Just back..

To the car and my 10 minute drive home
At least 5 gilt edge chances second half,Town should of buried Crawley before they got their penalty (too far away to see if it was or not)
Khan, Lloyd, Hunt and Clifton x2 all wasteful.
Apart from one good save in the first half Crocombe had nothing to do all game and he nearly saved the penalty from where we were standing behind the goal.
It’s a good job this game meant nothing toTown or else I’d be flipping fuming we threw away 2 points tonight.
MoM for me was Smith, even without Waterfall next to him he dominated their front 2 also a mention for Lloyd who again ran his nut’s off all game, has a great attitude and give 100% Love to see him play for us next season.

Quoted from Sussexmariner

To the car and my 10 minute drive home
At least 5 gilt edge chances second half,Town should of buried Crawley before they got their penalty (too far away to see if it was or not)
Khan, Lloyd, Hunt and Clifton x2 all wasteful.
Apart from one good save in the first half Crocombe had nothing to do all game and he nearly saved the penalty from where we were standing behind the goal.
It’s a good job this game meant nothing toTown or else I’d be flipping fuming we threw away 2 points tonight.
MoM for me was Smith, even without Waterfall next to him he dominated their front 2 also a mention for Lloyd who again ran his nut’s off all game, has a great attitude and give 100% Love to see him play for us next season.

Very good summary and some solace from fact it doesn’t matter but would we have been any less likely to have thrown it away if it did ? Therre  is the mystery with this team . Can do it in one off games in the cup/ play offs but not in the  league. Why ? Don’t expect any answers.

Getting over the initial frustration.. because that certainly was frustrating to not take 3 points from.

I thought some of the stuff we played was lovely and free flowing a times. Definite issues with finishing that we need to address. However we seem to have progressed from a team that’s tough to watch at times and doesn’t create chances, to one that now does but can’t finish.

Pre game I wondered if PH would start looking at a 4 at the back as he’s on record saying he does prefer that over a 5.

The positives: thought Smith and Maher had very good games (with one maybe possible exception from the latter), Morris and Hunt ran the midfield well and I’ve in the past been unsure if Hunt would suit a 2 in midfield without the defensive cover. Emmanuel was immense first 30 minutes, Harry and Lloyd ran and caused real issues.

All in all, yep it’s incredibly annoying as we should have won that twice over. However I’m quite positive about the improvement we’ve seen of late.

Turning those draws into wins is key next year. With some key additions I don’t think we’re far off being able to challenge the top 7 next season.

I suspect the fans who'll be even more píssed off than us tonight will be Hartlepool fans.

A mate of mine paid to watch the live stream. He said we were really impressive and is very worried what we might do to them in a week or two.

I told him to relax, we'll do what we always do — either impress right up to the final third and do nothing, or get into the final third and be wasteful in front of goal. I also told him to have a look at our home record in the league!

Not sure it made him feel any better tbh. They need to start winning and a draw will be no good to them at BP.

Got to say fair play to their keeper clapping the Town end at the end when he's got nothing but abuse for the entire second half.

That would have been a hell of a lot more frustrating if I wasn't almost home (one hour from Crawley Station to Peckham) and more importantly if we had something to play for.

We were all over them. Absolutely battered them 1-1. Did not look like a side that has played 9 times this month. First to pretty much everything. Yep they were wasteful but this is hardly new news, is it? Not finishing teams off has been a problem consistently. At least we know exactly what we need to improve in the summer.

Was it a pen or not? The replay I've seen looks like it might have been but a Crawley fan right in front of it on TFF is saying no chance and not only that but that the lino gave it as a corner and was ignored by the ref.

Another thing to note is that the attack/midfield that finished the match has played barely any football together. Other than Morris and Clifton I don't think even any pair of them that have played together much let alone all of them as a unit.

Probably the best following down South midweek in terms of noise since the Bromley fiasco too.

Quoted from Sussexmariner

To the car and my 10 minute drive home
At least 5 gilt edge chances second half,Town should of buried Crawley before they got their penalty (too far away to see if it was or not)
Khan, Lloyd, Hunt and Clifton x2 all wasteful.
Apart from one good save in the first half Crocombe had nothing to do all game and he nearly saved the penalty from where we were standing behind the goal.
It’s a good job this game meant nothing toTown or else I’d be flipping fuming we threw away 2 points tonight.
MoM for me was Smith, even without Waterfall next to him he dominated their front 2 also a mention for Lloyd who again ran his nut’s off all game, has a great attitude and give 100% Love to see him play for us next season.

Well put.

In my Opionion
Paul Hurst to me at times is reluctant to use subs but last night at Crawley come the 2nd half he did use them and not in the usual dying last 5 minutes.Thats not a dig at him but all managers quote from my "Non  Grimbarian Wife" (Football Pundit in training) "Why do they leave it all to do in the last 3 mins!"
UTM

Can’t recall Mayer using the long throws last night as opposed to the Walsall game when every long throw was cleared by their defenders. Maybe Hursty does read The Fishy and realises they don’t work.

Quoted from Son of Cod

Got to say fair play to their keeper clapping the Town end at the end when he's got nothing but abuse for the entire second half.

That would have been a hell of a lot more frustrating if I wasn't almost home (one hour from Crawley Station to Peckham) and more importantly if we had something to play for.

