Team News: Peter Heler returns to the Starting XI in midfield, whilst Danny Adams moves back into the defence after playing the holding midfield role at Leigh. Ben Harrison is the unlucky man to drop to the bench.
Starting XI: M. Cooper; A. Gardner, I. Kearney, D. Adams, M. Doughty; C. Frost, P. Heler, D. MacPherson, R. Foulkes, C. Botham; A. Kinsey.
Substitutes: B. Pritchard, J. Harrison, D. Ennion, M. Wood, B. Harrison.
LATEST SCORE
Witton Albion 0-1 CURZON ASHTON
HALF TIME
Witton Albion 0-1 Curzon Ashton
LATEST SCORE
WITTON ALBION 1-1 Curzon Ashton
Calum Botham
Curzon down to 10 men
SUBSTITUTION
A. Gardner off
J. Harrison on
FULL TIME
Witton Albion 1-1 Curzon Ashton
Although Matty Woods and Ben Harrison were on the bench, they were both injured, Ben picking up his injury during the warm up
First half was dire !
2nd half - improvement - scored a good goal then played worse against 10 men than they did against 11 !
Overall - pretty dire !
I agree that we played bad the first half
But don’t agree that we played worse against 10 men
Don’t think that eli was watching the same game
We deserved to win with a very good 2nd half
Also Ben Harrison wasn’t on the bench we only had 4 subs
Agreed Len about the 2nd half
I assumed Ben was on the bench, as he was stripped to play. According to the team sheet handed out, he was down to play, with Frosty on the bench.
Curzon are a useful side going by their league position so I think we can look at the result in a positive way. Apart from one game, away to Chorley, all the other games coming up are against teams in mid table or lower so we have the chance, if we play well, of moving up the league and being in a good position come the final run in. Onwards and Upwards is the only way we want to go. See you all against Durham unless we arrange to replace the Chorley game with another fixture.
WHS.
WHS.
I thought it was a pretty even hard fought contest. They had the better of the first half and we had much the better of the 2nd. Fortunately their missed chances allowed us to keep a foothold in the game and in the second half we could and perhaps should have gone on to win the game. I am not sure the sending off worked for us in the way it could have and we seemed to lose our way at times, aided and abetted by some poor refereeing.
Putting the game into context CA have only lost 3 league games this season and you can see why. I would say based on yesterday I expect them to be in the playoffs come May and if we can attain a level of consistency there is no reason why we shouldn’t either.
WHS I agree with you ! but it was DIRE in the first half - described by a fan on the popular side as " the worst Witton team he has seen " ( I would dispute that but still ) but in the second half we played some PRETTY football ,scored a good goal,Macca was unlucky with a great strike that hit the bar but when CA went down to 10 men we struggled and they still created chances,one an absolute sitter. Blaming the officials is just a lame excuse !
First half - DIRE
Second half - PRETTY
Overall - PRETTY DIRE
Game of 2 halfs, witton were poor 1st half and Curzon could have been at least 3 up by half time. Improved 2nd half and we deserved to draw level with a well worked goal . Curzen looked rattled and started to get wound up (helped along by Macca) and after they went down to 10 men thought we could have nicked the game but due to some poor crossing into the box we failed to get another goal. Give curzon credit for the way they came back at us when their man was sent off and I think they will make the play offs . Thought we played well 2nd half but we must try and play for 90 mins instead off 45.
If Curzon had taken all 3 points yesterday, they would only be 9 points behind Chester with 4 games in hand. I think they are very good candidates for the play-offs, and possible contenders to win the league
I dont think we were dire just not as good as Curzon, we started 4 5 1 which was how we played at leigh to great effect however in this game it did not work, when we went to 4 4 2 ( credit to the mgt ) we gave them a good game and perhaps should have won v 10 men, this is fAr from our worst result and we are improving still, when we get maguire back fit then we can keep going so overall not disapointed but 3 points would have been magic.
I thought we played well second half and thought we could have won it. Curzon are a good team and without Ben Harrison thought we did ok. I hate it when people come on here and be negative all the time. I wish Macca and Brian all the best.
Ben was injured and if you saw him in the club after the game he was limping. We had to alter our match plan very quickly as Ben was injured in the warm up.Curzon are definitely one of the best teams in the league and I’d be surprised if they don’t go up. Boothy playing for them looked good in their solid back four!! At home we seem to start off slowly and then usually pick up in the 2nd half as someone said we need to do it over 90 minutes.
That said I thought Saturday without Stott and Maguire was a good result with plenty of effort by the lads in the 2nd half. I think the problem we have now is replacing Stotty and possibly Maguire if Crewe release him in February. Given our low budget this will not be easy as they are both class players. I’m sure our backroom management staff are working on this though I think Murph was quite influencial in picking up Stotty so lets hope we can pick up someone else that will be a good foil for Kinse up front. The information meeting before hand was poorly attended due to lack of publicity I think. I was happy with how Mark put over the latest info and the fact that although not involved day to day Oggie is still involved on the end of the phone should we need his experience. Nige Deeley coming back to do coaching is a bonus as is Benny Phillips doing part time commercial work. I’m right behind Macca and Pritch two lads who are 100%, not without integrity and who will do well for us with backup from Oggie and Murph. I agree there is a lot of negativity on here I think we’ve come a long way in a short time with the team and we are not far off being really good. Where we fail is not having the strength in depth when key players are out but with our low budget its difficult.
I agree with WHS is onward and upward for me too lets just hope we can get a striker and keep Danny Maguire. We could yet sneek into the play offs then its a lottery and we deserve some luck for a change. Well done so far Macca and Pritch keep it going lads and Macca get the beers in!!
We as Witton Albion FC Supporters seem to think we have a divine right and expectation to beat every team we play regardless of their and our personnel, and budgets available - its ridiculous!
Positives only from me - Good 2nd Half display with the different formation and until Frosty went off I thought we were on for winning the game, a point against one of the top 3 teams, and just as importantly I thought it was a cracking game of football!
Agree we were a totally different side int he second half from that in the first - but the wind played a big part in that. Cooper wasn’t able to clear half way with his kicks, which meant Curzon were always coming straight back onto our back 4. The goal was disappointing, a straight ball into the box that should be meat and drink for defenders, but i’m sure Brian and David will work on that.
I also thought the 9 and 10 for CA were very good players at this level.
Stott is a big loss, but people seem to be ignoring Frost’s recent contribution. He has been fantastic of late, and has a decent recent goal ratio too.
I keep getting told we are playing 433 not 451…but we certainly looked better at 442.
I think the sending off incident probably stopped us winning the game. We had the momentum at that point, but the delayed stoppage all but took that away from us. It’s often difficult to play against 10 men anyway.
It amazes me that people are saying some of the things that get written on here. Wittoners of many many years just looking for excuses to stir and undermine all those who put such time and effort into keeping our club afloat. It’s totally dis-respectful, and i do wonder what their motives are for doing this.
We’re doing ok. Heading in the right direction. There’s work to do, but that was always going to be the case.
Let’s judge the season in April.