Town v VCD

[seemgee]

TEAM tonight is Nathan McDonald,Jordan Lockie, Phil Kane ,Taylor Hastings, Mark Kirby, Stanley Mugou, Tyler Campbell, Nathan Livings, Liam Hope, Michael Kalu, Robbie Martin

Subs Ryan Doyle, Jamie Smyth, Luke Illsley, Bradley Quinton, Theo Jones

[seemgee]

1-0 Tyler Campbell 18 mins

[seemgee]

HT we lead 1-0

[seemgee]

FT 1-0 VCD had the better of the second half but the first three pointer of the season.

[littlehampton]

What a relief to chalk up our first win of the season.

Sounds like a very tight game. Sometimes you have to win ugly and the result is more important than the performance. Good that we kept a clean sheet, but will be nice when we start banging in the goals, hopefully sooner than later.

Will be interested to read your take on tonight's match. Early days, but this result should inspire confidence for Saturdays visit to Canvey.

Decent size crowd tonight. Well done everybody. Enjoy!

 



 

[andyetfc]

Very lucky that VCD players did not have their shooting boots on. Early days, but not a very good performance. Three points though.

[CD Towner]

^{Agreed Andy.}

 

^{It was good to get a win regardless of the performance but it certainly wasn't impressive. Our midfield just didn't get hold of the game. I'm not sure about Robbie Martin at the moment - is he a midfielder, a winger or a full back? I'd like to see more of Stanley dominating the middle of the park and Nathan playing off him. The centre half pairing of Kirby and Hastings seems to be going well which is promising and McDonald looks a good signing in goal. Great also to see Phil Kane back playing and looking strong. However, why do we keep lumping long high balls up to Liam and expecting him to chase on his own? It was a bit of a hiding to nothing and he was left to chase the 2 VCD defenders on his own. VCD were much the better footballing side but lacked the cutting edge for me. We didn't seem to really have a plan but credit to the lads for grinding a result out, I'd take 40 more of those but I suspect higher opposition may have punished our lack of ideas.}

[Benjrider10]

It's been a while since I've been able to get to a game. Kudos to the ETFC groundsman for an excellent playing surface! We really do have a ground to be proud of.

 

Last season's squad needed improving - obviously - but I think the club are absolutely correct to work to their budget and not over-reach for short term success. This is a tough league and, for me, mid-table security should be our goal. Plus a cup run would be nice.

 

We played well for a 10 minute patch in the first half last night. What frustrated me was that during that spell we kept the ball on the deck, passed well, made some chances and took one. But after the goal we constantly gave the ball away and, on the few occasions when we did get possession back, hit long, mainly aimless balls to Hope - not his game at all. He needs passes into the box on the ground that he can run on to. He is a class finisher but can't do anything without the right service.

 

VCD must have had 75% of the possession for the rest of the game. I thought their keeper's distribution was excellent. He played like a sweeper. But we ground out a result and (just) kept the first clean sheet of the season.

 

If we play to our strengths, pass the ball around on the deck and use our wingers (I trust Corey Whiteley's holiday is a short one), we'll be fine.

[Steph]

Good post Benji.

 

I got the impression that we did work to a plan especially as the second half wore on. Our plan was to get 3 points and in that we were successful. It is clear that VCD were determined to get something from the game and we were prepared for them to come at us. As well as their scoring chances we had one or two, perhaps not so clear cut but certainly there. There was also a brief period in the second half for about 5 minutes when VCD did not touch the ball and we played a close passing game on the ground. There is talent in the side and it will work.

 

It was embarrassing at times when we got a corner and they left 4 up front but still had more people in the box than us. Surely we all realised that the plan was "keep a clean sheet and win nasty". It worked. And "credit to the lads for grinding a result out, I'd (also) take 40 more of those".

[thecoldend]

Match highlights below - 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVOnmqo1tg4&feature=youtu.be

[MbrunoB]

The Nathan Livings tackle in the area late in the first half looks even better than I remember.

[Chase Side Towner]

The Nathan Livings tackle in the area late in the first half looks even better than I remember.

 

Agreed, as was the one on one save by the other Nathan in the second half. Excellent goalkeeping.

 

Overall I'm pleased for the team. They didn't play well but put 100% effort in across the pitch, especially defending. We'll play far better and get nothing from games this season, so take the three points and a clean sheet and move on.

 

Other things to notice. VCD's penalty claim was correctly turned down by the ref. He was running into Kirby and just fell like a lump. His reaction afterwards spoke volumes.

 

Also their offside goal. It's difficult to get a clear picture but you can pause it when the initial shot is struck and see a VCD player well ahead of the last defender. The ball rebounded to him and the lineo flagged.

 

Maybe we need to but the CE one of those super slow-mo cameras that takes 8000 frames a second?