Just back

We’ll play better and lose i think! Flat on and off the pitch today, but thats a sign of a good side. Passing was a bit off but we still created chances, felt mcatee should have shot when he passed to Lennie, but was a shocking miss from him. Despite that he got a goal and assist today LJL to shut the usual suspects on the match thread up.
2 full backs were very good and Towler my MOM i think he is absolutely superb. 4 points clear and its looking good

I thought their number 10 got the better of Towler at the beginning of the game but Towler worked out how to deal with him. I really thought they would equalise after that LJL miss.

Not at our best but credit to Yeovil because they had a plan and made it difficult for us.

Don't think we played anywhere near as good as what we have been doing recently but still won.

They do say that's the sign of a Championship winning team.

Yeovil got a boost from the news about Covid in the Grimsby camp. They thought they had a sniff and played above themselves,  Hursty dleivered a dead-pan 'bad news' interview, the opposition got excited but even playing below our best, we took all the points. That's all that matters. Well done, lads.

I thought it was a poor ball to Lennie from McAtee which made him stretch with his wrong foot. Gave the naysayers something to have a go at him about. However, today shows why we need another striker in the squad. Taylor was a big miss and we lacked a bit of cohesion up front.

We just weren't at it today and gave the ball away a lot but still created enough good chances to win by 3 or 4 and Macca only had one serious save to make. Again, the excellent defence kept them at arms length and Waterfall won loads of headers, especially from the numerous corners they had.

Subs seemed to give us a bit more forward momentum, with Sousa getting them on the back foot as soon as he came on. Bapaga had a quiet day but his pace won us another penalty. Hunt was a shadow of his usual self but Fox was excellent and was given MOM, which I can't disagree with.

As is often said, good teams find a way to win and we did just that.

Taylor was a massive miss today.

Fair play to LJL though for stepping up to take the penalty and putting it away.

Yeovil surprised me how good they were but we ground out the result in the end, UTM

Let's reflect, not only on today but the season so far. It's not been good has it, it's not been brilliant either.

It's been bloody fantastic. Played 12 and won 9, drawn 2, and lost 1 on a plastic pitch, 4 points clear at the top. Does anybody want to discuss how to improve our situation?

Forgot to mention the ref who made some of the strangest decisions I can remember. Think he was reffing a different game to the one I was watching.

Not as emphatic a victory as some of our previous ones, but a win's a win and the table is still a beautiful sight.

I think Bapaga has improved massively since his Town debut - confidence is a wonderful thing.  Fox had a good game, and McAtee put in his usual workload.  It was a great goal at the end (and much appreciated - I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was getting jittery).  Sousa created a buzz when he came on, gave Yeovil something tricky to think about and is always good to watch.  My man of the match is Sears.  I'm struggling to pick anyone these days as it's such a team effort, but Sears looked strong and capable in defence and I liked that.

Quoted from marinette

Not as emphatic a victory as some of our previous ones, but a win's a win and the table is still a beautiful sight.

I think Bapaga has improved massively since his Town debut - confidence is a wonderful thing.  Fox had a good game, and McAtee put in his usual workload.  It was a great goal at the end (and much appreciated - I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was getting jittery).  Sousa created a buzz when he came on, gave Yeovil something tricky to think about and is always good to watch.  My man of the match is Sears.  I'm struggling to pick anyone these days as it's such a team effort, but Sears looked strong and capable in defence and I liked that.

I think Bapaga made it clear that he made a slow start as he was one of the Covid cases at the start of the season.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I think Bapaga made it clear that he made a slow start as he was one of the Covid cases at the start of the season.

Ah, that bit of information must have passed me by.  He's more than making up for it now though, isn't he?  

The fact is that we have players like Sousa, Wright, Bapaga, and even Efete who can run at defenses and cause problems and create chances. It's the strength in depth of this squad that gives me most confidence. Over a long season all teams will have key players out at various times. I doubt many of our competitors will be capable of weathering an injury storm as well as we can.  

Quoted from DB

Let's reflect, not only on today but the season so far. It's not been good has it, it's not been brilliant either.

It's been bloody fantastic. Played 12 and won 9, drawn 2, and lost 1 on a plastic pitch, 4 points clear at the top. Does anybody want to discuss how to improve our situation?

Don't play on plastic pitches . The last 2 promoted teams have had a massive advantage and got promotion  i. e . Harrogate and Sutton  .

Don't understand why people are still saying we need a striker. We're top by 4, LJL scored and assisted and hopefully Taylor will be back soon. If we get an injury then I'll agree an out and out striker or young lad may be needed. But this squad is good. Its the first time in a long time i look at our sub bench and go 'wow'

I thought Yeovil were a half decent side but could not convert their one chance but it was a good save from Macca which made up for his flap at a corner. For me it was a midfield battle which tide Hunt up and stopped him pushing on. McAtee should have scored but tried to put LJL in but it wasn’t the best of balls and I think LJL didn’t expect it and was caught on his heels and wrong foot. All in all 3 points against a fair side leaves me happy. Fox MOM.  
UTMM

Quoted from lukeo

Don't understand why people are still saying we need a striker. We're top by 4, LJL scored and assisted and hopefully Taylor will be back soon. If we get an injury then I'll agree an out and out striker or young lad may be needed. But this squad is good. Its the first time in a long time i look at our sub bench and go 'wow'

A side challenging for the league shouldn’t be making so with a YT as back-up IMO.

