Just Back

Very entertaining game - definitely worth travelling for. Performances:

Battersby - Had nothing to do in the first half. Second half he made a really good save low to his left at 2-0, but looked somewhat shaky at commanding his area (which i guess isn't that unusual in a young keeper making their league debut), and had a dodgy moment when a corner flew over his head and hit the inside of the post before bouncing back into his arms. His kicking was very poor, quite often mishitting clearances and getting lucky that they fell to town players. None of the 4 goals were his fault, and he wasn't far away from getting enough of a touch on their 3rd to tip it over. Reckon he'd benefit from a further spell on loan in the league below before i'd be entirely confident about him being our primary back-up.

Cropper - Fantastic performance, didn't really utilise his long throw as the ball and pitch were wet and his first attempt barely made it into the box. Locked down the right side at the back, and was one of our brightest players going forward finishing the match with two assists. The penalty decision for handball looked very harsh and i'm going to blame the very card happy and low quality referee for it rather than Cropper.

Pearson - Was up against a teenage striker in the first half and barely broke a sweat against him, winning every header. Even though we conceded 4 in the second half, i'm not sure that any of them were directly his fault?

Bramwell - Again, it sounds weird considering how many goals we conceded, but he had a good debut. Looked confident in possession and sprayed some impressive cross field passes around. Wasn't troubled at all in the first half, but in the second half you could possibly argue that both him and Pearson might have been able to prevent a few of the three we conceded from open play (more on those goals shortly)

Crookes - Poor performance. I'm not a fan of him as whenever he plays we always seem to leak goals from the left side of the pitch. The first and third goals both came from counter attacks down our left side and Crookes (and Burgess) just let the Eastleigh winger and full-back stride past them. Offered zero going forward and certainly won't be troubling Amos's place on this showing.

Jones - Didn't put a foot wrong in the first 45 minutes. Sat back in front of the defence and did a nice job cleaning up and playing tidy balls to teammates. Second half, terrible - the Jones of the last few appearances. Gave the ball away which led to the counter attack for one of the goals, and frequently dallied when the option to play a through ball was there leading to him getting dispossessed. Wouldn't want to see him playing in any of our playoff games.

Coke - Could have been his last 45 minutes in professional football, but it was an impressive performance as he looked like the Coke of last season. Was playing further forward than Jones and did a very good job of just breaking up play, winning the ball back and moving it on to his teammates. His departure was definitely noticeable after half time (which also coincided with Eastleigh taking off two youth team players and replacing them with first teamers which rejuvenated them)

Burgess - Utterly anonymous in the first half, I think he was playing in the McAtee behind the striker role, but he was so ineffective you couldn't tell he was on the pitch. In the second half he was appalling, and along with Crookes one of the primary reasons why we conceded so many poor goals. Constantly gave the ball away and was lazy out of possession, looking like a player knowing he's out of contract at the end of the season. For Eastleigh's third he'd taken up a silly position miles up the left wing instead of dropping back to offer an option to Raikhy as he was under pressure, leading to the pass getting intercepted and them slicing through us on the counter attack. Wouldn't be too sad if that was his last appearance in a town shirt.

Wright - Had a solid game - definitely gave their left back something to think about even if he didn't finish with any goals or assists. On a few occasions he made some promising runs into the box but wasn't fed the ball from midfield when it looked like the pass was on. Encouraging to see him get through ~80 minutes without injury.

Maguire-Drew - Typical performance by him, didn't really do much for 20 minutes but then came alive and started to take the urine out of their defenders. Before opening the scoring he made a fantastic run dribbling past two defenders before putting their keeper on his bottom with a lovely dink that was only just cleared off the line at the last second. His finish for the opener was very clever - running at a defender and it looked like there wasn't anything on, before nonchalantly passing it through the defender and back past an unexpectant keeper. Combined very well with Cropper while they were both on the pitch which bodes will for the playoffs imo.

