Which strangely don't contain two really good first half chances.  :-/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=til9ILH555w&ab_channel=GrimsbyTownF.C.

Pretty reflective of the game I saw to be fair. Omits the first 20 minutes where we were second or third to absolutely everything but nothing came of it so not surprised to see no highlights from that spell. After that, pretty much were all over them for the remaining 70 mins, as seen in these highlights. They did miss a big chance for Waters though in the first half where he completely scuffed it.

For anyone who wants the real highlight, Shaun Pearson’s left-wing stepover is at 5:56 and is still in progress at 5:57 and 5:58. Blink and you really won’t miss it. No the footage isn’t in slow motion.

If that hasn’t tipped you over the edge, rewind to 4:58 when a pumped up Pearson (available from your local Ann Summers) crashes a both-feet-off-the-floor, Manuel Negrete WC ‘86 style scissor volley just wide of the upright. If that would have found the bottom corner I am pretty sure Shaun would have retired on the spot.

It’s good to have him back.

Pearson was immense, he really did have a fantastic game, some of his long range passing was sublime, as you say great to have him back. UTM!

Something occurred to me, watching that back. That there were two things I remember from our previous stint in this division - the horrific referring and the generally awful standard of goalkeeping.

And yet, I can't really think of any opposition goalkeeping howlers this season - they've all happened in our box. Maybe it's a bit early to call time on Crocombe, but it does make you wonder if it's an area we ought to be considering.

I don't think many would argue that our better goalkeeping performances of the last year were with Jake Eastwood between the sticks.

Quoted from Poojah

Something occurred to me, watching that back. That there were two things I remember from our previous stint in this division - the horrific referring and the generally awful standard of goalkeeping.

And yet, I can't really think of any opposition goalkeeping howlers this season - they've all happened in our box. Maybe it's a bit early to call time on Crocombe, but it does make you wonder if it's an area we ought to be considering.

I don't think many would argue that our better goalkeeping performances of the last year were with Jake Eastwood between the sticks.

I've said since seeing crocombe at dagenham that a new keeper is a must

I don’t think Crocombe is shite but had Macca made that mistake he’s be getting pelters and we’d have multiple threads calling for his head…

Virtually all of the second half was a highlight.

Sousa is the first player for years I actually enjoy watching, probably since Hearn found his feet. Always exciting and looks to do something positive, even if the end product is lacking. Hope Hurst ties him down in Jan.

I suppose the thing with Crocombe is that you have to give him time.  Errors for 'keepers are magnified by about a million because they're often so costly.  This is his first run of games for a long time so you always run that risk of rustiness leading to errors like that.

That said, also not wanting to go in on him needlessly, I'm not convinced he's an upgrade on McKeown.  I think you can argue that his distribution is better and he maybe commands his area a little better, but not to a huge extent.   As aldi said, had McKeown made that weak save for their goal, he would have been hung out to dry by a lot of people.

I would agree that we've not looked good enough in the sticks since Eastwood's brief spell here.  I see that he's second choice at Sheffield United at the minute, owing to an injury to their current No 2, even though it looked like he was on his way last summer.  It wouldn't surprise me if an approach will be, or even has been, made to see what the likelihood of him returning is.  An awful lot of talk, appreciate it may just be that, at the match on Monday that McKeown is on his way and unless there's a leap of faith that Battersby is ready, I can't imagine we wouldn't look to bring a replacement in.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I suppose the thing with Crocombe is that you have to give him time.  Errors for 'keepers are magnified by about a million because they're often so costly.  This is his first run of games for a long time so you always run that risk of rustiness leading to errors like that.

That said, also not wanting to go in on him needlessly, I'm not convinced he's an upgrade on McKeown.  I think you can argue that his distribution is better and he maybe commands his area a little better, but not to a huge extent.   As aldi said, had McKeown made that weak save for their goal, he would have been hung out to dry by a lot of people.

I would agree that we've not looked good enough in the sticks since Eastwood's brief spell here.  I see that he's second choice at Sheffield United at the minute, owing to an injury to their current No 2, even though it looked like he was on his way last summer.  It wouldn't surprise me if an approach will be, or even has been, made to see what the likelihood of him returning is.  An awful lot of talk, appreciate it may just be that, at the match on Monday that McKeown is on his way and unless there's a leap of faith that Battersby is ready, I can't imagine we wouldn't look to bring a replacement in.

My frustration, if I’m honest, is that when you consider that McKeown is probably one of if not the highest paid player at the club, and then you have Crocombe also on presumably decent, senior wages, we must have the highest goalkeeping wage bill in the division. I’m not aware of any of the money clubs having ‘gone big’ on ‘keepers.

When you break it down like that, it’s difficult to argue that we’ve had value for money, isn’t it?

Quoted from Poojah

My frustration, if I’m honest, is that when you consider that McKeown is probably one of if not the highest paid player at the club, and then you have Crocombe also on presumably decent, senior wages, we must have the highest goalkeeping wage bill in the division. I’m not aware of any of the money clubs having ‘gone big’ on ‘keepers.

When you break it down like that, it’s difficult to argue that we’ve had value for money, isn’t it?

I think it’s fairly easy to argue we’ve had value for money from Mckeown. I think he’s a victim of his longevity, he’s managed 500 games for the club and is a very good keeper at this level and comfortable at the level above.
It’s worth considering the amount of managers he’s played considerable games for.

