Just back

That decision defies belief. The while refereeing performance destroyed any flow, we had chances and the clearance off the line was illogically brilliant. People who slated Duffy on the match thread are idiots, he did okay and in fairness if you werent there you cannot comment. He was constantly being fouled, there centre back clattered him 10 times, easily! Worst players were Townsend and Soares, both dreadful.

Not sure I would describe Conor and Louie as 'dreadful', but the match as a whole was both frustrating and mundane, for the most part.

Terrible referee today. Did his best to spoil the game for all the spectators (home and away) - blew his whistle any time there was contact, didn't let it flow or use the advantage rule.

We weren't at our best today at all. Played back to front far too much up to Duffy's head. Didn't pass the ball and get our wingers in the game enough. For that reason it's difficult to assess Soares on his debut.

The Braintree goal shouldn't have been allowed. Yes the last touch of the ball came from Disley but he just flicked it after a Braintree player had passed it. It's easy to say play to the whistle, and i've just heard Miller on RH saying they should have done, but when you look across and see the linesman flagging its kind of instinct to stop.

Would have been criminal if they had held on for a win though as they were happy to waste time throughout the whole match. And you could see how delighted they were with the point after the game.

Although we didn't play that well we still had several good chances and should have won the game. Some great goalkeeping a couple of times and good defending keeping shots out. Hearn should have buried his one-on-one with his left foot, Disley was unlucky really when he surged through and the guy gets it off the line, and Hughes-Mason did all he could to slide it in but great defending got that one over the bar too.

And a very strange one to end the game the ref blows for time with their no.9 bursting into our penalty box.

Silk was my man of the match. Couldn't understand Hearn getting it although the sponsors normally just give it to goalscorers as they probably don't understand the game that well. Thought Pearson was good too and arguably outshone Miller today.

Thought we lacked a physical presence in the middle of the park today. Thanoj and Disley are quite similar players and they were up agaisnt some physically big lads today.

Duffy won a lot in the air but still doesn't offer any movement and for me Elding would be straight back in the team on Tuesday night. Duffy is a 'plan b' type player rather than someone to start games i think.

Looks like results have generally gone for us today but it'd be great to come away from Fleetwood with a win or draw on Tuesday.

We had our chances and on another day would've scored 3-4 but we didn't. On the positive side, we didn't lose and never looked like we would. We just keep going. Hearn could've scored a couple and KHM could've grabbed the winner but for some great defending.

The one off the line defied physics and Braintree should be complimented for their last ditch defending although time wasting after the first minute and little willingness to actually win is frustrating and boring.

As for the decision, it's not even worth the debate. We will all have an opinion and and it'll just get us all wound up.

Onwards to Tuesday and eldings return which I think is inevitable.

Listening to J.T while at the game today and he was bang out of order with his comments about Duffy.  Half the time when he blamed Duffy it was Hearn or Soares that lost the ball.  Dont get me wrong Duffy wasnt great, but he wasnt as bad as J.T made out.

The fact the red blew up when there guy was clean through summed everything up for me.

Quoted from Sigone

Listening to J.T while at the game today and he was bang out of order with his comments about Duffy.  Half the time when he blamed Duffy it was Hearn or Soares that lost the ball.  Dont get me wrong Duffy wasnt great, but he wasnt as bad as J.T made out.

And in turn the people not at the game cause a witch hunt for Duffy in our absence. Nice one JT.

The ref was very poor. The most frustrating thing for me was that time and time again he failed to play the advantage rule and on a few occasions he was blowing for a foul straight away when we were still in possession in a decent postion.

However, for me, he was not at fault for their goal. The first rule of football is to play to the whistle, you don't stop when you see a flag. The ball came off Disley to their player who was in an offside position and he played it to their player who was onside.

Quoted from pontoonlew

That decision defies belief. The while refereeing performance destroyed any flow, we had chances and the clearance off the line was illogically brilliant. People who slated Duffy on the match thread are idiots, he did okay and in fairness if you werent there you cannot comment. He was constantly being fouled, there centre back clattered him 10 times, easily! Worst players were Townsend and Soares, both dreadful.

