Sofa…

Typical Town! doom and gloom, go 1-0 down, against Promotion contenders, go and win it. We’re so frustratingly inconsistent but i’ll take it.

Didnt feel we deserved to be behind in 1st half, switched off badly for their goal, and were punished, had chances ourselves didnt take them and were denied a very clear penalty.

2nd half 2 Substitutions from the man who doesnt make any before 70 mins ( supposedly) Efete and Lloyd on. It gave emannuel the freedom down that right hand side,  first 5 of the half aside we didnt create much and Northampton did seem to be in control but then Emanuel did brilliantly down the right hand side and put a lovely ball into the box for Waterfall to power home, i hoped we wouldnt sit back and to our credit we didnt, with O Neil coming on in an attacking move, and then replay in the 92nd minute, Emmanuel ball in, and glennon of all people to head it home. Ref tried to give us heart failure with going 3 minutes over the 6 added, but we hung on just and its 3 deserved points

Credit to Paul and the side, Mcatee had a good game but Waterfall my clear man of the match

And breathe...in the long history of Town comebacks that was right up there.
First half was dull. Town could consider themselves unlucky to go in behind even without the most blatant handball you'll see this season. Half time was a poke in the eye for those who say Hurst is too rigid in his thinking. The switch to 3 at the back was exactly what was needed. It freed Emmanuel to get forward and after Town had gone close twice from Mcatee (and with everyone thinking it was another of "those days") a sublime piece of skill gave him the room to put an unmissable cross onto Waterfall's head for a deserved equaliser. Northampton didn't learn their lesson and into stoppage time he repeated the effort for any one of at least three Town players to score a winner which sent the 700 plus into apoplexy.
Just a word about the ref..abysmal.

Agree with those comments can we now put relegation to bed & find some consistency

Special mention to Waterfall thought he was a proper leader out there he seemed to be on the end of everything put in our box..

Waterfall was immense as always. Emmanuel looked rusty and he was struggling at RB, but came into the game 2nd half and showed real quality in dinking in 2 wonderful crosses. Matched them first half and one lapse at the back with errors from Maher and Amos, gifting them an easy goal. 2nd half I thought we were the better team and it would have been criminal if we hadn't have got anything from the game.

We can now rightly put the silly claims of a relegation battle to bed, we were never in it or going to be In it.

Tight game but I think we just about edged it. Emmanuel looked lost and leggy in right back in the first half and was relatively quiet until he suddenly turned it on, showing his class.

Waterfall was a colossus and my MOTM. The midfield still needs some work, they never really got on the ball and struggled but they still battled admirably. Overall it was a typical Hurst performance, I think we outworked them which was probably the difference in the end (other than Emmanuel).

That was great!  Nothing like an injury time winner away from home!

From where we were sitting we had a perfect view of the goals. Terrific work from Emmanuel. For the second one in particular he had no right to win that ball, it looked like he had been dispossessed, but he somehow reclaimed it and put is a superb delivery. Both crosses in were outstanding.

It's a large away end at Northampton and there was hardly a spare seat, what a terrific turnout!

UTM!!!!

Great to see Taylor back too. Hopefully he should be back to something near to full match fitness in time for the Southampton game.

I know we say it virtually every game but today the referee was awful, ok we ended up with 3 points but at one time I thought everything was going against us and the hand ball in the box was definitely a penalty and it’s those decisions that can make or break our season. A point would have been a fair result but to get the win it’s happy days. Thought Emmanuel was excellent today and his determination in getting the ball down the right hand side to cross for Glennon to score was a class and skill above our league . Praise to Hursty for making the substitutions that he did although a couple were enforced. Town fans were excellent and looking up the league again after a couple of disappointing results.

Nice to pick up a win after some frustrating performances again. Emmanuel looks good with the ball at his feet, both goals came from basically the same situation where he beat two and put a cross in to the back post. Perhaps a bit lucky with the second one as it seemed like they were scared to tackle him or touch him so he managed to scramble the ball through them. If I was one of the defenders I'd be eating a booking for the team before he can get a cross in and then defending a set piece at the end. I'm sure their supporters won't be happy about the defensive performance there.

