The hurriedly put together " 1st Witton Goal Competition " ( Smudgy Smith 16 mins ) was not won so the WPDF benefitted by 40 odd £. Thanks to all who took part.
at a guess i would say £46.20.
on tonights performance, fings are looking good. 
Have to say without being at all negative I was plesantly suprised tonight. I thought the lads worked v hard on what must have been a tiring pitch and chased a lot of 70/30 balls etc and did this from the front.
Some of the movement was impressive and the passing equally as good.
We are better off than this time last year and given that was without Scott and Rod its encouraging.
A mention for Greg Smith who I thought did exceptionally well especially in the first 10mins - could have been very different.
The albs are going up…
It’s still early days and I think it will be a good 4 or 6 weeks yet before the we will see the team really start to come together.
I think JE’s post is 100% accurate in his assessment of the players and the performance (and the ref). Greg Smith was superb, Settle put more effort in for 90 minutes than probably any player wearing the shirt over the last few seasons (bar Pritch obviously), and as I said in the opening programme article of the season Ben Thornley is my tip to surprise a few people this season, he has all the quality and if he is fit and focused (which he is), then he has the class. He hit three passes last night, as well as a brilliant goal, that would have graced a game at ANY level!
Whilst the communication is yet to come there is no question that team spirit and fitness are two major factors in winning games, and we showed plenty of both last night. Prescot is never any easy place to come back with three points, the pitch was the best it will be all season last night (despite the fact that their mower has clearly broken)!
With Mattone Awang and Ross Thaker we also have two players that (when on a decent pitch) can add extra quality to the side. Already we are in a position where there will be competition for places. Also on a better pitch we will start to see the quality of Mark Drew, there were good signs of that last night.
From 1 to 11 last night we were prepared to get in amongst it, brave and committed performances in every area. We NEED this in the Unibond League, for all the games and all the places where ‘pretty’ is not the only answer!
Well done Nige and the lads, long way to go but for the second game with a brand new side that was a tremendous performance and plenty to get encouraged by.
From 1-11 and all the subs, it was a quality TEAM performance. There was no individualism, no pretty football for the sake of it, and every man wearing red with a hint of white battled for every ball. If we turn up at every away game with that attitude we could surprise an awful lot of people.
In the first 5 minutes Greg Smith kept us in it with 3 top drawer saves, only bettered by his 20 yard dash from his goal and a tackle that Scott Willis would have been proud of!!
I thought that bar the goal and taking into account the enforced change, the back 4 coped well. All 4 of the lads in midfield were outstanding, Thornley was a gobshite as usual but was totally effective, Drew passed Prescot out of the game, Willis is a nutter and clearly intimidated everyone present (I’ve never heard someone shout “F**K OFF!!!” so many times in a game) and Steve Smith was everywhere.
Settle ran his socks off, and even drew comparisons to Emile Heskey from Robbo, and Lugsden is clearly a very capable footballer.
OK, I stand by my earlier assertion that Prescot are garbage but we didn’t struggle there for once, possibly because the pitch had some grass on it (too much actually - oh the irony!!)
If we continue to play with this much character and passion for the rest of the season, a play off place is very achievable.
Unfortunately the referee is worthy of mention, I have written in my piece for the Hednesford Programme how ridiculous this “respect” campaign is and last night highlighted it (apart from pritch probably saving willis a booking). At the end of the day, you can demand respect as much as you want, but referees as with anyone else in life have to earn the respect of the players, and last night that was not the case. Is it the fault of the players or the supporters that he took an awful lot of stick second half? No. How can you have respect for someone who does not meet the minimum acceptable level of performance? You wouldn’t respect your boss if he/she was clearly not up to it, so why should referees get special treatment??
Maybe players and fans should start a campaign called “TAKE THE HINT” :laugh:
If only we had turned up at Prescot in the same manner in March…things may have been oh so very different… :unsure:
Smith did make some excellent saves early on, but in March we could easily have been 3 up by half time - it’s all about putting the ball in the net, and the keeper is there to prevent the opposition from doing that!!
I think the fact that the grass was overly-long helped us. We learnt pretty quickly that we could hit balls into the channels, and the grass would hold it up. This allowed the likes of Settle, Smith, Lugsden etc to get on the end of these balls - and Prescot’s fullbacks must have been pleased to hear the final whistle!
