Erith Town v Slough Town

[Ian]

Not so sure about MoM to Sincs. Thought today he was greedy and selfish beyond belief, trying to walk through the Erith defence on his own several times when a) it was highly unlikely to succeed and there were better options around him.

[Chris]

Didn't go today, and maybe I have no right to comment but some comments here seem a very harsh and puzzling seem to have gone from brazil last week to the dog and duck this week.

 

Going out of the cup is a little disappointing, but were currently sitting 2nd in the league and have played some good stuff so far this season.

 

No team is going to play well and get results every game. Today looks like it was just a bad day at the office, which we simply need to write off and get back to winning ways Tuesday.

[Martin]

Shocking performance today. Totally disjointed lacking any real creativity and I felt a bit silly having sung the praises of the midfield in the bar before hand who promptly preceded to have a collective off day.

 

The goal was one of those things that can happen, a lack of communication at the back and a handling error by Jacko. Whilst all credit must go to Erith for their organisation and determination that didn't create too many chances of note and otherwise the game would have been a tedious nil nil draw.

 

Even though we played badly we still managed to create some decent chances but they were wasted.

 

Simon Martin has been playing well recently he holds the ball up well, can create space for other players and links well with Sonner but he has no confidence in front of goal. Clearly today him and Craig did not link up well. I am afraid to say that I thought Craig's temper got the better of him today. He was riled and frustrated by their hands on defending and the lack of opportunities in front of goal. He was booked for what looked like an accidental clash but from the distance we were it was hard to tell. But he was substituted before he was sent off. Simple as.

 

The change of Martin for Lawford was shocking. Martin had chances and should have been kept on. We needed to go more attacking not less. It shows the weakness in the squad if John Lawford who was an excepitonally good player in his time is our only option to save the game.

 

Mr Bateman if you are reading this we need another striker stat!

[Reading Rebel]

Very disappointed in a poor team performance today.

 

I'm probably one of Simon Martin's biggest critics and it would be very easy to solely point the finger at him for missing a simple nod into an open goal from a few yards out but the truth is practically the whole team mis-fired today with Jacko's blunder that gifted them their goal and Simon Martin's dismal performance and failure to score one of the simplest goals you are likely to see only compounding a poor team performance.

 

I must admit Bateman's words that he is not concerned that the forwards are not scoring goals sound a bit hollow now.

 

I thought Adam Logie was probably one of the only players to play anywhere near his best.

 

Roll on Marlow where I'd expect the team to be a diifferent one to what we witnessed today.

[HorshamRebel]

I thought Craig's temper got the better of him today. He was riled and frustrated by their hands on defending and the lack of opportunities in front of goal. He was booked for what looked like an accidental clash but from the distance we were it was hard to tell. But he was substituted before he was sent off. Simple as.

 

I was close to what happened. As the ball went out of play Craig put both his hands up to say to the ref that the throw in was ours, as their player ran into his palm at full speed. Connecting with his cheek bone with a loud slap.

 

I was told afterwards, that he had been taken straight to hospital. Let's hope it's not too bad for hm

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Chris, yes you are right it is puzzling to say we went from Brazil last week to the dog and duck this week, but that was how major the change was.

 

The last couple of weeks have seen some of the best play I have seen from a Slough team with linked up, thoughtful, positive, and enjoyable play.

 

Yesterday it was like the disjointed, hit and hope, no confidence play of 2-3 years ago which was painful to watch.

 

Yes Erith did have some luck and they took it - but we had chances and we did not take them as one player keeps on bottleing it when he gets in front of goal. Martin should be on 8 goals by now with the chances he has had and missed - he will cost us the leauge if Bateman keeps playing him!

 

The worry now for the leauge push is that if we cant raise / maintain our level of football for the FA Cup then we will slip up too many times and end up in the play-offs or 6th place.

 

What puzzles me is that players cant raise their game for the FA Cup where there is good prize money and the chance to play bigger clubs and even be on the telly.

 

Erith were up for the game yesterday and you could tell that the win meant something to them from their celebrations at the end - our players could not wait to get back on the coach!

 

Looks like we went there, like Walsal did when we put them out - thought it would be a walkover and the little team would just roll over - we can not have that mentality as it will bite you in the bum!

[Ted]

We did not play that badly, though we certainly did not play well.

