Subs  Eastwood, Green, Waterfall, Eisa, Ainley, Wilson, Hunt

Bloody hell that’s an attacking team I LIKE IT

Grimsby Town will be playing 4 4 flipping 2!



Or maybe not 😂

4231? Or maybe 4141?

4-4-2 according to JT

No Gav ? After Saturday I’m not that surprised

Back to basics. 442 with Rose and Pyke up front?

Good starting point  see how there game goes now they have a manager to please

I was once told by a highly respected coach . 442 is a good starting point for a new manager because the players understand it

If it’s a 4-4-2 diamond with Conteh advanced, I may very well do a little sex wee.

Quoted from It Bites

I was once told by a highly respected coach . 442 is a good starting point for a new manager because the players understand it

Yeah, it makes sense in theory. Only question is whether teams can be effective playing the system in the modern game; where it was once popular formation from grass roots to the elite, it’s rare you see it these days in professional football.

Tenna men to hand then …..?

Quoted from Poojah

Yeah, it makes sense in theory. Only question is whether teams can be effective playing the system in the modern game; where it was once popular formation from grass roots to the elite, it’s rare you see it these days in professional football.

It will be our best bet at the moment I think till he gets his ideas across. We have been so disorganised and open it has been unreal.

4-2-3-1

Quoted from Poojah

Yeah, it makes sense in theory. Only question is whether teams can be effective playing the system in the modern game; where it was once popular formation from grass roots to the elite, it’s rare you see it these days in professional football.

Except if you’re the current world champions, of course…..

Quoted from Poojah

Yeah, it makes sense in theory. Only question is whether teams can be effective playing the system in the modern game; where it was once popular formation from grass roots to the elite, it’s rare you see it these days in professional football.

That’s true enough, it was a few years ago but like you say times have changed

What's the chances of David Artells Black & White Cartel taking off I wonder.

I like this alot. Anything from tonight is a bonus.

It's good to hear JT in the commentary box. He said we don't want to lose too heavily tonight, it wasn't the optimistic comment I expected from him.

Theoretically, that’s a much more mobile eleven compared to Saturday. Good luck lads.

Quoted from Heisenberg

If it’s a 4-4-2 diamond with Conteh advanced, I may very well do a little sex wee.

Wot ?

Bringing back memories of Darlington's deserted stadium this place, except with padded seats (!). Makes absolutely zero sense why they've got a ground like this with barely any home fans

I just fear we are about to get creamed.

Quoted from It Bites

No Gav ? After Saturday I’m not that surprised

Ah yeah because so many came out with credit on Saturday didnt they….

He’s injured anyway

Quoted from It Bites

No Gav ? After Saturday I’m not that surprised

Injured Saturday

Come on Town!!

Just seen my mate Dave come out the tunnel and immediately acknowledge the fans in the heavens.

How the fúck is Dean Lewington still playing? Scabby bástard.

Crowd looks like it's during covid

Quoted from Poojah

How the fúck is Dean Lewington still playing? Scabby bástard.

Remember him playing against us at Wembley 15 years ago!!

Anyone got link for comms please

Quoted from chaos33

I just fear we are about to get creamed.

It's all that talk of sex wee!!

Artell telling them what wrong and what to do already

Artell certainly more animated than Hurst.

There player somped on Roses knee

Quoted from MidnightMariner

Anyone got link for comms please

No comms  on ifollow

Didn't he say he'd start in the stands?

Well he’s certainly animated isn’t he?

Quoted from Poojah

Artell certainly more animated than Hurst.

Not hard to be more animated than Hurst.

Quoted from TAGG

There player somped on Roses knee

Is a somp when you take such a big shít it causes your prostate to release seminal fluid?

Asking for a friend

Town fans there giving the team loads of vocal support.

Realise this might be a daft question, but why are there so few in the ground? Is this normal for this ground? If so why have they made it this big?

Very, very early days, but there appears to be some improvement in terms of our shape and passing intent. We’ve been the better side of the first 10.

Quoted from heppy88

Realise this might be a daft question, but why are there so few in the ground? Is this normal for this ground? If so why have they made it this big?

I'm interested in this too as it looks ridiculous.

Tranmere winning, Sutton and FGR losing.

Good early signs, look very well drilled already

It holds 30k and there'll be around 5k there.