Dieseruvwe - Scored a hat-trick, and possibly could have had even more? Wasn't massively effective for most of the first half, but did a good job to win the penalty by beating the keeper to a through ball and knocking it past him before getting clattered. Dispatched it nicely into the corner just before half time. In the second half he got his second with a clever swept finish past the keeper after getting between the centre halves and onto the end of a lovely low cross from Cropper. His third was similar, with another good ball in from Cropper on the right which sort of bounced off him and trickled over the keeper and into the net. Had a couple of opportunities for more but his finishing let him down a bit (and also would have had a tap in if Abrahams had simply played a square ball instead of trying to score at the near post from a narrow angle)

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Raikhy - Very good 45 minutes back after a long period out. Played some great through balls which we weren't alive enough to get on the end of (but they were the type that McAtee would love), and looked very combative in the tackle. Was partially at fault for their 3rd, giving the ball away which led to the counter attack, but Burgess (for not making himself available for a pass), Crookes (for going missing down the left) and the two centres halves also need to take some responsibility for failing to break up the Eastleigh counter. Very encouraging to see him playing again and I think he could be a massive player for us for the rest of the season (however long it lasts).

Abrahams - Had an ok cameo and was very energetic at pressing and closing down defenders, but his decision making in the final third let him down. Could have had at least one assist if he'd passed instead of shooting into the side netting.

Tomlinson - Was only on the pitch for a couple of minutes and maybe only had a touch or two in that time. Knocked one of their bigger midfielders on his bottom, so he's definitely stronger than he looks.

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In summary, a very entertaining and very strange end of season game. I think we can be encouraged that those players who are likely to feature in the playoffs at some point all played well, whereas it was mainly those players who are on the fringes who were at fault for most of the goals. For all the controversy over Hurst starting Battersby we certainly learned a lot more from doing so than we would have by giving McKeown a final game.

Brilliant summary thank you

John Tondeur must have been at a different game

thanks for that summing up. what a just back thread should be all about

Thanks for the level of detail. Great to read.

Cheers for the sum up. Onwards and hopefully upwards…..

Quoted from Chrisblor

Very entertaining game - definitely worth travelling for. Performances:

Battersby - Had nothing to do in the first half. Second half he made a really good save low to his left at 2-0, but looked somewhat shaky at commanding his area (which i guess isn't that unusual in a young keeper making their league debut), and had a dodgy moment when a corner flew over his head and hit the inside of the post before bouncing back into his arms. His kicking was very poor, quite often mishitting clearances and getting lucky that they fell to town players. None of the 4 goals were his fault, and he wasn't far away from getting enough of a touch on their 3rd to tip it over. Reckon he'd benefit from a further spell on loan in the league below before i'd be entirely confident about him being our primary back-up.

Cropper - Fantastic performance, didn't really utilise his long throw as the ball and pitch were wet and his first attempt barely made it into the box. Locked down the right side at the back, and was one of our brightest players going forward finishing the match with two assists. The penalty decision for handball looked very harsh and i'm going to blame the very card happy and low quality referee for it rather than Cropper.

Pearson - Was up against a teenage striker in the first half and barely broke a sweat against him, winning every header. Even though we conceded 4 in the second half, i'm not sure that any of them were directly his fault?

Bramwell - Again, it sounds weird considering how many goals we conceded, but he had a good debut. Looked confident in possession and sprayed some impressive cross field passes around. Wasn't troubled at all in the first half, but in the second half you could possibly argue that both him and Pearson might have been able to prevent a few of the three we conceded from open play (more on those goals shortly)

Crookes - Poor performance. I'm not a fan of him as whenever he plays we always seem to leak goals from the left side of the pitch. The first and third goals both came from counter attacks down our left side and Crookes (and Burgess) just let the Eastleigh winger and full-back stride past them. Offered zero going forward and certainly won't be troubling Amos's place on this showing.

Jones - Didn't put a foot wrong in the first 45 minutes. Sat back in front of the defence and did a nice job cleaning up and playing tidy balls to teammates. Second half, terrible - the Jones of the last few appearances. Gave the ball away which led to the counter attack for one of the goals, and frequently dallied when the option to play a through ball was there leading to him getting dispossessed. Wouldn't want to see him playing in any of our playoff games.