The fact there’s a debate about Lenny shows he’s not a back-up we can have 100% faith in so I think we’d be absolutely mad not to bring another striker in personally.

Quoted from lukeo

Don't understand why people are still saying we need a striker. We're top by 4, LJL scored and assisted and hopefully Taylor will be back soon. If we get an injury then I'll agree an out and out striker or young lad may be needed. But this squad is good. Its the first time in a long time i look at our sub bench and go 'wow'

LJL and McAtee were knackered by the end today. We quite literally couldn't name a striker on the bench as we're short on numbers up top. I if LJL had picked up an injury early on today, we'd have been playing with just one forward as we don't have any others. That's why we need another striker in. We've got strength in depth in all other areas of the field, but not up front.

All teams coming here will play above themselves whilst we sit on top of the league.

Quoted from marinette

Not as emphatic a victory as some of our previous ones, but a win's a win and the table is still a beautiful sight.

I think Bapaga has improved massively since his Town debut - confidence is a wonderful thing.  Fox had a good game, and McAtee put in his usual workload.  It was a great goal at the end (and much appreciated - I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was getting jittery).  Sousa created a buzz when he came on, gave Yeovil something tricky to think about and is always good to watch.  My man of the match is Sears.  I'm struggling to pick anyone these days as it's such a team effort, but Sears looked strong and capable in defence and I liked that.

There was a moment in the second half when Sears put in a strong tackle and then held strong to win a foul. Totally different player to Efete but a really capable defender.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

I thought their number 10 got the better of Towler at the beginning of the game but Towler worked out how to deal with him. I really thought they would equalise after that LJL miss.

Not at our best but credit to Yeovil because they had a plan and made it difficult for us.

Towler will have learned more from today than any of the  others he's played. Absolutely superb after a dodgy opening ten. What a player we have in him.

Another day put at BP with my grandad and lad and another win! Not the best performance by a stretch but the sign of a good team is one that can put in a below par (though tbf the bar has been set pretty high) and still come away with the 3 points and yet another clean sheet. Good voice from the Osmond today who played their part in offsetting Yeovils vocal support

A result today that has lifted my expectations. Tricky team to play against Yeovil. They moved the ball better than most we will se this season and I think our defence shone through today will the aerial battles won. Nice pen from Lenny and gave their defenders a bit of a bruising which, believe it or not, is a very handy trick to have up your sleeve in this league. To the 4 people behind me, that actually seem like decent people, can you please just ignore Lenny's existence instead of boring every single one of us in that area with your constant berating and lack of football knowledge. Its really embarrassing and I'm glad we are up in the stands and out of his earshot. He gives everything for this team and he deserves credit and at the very least respect. He might not be the most orthodox striker in the world but he is capable of winning us games, bit like he did today!

3 points
6 home wins on the bounce
Clean sheet
What more can you ask for??

We are top of the league.
UTM

Quoted from DB

It's been bloody fantastic. Played 12 and won 9, drawn 2, and lost 1 on a plastic pitch, 4 points clear at the top.   Does anybody want to discuss how to improve our situation?   

Play 13 and won 10?

Quoted from RobDef1

A result today that has lifted my expectations. Tricky team to play against Yeovil. They moved the ball better than most we will se this season and I think our defence shone through today will the aerial battles won. Nice pen from Lenny and gave their defenders a bit of a bruising which, believe it or not, is a very handy trick to have up your sleeve in this league. To the 4 people behind me, that actually seem like decent people, can you please just ignore Lenny's existence instead of boring every single one of us in that area with your constant berating and lack of football knowledge. Its really embarrassing and I'm glad we are up in the stands and out of his earshot. He gives everything for this team and he deserves credit and at the very least respect. He might not be the most orthodox striker in the world but he is capable of winning us games, bit like he did today!

Agree, idiot near me berating Lennie with the football knowledge of a turnip.
I'm embarrassed at times by how stupid these clowns sound.

Stubborn well organised opposition...
Macca not really had a save to make....
Not the greatest performance...

3 points

Utm

I am in a way more pleased with this win than some of the others. Yeovil were one of the better teams and did a good job on us, while at the same time us being below par.

This sort of game was going to happen sooner rather than later, but we came through it, defended brilliantly when required and we still were dangerous enough to have scored 3 or 4.

Lennie will always divide opinion, but it seemed a bad miss which is a shame as I think Mcatee was trying to set up a sitter, but hit the pass a bit too hard.

Still all good, top of the league and all that. A shame Taylor is missing, but with him to come back we will take some stopping and here's hoping for another good week to come.