Agree, very disappointed with Soares, other than winning a few headers in the first few minutes he did nothing and seemed incredibly slow, however I do think he'll prove to be a good player, Townsend's first touch just wasn't there today either. The non-offside decision was dreadful, yes the ball hit Disley on the way through to the striker but he was offside when their player first passed it, I know the defence should have played to the whistle but when a player is that far offside and the linesman's flag goes up it's natural to think the decision will be given. Also I'm not sure why our goal was disallowed, I'm guessing it was given for a foul on the keeper as he dropped the ball and the goal-line clearance was just ridiculous. Braintree's tactics were very poor constant fouling and faking injuries every few minutes. That said until they scored we offered very little but after they scored I'm not sure how we didn't go on to win it. MOTM- tough one, I'd probably say Disley.

Nothing much happened in the game until their goal. That decision was a flipping joke though, can't believe how bad football referees are sometimes.

We actually played better after that happened, it got the crowd behind the team that bit more and we had some fantastic chances to win it. Disley, Hughes-Mason and Hearn all had brilliant chances. It just wasn't to be.  

we cant blame the ref for the draw. why didnt hearn shoot with the left foot? also i think hearn reckons hes messi but he isnt. thought soares isnt match fit anyway

By golly they are a big side like middleweight v heavyweight, they were never going to compete in a flowing football match and did everything to stop us playing ably assisted by a soft ref who let shirts be pulled, elbows fly and then blew if they fell over. Apparently the Lino was flagging for offside before Disley touched the ball on the player who made the pass was offside but over ruled his linesman? But eh that's what makes football great to watch. Even though we were bullied and cheated all game we still had loads of chances and shots, that's how it goes sometimes.

That said hopefully we won't be so rusty n slow to start next game. Coulson might perform for more than 20 mins in an attacking sense, and Elding will be back to link up with Hearn. Townsend looked off the pace today but at only 18 he's done well so far. Soares ain't match fit and was closed down everytime he got the ball, but looked to shoot a few times in the first half.

Their No 3 Aswad Thomas a very good LB, one to watch maybe?

When you first play organised football at age 5,6 or 7 you are told to play to the whistle.We didnt. mcKeown didnt make any attempt to save despite the ref indicating play on several seconds earlier.

I havent seen it again but the Town player clearly played the ball to the guy who was stood in an offside position. Tommy thinks it was 'flicked' by Disley after a Braintree player made the pass. I saw it differently so be interesting to see the highlights.

The ref didnt seem to want to play any advantages either way which gave Braintree what they wanted, a disruptive game. Their gangly sub came on an committed a foul on the first 5 occasions he went near the ball, how he never got booked i dont know

We started very slowly when we really needed to play at a high tempo. We needed to play with loads of width today to pull their chunky players around, we went too narrow, too often imo.

Silk and Thanoj were my man of the match and Pearson also did well.

Duffy won virtually every header but Hearn often seemed slow to react but i am sure Duffy will get slated just the same!

Quoted from we will return

Agree, very disappointed with Soares, other than winning a few headers in the first few minutes he did nothing and seemed incredibly slow, however I do think he'll prove to be a good player, Townsend's first touch just wasn't there today either. The non-offside decision was dreadful, yes the ball hit Disley on the way through to the striker but he was offside when their player first passed it, I know the defence should have played to the whistle but when a player is that far offside and the linesman's flag goes up it's natural to think the decision will be given. Also I'm not sure why our goal was disallowed, I'm guessing it was given for a foul on the keeper as he dropped the ball and the goal-line clearance was just ridiculous. Braintree's tactics were very poor constant fouling and faking injuries every few minutes. That said until they scored we offered very little but after they scored I'm not sure how we didn't go on to win it. MOTM- tough one, I'd probably say Disley.

