MID CHESHIRE CUP FINAL - TONIGHT

First Team On the Park
1

No mention anywhere else so in case we’ve forgotten there is the slight matter of Congleton Town coming this evening 7:45 and played to a finish.

Will be interesting to see what team Jim puts out, quite a few of the squad are ineligible but with the likes of Clegg, Proffitt, Kearney now signed on, since we beat Winsford, together with Stevie C. back from suspension then should still be a fairly strong X1.

Town of course have Rick Bailey, Andy Hurst and Matt Murray in their squad who Jim brought to Albion for our Reserves initially.

See you at the Park - take it happy hour in the club, still applies for evening matches?

2

As if we could forget :slight_smile: Hopefully this will be good trophy lifting practice!!!

Not particularly concerned by the result, main hope is that we pick up no injuries. I think giving Proffitt and Kearney both another game with their new team mates will be useful and perhaps the biggest benefit is giving Connors a run out before the weekend (timed perfectly to get him sharp for Saturday).

3

Busy tonight, ahve to do final touches to my thesis before tomorrow night. I will of course be following the game here if the site is running. Definitely at Radcliffe Saturday, God willing of course. And "No", "God" is not another word for the Wife!!
WHS.[br][size=1]Posted on: March 27, 2007, 06:55:24 PM[/size][hr]Can’t make tonight too busy, but I will be following it on here if it is working! Radcliffe on Saturday, God and the Wife willing!!!
WHS.

4

who is doing the updates to night?[br][size=1]Posted on: March 27, 2007, 07:40:06 PM[/size][hr]the answer is me! until 9:15 anyway
bad news we are losing one nil but playing well though.[br][size=1]Posted on: March 27, 2007, 08:23:32 PM[/size][hr]still one nil got to go now good night and god bless

5

wonder what the team is? anyone know

6

Lost 3 - nil.

Who said we were playing well?!?!?!?!?!?!?

7

I take it we turned out a scratch team.
WHS.

8

Finished 3-0 to Congleton, two late goals. :frowning:

Can’t complain about the result, we didn’t play well at all, but they played as if it was a cup final - congratulations to Congleton, who at least managed to bring quite a few fans with them.

Witton team was Kennedy, Hockenhull, Brownhill, Pritchard, Barras, Clegg, Brown, Connors, Molesley, Frost (sub Proffitt HT), Peers. We had a few good chances, particularly in the first half, but it was one of those nights unfortunately. Let’s hope we’ve got that out of the system before getting back to the league on Saturday.

9

Nevermind,wouldve been great to win but in all honestly we have got more important games coming up,think that showed from the attendance cos there must have been bout 100 Congleton fans there so only 200 Wittoners! Good side out tho Kennedy,Brownhill,Hockenhull,Pritch,Barrass,Peers,Connors,Brown and Clegg,Moseley and Frost.[br][size=1]Posted on: March 27, 2007, 10:18:23 PM[/size][hr][quote]
Finished 3-0 to Congleton, two late goals. :frowning:

Can’t complain about the result, we didn’t play well at all, but they played as if it was a cup final - congratulations to Congleton, who at least managed to bring quite a few fans with them.

Witton team was Kennedy, Hockenhull, Brownhill, Pritchard, Barras, Clegg, Brown, Connors, Molesley, Frost (sub Proffitt HT), Peers. We had a few good chances, particularly in the first half, but it was one of those nights unfortunately. Let’s hope we’ve got that out of the system before getting back to the league on Saturday.
[/quote]
It was a cup final!!

10

Don’t mean to take anything away from your rant Stu, but in this context the correct spelling is ‘allowed’, not ‘aloud’ as you have written.

Thanks.

::slight_smile:

11

I know, and so did Congleton, but did Witton - or did we just not give a sh1te?

12

Although we didnt play that well,nobody can say we didnt try,thought Connors played ok,still flying about.But it was a much bigger game for them than us judging by the reaction from their fans.Nevermind,at least Vics got beat!

13

It was certainly a much bigger game for Congleton than it was for us, we looked very casual, however take nothing away from them they held on when they were under long periods of pressure and they took their chances.

I don’t care about results in the Mid Cheshire Senior Cup, Challenge Cup, President’s Cup, Chairman’s Cup, Aunty Doris’s Cup (or saucer for that matter). Had we have won tonight we would not have looked back in a couple of seasons time and said, ‘oh yeah, that was the great season we won the Mid Cheshire Senior Cup’!

I do however care greatly about performances and tonight we didn’t give one! It does concern me that in the last four games we have not performed well (yes I know we got 6 points from 9 in the league from these games, but we need to keep focused). Too many average performances tonight from players who are better than they showed. We gave the ball away far too easily at times.

