On way back/Just Back on the bus (merged)

Thankfully only 20 minute drive for me.

What a drab performance, full backs no overlapping just drab. Midfield non existent. Poor upfront.

Where’s the fluidity we had? It’s all so stationary.

Sousa so poor today.
Mcatee gave us a lift but the goal on the counter attack after our best chance of the game just killed that.

New lad looked okay and busy.

McKeown just stuck to his line for everything.

What’s happened to hunt?

So many questions.

Where do we go from here? Boreham wood will walk all over us come Saturday.

Went tonight and sat in front passenger seat shaking my head at what I saw and the realisation that reality has hit.

Top 10 now my adjusted reality based on last 6 games and not the first 6 games.

Maybe Jason is right to talk about this being a long term project.

Quoted from Lincspoacher

Went tonight and sat in front passenger seat shaking my head at what I saw and the realisation that reality has hit.

Top 10 now my adjusted reality based on last 6 games and not the first 6 games.

Maybe Jason is right to talk about this being a long term project.

He’ll need to have deep pockets if we carry on like this.

Quoted from Lincspoacher

Went tonight and sat in front passenger seat shaking my head at what I saw and the realisation that reality has hit.

Top 10 now my adjusted reality based on last 6 games and not the first 6 games.

Maybe Jason is right to talk about this being a long term project.

Long term project is all well and good we’ve just had twenty years of shite I’m sick of waiting

Long terrm project fine but whatever the owners do to create a better club, crowds will drop off if the poor form continues and even more so if we aren't challenging for the playoffs.

Booooo, BOOOOO

Thats what I say

Well i aint going on saturday  dont care what happens  i have had enough for now

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Long terrm project fine but whatever the owners do to create a better club, crowds will drop off if the poor form continues and even more so if we aren't challenging for the playoffs.

We could be as ‘better’ as you like, most fans are more bothered about results than B Corp or well-run or how nice the pies are.

JS did say Hurst has the money to bring in new players, and the decision is down to Hurst. Bell is a loanee and by the sound of things may be here till the end of the season, so it looks like Jan for a new signing, or 2.

Quoted from denni266

Well i aint going on saturday  dont care what happens  i have had enough for now

Are you 10?

Quoted from DB

JS did say Hurst has the money to bring in new players, and the decision is down to Hurst. Bell is a loanee and by the sound of things may be here till the end of the season, so it looks like Jan for a new signing, or 2.

Not a pop at you DB but people think Hurst can bring in players like we're part of some fantasy league. It's not as easy as that for numerous reasons.

Maybe just maybe we're not the "mighty" Mariners again just yet.

Quoted from denni266

Well i aint going on saturday  dont care what happens  i have had enough for now

Good. Hopefully you will apply the same logic to posting your complete drivel on The Fishy.

I should probably wait until the morning for this but here goes.
That was truly woeful. The performances against Wrexham, Altrincham and Woking are a distant memory.
If you are going to play Pearson and Waterfall together then their simply has to be some cover with a bit of pace.
The first goal came from the best single pass of the night but the defending from the eventual cross was abject.
Solihull didn't have to do much apart from wait for us to give them the ball back which we did with alarming regularity.
Gone are the inventive, incisive moves from the likes of Clifton, Sousa and Hunt. They've been replaced by monumentally poor first touches and wayward passing denying the team any momentum.
When we did get within striking range the new all too apparent lack of confidence restricted attempts at goal. Their keeper made a couple of reflex saves from goal mouth scrambles but other than that had a far more comfortable night than he should have had.
For once Mcatee was unable to stamp his mark on the game-despite having longer to try to do so than Hurst normally gives his subs.
The second goal was hysterical in its ineptitude. Yes we were pushing for an equaliser but considering the experience in the team the right to expect someone to have covered the possibility of the such a break was obvious. I'm not keen on singling out individuals but Clifton merely escorted their lad towards the goal. The Clifton of a month ago would have done far better. The least said about Maccas contribution the better but it was akin to your favourite pet dog laying down expecting to gets its tummy tickled.
There was still time for a Solihull player to run along the goal line swatting away "tackles" before Macca partially redeemed himself to prevent a salt rubbing in third.
Not many positives but Bell looked more than useful in patches until he was confronted with the reality that Town's forward line have to be expert foragers able to fashion chances out of pitifully weak service.
Towns MOM (at least in my view) by a country mile was Efete. Defended more than adequately and offered a real threat going forward which Solihull found difficult to deal with.
Borehamwood Saturday. Not sure where Hurst goes to try to get tonight's players "up for it" but I'd put my mortgage on Mcatee starting.

Bromley player??

Safe Trip home

Your words scream real concern too me. The team has nosedived spectacularly

That’s a pretty strong response from you mate, and, as I know how you usually express yourself in a very balanced way, it’s a bit of a concern that you should describe tonight the way you have.