I think people are a little unrealistic about the standard of 5th tier goalkeepers. They’re all flawed and all make mistakes. We saw the difference when we had a top keeper in Dean Henderson, who was and is outstanding, but he may end up being the best goalkeeper to ever play for the club. We had Eastwood who looked decent but was too fragile to play a run of games.
We haven’t really seen enough of Crocombe to form a fair judgement although Monday’s clanger was unhelpful.

McKeown’s mistakes are scrutinised more because we’ve had ten years of the same stuff from him (and because I have a general dislike of him :) ). Crocombe should’ve done better, no doubt, but I’d still give him a run for the next few months to see how he comes on. There was one instance in the second half where he swept up near the halfway line & slid one down the line to keep an attack going - McKeown would never have done that.

That said, if we can find someone who’s better than the pair then we need to take the plunge.

Quoted from ska face

Sousa is the first player for years I actually enjoy watching, probably since Hearn found his feet. Always exciting and looks to do something positive, even if the end product is lacking. Hope Hurst ties him down in Jan.

I agree. I love to watch a player run at defenders and be positive in that way.

This happened months ago, granted (when we were winning and I was watching the BT Sport highlights show), but I remember one week when almost every game had a goalkeeping howler in it.

I think there was a game at Chesterfield (perhaps against Boreham Wood, 2-2?) where there was some terrible goalkeeping. Like, truly awful stuff, leading to three of the four goals.

They are two of the better teams in the division. Could've been a one-off, but I remember thinking at the time - keepers at this level are never going to be what you want them to be.

The frustration is that I've yet to see an opposing keeper have a howler against us, or make a mistake like Crocombe did v Halifax. It'll happen, eventually (but knowing our luck it'll come when we're already 3-0 down).

Quoted from ska face

Sousa is the first player for years I actually enjoy watching, probably since Hearn found his feet. Always exciting and looks to do something positive, even if the end product is lacking. Hope Hurst ties him down in Jan.

I like him very much, great on the ball and creates stuff  but lacking his share of end result, gets his share of scoring opportunities but seems to miss out when in sight of goal for some reason Confidence perhaps?

Quoted from ska face

McKeown’s mistakes are scrutinised more because we’ve had ten years of the same stuff from him (and because I have a general dislike of him :) ). Crocombe should’ve done better, no doubt, but I’d still give him a run for the next few months to see how he comes on. There was one instance in the second half where he swept up near the halfway line & slid one down the line to keep an attack going - McKeown would never have done that.

That said, if we can find someone who’s better than the pair then we need to take the plunge.

Any specific reason for that Ska?

Regarding Crocombe it looks like he dives slightly earlier maybe expecting the shot to be in the corner but the shot is more in the middle so he is at an awkward position (like as if he is past the ball) and can only push it away (maybe he could have caught it).  Needs a few more run of games i think but i think he is a good keeper for this level atleast.

Quoted from RichMariner

The frustration is that I've yet to see an opposing keeper have a howler against us, or make a mistake like Crocombe did v Halifax. It'll happen, eventually (but knowing our luck it'll come when we're already 3-0 down).

I don't think we've made opposing keepers work enough, and when we have, we'll, in the trip to Altrincham, their 'keeper won man of the match despite conceding 3 and us having 10 men for 30 plus mins!!

Crocombe deserves a run. I like his command of the box more than Macca and his distribution is much better. One thing worried me though, at the last throw of the dice on Monday he was pretty much over the half way line for our over hit free kick and with Halifax so quick on the break it was giving me palpitations!! UTM!

Quoted from Ipswin

I like him very much, great on the ball and creates stuff  but lacking his share of end result, gets his share of scoring opportunities but seems to miss out when in sight of goal for some reason Confidence perhaps?

Sounded very much like that's just how he was for Darlo too. Wasn't "he'll entertain and frustrate in equal measure" the quote from Andy the Darlo fan when he signed? I found it interesting that Hurst in his Halifax post-match said that Sousa "did what he does, he  brought the ball forward" or something similar. It's almost as if he's there to earn us a bit of yardage up the pitch and that any end product is a bonus. He's at his most dangerous for me when gets to the byline and cuts it back. I think it's a composure problem as opposed to confidence as he's shown that he does have composure at times, so hopefully we'll see a bit more consistency from him. I agree he's great when he's flying, but there's not much middle ground. When he isn't in the game, he's totally anonymous.

Quoted from ska face

Sousa is the first player for years I actually enjoy watching, probably since Hearn found his feet. Always exciting and looks to do something positive, even if the end product is lacking. Hope Hurst ties him down in Jan.

I was amazed he came off on Monday (I know Hurst said he’d been unwell a couple of times and wasn’t fit).

On another day he’d have been involved in 2 or 3 goals. He makes that many positive runs with the ball that his end product is bound to hit the mark at some point. As well is McCatee we really play much better with him in the team.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Any specific reason for that Ska?

I think the way he handled the Henderson situation was outrageous, could you imagine if that was any other senior player replaced by a promising Man Utd player involved with the England set up?

On more than one occasion he’s had to be restrained from confronting fans after a bit of criticism, once after he literally handed Altrincham a winner. That one where he just rolled the ball into his own net - Carlisle at home? - he decided to publicly address it but rather than hold his hands up, just turned around and said “well if you watch me for 10 seasons you’ll see a lot of mistakes”. Poor standards.

Can’t really blame him for looking out his own interests, but think it was a bit cynical and took advantage of Jolley’s inexperience and the club’s position to get a 3-year deal (and testimonial) in 2019. Well negotiated you could argue, but doesn’t sit right with me.