Duffy's goal was dissallowed because Duffy caught the ball, took the laces out , signed it then blasted it into the net! . He did ok other wise as for their goal from where we sit it looked like Disley passed the ball towards our defence so in law not offside but people have different angles and we could argue all night, in the end it was a battle which we did not deserve to draw but hey oh and Fleetwood here we come. And I thought their number 3 was outstanding.
UTMM

Disley did flick it on, and at that point I thought sickening but by the letter of the law ref was right, however it seems that the ref gave a different reason to Miller as to why he over ruled the flag. It seems the player who made the pass was flagged against before Disley touched the ball? The vagaries of footy eh!

There were some under par performers on the pitch today but I blame the managers, tactically they got it wrong today. They have an obsession with hoof ball that is detrimental to the players we have in the squad. How many times did McKeown boot it straight through to the keeper ? Even Duffy was screaming to put some air on his kicks to give him a chance. In some games this will work and in the second half today we bludgeoned ourselves into a few goalscoring positions but against a part-time lower conference side like Braintree we should have been able to show composure and technique in the middle of the park. IMO that would have seen us causing the opposition real problems for 90mins.

After seeing that hoofing the ball up to Duffy wasnt working where was Plan B? Substitutions were all far too late. If we are going to have players like of Disley, Thanoj, Coulson etc in the team why spend 90 minutes bypassing them? Its not the first time this season we have overlooked the chance to play some possession football.

The good teams in the play off spots will show this up in the coming weeks unless Smashy and Nicey accept that passing and possession  in football is a good thing.

Their player passed the ball to their striker who was offside, doesn't matter if it bounced of Disley on the way through, he's still offside.

What a messy game! Messy from town, messy refereeing, messy tactics. Ah well next game, onwards and upwards!

Braintrees left back kept them in it on several occasions, he looked like a very good full back and seemed very quick, I wouldn't mind having him in next season to replace Townsend.

Composure in midfield today was never going to happen they set out to destroy any play thru the middle, any hopes of free flowing football should have been left at home today. We were mugged n battered all game, blatant shirt pulling, deliberate fouls that should have seen yellow cards, a defender allowed to make at least 10 persistent fouls unpunished and then falls over for a free kick. We needed width today and pace and displayed little of either! That said we made every effort to battle against a much physically stronger side and created chances that in other games would have gone in and the game open up for us! One of those days I'm afraid. Well played Aswad Thomas LB, one to watch methinks!

I'm not entirely certain (and my memory may be playing tricks on me), but I thought that the pass was a sideways one which Disley then deflected. It was just very unlucky that the ball went straight to their striker who was unmarked (because he was offside) and they had another player nearby. The defence were way too slow to react after the referee waved play on, however.

That said, I don't think the managers really deserve much in the way of criticism. Despite the fact that most of the players were well below-par, we still created enough chances to win a couple of games and better finishing by a number of players would have given us the points.

We'll need to play much, much, much better against Fleetwood to get anything from the game. Hopefully, we'll have a decent referee as well.

I didn't think Duffy was too bad - better than usual, in fact.

Soares not great, but then again not match fit. Although you could say the same about Hughes-Mason, and he was a lot better.

I think we completely outplayed them, and 1 - 1 flatters them. You just get games like that sometimes.

I think I'd like to see a bit more of Hughes-Mason.  He looks interesting.

I thought Duffy was decent but isn't as mobile as Elding, so we tended to aim for his head and feed off the flicks. They were well organized but didn't threaten too much. The ref was poor for both teams in fairness, blowing for full time when they were clean through! We must improve in order to have a chance on tuesday, UTM.

Rob Scott post-match interview now on BBC for those that missed it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17163225

Quoted from alvinghammariner

]I thought Duffy was decent but isn't as mobile as Elding, so we tended to aim for his head and feed off the flicks. They were well organized but didn't threaten too much. The ref was poor for both teams in fairness, blowing for full time when they were clean through! We must improve in order to have a chance on tuesday, UTM.

