Just Back

Not one started yet and we have a travel back to Coventry!

Poor conditions for a game of football, felt we controlled most of the game. Going 2-0 should have been comfortable from there but a silly mistake put us under pressure we didn’t need.

Effete brilliant, Sousa played well, shown more defensively too. Mcatee class at times but lost ball at times with some poor passes. New lad from Villa looks a top player, ok lost the ball but because he was trying to make things happen and 2 assists.

Never really under pressure. Can’t take much from todays game, roll on next week.

I'm happy with three points!

Quoted from Wiley2405

Not one started yet and we have a travel back to Coventry!

Poor conditions for a game of football, felt we controlled most of the game. Going 2-0 should have been comfortable from there but a silly mistake put us under pressure we didn’t need.

Effete brilliant, Sousa played well, shown more defensively too. Mcatee class at times but lost ball at times with some poor passes. New lad from Villa looks a top player, ok lost the ball but because he was trying to make things happen and 2 assists.

Never really under pressure. Can’t take much from todays game, roll on next week.

Agree regarding Efete, Sousa and Raikhy. McAtee very frustrating today, sometimes brilliant, sometimes wasteful. Honourable mention for Harry Clifton who ran his nuts off.

Being honest, Wealdstone were bang average but well supported. Still think we need at least one more striking option but Abrahams looked more suited playing up the middle than he did out wide. We’ll see what next week brings.

Quoted from Wiley2405

Not one started yet and we have a travel back to Coventry!

Poor conditions for a game of football, felt we controlled most of the game. Going 2-0 should have been comfortable from there but a silly mistake put us under pressure we didn’t need.

Effete brilliant, Sousa played well, shown more defensively too. Mcatee class at times but lost ball at times with some poor passes. New lad from Villa looks a top player, ok lost the ball but because he was trying to make things happen and 2 assists.

Never really under pressure. Can’t take much from todays game, roll on next week.

Can’t disagree with any of that at all. Great summary of the game for me

Steady away, didn't look in any trouble throughout the game.
Looked great again down our righthand side.
Taylor was a bit quiet, Abrahams looked well when he came on.
Efete my mom with Souse a close second.
Wish Hurst would balance that out on the left by putting Wright with Amos, but never will.

A game that should have been more comfortable than it was, but another mistake is punished by the opposition, which seems to happen almost weekly.

Three goals in the game but it should have been 3-0, rather than 2-1. When the second went in, they were wobbling and there for the taking but there was too many good situations that didn't turn into chances, and too many chances that weren't turned into goals. A bit more composure shown and we could have racked up a big score. Pity JMD was out as he has shown that much needed composure in recent games. At 2-1, Abrahams had another good chance but put it well over the bar. He looks half decent in patches but isn't scoring and he should have at least one, possibly two by now. Hopefully he can start converting when he settles in a bit more.

We looked much more dangerous with Efete and Amos as full backs, with both having good games, though it was Amos that gifted them the ball to score. Other than that, I thought he was pretty good.

Thought Sousa had one of his better games and put in some good crosses after his usual good approach play, which he doesn't always manage.

Not the best of conditions to play in but we were clearly better than them, with their keeper being much more busy than ours. He made quite a few saves in the game, whereas I can't remember Crocombe having too much to do. He had no chance with their goal as he was nowhere near the goal when it went in. Good finish from their lad though, who could easily have got it wrong.

After a tortuous trip back from York this morning, with delays and diversions caused by the weather; I nearly never made the game, but glad I got there just in time to see a good solid performance and three points.

Scrappy game in the wind.

Delighted to see Michee Efete back, and his forward runs paid off as they often do.  My MoM by a long way.

Raikhy looks promising and Johnny McAtee was as insuppressible as ever- not sure if that's even a proper word, but it works for me.

Very welcome three points.

Out played Weadlstone for most of that game. Adapted to the strong winds quickly for a change which really helped.