Tale of two halves probably as in the first we lacked any sort of spark and needed the influential players like Waterfall who likes to lead by example to dig in and get us back in the game.

Just back to Derby...
What a fantastic vintage away performance from the Black & Whites. Nearly tore my hair out at how atrocious the officials where and was seething with their first goal which seems to have been more than a yard out of play. We looked slow and generally like we was dominated in possession and physically. Got shafted again with the most blatent penalty call you will see all season.

Credit to Paul he made the subs at half time and it changed the game. McAtee had two chances which where a whisker away in the first 5/10 mins of second half and then it went flat and I thought Northampton where going to shut up shop and take the 1-0 win. First time I've ever seen Emmanuel playing and although looked uncomfortable at right back in the second half you can tell he's miles above this level with his second half display and crossing ability. Echo what others have said about Waterfall, MOTM today and was unlucky not to have a clean sheet as he headed/kicked everything near him, absolutely lovely to see him thriving with confidence and between him and Harry for POTY I think. Another note on George Lloyd - absolutely ran his socks off for 45 mins and never let the defenders have a second.

I think that with a digging performance like that we won't be in a relegation dog-fight but it's clear that in the summer we need a few new midfielders that can grab hold of a game by the neck and dominate as I think today we was a little poor and slow in passing/getting forward. Not to dwell on what is a positive day today though and I'm proud and had a grin as wide as my face driving home..

Paul Hurst with the sh!thousing at the end aswell gave me a rye smile.

Enjoy your evening Mariners.

I agree with other summaries but must add two points of amusement. Walking back to the car the home fans were largely saying that ‘we just wanted it more’ and from the players’ reaction at the end, it was obvious that we did.
I must agree re the ref. He was such a ‘homer’ from the off, and remained consistently bad throughout even booking Glennon at the end for scoring the winner 😊  He was so weird he even used his spray to draw a 5 yard circle around a drop ball restart?!

Pleased for Glennon today I think he’s finding establishing himself in senior football a bit of a challenge and has at times had a bumpy learning curve, but the lads got heart and talent so he’ll progress for sure.

Agree with everything Hagrid said.

Few things I'll add :

Emmanuel was 100% better and so much more effective at wing back and put in 2 beautiful crosses for our goals! Efete I felt came on and slotted in very well and I felt.had a very good game. Have to agree Waterfall was emense. Even at 1-0 Waterfall was engaging with his players and motivating.

On Northampton : I felt they were poor today. All they did was hoof. Which is crazy as I rate both their strikers and can see why (when they don't just smash the ball up anywhere) they score a fair few. Their winger was rapid aswell.

Anyway, fantastic result. Utm

Apologies my post is poorly written very tired.

1 last thing.. Referee was awful, both fans booing says it all. I've also seen the handball incident on video, how did he miss that!

Can't be bothered to dissect that match right now really but absolutely class in the away end that, really needed that after Gillingham. UTM.

Quoted from Hagrid

Sofa…

Typical Town! doom and gloom, go 1-0 down, against Promotion contenders, go and win it. We’re so frustratingly inconsistent but i’ll take it.

Didnt feel we deserved to be behind in 1st half, switched off badly for their goal, and were punished, had chances ourselves didnt take them and were denied a very clear penalty.