Quoted from barralad

I should probably wait until the morning for this but here goes.
That was truly woeful. The performances against Wrexham, Altrincham and Woking are a distant memory.
If you are going to play Pearson and Waterfall together then their simply has to be some cover with a bit of pace.
The first goal came from the best single pass of the night but the defending from the eventual cross was abject.
Solihull didn't have to do much apart from wait for us to give them the ball back which we did with alarming regularity.
Gone are the inventive, incisive moves from the likes of Clifton, Sousa and Hunt. They've been replaced by monumentally poor first touches and wayward passing denying the team any momentum.
When we did get within striking range the new all too apparent lack of confidence restricted attempts at goal. Their keeper made a couple of reflex saves from goal mouth scrambles but other than that had a far more comfortable night than he should have had.
For once Mcatee was unable to stamp his mark on the game-despite having longer to try to do so than Hurst normally gives his subs.
The second goal was hysterical in its ineptitude. Yes we were pushing for an equaliser but considering the experience in the team the right to expect someone to have covered the possibility of the such a break was obvious. I'm not keen on singling out individuals but Clifton merely escorted their lad towards the goal. The Clifton of a month ago would have done far better. The least said about Maccas contribution the better but it was akin to your favourite pet dog laying down expecting to gets its tummy tickled.
There was still time for a Bromley player to run along the goal line swatting away "tackles" before Macca partially redeemed himself to prevent a salt rubbing in third.
Not many positives but Bell looked more than useful in patches until he was confronted with the reality that Town's forward line have to be expert foragers able to fashion chances out of pitifully weak service.
Towns MOM (at least in my view) by a country mile was Efete. Defended more than adequately and offered a real threat going forward which Solihull found difficult to deal with.
Borehamwood Saturday. Not sure where Hurst goes to try to get tonight's players "up for it" but I'd put my mortgage on Mcatee starting.

Thanks for the summary Barra. It more or less confirms what most of us heard on the radio tonight. My thought are with you and all fans who are travelling home tonight after that gutless performance. I hope you all have a safe journey back home.

Quoted from Perkins

Bromley player??

Well spotted..in my defence the performance had me thinking of the second half Bromley debacle.
Now corrected.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Not a pop at you DB but people think Hurst can bring in players like we're part of some fantasy league. It's not as easy as that for numerous reasons.

Maybe just maybe we're not the "mighty" Mariners again just yet.

I know where you're coming from and do understand his problems. I do expect a couple of permanent decent signings in January though. Many talked of the strength in depth about 2 months ago, alas this has come to haunt us recently as our depth seems to be rather shallow.

Quoted from Hagrid

Are you 10?

Wish i was.. we had a far better team and manager back then

At least we don’t have to worry about Hurst being headhunted now

Just home, and echo Barralad thoughts. Baffling how we can go from being top and flying to that shite. Solihull didn’t have to do that much but their passing and movement was far ahead of ours. Too many statues and no one showing for the ball.

Agree efete was the only one who had a good game, at times single handedly driving us forward and in the end just ignoring Sousa which was for the best. The less said about sousa the better, but it takes some going to be the standout worst player after such a poor team performance.

Let’s pray boreham wood are feeling merciful - that’s a depressing flipping thing to have to say.

Happy clappers are out in force tonight i see

Safe journey home to all those travelled and respect

Quoted from denni266

Well i aint going on saturday  dont care what happens  i have had enough for now

Ahhh c'mon 👍

Paul Hurst said he feels we did enough to win tonight

Quoted from Davec

Paul Hurst said he feels we did enough to win tonight

Just listened

Talking absolute nonsense. You dont deserve to win a game when your “ carrying” players. His words. And do not test the GK until 70 minutes

Quoted from barralad

Well spotted..in my defence the performance had me thinking of the second half Bromley debacle.
Now corrected.

No defence required Barra, a rare unintended error, sorry for being flippant.

Putting the performance, and result, to one side for a moment, we somewhat got away with that tonight. Alty's 96th minute equaliser at Chesterfield having been 2-down on 83 minutes, Bromley losing unexpectedly at home to Yeovil, Boreham Wood drawing with Notts County and Halifax losing in the 90th minute all means that we've lost relatively little ground on the top positions and aren't the only ones to have had a morale sapping evening.

There is a 'but' though. Those on the periphery of the play-off positions, notably Stockport, Wrexham and of course Solihull all won. We remain just 4 points off the top, yet only 5 points from 9th (and if you want to get really stark, only 8 points above Eastleigh in 14th). Then there's the small matter of the fixture list. Here's the next 8:

Boreham Wood (2) - H
Dagenham (10) - A
Chesterfield (1) - H
Halifax (5) - A
King's Lynn (22) - H
Halifax (5) - H
Bromley (4) - A
Wrexham (8') - A

Our record against the current top 10 reads: P: 5 W: 1 D: 1 L:3.