You have to be kidding! Can't argue with the rest though. These tactics got us nowhere early season and seem bizarre considering the way Scott and Hurst have gone about setting out our squad. Every time Duffy (or for that matter Hearn) got the ball today from a hoof they were marked by at least two players with one more in close attendance. I'm not sure very many players playing at this level have the skill to make much out of that.

Braintree (perhaps because they were on their first visit) defended like their lives depended on it (like a lot of teams last season...). The clearance over the bar by their number 5(?) should go a long way to helping him be awarded the freedom of Braintree.  

Quoted from lowerfindus

There were some under par performers on the pitch today but I blame the managers, tactically they got it wrong today. They have an obsession with hoof ball that is detrimental to the players we have in the squad. How many times did McKeown boot it straight through to the keeper ? Even Duffy was screaming to put some air on his kicks to give him a chance. In some games this will work and in the second half today we bludgeoned ourselves into a few goalscoring positions but against a part-time lower conference side like Braintree we should have been able to show composure and technique in the middle of the park. IMO that would have seen us causing the opposition real problems for 90mins.

After seeing that hoofing the ball up to Duffy wasnt working where was Plan B? Substitutions were all far too late. If we are going to have players like of Disley, Thanoj, Coulson etc in the team why spend 90 minutes bypassing them? Its not the first time this season we have overlooked the chance to play some possession football.

The good teams in the play off spots will show this up in the coming weeks unless Smashy and Nicey accept that passing and possession  in football is a good thing.

Excellent summary....

Quoted from lowerfindus

There were some under par performers on the pitch today but I blame the managers, tactically they got it wrong today. They have an obsession with hoof ball that is detrimental to the players we have in the squad. How many times did McKeown boot it straight through to the keeper ? Even Duffy was screaming to put some air on his kicks to give him a chance. In some games this will work and in the second half today we bludgeoned ourselves into a few goalscoring positions but against a part-time lower conference side like Braintree we should have been able to show composure and technique in the middle of the park. IMO that would have seen us causing the opposition real problems for 90mins.

After seeing that hoofing the ball up to Duffy wasnt working where was Plan B? Substitutions were all far too late. If we are going to have players like of Disley, Thanoj, Coulson etc in the team why spend 90 minutes bypassing them? Its not the first time this season we have overlooked the chance to play some possession football.

The good teams in the play off spots will show this up in the coming weeks unless Smashy and Nicey accept that passing and possession  in football is a good thing.

I do see your point but Braintree totally squeezed us out in the middle, they stopped us passing and made us play into their hands at times. It was n't totally down to Hurst and Scott, we didn't have a great deal of options on the bench to change how they were playing. We needed Manny Panther in that game today, he would've totally stopped them squeezing us out wide.

  

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Yep offside regardless if it comes of one of ours take away disley and it's no different
            

Enough chances (especially at the end) to say we should've won in, but also I agreed with Rob Scott comments on the way back that we didn't really play well enough to.

Started slow and ended up chasing the game, but also felt the team (and the crowd) pressed the panic button a bit too early in the 2nd half (or was that just us getting it forward quick ?)

The complete and utter f*cking disgrace of the Braintree goal seemed to galvanise the team (cheered on by the crowd) into purposeful action - it worked and then we had more than enough chances at the death to win.

Players... Hearn a fair choice for MOM and was impressed with both full backs but no-one really played great - pretty much like the team.
Miller didn't play badly at all, but didn't look completely safe to me either tbh - got absolutely skinned for pace 1st half in one incident and a similar kind of thing happened in the 2nd - personally I would draft in somebody else for Fleetwood (then again I would rotate things anyway).

Played some nice football in parts but what's most concerning me is an inability to impose ourselves on the game early on - the balls bouncing around all over the shop at times.
What's the gameplan ? There were glimpses of joy down the flanks that suggests we might be better off using them more than playing it into a closely marked Hearn or lumping it up to Duffy every time.

