from chaos33

I agree. Boyce isnt a player I particularly rate and I think it's become evident that we need a better player, underlined last night. Pearson hasn't done anything wrong and should've played IMO.

I really do hope we can sign a quality CB before the end of the month because it's much needed, as is another striker - both acknowledged by Hurst.

I just have this nagging additional feeling that we need a better centre midfielder too. A winner. Mobile and athletic.

I actually think that midfield addition could be the most important, we are distinctly lacking energy in the middle of the park.

Surely a left sided midfielder, along with a pacy centre half are the most urgent requirements? even if you sign another forward and a battling centre mid you're still going to have alop sided midfield with a square peg in around hole. berrett is already reminding me of our league version of Mclaughlin

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Gone up a league and swapping toto for boyce is a step backwards imo.

As much as i like boyce he might be a decent option from the bench if needed but we are desperate for a defender with league experience to raise the confidence back there.

I think all our central defenders are good enough but we need someone in to help them.

It wasn't the club's choice though, Toto decided to leave. Boyce might have come anyway, who knows, I don't recall many people complaining when we signed him.When you sign 15 players or whatever it was there are bound to be some that don't make the grade. Having said all that it's far too early to condemn him as useless!

Quoted from forza ivano

Surely a left sided midfielder, along with a pacy centre half are the most urgent requirements? even if you sign another forward and a battling centre mid you're still going to have alop sided midfield with a square peg in around hole. berrett is already reminding me of our league version of Mclaughlin

We need a central player that allows us to play 2 wingers, Berrett could be quality alongside a real athletic ball winner

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Fair enough, he's apologised.

But why is nobody asking why Boyce was playing in the first place? We lost at Wycombe (albeit playing pretty crap) because the defence was ball watching. Boyce isn't the only culprit but he has been the weakest member of that defence and culpable of letting attackers get behind him. Pearson has played well when he has had the chance so you have to ask why was it Boyce and not Pearson out there to start with last night?

.

Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.Eg for one is a good header of the ball.Having said that I think of Pearson,Boyce and Gowling Gowling is the best from what Ive seen. Athletic and reads the game well

I guess you cant win with some people.

He had a bad game, held his hands up , admitted it isnt good enough and took responsibility for his performance. Yet one or two still dont accept it.

Boyce looked a bit shaky in pre-season and has started the season below par as well. He knows he has to be better or wont be in the starting line up.

It's up to him to roll his sleeves up and continue to work hard in training and improve. We know from his previous spells at  the club that he is capable of much better.

Hurst sees him every day in training and will decide who plays the next game. If that's Pearson then fine.

I think Gowling,Boyce  & Pearson are all decent solid centre halves. All have plenty of experience. Dan Jones can also play there. Do we need another ? I dont know tbh. What we do need is to work on our defensive play in training because as a team we are conceding quite a few goals (as we did in pre-season) and look suspect at set plays. That certainly needs more work on the training ground regardless of who plays.

Quoted from BottesfordMariner

Hurst sees him every day in training and will decide who plays the next game. If that's Pearson then fine.

I think Gowling,Boyce  & Pearson are all decent solid centre halves. All have plenty of experience. Dan Jones can also play there. Do we need another ? I dont know tbh. What we do need is to work on our defensive play in training because as a team we are conceding quite a few goals (as we did in pre-season) and look suspect at set plays. That certainly needs more work on the training ground regardless of who plays.

Only problem being that Boyce is playing the same strikers/ midfielders on a daily basis in training and you soon pick up what they are doing and can read them a mile off ,making it look easy.
Face upto someone you have never played before then its a case of doing the basics properly...which he clearly hasnt been doing through pre season or so far in the League IMO.
Pearson IMO does the basics better, he doesnt need to be fancy or overthink the game, he just defends his man.

Quoted from moosey_club

Only problem being that Boyce is playing the same strikers/ midfielders on a daily basis in training and you soon pick up what they are doing and can read them a mile off ,making it look easy.
Face upto someone you have never played before then its a case of doing the basics properly...which he clearly hasnt been doing through pre season or so far in the League IMO.
Pearson IMO does the basics better, he doesnt need to be fancy or overthink the game, he just defends his man.