4 points from 15, all of which came early in the season against Stockport and Wrexham sides which hadn't yet got into gear. Wrexham, I'm certain, will be a very different beast when we play them in January.

So, 7 games out of 8 against the current top 10; a run which includes both of the top 2 as well 5th placed Halifax twice. Make no mistake, this is an absolutely crucial portion of the season. Do ok and we keep ourselves in with a sniff of the title. Don't do so well and it's genuinely not inconceivable that we find ourselves in the bottom half.

There's a saying that you learn more about a team when you lose than you do when you're winning. I can see some truth in that; I think these last 6 games have given us a much more balanced view of this squad. So what have we learned? For me:

• We're simply not good enough without McAtee in the side
  
• Sousa and Bapaga are talented but raw, and therefore painfully inconsistent
  
• Macca, as much as I love the bloke, simply isn't good enough anymore for a title chase at this level
  
• We're predictable and powderpuff when lacking confidence
  

I'm sure there are other things, but those are the four that stand out. I feel for Macca, I really do. I've probably seen him play more games for Town than any other player (I was too young for the early years of the original Macca's career), so it's hard not to feel some kind of emotion towards a bloke who's been there through some top times and some absolutely fúcking awful ones.

But now isn't a time for sentiment. This club is 143 years old, and I hope it keeps going for another 143 at the very least. Right now, we are at a massive crossroads. This season is crucial, and this particular chunk of the season is absolutely huge. We've seen, as recently as January with the signing of the lad Eastwood from Sheffield United, that it's possible to find a more robust and reliable option. I don't know whether Crocombe represents that, his CV is inconclusive, but either way I can't help feel that now is the time for a terminal change in the goalkeeping department, as much as it pains me to write that.

Beyond that, I really feel we need to act now in terms of bringing in some experienced attacking reinforcements - perhaps most of all wide players. Bell sounded positive at times tonight, but the next few weeks are a lot to ask for someone so inexperienced. I've previously extolled the virtues of trading within a fixed wage structure, but honestly, if we need to break the ceiling ever so slightly to source the necessary quality, can we afford not to? I recognise we don't have Stockport or Wrexham-esque resources, and I'm not suggesting anything close to that. But now is the time for boldness; dither and this season could end very abruptly, and that will prove a big test of our recently buoyed attendances.

Let me just reiterate this. The players have so far this season given a fúcking magnificent account of themselves on the whole, and they along with the management team, recruitment team and board deserve huge credit for having us sat in 3rd position after 17 games. That's a lot better than I thought we'd be doing.

But the hard work we've done in getting here is too precious to squander, and I can't help but feel we need to reinforce with quality and experience to avoid doing just that.

Really seems like we were not good enough tonight and this patch of poor games continues. Quite how this team went from winners playing with drive and style to an apathetic team lacking confidence is a mystery but Hurst needs to find a way to motivate his players before we start dropping down into mid table by Christmas.

Quoted from denni266

Well i aint going on saturday  dont care what happens  i have had enough for now

You'll be there, of course you will. By Friday you will have convinced yourself we will win.

Poor Performance
Not quite sure where we go from here
Will we lose all 4 of these tough 4 games?
Come on Town!! We have to do better

Not sure about the pass for their first being the single best of the night as a few minutes before their second Taylor played a lovely ball through to Efete who just couldn't dink it over the keeper. This was when we were enjoying our best spell of the match and I genuinely think if that goes in, we go on and win that as it felt like we had them on the ropes. Don't get me wrong though, we in no way deserved anything from that. Sousa's worst performance in a Town shirt and probably the first time Clifton has noticeably struggled, pair those two having off nights with a young lad up top making his debut having signed for us yesterday and it all just left Taylor with way too much to do. I thought Fox and Hunt were busy and worked hard but both fairly wasteful. The defence looked jittery at times, I'm not sold on this Waterfall/Pearson combo. I agree that Efete was decent but his reluctance to use his left foot when cutting in was very apparent tonight.

A mate messaged me at half time to say that there are perhaps too many youngsters in and around the starting XI and I have to agree, we've seen it time and time again now that we can't deal with physically stronger teams pressing us and it seems like everyone we play has got the memo.

To look at that negatively, we were shite tonight and we haven't fixed any of the problems we've seen over the past few months. However to put a positive spin on it, we definitely weren't outplayed and we're still somehow...I have no idea how...in third place and only four pts off the top.