Eisa’s brother playing for the dons

Who’s the co-commentator with JT tonight?

Quoted from mike_d

Didn't he say he'd start in the stands?

Until he saw how we defend then he was drunk off  ;D

Quoted from heppy88

Realise this might be a daft question, but why are there so few in the ground? Is this normal for this ground? If so why have they made it this big?

When MK Scum aren’t playing they store 20 ft high chickens in the stadium. The chickens are 20 ft high because of all the chemicals Winko puts in 'em, and these chickens are scared! They don't know why they're so big! They go "Oh, why am I so massive?" And they're looking down at all the other little chickens and they think they're in an aeroplane because all the other chickens are so small.

Quoted from SouthLakesMariner

Who’s the co-commentator with JT tonight?

John Paul Pitman

Jesus , we can pass

Town playing some good football at the minute

Quoted from DB

John Paul Pitman

Cheers DB

Quoted from heppy88

Realise this might be a daft question, but why are there so few in the ground? Is this normal for this ground? If so why have they made it this big?

Most clubs would ensure the stand that the camera faces would be the most populated or even slightly populated but not Milton Keynes.

Very well deserved... 1-0 Rekeil Pyke

Get in

Pyke well done 1 0 up

Get in 0-1 Town, Pyke.

Managers bounce bosh

Beautiful stuff, great football being played.

"Town got a bit of luck there"

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

When MK Scum aren’t playing they store 20 ft high chickens in the stadium. The chickens are 20 ft high because of all the chemicals Winko puts in 'em, and these chickens are scared! They don't know why they're so big! They go "Oh, why am I so massive?" And they're looking down at all the other little chickens and they think they're in an aeroplane because all the other chickens are so small.

Plenty of big eared boys in Milton Keynes too.

Silky stuff

Great play and great goal.

Get in Pyke!! Rose looked a bit offside there, but it's about time we got a bit of footballing luck!!

David Artells Black & White Cartel

Blimey.

Not bad for a player written off after 1 game😉

Quoted from chaos33

I just fear we are about to get creamed.

I love it when I talk b0llocks

Some lovely football and a well taken goal. Fully deserved if it definitely was offside.

Artell could be as good as El Tel, you never know

Let's end all  the games now. We are currently 17th in the table as things stand.

Only 10 points outside the play-offs as it stands  8)

This pressing football is a breath of fresh air. The passing is crisp and accurate.

Long may it continue

Who is this team in the red? It can't be Town surely?

We're looking very good, not a team with relegation positions, but looking for promotion. Totally revitalised.

Pyke again - great signing by Hurst
UTM

I remember a few years ago when Manfield were at the bottom half of the table but finished up in the playoffs end of season. Anything is possible.

Let's not get carried away.

Loving the animation! No crossing of arms in silent disappointment here! 😂

Loving Artell's movement and animation, feels very invested.

It's so different seeing a manager engaging with the players and showing a bit of passion while doing it

Pyke will end up being our 20 goal striker and some people slagged him off after a couple of sub appearances  ;D

Look here. Movement off the ball. Makes all the difference.

Well since we scored we’ve gone right off it

Hunt coming on for an injured Glennon

Glennon off then

Glennons done Hunt on. Harry to LB seems the obvious choice being the LG2 Milner and all

We score then we go backwards which has been the norm this season. . Hopefully Artell can make a difference at this point.....

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Look here. Movement off the ball. Makes all the difference.

Who'd of thought it? Hurst didn't obviously but still...

Inviting them on and passing back between the posts. Risky!

Awful law that! Shouldn't complain but I'd be livid if that went against us

Quoted from Croxton

Inviting them on and passing back between the posts. Risky!

It’s the one area we’ve looked uncomfortable in. Lots of advantages to playing that way, but it does look an accident waiting to happen tonight.

Thought Franchise had scored an own goal then

We've come back into......

Quoted from Hagrid

Well since we scored we’ve gone right off it

Hunt coming on for an injured Glennon

Wouldn't say gone right off it, they've just grown into the game which was always going to happen. Still look very assured defensively

Who is co-commentating?

Great battling from Rose. So unlucky

Quoted from davmariner

Who is co-commentating?

The pope.

Quoted from davmariner

Who is co-commentating?

Jon Paul Pittman. Lovely bloke

Quoted from Poojah

The pope.

Thanks.

