It’s a difficult situation - I was at Weymouth v Dagenham on Saturday and Weymouth went 1-0 up then went down to 10 men. They sat back the whole game and held out until 89mins, then conceded. Maybe we could try to grab a goal over the next 15 mins then sit back. Or just keep trying to hit them on the break. Jim’ll fix it!
Play to Witton’s strengths - hit on the break using the wide men. Plenty of experience and Barras and Griff back.
Now the Albion!!
Bill
Telford hit the bar…getting worrying.[br][size=1]Posted on: April 24, 2007, 09:00:25 PM[/size][hr]1-0 down. Bugger.
I do believe the club is cursed. Every time we get a big gate we lose, every time we think this is our season it blows up in our faces. Could have almost written the script for tonights game before the kick off. A player who NEVER tackles gets sent off, our star tackler comes off injured and they score with a few moinutes left with a deflection, it can only happen at Witton. Still, a win on Saturday gurantees us second if either Buscough or Telford win their game, a draw between those two and we can still take the tiitle by beating Frickley. In fact if Burscough win by one gaol and we win by three we will win iy on goal difference. But let’s face it, it ain’t gonna happen, we will probably lode or draw against Frickley then lose in the play offs if past seasons are anything to go by. My Mum told me the old Central Ground was cursed by gypsies, I think the curse has followed us to Wincham. I am down hearted, you bet I am!!! Someone please write something positive to pick me up. Oh, I have just had a thought, Vics fans think getting Man Uted reserves at their ground is going to help their club, no it won’t, Mr. Connett gets all the monet, I feel a bit better now.
WHS
Crowd was 1543. I thought even though we lost we put up a brave battle and did well considering we were 1 man down unlucky Witton!
Cheer up, WHS, it’s a new game on Saturday! It’s all part of the joy of being a Wittoner! It’s nights like tonight that make it all the sweeter when we do win something - how good would it be now if we thrashed Frickley, Telford and Burscough draw, and we win the league anyway!!!
Thought we were unlucky to lose, particularly after the second half performance. They had the edge in the first half, but after the break we really took the game to them, and at one stage looked as if we might even win it. Plenty of heroes in red and white stripes tonight.
Great singing behind the goal as well, there was a period when we were out-shouting their hordes. Good atmosphere generally, with both sets of fans getting behind their team, a bit of banter but no ill-feeling.
I must say I thought the referee had a good game - always seemed in control, and I think he got the key decisions right. Can’t complain about the sending-off, or about the late penalty that wasn’t; and if Telford thought they were robbed of two disallowed goals, the ref was spot on both times. Dunno what their player did to get CG so mad, but it seemed that neither the ref nor the linesman saw enough to be able to take any action.
Finally, congratulations to Telford - but don’t celebrate too soon, it’s not over yet!
Just realised that if we even draw on Saturday and there is a result in the Telford-Burscough game we still finish second, we don’t need to win. I have to say the only thing that did disappoint me was the obsene chanting from a section of the Witton crowd concerning Telford supporters and sex with their parents, I was disgusted and ashamed they were Wittoners. There were women and young kids in the ground and to think they heard such filth from Wittoners was disgraceful.
Finally, sadly I will not be there for the final game, I will be watching Peter Kay in The Producers, something the wife booked for my birthday many moons ago, the significance of the date did not dawn on me until a couple of weeks ago, too late to change it. So I will hopefully come out of the theatre with a big smile on my face made even broader by the news that Witton, against the odds had snatched the title at the last gasp. Here’s hoping.
WHS.
Gutted, thought the lads did enough in the second half to deserve a point. To lose by one deflected goal was not a fair reflection of the game.
We started brightly, although after the first 20 minutes Telford had the best of the remaining 25 minutes of the first half. Whilst they were a threat from corners Kennedy didn’t make any real saves from open play. If Gaghan did headbutt him then he deserved to go, however the theatrical dive was equally shocking as was the challenge that went unpunished that caused the incident. No coincidence that we had a player sent off at their place, clearly a tactic used to good effect, although we should have learnt from it.
2nd half I thought we contained them well and arguably looked like the side most likely to score. I think the problem was that we knew a point would do and therefore only left one up front. If perhaps we had been more adventurous and played two up front we would have streched them more, but with 10 men it is always hard. Telford are nothing special however we have come unstuck a few times with the more physical side of the game. It has been said before that we are the best footballing side in the league, however when teams like Burscough, Telford, Hednesford turn it into a battle then you don’t get the time and space to play free flowing attractive football. We need to be stronger, not pulling out of challenges, closing down more and up for the battle. That said, I would genuinely prefer to watch Witton every week in this league than Telford in the CN or any other division.