I wasn't there last night so can't say for sure, but weren't Town using some kind of zonal marking for set pieces rather than taking a man and sticking to him

I'm sure that's what Cockers said on the commentary and our comeback after half time was to some extent as a result of ditching that tactic, which probably helped Pearson after he came on but worked against Boyce while he was out there?   :-/

Quoted from GrimRob

It wasn't the club's choice though, Toto decided to leave. Boyce might have come anyway, who knows, I don't recall many people complaining when we signed him.When you sign 15 players or whatever it was there are bound to be some that don't make the grade. Having said all that it's far too early to condemn him as useless!

Never said he was useless rob just that we need someone to restore the confidence with the know how.

I like boyce just not sure he could or should be a starter for us.

Quoted from Rick12

Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.Eg for one is a good header of the ball.Having said that I think of Pearson,Boyce and Gowling Gowling is the best from what Ive seen. Athletic and reads the game well

Pearson is a much, much better header of the ball than Boyce. He is far more dominant aerially. His problems come from a lack of mobility.

Quoted from Rick12

Maybe because Boyce has better innate qualities than Pearson.

From what I've seen this is not true. For one, he seems like he can get bullied in the air, and when he does win them they seem to go straight out of play. Not sure you can say he's better at heading than Pearson.

Quoted from jonnyboy82

Gone up a league and swapping toto for boyce is a step backwards imo.

Well if it's any consolation, Hartlepool have leaked the same amount of league goals with Toto playing.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

I wasn't there last night so can't say for sure, but weren't Town using some kind of zonal marking for set pieces rather than taking a man and sticking to him

I'm sure that's what Cockers said on the commentary and our comeback after half time was to some extent as a result of ditching that tactic, which probably helped Pearson after he came on but worked against Boyce while he was out there?   :-/

No mate. No zonal marking. Saw them trying to organise man for man. We just weren't marking much at all, defenders midfielders alike. I think Boyce's jitters got to everyone. We don't look good as a unit without the ball. Gowling and Davies got tight to their men but the others were all over the place with Danny Andrew often been left with two men. Our defending from midfield was non-existent at times. No leaders, no organisation.

Personally I think Pearson is the better of the two. He would be my pick. The guy is much more commanding, and will stick his self in even if he knows he'll get a good clonking.
Also, I think Boyce has looked a bit nervous in the games I've seen (Morecambe, Derby and Colchester)
After getting dropped last year I think Shaun deserves some time in the team.

Quoted from Mariner1980

Personally I think Pearson is the better of the two. He would be my pick. The guy is much more commanding, and will stick his self in even if he knows he'll get a good clonking.
Also, I think Boyce has looked a bit nervous in the games I've seen (Morecambe, Derby and Colchester)
After getting dropped last year I think Shaun deserves some time in the team.

I get the impression Hurst wants to play it out from the back and feels Boyce and Gowling are better at this than Pearson.

Personally i think first and foremost we need to defend and for that reason alone I would go with Pearson. We need a Justin Whittle type who just put the ball in the stand with the thought that they 'can't score from there'!

I personally think Pearson has added a little more to his game and has been looking to play it out, even run it forward at times whereas Boyce to me seems solid but often doesn't consider anything other than putting it into touch.
We were expecting to lose Shaun to the League 2 years ago and were relieved when he signed, didn't expect him to be 3rd choice at any stage.

Quoted from Cloudy

I get the impression Hurst wants to play it out from the back and feels Boyce and Gowling are better at this than Pearson.

Personally i think first and foremost we need to defend and for that reason alone I would go with Pearson. We need a Justin Whittle type who just put the ball in the stand with the thought that they 'can't score from there'!

I like the fact that Hurst thinks like that.Eg its all well and good lumping it but there is a time and a place.Ive seen games against lower v higher opposition and the team that held on to it better  literally tired out the other team(eg the lower team) and winning the game comfortably in the process  .

Quoted from RoboCod

I personally think Pearson has added a little more to his game and has been looking to play it out, even run it forward at times whereas Boyce to me seems solid but often doesn't consider anything other than putting it into touch.
We were expecting to lose Shaun to the League 2 years ago and were relieved when he signed, didn't expect him to be 3rd choice at any stage.

The nature of the game though is things change eg injurys/loss of form/inconsistency etc .Hopefully Pearson does get a run out when the time is right.

Quoted from Rick12

The nature of the game though is things change eg injurys/loss of form/inconsistency etc .Hopefully Pearson does get a run out when the time is right.

Sure, that's fair enough, but does Boyce, a little rusty himself, signify a better choice than a possibly out of sorts Pearson is the question.
We're a bit light in some areas of the squad, that is becoming ever more clear just 3 games in.

