No reports or comments. Come on guys it is only one defeat !
I thought best to sleep on that one ! undoubtably the conditions helped to level things out, and We definitely missed Rob Hopley and Mattie Devine and Danny Roberts who was on the bench. Rugby were in your face and pretty competitive and took 4 out of 5 chances on the day, Witton were really off colour struggling to keep there feet, overplaying in bad positions and the passing was woeful only 2-3 players were close to there usual form apart from Gards who was decent the defence were at 6s and 7s Williams Heywood and Tames did ok but still overplayed the ball given the conditions. Overall Rugby probably deserved at least a point and celebrated like they had won the league so good for them yes they were time wasting and diving but had loads of spirit.
If we have not got Mattie Devine playing then dont play a right footed centre back at left back maybe try 3 at the back and use wing backs and if Danny is fit get him back in the nets Hare is ok but I felt he should have done better with the second and 4th goals, He is frankly a bit small ! if shot stopping is His strength then He should not not get beaten at His near post like the winner did yesterday and with Danny you have the height and probably have the best keeper in the league.
SL lost also so not a TOTAL disaster but an opportunity missed, a bad day yes but the run was going to end sometime so we have to pick ourselves up and get it right for Leek on Tuesday dissapointing but I expect to be in the playoffs and we still will be UTA
Agree with everything above. Well done Rugby you caught us on an off day and deserved your win. As for Shaw £ane, am not too bothered as long as we can finish second and have a crack at the play offs.
back end of march and only 4 league defeats so we cant grumble.
Agree with CJ. The pitch was awful yesterday despite everyone’s best efforts and it was touch and go whether we actually got the game on. It was very soft down the centre and it really didn’t suit our style of play and overall I didn’t think we adapted as we perhaps could have done. That said we still should have got a point but live to fight another day. First home league defeat and it’s nearly the end of MARCH. Now who wouldn’t have taken that in August ?? Get some fire in bellies for Tuesday and go again !
From Rugby…
A Chris Sterling strike nine minutes into added-on time sealed a remarkable victory for Valley at Wincham Park.
Town’s Ryan Quinn had opened the scoring against high flying Witton in the fifth minute with a great curling effort after Robbie Parsons had set him up, but the hosts responded well with Louis Connor producing a fine save to deny Will Jones.
The home side did level things up just before the interval though, when Steve Tames broke clear to slot one past Connor.
Jones stabbed in from close range to give Albion the lead shortly after the restart, but Sterling was soon equalising with a looping header to Parsons’ cross from the right.
Sterling was then denied by a goalmouth block, before Rugby sub Aaron Moses-Garvey scored his side’s third when his ricochet shot beat keeper Calvin Hare after he had originally stolen possession near the halfway line and driven forward.
It looked like Town had been denied an improbable victory when Witton’s Tol Omotola pounced on a loose ball to slide it over the line in the 93rd minute, but there was still time for Sterling’s late late show as he fired home from inside the area.
I was gutted yesterday but having slept on it and being realistic I would have settled for only one home defeat by the end of March, at the start of the season. As has been said the pitch was very heavy and it was touch and go as to whether the game was on. We are a footballing side and the pitch just didn’t suit our fluid style of play yesterday. We could and should have adapted better to the conditions though and I was disappointed we didn’t test their keeper more as he didn’t look too convincing to me. The three players mentioned in CJ’s post are big players for us and they were certainly missed.
The good thing is the weather should improve between now and the end of the season (famous last words!!) and hopefully we wont have to play on a soaked surface like that too many more times. It certainly levelled things up yesterday although you have to give credit to Rugby - they certainly battled away and were probably just about good value for all the points.
Anyway, lets put it down to a bad day at the office and get behind the team on Tuesday and Saturday. They certainly deserve it and there are lots of good things to come yet this season. It could be far worse we could be V*cs or 1874 fans with the season over by March. UTA
Well I was gutted when Rugby scored that late late winner but very well done to them they brought a fair following and we could see what it meant to them to get the three points! The pitch was the best it could have been with all the rain we’d had setting off we thought it might be off. Come on the labs we can still do this!
I missed the 2 away games recently and was looking forward to the Game on Saturday, the weather and pitch certainly levelled abilities. I feel for the defence as when you concede 4 it’s easy to point the finger at them and the goalie! Truth is we lost the ball too easily in midfield, overplaying and poor touch in bad conditions, each goal came from a missed pass etc in the middle. I think Hare in goal has got credit with the goals he has saved so 1 slip in adverse weather is forgiven, Wilson has played most of the season left centre or left back with no fuss or too much credit all season despite being right footed, who else would u play there whilst Devine is out? We missed Hopley badly, he’s our out ball, to be honest the thing that baffles me most is taking of jones and changing formation when he was at the centre of any release for us! That’s down to management decisions, sometimes it works sometimes not, tbh still 100% hopeful but heard a bit of moaning at the players on Saturday which I think is unfair, they’ve been tremendous this season, keep the faith. UTA…
Yes a bad day at the office, but all is not lost because we have a squad who just keep battling and do not give up. They will do their utmost to get the 3 points on Tuesday night to keep our promotion dream going. So just let’s get behind the lads in the remaining games to see this campaign to a successful finish. UTA
Im certainly not blaming Wilson-Hes not a fullback, but play him in the middle with Brown and Lycett and play Bauress and Gards as wing backs id like to see that even when Devine is fit, as for Hare im not sure you build up credits ! mistakes cost you games and the fact is Roberts is a bigger presence =size does matter. UTA
well done witton for handing victory to Rugby thus keeping Vics firmly rooted at the bottom of the league.
Thanks CJ I know you weren’t apportioning blame, we have played how you describe, we had a central 3 when Devine pulled up after coming on as sub the other nite. We have a good squad but small and we need to keep possesion better to take the pressure of the defence whoever is playing there or how many, who knows, if Roberts was playing we may have lost by a bigger margin? It’s a fine balance size versus talent (all over the park), let’s hope for 3 points on Tuesday …UTA
Rugby won 3-0 in the next match, so it may be that they have improved a lot. Pushes V…s closer to the drop so that is some small consolation.
WHS.