2nd half 2 Substitutions from the man who doesnt make any before 70 mins ( supposedly) Efete and Lloyd on. It gave emannuel the freedom down that right hand side,  first 5 of the half aside we didnt create much and Northampton did seem to be in control but then Emanuel did brilliantly down the right hand side and put a lovely ball into the box for Waterfall to power home, i hoped we wouldnt sit back and to our credit we didnt, with O Neil coming on in an attacking move, and then replay in the 92nd minute, Emmanuel ball in, and glennon of all people to head it home. Ref tried to give us heart failure with going 3 minutes over the 6 added, but we hung on just and its 3 deserved points

Credit to Paul and the side, Mcatee had a good game but Waterfall my clear man of the match

Totally  agreed!!
Having been at the Gilliingham game where we lose 2-1 . Today 2nd half game a different kettle of fish
The Ref needs to revise the rule book for one .
Waterfall excellent as you say MOTM.
I thought  at 1-0 to Northampton  we were going to fold in , No we  stepped up a gear  and pulled a win out the bag .
A nice drive home cheers GTFC.
UTM

Earlier on in this post i mentioned that judging on Manny’s poor first half it was likely the system and him being out of position that was the issue…I feel completely vindicated judging by his second half performance.

typical Town, fully expected to lose 2.0 and then we turn in a performance like that.
we played really well for the first 15 then decided to stop defending and give them a goal. Might as well have called for h.t. after 30 mins coz no team was interested
half time formation switch worked really well, although felt immensely sorry for Orsi who  hadn't done much wrong. he doesn't fit in here i'm afraid - suspect he will eventually get to the right club n score a bucket full of goals
looked much more comfortable/threatening 2nd half, with emmanuel finding his mojo. he definitely wont be with us next year!
don't want to be a party pooper but thought maher struggled today with the offensive part of his game, although to be fair, there was an awful lot of urine poor play from both sides.
a deserved win and don't think I've ever seen PH so pumped up

From memory, we should have beaten Northampton at home?  We were unlucky,  I think their scorer today scored a late goal from a narrow angle,  

What goes around, comes around.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

From memory, we should have beaten Northampton at home?  We were unlucky,  I think their scorer today scored a late goal from a narrow angle,  

What goes around, comes around.

We were unlucky to not win that one at BP but they didn't equalise late, they took the lead in the second half and it was a banger. However, they went and fell on the floor for the rest of the match which allowed us to come back into it and we battered them. Wearne ran the show off the bench and JMD got the equaliser at the back post late on.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Pleased for Glennon today I think he’s finding establishing himself in senior football a bit of a challenge and has at times had a bumpy learning curve, but the lads got heart and talent so he’ll progress for sure.

This, we need to remember to have patience with these types of players, him and alex hunt have only played in around 50 professional first team games, harry cliftons played in around 200, and he's a significantly better player than he was when he was on 50 or so. Footballing ability isnt an issue for them at all just learning the mental side of the game, game management and generally how to stay consistant and take their opportunities when they play. Hopefully weve got an enviroment where we can give them proper time to do that now without a big turnaround every season. I bet many of the town greats of the 80s or 90s were similiar in their level at this point in their careers

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

This, we need to remember to have patience with these types of players, him and alex hunt have only played in around 50 professional first team games, harry cliftons played in around 200, and he's a significantly better player than he was when he was on 50 or so. Footballing ability isnt an issue for them at all just learning the mental side of the game, game management and generally how to stay consistant and take their opportunities when they play. Hopefully weve got an enviroment where we can give them proper time to do that now without a big turnaround every season. I bet many of the town greats of the 80s or 90s were similiar in their level at this point in their careers

interesting point. My fear is that both Glennon n Hunt are so far below the level that we saw first time round is that we have bought a pig in a poke with the pair of them. Hope to god Im proved wrong

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

This, we need to remember to have patience with these types of players, him and alex hunt have only played in around 50 professional first team games, harry cliftons played in around 200, and he's a significantly better player than he was when he was on 50 or so. Footballing ability isnt an issue for them at all just learning the mental side of the game, game management and generally how to stay consistant and take their opportunities when they play. Hopefully weve got an enviroment where we can give them proper time to do that now without a big turnaround every season. I bet many of the town greats of the 80s or 90s were similiar in their level at this point in their careers

What went on with Glennon after his spell with us? I thought he was really impressive and I've just looked, he didn't play a professional game for almost 2 years when he rocked up at Barrow.

