Stratford home - Tue 16th August

[Curtis]

Stratford have two draws and one defeat from their opening three matches, so probably looking to replicate the 4-2 win they had against us at our place last season.

 

Results with match reports :-

 

St Ives 1-1 Stratford http://stivestownfc.co.uk/first-team-result-st-ives-town-1-stratford-town-1-2/

Stratford 2-4 Redditch http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/redditchutd/teams/155420/match-centre/1-2191092

Stratford 1-1 Basingstoke http://basingstoketown.net/fixture_and_result/stratford-vs-basingstoke/

 

(Match reports well worth a read)

 

Match odds:-

 

Slough Evens

Stratford 12/5

Draw 11/4

[Graham Cox]

As it is Stratford, the home of Shakespeare, who will be

" the poor player who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more "

[michaelSTFC]

Two-nil or not two-nil?

[codpiece]

That joke was so bad,you're bard!

[RebelVilla]

Much ado about nothing

[staines_rebel_Jr]

Finished 0-0.

 

Stratford came looking for a draw and hoping to grab a goal on the break. They played with a 5 at the back and as soon as we got the ball they immediately got at least 8 men behind the ball and defended deep. Unfortunately we just couldn't break them down to find the goal to win the game.

 

Very frustrating, but it is another point and another point closer to safety.

 

 

Good to see Nisbet and Putman back from injury though.

[David Carpenter]

Another point closer to safety? Sorry for me that's yet again negativism.

[GlenSTFC]

Stratford defended well although we were quite limited to what we could offer attacking wise. Very frustrating match to watch as it just felt it'll be one of those games.

[3spirit]

Plenty of effort by our lads tonight without quite the cutting edge.

Stratford were hard to break down due to the numbers of players they defended with but in possession and endeavour terms Slough were the better team.

 

First half we were guilty of rushing our play and then over hitting long passes, rather than playing the simple pass. Improved in the second half and created a couple of goal mouth scrambles without getting the goal we wanted. 

Currently our team is missing a player who has a spark of invention but hopefully with Putts and Dobbo and Wazza and possibly, the return of  Gary Gokman this may be able to change.

 

Ending on a positive note, I thought our defence looked rock solid tonight with Mark Nisbet and Paul Stonehouse looking safe and assured alongside the reliable Guy Hollis and the lively Sean Fraser, which bodes well for the season ahead.

[staines_rebel_Jr]

Another point closer to safety? Sorry for me that's yet again negativism.

 

 

Last season Leicester's target for the season was 40 points (safety) !!! 

 

 

Every team will set themselves targets to aim for and the first target will be safety from relegation, then depending on the time of year you hit the target you set the next target.

 

 

It is not negativity, it is just a checkpoint.

[Curtis]

I was disappointed tonight (apologies in advance if anyone thinks that's negative), we didn't create a single clear cut opportunity, and I only recall their keeper making one save from a half blocked shot.... yes we had plenty of shots that were blocked, went high and wide and even rattled the angle of the post/cross bar, but if we can't manage more shots on goal we won't win games (no matter how good we look in possession).

[Reading Rebel]

First 30 minutes I thought we shaded it without really creating any worthwhile chances and having only one half-hearted shot on target. Stratford then came into the game which for me meant the first half was pretty much even.

 

The first 10 minutes of the second half was fairly even but for the remainder of the second half we stepped up a gear and totally dominated Stratford without getting that bit of luck to get the 3 points that we deserved.

 

Impressed with our defensive display tonight, with all 4 players putting in good, solid performances.

 

Midfield looked lively with Lee Togwell again putting in an impressive stint when he came on in the second half.

 

Great to see Putts back and very nearly win the game for us with a terrific free kick that smacked against the bar.

 

Overall pleased with tonight's performance and I'm sure Stratford were more than pleased to come away with a point.

 

MOTM for me was Guy Hollis who was excellent from start to finish.