We were all over them. Absolutely battered them 1-1. Did not look like a side that has played 9 times this month. First to pretty much everything. Yep they were wasteful but this is hardly new news, is it? Not finishing teams off has been a problem consistently. At least we know exactly what we need to improve in the summer.

Was it a pen or not? The replay I've seen looks like it might have been but a Crawley fan right in front of it on TFF is saying no chance and not only that but that the lino gave it as a corner and was ignored by the ref.

Another thing to note is that the attack/midfield that finished the match has played barely any football together. Other than Morris and Clifton I don't think even any pair of them that have played together much let alone all of them as a unit.

Probably the best following down South midweek in terms of noise since the Bromley fiasco too.

I don't think it was a pen at all, looked like he won the ball and the linesman seemed to agree.  I also think you look at the players reactions and Crocombe isn't picking up a card for dissent if he's not genuinely aggrieved by the decision.  But, that's all a moot point because if you go in like that in the box you force the ref to make a decision, stay on your feet and you don't.  I doubt Maher will make the same mistake again though.  On the subject of Crocombe, have to say it was a good effort from him, did everything possible to put the taker off and despite being sent the wrong way he still nearly saved it.

It was a terrible pen, right down the middle and no pace on it. Crocombe got a hand to it and will be disappointed he didn’t do better. His reaction said everything. He even slipped doing that.

We played the best I've seen us play in a long time.

Our lack of a striker again cist us, if we have a proper goal scorer we win that 5 nil.

The whole team was outstanding and nothing negative I can say. We were excellent.

Mikey O'Neil is definitely not our answer,  signing Lloyd for next season would be a step in the right direction.  Scans unfortunately has to move on

Quoted from The Caterham Mariner

In my Opionion
Paul Hurst to me at times is reluctant to use subs but last night at Crawley come the 2nd half he did use them and not in the usual dying last 5 minutes.Thats not a dig at him but all managers quote from my "Non  Grimbarian Wife" (Football Pundit in training) "Why do they leave it all to do in the last 3 mins!"
UTM

Subs somewhat killed the game alittle. Perhaps something we should bear in mind next time we’re shouting to do a sub just for the sake of it.

Very interesting interview with the Crawley manager on You Tube in which he states that Crawley deserved nothing from the game and in his opinion it wasn’t a penalty, he explained in detail why not.

Quite refreshing to hear such honesty from an opposing manager although he doesn’t give us much credit for our performance concentrating more on their poor showing.

I know this thread pretty much gone, but had a poorly child yesterday so didn't post.

Overall, with us being mid-table and nothing happening, i wasn't overly bothered or frustrated with the result.
We played fantastic, and it was enjoyable.
Clifton & Khan should of scored in the 2nd half, but at least we was creating clear cut chances.... just shows what could happen with a Dom Telford type in the middle

O'Niell isn't very good.
Orsi did great in the FA Cup run, but never gets a chance in the league which is strange, although didn't change much when he came on

Harsh comments on Scannell, who has played 13 minutes before this game since May 2022. I don't think we should keep him, but unfair to critise a guy who actually comes across as a great pro, and who i believe is a great character to have around..... we've had the opposite before..

Overall, with this young coaching team, and ambitious owners, next season has great potential

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

O'Niell isn't very good.

Harsh comments on Scannell, who has played 13 minutes before this game since May 2022.

Quite right in that the Scannell comments are harsh but I'd be inclined to say the same about your appraisal of an 18 year old who has also barely had any minutes. I think it's too soon for O'Neill to be involved in an end of season lower table L2 match in which one of the teams has got something riding on it. If O'Neill bags that chance he lashes over at the end and we win 2-1 there's gonna be people talking about what a bright future the lad has. I don't think he had a good game when he came on but that was comfortably the most cobbled together midfield/attack that we've fielded this season that finished the match on Tuesday. He's shown glimpses of quality at times in other matches. I'm not sure if we'll get much out of him but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go and do well elsewhere at some point in the next few years.

Quoted from Son of Cod

Quite right in that the Scannell comments are harsh but I'd be inclined to say the same about your appraisal of an 18 year old who has also barely had any minutes. I think it's too soon for O'Neill to be involved in an end of season lower table L2 match in which one of the teams has got something riding on it. If O'Neill bags that chance he lashes over at the end and we win 2-1 there's gonna be people talking about what a bright future the lad has. I don't think he had a good game when he came on but that was comfortably the most cobbled together midfield/attack that we've fielded this season that finished the match on Tuesday. He's shown glimpses of quality at times in other matches. I'm not sure if we'll get much out of him but I wouldn't be surprised to see him go and do well elsewhere at some point in the next few years.

But he didn't, thats the point?
If my nan had wheels..... you know how it goes.

Quoted from Jarmo.Is.God

But he didn't, thats the point?
If my nan had wheels..... you know how it goes.

My point was that had he scored that chance, people would have gone over the top about him for having scored a goal. Which is essentially the antithesis of what you've done by dismissing him after two matches and a small handful of 10 minute cameos.

Tbf the 10 minute cameo at Northampton was pretty dismissible  

He also played at Carlisle and he was stinking.

Quoted from Abdul19

Tbf the 10 minute cameo at Northampton was pretty dismissible  

that 10 minutes will be the stuff of legends. 10 minutes where he never once made a true contact with the ball - toblerone headers, wild shanks, air shots, unintended shanks it had the lot.
Reminded of another legendary performance - Jamal Fyfield trying to cross the ball at cambridge - must have 10 attempts at crossing and not one of them made the 18 yard box