Sousa, McAtee and Efete were fantastic and the lad from Villa Raihky (sp?) was really impressive, always wanted the ball and clearly got frustrated with our lack of movement a few times.

Should of won about 6-1 number of chances we created, but once again failed to do so. Moment of madness for their goal, but what a finish.

Thier Keeper kept them in it.

Quoted from marinette

Scrappy game in the wind.

Delighted to see Michee Efete back, and his forward runs paid off as they often do.  My MoM by a long way.

Raikhy looks promising and Johnny McAtee was as insuppressible as ever- not sure if that's even a proper word, but it works for me.

Very welcome three points.

Irrepressible? 🤷🏻‍♂️

fking good

Not sure Mcatee had a decent game and played some weird passes.

Efete is decent and thought the lad from Villa looked decent. Still keen on Coke in there and we look off balance but a wins a win and they all count…

Quoted from tanga_the_indestructible

Irrepressible? 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thank you, yes - that's the word I was searching for.

Got there in the end after gifting them a way back into the game, bit scrappy and the game ran out of steam by the end with both teams looking tired. Apart from gifting them a goal I don't think Wealdstone threatened all that much even if I was expecting them to score one at the end. Think we play better with Efete in the team, much more attacking minded and puts other teams under pressure.

Lack of confidence showed in attack though and it seemed like a lot of players didn't want the responsibility of trying to score. Kinda woke up when we went 2:0 up but lot of players not looking their best today. Really need to restore some confidence and belief in the team to get consistency. Get our best players on into a settle side and use subs that we have available to keep the momentum up when players are tired, it's getting frustrating when we have somebody who could possibly come on and make it hard for the other team to get back in the game and Hurst is happy to watch players huff and puff not able to do anything anymore

3 points and we go again. Well done to all those that went and are backing the team. UTM

Shout out to the Wealdstone fans aswell, brought much more than I believe anyone expected and we’re in good voice.

Felt like our atmosphere was a bit drab today.

People around us moaning and groaning every time the villa lad (raihky)? Put in a stray pass.........but at least he passed forwards instead of sideways or backwards. Thought him,efete,and Amos ,Sousa, our best players on the day, centre backs solid too, crocombes taking of the ball in his hands instead of limp-wristed punching of the ball very reassuring.

I thought we played really well, given the run we have had.

Some of our football really is a delight to watch, although admittedly against limited opposition and it could and should have been 4 or 5.

If we could find a ruthless streak in front of goal we could have a great second half of the season. It is a shame we often seem to have a defensive mistake in us which sets us back a bit.  

Apart from his mistake, I thought Amos was a revelation at left-back and Effete made a big difference. Despite one or two misplaced passes, MacAtee is a class apart.

I came away from that game thinking if we could just come away next week with something we might be able to have a good season after all.

Quoted from Wiley2405

Shout out to the Wealdstone fans aswell, brought much more than I believe anyone expected and we’re in good voice.

Felt like our atmosphere was a bit drab today.

Yes, good effort from them, pound for pound best support we've seen this season in terms of creating an atmosphere.

Everybody played well today especially the right side. Soussa and Mcatee combined brilliantly Effete added more attacking options and the new kid done good. Well done Town.

The conditions were a recipe for a disaster today but we got the job done. Wouldn't be Grimsby without making it difficult though having got ourselves 2-0 up and comfortable.

Efete was brilliant today but I'm surprised he wasn't substituted given he's been out with his hamstring. If we hadn't conceded, I'm sure he would have been taken off as a precaution.

For a man that doesn't use his left foot, Sousa on the right cut in and had a couple of good efforts with his left foot. Looked much more dangerous on the right.

Raikhy looks like he's wearing Grealish's old shin pads as his socks were pretty much by his ankles but he was exactly what we've been missing in the middle.

McAtee keeps closing down, how did Abrahams miss that one he set up for him? He hates the opposition having the ball and I love seeing him sliding in to roughen them up.