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

Pyke will end up being our 20 goal striker and some people slagged him off after a couple of sub appearances  ;D

If Pyke scores 20 this season I’ll go in the pontoon and shove a hotdog……no, no wait….i won’t.

Quoted from WHYWONTYOULETMESIGNUP

Pyke will end up being our 20 goal striker and some people slagged him off after a couple of sub appearances  ;D

Guilty your honour. In mitigation he has now scored as many EFL goals for us as in his entire previous EFL career.

Hunt's passing is fast, direct and inch perfect. Great to watch.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Guilty your honour. In mitigation he has now scored as many EFL goals for us as in his entire previous EFL career.

Feel like thats all our best strikers we never sign anyone whos already done a 20 goal season unless it was in like the 8th tier haha

Quoted from heppy88

Hunt's passing is fast, direct and inch perfect. Great to watch.

I’ve been critical of him recently but he’s been great since coming on.

Quoted from Heisenberg

If Pyke scores 20 this season I’ll go in the pontoon and shove a hotdog……no, no wait….i won’t.

That's his 8th, averaging a goal every 140 minutes of football. With the football left to be played, on those averages he should score around 17 more this season

2 good shots from hunt, could have put us 2 up.

2 good efforts from Hunt. Good to see us chasing everything

Danny Rose has been outstanding

2 good shots from hunt, could have put us 2 up.

Quoted from Hagrid

2 good efforts from Hunt. Good to see us chasing everything

Danny Rose has been outstanding

Amen to that.

HT   MK Dons 0-1 Town

Without trying to sound too optimistic, how was Artell turned us into prime Barcelona over night?

Best half from Town for ages. We deserved the lead and could have had another, passing good and working for each other, a delight to watch.

Very impressed by our passing tonight

Great first-half that, all in all. Happy with that. No doubt BFS will show a lot more in the second; be interesting to see how we deal with that. If they do come at us, I’ve got more confidence in us hurting them on the break than I have of late.

Best half of the season. The sort of half that would give Alan Buckley a lob on.

Best we’ve played all season and most of last . Pressing , passing and everyone giving 100% . Regardless of the outcome tonight we’ll be fine this season now

We’ve been a good attacking team this season and have let ourselves down defensively. In attacking terms tonight we’ve played some gorgeous stuff - I’m really hoping we can hold on for the cleansheet to top it off. Up the bloody Mariners!

Good half from Town,  and we could of been 2/3 up. Only negative is Glennon going off injured, but Harry looks like the Harry of old and we look assured at the back...

Quoted from GyMariner

Without trying to sound too optimistic, how was Artell turned us into prime Barcelona over night?

We had the players, just needed the right players playing in their right position and the right formation for them to preform.

Bit weird this.

Under Hurst looked like we couldn't buy a win.

Pearson and Davies showed the attacking threat though defensively looked terrible.

One half of Artell and we look like we can open up a team at will with the defence being quite assured.

It's only 45 minutes into his reign, though if it continues like this, we are going places.

Harry playing on that side has meant we’re a bit more direct into the middle of the pitch from that side and it’s working quite well.

Like that first half against Bradford earlier in the season but with actual chances being created.

We do have players capable of playing attacking front foot football, it's just about doing it consistently.  

Great start and finish to the half. MK Dons had a spell as expected after we scored where they wanted to get back into it and a couple of shaky moments for us at the back but they tired and saw us come back into possession. Hunt almost caught the keeper out with one of those long shots. I like the game approach so far, keeping it tight to the man, short passes in midfield with a patient build up. Would like to see us pressure our own keeper less with pass backs when not needed but old habits are hard to break.

Just need to come out for the second half swinging and get another goal then their fans will really get frustrated.

I love the fact we are playing out from the back but moving it forward as quick as possible. Please be patient because we will make mistakes and concede from time to time playing this way but it's a hell of a watch! Really enjoyed that half. Utm

Quoted from The Yard Dog

We had the players, just needed the right players playing in their right position and the right formation for them to preform.

And being encouraged to express themselves.

Quoted from GyMariner

Without trying to sound too optimistic, how was Artell turned us into prime Barcelona over night?

#ExtraSpecialOne

Confidence is the issue. We've looked unable to make simple 5 yard passes at times in recent weeks but it sounds as though our tails are up tonight and it is working with most of the unnecessary errors cut out. Hope it continues!