Let's be frank, if you expect promotion in our first season down here, you're a bit of a plum. Hardly any fecker does it. Obviously Bristol Rovers did it through the play offs 5 years ago but they wouldn't have done if that cnutof a referee had any bottle. We're essentially victims of the start that we had in terms of how it has over-inflated people's expectations. As Marinette pointed out, quite astutely I reckon, our start probably did owe a fair amount to the extended preseason we had. Now that other teams have caught up and we've been without our star player for a month we've hit a massive rut. It's not been good enough, everyone can see that but had we started the season with 3 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats, we'd be delighted where we are right now. So shall we have a bit of perapective eh?

Hurst didn't assemble a title-winning squad in the summer and nor could he have been reasonably expected to in his first proper window with such a high turnover of squad. We obvioisly need to strengthen, if not before January then in the window as FL players start moving around and become available. So can we stop these histrionics and just get behind the team on Saturday as they need it now more than at any poimt so far this season.

Also, did anyone else clock that their keeper got sponsor's man of the match?! Absolutely baffling choice.

Interesting if we win on Saturday we go back to 2nd which I’d have taken before a ball was kicked.

I do think we’ve lost our mojo with too many players off it and in recent weeks a lack of pace and movement.

We’ll definitely need additions in January if not before if we’re not going to completely fade.

Did anyone expect us to win the league?

Hurst has money in the budget for more players over January. Recruitment is his strongest card, and he's spent months chewing over his targets. As long as we are there or thereabouts at the top, if the additions click quickly in place, we can still have a very good season.

It was a real mix of some actually good passing and movement at times ,but the next minute it was aimless long balls, misplaced passes, lack of pressing, lack of tackling.
We just didn't get close enough to them first half and they had all the time in the world to play it around. The worrying thing was that we had every advantage - they'd played 2 gruelling games in 7 days, yet they looked a fresh as daisies and it was us who looked lethargic. Plus they'd lost their best centre half to chesterfield, had their skipper suspended and then lost another centre half in the first 15. We had all those advantages but hardly laid a glove on them
Must be so frustrating for Hurst - he more or less blamed the inexperienced players v Aldershot, yet tonight 3 of his experienced, most consistent performers (Crookes, Fox and Sousa) had absolute shockers. How their no. 11 didn't get motm i don't know. He turned Crookes inside out all night
Waterfall plus pearson is not the answer and Towler needs to come in as i'm sure he'll aid Crookes' performance.
Notice that PH said he's starting to find out about the players and he intimated that some are possibly not good enough or consistent enough. I think i'd put Bapaga (who once again did nothing once he came on), Hunt (who is the epitome of how we've gone downhill) & Pearson (think hes' turned out to be a big wage wasted) in that category
Thought taylor and Bell partnership has possibilities, and Bell looks to have a bit about him and certainly we will give us far more of  a forward threat.
Good to see efete back to his best, and seems to have regained the confidence he lost after the sending off.
Don't think macca was really to blame for tonight, but i have to say that Boot in the Solihull goal outshone him

Don't quite know where PH goes from here coz there's nobody to really bring in, apart from towler, and maybe tinker with the midfield again.. Maybe his best bet is to set us up not to concede and try and get a bit of confidence back with a whole hearted, committed defensive display

Quoted from Kris2

Really seems like we were not good enough tonight and this patch of poor games continues. Quite how this team went from winners playing with drive and style to an apathetic team lacking confidence is a mystery but Hurst needs to find a way to motivate his players before we start dropping down into mid table by Christmas.

It has completely baffled me. Teams and players have a bad day at the office but they seem to have forgotten how to pass.  Compare that to the beginning of the season when we saw crisp inventive passing. ANother goalless night.   How does that happen when 13 of our players have scored - and we're not talking goalmouth scrambles; many were contenders for goal of the season.  We need to stop the rot or we will be doing a Dagenham and Redbridge. They seem to be in freefall.   Luckily the teams around us failed to win.

Would agree with most of what’s been said so far. Sousa particularly stood out as having a terrible night, but no one could argue if they were dropped for Saturday.

The first goal so early killed us. First half they caused us tonnes of problems down their right, and had a similar chance about 5 mins before their 1st goal which we got lucky with and didn’t learn from as they continued to double up on Crookes with little support from Sousa.

Defence were ok (Efete 100% offered the most going forward), midfield 2 did ok without really getting close to Taylor/Bell to support and Clifton didn’t have a good game compared to earlier in the season.

Bell showed promising touches; one which helped create a decent chance for Taylor early on, but understandbly looked like a lad who’s only known his team mates for a day. Hopefully with time we will be a decent option/addition.

How do we change things for Saturday? I think it’s clear we don’t like playing 4-4-2 so if McAtee is fit enough to start i can absolutely see that happening and going back to 4-2-3-1, but who deserves to fill the rest of the positions take your pick. This is when a smaller squad could limit us a bit, a few chances around the park to change it up definitely feels needed but whether we have the quality in depth to make those i’m not so sure on people’s current form….