He's 23 now and has under 50 league professional games under his belt! Clifton is a year older and has over 200!

I know it's sacrilege to speak positively of a certain Mr Holloway but, before covid bit and we (board and IH) totally mismanaged the situation, we played a fairly expansive and attacking brand of football in which Vernam had a free role almost, cutting inside from the left, which left Glennon open space to attack down the left wing.

I think there's clearly a player in there; he's just playing in a more rigid system compared to the one that Holloway had us playing when he was here on loan.

Also, confidence is a massive thing. Signing for us permanently, and moving across from the North West, away from your family, when you're 22/23, is a big deal. Some players manage the transition no problem, others may struggle a bit.

All players need a settling in period. Shaun Pearson's first season with us was nothing like the form he showed in subsequent seasons. Rob Jones also had a whole season where he was nothing more than average, then had a colossus season for us.

Younger players are more inconsistent generally. If he gets his head down, he'll be a top player in the EFL. He has three goals in a mid-table side, in his debut season for us. That ain't bad.

What a lovely day out at the home of the shoe makers!! Not a classic by any stretch of the imagination but no question we deserved something out of it.
We switched off for their goal instead of playing to the whistle and I thought that might be it. However, step up Mr. Josh Emmanuel with two outstanding pieces of skill. He did well to get into the by-line but the crosses for both goals were sublime.
PH mentioned our away support when discussing player recruitment recently and it was fantastic again. Beat Harrogate on Tuesday and it's breathe easy time so we can concentrate on the cup!

Quoted from Son of Cod

Can't be bothered to dissect that match right now really but absolutely class in the away end that, really needed that after Gillingham. UTM.

Funny you say that SoC. I was sat in the section just to the right of the goal that must have been full of the infamous Swindon lot. Very much between two pockets who were often singing different songs, essentially acting like a bit of a breakwater. Picked up when we scored the 2nd, mind

Didn't go....
Didn't even listen as was out and about...

However...well done to the 900+ who attended 👏👏👏

I didn’t go as I was moving my brother into his new house in Saltaire (great location for Bratfud away for me) but listened to what a rented van would allow me to on the way back. I didn’t expect anything other than a surprise win or at the very least a dour 0-0 today. It’s just so Paul Hurst to do that - and on that note congratulations to Harrogate for the seasonal double over us and the 5-0 demolition of Orient next Saturday half opens up the League Two title race.

Quoted from RichMariner

I know it's sacrilege to speak positively of a certain Mr Holloway but, before covid bit and we (board and IH) totally mismanaged the situation, we played a fairly expansive and attacking brand of football in which Vernam had a free role almost, cutting inside from the left, which left Glennon open space to attack down the left wing.

I think there's clearly a player in there; he's just playing in a more rigid system compared to the one that Holloway had us playing when he was here on loan.

Also, confidence is a massive thing. Signing for us permanently, and moving across from the North West, away from your family, when you're 22/23, is a big deal. Some players manage the transition no problem, others may struggle a bit.

All players need a settling in period. Shaun Pearson's first season with us was nothing like the form he showed in subsequent seasons. Rob Jones also had a whole season where he was nothing more than average, then had a colossus season for us.

Younger players are more inconsistent generally. If he gets his head down, he'll be a top player in the EFL. He has three goals in a mid-table side, in his debut season for us. That ain't bad.

This is such an important point and rarely gets mentioned here.  It’s no coincidence that our best players are the ones who have had several seasons of 40+ games.  At our level, even if we want to sign established players, it’s hard to get them to come so PH has to take a chance on people who have shown promise but maybe lost their way, and then nurture them to success.  McAtee is a great example.  We have loads of players in the squad with limited games behind them but if we can build from here, we could start to have less squad turnover every season and build some seasoned pros.

A Cobblers fan on the BBC site:

“Emmanuel’s 2 assists were sublime.  And the Mariners vocal support was the loudest at Sixfields this season”.

