Anyone who seriously believes the players have not given everything this season is obviously not the “full shilling”. Promotion, if nothing else, would see their salaries jump considerably. And anyway, I believe every player I have seen don the Witton shirt this season has not only been playing for the money and the trophies, but also for a club they know is one of the best in the country when it comes to treating all their players with great decency. Players leave Witton for only two reasons, for a better level of football or because they are let go. Those that do leave invariably say that Witton still holds a place deep in the hearts.
WHS.
Heads up boys - as gutted as everyone - Let’s all become Leek fans for one night or forever if they can hold the Cods. At the worst the play offs two seasons running is a remarkable achievement for our club and everybody involved.
Fleetwood have won their last 5 games and if they win the next two will have deserved to win it - IF they win the next two? If they get a draw or defeat or Leek it will be back in our hands.
The team at the top of the premier league got a late equaliser away from home at the weekend- these are the things that happen at this time of the season. You can’t go away from home every week and expect some divine right to 3 points!
If it goes to the play-offs then we need to be mentally ready, no point getting on the backs of the players at this point they have been superb all season. As Robbo said in an earlier post to lose only 4 times all season and only 1 of those at home is a tremendous performance.
If Fleetwood have the bottle to go on and win this then good luck to them, they will need 93 points which is a big number compared to last season.
Witton have played by far the better football this season, top the fair play league, most clean sheets, best goal difference. Unfortunately ‘pretty football’ does not necessarily mean promotion and this is something we need to learn. We are however the best footballing side in this league by a distance.
Come on Leek!!!
if play offs happen, dont forget we are at home for semi and final and it will be very difficult for a team to come and win at ours where we have only lost one all season.
Is anyone going Leek v Fleetwood. I want to, but my mate i go games with wants to watch Liverturd on the telly! Up for going though if any wittoners are making the trip, im coming from Manchester way so im 60/40 going currently cos i dont have a clue how im gonna get back, however i can stay at my parents in Wincham after game so pls let me know anyone going who doesnt mind me tagging along
Had to wait this long to calm down. Very disappointed with the performance.
Views on this result fall into 2 camps. Those who say we had an off day and those who say we pretty much “bottled” it. There were a number of players who know in their own minds had a bad day and some players do not seem up for a physical confrontation. Very similar to our performance vs Fleetwood. Exceptions were JK, Pritch and Junior, who were outstanding.
It’s true we did not have an answer to their physical approach in the first half. Perhaps we need to have a bit more steel. Yes, we all like the beautiful game, but we have been found wanting against the most physical of opponents at times.
I think the game was spoilt by the sending off. Pretty much that made their minds up on how to playout the rest of the match. I think 11 v 11 we would have won it.
Having said that, against 10 men, we really did no set about them to take advantage of the situation. The point has already been made that it took us 35mins to have a shot in the second half. We should have posted our 2 wide players on the flanks and aim to get the ball in the box more often. Lots of questions - Why also continue to play 3/4 in defence to mark their one forward? What effect did Rapley have? Is he more effect than Junior? (apologies if Junior was withrawn because of an injury)
Oh yes, for the most one-sided match report you’ve ever read have a look at this load of crap: http://www.setbb.com/ferriby/viewtopic.php?t=653&mforum=ferriby
How could anyone write a credible match report on that, and not mention the effect the wind had on proceedings???
Frustrated more than anything - come on Leek!
(Fortunately) I wasn’t there but I can say with all the confidence in the world that Kevin Rapley wouldn’t have had more effect on anything than Junior Brown. Maybe if he’s on the pitch he can’t get to the post match grub as quickly…
I’ve also had to calm down before coming on here.
Firstly the players have give everything this season and I would not question there’s or Jim and Nige’s committment. I also want the management team to stay with us as 95% of the time we are without doubt the best team in this league playing the most attractive football imaganible. Jim and nige are both fantastic you can’t ask for better people.
Where I do have an issue is that we unfortunately seem to find it impossible to adapt our game to “mix it” when the going gets a little tougher as it did Saturday. We’ve also seen this before in other games Prescot, Lincoln, and to a certain extent Eastwood. These are teams we should see off with our ability yet because they get physical or play more directly against us we seem to drop out of the game or because we cannot play our normal flowing football we just fade!! Jim has very strong principles about the way we should play and I would not have it any other way but unfortunately there comes a time where you have to abandon Pretty for Gritty. We seem incapable of doing this and it is a lesson we have to learn and learn quickly if we are going to get out of this league. We need an alternative plan we can switch too whenever we encouter a garbage pitch or a team intent on kicking us to get through. Someone like Ian Kearney would be gold dust for me here because he’s young, strong quick and is committed and you could put him in midfield or up front to give us physical presence when we need it.Fair dos’s Ian was unavailble Saturday but maybe we need a couple more players like him who can play a bit and also get physical when we need it.