He knows he had a bad game,the fans know he had a bad game,the squad knows he had a bad game,the manager knows he had a bad game, the Colchester fans know he had a bad game,even the kid who serves the tea and pies knows he had a bad game.

The question is what is he going to do about it? Dwelling on it won't help anything he needs to pull himself together I don't even think he's a bad player his head just doesn't seem to be in it right now for whatever reason and he's so shaky.

Scunny always send us their best players ?   THey sure wouldn't want us getting close to them in the league ... Imagine their shiny new stadium with 3000 in it ?   They need the Swaying fans to go watch them in lg1/championship , otherwise they could be the next darlington ??? I'd send Vose back now

Quoted from RoboCod

Sure, that's fair enough, but does Boyce, a little rusty himself, signify a better choice than a possibly out of sorts Pearson is the question.
We're a bit light in some areas of the squad, that is becoming ever more clear just 3 games in.

I feel Pearson gives you more commitment

Quoted from Rick12

I feel Pearson gives you more commitment

There has to be a gay relationship joke in there somewhere ;)

Quoted from Bigdog

No mate. No zonal marking. Saw them trying to organise man for man. We just weren't marking much at all, defenders midfielders alike. I think Boyce's jitters got to everyone. We don't look good as a unit without the ball. Gowling and Davies got tight to their men but the others were all over the place with Danny Andrew often been left with two men. Our defending from midfield was non-existent at times. No leaders, no organisation.

Cheers Bigdog

As I wasn't there I could only imagine what the defensive issues were from what I got from the commentary

Always room for differing views so appreciate you telling me how you saw things

UTM

Quoted from forza ivano

There has to be a gay relationship joke in there somewhere ;)

no  ;D

Matter of opinion but I was there and Deffo looked zonal first half. We just stood across the 6 yard line, but narrow.

For example, big no 5 had yards of space every time, Danny Andrew looked at him but never went to him man on man

Quoted from lee65

Matter of opinion but I was there and Deffo looked zonal first half. We just stood across the 6 yard line, but narrow.

For example, big no 5 had yards of space every time, Danny Andrew looked at him but never went to him man on man

Agree. It certainly was zonal marking in the first half

Could not go last night as I got stuck the wrong side of London at 6.30ish........ Fuckin meetings???

Well done Andy for coming out with real honesty on Twitter, well done to our fans for the positivity that Andy Boyce has received in response from the GTFC fans.  

He and we will come back I am 100% sure.

UTM!!!

Fair play to the lad for trying to be honest.

He was dogshit last night so should be dropped, but give the bloke a break.

He was awesome for us before.

Support him, not kill him

Quoted from RoboCod

I personally think Pearson has added a little more to his game and has been looking to play it out, even run it forward at times whereas Boyce to me seems solid but often doesn't consider anything other than putting it into touch.
We were expecting to lose Shaun to the League 2 years ago and were relieved when he signed, didn't expect him to be 3rd choice at any stage.

Thoughts similar to this, I have only seen Pearson carry the ball into the opposition half when theres space in front of him when theres no simple foeward pass out of our cbs this last couple of seasons, he is far from a hoof merchant and believe he is the best footballer out of the current 3

i see pearson a little like lever, 100%town

I hope it is Boyce and not some hacker  ;)

Quoted from bobbyturtle

i see pearson a little like lever, 100%town

I was likening him to Lever in a conversation I had with someone earlier (no, not myself  ;D)
I used to like him a lot, good, no pissing about centre half.

I hope Andy Boyce can get his "mojo" back. We need him firing on all cylinders. He has not seemed right leading up to the start of the season. In pre-season I put it down to the fact that he had not played much football at Scunthorpe and was rusty. Now I am not sure and there is something not quite right. Problem has been that because he has had a bad time it also effects the defence as a unit. We know he can be a good player, so good luck Andy in your efforts to  get your form back.

Someone posted Hurst might've been picking Boyce/Gowling to help us play out from the back.

The most I've seen us play out from the back so far this season was at Derby when Pearson was in the team.

From what I've seen Gowling and Boyce are just hoofing it as far as possible. And whenever they're under pressure it usually goes out of play. Even when they're just clearing the ball, they usually smash it out of play on occasions where you could still try and direct a clearance forwards.

I thought Pearson would get found out at League 2 level but I'd have kept him in the team after his performance at Derby and I'd definitely have him over Boyce (as I'm sure will be Hurst's call this Saturday).