Quoted from GyMariner

Without trying to sound too optimistic, how was Artell turned us into prime Barcelona over night?

Just by not being Paul Hurst.

Quoted from AndyGTFC

Like that first half against Bradford earlier in the season but with actual chances being created.

We do have players capable of playing attacking front foot football, it's just about doing it consistently.  

You had to mention Bradford....

8 shots to their 3, with 4 on target to their 1. Really good half, but wish we could ram home the advantage and get a second when on top.

love Alex Hunt me

Alex Hunt is a class act

Rose & Khan doing really well, and Arthur isn't far behind. Has been lovely to watch

Quoted from It Bites

Best we’ve played all season and most of last . Pressing , passing and everyone giving 100% . Regardless of the outcome tonight we’ll be fine this season now

You can see the ebb and flow of the game. We started better, pressed them and then scored. MK came back at us, but we held, and finished stronger. DA took every opportunity to tell the players if they were not playing as he wished. A revelation.
Can't wait for 2nd half.   As someone has already said even if we don't win, it's been a good game and the team have done well. Lets see if DA has told them a few things.

Far better and more accurate passibg, better running for the ball, harassing their players in possession, and a new manager who looks like he is kicking every ball from the didelines anx draggibg okayers over to get his ideas into them.

All summed up as more passing and commitment.

Conteh very cool in possession and Hunt looking like he has been given some freedom.

Mullarkay may have earache from sideline instructions by full time !

Another half of that type of play, please, especially pinning them back in their own half.

Really impressive half of football, mostly anyway. MK did have 10 mins and we did try our best to play ourselves into trouble at times with Cartwright playing it into people with players right on them, but overall a huge improvement on what's gone before this season.

MK are a side it's always nice to beat anyway, and it'd be great to start Artell's reign off with a cracking away win. Come on town!

Very tidy first half. UTM

1-0 up at halftime and a delight to watch. Can't wait for the 2nd half

Any body else's match stream playing up?

Yep

Mariners player is crap

mariners TV has fell over

Yep

We've lost the picture.

Fecking rubbish, they need to get a grip of this stream.

Yeah mines gone off

Ifollow is flipping excrement

Absolute class from Conteh.

Switch over to MK channel?

Paused and hit live and it's worked again

Bloody iplayer!  ;D

It's not mariners player that's the problem as the mk dons one was also not working

Pyke off Injured
Eisa on

Just come back on its own.

Pyke off Eisa on

Pyke off injured Eisa replaces him

You can still hear the Town Fans over the commentary. They are really a credit to the club, team and us lot at home.

Alex Hunt is like a man possesed... unbelievable bit of footwork and we hit the post

So unlucky

That was brilliant from Hunt

Alex Hunt that was naughty

Bloody post stop us increasing our lead

Who’d of thought that Alex Hunt could play 🙄

Franchise bástards. Let’s see what we’re made of now.  

Sh!t 1 1

That was soft

Ffs. It was coming, we're still too soft at the back

OH Bo*****s

Reactive subs 😱

Right choice get a bit of energy back in the middle

Khan and Gnahoua off, Ainlley and Wilson on

Slip from Mullarkey, Think conteh could have done a little more to stop the cross

Not sure why Pyke taken off - assume he is injured - a shame
UTM

Great advert for L2 football this

Quoted from Teestogreen

Not sure why Pyke taken off - assume he is injured - a shame
UTM

Went off injured 10 mins ago

That's 2 good positions wasted by Clifton.

That Leko coming on has made a difference for them. Harry isn't having as easy time at the back  now

Tondeur: Eisa’s all look the same to me.

Four subs before 70 minutes (I know, 2 were enforced), unheard of.

Hopefully - our impact players are better than theirs

90 minutes seems an awfully long way away now.  :-/

great save

Great save by Cartwright

Battle of the Eisas

Cartwright kept us in it with a good save

How did Eisa miss that,

Elsa has to score

Eisa misses another sitter. His 3rd of the season

He misses another sitter!!! What a chance you have to score them even at Sunday league level

Oooooh sounded close that
Least were pushing, hows a manager make such a difference in such a short space of time

Another sitter missed!

I know people don’t like the stat, but our xG must be off the scale tonight.