Nervy finish and I was begging for us to leave someone on the halfway line when they sent their keeper up for those last 2 free kicks. McAtee knew he should have done better playing the through ball to Sousa with the keeper in our half too.

We needed a win, we got it. Roll on next week.

Steady enough. Not a world beating peformance by any means against very limited opponents but it’s good to get back on the horse after a loss. We’ll need more next weekend but that’d be good enough for a lot of home games between now and May.

Efete outstanding today. He’s been very consistent so far and is probably in my top 3 players this season but it seemed like he was really on one today. Sousa had one of his best games today too. Decent full debut for Raikhy who you’d expect will only improve.

Huge respect to the best away following this season (and for a few seasons before) from Wealdstone. Good noise and decent numbers too. I didn’t expect either to be honest!

A welcome 3 points.  Would have been a travesty if they had equalised.

A lot of overhit passes (both halves).  

McAtee can do the near impossible and the very difficult.  But a final simple ball can go astray through over-eagerness or not showing better composure.

A good example when he charged the ball down on the touch line in front of the Main Stand towards the end of the game.  He somehow kept the ball in play and beat his man.  A key chance then was lost from a poor pass.

Overall, encouraging for next Sat and should improve confidence for the players and fans.

A shout for the away fans.  Little to cheer for a long journey.  We even gifted them their goal.

Ginny said he was going over the Humber Bridge to the game.  I wished him luck.  We went over later and there was a van overturned on the bridge.  Cleared later BUT we found out at the last minute (going home after the game) that the Bridge was closed north bound.  A long detour back to York.

This was a game we simply had to win. Had we lost at home to a team fourth bottom and found ourselves 9 points adrift of a play off place I think we could have been justified in writing the season off.

But we won.  There are a few more winnable games coming in February, and we need to max out on them in order to start closing that 6 point gap.  If we can get to within a couple of points of a play off place by the end of Feb, then it's still all to play for. Because, on our day, we can still beat anyone in this division if we get the breaks.  

A bit hit and miss at times against limited opposition, but the conditions were very difficult and their keeper made a string of good saves to keep them in it. On another day, we'd have scored a few more easily. When we went two up, I thought we'd stroll out comfortable winners but the crazy mistake by Amos gave them a road back into the game and we didn't manage things quite as well as I would have liked after that.

Certainly more balanced with Efete in (always better to have a specialist than a makeshift full-back!), though he did have the odd moment where he was daydreaming and lost track of what he should be doing. Other than the balls-up which led to the goal, I thought we defended very well.

I think I'd like to see more from midfield as Coke generally just trundles around. He'll put his challenges in and move the ball on, but we need a bit more dynamism in there. The young lad from Villa did well at times and fired in some good passes to McAtee, plus some excellent set pieces, of course. Got his foot in the tackle well on occasion, but did lose possession a bit too often. I'd say he was trying too hard at times, attempting to run with the ball when it really wasn't on. Taking him off was the right decision as he was tiring and losing concentration. I'd hope he'll start the next game. Great energy from Clifton again and it really adds something having somebody busting a gut to cover every blade of grass.

Sousa a bit disappointing in the first half but much better in the second, McAtee not at his best again, but still a handful. Truth be told, I don't think Abrahams did a great deal when he came on (not entirely his fault) as we lost our shape a bit after Taylor went off. I could tell he wasn't going to score with that chance near the end so I'm not sure he'll be the answer to our goalscoring problems, but he obviously has something else to offer. Playing McAtee behind Taylor and Abrahams could be an option but, of course, that would mean the wingers wouldn't get a chance.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

A welcome 3 points.  Would have been a travesty if they had equalised.

A lot of overhit passes (both halves).  

McAtee can do the near impossible and the very difficult.  But a final simple ball can go astray through over-eagerness or not showing better composure.

A good example when he charged the ball down on the touch line in front of the Main Stand towards the end of the game.  He somehow kept the ball in play and beat his man.  A key chance then was lost from a poor pass.

