Just Back...on the bus.

Although you'd normally take a point away from home it felt like two points dropped. Having got the lead I'd have expected us to see the game out. Hurst brought Pearson on seemingly going to three centre backs but an excellent ball in and none of them tracked the lad who scored from close with a very good header.
Towns goal was a thing of beauty. Great run from Clifton and a good finish from Sousa who otherwise had one of those games where nothing went quite right.
MOM for me Waterfall who just seems to get better game by game. Honourable mention to Clifton who's workmate is absolutely phenomenal.

Admin please merge

Quoted from barralad

Admin please merge

No need I’ll delete mine....

On the train to Paddlington. Well that’s a game based upon our performance that we didn’t deserve to win but when we where ahead with 3 CB’s on the pitch after scoring we should have won.

It sure what the game plan was today as when we got the ball down we looked ok. Though he scored from the left I’m not sure why Sossa was played there.

For me there where more negatives than positives today but it’s an away point and nothing is won or lost in September, plus we’re still unbeaten.

The biggest positive today was the Town support who should be applauded for travelling in such numbers.

UTM!

Bit of a nothing game it felt to me, more like a ressies game with little tempo or shape to our play. Any away point is a good point but they did appear there for the taking if we could only have grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck somehow.

I agree Waterfall was excellent except for that silly challenge towards the end, I was also really impressed with Effete and Clifton was as always the definition of perpetual motion.

Agree with all above but why sub Hunt so early? Fox for Coke would have added energy without losing our playmaker. Too many high balls to Taylor when not close to a runner. Ah well, hope we fight harder for the second  ball and get it down for longer spells at Bromley
Thanks to Chesterfield  Exiles for guiding me to Paddington!

Certainly a game we should be winning rather than drawing especially with 3 centre backs on the pitch, good ball in but I felt we allowed him time to get the ball in and nobody went with the runner after that with Sousa off the pitch we didn't really have any width which hampered our efforts in getting a late winner, Hunt I thought was giving the ball away quite a lot but in fairness he did then win it straight back several times which I should hope he did! Mcatee looked busy as normal but it never quite came off for him not due to a lack of effort, Clifton in the build up to the goal actually played a very poor ball to Efete which was miles past him and behind him, Efete rescued it and Clifton made an amends with the run and assist.

What is that chant where it ends with "and we don't have Fenty anymore", I caught most of it but not quite all of it.

First game this season and overall I was a little disappointed. Surprised how often we gave the ball away and thought we lacked penetration.
Lovely goal and a great finish from Erico but thought we should have gone for it while we were 1 up. Taking a winger off and going with three centre halves kind of invites pressure and Maidenhead were out on their feet at the end
Thought Towler looked a class act, Waterfall was solid and Fox looked very good when he came on

At the end of the day, it was a slight off day but we got a point. Win our game in hand and we’ll be top.

If that’s what our off games look like this season, we’re in for a good one.

Anyone heard how many we took?

Think they mentioned it on the commentary but the dog was barking at the time  

What Croxton said. Disappointing. Bit ‘meh’ but worse things happen.

On to Tuesday.

Think it was 892 visiting supporters but not certain of that.

Quoted from chaos33

Think it was 892 visiting supporters but not certain of that.

Thanks anyway, brilliant turnout as usual.

Quoted from buckstown

First game this season and overall I was a little disappointed. Surprised how often we gave the ball away and thought we lacked penetration.
Lovely goal and a great finish from Erico but thought we should have gone for it while we were 1 up. Taking a winger off and going with three centre halves kind of invites pressure and Maidenhead were out on their feet at the end
Thought Towler looked a class act, Waterfall was solid and Fox looked very good when he came on

My first game as well, have to agree, slightly disappointing in the performance, I thought Maidenhead were the better team on the whole. We weren’t a real threat going forward, out of the front 2 McAtee was the one that you thought could do something, Taylor was poor, a striker with real pace would be a good addition to the squad.
We will be there or there abouts this season and that’s down to our defence, Waterfall and Towler will be the best CB partnership in the league.
The one quality cross they delivered all game resulted in their goal, made worse by having 3 CB to stop that threat.
Once we got the goal was the time to go and get the second not instantly throw a defender on for a winger.