The keeper needs dropping. He’s absolute junk and anyone saying “he wins us more points than he costs us” got a perfect display of why that’s such garbage tonight.

At 1-0 we were having our best spell of the night and looked almost nailed on to score soon. Their keeper saves 1-on-1 from Efete then somehow gets a hand to Taylor’s effort from a yard out, 20 seconds later they break and McKeown watches another pea roller trickle past him into the middle of his net. Game over.

Anything in & around their 6-yard box their keeper claimed, snuffed out our attack and killed our momentum. Anything coming into McKeown’s 6-yard area was either flapped at or left completely hoping it would drift past everyone. It keeps us under pressure. Absolute garbage week in week out.

Quoted from barralad

I should probably wait until the morning for this but here goes.
That was truly woeful. The performances against Wrexham, Altrincham and Woking are a distant memory.
If you are going to play Pearson and Waterfall together then their simply has to be some cover with a bit of pace.
The first goal came from the best single pass of the night but the defending from the eventual cross was abject.
Solihull didn't have to do much apart from wait for us to give them the ball back which we did with alarming regularity.
Gone are the inventive, incisive moves from the likes of Clifton, Sousa and Hunt. They've been replaced by monumentally poor first touches and wayward passing denying the team any momentum.
When we did get within striking range the new all too apparent lack of confidence restricted attempts at goal. Their keeper made a couple of reflex saves from goal mouth scrambles but other than that had a far more comfortable night than he should have had.
For once Mcatee was unable to stamp his mark on the game-despite having longer to try to do so than Hurst normally gives his subs.
The second goal was hysterical in its ineptitude. Yes we were pushing for an equaliser but considering the experience in the team the right to expect someone to have covered the possibility of the such a break was obvious. I'm not keen on singling out individuals but Clifton merely escorted their lad towards the goal. The Clifton of a month ago would have done far better. The least said about Maccas contribution the better but it was akin to your favourite pet dog laying down expecting to gets its tummy tickled.
There was still time for a Solihull player to run along the goal line swatting away "tackles" before Macca partially redeemed himself to prevent a salt rubbing in third.
Not many positives but Bell looked more than useful in patches until he was confronted with the reality that Town's forward line have to be expert foragers able to fashion chances out of pitifully weak service.
Towns MOM (at least in my view) by a country mile was Efete. Defended more than adequately and offered a real threat going forward which Solihull found difficult to deal with.
Borehamwood Saturday. Not sure where Hurst goes to try to get tonight's players "up for it" but I'd put my mortgage on Mcatee starting.

Agree with all of this.

Macca needs a rest. His positioning for the second was terrible leaving the near post and half of that side of the goal gaping wide open. Solihull had yet another keeper in this league that's far better at coming for crosses than McKeown. Crocombe needs to start. He must be competent or else why would Hurst have signed him. Efete was tremendous tonight, a nine out of ten performance in a team of fours and fives. The first was easily avoidable if we stop ball watching in our own box and start picking up men instead.

Looking at our team objectively, we probably need a bit more pace and a bit more physicality to push for the top spot. We've got decent players but it's clear there's a lack of confidence and a clarity of thought. What also doesn't help is we seem to have lost our identity. When the players were firing I don't think it mattered much about how our team set up or our style of play as player for player ours were mostly better than the oppos, but lose a bit of form, confidence or one or two key players we need a playing style to fall back on. Are we going to be a front foot high press high energy team winning the ball high up the pitch? Or are we going to sucker teams in, sit deep and hit them on the break? At the minute we look neither, we look lost and end up playing ponderous pretty triangles and endless square passes as our opponents use the time to assemble their two banks of five as Solihull did tonight. Our defenders were at least ten yards too deep tonight as were our midfielders, we hunted in ones and twos instead of threes and fours and made it so easy for them at times. And we're so static and rigid positionally when we have the ball in forward areas.

If we play the high pressing game we need our quickest centre half pairing which will be Towler and Longe-King and if we play a deep lying counter attacking game possibly the pair that played tonight as there will be less space behind them to get caught out for pace and the need for their aerial superiority. The players haven't turned into bad players overnight, they've just turned into a bad team. As McAtee has returned, I'd like us to revert to the high press and if so hope that Hurst plays the most suitable centre half pairing for us not to be outdone by hopeful and hurried punts upfield..

Quoted from Davec

Paul Hurst said he feels we did enough to win tonight

Trying to look at the game as a neutral.. on balance of play, chances created, possession etc, a draw would have probably been a fair result. I agree with one or two who have already said that if we'd have scored just before their second, we'd have gone on to win. They were on their knees at that point. But in no way should we have won or am I excusing that highly frustrating performance.. We should be so much better than this..