Coke - Could have been his last 45 minutes in professional football, but it was an impressive performance as he looked like the Coke of last season. Was playing further forward than Jones and did a very good job of just breaking up play, winning the ball back and moving it on to his teammates. His departure was definitely noticeable after half time (which also coincided with Eastleigh taking off two youth team players and replacing them with first teamers which rejuvenated them)

Burgess - Utterly anonymous in the first half, I think he was playing in the McAtee behind the striker role, but he was so ineffective you couldn't tell he was on the pitch. In the second half he was appalling, and along with Crookes one of the primary reasons why we conceded so many poor goals. Constantly gave the ball away and was lazy out of possession, looking like a player knowing he's out of contract at the end of the season. For Eastleigh's third he'd taken up a silly position miles up the left wing instead of dropping back to offer an option to Raikhy as he was under pressure, leading to the pass getting intercepted and them slicing through us on the counter attack. Wouldn't be too sad if that was his last appearance in a town shirt.

Wright - Had a solid game - definitely gave their left back something to think about even if he didn't finish with any goals or assists. On a few occasions he made some promising runs into the box but wasn't fed the ball from midfield when it looked like the pass was on. Encouraging to see him get through ~80 minutes without injury.

Maguire-Drew - Typical performance by him, didn't really do much for 20 minutes but then came alive and started to take the urine out of their defenders. Before opening the scoring he made a fantastic run dribbling past two defenders before putting their keeper on his bottom with a lovely dink that was only just cleared off the line at the last second. His finish for the opener was very clever - running at a defender and it looked like there wasn't anything on, before nonchalantly passing it through the defender and back past an unexpectant keeper. Combined very well with Cropper while they were both on the pitch which bodes will for the playoffs imo.

Dieseruvwe - Scored a hat-trick, and possibly could have had even more? Wasn't massively effective for most of the first half, but did a good job to win the penalty by beating the keeper to a through ball and knocking it past him before getting clattered. Dispatched it nicely into the corner just before half time. In the second half he got his second with a clever swept finish past the keeper after getting between the centre halves and onto the end of a lovely low cross from Cropper. His third was similar, with another good ball in from Cropper on the right which sort of bounced off him and trickled over the keeper and into the net. Had a couple of opportunities for more but his finishing let him down a bit (and also would have had a tap in if Abrahams had simply played a square ball instead of trying to score at the near post from a narrow angle)

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Raikhy - Very good 45 minutes back after a long period out. Played some great through balls which we weren't alive enough to get on the end of (but they were the type that McAtee would love), and looked very combative in the tackle. Was partially at fault for their 3rd, giving the ball away which led to the counter attack, but Burgess (for not making himself available for a pass), Crookes (for going missing down the left) and the two centres halves also need to take some responsibility for failing to break up the Eastleigh counter. Very encouraging to see him playing again and I think he could be a massive player for us for the rest of the season (however long it lasts).

Abrahams - Had an ok cameo and was very energetic at pressing and closing down defenders, but his decision making in the final third let him down. Could have had at least one assist if he'd passed instead of shooting into the side netting.

Tomlinson - Was only on the pitch for a couple of minutes and maybe only had a touch or two in that time. Knocked one of their bigger midfielders on his bottom, so he's definitely stronger than he looks.

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In summary, a very entertaining and very strange end of season game. I think we can be encouraged that those players who are likely to feature in the playoffs at some point all played well, whereas it was mainly those players who are on the fringes who were at fault for most of the goals. For all the controversy over Hurst starting Battersby we certainly learned a lot more from doing so than we would have by giving McKeown a final game.

Excellent summary

Just re: what you said about raikhy he is a good player, adds quality vision and dead balls to us, puts plenty of effort in, has a tackle and interception in him with those long legs too, and has some height, pleased to have him back, but there is no doubt that he is a risk taker with his passing. We are both more dangerous and more vulnerable with him in the team.

Quoted from toontown

Just re: what you said about raikhy he is a good player, adds quality vision and dead balls to us, puts plenty of effort in, has a tackle and interception in him with those long legs too, and has some height, pleased to have him back, but there is no doubt that he is a risk taker with his passing. We are both more dangerous and more vulnerable with him in the team.

And he played in the win at Notts

Absolutely spot on summary.