We now face a situation where winning the league is out of our hands and it should never have come to this. In the second half Saturday I feel Evans should have started straight away and we should have played 3 up front and been told to shoot on sight. Fleetwood can play a bit and seem able to adapt their style to suit. They are also very resilient and seem to have a winning mentality whereas sometimes we don’t.
If it goes to play offs I really don’t feel confident because as I say we seem unable to compete if the going gets physical. The only thing in our favour is at least it will be at home so therefore we do have an advantage.
I must stress this is meant to be constructive critisism. In know way am I saying our players and management don’t care or have not give it there all because they have as we the fans have too. We do though need to think a little bit more about the other aspects of our football game and sometimes I hate to say it, it is about exerting physical rather than skilful presence on occassions and adapt!
C’mon Leek try and do it for us tomorrow a draw will be great a win would be fantastic but you can do it and I hope you stay up as I do like Paul Oggie and the lads there that used to play for us!!
a) Can’t play against physical teams?
Frickley last week, Hednesford earlier in the season - won both games.
b) Can’t play on poor pitches?
Ashton away - won. Frickley away - won.
Pitch on Saturday? PERFECT.
c) Dont have a winning mentality?
Played 39, Won 27. A 70% win-rate.
It’s too easy to throw these accusations at the team.
For 2 season’s running we have been capable of winning the title on the last day - why is Jim going to change his appraoch now?!
Perhaps we sometimes do lack the ability to have a Plan B, but if the players we have got only know one way of playing then how do you expect them to play differently mid-way through a particular game?! Jim has brought players in who play in the way he wants us to. If you want us to play in a different way then we’ll have to change the personel from top to bottom.
I’d rather have the team we have got.
My thoughts, now the dust has settled, I felt our body language just wasnt right 10 minutes or so into the game. They set there stall, kicked us off the park and launched the ball at the first opportunity they got, against the elements we created 3 great chances and none really to speak of in the second period.
Ive seen it for the past 2 seasons at both the Albion’s, who both struggle against a physical approach, ie Telford and Fleetwood in the Unibond, Stoke and Watford in the Championship.
Playing ‘the beautiful game’ unfortunately dont always win you prizes, great when it does, very disappointing when it doesnt, look at the Arsenal this season, Witton and the Baggies last. Of course I was gutted on Saturday, but it aint over yet, keep the faith.
As regards the newspaper report - awful timing to print a headline article, should have been saved until the seasons end, whenever that is. Come on Leek.
I couldn’t make this game due to a prior commitment and reading all of the above it does seem to have been a frustrating experience.
But you never know in football; Mark Peers late penalty that rescued a point could yet win us the league. As somebody once said it’s a funny old game…
Robbo you can disagree with me if you like but the fact is away from home on bad pitches against tough teams we sometimes lose our way though not in every game. I agree its been a great season we have a great team they are 100% committed.We also have a fantastic management team whom I’m hoping will stay with us what ever happens. I’m not even proposing that we change the personnel of our team but we do need a Plan B and perhaps someone sitting on the bench who can get in there and try and change things. Just unfortunate that Ian Kearns was not fit Saturday as he’s a lad who puts himself about physically and frightens the opposition in that way just as Peersie and Junior running at them would in a different way.
I agree that I’m probably nit picking but Baggie understands what I’m getting at as our team is similar in a way to the Arsenal one. Perhaps the introduction of an Andy Grimshaw type person and mentality even if this was coming off the bench if we just needed that extra bite every now and again would be great. You have to hand it to Fleetwood they’ve stuck with us and we are outstanding this season but their budget is far in excess of ours. Lets just hope Leek can get into them and get a result. Wouldn’t it be marvellous if our great mate Frostie scored the winner!!
No offence to you Robbo we all still Wittoners and mine is just my opinion and I still like our club and our current playing side and you as well mate as your have a fierce pride about you!
I agree with mona we do struggle on bad surfaces and that is the problem with playing nice football but i love how we play and i would not change a thing we have fantastic players, what other team can other what we do every week. I think we have got to accept that we will struggle on bad surfaces the signing of macca has helped us massivly but we do still struggle, it does not mean we carnt get a result on these pitches its just harder.
Re Bad pitches. This is the north of England, unless we put down an artificial surface there will always be times when we will have to play on a bad surface. Personally I would hate to see us playing the kind of “Kick and Rush” stuff regularly seved up across the canal, it might get some results but it doesn’t bare watching for long.
WHS>
That NFU report is unbelievable.Presumably it is for the benefit of the hundreds of fans who couldn’t be there on the day (or the visually impaired who were).
We’ll never know how significant the wind effect was because we can’t compare the same game on a calm day, but I do think our lads were trying their best.
Add to this an appalling approach by NFU (anything to do with farmers?)which arguably was unexpected since they didn’t previously fall into my category of dirty bstards.
The last resort of poor footballers is to kick the opposition, in NFU’s case the first resort.The standard of their leadership was typified in their second sending off.
Unfortunately we never seem to dominate and beat 10 men. If the pisspoor ref had the b*lls to send off a second thug for a challenge that was worse than the actual red card offence then who knows what might have happened, but 9/10 man defence is always hard to break down.
