If we could play away from home we’d be champions by now.
Can’t understand that one !!!
Come on boys, time yet !!!
Its only recently that the away form has slipped always seemed to play better away until the aston game
playing on that surface is enough to put anyone off playing away!!
Latest Score: FLEETWOOD TOWN 2 WITTON ALBION 0.
Witton having a go at the Town defence now.
Witton Substitution: Mark Peers replaced by Nicholas Farquarson.[br][size=1]Posted on: April 03, 2007, 09:13:12 PM[/size][hr]Full Time Score: FLEETWOOD TOWN 2 WITTON ALBION 0.
Fleetwood keeper Danny Hurst was named as the Sponsors Man of the Match.
We knew it would be tough and Saturday will be no different, the team has just got to knuckle down and not throw any more games. Home wins alone will not get us promotion via top spot. Come on lads, show us what you are made of. The future is still very much Red and White and yours for the taking. Keep your peckers up!!!
The championship looks like it’s going right down to the wire, and we’re going to have to depend on other results going our way. We need to find the sureness of touch and confidence we had a few weeks ago.
Come on the Albion!
I think the easter programme may well tell us a bit more than we know at this moment in time.
With us travelling to Hednesford then hosting already relegated Grantham, whilst AFC Telford come up against Ilkeston away then Marine at home on Easter Monday.
Burscough meet Prescot Cables at home Friday then travel to Ossett on Monday.
Thought we were unfortunate to come away from tonight with nothing. Cruel deflection for the opening goal, scored whilst we were down to ten men with Barrass off the field. The Fleetwood keeper was deservedly named man of the match, two saves in particular being outstanding. Still my opinion that we don’t adapt to poor surfaces well enough, although to prepare for tonight we’d have had to train on cobblestones; the pitch was desperately short of water. Having said that, the majority of the game was played in the Fleetwood half, and we had to adapt to the loss through injury of Griff Jones, who was having a significant impact on the game, and Tony Barrass.
Fleetwood were very quick on the break, and defended well. We were slow to get forward, and it seemed that whenever we approached the area there had been time for the defence to pack it and make it difficult to get through, more speed and incisiveness was called for. Thought the scorer for the second goal could have been taken out, as a home defender had earlier done to us in a similar position with no punishment.
We were spoiled on Saturday with the officiating, and we paid for it tonight. Truly dreadful; incredibly weak, inconsistent, no common sense, and in my opinion a coward with the big decisions he was called on to make.
A very disappointing evening - not a lot to say really - reasonable approach play and a lot more goal efforts than the league cup encounter.
Home sponsors choose their keeper as MOM? tells a ceratin story. They did however have a fair bit of pressure and hit the post in 1st half.
Few points - 606 seemed very generous (makes no odds just an observation)
Griff went straight off 50/50 challenged - seemed to hurt his ankle/leg possibly?
Barras appeared to get a nose bleed following another 50/50 challenge, he went off then returned and was subbed at ht.
Connors had a knock from Saturday.
Fortunatley the position we have got ourselves into means we can afford to loose the odd game - the odd game, we need to pick up 3 points now on Saturday when we will probably have been knocked off top spot.
Question however - would you have taken this position in august when play offs were the target - I think we all know the answer to that one.
Keep the faith.
Let’s be honest, when was the last time we were top of any league with 7 games remaining?!? Things are still ok. In my opinion we will lose top spot before the season finishes, but i think we will reclaim it - possibly on the final day. We have to be prepared for the fact we could lose again on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over. We just need to make sure that if we do lose top spot then we react well and don’t let our heads drop.
When we were beating teams quite comfortably a few weeks back we were just doing the simple things well. Over the last few games we have tried to over-complicate matters by playing too much football in areas of the pitch where you just need to get rid of it. If we can get back to doing the basics right then we still have the players to hurt any team in this league.
At the moment a few important players aren’t turning in the performances they are capable of, but there’s still time for them to come good. There is enough firepower in the squad to get us the 4 or 5 wins we’ll need to win it.
One thing i couldn’t understand last night was the whole Barras thing. He clearly took a bad knock to the head, and the fact he was subbed at half time showed he wasn’t in any state to continue. So why didn’t we sub him immediately?? The last thing you need is a centre-half who isn’t 100%, and it was while he was off the pitch that we conceded the first goal. Up until that point we had dominated the game. I just think if we were going to end up subbing him anayway, then it would of been sensible to get Kearney on straight away.
I can’t comment on most of the game as it was played in near total darkness. I presume Fleetwood test players for night-vision before signing them on, and that is why their home form is so good. And i’m not sure where the 600 fans were last night either, there seemed to be more there for the cup game.
A strange game to say the least - we dominated early exchanges with Alex Brown being denied by the FWood keeper - setting a tone for the rest of the night. Their goals cam is a 5 min (?) spell whils Barras was either of injured or still recovering from his wounds. We dominated the 2nd half without getting any reward and their keeper was deservedly MOM - buts that’s the way it goes. Roll on Saturday when we can dust ourselves down and go again.
Keep the faith and see you at Hednesford.
Things were going very well until we lost Griff and then had Barras off the pitch for 2 spells of at least 5 minutes following 2 blows to the head. We were left exposed badly at the back, although the first goal was deflected giving JK no chance whatsoever. The second goal was poor from a defensive point of view, Pritch was beaten easily for pace by the halfway line and even so, i felt that possibly Brownhill or Clegg (who was covering for Barras) should have got across and prevented their player from having a clear run at goal.