Agree with most of the above, Towler and Sears really stood out for me today, and McAttee running his legs off, again. It's tiresome that people will come out with the same stuff about Lenny, but he wasn't the only one today with wayward passes and yes, McAttee's pass to him looked wrong from my Upper Youngs position. Everyone gave everything they had = a win, so on that basis, keep it up, lads.

Four points clear at the top of the league! 🤯🤯🤯

A frustrating watch but Yeovil came to do just that and if anything in the first half were a slight bit better than us. That said I don’t think we were fully with it today. Not as slick as we have been and at times a bit timid. Ref was an idiot.

Crowd a bit flat but expected given the performance. I would estimate that 90% of people go through the turnstiles after the team has been announced on twitter/facebook and read out on Humberside. Why do those who come with preformed opinions on LJL still bother coming? He couldn’t put more effort in if he tried. He’s not going to have a perfect first touch every time. He’s not going to see where everyone is when he does flick a header on. He’s not going to bury every chance but guess what? Neither will McAtee or Taylor or whoever else is picked to play. Please just lay off him a bit and let him be good at what he is good at.

If the roles had been reversed and Lenny had passed the ball to McAttee, people would be saying hard luck John, but that ball from Lenny was sh1t.

Quoted from LH

Four points clear at the top of the league! 🤯🤯🤯

A frustrating watch but Yeovil came to do just that and if anything in the first half were a slight bit better than us. That said I don’t think we were fully with it today. Not as slick as we have been and at times a bit timid. Ref was an idiot.

Crowd a bit flat but expected given the performance. I would estimate that 90% of people go through the turnstiles after the team has been announced on twitter/facebook and read out on Humberside. Why do those who come with preformed opinions on LJL still bother coming? He couldn’t put more effort in if he tried. He’s not going to have a perfect first touch every time. He’s not going to see where everyone is when he does flick a header on. He’s not going to bury every chance but guess what? Neither will McAtee or Taylor or whoever else is picked to play. Please just lay off him a bit and let him be good at what he is good at.

Lennie’s effort was 100% agreed but it wasn’t a good performance let’s be totally honest, and to be fair there were others in the team who having earned their starting place in the team didn’t play great today either. I was critical of his miss from my viewpoint today but other posters have mentioned the poor pass from Mcatee so I will have to watch it again on the box.
What’s your thoughts on Max Wright not playing today then? What’s he done wrong? At the least  I would of thought bringing him on for a tiring Lennie to run at a tiring Yeovil defence would of been the best option.

Quoted from ginnywings

If the roles had been reversed and Lenny had passed the ball to McAttee, people would be saying hard luck John, but that ball from Lenny was sh1t.

Exactly what I mean. He had a shot himself from a very tight angle which hit the side netting today and someone shouted “thanks Lenny, you’re excrement”. McAtee had one from a similar angle which went behind the goal and nothing. I’ve seen his wife and kid at games this season - I’d hate to have to hear that sort of abuse if I was her.

Quoted from Humbercod

What’s your thoughts on Max Wright not playing today then? What’s he done wrong? At the least  I would of thought bringing him on for a tiring Lennie to run at a tiring Yeovil defence would of been the best option.

He’s got cheesestrings for hamstrings and is being managed as such. Sousa came on and made a big difference. It’s no wonder LJL struggles with all of those people on his back at home games.

Quoted from Humbercod

Lennie’s effort was 100% agreed but it wasn’t a good performance let’s be totally honest, and to be fair there were others in the team who having earned their starting place in the team didn’t play great today either. I was critical of his miss from my viewpoint today but other posters have mentioned the poor pass from Mcatee so I will have to watch it again on the box.
What’s your thoughts on Max Wright not playing today then? What’s he done wrong? At the least  I would of thought bringing him on for a tiring Lennie to run at a tiring Yeovil defence would of been the best option.

Personally I wouldn't have put him on for Lenny as the only way I could see them getting an equaliser was from a corner so would want Lenny on to help defend them the last 10/15 mins..

Quoted from Humbercod

Lennie’s effort was 100% agreed but it wasn’t a good performance let’s be totally honest, and to be fair there were others in the team who having earned their starting place in the team didn’t play great today either. I was critical of his miss from my viewpoint today but other posters have mentioned the poor pass from Mcatee so I will have to watch it again on the box.
What’s your thoughts on Max Wright not playing today then? What’s he done wrong? At the least  I would of thought bringing him on for a tiring Lennie to run at a tiring Yeovil defence would of been the best option.

Sousa came on made a difference, Revan deserved some gametime after 2 goals last week and Coke is the Captain replacing an ineffective Hunt

He hasnt done anything wrong, your looking for something that isnt there, 5 subs, 3 can be used

Max Wright is clearly being nursed through this part of the season, Hurst said about a week ago that he wasn't ready to start against Bromsgrove  obviously ditto today

8 penalties this season.  Keep them coming.  A reward for direct runs into the box.