Thought on the balance of play we were lucky to get a point when it came to chances created. Taking Sousa off invited them to get decent balls in from their right and if we're trying to see out the game with three CBs, then their equaliser was criminal. At the time of the substitution we were in control of the game. Hurst brings on Pearson to counter their substitutions and gives them grounds to advance more.. I'm not a great believer in matching up numbers in our own box, I believe in preventing the oppo from having the opportunity by keeping possession further up the pitch. But Hurst will be Hurst I guess. He'll have to take this one on the chin because he left Crookes on his own with two men for the last fifteen minutes leaving us very lopsided.

Macca, Towler and Waterfall were steady at best, Crookes was best of the back four with Efete having a really disappointing game. Unsure when defending, out of position at times and no threat going forward. The amount of times he had a free run at a man and just turned and gave the ball square. Coke and Hunt competed but weren't on the same wavelength and I got tired of them playing safe square balls or giving it away when passing forward. Neither drove past a man and we need that if we're going to open up big defensive teams. Sousa was marked out of the game apart from when he scored with a clinical half volley from a superb ball from Clifton. We hardly looked dangerous all game unless McAtee was on the ball but nothing came off for him, partly to do with how static we were, very very static. No clever forward movement to pull their defence about.

My MOM was Taylor. up against two very strong centre halves and battled well for all the far too many straight balls pumped forward to him because we didn't have enough guile to play through them at all. Taylor and Crookes were the only players I'd give a 6/10 to, the others all 5/10 apart from Efete with 4/10. It was that sort of game. Town played within themselves without looking like their lives depended on it. We should expect maximum effort and passion every time they pull on the shirt.. Teams like Maidenhead aren't going to just hand us the points..

On to Bromley with a bit of trepidation at the minute..

Still unbeaten and third in the table with a game in hand, so it's not all bad. Just hoping to see more urgency, tempo and guile on the pitch down in Kent this week..

Always felt they had a goal in them. We really needed the second to finish the game off. Fine to try and defend a 1-0 lead (if it works) but there were seven minutes between them scoring and us bringing the Shop on. There wasn't enough time for him to have an impact when he came on with 90 mins on the clock.

Quoted from GrimRob

Always felt they had a goal in them. We really needed the second to finish the game off. Fine to try and defend a 1-0 lead (if it works) but there were seven minutes between them scoring and us bringing the Shop on. There wasn't enough time for him to have an impact when he came on with 90 mins on the clock.

Was in the home end Rob. A couple of their fans said to me it's game over when we scored. Told them it wasn't when Pearson was being readied for action. So bloody predictable..

It certainly is a game of opinions. The last two posts - one has Taylor being a poor player, the next one has him the man of the match!

I did not go today, but Taylor has been great in all the home games I have seen, as have the team overall.

It was a bit disappointing to concede the goal, but it is still a great start and the other results favoured us.

Quoted from Croxton

Agree with all above but why sub Hunt so early? Fox for Coke would have added energy without losing our playmaker. Too many high balls to Taylor when not close to a runner. Ah well, hope we fight harder for the second  ball and get it down for longer spells at Bromley
Thanks to Chesterfield  Exiles for guiding me to Paddington!

Thought Coke was nailed on for the one to be subbed..

According to the Town twitter we took 828

Where did all their fans from behind the goal disappear to, that was a bit weird!

Quoted from Bigdog

Thought Coke was nailed on for the one to be subbed..

Same to be honest, you could see that Coke and Hunt wasn’t working in the first half, I’d like to see Hunt much further up the pitch.

Just back home now. I thought we never got going at all. The majority of the players looked well below par. But a point isn't to bad has in the past an off day meant a defeat. Must of been alot of our southern based fans there today. I think Hurst may mix the team up abit on Tuesday has we have a few long trips in the next 2 weeks.

Wasn't at game so can't comment on performance.. 7 games in still unbeaten would have been very happy with that before season started..

Think we learned last time down here there's gonna be a few games that don't go to plan, move on to Tuesday now Bromley not gonna be an easy game.

Quoted from TwoLeftFeet

Wasn't at game so can't comment on performance.. 7 games in still unbeaten would have been very happy with that before season started..

Think we learned last time down here there's gonna be a few games that don't go to plan, move on to Tuesday now Bromley not gonna be an easy game.

Paul Hurst admitted we weren't at our best but he thought we would score and we did so it was going to plan until he changed it.