2 guilt edged chances missed there! 😔

Not taking our chances

Weve only had 38% possession and had 16 shots to their 9

Oh we’ve had so many easy chances

Clifton's defending is superb at times

Not just our Eisa missing sitters, that's a howler

Another sitter missed... This time by them!

Christ alive, we should have lost this game at the death there

Neither Eisa can score easy goals then, fortunately for us

Clifton fell asleep there.

1-1 FT, not a bad result away from home

Sitter !

99% of people expected us to go there and get hammered the form they're in... great point.

Great performance.
Should have won the game but all the same, well done blokes UTM

We shouldve won overall, but got away with it at the end! But all in all I feel really positive after that, excited for whats to come

Great entertainment that. Well done Town. How that last MK shot didn't go in. Hey the footballing goods are shining on us at last. Looking forward to the coming weeks. UTM

A draw that feels like a win.

Alex Hunt should start from here on. Dude is absolutely a class above anyone else in terms of passing and especially positive passes that create something.
He will work wonders for Artell

Excellent by Town. Probably should have won but easily could and have lost at the death.
Mullarkey mom.

Great entertainment that. Well done Town. How that last MK shot didn't go in. Hey the footballing goods are shining on us at last. Looking forward to the coming weeks. UTM

Non-losing run continues. So many chances missed by us to take the win, but we move on with another point.

Eisa just let the runner go. My god we have got away with that

Should have won, Could have lost

Well done Town so close UTM(100)

Would have taken a draw all day today. . Played better tonight . How many missed chances tho ?

Great point and performance that. Anyone who wouldn't have taken a draw and that attacking intent before kick off is frankly, a liar. UTM!

Would've taken a point, should've won, could've lost 😂

Well I’ve enjoyed a game for the first time in a while

There’s far more to be encouraged by in that performance than not. Give it a few weeks and we’ll really see the difference.

Play like that for the rest of the season and it’s all gravy. I WAS entertained.

Excellent by Town. Probably should have won but easily could and should have lost at the death.
Mullarkey mom.

Very good point that. More than most of us expected, plus FGR lost and Tranmere and Sutton both drew so all in all not a bad night.

Great point away at an inform MKDons. I bet Artell will be pleased with what he saw as I certainly am. UTM!!!!!

Quoted from Badger57

Excellent by Town. Probably should have won but easily could and have lost at the death.
Mullarkey mom.

To a point
But his final ball/crossing is shite 90% of the time

A draw that feels like a win.

Alex Hunt should start from here on. Dude is absolutely a class above anyone else in terms of passing and especially positive passes that create something.
He will work wonders for Artell

Also , Crewe could only manage a draw against Sutton tonight so we must have a chance against them on Saturday.

Should have won that. Could have lost. Early days of course, but reasons to feel positive about the future on the display there. Several players looked better than they have done in recent times, and the brand of football was certainly better to watch.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it’s nice to see the foundations being laid.

Cup half full... identity, style, great one touch footy, attacking, positive attitude
Cup half empty... simply not ruthless either end and it's killed us all season
Our finishing is often panicky and lacks composure
Get that right more often and we will be fine

Had we lost it would have been a travesty

lots of really good stuff, BUT Artell must've noticed our major weakness - not staying with your man. Think it was about 4 times in the 2nd half that BFS had 2 unmarked players in our 18 yard area

the lack of tracking back and staying with your man has been a consistently major downfall of ours

Soooooo frustrating.

If we can get a bit more ruthless, we will climb the table.

18 shots, 6 on target, but only one goal tells the tale, but it's another game unbeaten, another point and we've gone above Colchester, so upward motion for the first time in a while.

Quoted from RonMariner

Also , Crewe could only manage a draw against Sutton tonight so we must have a chance against them on Saturday.

We’ve got Oxford

Quoted from RonMariner

Also , Crewe could only manage a draw against Sutton tonight so we must have a chance against them on Saturday.

FA cup on Saturday Oxford away. We play Crewe the following Saturday Ron

Amazing transformation in our style of play considering he only started yesterday. Best I've seen us pass the ball for ages.

That last chance for MKD came after Wilson made virtually no effort to fight for possession. Liability in the middle of the pitch. Eisa good at getting us up the pitch but another who is defensively naive.

Thought Maher was on a mission to get booked too. We have an away point though.

Oh and well done Alex Hunt and Harry for playing three different positions.