Whoever does the scouting for Yeovil needs to get some recognition as they did a good job on us today and their work rate was impressive.

Agreed not our most fluid performance but there where a few little snapshots of the quality and more importantly the confidence we currently have and that’s underlined by our back 4 who are looking really comfortable in the ball whilst maintaining “us shape” consistently well.

Good teams win without playing well and I don’t think anyone had a bad game we just wasn’t as cohesive.

So 3 more points, 4 point gap at the top with for different reasons 2 tricky games coming up.

Well done Town, job done today.

UTM!!

I,d of put Max on for Lennie after 10 minutes !!

Quoted from dicko995

I,d of put Max on for Lennie after 10 minutes !!

Well thank goodness you are not involved in football

Someone's mildly impressed, in from 13/2 to 4/1 third favourites tonight. 11/4 Chesterfield, 7/2 Wrexham

If we can’t enjoy tonight and our current success, when can we.
If all goes our way in 7 days time we could have 35 points from 14 games…..I’d say that’s pretty impressive

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

If we can’t enjoy tonight and our current success, when can we.
If all goes our way in 7 days time we could have 35 points from 14 games…..I’d say that’s pretty impressive

This is my take on it, we’ve improved beyond what anyone would’ve imagined and anyone that thought we’d be too at this current stage is a liar…

We look a decent side, perhaps not our best performance today but we won and good sides find a way of winning…I reckon, with the exception of possibly Chesterfield, every single team would happily swap and be us at this moment in time…
Fans of teams around the top would’ve been looking at phones with 5 to go, seeing Yeovil in the ascendancy and hoping they nicked something…then we scored…remember how many times we left BP and then ducking Barnet scored or Fleetwood nicked one etc…

May be we’ve become that team finally…

for me the main problem is that Taylor has raised the bar , and 6 years after his first stint with us, LJL hasn't improved.6 years ago we accepted Lennie , for all his faults, but now he's 6 years older and still isn't really capable of scoring a 1 on1 or doing that bit of magic that Taylor can. He is very much second best and if we are going to try and win the league we, unfortunately, need better. Taylor is 33 and we will be lucky to get 40 games out of him so a competent replacement is essential.
I like lennie, but if we want to win the league we are going to need a back up striker who can step up to the plate. imho we need a slightly older, better Essel type striker who has pace and movement and an ability to finish.

Quoted from forza ivano

for me the main problem is that Taylor has raised the bar , and 6 years after his first stint with us, LJL hasn't improved.6 years ago we accepted Lennie , for all his faults, but now he's 6 years older and still isn't really capable of scoring a 1 on1 or doing that bit of magic that Taylor can. He is very much second best and if we are going to try and win the league we, unfortunately, need better. Taylor is 33 and we will be lucky to get 40 games out of him so a competent replacement is essential.
I like lennie, but if we want to win the league we are going to need a back up striker who can step up to the plate. imho we need a slightly older, better Essel type striker who has pace and movement and an ability to finish.

There’s a lad at Donnie not getting a game that’s very much like that…

In all seriousness, I agree. Taylor is clearly w class above Lennie. It’s clear that everyone loves Lennie and the players certainly respect him, he brings many things to the side but if we’re chasing a goal, you wouldn’t fancy him to get it…

Quoted from forza ivano

for me the main problem is that Taylor has raised the bar , and 6 years after his first stint with us, LJL hasn't improved.6 years ago we accepted Lennie , for all his faults, but now he's 6 years older and still isn't really capable of scoring a 1 on1 or doing that bit of magic that Taylor can. He is very much second best and if we are going to try and win the league we, unfortunately, need better. Taylor is 33 and we will be lucky to get 40 games out of him so a competent replacement is essential.
I like lennie, but if we want to win the league we are going to need a back up striker who can step up to the plate. imho we need a slightly older, better Essel type striker who has pace and movement and an ability to finish.

We certainly accepted him 6 years ago when he left the club after scoring 20 goals that season.

Quoted from aldi_01

There’s a lad at Donnie not getting a game that’s very much like that…

In all seriousness, I agree. Taylor is clearly w class above Lennie. It’s clear that everyone loves Lennie and the players certainly respect him, he brings many things to the side but if we’re chasing a goal, you wouldn’t fancy him to get it…

But you would fancy him to hold the ball up or the defenders so someone else could get it.

Quoted from forza ivano

for me the main problem is that Taylor has raised the bar , and 6 years after his first stint with us, LJL hasn't improved.6 years ago we accepted Lennie , for all his faults, but now he's 6 years older and still isn't really capable of scoring a 1 on1 or doing that bit of magic that Taylor can. He is very much second best and if we are going to try and win the league we, unfortunately, need better. Taylor is 33 and we will be lucky to get 40 games out of him so a competent replacement is essential.
I like lennie, but if we want to win the league we are going to need a back up striker who can step up to the plate. imho we need a slightly older, better Essel type striker who has pace and movement and an ability to finish.