Overall, encouraging for next Sat and should improve confidence for the players and fans.

A shout for the away fans.  Little to cheer for a long journey.  We even gifted them their goal.

Ginny said he was going over the Humber Bridge to the game.  I wished him luck.  We went over later and there was a van overturned on the bridge.  Cleared later BUT we found out at the last minute (going home after the game) that the Bridge was closed north bound.  A long detour back to York.

We got almost to the Humber Bridge, then decided it wasn't worth the risk and turned around to go back to Goole. The Ouse Bridge was also closed to high sided vehicles, so we went over the Boothferry Bridge, which took an age to get through. The traffic was backed up for hundreds of yards and the lights were changing about every 5 mins, letting traffic through from one side, then the other. A lot of the M180 and A180 is down to one lane for roadworks, with speed limits of 50 and 40 MPH. There was also lots of debris flying about.

What normally takes less than 2 hours, took us about 3 1/2 hours. Was an 'interesting' journey.

Good to see you made it back safe.

Thought that was a generally decent performance today from Town, once again typified by our inability to put the ball in the back of the net when in promising situations. We really should have had another two or three on the score line today at the very least, against a Wealdstone side which lacked any imagination whatsoever until we gifted them that ‘mare of a goal.

As others have said, Efete and McAtee the standouts, whilst young Amos also had a decent game at left back besides his horrendous error. The lad looked absolutely mortified, but with the exception of the first couple of minutes following his misplaced passed I thought he played his best football of the game after their goal (which looked a decent finish, even in the absence of a goalkeeper).

Raikhy looks a decent prospect but was patchy in his play at times - I know he was at Stockport earlier in the season but I think he might just need a few games to acclimatise to mens football in the rough and tumble of the National League, where there’s always some ugly fúcker immediately biting away at your ankles every time you receive the ball.

Some shaky moments towards the end in a game which should never have had a nervous ending. There are fine margins in football sometimes, but we currently have an unwelcome tendency to keep falling on the wrong side of them. We really do have to stop these silly avoidable mistakes and profligacy if we’re to salvage something from this season.

Paul Hurst will sleep a littler easier tonight than he did last night, of that I’m sure, but he’ll know we have another huge game on the horizon at Notts County next week. The outcome of that will set the tone for the remainder of the season, I feel.

Conditions poor but Great result.
Personally, I did not like the midfield set up and I would never play Coke in front of Fox who is a really hard-working player, Coke tries hard but just looks off the pace And offers nothing going forward. In a home game with Wealdstone ,midfield needs to offer something going forward. I thought Sousa had a very good second half after a lousy first half. I also thought Taylor needs a rest, an excellent player but been asked to do too much.
Great 3 points but too many players 6/10 to make me think we are ready for great improvement JMD needed back in the team as better on the ball. New lad a mixed bag bit looked hopeful. We must break the away form next week and my gut feeling is we will get at least a draw utm

Quoted from LH

Steady enough. Not a world beating peformance by any means against very limited opponents but it’s good to get back on the horse after a loss. We’ll need more next weekend but that’d be good enough for a lot of home games between now and May.

Efete outstanding today. He’s been very consistent so far and is probably in my top 3 players this season but it seemed like he was really on one today. Sousa had one of his best games today too. Decent full debut for Raikhy who you’d expect will only improve.

Huge respect to the best away following this season (and for a few seasons before) from Wealdstone. Good noise and decent numbers too. I didn’t expect either to be honest!

I travelled across with about 100 on the train from Lincoln. Really decent bunch. Apparently they have 250 season ticket holders and a hard core of 150 who travel away. When I left them they were heading for the Tiv.

There where some things from Town in that games that where a bit ropey but the most frustrating thing for me where the glimpses of what a decent side we could be.

A loss against Wealdstone started the bad run.  Could a win, albeit shaky, spell the end?

