Just Back

From the TV.

Fully deserved win against a team that could have gone top tonight.

Edwards was my MOTM but great performances all round.

At last our season is up and running  

Yes!
Edwards unplayable. Still making some poor decisions (tried to make Hanson run 3 times lol) but more end product and they couldn't handle him. Ran all game too.
Gibson so lacking in confidence. Scored an offside header and missed at least 3 seriously good chances.
Defense looked really tired after an hour.
Mckeown made an unbelievable save at 2:1 with a couple of minutes left.

Edwards is different class, thought Hendrie looked useful as a wing back, Pollock superb as ever and Macca with his usual worldy of a save... MOM goes to Edwards for me...
Well deserved 3 points and entertainment on a plate, if that's Holloway's style, bring it on, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Agree with all of that but feel that Clifton needs a mention for his phenomenal work rate in the middle of the park. Outstanding tonight and played like a seasoned pro at times.

Always nice to beat those illegitimates too!

Quoted from cardiffmariner

Agree with all of that but feel that Clifton needs a mention for his phenomenal work rate in the middle of the park. Outstanding tonight and played like a seasoned pro at times.

doing the work of two as well in reality as Morton certainly didnt look ready for 90 mins yet.

Edwards by far MOTM, great on the ball, quick and composed. He's a defenders worst nightmare and they struggled to deal with him until he began to tire in the last 10 minutes. He's a young lad but can see why he's highly rated as he's got quality about him. Carried on plugging away until the end even when he was tiring and was stamped on by one of their thug defenders.

Few good performances tonight and hard working players, it felt like we kept going even when looking worn out, Pollock was close second for MOTM for me, made some essential tackles and blocks. He reads the game like a much more experienced player and saved us a bunch of times.

Macca's save at the end was amazing reflexes, probably doesn't always get the credit he deserves for keeping us in games due to his knack for making rash decisions within the same game.

Very encouraging stuff though with how we played for most of the game, pressed, took the game to them and created plenty of chances which we took. We could have scored even more today and all in all looked like a team who turned up to win and not one who turned up to a Tuesday night game to park the bus as we've seen many times before in our home games.

The next few games teams will be so worried about Edwards it will divert resources away from other players. Win/Win

Great display all round. But Edwards is going to tear most teams in this  league a new bottom hole. Shame he's not ours to keep.

Quoted from cardiffmariner

Agree with all of that but feel that Clifton needs a mention for his phenomenal work rate in the middle of the park. Outstanding tonight and played like a seasoned pro at times.

After an equally good, hard-working shift at Bolton too.

I just thought the application, work rate and endeavour was great tonight from ever player. We where gritty on Saturday but tonight I think they where just damn well brave,

There was one point in the middle of the 2nd half where a half knackered Edwards tied up 4 of theirs for a few seconds. Teams will double up on him and he’ll create so much space. I thought he was excellent tonight but I suspect he’ll be on the bench for Saturday as IH is being really careful.

Well done to the manager tonight as going away to 2nd in the league and playing what looked in reality like a 3-4-3 at times was a real risk that paid off.

If he can get everyone fit and confident we’ll progress for sure.

Credit where it’s due tonight.

Literally a different side to what we’ve seen so far. Battled hard, creates chances and stuck our necks on the line.

Massive save from Macca and Windsor took his chance really well. Edwards stood out and ran them ragged.

A team performance and finally some apparent game plan.

Shout out to Hendrie too, the bloke is solid and seems to give us some much needed stability...

Side note...someone needs to have a word with Edwards and remind him Hanson doesn’t run...

Quoted from aldi_01

Credit where it’s due tonight.

Literally a different side to what we’ve seen so far. Battled hard, creates chances and stuck our necks on the line.

Massive save from Macca and Windsor took his chance really well. Edwards stood out and ran them ragged.

A team performance and finally some apparent game plan.

Shout out to Hendrie too, the bloke is solid and seems to give us some much needed stability...

Side note...someone needs to have a word with Edwards and remind him Hanson doesn’t run...

I suspect Hanson might do that himself! He would have needed a motorbike to get to that first.

I think a positive was that we had a game plan that we stuck to, even when Hanson came on.

Let’s be realistic, he’ll be injured for more of the season than he’s fit so he becomes a bonus rather than the go to...

I agree thoigh, Hanson wasn’t getting on either of those runs on a bike, let alone running...

Thought Macca was awful tonight until that save. Right out of the top drawer.

Really? Couple of hairy moments but thought he punched well from all their set pieces.

harry has got legs, love his work rate. top banana

great effort from all  utm

great effort from all  utm

Hard to pick out stand out performances as it was a great effort all round but I'll try.

Edwards: Absolute class and can forgive the odd dodgy decision as he adds so much to our attacking play in general and a fantastic goal too.