That was poor tonight. Too many players nowhere near the level we needed. I was surprised that their keeper got MOM as I didn’t think he had too much to do. We need a spark and hopefully a big home crowd can give us that on Saturday.

Did anyone else get back to the car to a parking ticket? Topped off a bad night.

I did hear about the tickets before going to the game - I left my car on the housing estate just up the road past the stadium - where you leave yours?

Another ground off the list and always good to get to a night game but wow what a depressing soulless place And a disappointing away game yet again and second best to quite a drab but solid looking side

And Efete being our most dangerous player going forward tells it all really - all round we was second best to everything all night

The rot needs to stop and soon
Two massive months ahead which will shape our season

On the plus side, I thought Bell looked really tidy with a decent touch, awareness and enthusiasm. He’ll do well if we don’t revert to type and start punting it long for him to chase.

At the height of our good run I’d heaped praise onto Hurst, I said that he’d turned a corner and we looked far more progressive and he came across very upbeat which was reflected onto the pitch.

I look now and it’s exactly the same now as it was in the bad old days, it’s taken a matter of weeks to revert to type. Struggling to get back into games when we go behind and seemingly only having one idea, on top of that sounding absolutely flipping dour in interviews with no real spark at all. I don’t understand the dropping of Towler when the mistake of playing two slow cbs was the root of us leaking goals at the start of the season. I also don’t get why Sousa is walking into this side when Bapaga was improving with every game, I don’t think we’ve won a single penalty since he was benched? Macca needs dropping immediately too.

I think it’s become increasingly obvious that we’re a 1 man team and without McAtee in the team we look bang average. McAtee is not your classic Hurst player, he’s a maverick who causes a real spark for the rest of the team which drags them away from this shite ‘do not lose’ brand of football. Now he’s back, I feel much better but we need a severe kick up the bottom.

Fine margins in football. We had a couple of half chances in the first 10 and didn't take them. They carved us open down our left, which it looked like they'd targeted and took it very well. Thought we then had the better of the half but were too sloppy to make much though Waterfall should have scored from a corner. Second half started poorly but we were just getting on top. Had two very good chances which we didn't take and ten seconds later it was game over.

Have to add that it was an awful, awful experience as an away fan regardless of the game. Arrived at 5.45 to be told the car park was full and redirected to an NCP car park over a mile away. Arrived to signs saying it closed at 9pm and confused Town fans trying to get some guarantee it wouldn't.

Quick pint in a soul destroying Holiday Inn and then the fun of trying to get two kids across an extremely busy dual carriageway with no pedestrian crossing. Zig-zagged down another busy road having to cross repeatedly, dodging the heavy traffic heading to Land Rover as there was no single footpath. Finally a pedestrian crossing to get to the ground except no path on the other side of it so a final cower from the oncoming traffic.

Finally back at the ground to find a car park with plenty of spaces free and spoke to people who'd arrived after 6 and been able to park. Into the ground and just insufficient facilities for the number of away fans. Queued for 30 minutes for food and 10 minutes for a urine. Then a excrement game before the return to the car. Basically see the above paragraph but in reverse and without the pint.

Those who claim the only thing that matters about the 'matchday experience' is the result should go to Solihull Moors and then see how they feel. A win would have massively improved the trip but I would have still had considerable misgivings about ever going there again.

The wheels seem to have come off at the moment but the fact is that we are still only 4 points off top spot and a win on Saturday will move us up to second place. So all is not lost.

The players we raved over a few weeks ago don’t become bad players in a month. We know they have ability, we have all seen it.  So a turnaround in results is certainly possible.

This will be a test of Hursts ability to instil some confidence in the squad. But I believe that one morale boosting performance might kick start the team again at a time when we have some tough fixtures ahead.

I hope Saturday is the game which turns us around.

Quoted from ska face

On the plus side, I thought Bell looked really tidy with a decent touch, awareness and enthusiasm. He’ll do well if we don’t revert to type and start punting it long for him to chase.

He did. Didn't shy away from getting stuck in and as you say very tidy on the ball, turned his markers a few times and set up one of our better chances for Fox in the first half. Might take a little bit of adjustment to men's football though, he was cramping up around the hour mark.

Quoted from RonMariner

The wheels seem to have come off at the moment but the fact is that we are still only 4 points off top spot and a win on Saturday will move us up to second place. So all is not lost.

The players we raved over a few weeks ago don’t become bad players in a month. We know they have ability, we have all seen it.  So a turnaround in results is certainly possible.

This will be a test of Hursts ability to instil some confidence in the squad. But I believe that one morale boosting performance might kick start the team again at a time when we have some tough fixtures ahead.