Quoted from DB

FA cup on Saturday Oxford away. We play Crewe the following Saturday Ron

Sorry yes, I was thinking of our next league game!

Eisa brothers having their own worse miss of the season competition

That’s a good point but we have now lost 20 points from winning positions this season- the worst in the whole of the Football League (and PL as well, I believe).

Everyone is right when they pinpoint the failure to defend properly as a team. It's the main thing that needs to be fixed.

looking forward to hearing his post match thoughts

Well that was a fkjng nervy end....fairly typical summary though,  took a lead....played well but didn't benefit anymore from it, missed opportunities, died off, conceded, under increasing pressure ....but for once MK fluffed their lines and didn't take the lead and we somehow managed to miss 3 - 4 good chances to win it ourselves.

Standout take away from me was when we went forwards there was at least 2 or 3 options every time...hardly seen that at all this season.

Thought Hunt was outstanding at times. He played a range of beautifully deft passes born from being released from his chains. He'll be the player we first saw from now on I'm sure.

What a great start. We have a free hit at the weekend but obviously want to do well, but then a full week of coaching the team in his methodology.

We will soon (barring injuries etc.) have a settled side playing a preferred way with incremental improvements along the way.

Quoted from Hagrid

Ifollow is flipping excrement

I missed Towns goal somehow - still thought it was 0 - 0  at half time. Utter crap stream

Hunt will thrive under Artell
Conteh is a class act
Ainlie looks a player
TR

Rose is crucial - focal point to attack and a good footballer

Khan
Wilson
Eisa
Need to do far more

Great all round team effort tonight, rode our luck and could have taken all 3 points and could have come home with nothing. Mullarkey MoM but Hunt had a good game when he came on and some of his passing was excellent. Very encouraging performance which I feel will only get better once Artell gets to work on them and gets them playing his way. UTM

Said all along hunt would play a massive part under the right manager , he will now get a run of games & show us his immense talent , best passer of a ball at club by a distance just needed somebody to look at his talent rather than stature , paul hursts big mistake

Quoted from devs

Hunt will thrive under Artell
Conteh is a class act
Ainlie looks a player
TR

Rose is crucial - focal point to attack and a good footballer

Khan
Wilson
Eisa
Need to do far more

thought Khan had a very good game

Quoted from Hagrid

Jon Paul Pittman. Lovely bloke

Agree - very nice chap when he was here.

Finally its just nice to see so much positivity. I'm positively positive the positiveness has shot up!

I know I’m at risk of saying ‘I told you so’ but Alex Hunt has the ability to boss our midfield. I can’t fathom how and why he was doing the humiliating doggie runs with Greg when Hurst and Doig wouldn’t even put him on the bench.

Well done tonight lads, tonight feels so much better.

Quoted from RonMariner

Also , Crewe could only manage a draw against Sutton tonight so we must have a chance against them on Saturday.

Not got a cat in hells chance against Crewe on Saturday.... because we're playing Oxford  ;) ;D

610 away fans - excellent turnout. Should be much bigger on Saturday

Quoted from MuddyWaters

I know I’m at risk of saying ‘I told you so’ but Alex Hunt has the ability to boss our midfield. I can’t fathom how and why he was doing the humiliating doggie runs with Greg when Hurst and Doig wouldn’t even put him on the bench.

Well done tonight lads, tonight feels so much better.

Would be nice for those who were so scathing and dismissive of Hunt to come on here and accept they were wrong. But no.. they'll stay in the shadows sharpening their knives for his next misplaced pass. Was disgusted at the unfair and vitriolic criticism on here. Made up for the lad tonight..

Quoted from Bigdog

Would be nice for those who were so scathing and dismissive of Hunt to come on here and accept they were wrong. But no.. they'll stay in the shadows sharpening their knives for his next misplaced pass. Was disgusted at the unfair and vitriolic criticism on here. Made up for the lad tonight..

Well I thought he played well. I think you’re being very OTT describing it as scathing, and vitriolic mind you.

Its only 1 game but he looked like he had a point to prove and I think we all hope he can continue to show that consistantly

Every single one of us that backed Hunt knew the ability was there, hard to show it when you aren't given a run of games. Think you could see the weight lifted off his shoulders tonight and he's playing with that swagger and freedom again, what a player. Now he has to show the doubters that ability over a period of time, him and Conteh would be a very good pairing. Think Harry looked back to his best tonight aswell, looked very good when in the middle then moved over to left back and didn't really put a foot wrong against probably there dangerman. Worth noting Kamil Conteh had a 97% pass completion rate tonight aswell... some player.