Not intending to get on cokes back here but i feel that Fox is superior in every way and i'm not sure why Coke is preferred

Bad day at the away office today, but Chesterfield blew a 2 goal start so not such a bad day, then??

Stronger now in 3rd, and hovering to go higher on Tuesday, hopefully,  after Hurst has seen today's footage and privately made his mind up about any changes needed.

Did we lose? - No
Was it a good performance? - No
Have we got a good squad to make changes if needed? - Yes

Are we still unbeaten ?? - Yes.

End of argument, really !!

Of course it’s nice to get wins, but any point away from home is a good point

I’d take draws away all day long with wins at home

Bad day at the away office today, but Chesterfield blew a 2 goal start so not such a bad day, then??

Stronger now in 3rd, and hovering to go higher on Tuesday, hopefully,  after Hurst has seen today's footage and privately made his mind up about any changes needed.

Did we lose? - No
Was it a good performance? - No
Have we got a good squad to make changes if needed? - Yes

Are we still unbeaten ?? - Yes.

End of argument, really !!

Quoted from Sussexmariner

My first game as well, have to agree, slightly disappointing in the performance, I thought Maidenhead were the better team on the whole. We weren’t a real threat going forward, out of the front 2 McAtee was the one that you thought could do something, Taylor was poor, a striker with real pace would be a good addition to the squad.
We will be there or there abouts this season and that’s down to our defence, Waterfall and Towler will be the best CB partnership in the league.
The one quality cross they delivered all game resulted in their goal, made worse by having 3 CB to stop that threat.
Once we got the goal was the time to go and get the second not instantly throw a defender on for a winger.

Still not sure about Waterfall to be honest. Let's not get ahead of ourselves this early in the season. Only a one off game, but not even sure that we had the best CB partnership on the pitch yesterday. LW may have had some steady games because our opponents have been lumping it, so playing to his strengths, but ball watching for their goal yesterday and did the same first half when they should have easily scored. When fit, would like to see Longe-King partnering Towler, especially against pacy forwards..

They had two very strong and decent centre halves yesterday. Passing to Taylor was poor, too straight and floated. I thought he did quite well on his own under the circumstances, but agree the game was crying out for us to have a pacier forward to stretch and unsettle a defence like Maidenhead's, or even to play two up top....

very flat performance both on and off the pitch.
as Hurst said none of our players really sparkled - taylor was outnumbered and outgunned by their 3 giants at the back. McAtee tried hard, but nothing really sparked, whilst Hunt had an off day - some surprisingly poor touches and wayward passing. Coke was similar ,but to be fair to them both they battled hard and often won back possession following their mistakes. Sousa looked like our only outlet ,but his final ball was often wayward or easily cut out as there was so little for him to aim at
(btw he was switched to the left immediately following Donnelly , the right back, getting booked - it was a good tactical ploy by Hurst)
I didn't think Efete was as bad as Bigdog makes out - it certainly didn't appear that he was the weak link, and ,although he didn't get forward as much as i would've hoped, he definitely gives us a dangerous attacking option.
Thought Waterfall and Towler were excellent again, particularly Towler - really like him. Has got so much ability and calmness
Clifton was non stop as usual, but his passing, like most of the others, wasn't up to par - as witnessed by the bad pass that eventually led to the goal.
We certainly played into their hands by playing high, long balls , instead of getting it down and passing it quickly
2 final thoughts - for the first time this season i thought we missed having that no. 9 or a quick little striker to help Taylor out
second one is that Devonshire was clever, and got one over Hurst. The very moment pearson came on and we had 3 big men at the back, he immediately brought off the big no.18 up front and replaced him with the quick little lad who eventually scored. was a very clever move

Quoted from forza ivano

very flat performance both on and off the pitch.
as Hurst said none of our players really sparkled - taylor was outnumbered and outgunned by their 3 giants at the back. McAtee tried hard, but nothing really sparked, whilst Hunt had an off day - some surprisingly poor touches and wayward passing. Coke was similar ,but to be fair to them both they battled hard and often won back possession following their mistakes. Sousa looked like our only outlet ,but his final ball was often wayward or easily cut out as there was so little for him to aim at
(btw he was switched to the left immediately following Donnelly , the right back, getting booked - it was a good tactical ploy by Hurst)
I didn't think Efete was as bad as Bigdog makes out - it certainly didn't appear that he was the weak link, and ,although he didn't get forward as much as i would've hoped, he definitely gives us a dangerous attacking option.
Thought Waterfall and Towler were excellent again, particularly Towler - really like him. Has got so much ability and calmness
Clifton was non stop as usual, but his passing, like most of the others, wasn't up to par - as witnessed by the bad pass that eventually led to the goal.
We certainly played into their hands by playing high, long balls , instead of getting it down and passing it quickly
2 final thoughts - for the first time this season i thought we missed having that no. 9 or a quick little striker to help Taylor out
second one is that Devonshire was clever, and got one over Hurst. The very moment pearson came on and we had 3 big men at the back, he immediately brought off the big no.18 up front and replaced him with the quick little lad who eventually scored. was a very clever move