I've confused my seasons and thought LJL was a part of our promotion side, it seems the seasons all blend into one. The following season after LJL departed we went up with the following top 4 goal scorers: Pádraig Amond with 36 goals, Omar Bogle with 20 goals, Nathan Arnold with 13 goals and Jon-Paul Pittman with a helpful 8 goals. Blimey, that was strike force - 77 goals between them.

When you look at statistics, it is difficult to see LJL as a striker, he's probably better being a number 10 or dropping into a holding midfield position as he's so physical and can draw players to him.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Whoever does the scouting for Yeovil needs to get some recognition as they did a good job on us today and their work rate was impressive.

Agreed not our most fluid performance but there where a few little snapshots of the quality and more importantly the confidence we currently have and that’s underlined by our back 4 who are looking really comfortable in the ball whilst maintaining “us shape” consistently well.

Good teams win without playing well and I don’t think anyone had a bad game we just wasn’t as cohesive.

So 3 more points, 4 point gap at the top with for different reasons 2 tricky games coming up.

Well done Town, job done today.

UTM!!

I thought Yeovil did a job on Harry Clifton today and made it very difficult for us to play. The fresh legs of Sousa, Revan or Wright in the closing stages must frighten teams though.

Sousa was instrumental in us seeing the game out today I thought.

Yeovil are deservedly getting credit for the part they played in today’s game; whilst not blessed with some of the firepower we have in our ranks I thought they looked very organised and tactically smart.

Their approach was different to anything I’ve seen against us at BP so far this season. They lined up with a front three, which I think is a different system to what they usually play, and pressed us high up the pitch whilst keeping their midfield and defensive line quite deep. It left us looking rushed playing out from the back at times, and then having played out through the press still found ourselves with another 8 men between the ball and their goal. I felt it frustrated and maybe even rattled us a little in the first half.

Ultimately though, if our effort and teamwork have been a feature of our season, I thought we were well matched in that department - it was individual quality that won us the game today. Not many teams in this league have players that could see let alone execute McAtee’s through ball to Bapaga, and few will have players with the pace to get on the end of it before the keeper.

It was a well taken penalty by Lennie, and it took some large testacles to step up after missing one last. I’ll offer a slightly different opinion on him, in so much that I don’t think the biggest issue with him today was his finishing. Regarding that miss, without having seen it back I felt McAtee should have shot, his ball to Lennie should have been better, Lennie should have anticipated it better and even allowing for the overhit pass should probably have scored. We should have finished that move off with a goal, but both players were equally at fault.

The bigger issue I saw with Lennie in relation to today’s game is that he plays with his back to goal. He holds the ball up well, and that will be a very useful quality in some matches this season, but it’s probably not how you want to set-up at home against a stubborn and hardworking side like Yeovil. I thought it cost us some fluidity and spontaneity in the attacking third, and I wonder if we might have played differently had Taylor been available. On the whole though, I thought he did well at what he does, it just wasn’t quite what we needed at times this afternoon.

I thought Sousa looked excellent when he came on, and looked like a man desperate to win his shirt back. That, right now, is surely the major selection headache Hurst has - if there’s only room in the lineup for one of Sousa or Bapaga, who starts? Personally I think Sousa looks the more refined player and has lost that little bit of rawness he had in the first few games, but Bapaga’s return in terms of goals and assists (mostly by way of penalties won) is hard to argue with.

As much as today could have ended with a different outcome and Yeovil certainly made us sweat, there weren’t too many hearts in mouth moments and we probably just about deserved the three points. A neat goal from McAtee, not quite at his excellent best, put some gloss on the score line and made injury time a lot less stressful.

Overall, the pleasing thing is that we’re winning games in different ways. The last four Saturday’s we’ve alternated between spanking teams and then grinding out a result.

Notts County to get the spanking then…but we’ll need to be a bit better than we were today.

Quoted from Poojah

Yeovil are deservedly getting credit for the part they played in today’s game; whilst not blessed with some of the firepower we have in our ranks I thought they looked very organised and tactically smart.

Their approach was different to anything I’ve seen against us at BP so far this season. They lined up with a front three, which I think is a different system to what they usually play, and pressed us high up the pitch whilst keeping their midfield and defensive line quite deep. It left us looking rushed playing out from the back at times, and then having played out through the press still found ourselves with another 8 men between the ball and their goal. I felt it frustrated and maybe even rattled us a little in the first half.

Ultimately though, if our effort and teamwork have been a feature of our season, I thought we were well matched in that department - it was individual quality that won us the game today. Not many teams in this league have players that could see let alone execute McAtee’s through ball to Bapaga, and few will have players with the pace to get on the end of it before the keeper.

It was a well taken penalty by Lennie, and it took some large testacles to step up after missing one last. I’ll offer a slightly different opinion on him, in so much that I don’t think the biggest issue with him today was his finishing. Regarding that miss, without having seen it back I felt McAtee should have shot, his ball to Lennie should have been better, Lennie should have anticipated it better and even allowing for the overhit pass should probably have scored. We should have finished that move off with a goal, but both players were equally at fault.