Quoted Text

I dunno, I personally think we are very lucky to come away with anything. Grimsby were by far the better team for the majority of the game and their ability to play through the press killed us. Against Salford we scored 3 of our goals because we won the ball back high. This game was the complete opposite. I don't think they will be scrapping down in the lower reaches of the league table for much longer and I was really Impressed with their pivot (I think Conteh).
On us though. I hope Williamson learns quickly that playing the same team twice in 3 days is not a good idea. It didn't work for alexander and it won't work for him.

I am happy with a point though and we are moving in the right direction.

Source: https://www.sitdownorwellstealyourclub.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9443&sid=647b9086dc545d6ad9fcb20ffb32a588#p195722

If baffles me why Hurst never even put Alex Hunt on the bench.
He clearly had talent and Hurst paid a fee to bring him here then never played him.

Quoted from Bigdog

Would be nice for those who were so scathing and dismissive of Hunt to come on here and accept they were wrong. But no.. they'll stay in the shadows sharpening their knives for his next misplaced pass. Was disgusted at the unfair and vitriolic criticism on here. Made up for the lad tonight..

I've never been convinced by Hunt (and have said so on here) as he blew hot and cold during his loan spell in the National League (started off very well, then tapered off rapidly before he left) and has then put in perhaps a handful of good performances since we signed him.

I was never scathing or dismissive, just disappointed that he wasn't generally very effective and critical that he gave the ball away needlessly too often through misplaced passes when under no pressure.

I didn't watch the game last night, but it sounds as though it was perhaps his best performance for us ever, or at least since he returned permanently?

That's good to hear so hopefully, he can keep it going and prove me wrong about him in the longer term. A different role and set up for the team can make a big difference so hopefully Artell will be able to get a song out of him more consistently.

It’s curious. After a dire performance on Saturday we have everyone raving after what on paper looked a very tough fixture. How does that happen?

It’s weird. Maybe the new coach was able to somehow change the mindset, but it’s hard to believe he could do so in such a short period of time.

I think his ‘reverted to type’ comment is interesting. It does suggest that our problems may be psychological rather than due to lack of basic footballing quality. We shall see.

There have been a couple of false dawns this season, the first half at Bradford and the Morecambe game. But at least these games and last night show that we have the potential for a successful team here. Artell may well be the guy with the skill set to release it.

Quoted from RonMariner

It’s curious. After a dire performance on Saturday we have everyone raving after what on paper looked a very tough fixture. How does that happen?

It’s weird. Maybe the new coach was able to somehow change the mindset, but it’s hard to believe he could do so in such a short period of time.

I think his ‘reverted to type’ comment is interesting. It does suggest that our problems may be psychological rather than due to lack of basic footballing quality. We shall see.

There have been a couple of false dawns this season, the first half at Bradford and the Morecambe game. But at least these games and last night show that we have the potential for a successful team here. Artell may well be the guy with the skill set to release it.

Obviously it’s impossible to make any meaningful observations based off one match and an hour in the training ground, but I think this group of players will benefit from having someone a bit more direct & assertive leading them.

Hurst was always very hands off with this team in particular, and his attitude was always that he’d done his job on the training ground - it was their responsibility once they crossed the white line. Maybe so, but he often bemoaned their lack of footballing intelligence, more than once this season. In that sense, why not try and influence them a bit more rather than just sitting in the dugout thinking “these just haven’t got the brains”?

We’ve all seen that a lot of them have a decent amount of ability, far beyond than some of the wasters that have soiled the BP turf in the last 20 years, they just need a bit more guidance and, at times, a bit of a rocket up the ařse.

It all seemed very comfortable for some under Hurst, and extremely difficult for others who would get frozen out rather than a bòllocking on the pitch. Early days, but not sure this’ll be the same under the new management.

In the clip on the training ground Artell was right in the centre of things, encouraging and telling them what he wanted.

The fact that I am even surprised to see that tells it's own story.

I have been fed up with the football on offer for a long time but this has all the makings of a new era and the start of a new identity.