I hope Saturday is the game which turns us around.

i cant honestly see us winning, its not just results, Performance have been terrible since the Yeovil game- notts Aside

We've certainly been quite badly disrupted during the early part of the season with injuries we've suffered, the long-term absences (Grant and Scannell) and a couple of Covid outbreaks, not to mention the Sears situation. The chopping and changing in recent weeks is a reflection of this, but you'd certainly have hoped that we would have ground out a few more points in the games we have narrowly lost in recent weeks.

I can only assume that Hurst thought that Towler needed a break because, one poor performance (apparently) aside, he has looked really capable when I've seen him play.

I do have to say that I think if Hunt isn't dictating games at this level, then I'm not sure we have a place for him if we can't get a slick passing game going. He has bags of ability but I'm not sure he's shown enough over the past month or so.

I didn't go last night, incidentally, so it's just a general comment about the recent drop in form from what I've read.

Quoted from Maringer

We've certainly been quite badly disrupted during the early part of the season with injuries we've suffered, the long-term absences (Grant and Scannell) and a couple of Covid outbreaks, not to mention the Sears situation. The chopping and changing in recent weeks is a reflection of this, but you'd certainly have hoped that we would have ground out a few more points in the games we have narrowly lost in recent weeks.

I can only assume that Hurst thought that Towler needed a break because, one poor performance (apparently) aside, he has looked really capable when I've seen him play.

I do have to say that I think if Hunt isn't dictating games at this level, then I'm not sure we have a place for him if we can't get a slick passing game going. He has bags of ability but I'm not sure he's shown enough over the past month or so.

I didn't go last night, incidentally, so it's just a general comment about the recent drop in form from what I've read.

I'd say Hunt was our second best player on the night. Tidy on the ball but no movement ahead of him didn't help..

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Have to add that it was an awful, awful experience as an away fan regardless of the game. Arrived at 5.45 to be told the car park was full and redirected to an NCP car park over a mile away. Arrived to signs saying it closed at 9pm and confused Town fans trying to get some guarantee it wouldn't.

Quick pint in a soul destroying Holiday Inn and then the fun of trying to get two kids across an extremely busy dual carriageway with no pedestrian crossing. Zig-zagged down another busy road having to cross repeatedly, dodging the heavy traffic heading to Land Rover as there was no single footpath. Finally a pedestrian crossing to get to the ground except no path on the other side of it so a final cower from the oncoming traffic.

Finally back at the ground to find a car park with plenty of spaces free and spoke to people who'd arrived after 6 and been able to park. Into the ground and just insufficient facilities for the number of away fans. Queued for 30 minutes for food and 10 minutes for a urine. Then a excrement game before the return to the car. Basically see the above paragraph but in reverse and without the pint.

Those who claim the only thing that matters about the 'matchday experience' is the result should go to Solihull Moors and then see how they feel. A win would have massively improved the trip but I would have still had considerable misgivings about ever going there again.

My first visit too so I looked at the Moors own Away fans guide a few days ago. The NCP alternative looked complicated and distant so I looked at the local housing estate on Streetview. Found a few likely spots about half a mile away and selected one at 6.30. Strolled to the ground along well lit paths. I wondered why Solihull could not have just said 'some local street parking available if you arrive early enough'. Also on a bus route. It's as if they don't want away fans at all.

I stumbled on the Greville Arms on the same road about a mile away for a cheap pint and pub nosh. Plenty of space, Sky Sports and family menus. Pre match went well but no thanks to Solihull's fan info. Give it a try next time Rodders!

Quoted from Rodley Mariner

Have to add that it was an awful, awful experience as an away fan regardless of the game. Arrived at 5.45 to be told the car park was full and redirected to an NCP car park over a mile away. Arrived to signs saying it closed at 9pm and confused Town fans trying to get some guarantee it wouldn't.

Quick pint in a soul destroying Holiday Inn and then the fun of trying to get two kids across an extremely busy dual carriageway with no pedestrian crossing. Zig-zagged down another busy road having to cross repeatedly, dodging the heavy traffic heading to Land Rover as there was no single footpath. Finally a pedestrian crossing to get to the ground except no path on the other side of it so a final cower from the oncoming traffic.

Finally back at the ground to find a car park with plenty of spaces free and spoke to people who'd arrived after 6 and been able to park. Into the ground and just insufficient facilities for the number of away fans. Queued for 30 minutes for food and 10 minutes for a urine. Then a excrement game before the return to the car. Basically see the above paragraph but in reverse and without the pint.

Those who claim the only thing that matters about the 'matchday experience' is the result should go to Solihull Moors and then see how they feel. A win would have massively improved the trip but I would have still had considerable misgivings about ever going there again.

Yeah, was absolutely awful - think everything combined (excrement location, excrement parking, excrement food, excrement toilets, tiny bar, excrement speakers, excrement town performance, freezing weather) meant it's possibly one of the worst experiences I've ever had at an away match in 15+ years of going to them. Even Chasetown was more enjoyable (least they had some pubs nearby).