After that, we went to pieces a bit really, Barras was clearly struggling and I agree with Robbo that he should have been replaced by Kearney earlier. They hit the post with a good chance and could possibly have had a penalty when Cleggy thought it would be a good idea to clatter one of their lads from behind. Luckily the ref wasn’t in a good position (story of his night, although he got more decisions wrong when he was).
Second half we played better, created good chances, and were thwarted by their keeper who really was outstanding (as he was in the cup game).
The main observations i have from last night were:
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Since teams have realised that we are challengers we seem to be playing the kind of football that teams expect a top 3 team to play. At times we are over elaborate and spend a lot of time head to head with 4 or 5 defenders on the edge of the opposition box trying to work past them (Lloyd did this time and time again last night). We need a plan "B" and sacrifice pretty football and get in behind teams who are intent on defending.
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We didn’t play with enough width with Clegg on the right. Presumably Gaghan is fit, why not use him?
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We are always going to get hit on the break when we dominate games like we have been doing and therefore lack of pace at the back worries me. Kearney seemed to solve this problem in the 2nd half last night though.
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The biggest thing for me though is the loss of Connors. Me and Greg spoke to him last night and he could be out for the season with shinsplints. That could potentially be a big blow.
Sorry to sound a bit doom and gloom, there were some good performances again last night but we can’t keep dropping points against distinctly average teams which is what Fleetwood are.
Think the problem is up front at the moment.Since we scored 7 against Whitby weve scored 8 goals in 8 games whereas upto and including Whitby we were scoring for fun.4 of the 8 goals weve scored since came v.Ilkeston so take that game away and its 4 goals in 7 games!!And Pritch has got 3 of them 4!!
Hopefully we’ll start scoring like we used to between now and the end of the season starting Saturday.
When did Yox learn maths??[br][size=1]Posted on: April 04, 2007, 06:57:32 PM[/size][hr]Excellent quote from an interview with Swindon Town’s captain on BBC Sport. I think it sums our situation up brilliantly;
Vincent told BBC Sport: "I think we have been top four all season but I think we got a little bit complacent maybe a month or two ago.
"We weren’t battling as much as the other teams were, but I think we have started to get more of an edge to our game.
"I think the football has gone a bit on the back-burner, because of the state of the pitches and the weather conditions, especially with the wind, but as long as we are prepared to fight - that’s the most important thing."
I certainly think teams have got wise to our fluent passing game. I thought Fleetwood’s tactics were very reminiscent of Burscough a couple of weeks ago. Closing down midfield packing the defence etc. What’s the betting that a telephone conversation took place between their respective managers?
FLEETWOOD TOWN 2 WITTON ALBION 0 att 606
Kennedy; Hockenhull, Pritchard, Barras (Kierney H/T), Brownhill; Peers (Farquarson 64) , Clegg, Lloyd, Brown; Moseley, Jones (Warlow 33)
Albion travelled to Highbury well aware that this match already was going to be a tough test as Town looked to continue their very impressive 11 match unbeaten run that has given them hopes of earning a play-off position. Albion, sitting top of the pile, were therefore set up to be shot down.
In fact though that was not the way the match started and but for a truly breathtaking save, from their keeper Danny Hurst, in the 10th minute when he somehow pushed Alex Brown’s strongly hit shot, towards the top right corner, around the upright then events surely would have turned out so differently. Even from the corner a home defender almost put through his own goal in his attempt to get the his clearance safe. Albion’s follow up corner struck Ricky Mercer’s arm but not seemingly deemed intentional by the man in black!
Jon Kennedy was called into real action in the 17th minute when he produced a top quality save of his own to deny Town’s lone striker Andy Bell. Proceedings though were soon to change when firstly Tony Barras damaged his nose in a collision as Hurst came out to once again thwart Brown. Just after the half-hour mark Griff Jones, who had certainly been troubling their defence, limped off appearing to be holding his hamstring. Three minutes later Barras, now sporting a clean blood-free shirt was again in the wars as he took a fiercely driven ball flush in the face and again was off receiving treatment.
In was in the time that Albion were temporarily down to 10 men that Fleetwood were able to take full advantage From a free-kick awarded in a central position Kieran Walmsley struck a piledriver of a shot that took a wicked deflection off the wall to leave Kennedy no chance as the ball swerved high to his left. The Albion pivot rejoined the action but a minute later Witton were really chasing the game. As they strived to get back on level terms Liam Brownhill was still upfield when a move broke down, in two passes Town had the ball at Andy Bell’s feet and he was able to gallop through the gaps left to finish with aplomb as Kennedy advanced.
Barras, diagnosed as being concussed and really you have to question why he wasn’t immediately replaced, was substituted at the interval by Ian Kearney and in truth Albion virtually enjoyed most of the 2nd half possession. Rob Lloyd in the 50th minute released Adam Warlow but his shot was charged down by Martin Moran. Lloyd himself 5 minutes later eventually worked into a position to shoot but again Hurst was the home hero again diving to push the shot around the post.
Just after the hour mark yet another flag-kick from Peers this time saw Brain Pritchard be thwarted as Hurst tipped his headed attempt over the crossbar. Kennedy, although not under too much pressure as Town were defending in depth, produced a tremendous diving save and this time able to push away Walmsley’s 20 yard free-kick as the game entered the last 10 minutes. It was Albion though who came closest to actual scoring when two minutes from the end of normal time a driven ball across the face of goal narrowly evaded the inrushing Warlow.
Perhaps not unsurprisingly Danny Hurst, who when he was with Radcliffe Borough previously constantly produced good performances, was named as the Man of the Match.