At 1-0 we had lots of chances to equalise and I think had we have done so the result may have been different. But I repeat the result does not matter, it bothers me that we were slack at the back, letting in three goals against lower opposition shows a lack of concentration and discipline, too many times we were left looking backwards on the half way line, too many sloppy balls astray in midfield. I lost count in the second half of how many times Liam gave the ball away in silly positions, at least six.

I was not unhappy to see Profitt given another go, but sorry I have seen enough now, not sure we should see him back on the pitch this season, let him learn the trade loaned out to someone else, Cleggy is tough, but no quality in the end product, gets caught on the ball too much for my liking. We need to keep this simple, as I said before pass and move, get the ball into the box (rather than playing it square back and forth) and as important get shots in from anywhere on the edge of the box. No overplaying the ball, trying to be too clever.

We have not become a bad side overnight, far from it, these are quality players that have been delivering week in week out. I hope Jim (and I am sure he did) picked up on the weaknesses tonight and had a good few words after the game. We need to play with confidence, strength and belief - it is the only way we will get up and out of this league. It is ours if we want it, we need to put another winning run together and it starts Saturday.

I think as fans we need to really get behind the lads on Saturday from the off, plenty of singing and encouragement.

Oh and don’t start me on the ref, this post would be another 12 paragraphs long, waste of f******* space.

See you Saturday

14

Oh well not a good result but then, is anyone really that concerned? I’m guessing it was a similar performance to the one we turned in at Fleetwood in the league cup.

I’m going to stick up for the referee now. Rant time.

As a former referee myself I get sick and tired of hearing people like you Stuart Jones slating Billy Smallwood. Yes I know him well so i may be slightly biased but every single time he refs an Albion game you slag him off.

Stu, we have all seen the standard of your refereeing, and Jim Vince was as unimpressed as the rest of us. So you are not a good person to be judging anyone elses performance.

Billy officiates on the Football League, and refereed hundreds if not thousands of games to get there and therefore is good at what he does.

Give it a break. Billy Smallwood is not the cause of tonights result. I know that and i’m thousands of miles away you child.

End of rant.

15

Mr. Smallwood was not the cause of our defeat tonight, but I hope (given that there would have been officials from the Mid-Cheshire F.A. there tonight), that the performance from the officials will be the catalyst for the abandonment of this now meaningless competition. They were a complete embarrassment, and it cannot be much fun for them to be forced to make themselves such a laughing stock.

The game reminded me in some ways of our home fixture against Kendal. We didn’t play well, but I find it difficult to believe we did not score 7 or 8 goals. In my opinion, the men of the match were the respective 'keepers. We could have conceded more, then again we could have scored double figures. If we create half the number of chances on Saturday I’m sure we will win comfortably. And on Saturday I’m sure we will do a bit more running! Given the circumstances, nothing wrong with trying not to break sweat tonight.

I hope Jim and Benny will be working with Mark Peers to emphasise the importance of not being caught offside halfway through a fifty yard run from your own half when you have not passed the ball, and also to carry on playing if clipped from behind and the whistle is blown, quite clearly this should not be taken to signify a free kick is being awarded.

Good luck to Congleton, I’m sure their team and fans had a great night out, and I for one had a good laugh after initial incredulity.

16

Oh, and a word in praise of Mr. Smallwood. I was one of many Albion fans who expressed their indignation at an incident in the second half. I now realise I was wrong. Following some almost semi-circular pacing out of distance to the wall in the first half which lead to a little criticism from some of the crowd, Mr. S obviously wished to make things clear. He carefully placed the ball, then strode out. The Albion fans both counted and shouted his steps : "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, te…". Mr. S stopped after nine steps, and raised the ire of the crowd, myself included. Our error was obvious after a little reflection. Luddites all, we were counting in imperial units, whereas our match referee had gone metric, he was counting in metres. I must offer my sincere apologies now, and I am sure all the other fans involved will also concede their mistake.

Greenie, there are times when referees are unfairly maligned. Tonight was not one of them. I’m sorry to have to say this, but whenever I’ve seen Billy Smallwood be put in charge of a game involving Albion, the officiating has been an utter farce, and often a disgrace. I’ve refereed games myself, and I’ve umpired many many cricket matches. I know officiating is not an easy job, but there is a clear difference between giving what you see, making inevitable mistakes in the process, and utter incompetence.

17

Greenie

You’re right that the referee was not the difference in the result of this match, however you needed to be there to witness some of the diabolical decisions. If you want to have a go at Stu then you may as well expand that to include me and the other 200 witton supporters at the ground. A fail to see how you can judge this when you did not see it.