The goalscorer played the full 90, it was just poor poor marking for their goal. But still unbeaten, got to be a lot better on Tuesday against a decent Bromley side

Much as I dislike the Premier League, Match of The Day et al I did catch the bit where City's successful pressing of Chelsea was highlighted. Much of our successful start has been down to similar tactics especially McAtee. Yesterday, there was little coordination or pattern to pressing their defenders and midfield so they were able to ping balls deep into our half.
Our failure to win enough second ball meant we were on the back foot. Frustration leads to poor touches, sloppy passing and reduced confidence. Too often, we attempted a difficult pass or turn instead of playing a simple ball. Taylor is too easily nullified when we fail to provide swift wing play and crosses. Stuffing the defence against sides like Maidenhead plays into their hands. They counter with more attackers. Taking Sousa off was difficult to fathom.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

The biggest positive today was the Town support who should be applauded for travelling in such numbers.

In numbers perhaps, but the atmosphere was very flat. Far less noisy than the Torquay following a few weeks back that was about half the size and I'm not having it that it was due to the performance either because it was loud at Torquay when we were 1-0 down. Perhaps it didn't help that that the noisiest section just behind the goal was sort of fenced off from those to the right hand side of the goal and around the corner.

Not much to say about the match that hasn't been said. Bad day at the office for us, but I think a bit of credit has to go to Maidenhead who were very well drilled. They were massive at the back and lapped up anything in the air, but they also nullified Hunt, Sousa and McAtee very well. Definitely want to see the equaliser again as I think we were caught napping. Bit of arguing between McKeown and Towler immediately after would also indicate that.

We'll be up against more of the same on Tuesday at Bromley but they've got a greater goal threat, so hopefully that match will have served as a bit of a wake up call.

Bromley may be classed as better than Maidenhead, but only managed to beat Dover 1 - 0 having scored in the first few minutes, hanging on for over 80 mins for the win.

I see Bromley as slightly better than Maidenhead, but no doubt Hurst will be looking and gearing up for a better performance than at Maidenhead. Might be a struggle, but a Town win.

Oh a big 👏 for the Maidenhead fans yesterday. It’d be so easy to support Reading or Chelsea round there. And obviously Nick Hornby grew up there (an Arsenal fan).

They had a nice bit of self-deprecating humour when they pointed out we were only drawing with a crap side like them. I’d reserve the “your support is f£&king excrement” for the division’s big clubs that fail to come in numbers to BP.

Quoted from DB

Bromley may be classed as better than Maidenhead, but only managed to beat Dover 1 - 0 having scored in the first few minutes, hanging on for over 80 mins for the win.

I see Bromley as slightly better than Maidenhead, but no doubt Hurst will be looking and gearing up for a better performance than at Maidenhead. Might be a struggle, but a Town win.

Dover do look like they're gonna be rock bottom, but they aren't getting spanked and they seem to picking up odd points (one against Chesterfield no less) and making teams work for it, so I don't know if they should necessarily be used as a gauge. I hope you're right and I'm wrong, but I reckon you're underestimating Bromley a bit.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

Oh a big 👏 for the Maidenhead fans yesterday. It’d be so easy to support Reading or Chelsea round there. And obviously Nick Hornby grew up there (an Arsenal fan).

They had a nice bit of self-deprecating humour when they pointed out we were only drawing with a crap side like them. I’d reserve the “your support is f£&king excrement” for the division’s big clubs that fail to come in numbers to BP.

Yeah, I thought they were decent as well to be fair. They did do the YAARKSHIRE chant but with BERKSHIRE at one point though, so they lose some points for that.

I thought they were chanting “Yarkshire” just to taunt us 😕