Home to Bath City

[Neil Baker]

Yes he was an usher at one of his best friends wedding, we didn’t want to give out too much information for Bath, so kept that quiet also, he will be back for Monday.

[Don Juan DeMarcus]

Good good. More the merrier and hopefully guy and Sean are back soon too.

[Reading Rebel]

Fantastic second half fight back from the lads to get the win in such dramatic fashion against a previously unbeaten Bath side.

I thought we started the game well with Dan Roberts scoring his first league goal of the season which I think the Bath keeper got something on but couldn't prevent it from giving us the lead.

For the remainder of the first half Bath were the better side with us seemingly struggling playing with the one up front in the sweltering heat. 

We looked to have changed things at half time and where previously Dan Roberts looked a bit isolated he was now getting more support with us starting to put the Bath defence under a lot more pressure. 

The introduction of Manny Williams along with Ben Harris gave us the extra impetus needed to get the win which I think we deserved for our excellent second half performance. 

I thought Matt Lench and Lee Togwell were outstanding with Max Worsfold having his best game to date for us.

 

 

 

[Reading Rebel]

I thought the Ref was not the worst I've seen but still pretty poor and weak in some of his decision making.

I'll have to see it again on the video but my initial thought on the foul on Guy Hollis was that it was an over the top tackle and deserved a red card. 

[3spirit]

Excellent report of the game is now on the Slough website. In all the excitement I think I got muddled who went off when, in my first post on this thread but in my defence the game had so many incidents it was hard to keep up with play! Well, that's my excuse.

Least that is a game that will live long in the memory. It was a classic.

Any news on Guy and Sean? Is Ryan Bird likely to be out for a long time?

Like Reading Rebel, I, too, thought Max Worsfold had his best game in a Slough shirt. First half he was solid without being spectacular but second half he really got the bit between his teeth and got stuck into the thick of the action.He isn't the mazy skilled dribbler that I was hoping for but he is strong,robust and puts in some great crosses and yesterday got much more involved in our attacking intent by driving forward and making good short sharp crisp passing with Lenchy, Dan, Ben etc ,which was good to see. Let's hope there's a lot more to come from Max. 

If Slough as a team put as much effort into their remaining games as they did yesterday, they will win more games than they lose.

[Curtis]

Does anybody else have the FlashScore app on their phone?

If so, did they also notice that our equalising goal to make it 2-2 was reported about 5 to 10 seconds before we actually scored!

And I’m not going mad, I was at the match, and had time to turn to others and say ‘Apparently we are about to score’, just before Manny smashed the ball in.

[SloughFlyer]

My son has it Curtis. The 2-2 scoreline came through just as the corner we scored from was being taken????.

[Curtis]

Regarding the match, I think there are a few with rose-tinted glasses on...... at half-time the general talk seemed to be about how poor we were, and there wasn’t much confidence about us getting back in to the match.

In my opinion, we seemed very negative, starting with just Roberts up front, not having any confidence playing from the back with numerous back passes to Turner to try to find someone with a 40 to 50 yard pass...... at times it does seem like a waste of a perfect playing surface.

Things changed immeasurably early in the second half when Lee Togwell was moved to centre-back, & Williams came on as a second striker. All of a sudden there were fewer back passes, the ball stuck when played in to Williams and we started getting some attacking impetus and applying some pressure and creating half chances, two of which were thankfully converted late on.

It is fantastic that we have our first win, and I am sure that will create some much needed confidence..... if I was a Bath City player, management, or fan though, I would have been very disappointed not to have closed the game out with a 2-1 win.

It is swings & roundabouts though.... we should have & deserved to get something from both the Dorking & Hungerford matches.

 

[Neil Baker]

No surprise talk at half time was that we were poor as we were losing.... the result is usually how we are judged... the facts are for the first 25 minutes we were the better side, however once they scored we looked a team devoid of confidence, and were resorting to longed balls and just giving up possession, something we aimed to put right second half.... however confidence is very hard to find at times.

Football is a very fickle game, we could play unbelievable lose the game, and we would have been rubbish... and vice versa... at the end of the day our lads stuck to their task on a roasting hot day, and we got the win which I and Bath felt we probably deserved, anybody remember Jack making a save second half? And come to think about it did he have much to do first half other than pick the ball out the net twice....

The facts are we are now unbeaten in 3 and with a ridiculous injury list.

 

[Curtis]

I’m confused by your post Neil..... would you prefer to be judged on performances or results?

[GlenSTFC]

I guess us fans sometimes forget with a nice cold drink in hand how tough it would be to actually play in those conditions! At the end of the day it’s only the result that matters, performance is a bonus. We beat a previously undefeated side who had conceded just twice in 5 games, so to score 3 is a massive achievement in itself. Injuries are proving to be a nightmare especially when we thought we were getting close to full fitness. But if we can go 3 undefeated in theses circumstances then we should be very happy and look forward to some loud away support tomorrow (just a shame there’s no cover behind either goal!).

[Neil Baker]

I am saying it is usually irrelevant how you play in how you are judged, if you win you have done well, if you lose or are losing you are rubbish... unfortunately social media has a big impact in all of this, and the whole we should/could be better....

I have always judged our teams on how we play and results, though i understand you need to win things to be successful, though I will also come away at times happy with a performance despite a loss, or even unhappy despite a win, and that is where I am analysing how we have played.