We need to remember this was only our third home defeat of the season, the first this calendar year. With a game to go this season we can still finish 1st or 2nd, I would still have settled for that at the outset. If we finish second then we have home advantage in the play-offs and are still capable of going up in style. The lads (and the supporters) need to pick their heads up for Saturday. This is not over yet, Telford may find that there favourite result (the draw) comes back to haunt them and that their celebrations were a little premature!
This has been a great season, win, lose or draw, promoted or not! The team, the manager need to learn from every game and improve at every opportunity.
Be Witton and Be Proud
[br][size=1]Posted on: April 24, 2007, 11:30:59 PM[/size][hr]BTW, a word for Barras tonight who was immense - my man of the match by a distance.
Me and my mate came over from Sheffield to watch the game tonight. The commitment shown by both sets of players and the passion shown by the fans was a total credit to non-league football (apart from the parental references as mentioned above). I thought Witton could have gone for a result a bit more but it was difficult after the lad was sent off. I thought the lad Liam Brownhill was the man of the match for the Albion but all of them worked their socks off.
I will keep my eye on the results this weekend and wish you all the best. Fantastic night out and well worth a visit.
Gutted. Little else to say - but I will.
It is now out of our hands but WHS et al (heres the positive bit) we are not wanting a relagated team to win 4-0 or anything daft - we want a draw between the 2 top teams (hardly unrealistic ) or a team to win to try and win the league? If we did win I’d hope it was by more than Burscough managed.
It can still be done, anyone coming on Saturday we must pick up where we left off with the signing etc at 9.40 - we must keep behind the lads all the way through the play offs if necessary.
Excellent tonight I thought - if only we could play them with 11 men I think we’d really see who was more worthy of the 6 points.
Good gate too - I know they had a load - credit to them - its a nice end of season bonus for the club!
Keep the faith.
get a grip we were poor. i was very disapointed with peers, felt this was game for him to shine, he didnt! gregan is a good player for us but he deserved to get sent off. credit to telford thet wanted it and they got it. >:(
Cannot believe that anyone on the ground ( including the officials) thought that Chris Gaghan should have been sent off. This was confirmed by the cheating streak of excrement in the club after the game, who gloated in the fact he’d got Chris dismissed by his faked reactions.
At Telford, we had a stonewall cut and dried penalty denied in the last minute which would have given us the chance to pull back to 2-2. Tonight, in injury time, Mike Moseley was pulled back in the box when clear through to deny us the chance of another equaliser. Again, in the club after the game the Telford defender admitted it should have been a penalty.
Witton were extremely hard done to tonight, and the league should be ashamed with their appointment of the linesman who was on the stand side in the first half. He was an utter disgrace. The dismissal of Chris Gaghan was on the say so of this incompetent imbecile, and I really cannot believe that by that time the referee had not seen enough to show him what he had been lumbered with.
All we can do is try to win by the biggest margin possible on Saturday, but the season has once again been spoiled by decisions which, quite frankly, make the playing of the league an absolute farce.
What can I say, gutted at the result, but in fairness they probably shaded it on the night.
Any player from Sunday league up knows that you can’t raise your hands ‘or head’ to another player no matter what the cheatin’ sheep shagger does to you,
its always gonna be a red !!!
We only started playing football second half and we are far better at it than them, BUT !!
We are weak off set pieces and overall too short in total, we need a little height, Pritch should have snatched the header, and no one would have deserved it more, he gives his all every time, Peers great free kick, again unlucky, in fairness no complaints about anyone, oh thought they did a great job on Adam though, he never really got a sniff !
Still a good win on Saturday and pray for the draw and hey, who knows !!!
Must agree with WHS that we don’t need to drag ourselves down to Premiership club standards with our songs, at this standard women and children
are still welcome and should be made to feel as such, you don’t have to swear to make a point, we need more families to come along and pay wages so
don’t drive them away.
The way the seasons gone I honestly have a feeling that come 5 PM Saturday we’ll be smilin’
Always look on the bright side, at least Tony Blairs Fu*^"n off this year !!!
As a final note, thought Telfords supporters did them proud, as did ours, games like that are what its all about, win, lose or whatever 1
C’mon trust me ’ it aint over ’
How can anyone say that we were poor last night?!? Every player gave everything that they had from the second we went a man down.