Many of the Congleton fans stood next to us and when some of the decisions were made they were laughing as much as we were. I agree that being a football referee is a thankless task and you are often unfairly criticised, however when fans have paid good money to watch a game there is an expectation that referee will meet some quality standards (playing 6-a-side hardly gives a fair comparison).

Mr Smallwood made some shocking decisions; he gave an offside in the first half that frankly suggested he was not watching the game, Peersy took on one of their defenders on the wing and knocked the ball past him to run on to before putting a cross in, Mr Smallwood gave offside on the basis of Peersy knocking the ball forward to himself (their were no other albion players around him)! Instead of getting the wall back 10 yards at several important free kicks, he paced 7,8 or 9 ‘child-size’ strides and set-up the opposition wall, meaning they were 6 yards away maximum. Another occasion when the ball went out of play the ref and linesman just looked at each other, neither with any idea of which way to give it. They kicked the ball away several times and he did nothing, plus put in some heavy challenges that were overlooked.

Now in fairness the ref did balance it up, he equally gave us some decisions that I cannot for the life of me tell you what for? Moseley went down too easy in the first half and got a cheap free kick and we got another 2 or 3 decisions that were unexplainable.

Smallwood did not change the outcome of the game, we did that by missing chances and at times being to casual. He did however make some farcical decisions that spoilt the game at times. If he is as experienced as you suggest then this only makes the quality of performance worse and harder to defend.

Everyone is entitled to defend and to rant, but it would have been better had you have seen the match to be able to so vigorously lambaste Stu. I guess my post makes me a child too!!!

18

Smallwood did not soley cost us the match, nor does Stu’s rant soley make him child. Stu being Stu makes him a child.

Can’t completely blame the ref for that ridiculous offside decision, as it’s the linesman that flags for offsides. However, Billy must of realised it was a complete joke and therefore could of over-ruled his ‘assistant’.

Without wanting to highlight any individual performances, Frost needs to pull his finger out. He’s obviously 4th choice striker at the club now, which - despite his obvious quality - is a fair reflection on how each of our forwards has performed this season. When he gets his chance he really does need to impress. OK he’s not always going to put in a man of the match performance, but if we saw his working his boll*cks off it would be a good start!

Agree with rabbit that young Dorryl has had his chance now and not managed to take it. Time to try someone else.

Big Tony Barras has got better and better as the season has gone on, but he isn’t half casual at times!! Although at times he can be immense, i do worry sometimes when he just demonstrates no urgency what-so-ever! Could oh so easily lead to a mistake, and therefore a goal for the opposition.

Peers isn’t managing to re-produce his form from the first half of the season, and we really need him to turn it on for the run-in. On his day there is no fullback in this league who will be able to live with him.

On the flip-side, despite Clegg not yet setting the world alight i think we have to give him another 2 or 3 games to get properly fit again. He does have quality, we’ve seen that when he’s been here before. I’m sure he will come good. The same for Moseley. I think we all expect a bit more from Mike, and i reckon it will come too. I don’t know what the situation is with his ‘bent toe’ at the minute, and again he probably needs a good run of games to get his sharpness back - the problem is that we don’t have the luxury of carrying any player at the minute!! But we all know he’s got goals in him, so fingers crossed.

19

a cup final is a cup final!!

Questions need to raised over the primma donna attitudes of your players (and fans) if you cant get motivated to win a cup final!!

Blaming the referee?? that old cliche??
I suppose the referee also made your centre halfs look slower than they actually where?
I suppose the referee struck that stunning left foot volley for the first goal?
I suppose the referee kept a clean sheet for Congleton?
I suppose the referee also went over the top of the ball on our Captain Alstomper, badly bruising and cutting his leg a good 6 inches above his ankle?

At least lose with a bit of dignity!!
Maybe your players would appreciate your support on the pitch when they are playing rather than listening to your bleating about every decision…
negativity is infectious… just like STD’s!!!

20

As reading isn’t your strongpoint can I point out that everyone on the forum has agreed Congleton were the better side/the one interested in winning the tie.

Without appearing too arrogant our priority is obviously to win promotion to the Conference North (However I wouldn’t expect anyone associated with Congleton to understand that concept).

Noone is blaming the referee for our defeat, merely pointing out his massive shortcomings and we have seen him on many occasions, but as regards ‘controlling’ a match, well its obviously beyond him.

Congratulations on winning the trophy and I look forward to seeing the open top parade and civic reception on Sky Sports, as befits an achievement of this magnitude.