Just Back on the Train.

Football eh? For 75 minutes it was in my view comfortably the worst performance of the season against a team that looked like they had already gone on their holidays. To put it simply today was irrefutable evidence that we cannot have a cohesive attacking presence with one up front. The first half was 49 minutes of misplaced, over hit passes, lack of movement and Taylor not having a team mate within 10 yards of him. Midfield were pretty anonymous and we lost Efete to what looked like a recurrence of his previous problem.
Hurst righted his tactical wrong with Abrahams joining Taylor up front for the second half but things got immeasurably worse when Waterfall inexplicably headed into his own net under little pressure and no Barnet player in the box.
Hurst has had loads of flak for his subs in both spells in charge both in terms of personnel and timing but today's introduction of Fox fits nicely into the master stroke category. Town got a grip on midfield and Smith reacted quickest five yards out for the first. Urged on by the support that had well and truly woken up it was just a question of whether Barnet's constant sh1thousery would give Town time for at least a draw. Waterfall struck for an equaliser and in the seven minutes added on at least two other chances went begging-Abrahams hits his shot a yard either side of the defender it struck and Town celebrate the second resurrection against Barnet this season.
That most fans were happy to get a point after all that speaks volumes about how tight it is for those play off spots. It shouldn't mask though that for a very long time we were very much second best. If as looks likely we make the Play Offs there isn't one of our prospective rivals who wouldn't take us to the cleaners on that first half performance.

What is it they say in martial arts? “You don’t win or lose you win or learn” well one of the learnings today feels like don’t start with 1 up front no McAtee available and leave the energy of Fox, skill of JMD and a player in Abrahams who’s scored in the last 2 in the bench.

Despite the late hurrah 2 points lost rather than a point win I feel. Just wondered if we could have gone on to win it if the “supporters” on the pitch hadn’t given Barnet a breather.

Despite some comments on other platforms the players tried hard but as Hurst has just admitted on RH the selection wasn’t right from the start.

We’re still in a good place and the unbeaten run continues.

Well done to all of those that travelled. Brilliant support, apart from the bloke who punched me in the back and told me to “f****g move” when I was stood in his way during the final few seconds.

UTM!

Quoted from barralad

Football eh? For 75 minutes it was in my view comfortably the worst performance of the season against a team that looked like they had already gone on their holidays. To put it simply today was irrefutable evidence that we cannot have a cohesive attacking presence with one up front. The first half was 49 minutes of misplaced, over hit passes, lack of movement and Taylor not having a team mate within 10 yards of him. Midfield were pretty anonymous and we lost Efete to what looked like a recurrence of his previous problem.
Hurst righted his tactical wrong with Abrahams joining Taylor up front for the second half but things got immeasurably worse when Waterfall inexplicably headed into his own net under little pressure and no Barnet player in the box.
Hurst has had loads of flak for his subs in both spells in charge both in terms of personnel and timing but today's introduction of Fox fits nicely into the master stroke category. Town got a grip on midfield and Smith reacted quickest five yards out for the first. Urged on by the support that had well and truly woken up it was just a question of whether Barnet's constant sh1thousery would give Town time for at least a draw. Waterfall struck for an equaliser and in the seven minutes added on at least two other chances went begging-Abrahams hits his shot a yard either side of the defender it struck and Town celebrate the second resurrection against Barnet this season.
That most fans were happy to get a point after all that speaks volumes about how tight it is for those play off spots. It shouldn't mask though that for a very long time we were very much second best. If as looks likely we make the Play Offs there isn't one of our prospective rivals who wouldn't take us to the cleaners on that first half performance.

Spot on summary mate. Subs made all the difference today. Hurst said after the game he tactically got it wrong but he won't have the luxury to get it wrong in the lottery if we get there. Ive seen Jones twice now and he looks well off the pace and plays like he's disinterested. The introduction of fox put us far more in control.

Can’t work out if I’m still fuming with the first 80 mins or delighted we managed to nick a point. Jones should not play again for us and Hoolhan is not a number 10. Would go with Harry and Fox in midfield for the next game.

Sometimes, teams that have nothing to play for are quite dangerous to play against at the end of the season as there is no competitive pressure on them.  Maidenhead could be similar next week.  

We have to be able to play with intensity during multiple periods of a game rather than waiting for a wake-up call.  We'll be punished in the single-legged play-off games.  Slightly concerned that we have some injuries creeping in too now.  That said, we're still very capable of nabbing 5th and taking some good momentum into the play-offs.  Lots to play for.

