news

Any news guys??

1-1 crowd 176, how on earth we didn’t win goodness knows could have been six up at half time!

We really should have battered these tonight. Great start but struggled to put the chances away that we created (of which there were plenty). Not a disaster but its games like these that can cost us at the end of the season… (Grantham, North Ferriby, Prescot Cables etc.)

Must win on Saturday now. We are good enough when we turn up.
:S

If u don’t take your chances then u can’t expect to win !

we should have won but didn’t. maybe down to the manager’s tactics. why keep leaving fossie on the bench when he is our top scorer when we are not putting away the chances we create. why keep playing neville at left back when he clearly is not aleft back. most of the danger to witton comes from that wing.

I think we should have,and thourouly deserved to, win tonight! The tactics were high tempo from the first whistle, challenge for everything and pass pass pass! It worked brilliantly a goal up after four minutes (and a sitter missed even before that!)just very very unlucky not to have killed off the game by half time. Carl lamb played really well even though he looked knackered by half time Jamie Tandy was great Cadwallader was good we were just bloody unlucky!!

Should have scored at least five, could easily have been double figures. Don’t think we can say we were unlucky, the keeper made some decent saves but that’s what he’s there for, it was mostly down to bad finishing. Our approach play in the first half was outstanding, but that counts for nothing if the moves are not finished off.

We should have been 3 up with the first 10 minutes, Laird’s hardly threatened us in the first half. One goal is never enough and we have seen this on plenty of occasions. If Foster was fit then his goal scoring return so far means that he should have played for the last 20/30 minutes. Between Foster and Lamb I still think that Foster is the most natural goalscorer. You can argue that Lamb plays the sole striker role better and holds the ball up but when it comes to finding the back of the net Foster is still the man.

Their equaliser was a scrappy goal however they were better second half and we started to look tired in the last 20 minutes. Morgan and Doherty both did a couple of nice things after coming on and could be good signings.

Overall not bad but definitely 2 points dropped, if we have promotion aspirations then you need maximum points from games like this. The top 9 clubs are within 6 points of one another so no one is yet running away with this. A win last night would have put is within 3 points of the top with games in hand. We are exactly at the half way stage of the season and Saturday is already a bit of a ‘six-pointer’ with Chasetown above us, we need the gap to them to be 1 point and not 7.

It’s all about developing a winning habit now!

I was very impressed with the performance last night, but not impressed with the result.

Gary is going to struggle to keep all his players happy. When you looked in the clubhouse at those players who didn’t get a game, its frightening - Steve Foster, Mike Moseley, Ryan Broadhead, Paul Booth, Carl Rutter, Steve Brodie, and that’s not to mention some of the new signings!

I see, according the Official Unibond site, that Brian Pritchard scored our only goal last night, not Carl Lamb?

Very good first half, should have been out of sight. However, after half an hour it was obvious that if we didn’t get a second goal then they were going to nick one. Which makes the decision not to give Foster 20/30 minutes all the more bizarre. I accept that Lamb fits the system Gary is playing, and Foster probably doesn’t, but when we needed that second goal i think the time was right to go 4-4-2. We were no longer able to get Maylett on the ball in the way that we had first half, so a change to the system was obviously required. By the time we made the changes we had lost our momentum.

Last night was a game we needed 3 points from, much like the Quorn game. We did so well in thrashing Sheffield, but results like that are all in vain if you don’t beat the teams in the bottom half of the table. I appreciate we would be rusty from such a long time without a game, but it was the same for our opposition too.

We need to improve on Saturday, or at least keep up the performance level for longer than a half.

And why was Pritch wearing number 5 last night??

Thats down to Gary Robbo, lets hope Foster’s non appearance on the pitch was down to injury and nothing to do with his mate Rudd’s departure from the club.Enough said.
Yes we should have been out of sight by half time and Heler’s miss was the most astonishing one Ive seen in many years. The poor attendance was expected by all, it was still the biggest of the 7 games in Unibond South last night. Spare a thought for 5 of the clubs (top of the league Kidsgrove included)who couldn’t even manage a 100. How on earth these clubs survive is a miracle.

What a first half performance.If we only had one ounce of luck,then that would have bought us at least four goals.I thought it was a good night considering the long lay off and Lairds respectable away record.

I appreciate both sides have had a long lay off but that is what makes the first half performance,so nearly perfect.Jamie Tandy strolled past the full-back on every occasion.If the pen-pictures are correct in the programme then this lad has been courting Tranmere Rovers interest.I am making the most of watching Jamie because i do not think he will be here in the summer.

The second half seen us gradually loose our legs,understandingly so.Lairds looked very strong when they attacked and both sides could have snatched a winner.Lairds,like in the cup game in October have been attractive opposition.

Very poor crowd on a chilly night.Everybody must have stayed in wrapped up in their City scarves baying for Uniteds blood.

Echo the above, the 1st half their keeper was both outstanding and fortunate in equal measures(Despite what some of our supporters were saying!). Our approach and expansive play was a joy to watch, but EVERYONE at half time said the same thing re. a 2nd goal being vital.

Taking the rose tinted glasses off, they WERE dangerous 1st half and had 2 great chances, there was a 30 yarder top corner bound but for a fantastic diving save, and the attacker ran straight through and was denied by 2 cracking tackles at the death.

2nd half we had a number of chances but we seemed to lose our way towards the end.

Steve Foster on the bench for 90mins, and MM in the stand, when you have to win your home games, both strange decisions for me. But if we’d taken our chances we wouldn’t be having this debate!!!

Essential to win the next 2 games now imo

The worry is that nights like last night wont bring the crowds back. Peope forget the first half performance and look to the 2 points lost.

Had we won last night we could have hoped for a better crowd on Saturday, and another good result would of seen us take large numbers to Kidsgrove (similar to the Market Drayton game).

The league is still very much there for the taking. But we need to do what we have failed to do so far this season and actually start to build up some momentum.

Stop bl**dy whingeing !

Luck didn’t come into it.
We wasted too many opportunities most of which were made by good approach play.
In the second half we even had 2/3 forays which ended inside their box but with NO SHOT ON GOAL! Criminal.
Why didn’t Foster come on instead of Morgan?
Why didn’t Broadhead play? Our best run so far this season had him in the team.
We might have games in hand on teams above us but they’re no good if we can’t win them.
Time will begin to run out if we’re not careful.

Why isnt Foster playing???

Isn’t Broadhead in New Zealand? and the best run we’ve had so far this season Foster wasn’t in the side, in fact when when he came back (v Matlock) we haven’t won since. The best formation we’ve played has been 4-5-1 but had to change due to injurys and suspension (again v Matlock) when the results dipped, Gary tried last night to go back to the winning formular and we should have won easily but didn’t put the ball in the net. Heler was fantastic before the ‘winter break’ but is very much a confidence player and so when he missed the sitter straight away the moaners got on his back and his game dipped. I know we all want to win every game but the performance deserved a win. We’re not a bad side by any stretch of the imagination and will finish in the top 5 as long as we don’t kill the team from the sidelines.

Ryan is back from New Zealand, but didn’t make the bench.