Sudddenyl thought yesterday with about 10 mins to go that if game ended 2-2 Hurst would be slaughtered on here
But he would have been 100% blameless - it wold have been solely down to shite finishing as per normal
We were so dominant
Played some really exciting footy - especially second half and in very windy conditions
He got his subs right
It was a well-balanced line up
There was (IMO) nothing more he could have done
But he can't do everything for the team (and as a former left back I doubt his finishing was top notch)

How do you teach better finishing? I don't think you can - Hurst and his coaches can teach better technique etc but in the cut and thrust of a game it is 100% down to the players

We won - should have been about 7-1 - and we all move on

But the underlying feeling is poor finishing is killing us - and IMO that is not Hurst's fault

Quoted from devs

Sudddenyl thought yesterday with about 10 mins to go that if game ended 2-2 Hurst would be slaughtered on here
But he would have been 100% blameless - it wold have been solely down to shite finishing as per normal
We were so dominant
Played some really exciting footy - especially second half and in very windy conditions
He got his subs right
It was a well-balanced line up
There was (IMO) nothing more he could have done
But he can't do everything for the team (and as a former left back I doubt his finishing was top notch)

How do you teach better finishing? I don't think you can - Hurst and his coaches can teach better technique etc but in the cut and thrust of a game it is 100% down to the players

We won - should have been about 7-1 - and we all move on

But the underlying feeling is poor finishing is killing us - and IMO that is not Hurst's fault

100% in agreement with this

Quoted from devs

Sudddenyl thought yesterday with about 10 mins to go that if game ended 2-2 Hurst would be slaughtered on here
But he would have been 100% blameless - it wold have been solely down to shite finishing as per normal
We were so dominant
Played some really exciting footy - especially second half and in very windy conditions
He got his subs right
It was a well-balanced line up
There was (IMO) nothing more he could have done
But he can't do everything for the team (and as a former left back I doubt his finishing was top notch)

How do you teach better finishing? I don't think you can - Hurst and his coaches can teach better technique etc but in the cut and thrust of a game it is 100% down to the players

We won - should have been about 7-1 - and we all move on

But the underlying feeling is poor finishing is killing us - and IMO that is not Hurst's fault

My only criticism of Hurst yesterday is that it was a huge risk keeping Efete on all game as he had just come back from a hamstring injury. He was noticeably struggling in the last 10 minutes.

What I will say though is that his options were to bring Max Wright on and put Clifton at right back or bring Smith on. If they had equalised from a mistake down our right side, Hurst would have been in for loads of criticism so he can't win sometimes.

Quoted from devs

Sudddenyl thought yesterday with about 10 mins to go that if game ended 2-2 Hurst would be slaughtered on here
But he would have been 100% blameless - it wold have been solely down to shite finishing as per normal
We were so dominant
Played some really exciting footy - especially second half and in very windy conditions
He got his subs right
It was a well-balanced line up
There was (IMO) nothing more he could have done
But he can't do everything for the team (and as a former left back I doubt his finishing was top notch)

How do you teach better finishing? I don't think you can - Hurst and his coaches can teach better technique etc but in the cut and thrust of a game it is 100% down to the players

We won - should have been about 7-1 - and we all move on

But the underlying feeling is poor finishing is killing us - and IMO that is not Hurst's fault

Agree to a certain extent.
However, whose job is it to bring a decent strike force in the first place ? Who brought back the shop ? Etc.

Yes, he would have been wrongly slaughtered had they somehow equalised. But it’s his team and his strike force !!

Quoted from jamesgtfc

My only criticism of Hurst yesterday is that it was a huge risk keeping Efete on all game as he had just come back from a hamstring injury. He was noticeably struggling in the last 10 minutes.

What I will say though is that his options were to bring Max Wright on and put Clifton at right back or bring Smith on. If they had equalised from a mistake down our right side, Hurst would have been in for loads of criticism so he can't win sometimes.