I accept things might be better with Elding back but whilst the balls in the air more than I'd like(and I accept that's their style) it wasn't like we didn't win our fair share in the air. (that said just read lowerfindus's comments and he may well be right too)

Not a criticism whatsoever but I wonder if S&H realise it's not just a give all mentality the fans respect, it's also attractive passing football ?

So a bit disappointing yeah but the fact we didn't play great, missed chances and still very nearly won despite a blatant goal (that wasn't) gives enough reasons for optimism that whilst there's work to be done, all is not lost.

I'd be a lot more concerned if Scott had said we played well and hadn't said he was constantly trying to improve.
Fleetwood apart(for me if we get anything it's a whopping bonus), maybe this might be the wakeup call we need to.

Scott talked about the need for "belief" on RH.
If that stretches to controlling and dominating proceedings by imposing ourselves sooner or using a bit more guile and know-how to unlock teams then I would wholeheatedly agree.

Thomas their LB was very good. I think that it was him who twice caught Hearn for pass and stopped him.

Agree with Lowerfindus.  Not enough passing and move today.   We were not at our best.  Still created more than enough chances to win.  They defended very well with some luck (and Ref).

Sat in the UF.  My nephew said the Ref saw the offside flag for the goal but carried on. I do not quite agree with "play to the whistle".  If a player had a bad head injury (Not like a Braintree head injury that suddenly moves to the shoulder), and he was lying injured behind the Ref's back, a play would probably kick the ball into touch.  This action is not uncommon and is not playing to the whistle. There are other examples.

Agree we could have done with a more physical presence in midfield today.

Besides players mentioned I thought Coulson did not have a good game.  This meant that we were not very productive on either flank as Soares was finding his feet.

We are still unbeaten in the League since Oct. We will play worse this season and win.  Good to have Elding back on Tues.

I just think when the lino's got his flag up for what seems an eternity, players stop and it turns farcical, there's a duty for the ref to disallow it.

Quoted from Tommy

And a very strange one to end the game the ref blows for time with their no.9 bursting into our penalty box.

I've a theory on that - he felt guilty as hell !

Quoted from 1600

I just think when the lino's got his flag up for what seems an eternity, players stop and it turns farcical, there's a duty for the ref to disallow it.


I've a theory on that - he felt guilty as hell !

Doubt it, he had chances to redeem himself but kept up the daft decisons. Summed it up for me that the lot of them were inept what Disley 'kept the ball in' a ball that had easily gone a yard out of play, played in Hughes-Mason who played in Hearn who was himself a yard offside. All above board, apparently  

Quoted from pontoonlew

Doubt it, he had chances to redeem himself but kept up the daft decisons.

You're right - I'm talking about him blowing the whistle for full time !

Quoted from 1600

You're right - I'm talking about him blowing the whistle for full time !

That was flipping laughable, he did it first half too when the ball was in the air in our box.

Anyone else notice Jamie Green in the crowd today? Was sat up in the old directors area with some of the players.

All been said, ref poor, but I could not give an opinion on the offside from the Pontoon. Duffy won lots, but it's what he does with it once he's won it, that's the difference between him and Elding. Silk excellent, Pearson too, but true MoM was their LB. classy lad. Did Scott get into bother with the Ref at the end, looked like he went over to calm things down then went loopy again.

Quoted from 1600

I just think when the lino's got his flag up for what seems an eternity, players stop and it turns farcical, there's a duty for the ref to disallow it.

!

Crazy comment imo!  In that case why  have a ref, let the assistants take charge

Quoted from Tommy

Terrible referee today. Did his best to spoil the game for all the spectators (home and away) - blew his whistle any time there was contact, didn't let it flow or use the advantage rule.

We weren't at our best today at all. Played back to front far too much up to Duffy's head. Didn't pass the ball and get our wingers in the game enough. For that reason it's difficult to assess Soares on his debut.