The bigger issue I saw with Lennie in relation to today’s game is that he plays with his back to goal. He holds the ball up well, and that will be a very useful quality in some matches this season, but it’s probably not how you want to set-up at home against a stubborn and hardworking side like Yeovil. I thought it cost us some fluidity and spontaneity in the attacking third, and I wonder if we might have played differently had Taylor been available. On the whole though, I thought he did well at what he does, it just wasn’t quite what we needed at time.

I thought Sousa looked excellent when he came on, and looked like a man desperate to win his shirt back. That, right now, is surely the major selection headache Hurst has - if there’s only room in the lineup for one of Sousa or Bapaga, who starts? Personally I think Sousa looks the more refined player and has lost that little bit of rawness he had in the first few games, but Bapaga’s return in terms of goals and assists (mostly by way of penalties won) is hard to argue with.

As much as today could have ended with a different outcome and Yeovil certainly made us sweat, there weren’t too many hearts in mouth moments and we probably just about deserved the three points. A neat goal from McAtee, not quite at his excellent best, put some gloss on the score line and made injury time a lot less stressful.

Overall, the pleasing thing is that we’re winning games in different ways. The last four Saturday’s we’ve alternated between spanking teams and then grinding out a result.

Notts County to get the spanking then…but we’ll need to be a bit better than we were today.

Grounded and well thought analysis. I disagree, as I had my heart in mouth far too much, but that is perhaps a reflex of previous renditions of Grimsby Town.

I think Sousa is the far more talented man, he did a wonderful technique to put the ball past a defender and only lost out because he ran out of room on the pitch, that technical play at this level is sublime and unheard of.

Agreed on the McAtee and LJL incident, McAtee should've shot, but he didn't and should've put a better ball in, LJL should've anticipated the ball, but didn't and we ended up what we saw.

Biggest but of buts, Champion winning sides win when they play poorly, as we did today. On the surface a 2-0 win looks simple, but we ground it out through the team and that's what winning sides do, they win. So let's keep winning and hopefully still be at this stage at the end of the season.

Quoted from Plankton

Grounded and well thought analysis. I disagree, as I had my heart in mouth far too much, but that is perhaps a reflex of previous renditions of Grimsby Town.

I think Sousa is the far more talented man, he did a wonderful technique to put the ball past a defender and only lost out because he ran out of room on the pitch, that technical play at this level is sublime and unheard of.

Agreed on the McAtee and LJL incident, McAtee should've shot, but he didn't and should've put a better ball in, LJL should've anticipated the ball, but didn't and we ended up what we saw.

Biggest but of buts, Champion winning sides win when they play poorly, as we did today. On the surface a 2-0 win looks simple, but we ground it out through the team and that's what winning sides do, they win. So let's keep winning and hopefully still be at this stage at the end of the season.

I think there are lots of signs exhibited by this side which are characteristic of title winning teams.

We’ve got the best GD in the division, with both joint best goals scored and against records. We’ve won 8 penalties and conceded 0. We’ve scored important goals in or approaching injury time in 5 out of 12 matches. We’ve kept clean sheets in half of our matches so far. If we can avoid conceding on Tuesday, we’ll have gone a month without conceding a goal with 11 men on the pitch. More goal scorers than any other side in the league.  

Add to all that, of course, that we are currently 4 points clear at the top. Long, long way to go yet but there are many positive signs.

Quoted from Poojah

I think there are lots of signs exhibited by this side which are characteristic of title winning teams.

We’ve got the best GD in the division, with both joint best goals scored and against records. We’ve won 8 penalties and conceded 0. We’ve scored important goals in or approaching injury time in 5 out of 12 matches. We’ve kept clean sheets in half of our matches so far. If we can avoid conceding on Tuesday, we’ll have gone a month without conceding a goal with 11 men on the pitch.

Add to that, of course, that we are currently 4 points clear at the top. Long, long way to go yet but there are many positive signs.

I’d also add confidence, belief, unity, resilience, desire, work ethic and something about engaging with the support in a positive way.

Quoted from aldi_01

This is my take on it, we’ve improved beyond what anyone would’ve imagined and anyone that thought we’d be too at this current stage is a liar…

We look a decent side, perhaps not our best performance today but we won and good sides find a way of winning…I reckon, with the exception of possibly Chesterfield, every single team would happily swap and be us at this moment in time…
Fans of teams around the top would’ve been looking at phones with 5 to go, seeing Yeovil in the ascendancy and hoping they nicked something…then we scored…remember how many times we left BP and then ducking Barnet scored or Fleetwood nicked one etc…

May be we’ve become that team finally…

I keep saying it, but today really is a prime example so I'll say it again, look at the way Lincoln won the title. Ruthless against the lower level teams in terms of wins - and how many involved AkindePen plus late goal?