Tilley: One of the best performances in a while and complimented well on the opposite flank to Edwards and linked up well with Hendrie.

Hendrie: Really put in a shift and barely put a foot wrong. Up and down the flank like a yoyo showing quality in defence and attack.

Clifton: As mentioned in another post needs a mention. Has made himself a little inconspicuous due to being solid and not making mistakes but hardly a bad thing.

Pollock: Plays like he's been a professional for 10 years. Hard to believe that this is only his 2nd proper season in the first team.

Windsor: Came on as a sub and plays a bit like Edwards with good close control and also netted the 3rd with a cool finish. Looking forward to seeing more of him.

Overall the team really put in a shift. It was obvious that the back 3 weren't used to playing as such as they got pulled around a bit but with time I can see them settling into the system and didn't exactly disgrace themselves.

Also worth mentioning that aside from the starting 11 you had Windsor and Hanson get some minutes and we have the likes of Hewitt, Wright, Rose, Scannell and Bennett who didn't feature yet and also have players like Sisay and Mohsni who we haven't seen much of yet.

Hopefully this is the catalyst that kicks starts and exciting season

UTMM

For a team that had not scored before kick off our game plan was spot on and their commentators were saying we had created more chances than all the teams they'd faced so far in the 5/6 games so far, includibg Millwall.

Too many teams know/think that cheltenhams defence is solid and play negatively, especially at their own ground, but Holloway flipped that, played our 3 fittest and fastest strikers against there slow defence and both got behind them and down the sides with pace and energy. They couldnt deal with all 3 and could have been even more comfortable with a little more composure, especially from Gibson.

Our defence was a rock and the midfield workmanlike. On first glance Taylor gets the nod ahead of Morton but the latter is probably short of match fitness.

Best players for us, Pollock, will be surprised if he is still with us after January's window, Edwards, Clifton and Hendrie.
Also special mention to Ollie who won the tactical battle.

Utm

Most managers in this league go for big forwards to battle against big defenders and it becomes a war of attrition; not very attractive to watch either. I love it when managers go for quick, skilful and mobile strikers to embarrass the ponderous defenders you get a lot of in this league. It shows how rattled they were that one of them took to stamping on Edwards, about as close as he got to him all night.

Typical Cheltenham really and I'm glad we out footballed them, instead of merely out battling them. It made the win all the more sweet.

A46 Closed north of Cheltenham, M5 Closed J4 -5. Tried A44 to Evesham Closed. Back on the M5. Diverted A38 to M42. M180 J3-4 Closed. Sweet passing The Scunts ground while above them now. Ha Ha!

UTM!

Quoted from Theimperialcoroner

Thought Macca was awful tonight until that save. Right out of the top drawer.

Most of his mistakes are his own doing , we seem to fanny about around our own box A lot , playing balls across it and putting defenders under pressure .
There always seems to be two of our defenders back when he takes a goal kick too , I’m sure this is part of the plan but it seems they don’t have confidence in his kicking

Need a mention to Ohman too who i thought played very very well again. Guys had 3 weeks out again and looked solid as a rock.

No one had a bad game to be fair, hope Gibson finds his shooting boots but the great thing is Jackson getting a brace in the reserves is showing we may have some depth now and no one person owns their position.

Quoted from grimps

Most of his mistakes are his own doing , we seem to fanny about around our own box A lot , playing balls across it and putting defenders under pressure .
There always seems to be two of our defenders back when he takes a goal kick too , I’m sure this is part of the plan but it seems they don’t have confidence in his kicking

Holloway said in his post match that playing from the back is how he wants to play. Macca I’m sure will be working on his distribution in training but it certainly gave me palpitations at times and it probably will again.

Promotion odds down to 12-1. Worth a punt?

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

Promotion odds down to 12-1. Worth a punt?

Well it is certainly value IMHO.  I have them as a 17/2 shot for promotion after last night and based on an expectation of points in the low 60's.

Only gamble with money you can afford to lose!

UTMM.

Macca’s save towards the end was a match winning save, which was in line with Waterfalls save in the first half! 🤣 😎
UTMM

Quoted from grimps

Most of his mistakes are his own doing , we seem to fanny about around our own box A lot , playing balls across it and putting defenders under pressure .
There always seems to be two of our defenders back when he takes a goal kick too , I’m sure this is part of the plan but it seems they don’t have confidence in his kicking

Totally agree- him playing Waterfall into trouble with two opposition players waiting to swoop was terrible and  directly responsible to Cheltenham scoring.Also he has a very bad habit of being too far upfield in a lot of games and begging to be caught out.

My issue with Macca was more the flapping at crosses. But I’d not swap him for any other keeper in this league because no other keeper in this league would’ve stopped that effort late on.

I remember having a similar conversation with PH about Macca. He often said the beat thing to do is play to his strengths. One on one, shot stopping and organising are Macca’s strengths. Coming for high looping crosses and playing with his feet are not.

