Just back

Well - I do only live round the corner.

What to say. First half  er.., can't remember. Probably a good thing too.

Second half, both teams came out and looked more positive but we clearly had the edge without looking spectacular. As the game went on we started to look more and more dangerous with Colbeck getting in some excellent crosses.
Cook and Pearson didn't have much of a game up front, and we looked a far better prospect when Elding then Soares came on. Despite blazing a good chance past the post, Elding seemed to make all the difference for me.

We looked like we were going to score and surprisingly enough we did. We had good possesion round the box a few times before indecision gave the ball away too many times, Thomas was played the ball and looked to have lost it to two defenders when he somehow managed to get a toe to it and get through and put in a decent cross for Disley to stick it in.
It was no less than we deserved. Southport looked pretty poor to me and not a top 7 team that they were last year.

As ever, the script says we score and then sit too deep for the opposition to equalise. It was pretty much all Southport for the rest of the game but they lacked any guile or skill and for a few minutes I started to believe we'd get the win. The defence with Pond dropping deep looked rock solid and won pretty much everything in the air. Pond looked pretty good for the most part, but he did make a couple of errors for which I think we should let him off in his first game.

Then (I think it was Wood) tried to shepherd a ball out for a goal kick and bizarrely tried to rugby tackle the Southport player to give away a free kick. Then we know what happens next. Their first attempt at goal of any significance was scored. Shame about it really, as Wood had a pretty good game for me. He cleaned out their winger a few times and was rounded only once that I recall.

Overall, I'd have to say that we looked like a pretty strong team that clearly wasn't playing at its best. I think we can expect to see a good few home games again where we really turn over the opposition and there's lots to look forward to.

Today was 2 points dropped for sure, but I'm still confident of our chances this year.

Pretty much agree with the above. Pearson and Cook were fine holding the ball up back to goal, but once they turned there was nothing.
Elding made a big difference.
Pearson was outstanding, Wood was until he cocked up in the 87th minute. Pond was was well off the pace but got better. We still need a dynamic midfielder.
Southport offered nothing and we should have beaten them.

I´m sick and tired of us getting a goal and sitting back. We need to take the initiative and go for it. We have better players than most teams in this league and Southport are part time, we should be fitter than them. If we went for the kill and gave them problems at their end, they´re much less likely to cause us problems at our end.

Very disappointed with the goal against.

I thought it was a scrappy game. Can't not of the life of me understand WHY miller was dropped for pond..? Miller and pearson have been brilliant together. Pond only trained once with the squad and that showed. Very shaky ever header was headed down into the ground rather than high and far..

For me Bradley wood was superb today my MOM the attitude and commitment from the lad was second to none..
S pearson played very well won everything in air as you would expect..

Derek Niven runs around a lot but to me seems to just keep running away from the ball and when he does get it just hooks it long.

Disley was he playing? Apart from the goal was non existant.. Come on Craig your captain lead from the front.

Franky was ok. Turned to many crosses down. On the ball he was very neat.

Colbeck did ok first half spent to much inside rather than wide. When he stayed wide a ran at the left back he caused problems..

G pearson to me looks ok but unfit. Never looks to get in behind and can't win nothing in the air, looks as tho he don't want to get hurt. Him and cook played to far apart..

Cook won almost every header hold the ball up ok. Again never looked to go In behind at all. Looked very leggy.

Subs- thought elding made a massive differance when he came on had desire energy and showed a great attitude towards not starting. Watching him warm up even encouraging the players from the side. He had a header that should have been put back across goal he knew as soon as he headed it I think he thought the defender was gonna get a nick, he made 2 great runs across the front of the keeper one where wood put in a fantastic cross only for the keeper to just gather, the other the keeper just got a touch away from him, in a result of that run keeper touched it into Disley path..

Soars did well played things simple.

Other all happy ish with a point.

Look forward to winning ways at home Tuesday..

A stupid free kick to give away by Wood. Thought the selection might bite us, and it did. In some respects, it's same old Town.

Despite having not seen any of the pre season games I was a little surprised at the selection.

We largely dominated the game. First half we had uch mor eof the play but didnt create anything. G pearson seemed to come in for some heavy treatment from the home defence and I have to say i was disapointed with Cook who many posted had been very good in pre season.

Colbeck seemed a typical wide man in that he did some excellent things, a couple of superb crosses then disappeared for half an hour.

Impressed by Thomas. Did well defensively and when he started to get forward more looked excellent and created our goal.

Shocking decision by Wood to conceed the free kick. Concentrate of the ball and not the man. Stupid free kick to give away 3 mins from the end. That should cost him his starting place for Tuesday but why wasnt Grand picked up. He is a big lump and should never be allowed an unchallenged header in the middle of the six yard box!