We were good both on and off the pitch. The support was incredible, given our poor run of form.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

A Cobblers fan on the BBC site:

“Emmanuel’s 2 assists were sublime.  And the Mariners vocal support was the loudest at Sixfields this season”.

We were good both on and off the pitch. The support was incredible, given our poor run of form.

It's funny because in truth I felt we (the fans) have been so much better and louder. I guess that's high expectations from what is a truly magnificent set of fans. Well done to everyone that travelled, fantastic numbers.

Terrific atmosphere in the away end.  I also enjoyed some good banter with Northampton fans before and after the game. Which is as it should be. True football fans wanting their team to win but respecting each other. One Cobblers fan spoke to me on the way to the car park and said we deserved the win and that we were better team on the day.

My opinion is that both teams were pretty poor at times, needlessly giving the ball away and we seemed to be constantly kicking into touch at one stage.

It was a fairly even game. They had a their best spell in the first half of the second half after McAtee's two attempts at goal. They did look good for a while then, but otherwise there was really nothing between the sides. It may be that they had a bit of an off day, but given that Northampton are fourth in the table, you have to say that we don't seem a mile away from them in terms of quality even though we were not at our best either.

The guy in the ticket booth told me he had seen Ben Fox on crutches in the morning. Looks like he may had done his achilles, and could be out for the rest of the season. He said he had been their best player so far this season. I asked him about the rumours that he was on £5k a week. He said definitely not. They had one player on £4k, (not Fox) and most of the rest were on between £2k to £2,5k a week so he thought Fox would be on less than £3k a week. Which makes you wonder what our offer was to him.    

Forgot to mention Owen Gallagher last night. Clearly not fully match fit, in fact he looked like he was blowing in the warm up. However, I thought he had a decent debut and PH may just have uncovered a good one. Has some pace and strength so hopefully he'll make a good contribution for the rest of the season

Quoted from buckstown

Forgot to mention Owen Gallagher last night. Clearly not fully match fit, in fact he looked like he was blowing in the warm up. However, I thought he had a decent debut and PH may just have uncovered a good one. Has some pace and strength so hopefully he'll make a good contribution for the rest of the season

Was just going to ask about him.

Quoted from RonMariner

Terrific atmosphere in the away end.  I also enjoyed some good banter with Northampton fans before and after the game. Which is as it should be. True football fans wanting their team to win but respecting each other. One Cobblers fan spoke to me on the way to the car park and said we deserved the win and that we were better team on the day.

My opinion is that both teams were pretty poor at times, needlessly giving the ball away and we seemed to be constantly kicking into touch at one stage.

It was a fairly even game. They had a their best spell in the first half of the second half after McAtee's two attempts at goal. They did look good for a while then, but otherwise there was really nothing between the sides. It may be that they had a bit of an off day, but given that Northampton are fourth in the table, you have to say that we don't seem a mile away from them in terms of quality even though we were not at our best either.

The guy in the ticket booth told me he had seen Ben Fox on crutches in the morning. Looks like he may had done his achilles, and could be out for the rest of the season. He said he had been their best player so far this season. I asked him about the rumours that he was on £5k a week. He said definitely not. They had one player on £4k, (not Fox) and most of the rest were on between £2k to £2,5k a week so he thought Fox would be on less than £3k a week. Which makes you wonder what our offer was to him.    

Probably similar, but (without wanting to reopen a 300 page thread) location would have been a factor.

He was amazing in the play-offs for us and I'd wish him well with his injury, but he does seem a bit prone in that respect, unlike (touching wood) one of our own. Think I'd rather have our own...

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

A Cobblers fan on the BBC site:

“Emmanuel’s 2 assists were sublime.  And the Mariners vocal support was the loudest at Sixfields this season”.

We were good both on and off the pitch. The support was incredible, given our poor run of form.