I thought that Ben Thornley was the outstanding performer though. Whilst the rest of the team hustled and harried, Ben provided the quality that won the game for us. His goal was sublime, and he did excellently for the 3rd goal aswell. If we can get the best out of him, then i think that he can be a real asset.
One final thing; KEEP THE FAITH!! 
Great performance from the team last night, well done to both the players and the management! Tactics were spot on and the work rate was superb. If they are up for a battle all season then we will definitely upset a few teams!
The stand out performers for me were Thornley, Willis, both Smiths, and Settle.
I agree with Rabbit about Ben Thornley, he really could become a big player for us this season. Some quality touches last night, great work rate and a contender for goal of the season, not bad for a nights work!
Scott Willis put in a much better peformance than Saturday. He covered every blade of grass, put in some flying tackles, and caused the Prescot midfield problems all night. More of the same please!
Greg Smith kept us in the game early on, simple. Great performance.
Steve Smith put in a tireless peformance on the wing and Settle just kept on running!
Think all of us would have taken 4 points after 2 games, lets hope Ferriby is more fruitful than last season. Well done lads
Fantastic performance, Whole team played well and gave 110%. Greg Smith made some critical saves, Willis had a good game making some crunching tackles but Ben Thornley had to be MOM for me set up some great play and scored an amazing goal.
Unfortunately the referee is worthy of mention, I have written in my piece for the Hednesford Programme how ridiculous this “respect” campaign is and last night highlighted it (apart from pritch probably saving willis a booking). At the end of the day, you can demand respect as much as you want, but referees as with anyone else in life have to earn the respect of the players, and last night that was not the case. Is it the fault of the players or the supporters that he took an awful lot of stick second half? No. How can you have respect for someone who does not meet the minimum acceptable level of performance? You wouldn’t respect your boss if he/she was clearly not up to it, so why should referees get special treatment??
I agree with your sentiments. You earn respect, you are not given it. Having been at the original seminar that gave birth to the Respect program, I think it was badly titled.
It should have been called ‘The Dis-respect’ program. Just as you shouldn’t respect somebody who doesn’t earn it, you should not disrespect somebody who doesn’t deserve it, like Ashley Cole and some others were doing last season.
On the subject of Refs. I really wish supporters, players and officials would understand that Refs. are human, they make mistakes, but they are honest mistakes in the main, I know of no Referee who has perposely made a wrong decision. We should respect them, right or wrong, because without them we would have no game to watch. Most are keen football fans themselves and just want to give something back to the game they love, they certainly don’t do it for the money, unlike most players in the professional leagues. Decisions will go against us this season, but about the same number will go our way, that is the nature of football, in fact, the nature of all sport. So come on lads, moan a bit by all means, but let’s not go to extremes. See you all on the 25th and have your money ready at Half Time.
WHS.
Well we’ve made a better start to the season than Fleetwood:P
Ecstatic with the result and im impressed with a lot of the new boys. Greg Smith who I was unsure about pre season has shown when it comes to the competetive matches he is more than up to the task, I thought he was excellent saturday and last night. Scott Willis was outstanding last night and him and Drew I believe will form a formiddable partnership in the centre of midfield. Im a big fan of Steve Smith I think we will see even more from him this season. Agree with Ben Thornley as man of the match with Willis a close second. I was never one to settle for a mid table finish and though its early days I still believe when these guys have played together a bit more they can push for a play off spot. I think the title may be difficult judging by the start Bradford have made:angry:
Hopefully we can gain another 3 points on saturday:)
Ps I think we need to decide on some player songs for definate soon so we can start to get them going at the games. I’ll never have the balls to start one off on my own for fear of nobody joining in, so will some one else do it please!
Me and Robbo have been trying to compose some new ones for a while, but it’s proving difficult!!
All suggestions welcome.
P.S I do agree with Robbo that Ben Thornley should get “Two lazy Bastards!!”
My Mark Drew one is my pride and joy…please sing it :laugh: :laugh:
Short, snappy and not many long words is the key, I can’t imagine the older generation singing any songs to the tune of agadoo!!!
UniBond Premier Division – Tuesday August 19th 2008
PRESCOT CABLES 1 WITTON ALBION 3 Attendance 286
TEAM: Smith G.; Dunne (Schwarz 28), Pritchard, Coyne, Donnelly; Thornley B., Willis (Thaker 88), Drew, Smith S.; Lugsden (Skelton 80) & Settle. Unused subs: Gahgan & Awang.