Appraisal for the season in terms of performances (and not just the final results) first game we were average, could have had a point, but Dorking marginally better on the day (typical first game of the season) Hungerford despite all the issues we had injury wise and giving them a goal should have been a comfortable win, Concord we were poor in my opinion and got what we deserved, Weymouth we were better side first half, they were better second half, good point against for me the best team we have played, Maidstone very good for first 35 minutes, very dogged second half, again despite their late chances I believe over course of game a fair result.

Yesterday, despite a 20 minute spell where we looked beaten (after they scored their first) , we were better first 25 and better for most of the second half.

Obviously you can skew stats to what looks good etc, but we are now unbeaten in 3, and in reality have lost 3 games in our last 16 national league south games (granted these were on the bounce to start the season poorly).

Hopefully we can get players back fit ASAP,  and we can do exactly what I expect us to do all season, compete in every game, we don’t have any divine right to win every game and won’t do.

 

Edited August 25, 2019 by Neil Baker

[Alan Greenaway]

Great finish to the game. The atmosphere for the last 10-15 mins was electric. This type of game/finish will always bring the fans back. We should also thank Slough Council for the metal boards - make a great noise when the kids are thumping them!! haha.

 

[Gashimoto]

Thought their managers video assessing the game very honest.

Not sure why he was taunted by someone in the bar during the recording, apart from one rash challenge I've seen far worse teams and managers and didn't think he deserved that unless something happened after the game I'm unaware of.

[3spirit]

21 hours ago, Curtis said:

Regarding the match, I think there are a few with rose-tinted glasses on...... at half-time the general talk seemed to be about how poor we were, and there wasn’t much confidence about us getting back in to the match.

In my opinion, we seemed very negative, starting with just Roberts up front, not having any confidence playing from the back with numerous back passes to Turner to try to find someone with a 40 to 50 yard pass...... at times it does seem like a waste of a perfect playing surface.

Things changed immeasurably early in the second half when Lee Togwell was moved to centre-back, & Williams came on as a second striker. All of a sudden there were fewer back passes, the ball stuck when played in to Williams and we started getting some attacking impetus and applying some pressure and creating half chances, two of which were thankfully converted late on.

It is fantastic that we have our first win, and I am sure that will create some much needed confidence..... if I was a Bath City player, management, or fan though, I would have been very disappointed not to have closed the game out with a 2-1 win.

It is swings & roundabouts though.... we should have & deserved to get something from both the Dorking & Hungerford matches.

 

I would usually agree with you,Curtis, about playing a 4-5-1 at home, as for me I want to see us more focused on attacking the opposition than defending against the opposition but going into the match, the team hadn't exactly ' pulled up the trees' with their dynamic performances, and although we came into the game on the back of two credible draws, we certainly haven't been cocksure about ourselves and had largely been fragile and low on confidence in the previous 5 games, plus we also had the added woes of Ben Harris and Ryan Bird carrying injuries and Francis Armartey being suspended. We are then faced with the challenge of an unbeaten Bath City side, so I thought 4-5-1 was the sensible option to start the first half with. To me it was about damage limitation, Slough needed to keep in the game with Bath, not go gung-ho from the off and be vulnerable to the counter attack and let Bath exploit space. Hence why for me playing Sean Fraser as a holding midfielder in a central midfield three looked a good idea, thus giving room for Lee Togs and Lenchy to support Dan when they could. It worked well until Sean got injured and they then scored.   

We all know Manny Williams is a talented footballer but he would never have lasted 90 minutes in that heat and he is a super-sub to have, as more often than not, he get's involved straight away and creates bundles of chances for the team. We are very fortunate to have a player like this, as he has the ability to change games on his own.

So who else, Curtis, would you have played upfront with Dan Roberts, given that we were so short of players and without weakening our midfield?

[Curtis]

In similar circumstances our Managers have played Warren Harris upfront when they have wanted to play with two strikers, and Joe Grant would probably have been their natural replacement at right midfield..... Sean Fraser has been a good & loyal player for the Club but I never feel comfortable when he’s playing as a centre midfielder.

[GlenSTFC]

I won’t even look as Julian Schwarzer must be the son of Mark! We’re naming a sub goalie a lot more this season is that purely down to making up the numbers on the subs bench?

[Reading Rebel]

29 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

I won’t even look as Julian Schwarzer must be the son of Mark! We’re naming a sub goalie a lot more this season is that purely down to making up the numbers on the subs bench?

I might be completely wrong but is Jack Turner 100% fit?

During a game he seems to be continually stretching.

[3spirit]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

In similar circumstances our Managers have played Warren Harris upfront when they have wanted to play with two strikers, and Joe Grant would probably have been their natural replacement at right midfield..... Sean Fraser has been a good & loyal player for the Club but I never feel comfortable when he’s playing as a centre midfielder.

I liked Sean Fraser in midfield when Steve Bateman was manager, albeit at a lower level. Now, I think we use him sporadically there as a stop gap. To be fair, Sean is our longest serving player and good servant to our club. I consider him an ideal squad player. He always gives his all where ever he plays and on Saturday I thought he was having a good game as a holding midfielder, until he got injured.   

[GlenSTFC]

8 hours ago, Gashimoto said:

Thought their managers video assessing the game very honest.

Not sure why he was taunted by someone in the bar during the recording, apart from one rash challenge I've seen far worse teams and managers and didn't think he deserved that unless something happened after the game I'm unaware of.

Can you please provide a link to the interview as I couldn’t see it on their website or Twitter?