Mckeown did well enough, had no chance with the goal but frankly i cannot recall him having to make any save
Wood- all his good work was undone by a moment of total stupidity
Pond- very shaky to start with but improved as it went on.
S Pearson. My man of the match. Dominant
Thomas- very close to man of the match
Colbeck- flashes of excellence
Niven- did a lot of unselfish work for the team. Distribution not great. Had one great effort headed away which nearly killed the defender
Disley. Busy, looked fitter than last season. Easy goal and a good celebration with the crowd
Artus. Started well but drifted out of the game in 2nd half
G Pearson- looked decent in flashes but no real goal threat
Cook- struggled to get into the game at all

Subs
Elding- we looked better once he came on but shoudl have scored with a free header at far post. Didnt even hit the target
Soares- only had a few min

We were the better side but we need to be more clinical and we need to concentrate for 90 minutes in defence!

Hullberside said that Miller's wife is about to give birth imminently.

Unreal some of you lot... I take it none of you have made a mistake??? A point at Southport isn't ideal but it'll do to start the season off... Give it a few games, at least, before we start writing the season off...

Quoted from SlouchyMetal

Hullberside said that Miller's wife is about to give birth imminently.

Is JT going to do commentary?

We had real problems against all the teams above us for most of last season. Make no mistake about it, Town were far superior to Southport, and bar one moment of madness would have had 3 points in the bag, which would have been justified. Glad I backed the draw before hand with Paddy Power at 21/10, which were very good odds for what was always going to be a tight match.

Thing is, we have supposedly the best left back in the league and other best defenders ect but we still make basic mistakes

It wasn't the left back who made the mistake was it. It was the right back. Other than that, you're right....stupid, basic mistake,

Quoted from aaron rattray

Thing is, we have supposedly the best left back in the league and other best defenders ect but we still make basic mistakes

Whoever thinks we have the best defenders in the league dosn't know much about the other teams in our league.

A point away from home, first game of the season is a good start and I would have taken it if offered before the game. Now bring on the wins at home for 7 points from 9!

Quoted from voice of reason

Unreal some of you lot... I take it none of you have made a mistake??? A point at Southport isn't ideal but it'll do to start the season off... Give it a few games, at least, before we start writing the season off...

I don't think anyone is writing the season off, but in the context of the game it's a hard result to take. Town only have themselves to blame for pissing away 3 points there.

Absolutlely. I though Rob Scott was quite magnanimous in his comments. Personally, I'm drunk off that a player who has been known for rash challenges and indiscipline, makes the same mistake AGAIN, needlessly giving away a dangerous free-kick that led to an undeserved equaliser. This lesson should have been well learned by this player now. You want to believe that this is a new team and that old mistakes have been erraidicated, but to sit deep, make an error like this and concede the inevitable late equaliser from a winning position is sickening in my book, even though it is a decent result on paper.

Quoted from voice of reason

Unreal some of you lot... I take it none of you have made a mistake??? A point at Southport isn't ideal but it'll do to start the season off... Give it a few games, at least, before we start writing the season off...

More stupidity than a mistake. Wood was man of the match in my opinion

Just got in, overall i thought we defended over the course of 87 minutes very well, one silly mistake and we draw. But i think a part of the reason i think we defended so well as a unit was because of how deep nivern and disley were playing, thats great for defending but going forward them 2 were to far down the field to create anything from 9 out of 10 attacks.

Think both cook and pearson could be very useful, aslong as they dont play together. Unfortunally there is a distinct lack of pace between them - so it was just hoof after hoof aiming towards them in hope they could create something. Although the majority of the time they won it, there wasnt anyone really to flick it onto, stick them along side a pacey striker it will be a very differant story.

The thing that frustrated me most though was Colbeck. It wasnt that he played particularly poorly but all pre-season he ran at defenders scarying them, and his been one hell of a player doing that. Today he just wasnt direct enough when running with the ball making him not very effective.

But all in all,
Season arnt won or lost after the first game, Roll on tuesday!

UTM

We were decent today, not amazing or anything but we were definitely the better team. Had a lot of possession in the first half without creating much but upped it in the second half, looked a lot more threatening and managed to get the goal.

Southport were lucky to get the equaliser because that was the only chance they had. Was a poor mistake from Wood to give away the free kick for the goal. We've given away leads a lot over the past couple of years and it is something we need to try and sort out. Think we probably sit back a bit too much instead of just playing our normal game.

Would've been fairly satisfied with a point beforehand but obviously it's always annoying to lose a lead so late on.  There are things to work on but there were some promising signs there.