Credit to the travelling  faithful nice to hear it from someone the otherside the fence!
UTM

Quoted from buckstown

Forgot to mention Owen Gallagher last night. Clearly not fully match fit, in fact he looked like he was blowing in the warm up. However, I thought he had a decent debut and PH may just have uncovered a good one. Has some pace and strength so hopefully he'll make a good contribution for the rest of the season

yeah, it wasn't a 'wow' debut by any means but he worked hard and didn't look out of place. Surprised how he struggled with the fitness, as I thought he's played quite a few games this season

ps anyone else notice O'Neill's hilariously bad cameo? - he manged to stand on the ball, have a couple of clearances that he completely missed and the other 3 or 4 touches were all shanks!

Pleased to see that our win also got the recognition and coverage in the papers today that it deserved.

The Sunday Times only had one photo in its reports of Div 1 and Div 2 matches.  They rightly picked Luke Waterfall for this honour. 🤙

They also started their coverage of  Div 2 with our win, which was also the longest report.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Pleased to see that our win also got the recognition and coverage in the papers today that it deserved.

The Sunday Times only had one photo in its reports of Div 1 and Div 2 matches.  They rightly picked Luke Waterfall for this honour. 🤙

They also started their coverage of  Div 2 with our win, which was also the longest report.

Due to the early kick off, the journo reels off the lower leagues report early and gets to the pub. The sports editor probably was a bit miffed - “where’s your report on Wrexham’s injury time winner?”

Felt Gallagher was steady but much prefer Glennon and Emmanuel as Full backs myself.

O'Niell didn't have much time to get in the game, also he was brought on out of position so fair play to him for giving it a go!

Quoted from lukeo

Felt Gallagher was steady but much prefer Glennon and Emmanuel as Full backs myself.

O'Niell didn't have much time to get in the game, also he was brought on out of position so fair play to him for giving it a go!

Gallagher didnt play full back yesterday

Ho'way Vernham fans, it's Gallacher  ;)

Quoted from immariner

Funny you say that SoC. I was sat in the section just to the right of the goal that must have been full of the infamous Swindon lot. Very much between two pockets who were often singing different songs, essentially acting like a bit of a breakwater. Picked up when we scored the 2nd, mind

I wasn't a million miles away from you in that case, was on Row C about in line with the top right of the goal battling to see through the net for most of the match. Decent atmosphere behind the goal but yeah I did notice that the blocks to the far right weren't always in unison with us. Fair play to the guy that was running along the front of the stand trying to orchestrate Oh When the Town Go Steaming In for a good 5-10 minutes!

Quoted from Son of Cod

I wasn't a million miles away from you in that case, was on Row C about in line with the top right of the goal battling to see through the net for most of the match. Decent atmosphere behind the goal but yeah I did notice that the blocks to the far right weren't always in unison with us. Fair play to the guy that was running along the front of the stand trying to orchestrate Oh When the Town Go Steaming In for a good 5-10 minutes!

Yes the "GFB!" (Please do not ask me to elaborate - Not want to offend!)
Was amusing i to was right hand side row D -29 i felt i was in the middle of  2 noisy areas but we  did come together as a stand
To belt out support etc,and at the end when the team came over to "Salute the travelling  faithful)
UTM

Also quite passive stewarding allowing the aisles to be full of standing fans for most of game.

Emmanuel's crosses for the 2 goals were of a championship quality, unbelievable balls, straight on the heads of Waterfall & Glennon.
Once he got to RWB, he become a class above, some player.

Waterfall MOTM, we keep saying it, but he's come a million miles since that relegation season, what a leader.

Back to work today in Cobbler land - spoke
To a couple who go regularly to Sixfields - who both spoke of how rowdy we was - and always are when we visit - was also impressed with our battling never say die attitude - especially McAtee who unfortunately is no longer a GTFC player - and also spoke very highly of a certain Mr Waterfall

I’ve not heard much about him but I also thought Lloyd was excellent when he came on at half time. Didn’t think Orsi had done bad first half, but Lloyd was a real menace to their back line and scrapped for everything, even winning some headers against much bigger opposition.

Great to see Taylor back though.