What Barra said with the exception that I'm not entirely sure it was Fox that triggered the revival. Abrahams made a huge difference, pressed well and everything moved higher up the pitch. What did hit home was the lack of  a predatory goal scoring striker because Barnets defence is a crash waiting to happen
The OG was very strange, thought Crocombe could have been more positive but to be fair we were  long way away. I thought the delay after our equaliser cost us as it seemed to take the momentum out of our recovery.
Barnets home support is so bad, how many of them were there?

excellent summing by barra. just glad w egot summat out of it ,if just to show that cheats never prosper.Their feigned injuries and timewasting were embarrassing
would just add the pitch was v dry n bobbly ,which didnt help
dunno what it but we really seem to struggle when faced with a half empty stadium
despite it being a pretty poor display, there were actually some pretty good performances - Waterfall and Smith were v. solid, and obviosly were threat as an attacking force!
Thought Scannell was the best player on the park , whilst Clifton & Taylor put in good effective shifts. Fox was game changer. Abrahams for Jones was another v good sub.

suspect the Barnet stewards will be wishing us to go up. Too much drink and too much aggravation isn't a good mix!

Quoted from buckstown

What Barra said with the exception that I'm not entirely sure it was Fox that triggered the revival. Abrahams made a huge difference, pressed well and everything moved higher up the pitch. What did hit home was the lack of  a predatory goal scoring striker because Barnets defence is a crash waiting to happen
The OG was very strange, thought Crocombe could have been more positive but to be fair we were  long way away. I thought the delay after our equaliser cost us as it seemed to take the momentum out of our recovery.
Barnets home support is so bad, how many of them were there?

Attendance: 2,438 (1,319 away).

Absolutely appalling first half and we just simply didn't get going, Taylor at times was starved of support and I thought he did a good job today holding it up well despite being isolated, the Barnet defence was absolutely horrendous and it was disappointing we didn't get atleast one in the first half.

2nd half with the introduction of Abrahams changed things and we started to stretch them, but the 2nd half didn't start well with a strange own goal by Waterfall, no idea what happened there, but good fighting spirit to come back to 2-2 and in the end despite not playing well we probably may have done enough to win.

Very disappointed in Jones, he did very well against Chesterfield on his debut but every game he's played since then he's not looked up to it and it was no surprise to see him hooked at half time.

Feel for Taylor…isolated when McAtee not playing. Slow starts to games and he’s left up top and not a chance of doing anything , despite his efforts. When has players around him he’s top drawer..touch, awareness, reading of the game, skill..we don’t utilise him..or should I say play to his strengths.

McAtee might be back next week, badly need it - but if he isn’t - then we need to take bull by the horns.. play a striker with Taylor, get energy in the middle..Clifton and Fox, and Scannel wide..from the off be up for it. Maidenhead have a scorer..Josh Kelly has had a great season. They were awkward at their place..there’s a bit of pressure on us..won’t be easy. But we can help ourselves by being at it, and not starting slowly like we have for a few weeks now.

Quoted from buckstown

What Barra said with the exception that I'm not entirely sure it was Fox that triggered the revival. Abrahams made a huge difference, pressed well and everything moved higher up the pitch. What did hit home was the lack of  a predatory goal scoring striker because Barnets defence is a crash waiting to happen
The OG was very strange, thought Crocombe could have been more positive but to be fair we were  long way away. I thought the delay after our equaliser cost us as it seemed to take the momentum out of our recovery.
Barnets home support is so bad, how many of them were there?

I take your point on Abraham,  I think as well having the 2 up top was a telling point to which hurst eluded to his wrong tactical choice after the game. For me, fox came on and the first thing he did was win a 50 50 and play it wide to Scans. He just did the simple stuff well and made the pitch wide which allowed our flare players into the game.

Quoted from GTFC_85

I take your point on Abraham,  I think as well having the 2 up top was a telling point to which hurst eluded to his wrong tactical choice after the game. For me, fox came on and the first thing he did was win a 50 50 and play it wide to Scans. He just did the simple stuff well and made the pitch wide which allowed our flare players into the game.

good points well made. Abrahams started the comeback - was a nuisance and took the pressure off taylor.fox was different class, same as scannell and taylor are. hope we retain all 3 next season

Quoted from forza ivano

fox was different class, same as scannell and taylor are. hope we retain all 3 next season

Even from just listening to JT you could tell how much difference Fox made. I really don't understand the faith in Jones, he has had at least 2 very poor games on the trot and my memory tells me Fox is reliable and aggressive. Jones sounds lost

Thought it was Abrahams that made the difference and would be my mom despite being not being on pitch for all of the game. He was such a pain and so busy that it gave their defence so much more to do and think about that it naturally pushed the whole team up giving players like scanz and fox more time on the ball, both of whom where excellent by the way.