There is a case though for no more short corners and a shoot on sight policy.
Let’s review our situation after the Leek game tomorrow.
They have had some good results recently and their pitch can be a leveller (unlike their groundsman).
OH MY GOD! I Cant believe you lot on here. HOW Can it be another great season if we end up winning Bugger all AGAIN. It seems too me that you are content to come second.
Its the same old story poor pitch’s,bad referrees,bad weather. At the end of the day if we dont get promoted it is our own fault. It was in our own hands and we threw it away.
The only good thing is that our season now lasts till May and is not over at Christmas like it used to be.
I know you will all come on here and shout me down but i dont care. I am not being negative I am being honest.
Well said one can make excuses all day long but at the end of the day when it came to the crunch we just weren’t quite hungry enough.The Cods have that killer instinct where they can put to bed the lesser teams.All that said the pressure is really on now and lets see just how well they handle it.If they go to Leek and win then hats off to them and lets crack on and win the play offs.
Jo
Your entitled to your opinion and it IS so frustrating to now be in the hands of other teams and not now controlling our own destiny. We are however in the play off’s, as a minimum still, so all is not lost.
Regarding the season being a success (And its not over yet) I think it has been. We have seen a massive increase in gates and more importantly a lot of that has been with an increase in U18’s and their parents, which augurs well for the future.
The Witton Albion Junior Football CLub is thriving, I believe they have 300 children registered now (Don’t envy Gaynor her registration job!).
There is a buzz about the club which hasn’t been there since Stan’s days.
Our away support is awesome we took 150+ again on Saturday.
Our manager is available to all, is a credit to football in the way he conducts himself(unlike his predecessor) and has brought some fantastic players to the club, we have played entertaining football in all but a handful of games.
In any other season we would have been promoted by now, it’s just unfortunate that Fleetwood have also had a fantastic season.
No-one is more frustrated than me that we haven’t YET been promoted, especially when you are involved with the efforts behind the scenes to raise funds to compete with the likes of Fleetwood,Guiseley and Gateshead who all have double our wage bill!
If success is merely about the team who wins the league then by definition there are 19 Unsuccesful teams in the Premiership.
KEEP THE FAITH - Stick together, support the team and TOGETHER we WILL go up!
As I said earlier on North Ferriby are fighting to avoid relegation.When one’s back is against the wall one stops fighting/playing pretty.Yes,they played like thugs but that surely is the survival instinct,isn’t it ? If we were in that position then perhaps we would have roughened the opposition as well or may be not as our style of play is nice.
Well,I look forward to play offs.It is silly to bank on Leek.If it happens, it happens otherwise let’s get on with it and win the play offs.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS.
Come on WITTON:cheer:
I guess it all depends on your definition of what is a good season and/or what equates to ‘success’.
Considering how close we came to folding, some people may see the fact that we still have a club to support as a ‘success’.
If Vics avoid the drop, they will see their season as a ‘success’.
If Cardiff lose in the FA Cup final, they will win ‘bugger all’, but will still view their season as a ‘success’.
We’ve recently had the ‘Legends’ night, where the beaten finalists from the 92 FA Trophy final were welcomed back as returning heroes. They also won bugger all!!
In Jim’s 2 and a half seasons here we have won the Cheshire Cup, finished second and made the Play Off final, and this season are less than a week away from potentially winning the league. Prior to that we had season after season where we would of given anything just to have a shot of making the Play Offs as the season reached conclusion. Is this not a degree of succes?!
If we don’t win the league or go up then everyone will be disappointed. However, this should not take away any of the progress that this football club has made.
When was the last time we had such an excellent points-to-games ratio at home?
When was the last time that our average gate saw an increase such as this season’s?
When have we previously been able to get kids to come and watch us in the numbers that we have seen this season?
Any season where progress is made has to be viewed as a great season. For a non-league club, success isn’t always just about what is acheived on the pitch, but is just as much about what goes on off it.
We have a team that plays fantastic football, we are now able to attract a standard of player that we haven’t had at Wincham Park in over a decade. Players such as Kennedy, Warlow, and Lloyd chose to stay with us in the summer despite better offers from higher ranked clubs, all because of the feel-good factor that has finally returned to Witton Albion after years in the doldrums.
Away from Wincham Park, Witton fans helped raise £1500 for charity over Christmas by organising, playing in, and supporting the match against the Vics fans. The opportunity to do this would not have been there without the buzz that currently surrounds OUR club.
Regardless of what happens in the next week or so, each and every Wittoner should be proud of where this club has come from and where we now are. EVERYONE wants promotion, and everyone will be bitterly disappointed if we don’t get it. But will it stop us all supporting WItton and putting ourselves through it all again next season? No it wont!! So let’s get behind the team for however many matches we have left, and appreciate what we have got rather than worry about what we can’t change.
Loud and proud - COME ON LEEK TOWN!!!