Albion had failed to win a league match at Hope Street in their five previous visits and for the opening ten minutes it looked like that pattern would continue as the home side, clearly out to erase their opening fixture 0-4 drubbing at Bradford P.A., encamped themselves in and around the Witton penalty area.
In that period keeper Greg Smith produced three stunning saves to keep the amber hoards at bay, whilst his fellow defenders were producing last ditch tackles to save the custodian further onslaughts.
The 13th minute though served to show the large following of Wittoners what was in store later as Mark Drew suddenly advanced forward to unleash a 25 yard shot that dipped over the crossbar. Three minutes later Albion got their noses in front, Steve Settle, in his much favoured wing position, put his marker on the seat of his pants before squaring the ball to Kieran Lugsden. It looked like the scoring opportunity had been missed when he pivoted in the box but he quickly spotted STEVE SMITH to his left and in the blink of an eye the ball had screamed past Tim Dittmer’s right hand.
Cables tried to counter and Scott Willis had to time his challenge perfectly to win the ball in his own penalty area. In another move down the left Greg Smith was alert enough to realise that Tony Dunne had a problem when he dashed way out of his area to tackle the onrushing forward, Dunne subsequently leaving the field with hamstring damage and Dan Schwarz capably taking over the right back berth.
Five minutes from the interval Albion were two goals to the good, the ball quickly being switched from left to right via Settle and there was BEN THORNLEY, just outside the angle to perfectly strike the ball into the top far corner of the net to post the first candidate for goal of the season.
The opening minute of the second period saw Greg Smith again quickly in action when he pushed a well struck free-kick over the bar and then dealt comfortably with two further corner kicks. At the other end claims for a penalty were waived away when Settle went over a defender’s legs before drew shot narrowly wide of the right upright.
On the hour mark though from nowhere Cables were back in the match, a ball launched down the middle caught everyone napping aside from LIAM KENNEDY who scampered on to place the ball past the advancing Smith.
Albion’s response to this threat was eased five minutes later when Thornley popped up on the left side to produce a delightful flick over defenders for Steve Smith to run on to, he cut along the by-line and centred for KIERAN LUGSDEN to convert with ease.
Only a brilliant pawing save from Dittmer stopped Settle from adding to the tally with a quarter of an hour to go and twice more the home stopper was drawn into saving shots both on the mark from Drew! Ross Thaker’s late introduction saw him create an opportunity but the length of the grass, that had served Witton well in several long passes, this time contrived in the chance being missed.
Its very early days i know but last night we were awesome!
A pleasure to watch especially the 2nd half.
The effort and hunger shown by the players last night is the massive diffence compared to last season. I reckon we have a team that may surprise us…
Roll on Saturday another 3 points!
Let’s not get carried away, these lads will need time to become a team to be reckoned with, let us just be happy we have made a decent start. I will still settle for the top half or a play off spot, but as long as we don’t get relegated it has to be seen as a good season given the cicumstances. I will be selling tickets for the Half Time raffle on Monday, have your money ready, I will be chucking in a fiver to get it started.
WHS.
Have to say that was the first time in ages that I’ve actually enjoyed a Witton match, the last two seasons we have all come to expect us to win every game whilst spending half our time concentrating on other games and teams results. That isn’t disrespectful to JV and his team. It just wasn’t always pleasurable,worrying that a missed opportunity or a couple of bad performances could cost you the league.
Watching a new team of players at Prescot playing with a hunger and desire to be a part of something new was refreshing, and a different experience.
Playing our football in the right areas of the field combined with a skilful set of players bodes well for the season, and whilst one swallow doesn’t make a Summer, every victory we achieve this season will seem sweeter given the events of the close season.
Onward and Upward.
One gripe - vocal support wasn’t the best on Tuesday. Remember the players can’t hear keyboards being pressed!
Andy Chad wrote:
Perhaps we all need to congregate in the same area at away games, rather than having half of us behind goal and the other half down the side? Will build a better atmosphere.
seconded, lets stick together on saturday. Behind the goal preferebly unless its raining:laugh:
Quote
“vocal support was’nt the best on Tues”
Take it my 3 zigga zaggas were not enough then:S