[Jon Underwood]

From a management point of view very disappointed not to turn a dominant perfermance in to 3 points but will not fault the players. It is very hard when they string 5 across the back with 3 sat in front of that and they were clearly happy with a point and to be fair to them some of their last ditch defending was excellent.

 

We do need to find a way to break these sides down and create more clear cut chances but feel that will be much easier on the new pitch where we can move the ball that bit quicker in the final third as it's never easy to do that at Holloways.

 

Overall very pleased with the progress we have made and we were just the width of the post away from being in a play off spot at the end last night.

 

In our view no point in worrying about not having a few extra points that we could have had at this stage. It's a 46 game season and far more important that we look solid, are playing good football, that the spirit in the squad and workrate is excellent and we have some great options in the squad now.

 

Looking forward to Saturday already!

[David Carpenter]

Thanks for the honest and positive posting John. Best wishes for the St Ives game which I will miss since I am away celebrating (?) my 70birthday. COYR!!

[David Carpenter]

PS sorry got your name wrong JON!

[Graham Cox]

Have to agree that Stratford defended well but this was made easier fir them when their defenders are taller than our attackers and therefore deal comfortably with high balls. We are a good side when passing the ball on the ground as the majority of passes find their intended target so it can be assumed that the new 3G pitch will help us considerably.  The chances to score are there and the men to get them are there--three good strikers-- so the goals will come and our own defence was excellent as has

bee said. MOTM  for me was Sean, as given by the sponsor, just ahead of Guy but any of the back four could have been named with no argument...and Mark Scott will always make the important  saves when necessary, even when he has not had much to do for much of the game.

[HorshamRebel]

Match Photos

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horshamrebel/albums/72157672471890966

[kirk]

I can't see how that was a point gained rather two points lost.You must win your home games to have a chance of doing well.Still nice to see the back four playing well as a unit, most good sides build from the back.

Just a thought a lot of people are banking on the new pitch as a match winner, what if it isn't , can we then blame the pitch.Not being negative here just pointing out the facts.

[Neil Baker]

I can't see how that was a point gained rather two points lost.You must win your home games to have a chance of doing well.Still nice to see the back four playing well as a unit, most good sides build from the back.

Just a thought a lot of people are banking on the new pitch as a match winner, what if it isn't , can we then blame the pitch.Not being negative here just pointing out the facts.

7 points from 12, I am pretty happy with that return, we deserved to win the game, but we didn't (same as Banbury) we have controlled the vast majority of all 4 matches... I guess Chippenham have got no chance this season as they only drew their home game against Kings Langley 1-1, and surprised Poole won the league last year having drawn at home against us!!... I think you need to get in the real world in that football is not as straight forward as you seem to think it is (hence why we all love the game).... we lost the same game last season 4-2 and got completely overrun, this time they were hanging on for a draw... we have now played 2 games at "home" and not conceded.

 

Team is gelling really well as far as we are concerned, and showing good progress from the last 2 seasons in this league (granted early days).

 

The new ground will not be easy at all, every side that will come to us will love it too, and will want to get the ball down and play, however hopefully over time we can use the pitch and the familiarity to our advantage, but at no stage do we think that just because it is our new place we will just turn all and sundry over.....

Edited August 17, 2016 by Neil Baker

[3spirit]

What a difference a season makes, in terms of Stratford. When they beat us 2-4 at home last season in November, they looked a team full of flair and attacking talent and a potential play off team. They then suffer a poor run of results going into the New Year and ended up finishing in 19th place, two places below Slough.

 

I think Kings Langley may befall the same fate, they had a good win last night but as we know this Southern Premier division is unforgiving and early season form is no predicted vision in what your team will do through the rest of the season.

 

Stratford, who came for a draw last night, looked like a team still trying to find it's feet but clinical enough to do well this season. They have a number of good players across their team, so I'm sure we're be in for a harder match when we have to play them away.

So even though, we dropped 2 points at home to them, a draw against them isn't a bad result in my view.