He can collect some high balls as all keepers can but I’d imagine that’s why he opts to punch rather than try and catch.

His distribution will improve if they keep working on it, but I don’t think Waterfalls blasé approach helped either of them out when Cheltenham scored.

That save at the end was top class and imagine if the England keeper does it tonight everyone will talk about it for ages.

Quoted from aldi_01

I remember having a similar conversation with PH about Macca. He often said the beat thing to do is play to his strengths. One on one, shot stopping and organising are Macca’s strengths. Coming for high looping crosses and playing with his feet are not.

He can collect some high balls as all keepers can but I’d imagine that’s why he opts to punch rather than try and catch.

His distribution will improve if they keep working on it, but I don’t think Waterfalls blasé approach helped either of them out when Cheltenham scored.

That save at the end was top class and imagine if the England keeper does it tonight everyone will talk about it for ages.

Danny Coyne is the best Town goalkeeper I have seen in my 30 odd years watching Town (not counting Dave Beasant, who wasn't ours). Being relatively small his command of the box wasn't great either, nor was his kicking. But few goalkeepers have the full package - for our respective levels at the time both Coyne and Macca were / are the very best we could hope for.

Both Town legends, perhaps Macca more so for his longevity and the experiences he's shared with us during his ten years at the club.

Quoted from Poojah

Danny Coyne is the best Town goalkeeper I have seen in my 30 odd years watching Town (not counting Dave Beasant, who wasn't ours). Being relatively small his command of the box wasn't great either, nor was his kicking. But few goalkeepers have the full package - for our respective levels at the time both Coyne and Macca were / are the very best we could hope for.

Both Town legends, perhaps Macca more so for his longevity and the experiences he's shared with us during his ten years at the club.

Batchy was the best keeper in my lifetime and I think he was even a bit smaller than Coyne. That save of McKeown's towards the end though really was a top class save and if that had been in The Prem they'd be showing it over and over again.

Quoted from Les Brechin

Batchy was the best keeper in my lifetime and I think he was even a bit smaller than Coyne. That save of McKeown's towards the end though really was a top class save and if that had been in The Prem they'd be showing it over and over again.

I'm sure Nigel Batch had springs for legs. I remember one memorable Tuesday night at Barnsley, Oakwell. We were getting pasted and all that I saw from view inside the monster Town following was Batch appearing from nowhere time and again pulling off worldies!

Quoted from wuffing

I'm sure Nigel Batch had springs for legs. I remember one memorable Tuesday night at Barnsley, Oakwell. We were getting pasted and all that I saw from view inside the monster Town following was Batch appearing from nowhere time and again pulling off worldies!

Saw him do the same at Boothferry Park around 1980 when we drew 2-2, he appeared from nowhere to make a world class save.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Saw him do the same at Boothferry Park around 1980 when we drew 2-2, he appeared from nowhere to make a world class save.

I think Everton away was Batchy's finest game for us. Him and Chris Nicholl in particualr were immense that night in the pouring rain,

Quoted from promotion plaice

Saw him do the same at Boothferry Park around 1980 when we drew 2-2, he appeared from nowhere to make a world class save.

Neither Batch nor Charlie Wright were big for goalkeepers and neither came a long way for crosses. But both were in command of the area, there is more to it than just jumping highest and catching or punching the ball. It’s about character, consistency and decisiveness. As long as defenders know what to expect from the keeper there is no problem.

Batch kept a clean sheet at Hull once with a broken hand didn’t he?

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

Neither Batch nor Charlie Wright were big for goalkeepers and neither came a long way for crosses. But both were in command of the area, there is more to it than just jumping highest and catching or punching the ball. It’s about character, consistency and decisiveness. As long as defenders know what to expect from the keeper there is no problem.

All this punching of the ball has only come in, in the last 10 years or so. Most goalkeeping coaches encourage keepers to punch the ball now, especially if under pressure as it negates the chance of a keeper dropping the ball if they try to catch it.

It was certainly a great watch, felt like it was two decent teams going all out for it.

Our front three were fantastic in the first half particularly, tough day for Gibson but he is getting into the right positions so I would definitely persevere with him.

Clifton really is perpetual motion he's started off this season in great fashion. Hendrie has shown how much we miss him that cross for Gibson's header was outstanding.

At the back I thought Omhan and Pollock were excellent. Few dirty moments from Cheltenham and that stamp on Edwards was shocking, shame as the game was so good it didn't deserve moments like that.

Quoted from aldi_01

if the England keeper does it tonight everyone will talk about it for ages.

One of the potential candidates tonight did appear for us remember and even then looked astonishingly good. It all came to a sad end for Henderson after the Stevenage debacle but we did have him for a while.

Batch was a very good all round keeper