Agree about jones and interestingly we spoke to some daggers fans before the game and they were saying he is a lazy troublemaker who was allowed to leave because of a fight in training, They do not want him back that’s for certain.

Horrendous first 80, great last 10, I’ll take it and we move on with hopefully lessons learned.

UTFM

Quite a few posters praising PH for his 2nd-half substitutions...and I'm pleased he did them because they were effective.

For me, I can't see why Fox (certainly) and Abrahams didn't start (in place of Jones and Sousa).

Still - a point won that moved us up a place in the table is ok.

Those bad 80 minutes might ensure we get the right team selection for rest of the season

Quoted from IlkleyMariner

Those bad 80 minutes might ensure we get the right team selection for rest of the season

That's a brilliant 'cup half-full' way of looking at things. I feel a bit ashamed of my '2 points lost' attitude now.

We need to find out what works before the play-offs, for sure.

Was surprised at how bad we were for the first 45. Think everyone - including the fans - turned up thinking we’d just take the píss all day - and so the atmosphere was flat and players were miles off it. Think Jones will be lucky to get another start let alone a contract, and you can see why Sousa’s fallen off the radar when we’ve got end product coming in from Scannell and JMD. When Clifton’s not playing well his passing’s awful and I lost count of how many 5-10 yard balls he misplaced or overhit, bad pitch or not.

I’d also be looking at him & Crocombe for not sorting that first goal out between them. Clifton’s watched their striker ambling about for about a minute while the ball was dead and he’s decided to take up a nothing position on the edge of the box and just ignore Marriott. Might as well have just gone tighter rather than leaving their top scorer unmarked when he’s looking for a knockdown. Wouldn’t be unhappy to see him here next year, 15 in 25 starts I think for Marriott and exactly what we need, a poacher in & around the 18 yard area.

Second half was a completely different story, Abrahams put in probably his best shift for us and really dragged us up the pitch in offering another option alongside Taylor, who wasn’t getting much out of their no.6. Nothing was really dropping though and it wasn’t until Fox came on that we had any real composure on the ball and were able to recycle it, which gave us a sustained period of pressure.

I think their keeper needs to shoulder a lot of the blame for that one. His ridiculous time wasting just gave the town fans a reason to make some noise when the second had knocked the wind out of us and it should’ve been game over. Think that’s been a big change in Hurst from his first spell, where we now look like we’ll have a go even at 2 down, whereas it used to be game over if we were losing previously. Teams would shut up shop and we’d never find a way through, but seems we’ve got more of a battering ram approach this year, especially with Cropper’s throws and Waterfall a danger from set pieces.

Like everyone’s said, 2 down with 10 left, you’ve got to think a point is a decent result but Barnet were absolute junk. Suppose we’ve probably learned more from that performance than a comfortable 3-0 win though, so that’s one big positive.

This group of players appear to care and have a good rapport with the supporters and understand how much it means and costs for that matter. They'll know yesterday wasn't good enough, whether they're good enough to win 3 games in the play off's against good sides remains to be seen.

Keep the team we ended on the pitch with for next week - unless Mcatee fit - no place for Jones - Abrahams and Fox must start.

For me this was definitely two points dropped. Barnet were mediocre bit unfortunately we were even worse in the first half and created next to nothing.

We looked far more threatening with Fox and Abrahams on the pitch. Surely we must start with two upfront next Saturday at home to Maidenhead. I would definitely start with Fox instead of Jones too.

Most of the second half was played in the Barnet half and I lost count of the number of hopeful balls lobbed into the their densely crowded penalty area. In the end we managed to poke a couple over the like but this was more a result of persistence than quality.

It's a real missed opportunity. Three points were there for the taking and would have put us in the driving seat for 5th place. Now I think we will have to win all three remaining games to stand a chance of that. To do so we need to play for 90 minutes, not just 45.  

Jones is not the sort of player skill or character wise we need in the playoffs that's a fact

Quoted from RonMariner

For me this was definitely two points dropped. Barnet were mediocre bit unfortunately we were even worse in the first half and created next to nothing.

We looked far more threatening with Fox and Abrahams on the pitch. Surely we must start with two upfront next Saturday at home to Maidenhead. I would definitely start with Fox instead of Jones too.

Most of the second half was played in the Barnet half and I lost count of the number of hopeful balls lobbed into the their densely crowded penalty area. In the end we managed to poke a couple over the like but this was more a result of persistence than quality.