I'm also thinking about what Martin Johnson (Leicester / England rugby captain) used to say - make sure you are in the game with 10 minutes left even if you are not ahead, the last 10 is when it hurts and when pressure leads to most mistakes - the number of times I saw Leicester turn the screw in the last 10 to turn a small deficit into a win through exemplary fitness and pressure.

But I think this also applies to the whole season, even if we are not top with 10 games to go we need to be in the race, something we never achieved last time we were down here - we were never still in the race for the title. Look at our last 10 games - two away games against current 2nd and 3rd and apart from that it doesn't look like a difficult run-in at all (although things may change alot granted). Every win, whilst not playing at our best is still a step to being in the race with 10 to go

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I’d also add confidence, belief, unity, resilience, desire, work ethic and something about engaging with the support in a positive way.

The team has been clearly told to engage with the fans. At the end of every home game, they come around and clap with the fans, which is lovely to see.

Today Harry Clifton when he was subbed took himself at the other end of the pitch and received a glorious response from every end of the ground.

I think Hurst is nous to player and fan interaction, which is great to see, they see that they love our support and it's returned in kind.

Bar one team we have a GD of at least 5 better than every other team. At least after a quick check.

Just back to Suffolk after a wonderful day with my girls

Had the pleasure of sitting next to golfer who I find has a sense of humour the same as mine.

Also met Kingston and fish fanny  for the first time so all in all a great day.

We played not at our best and Yeovil were a decent side but we still won 2-0 so that tells me we have a good squad .

It's ours to win guys and I believe we will finish as champions if we get that extra striker and manage to keep the loan players until the end of the season

Fantastic crowd making a lot of noise but it baffled me how we can issue over 7000 tickets but only 6400 turn up well I could not see that many empty seats so I think the club should explain the difference.

Quoted from Poojah

I think there are lots of signs exhibited by this side which are characteristic of title winning teams.

We’ve got the best GD in the division, with both joint best goals scored and against records. We’ve won 8 penalties and conceded 0. We’ve scored important goals in or approaching injury time in 5 out of 12 matches. We’ve kept clean sheets in half of our matches so far. If we can avoid conceding on Tuesday, we’ll have gone a month without conceding a goal with 11 men on the pitch. More goal scorers than any other side in the league.  

Add to all that, of course, that we are currently 4 points clear at the top. Long, long way to go yet but there are many positive signs.

If you look at the stats of champion winning sides, we're doing exactly what they did. We did as you said, won penalties, conceded little. We're scoring early in a game, but more importantly, scoring mostly in the second half, we're doing exactly what successful teams do, we score and kill a game. Yeovil were pressing and pressing today, and I think in fairness could've nicked one but we did what winning sides do and took a second on the stroke of injury time to kill it. We took away their desire to get a point, that's what winning teams do. Impressive, even if it leaves a little bit to be desired in performance.

I'll take it over and again above what we've been served before at BP.

Quoted from grimsby pete

Just back to Suffolk after a wonderful day with my girls

Had the pleasure of sitting next to golfer who I find has a sense of humour the same as mine.

Also met Kingston and fish fanny  for the first time so all in all a great day.

We played not at our best and Yeovil were a decent side but we still won 2-0 so that tells me we have a good squad .

It's ours to win guys and I believe we will finish as champions if we get that extra striker and manage to keep the loan players until the end of the season

Fantastic crowd making a lot of noise but it baffled me how we can issue over 7000 tickets but only 6400 turn up well I could not see that many empty seats so I think the club should explain the difference.

Glad you enjoyed your visit Pete and that's a nicety to meet some of us on the forum! I would like to meet some of the fellow Fishy folk if I could, I'm less southern-based these days, so it's certainly something I'd enjoy.

The tickets is a weird one, I've done some maths on another thread and it doesn't work out, but we will see what we get back. UTM.

Playing poorly but winning is a sign of a title winning team

I saw the miss from three youtubers , so saw three different angles. (Thanks lads).   I'm not sure why McAtee didn't score , I can only assume he saw Lenny and he wanted to gift him a goal.  I don't thing LJL expected it , I think he was assuming that the onion bag would be rippling and he continued his run  for a rebound.  That said a sharp forward would have scored with either foot.  He never be a prolific finisher but he needs a bit of luck and his confidence will come back and with that some goals.  It took guts to take the pen and the keeper made a good effort but it was a quality penalty.

After a night of reflection, here's my thoughts of the game.

Defence looks like an Iron Curtain, thought both of the centre-backs was absolutely outstanding and won just about everything in the air (I think Waterfall would head a wrecking ball). Thought Yeovil set up to frustrate and try be a battering ram with the two big lads up top - I seem to think that Quigley has done quite well for them in terms of goals this year?

Full-Backs - Looked assured and never really under any pressure 1v1, both defended well barring the lapse of concentration from Crookes for the backpass to Macca but other than that solid all game. Sears looked settled although a little raw when he had the ball sometimes I think he sliced a few out but since he's come in as Efete's understudy he's staked a place in the team for Michee to win back.