Max has shown that he can provide good crosses from either side so that change would have strengthened attacking options too. Perhaps Hurst preferred to keep Efete on for his heading prowess in defending Wealdstone's push for the equaliser.

Bit of a meh game yesterday. Just felt good to get through it because of the weather and get 3 points.

Good to have Efete back.

We played some good stuff in parts despite the conditions.
Some nice quick build-up play at times especially down the right where Sousa was dangerous in parts. He is better from the right and better still with his partner Efete behind him. Nearly had a goal which would have been nice.

Raikhy looks good. Long legs that can pinch the ball from an opposition toe and he likes to stride forward with the ball too. Some good passes from him and a few stray ones too which we can forgive because of the wind. Set both goals up - nice shape on the free kick for the second goal he made it look simple.

Gonna have to play better again next week. Hopefully go back to 2 players high up either side of Taylor and 3 in the middle. Was nice to see McAtee play higher yesterday though and take it to them a bit more.

Quoted from Croxton

Max has shown that he can provide good crosses from either side so that change would have strengthened attacking options too. Perhaps Hurst preferred to keep Efete on for his heading prowess in defending Wealdstone's push for the equaliser.

Providing he hasn't made himself a doubt for Saturday keeping him on was the right decision. He was really motivated yesterday against his former employer. In terms of building for next season, he's one we need to get tied down.

Quoted from Civvy at last

Agree to a certain extent.
However, whose job is it to bring a decent strike force in the first place ? Who brought back the shop ? Etc.

Yes, he would have been wrongly slaughtered had they somehow equalised. But it’s his team and his strike force !!

Agree in many ways with this as a general point but I was relating my comment to yesterday

Quoted from devs

Sudddenyl thought yesterday with about 10 mins to go that if game ended 2-2 Hurst would be slaughtered on here
But he would have been 100% blameless - it wold have been solely down to shite finishing as per normal
We were so dominant
Played some really exciting footy - especially second half and in very windy conditions
He got his subs right
It was a well-balanced line up
There was (IMO) nothing more he could have done
But he can't do everything for the team (and as a former left back I doubt his finishing was top notch)

How do you teach better finishing? I don't think you can - Hurst and his coaches can teach better technique etc but in the cut and thrust of a game it is 100% down to the players

We won - should have been about 7-1 - and we all move on

But the underlying feeling is poor finishing is killing us - and IMO that is not Hurst's fault

And it would have been way way busier on here, with a few notable absences chipping in their negative crap.

The players were finding the net earlier in the season, but I think there is a general lack of conviction in front of goal at the moment, probably due to a lack of belief after a really poor and frustrating run of results. Maybe a bit of overthinking going on, but we are getting behind teams without the final ball or shot being decisive enough.

Thought we missed JMD yesterday. He generally makes good decisions and is calm when a chance presents itself.

Agree re: Maguire Drew
Quality player at this level
Calm and composed
Need more of that

Whilst we didn’t take our chances yesterday, you’ve got to give credit to Wealdstone’s keeper and defence. There were an awful lot of goalbound opportunities either saved or blocked.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Whilst we didn’t take our chances yesterday, you’ve got to give credit to Wealdstone’s keeper and defence. There were an awful lot of goalbound opportunities either saved or blocked.

Yeah, fair comment.

Their keeper had a good game, but better finishing wouldn't have given him the opportunity to get his hand on some of them.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Whilst we didn’t take our chances yesterday, you’ve got to give credit to Wealdstone’s keeper and defence. There were an awful lot of goalbound opportunities either saved or blocked.

Good point
But more composure I think we'd have scored more

Thought we played well, daft mistake let them back in it a bit if they didn't score which gave them some confidence back, then I think we would have got a couple more. Efete my MOM, new lad in midfield very decent, lots of movement and asking for the ball, even if he did fluff a few simple passes.
Lets see what we do at one of the better teams next week, create as many chances as we did we should come away with something.