I'm not disheartened by the outcome but would of course have been made up if we hadn't conceded near the end...typical another ex Town player scores against us too

I thought overall our second half performance was good enough to have won the game but two mistakes cost us...one was the free kick being given away in the first place by Brad and then the slack marking which allowed Grand to get a more or less free header on target

Personally of the new additions, I was really pleased with Aswad, my man of the match and Greg Pearson too

Cook tried his best but maybe tried too hard..a goal could settle him

JC was ok overall out wide and I thought a goal was nailed on from one cross he put over...

All in all not a bad day out...a good turnout in the sun and I'd have gladly taken a point before the start

We've got past a hardish game without a major glitch (apart from their goal) so onwards and upwards with a positive frame of mind!  

Southport = poor, offered virtually zero going forward and tired mid way into the second half until we scored.  

Town= pretty poor first half, effort but little guile. A couple of half chances and only real opportunities looked like coming from corners/ set pieces.
Second half we took advantage of their tired spell and created two very good chances and started to work the ball wide rather than launching it.
Goal was deserved for a prolonged period of pressure. Then we sat back and they woke up.

Wood made a stupid decision, Pond didnt mark and they scored their only opportunity of the game.

Wood however up until that point had looked relatively untroubled by their star player Whalley and by Bakare when they switched things...until that is Colbeck was moved up top and Soares came on. Colbeck had backed Wood up well but Soares was no where near for the events leading upto the goal. Wood should have cleared but didnt, we should have defended better but we didnt.

I dont believe anybody played particularly badly today but would mention Niven for excellent work in breaking up play and for covering ground, one in particular when he was heavily involved around their box but when they countered he was back in our box to take the ball of the strikers toe after Pond had failed to deal.
S.Pearson was pretty much faultless.

2 points lost but one point better off than last season..progress !! UTM

Would wholeheartedly agree that we were much the better side which makes the result much harder to take. Whilst Wood's lapse was a moment of utter stupidity "assists" must go to the w.hole of Town's defence for standing flat footed for the resultant free kick.

My first chance to see the new lads and I have to say the reviews are mixed.

Thomas: Perfectly adequate. No real errors and keen to go forward.

Pond: Trod on the ball early on which caused a moment of danger but did most things well enough and gained in confidence as the game went on. Was one of those culpable for the equaliser though-static as the ball came in.

Niven: Played very deep (even when we were leading). Broke up a lot of their attacking play but his passing was awful.

Colbeck: Some good touches and late on a couple of really decent crosses.

Cook: Very good at holding the ball up (See G Pearson) but lacks pace (See G Pearson). At times seemed lost.

G. Pearson: I attended the game on crutches but am confident that I could have given him 10 yards start and beaten him over 50. Just a little flash could have easily seen him score a couple of goals in the first half. I honestly cannot remember seeing two Town front men so similar in style but so ineffective. Why do we need two target men? Answers on a post card....

We still defend too deeply.
We are still pretty ineffective at corners and dead ball situations.
All in all not much has changed...YET.  

Quoted from barralad

Would wholeheartedly agree that we were much the better side which makes the result much harder to take. Whilst Wood's lapse was a moment of utter stupidity "assists" must go to the w.hole of Town's defence for standing flat footed for the resultant free kick.

My first chance to see the new lads and I have to say the reviews are mixed.

Thomas: Perfectly adequate. No real errors and keen to go forward.

Pond: Trod on the ball early on which caused a moment of danger but did most things well enough and gained in confidence as the game went on. Was one of those culpable for the equaliser though-static as the ball came in.

Niven: Played very deep (even when we were leading). Broke up a lot of their attacking play but his passing was awful.

Colbeck: Some good touches and late on a couple of really decent crosses.

Cook: Very good at holding the ball up (See G Pearson) but lacks pace (See G Pearson). At times seemed lost.

G. Pearson: I attended the game on crutches but am confident that I could have given him 10 yards start and beaten him over 50. Just a little flash could have easily seen him score a couple of goals in the first half. I honestly cannot remember seeing two Town front men so similar in style but so ineffective. Why do we need two target men? Answers on a post card....

We still defend too deeply.
We are still pretty ineffective at corners and dead ball situations.
All in all not much has changed...YET.  

This^^^

But would also like to give elding a mention thought he made a big differance when he can on. I went to stalibridge game and he and cook played very well together would like to see that combination Tuesday.