My prediction is that both ourselves and Burscough win on Saturday. We then go on to beat Telford at our place in the play off final infront of 3500+, we keep 11 men on the pitch and turn them over. I think that would be justice.
‘Our supporters did us proud…’
Yes, apart from one.
The Witton supporter who chose to spit in the face of the referee in the tunnel.
So a memorable season will now be marred by the actions of this coward who chooses to act very childishly and get Witton reported to the FA for his/her action.
And why? Because the referee correctly disallowed two Telford goals? Because he correctly sent Gaghan off for retaliating? Because he made the big decisions correctly?
It p’s me off to work hard for this club - the real supporters give generously to the cause - to then have to finance the FA’s pockets because one person decides to be big and spit at the referee.
Whoever you are - it’s your opportunity to be big now. Admit you did it - face the consequences (as the Board will have to do when the FA deal with it ) - and pay the inevitable fine.
Or will you remain a coward?
GE
That’s a BIG SHAME GE. They won`t come forward and admit to their ,as they have already shown they have no morals >:(
On the Game. Every player That stayed on the pitch gave 100 %.
Now lets get behind the Team on Saturday ! We still have a chance of winning the league!
Why has there always got to one eejit thats naffs it up for everyone else?
So the fact we lost entitles this idiot to do something like this, the bonus gate receipts from last night will now go towards paying for his actions instead of more important issues.
Should he be found, he should be
a) Banned for life b) prosecuted c) made to pay the fine and issue a public apology to the club, its supporters and the referee
d) if prosecuted and given community service, made to complete a referee course and officiate at sunday league level, then we’ll see if he knows as much of the game as he thinks and whether he has the bottle to give a decision in front of 22 players, one man and his dog…never mind 1500…as GE says… a coward.
on a lighter note, well played the lads last night, its the biggest game I’ve been too and the supporters were excellent…didnt actually hear some of the comments WHS mentioned although again its alright giving abuse if the bloke you are giving it to is in the middle of a game and not stood toe to toe.
Bring on Saturday, the players should/could be a little more relaxed, if they can get out and enjoy it with a little less pressure we should see some goals…lots of goals ;D
It does absolutely stagger me that a Witton fan could do such a disgusting and degrading thing. It’s fair to say that I can sometimes get a little carried away - such as at Hednesford when I was apparently "overly aggressive" - but I know that the kind of stick I give officials can be laughed off, after all I did it for long enough and took enough stick of my own.
But the actions of this individual last night are unacceptable. We all get to the point during a game when we would like to wring someones neck, that’s football, but some people can’t control themselves when the red mist descends and these people should be accountable for their actions.
It remains to be seen whether this will happen in this case…
Gutted- BUT proud.
Fantastic spirited team performance (On and off the field).
Don’t lets dwell on a few unfortunate incidents from last night.
Football at WP was the winner. People getting back into the habit of coming to the games, a fantastic away following and a hard game of football with precious few chances, nothing to choose between the two teams, although the footballing philosophies of both teams are polar opposites!
I completely understand GE’s remarks and he is right, however disagree that "a memorable season will now be marred". Our behaviour on and off the pitch has been very good and I don’t think this incident changes that on the whole.
By the same token you cannot condone this sort of activity, it is completely unnacceptable and needs to be stopped as quickly as it started. With such a dramatic and important game there are always going to be contentious issues and I will openly admit to joining in chants aimed at the match officials. However there is a line and spitting at anyone is just indecent and not something we ever want to see at WP.
There will always be rivalry, abuse and chanting at football it will never change, however we have a responsibility to behave within the bounds of decency and this incident was way out of line.
I also recall that at the Hednesford game the linesman put two fingers up behind his neck at our crowd and nothing will come of that. Ref and linesman have to understand and tolerate the chanting but should never be on the receiving end of someone spitting at them, however much frustration there is over a decision.
I hope the individual has woken up this morning with sincere regret over their actions. At the same time Grazzer’s punishment would in my opinion be too strong to fit the crime and hopefully not necessary. If the person involved (who because of the suggested punishment is less likely to come forward) sends a full apology to the referee and the club, pays the appropriate fine and commits to this never happening again, then that should be the end of it. We don’t want to start banning fans from our ground unless we absolutely have to (unlike our neighbours).
Disgusting and insulting as this was no one was hurt and therefore in my opinion the matter should be dealt with privately between the individual and the club, with full apologies given.
I am remain proud to be a Witton fan and we have some of the best support by far in this league. Lets not spoil this, close the matter and move on!