Lowestoft 1-0 Billericay

[billericayboy28]

Positives: The game was on

 

Negatives: Whilst this may be controversial to some,i think the fact we had yet another tedious performance comes down to Edwards. When we won the league, we relied very heavily on set pieces, that was our reputation,and it worked, lets remember Swaine was our top scorer with around 14 goals. A CB. Id say without the set pieces wed be nowhere, quite lucky really

 

The season after we used the same tactic,teams were a lot more adapt and we went down. Fair enough, it was a tough league.

 

Pre Season this year,new squad, a lot smaller on average with exception of Sappleton. We was told our game was going to change. That with these new players we would play more football and create our chances that way.

 

Wrong. Yet again Edwards relies on hoof balls and set pieces which with this squad isnt right. Yes sappleton is big and strong but the goals he has scored this season have been with his feet, not his head. Benjamin,clearly the more able striker,seems isolated with either being forced to come deep to the ball or it being booted to Sapps so benji gets nothing. It clearly doesnt work and other teams seem to be breaking us down with quick counters across the floor. I aint expecting Barcelona but when things are going wrong things do not change, we are still willing to play route1 down the middle,not exploiting the flanks at all. We could play a direct game at this level but the players seem to not have an idea how to do it effectively, as it simply hasnt been trained into them. Therefore there is literally minimum attacking play to our game. When we rarely knock it about a bit its where our best football is played, i recall earlier in the season good interplay between robinson and saps or benjamin which got us 3 points. However Craig Edwards seems insitent in playing a game with no creativity possible..

 

It is clear what some of our players are best at yet they dont get to show it due to the way theyve been told to play.

 

If you disagree fair enough but me and others have thought this for a long time

[Brightside Bloke]

What i like about the forum is that we are all entitled to our own opinions and we obviously all view the games very differently.

 

It was never going to be a pretty game but in fairness to our devoted groundsmen and a fair few buckets of sand it was game on.

 

This game (no thanks to the lowestoft manager) should have been done and dusted yonks ago and to be fair I have always thought that the manager of lowestoft was spineless at the time.  He has obviously trained his lads well in the art of screeching to the ref at any given opportunity, Sadly like the first outing, the ref gave in to the lowestoft antics. Only this time allowing the game on and eventually they got the goal.

 

The ref was card happy and a bit quick to give out cards for every screech that lowestoft made, It was harsh to book Saps for what IMO was a screech to far. Tunbridge would be proud of lowestoft who obviously have been doing all they can to imitate them.

 

Still nice to see the back of them and i wish them all the luck they deserve for the play offs again.

[Plumstead Blue]

I'm surprised you lads are being critical of the referee - I actually thought he was one of the better ones I've seen and he went about his business with a smile on his face. He might have called one or two decisions wrong, but nothing that was glaring. 

 

I was impressed with your lad Sappleton who looked a threat for 94 minutes out of the 95...but in all honesty, you lads will struggle with Joe Benjamin - we had him last season and he was rank. He didn't look any better than average in tonight's/yesterdays match. 

 

The lump that plays #5 for you looked OK and is a no-nonsense centre-back, but you can't blame your side for playing the hoof, as the pitch isn't exactly conducive to 'passing' football and I thought for a horrible moment your #6 had done his ankle after sinking into a soggy patch early into the 2nd half. Him trying to run off his injury actually cost you the goal as he was unable to track our runner.

 

0-1 was about right...but if it had finished 0-0 - I for one wouldn't have been surprised, as I really didn't see where a goal was coming from.

[Eastside Urchin]

You sobered up then???

[Plumstead Blue]

You sobered up then???

 

I was driving tonight/last night and never touched a drop :-)

 

Watching that match though - it's hardly a wonder that one turns to the bottle. 

 

Hornchurch are trying their best to bottle it...and not in an alcoholic way.

[Eastside Urchin]

Can't really argue with that last comment.

Not sure why we keep dropping pints,Canvey were better side tonight but in my mind we have the players to beat anyone .

Only decent Teams beat wealdstone 6-1 but oh too often this season we have flattered to deceive.

Should of absolutely massacred Bognor Saturday and drew 1-1

[extaffyjim]

Not sure why we keep dropping pints,

 

Pun intended?

[blue pilgrim]

Great to get the game on and apart from that dodgy patch, I thought the pitch was far better than many I have seen this season.

 

I thought that it looked a nil-nil but once Lowestoft got the break, there was only going to be one winner. I have seen far worse referees this season and he shared the cards out consistently. Yes, their player did the dying swan act at the end but Rikki only has himself to blame - you cannot do that and not get that response these days.

 

Until it dries out properly this pitch is not going to be conducive to open attacking football. As I understand it Craig has one of the lowest playing budgets in this league and we lost most of the Conference South team in the close season. He has had to rebuild and at the same time contend with the pitch unavailability. It is no surprise that our away form is considerably better.

 

No, I haven't enjoyed many of our home performances this season, but you can't blame that all on the manager - look at Lowestoft last night - until they got the break for the goal, they looked as clueless as us and yet they remain play-off hopefuls. 

 

I think Joe Benjamin has had a good season for us, my only disappointment being, that he seems unable to last 90 minutes.

 

COYB

[Billericay or Harrogate]

Probably not really worth £10 for entertainment value but hey nice to get a game so we can all have a moan !!

 

Poor game really but after Lowestoft scored they picked up a bit and tribute to our defence for holding them to 1 goal.

 

Silly boy Ricky, no chance of getting away with a flailing elbow on the ground even if the opposition did make a lot of it. That will cost us dear with a long suspension but maybe allow a bit more freedom for Joey up front - does his contract only allow for 70 minutes of football a week ?