Thought really cook and pearson was poor today cook being the better out the 2. How on earth g pearso fell over on a 1 on 1. How sluggish does he look aswell, thought he was signed as a quick striker to maybe replace Hearn. Not impressed with him at all.

i feel really sorry for Wood as he absolutely dominated their best player. On e poor challenge some truly shocking marking cost us, but we should have been out of sight by then. We really struggle to keep the ball and i find dropping miller bizarre, it strikes me as a possible enhua, Handyside situation.

Quoted from BIGChris

Despite having not seen any of the pre season games I was a little surprised at the selection.

We largely dominated the game. First half we had uch mor eof the play but didnt create anything. G pearson seemed to come in for some heavy treatment from the home defence and I have to say i was disapointed with Cook who many posted had been very good in pre season.

Colbeck seemed a typical wide man in that he did some excellent things, a couple of superb crosses then disappeared for half an hour.

Impressed by Thomas. Did well defensively and when he started to get forward more looked excellent and created our goal.

Shocking decision by Wood to conceed the free kick. Concentrate of the ball and not the man. Stupid free kick to give away 3 mins from the end. That should cost him his starting place for Tuesday but why wasnt Grand picked up. He is a big lump and should never be allowed an unchallenged header in the middle of the six yard box!

Mckeown did well enough, had no chance with the goal but frankly i cannot recall him having to make any save
Wood- all his good work was undone by a moment of total stupidity
Pond- very shaky to start with but improved as it went on.
S Pearson. My man of the match. Dominant
Thomas- very close to man of the match
Colbeck- flashes of excellence
Niven- did a lot of unselfish work for the team. Distribution not great. Had one great effort headed away which nearly killed the defender
Disley. Busy, looked fitter than last season. Easy goal and a good celebration with the crowd
Artus. Started well but drifted out of the game in 2nd half
G Pearson- looked decent in flashes but no real goal threat
Cook- struggled to get into the game at all

Subs
Elding- we looked better once he came on but shoudl have scored with a free header at far post. Didnt even hit the target
Soares- only had a few min

We were the better side but we need to be more clinical and we need to concentrate for 90 minutes in defence!

You say the mistake Wood made to give away a stupid free kick " should cost him his starting place ", don't talk daft. As most have said on here(including yourself) Wood had a very good game.  
Every footballer at whatever level makes mistakes it how the TEAM deal with them that counts.
Yes Wood dropped a b0llock by giving away a stupid free kick but its then a TEAM responsibility to defend that free kick and they didn't.
So going on your logic you drop every player that makes a mistake????? Nice one  

Quoted from headingly_mariner

find dropping miller bizarre

According to twitter (not Miler's, though), Miller didn't train yesterday because his wife was giving birth. Still surprised he wasn't subbed on at half time though, as I thought Pond had a nightmare first half, but as mentioned, did grow into the game.

There were also a couple of times when Niven was almost through on goal, and I felt he could have taken a shot, but instead he passed it out to the wing. Otherwise, I thought he was decent. His distribution isn't the greatest at the moment, but I'd expect that to improve - just as much the rest of the team's fault for not being  able to anticipate that pass.

Conceding a goal so late on to come away with just a point was disappointing yesterday, but more positives than negatives, I think.

I'm quietly positive about this season.

We were sitting behind a couple of Southport lads and he asked me about the blonde lad at the back and said # he is the best player on the pitch'......... then it happened.

I think if we had be losing 1-0 and had scored an equaliser in the 87th minute, most of us would have been happy.....but i agree with most on here...definately two points lost .

Quoted from chaos33

Absolutlely. I though Rob Scott was quite magnanimous in his comments. Personally, I'm drunk off that a player who has been known for rash challenges and indiscipline, makes the same mistake AGAIN, needlessly giving away a dangerous free-kick that led to an undeserved equaliser. This lesson should have been well learned by this player now. You want to believe that this is a new team and that old mistakes have been erraidicated, but to sit deep, make an error like this and concede the inevitable late equaliser from a winning position is sickening in my book, even though it is a decent result on paper.

Good post.

Quoted from TAGG

You say the mistake Wood made to give away a stupid free kick " should cost him his starting place ", don't talk daft. As most have said on here(including yourself) Wood had a very good game.  
Every footballer at whatever level makes mistakes it how the TEAM deal with them that counts.
Yes Wood dropped a b0llock by giving away a stupid free kick but its then a TEAM responsibility to defend that free kick and they didn't.
So going on your logic you drop every player that makes a mistake????? Nice one  

If it was a one off I'd have more sympathy but he just isnt learning . That type of error has become his trademark. Yes he is still young but he must have played 100 pro games now and his impetus challenges cost us and him.