The Braintree goal shouldn't have been allowed. Yes the last touch of the ball came from Disley but he just flicked it after a Braintree player had passed it. It's easy to say play to the whistle, and i've just heard Miller on RH saying they should have done, but when you look across and see the linesman flagging its kind of instinct to stop.



Looks like results have generally gone for us today but it'd be great to come away from Fleetwood with a win or draw on Tuesday.

Instinct for a Sunday league player or a schoolboy....not a professional footballer.

After  them beating us  5 - 0 earlier this season , they must have been ready for us to go for their throats . They must have been motivated by coming to Grimsby for the first time and by their manager . I thought it would have been a close game , but  their spoiling tactics ruined that . We were lucky, no fortunate  to get a point , but not an enjoyable game .

We just seemed to be off the boil until they were given that goal . They did what they do very well , defend at all costs , foul , play act and con the officials . If it was us we would finish up with players sent off for breaking wind .

Quoted from BlackBoots

Crazy comment imo!  In that case why  have a ref, let the assistants take charge

I mean the duty the ref has is fairness i.e. making the right decision taking into account "fairness" irrespective of technicalities.

Quoted from Maringer

I'm not entirely certain (and my memory may be playing tricks on me), but I thought that the pass was a sideways one which Disley then deflected. It was just very unlucky that the ball went straight to their striker who was unmarked (because he was offside) and they had another player nearby. The defence were way too slow to react after the referee waved play on, however.

That said, I don't think the managers really deserve much in the way of criticism. Despite the fact that most of the players were well below-par, we still created enough chances to win a couple of games and better finishing by a number of players would have given us the points.

We'll need to play much, much, much better against Fleetwood to get anything from the game. Hopefully, we'll have a decent referee as well.

.



Defo, we had more than enough chances today and with ever so slightly better finishing we'd have three points. It was always going to be a battle, i thought disley and thanoj did ok in there against bigger lads throwing their weight around and the number of more clear cut chances prove we were still the better side and they were blatantly hanging on. I can see why they have picked up a few points thus far and why they haven't been whipped by all and sundry.

The biggest problem we had today was not tactics, but a lack of urgency. We didn't move the ball quickly enough early on and were increasingly sucked into hitting the ball long to feed off Duffy's flicks. That said, we still had more than enough chances to win the game and we got something from it without playing our best. We will need to improve significantly to get anything on Tuesday night, but I reckon we should regard any positive result we might get up there as a bonus.

Quoted from barralad

You have to be kidding! Can't argue with the rest though. These tactics got us nowhere early season and seem bizarre considering the way Scott and Hurst have gone about setting out our squad. Every time Duffy (or for that matter Hearn) got the ball today from a hoof they were marked by at least two players with one more in close attendance. I'm not sure very many players playing at this level have the skill to make much out of that.

Braintree (perhaps because they were on their first visit) defended like their lives depended on it (like a lot of teams last season...). The clearance over the bar by their number 5(?) should go a long way to helping him be awarded the freedom of Braintree.  

I think Elding does better with the ball at his feet than Duffy.

I hate teams like Braintree.Big lumps who have no intention of playing football,but merely disrupt the flow of the game as much as they can to stop the opposition from getting any momentum.

From the moment Townsend got elbowed with no punishment for the offender,they knew they could get away with anything with a weak ref in charge.

We needed to move the ball quickly and use the width but they just kept committing soft fouls,pushes and pulls,with the ref stopping the game constantly while they all piled back and re-grouped.The ref didn't have a clue and was way too whistle happy for the game to flow.

Having said that,we really should have won that game with the chances we had.Just wasn't to be.

Thought KHM should have been on a lot sooner as Soares looked a little lost and slow to react to situations.Maybe match fitness,maybe a bit of nerves,but i think he was on the pitch about 15 mins too long.

Thought their left back was far and away the best player on the pitch and was very quick in thought and deed.Would look great in a Town shirt but i expect Luton will snaffle him.

Very frustrating afternoon and like the York game,not very enjoyable for me.