Midfield 3 - Echo the thoughts of others that Hunt was a little quiet today but I still think he raises the tempo of getting us playing by whipping the 15 yard balls at pace which gives us an extra few sections for options going forward, Clifton went about his business as he usually does, runs, chases, harries.. I just love watching his energy as I believe it's been infectious on the squad this year, was lovely to see a standing ovation for him coming off - he seems to have improved massively with the ball this year also. Fox - My MOTM, seems to have been there at every 2nd ball and with a mixture of class and grit he seems to have the ball in a tight area and make the correct decision all the time, seems that he has cemented his place in the starting 11 keeping the skipper sat on the bench for the time being.

Front 3 - Glad Lennie got his goal as for what he lacks in goalscoring he will give you the effort and desire you'd want from a player, don't understand the constant bombardment of getting on his back however, he wasn't brought in to be our main number 9 so will not score all the time however he offers us that different outlet which may come in handy further into the season. I've not seen the highlights yet whether he should of scored or the pass from McAtee was hit behind him, however we won! Bapaga has got better every single game I've watched, he looked very nervous and raw the first few games I saw him and perhaps I judged too quickly that all of Hursts signings wasn't going to work out.. That's why I'm not employed as a football manager. In quite a scrappy game the winning of that penalty took abit of stress of our shoulders I think and he seemed to make up a lot of ground in a short space, I seem to recall him winning quite a few penalties in recent matches. McAtee - Probably the fans favourite and set the tone from the first whistle, chasing down the lost causes and just even putting his body on the line to block the ball is something which lifts the crowd and gets them behind the team, he seems to be enjoying every time he pulls on the black and white shirt and is being backed quite rightly from the fans, glad he was on the scoresheet again as it will keep the confidence flowing through his veins.

All in all, a gritty dogged performance that we came away with maximum points. I think we will play better and lose this year. Yeovil will definately take points of teams around us, enjoy it and soak it in ladies/gents. We've got a tough run of fixtures coming up and it will really give us an indication of whether we deserve to be top of the table.

Another 3 points in the right direction with over a quarter of the season played.

I was impressed with Yeovil, very organised and tough to break down. They’re lacking a goal scorer which would certainly change their fortunes.

As others have said, certainly not out most glamorous performance but effective never the less. Towler was the best player on the pitch by a considerable distance.

Onto Wealdstone.

UTM

Which YouTube videos are people seeing John Lewis miss please? I can't find them.

Quoted from Mayaman

I saw the miss from three youtubers , so saw three different angles. (Thanks lads).   I'm not sure why McAtee didn't score , I can only assume he saw Lenny and he wanted to gift him a goal.  I don't thing LJL expected it , I think he was assuming that the onion bag would be rippling and he continued his run  for a rebound.  That said a sharp forward would have scored with either foot.  He never be a prolific finisher but he needs a bit of luck and his confidence will come back and with that some goals.  It took guts to take the pen and the keeper made a good effort but it was a quality penalty.

I think the reason McAtee squared the ball rather than shot was because just before that in a similar position he went for goal and missed when Lennie was possibly the better option, so maybe that was playing in his mind.

Quoted from Humbercod

I think the reason McAtee squared the ball rather than shot was because just before that in a similar position he went for goal and missed when Lennie was possibly the better option, so maybe that was playing in his mind.

Also trying to boost his teammates confidence possibly?

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Also trying to boost his teammates confidence possibly?

If you’ve got the mental sharpness to think about that when you’re through on goal then your talents are wasted as a footballer.

Sorry if this has been answered before, but just how many penalties has Bapaga won us now? He must be on for a record at the stage of this season...

Quoted from RobDef1

Sorry if this has been answered before, but just how many penalties has Bapaga won us now? He must be on for a record at the stage of this season...

Jack Lester used to win us a lot in the championship

Quoted from Davec

Which YouTube videos are people seeing John Lewis miss please? I can't find them.

One of them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjbeareQ1h8

McAtee chased and blocked the ball 5 or 6 times yesterday.  Must frustrate opposing teams that we try this hard.  He does similar at every game.  

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

McAtee chased and blocked the ball 5 or 6 times yesterday.  Must frustrate opposing teams that we try this hard.  He does similar at every game.  

Surely this is not the same McAtee that we signed from Scunny, who their fans said was lazy.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Surely this is not the same McAtee that we signed from Scunny, who their fans said was lazy.

Yes, they must have some incredibly hard working players if he is deemed to be lazy. Shame none of them can play football though.

Didn't look a bad to the shop from me to be fair on that viewing, really asking to be buried, has to go down as a terrible miss. I see the scoreboard flashed up 'Goal!' right after they were so convinced it would be in they must have pressed the button lol

Quoted from toontown

Didn't look a bad pass to the shop from me to be fair on that viewing, really asking to be buried, has to go down as a terrible miss. I see the scoreboard flashed up 'Goal!' right after they were so convinced it would be in they must have pressed the button lol