 

Well done to all at the club for getting the pitch looking good apart from that patch which still looks like a ploughed field - le the sun keep shining and the water table dropping for the next 2 weeks and then bring on Canvey .

[Brightside Bloke]

To be fair i don't think J-B was happy about being taken off. 

 

In hindsight i agree the ref was about the same for both teams,

He did at one point tell their little number four to calm down the screeching 

 

Bring on Canvey at home. Will be nice to see Harrison Chatting back at New Lodge 

[Barry Proudfoot]

On the whole we have a young side and performances are always going to be inconsistent. Just look at our last two games (met police away and last night) to see that.  

 

youve only got to look at our defeats to see that we arent a million miles away from being where we want to be. as we have only ever lost by the odd goal.

 

Disappointing to see Ricky sent off yet again. thats 3 red cards this season which is not acceptable really. Cant think of the last player we had thats been red carded 3 times in a season.  anyone know how many games he will miss?

[Billericay or Harrogate]

Don't know the answer to this in terms of games to miss or player with sendings off. But I imagine the combative Paul Shave ( Blue Pilgrim and I were only talking about him last night !!) must come high on the list

[Barry Proudfoot]

cant remember Shavesy or Shavinho ever getting sent off

[extaffyjim]

Fiston Manuela?

[mcth]

. Cant think of the last player we had thats been red carded 3 times in a season.  anyone know how many games he will miss?

 

 

Five     .... or about a week and a half's football  (Sat, Tues, Thurs, Sat, Tues)

[Gareth J]

That's 3 reds by February too by the way, and given (relatively) how few games we have played, and how many he hasn't been suspended for already - that's really quite poor! Sadly he always has this in his locker....and I have seen many more games where he becomes increasingly wound up and you do start to wonder whether he'll snap.  He gives away too many free kicks - his pushes are remarkably obvious - and then he gets annoyed by them.  Sadly he only has himself to blame.

 

Not sure what impact the red that was 2 yellows is, but a second straight red for violent conduct would be a 4 game suspension.  With the other red, it could be 5.

 

Based on the way the weather has impacted our season, we might have to wait some time to see him again!

 

On the game as a whole, I can't see too many positives I'm afraid.  Not one shot on target for the whole 90+.  We took off our 3 best players - and couldn't even get a shot in with the keeper laying flat out on the floor.  There were also quite a few instances (again) of players not passing and shooting (when there were options) from 35+ yards.  Probably would have taken a 0-0 at the start of play, but for me we were only ever going to get "nil".

Edited February 26, 2014 by Gareth J

[jl]

Interesting how people see things differently.

 

I think people are not giving Lowestoft enough credit - they looked a good side to me, especially at the back where their defending was excellent. Remember we put out virtually the same team that dismantled The Plod a fortnight ago but last night bar Sapps (imo) we offered very little as an attacking force. While I'm at it I also thought we defended very well - Rodgers and Scott had excellent games and look a good partnership to me - please God we don't change it, especially as we have a couple of more than adequate options at right back.

 

Everyone is entitled to an opinion of course but to say that Benjamin is "clearly a more able striker" than Sappleton has to be one right out of the funny farm. Sappleton has fantastic ability but unfortunately he has a tendency to self-destruct from time to time which he again managed last night - particularly bad timing as he had seemed to have started to win over many of the supporters. The Lowestoft lad certainly made a meal of it but ultimately I think Sappleton gave a card happy referee an easy decision to make and now he will be banned for a long time.

 

I thought the pitch played ok and looks on the mend at last - it didnt cut up too badly and hopefully that's the worst of it over although we really can't afford another repeat next season. I don't think you can blame teams for playing directly on the poor Winter surfaces and it wasn't that long ago that people were saying we were playing our best football for several seasons. I think it's good to be able to adapt to different conditions.

 

Three away games coming up so hopefully our good away form can continue - It's a mystery why we have been so poor at home this season.

[jl]

cant remember Shavesy or Shavinho ever getting sent off

He got a straight red away against Maidstone (at Sittingbourne) for a kung fu style assault and also got sent off in a game at Concord picking up two yellows in two minutes which reduced us to nine after Flack had been sent off. They are two that spring to mind straight away.....

[The Town Crier]

He got a straight red away against Maidstone (at Sittingbourne) for a kung fu style assault and also got sent off in a game at Concord picking up two yellows in two minutes which reduced us to nine after Flack had been sent off. They are two that spring to mind straight away.....

 He also got a red at Tonbridge.

............

 

We played fantastic football at plod, not so good last night, and I agree with jl re Lowestoft, I thought they worked really hard and earn't the right to win.

 

Also agree its better to see a game than sit one out because of conditions.

 

As always, I think we have a every chance of winning our next game.

 

COYB.

[GazzaBTFC]

Firstly the young man that posted his opinion at the top of this thread. When the pitches were firmer, we played attractive passing football which belied our relegation from the Conference League last season. That we had an inexperienced new team added to the mistakes. From our performance against The Rozzers was a mixture of passing football and route one where required (especially when there were tired legs and we were defending deep).

I suspect your critic of Craig and his tactics either comes from a lack of travelling to away games, depression of last night's result or just a lack of observation tempered with ignorance. The pitch last night was not conducive to the beautiful game and both teams engaged in route one.

 

As for last night. Well, I agree with JL for the most part. I thought a draw would have been a fair result but goals are made from mistakes and we made one that couldn't be covered. Move on.

 

As for the sending off. From where I stood. Sapplton reacted. Did he strike the player across the face. Not that I could see. Did the Lowestoft player make a meal of it. IMO yes. He even got up and was seen laughing with a smile from ear to ear. But it happens in most games were players now make more of an incident than there is. A sad indictment of a sport that prides itself on setting a fair play example.