It's a real missed opportunity. Three points were there for the taking and would have put us in the driving seat for 5th place. Now I think we will have to win all three remaining games to stand a chance of that. To do so we need to play for 90 minutes, not just 45.  

And certainly more than 15 minutes.

Everyone getting everything spot on in here, don't think I've disagreed with a single thing that's been said. It's previously been noted that there's perhaps not a place in the squad for Taylor and Abrahams and while I think it's already been apparent to see what Taylor offers that Abrahams doesn't, we perhaps didn't see until yesterday the vice versa of that. Abrahams has got a level of aggression and combativeness that Taylor doesn't. He came on and bullied their defence. Won balls he had no right to and just unsettled them to the point whereby they only left one man on Waterfall at set pieces when previously they had two men wrestling him at every corner and free kick around their box. We still need that elusive #9 signing but if this is what Abrahams is about then I'm coming round to the idea of having him next season because we need someone who can act as a battering ram against the giant centre backs in this division and I think trying to get Taylor to do this is a waste of his better attributes.

Quoted from Son of Cod

Everyone getting everything spot on in here, don't think I've disagreed with a single thing that's been said. It's previously been noted that there's perhaps not a place in the squad for Taylor and Abrahams and while I think it's already been apparent to see what Taylor offers that Abrahams doesn't, we perhaps didn't see until yesterday the vice versa of that. Abrahams has got a level of aggression and combativeness that Taylor doesn't. He came on and bullied their defence. Won balls he had no right to and just unsettled them to the point whereby they only left one man on Waterfall at set pieces when previously they had two men wrestling him at every corner and free kick around their box. We still need that elusive #9 signing but if this is what Abrahams is about then I'm coming round to the idea of having him next season because we need someone who can act as a battering ram against the giant centre backs in this division and I think trying to get Taylor to do this is a waste of his better attributes.

I've wondered for a while if, lacking McAtee, the best front pairing for a 4-4-1-1 could be Abrahams ahead of Taylor.

Playing a bit deeper Taylor won't have a Bond villain CB to battle, and has the option to flick on - as well as spreading the play to the wings as he does now.

Having said that, I'm not sure playing the system we play well with McAtee - but poorly without - makes much sense when he's out injured. Is 4-4-2 a big risk?

I thought Abrahams was excellent yesterday. Showed aggression, good control, neat touches and nearly got himself a goal. I loved how he was trying to get the timewasting Barnet players onto their feet and was cajoling one of their subs to up his sedate pace getting off the pitch. If McAtee isn't back, would not be against the same top 6 that finished the game, starting against Maidenhead. He has a year left on his contract at Carlisle and although he hasn't exactly lit up anywhere he's been yet, at only 23, he has the potential to be a real player at this level. If we're in the National League next year I hope he's still with us

Quoted from 137

I've wondered for a while if, lacking McAtee, the best front pairing for a 4-4-1-1 could be Abrahams ahead of Taylor.

Playing a bit deeper Taylor won't have a Bond villain CB to battle, and has the option to flick on - as well as spreading the play to the wings as he does now.

Having said that, I'm not sure playing the system we play well with McAtee - but poorly without - makes much sense when he's out injured. Is 4-4-2 a big risk?

As far as formations go, 4-4-2 is one of the most basic formations and every player should be comfortable playing it.

Quoted from immariner

I thought Abrahams was excellent yesterday. Showed aggression, good control, neat touches and nearly got himself a goal. I loved how he was trying to get the timewasting Barnet players onto their feet and was cajoling one of their subs to up his sedate pace getting off the pitch. If McAtee isn't back, would not be against the same top 6 that finished the game, starting against Maidenhead. He has a year left on his contract at Carlisle and although he hasn't exactly lit up anywhere he's been yet, at only 23, he has the potential to be a real player at this level. If we're in the National League next year I hope he's still with us

I'd take him in a heartbeat, he's a real competitor.  

Hurst has clearly questioned himself on this one....he said in his post match he wanted to be on the front foot from the off and why wouldn't you against Barnet, yet he started with a back to goal single striker.....
He has admitted he got it wrong....but I don't think that means he will change, I think his admission of getting it wrong would apply to yesterday only.
You have to be adaptable, use the full squad, Barnet are woeful defensively but he didn't break from his habit despite not having the magic ingredient of Mcatee.
Looking at our fixtures and the still outstanding 6 pointers left in the top 7 then play offs should be guaranteed........just need to utilise the squad effectively.

I personally think Abrahams is a must signing what ever league we are in . He's has that combative attitude that defenders hate . Would Hurst go 442 to accommodate him ?