I'd seen that bit on their website about the Airport NCP car park (described by them as "a short 15-20 minute walk away from the ground") and checked out the route on google maps / street view yesterday morning. It looked exactly like you'd described - along a load of dual carriageways with limited or no pavements and pedestrian crossings. God knows why Solihull thought it was appropriate to send people there to park when there was loads of street parking in the housing estate wedged between Damson Parkway and Damson Lane just down the road from the ground.

Crooked got himself horribly out of position for their 1st, their second he should’ve been on his bottom on the halfway line. We didn’t compete for the first of second ball all night and that’s not good enough

Quoted from Happy_Mariner

That was poor tonight. Too many players nowhere near the level we needed. I was surprised that their keeper got MOM as I didn’t think he had too much to do. We need a spark and hopefully a big home crowd can give us that on Saturday.

Did anyone else get back to the car to a parking ticket? Topped off a bad night.

The whole parking ticket thing was balderdash. No restrictions posted so what were they for? We’d parked further up so didn’t get one but it just stops people wanting to come to their tawdry little ground

Solihull had a clear plan to zip the ball around on the deck and get players up to support the man on the ball. They were quicker, had a better first touch and pressed in groups. We gave sloppy passes to marked players, failed to find space and surrendered possession.

Add the lack of pace at the back and an absolute mare for Sousa it was surprising that Hurst made no changes at half time. Liked the look of Bell. Hope to see him start again on Saturday with Crocombe in goal.

We have a mix of older experienced players and a bunch of young ones with very little depth of fit, strong dependables who are used to 40 plus games a season. Play offs at best.

Quoted from Croxton

My first visit too so I looked at the Moors own Away fans guide a few days ago. The NCP alternative looked complicated and distant so I looked at the local housing estate on Streetview. Found a few likely spots about half a mile away and selected one at 6.30. Strolled to the ground along well lit paths. I wondered why Solihull could not have just said 'some local street parking available if you arrive early enough'. Also on a bus route. It's as if they don't want away fans at all.

I stumbled on the Greville Arms on the same road about a mile away for a cheap pint and pub nosh. Plenty of space, Sky Sports and family menus. Pre match went well but no thanks to Solihull's fan info. Give it a try next time Rodders!

You were with my colleague of thirty years ago and long standing friend. He tipped me off about a road to park on which was just ten minutes walk away from Solihull Moors.  

We met up at the ground and were allowed in together by the friendly stewards so we could catch up over a drink before I went back out and around to the away end. That was very good of them. A good evening for that reason despite the result.

think the other point to make is that we are pretty easy to set up against.

put 2 men on Sousa

last night Taylor did a couple of great early flick ons, after that they just nullified him generally. Without McAtee they can pretty safely play 2 c.b's close together and get around Taylor

Hassle Hunt - he's good if he's got the time but i've noticed increasingly that he is being 'mobbed' when he gets the ball

The Hunt Waterfall dead ball scenario hasn't been successful for many weeks, as it's been sussed out


and to cap it all off, i was another one to get a £35 parking ticket!

That was a bit pants.

Quoted from forza ivano

think the other point to make is that we are pretty easy to set up against.

put 2 men on Sousa

last night Taylor did a couple of great early flick ons, after that they just nullified him generally. Without McAtee they can pretty safely play 2 c.b's close together and get around Taylor

Hassle Hunt - he's good if he's got the time but i've noticed increasingly that he is being 'mobbed' when he gets the ball

The Hunt Waterfall dead ball scenario hasn't been successful for many weeks, as it's been sussed out


and to cap it all off, i was another one to get a £35 parking ticket!

Agree about all what you said - I think thats the general thing about most games recently - we have been sussed out and we dont seem to have a plan B - I'm sure we have said all this before with Town

Sorry to hear about the ticket - was you on the housing estate past the ground or on a main road near the ground?

Quoted from thornemariner

You were with my colleague of thirty years ago and long standing friend. He tipped me off about a road to park on which was just ten minutes walk away from Solihull Moors.  

We met up at the ground and were allowed in together by the friendly stewards so we could catch up over a drink before I went back out and around to the away end. That was very good of them. A good evening for that reason despite the result.

And what a pleasant chap to have a pre match pint with. Glad a few of us were spared the NCP madness. If Solihull are promoted they will have to update their travel and parking guide to match their excellent playing surface.

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

The whole parking ticket thing was balderdash. No restrictions posted so what were they for? We’d parked further up so didn’t get one but it just stops people wanting to come to their tawdry little ground

That’s what got me. Not red lines and no signs where we were parked. They must have made £1000s last night with the number of cars ticketed. I’ve appealed but no doubt won’t go anywhere.

Big queue for food but I did enjoy the burger though!