Prior to that he was having a good game but had he not lost his head we would have had 3 points and I guarantee all of us would have been much happier

Impetuous

Quoted from BIGChris

If it was a one off I'd have more sympathy but he just isnt learning . That type of error has become his trademark. Yes he is still young but he must have played 100 pro games now and his impetus challenges cost us and him.

Prior to that he was having a good game but had he not lost his head we would have had 3 points and I guarantee all of us would have been much happier

If Elding had stuck his chance away we would have had 3 points. If If If
Its a team game so the whole team have to take responsibility. When the ball was put in the box from the free kick who's job was it to mark Grand? Whoever it was should he be dropped?  

Quoted from TAGG

If Elding had stuck his chance away we would have had 3 points. If If If
Its a team game so the whole team have to take responsibility. When the ball was put in the box from the free kick who's job was it to mark Grand? Whoever it was should he be dropped?  

or if pearson didnt fall over just befor he was going to score on a 1 on 1.

or if cook scored his header from 2 yards in second half.

Quoted from Total Football

or if pearson didnt fall over just befor he was going to score on a 1 on 1.

or if cook scored his header from 2 yards in second half.

exactly. could and should have been 3 up at this point.

but noting gets said. yet if elding had scored a header. some people

Quoted from slide to unlock

exactly. could and should have been 3 up at this point.

but noting gets said. yet if elding had scored a header. some people

If you bang your head that hard you will hurt yourself! IF it becomes a regular thing that Pearson falls over or Cook misses from two yards then I suspect they will be subjected to the same sort of criticism. The fact is that Wood has been making mistakes like the one on Saturday for too long without appearing to learn from them. The Olympics have shown us how small mistakes can drastically affect outcomes. I don't want Wood to be remembered not as the man who was the best player on the pitch for x minutes but the man whose error cost us two points. Unless he learns-and quickly that will be the situation and Hatton will be breathing down his neck...

Quoted from barralad

If you bang your head that hard you will hurt yourself! IF it becomes a regular thing that Pearson falls over or Cook misses from two yards then I suspect they will be subjected to the same sort of criticism. The fact is that Wood has been making mistakes like the one on Saturday for too long without appearing to learn from them. The Olympics have shown us how small mistakes can drastically affect outcomes. I don't want Wood to be remembered not as the man who was the best player on the pitch for x minutes but the man whose error cost us two points. Unless he learns-and quickly that will be the situation and Hatton will be breathing down his neck...

I have never seen him make that mistake before, we are in the conference and players will make mistakes. What was criminal was allowing a free header 6 yards out.

Wood made 1 mistake all game which was a silly free kick to give away. But realistically the free kick was like a corner situation. A free header 6 yards out is appalling. How many free headers do Grimsby get 6 yards out? For me this league is all about set pieces. If you are an organised team which are good at set pieces then you will do well. It proves last year with southport... Not the best players but did well because of set pieces. IMO Elding changed the game when he came on. Loved the enthusiasm he shown despite coming off from the bench not sulkin and done his job for the team. For me he has to start on Tuesday. If you drop wood you have to drop everyone who makes a mistake every game so it would mean a new team each game which isn't healthy...


UTM

Wood definitely has made that mistake before. I've often posted and tried to describe that same incident happening too often before.

Yes he was having a good game prior to that but got carried away trying to score points over his opponent by clattering him when all he had to do was knock the ball out for a throw. Usually it just happens further up the pitch or doesn't result directly in a goal that's all.

I like Wood, he gives his all, but one tactic I don't want to see again this season is McKeown rolling the ball out to Bradley to start an attack (in this case the winger knocked him off the ball and we lost possession), his passing needs to improve significantly before this would be effective.

interestingly Scott on radio gave a positive view on many things. Wood he suggested played well but these mistakes have to stop. He also said Miller was simply replaced by Pond as they had him on loan. Strange decision as rumour was Pearson (who Scott dived in verbally to tell us he was magnificent today) was carrying a knock. i would have rather started Miller and Pearson as they has started to look good last season.

Perhaps Miller's head isn't in the right place at the moment if his wife is due to drop a sprog at any moment?

I'd imagine it might put you on edge somewhat and make concentration difficult.

We don't know the story re miller anything could of happened with his good lady there are so many complications for pregnant women hopefully nothing life threatening and they have a healthy little baby if they haven't already had it.

Quoted from headingly_mariner

I have never seen him make that mistake before, we are in the conference and players will make mistakes. What was criminal was allowing a free header 6 yards out.

It is a trademark error for the lad. Showing his "commitment" by wanting to get involved with the player rather than concentrating on the ball. Usually it gets him a daft booking. This time it helped cost us a goal.
I agree 100% with the view re: the free header.