Just back

We are not consistent enough to be in the play-offs.   Neither are we bad enough, often enough, to be in trouble at the bottom.  We will continue to move around mid table.

It appears to me that teams are targeting Wright for a bit of heavy tackling, he's getting kicked every week, obviously opposition are warned about his pace so there stopping him, trouble is down in division 4 the refs don't give him any protection.

Were do I begin, but I will keep it short. The team selection was perfect. Today, MJ reverted to what we had before. I agree its a work in progress, but I feel that we has a very strong fast action attacking team last week that had the blood in the veins, so why change? Weve began with the hoof ball to Hanson to lay off, but I have to admit that the speed attack really was an exciting thing to see, along with the midfield backing up. But, im not the manager, and don't get his wage, so I will still draw my state pension and spend it on watching my 60 year old to me, beloved club. And I still have my Boys Stand from Barrets flask with me, must be worth a fortune. But I would swap it any day for a fortress at my beloved park. Come on MJ, lets go for it, bring on the fast guys on the wings to cross to Hanson. I would love a Cummings and Cockerill in this game, were too readable at the moment, except for Exeter last week, we surprised them

Quoted from Gaffer58

It appears to me that teams are targeting Wright for a bit of heavy tackling, he's getting kicked every week, obviously opposition are warned about his pace so there stopping him, trouble is down in division 4 the refs don't give him any protection.

Agree Gaffer - my mate who sits next to me said he must be one of the most fouled players in our division

Mansfield knew very well if they kept on clattering in to him ( like Macclesfield did the other week too ) they’d either put him off his game or as in today, get him out of the action altogether

Their cheating tactics paid off well for them today..... twisting the knife by scoring in the “injury” time they’d brought about by their dubious antics

Don’t get me wrong we didn’t do enough to win but when they say cheats never prosper, Mansfield  proved that to be completely untrue today, aided and abetted by one of the most incompetent referees I have ever seen

I don't think I've ever seen such an incompetent referee at any match I've watched, including my 15 year olds Sunday league games...his incompetence not only ruined any chance we had but served to incite the crowd into a near frenzied state, the man should never be allowed to referee another game as long as I've got a hole in my posterior...
As for us, today we just couldn't get going, not helped by the 12 men of cheating Mansfield, but Macca needs to stop reverting to type and just lumping into Hanson, he needs to learn how to release the ball quicker rather than waiting for team to reset then firing straight up field....
Anyways, off to drink my Bacardi, watch crud on TV and look forward to a better result next weekend...UTM from the wrong side of the river..oh and I must apologise to Pete who got the wrath of my frustrations today...

I could never support a team that resorts to the tatics that Mansfield employed today, even if it resulted in a win.
When are we going to a get a ref, how has the balls and not give a free kick every time a player goes to ground, its a contact sport, or is it.
Their diving coach Tom Daley, must have been busy during this week training sessions.
I normal say fair play to a opposition that beats us, but not today.
I forgot that Mansfield once employed Evans, says it all about the club.

Another learning curve for MJ and the boys, lets put it right next week against Stevenage.

One last point, how Green was given a yellow card, for being pulled back by their player, was a joke.

UTM

Referee -  from the off it was obvious he was going to be extremely fussy and whistle happy....the more the game went on his utter incompetence came to the fore. He was sh1t and apparently acknowledged his mistakes and apologised to Jolley after the game...little consolation.

Mansfield -  well have to say they had a plan, stuck to it and it won them the points. Defend, disrupt the game, waste time, gamesmanship and hope for something. After the first 20 mins they never looked troubled.  

Us - bright start, disallowed goal..looked offside to me at the time, Hanson wasted his one on one when i thought the keeper had gone out too early and given him plenty of opportunity to lob him but fell wide.  After that we just fell victim to the ref's and Mansfield's approach, giving them the opportunity to fall over by leaving our legs in shoving and giving the ref the opportunity to blow.
After they went down to ten men we never took advantage and looked clueless....i hold Jolley responsible for that, we still had a back four despite them sitting all the men behind the ball, we still brought all players back for corners and free kicks, hardly stretched them at all when in possession and they seemed to have so much more time and space when down to ten, picked up every second ball near enough.  

The more we laboured the more the eventual result looked likely, when Cook came on i thought it was set for him to score it...but what a delivery on that free kick.......how many free kicks and corners did we have in comparsion without anything like a dangerous ball in ?

Odd to hear Jolley and Macca saying the pitch was "slow" today which they felt didnt help..... but i thought we were at home and therefore in control of how wet or dry , short or long the grass is...FFS.

The standard of officiating is just dog sh1t sometimes and it cost us today.

I didn't go but assume Pearce was tasked with the job of marking Hanson? If so, Hanson was never going to be at his best today.

Hanson was effective earlier on but after about 30 minutes, they put 3 men on him when the ball was played long. Two to push, pull and nudge Hanson and the other to fall down clutching his face to insinuate he'd been elbowed. Needless to say, the referee saw nothing wrong with these shenanigans.