 

A defensive [****!!****] up cost us a goal, and Martin missed several good chances. He just does not have a striker's instinct, not just in this match, but throughout last season as well.

 

Even though we didn't play well we did just about enough to win the match, but if your main striker can't score, it won't always happen. I don't like putting the blame on one person, as others didn't exactly shine, but it's the way I see it, and I don't see it as a one off either.

 

We have the basis of a very good side, but there will always be games that will be settled by the taking, or missing, of the odd chance. If those odd chances fall to players without a striker's instinct, we will lose out.

[Nathan]

I'm not going to put all the blame for yesterday purley on on Simon Martin, but as Staines Rebel said, he wasted about 5 decent chances where any half-decent striker would have probably buried at least 2.

 

He had 2 free headers around the six-yard box and he got neither of them on target.

He was one-on-one through on the goalkeeper (with the goalkeeper already committing himself to a low shot), and he put it straight at the 'keeper.

The ball was played right to his feet inside the six yard box, and he put it straight back out of play.

He was unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box when the ball was played through to him with a near certain goal should he get the ball on target, and he missed the ball completely.

 

As has been said, he wasn't the only one to have a stinker yesterday so it's not entirely his fault for the abysmal performance, but this (coupled with the countless examples from last season) I think proves what I said after the Biggleswade game (last season where we lost 1-0) - Simon Martin is simply not good enough.

 

Maybe he is low on confidence, but if thats the case then he shouldn't be playing. The simple fact remains that he has had plenty of chances to prove his worth throughout last season and this, and has bottled it every time.

 

STEVE BATEMAN - We need at least another 2 strikers. Simon Martin and Gary Sippetts are living off past glories. Yesterday was as good example as you're ever likely to need ; we cannot keep relying on the midfield to provide the goods. Sean Sonner and Craig O'Connor I don't think really fit the bill; they are good players but we obviously don't play to their strengths.

 

Rant over.

[GarySTFC]

Video highlights and match report, courtesy of John Tebbit, now available through the Official Website - http://www.sloughtownfc.net

[brighton_rebel]

I always love a cup run, but i really do want to get us promoted this season so im not as pissed off as i would usually be. Let's hope Hitchin get to the 3rd round proper while drawing every game along the way.

Fair play to Erith, they deserved it just about and hope they can get a few more punters watching them - one of their players said they usually get about 40 people. Some Slough fans spoke to Chelsea supporters in a nearby pub just watching the scores coming in on the tele, who laughed when they were asked if they were going to go to the game.

Although running tracks are crap at football clubs, the bar area was certaintly impressive - and cheap! They let me pre-order my veggie burger at the beginning of the first half to have it ready by half time and had put on extra staff to cope with all us Slough fans.

[Mark44]

Got to say after reflection I really hope hitchin go far and then screw it up on the backlog. Let's just put our youth out for remaining cups and go for it.

 

Get a striker and we will be sorted

[Ian]

Get a striker and we will be sorted

 

According to Steve Bateman in Friday's Observer he "keeps hearing that he needs a 20 goal striker and it makes him laugh". Didn't notice much laughing going on at Erith on Saturday.

[Chris]

Well we could have won a home tie v's Dover Athletic had we won.

[Rebel_Glen]

Well not the best draw had we progressed. Being realistic we'd struggle to get past Dover Athletic and crowd wise we might have got 400 but once the money is split we'd probably break even at best! Roll on tomorrow night lets forget Saturday and cheer on the boys for a win which could see us go top of the league.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Youth team game on Wednesday has been called off, so the youngsters are available to play tomorrow against Marlow.

 

No reason now not to have the likes of Tony Mendy in the team even if he is only on the bench, otherwise what is the point of having a junior team if they cannot see progression to the main team - who can blame those who then move on (to QPR) and score bags of goals when the manager persists with picking no hopers!

[chris sliski]

Youth team game on Wednesday has been called off, so the youngsters are available to play tomorrow against Marlow.

 

No reason now not to have the likes of Tony Mendy in the team even if he is only on the bench, otherwise what is the point of having a junior team if they cannot see progression to the main team - who can blame those who then move on (to QPR) and score bags of goals when the manager persists with picking no hopers!

 

 

To be fair..Tony Mendy was surposed to have been there on Saturday but something happened / he did not make the coach...have to find out what went wrong....

 

He cant drive so I guess he could not get to the pick up point...or something else happened...

 

 

chris sliski