v Havant 10th Dec 2022

[SloughFlyer]

A very challenging game to try and beat the poor run we are on, with Goddard and Dandy still missing and the new players needing to continue / start to bed in, any thing like a result in this one will be a good improvement IMO.

Hopefully we see a vast improvement on Tuesday night's performance and I guess, stranger things have happened (see Ebbsfleet away from last season, Dorking at home from last season etc)

[DonnyNo6]

Just thought I'd throw this out there after last week.....its definitely a 2pm KO. 😂

[Irishadrian]

8 minutes ago, DonnyNo6 said:

Just thought I'd throw this out there after last week.....its definitely a 2pm KO. 😂

Havant also having a mini glitch at mo  last3 games   2 losses and a draw  Last game beaten 1-5 at home so who knows?

[Reading Rebel]

4 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

Havant also having a mini glitch at mo  last3 games   2 losses and a draw  Last game beaten 1-5 at home so who knows?

Havant have had no game in midweek so fully rested.

[Rebellier]

They train every day maybe that will make them tired...

[Sir Rebel1965]

Finished 1-3

[GlenSTFC]

Disappointed our winless run continues but I guess it was always going to be a tall order to get an anything from this match. With Chelmsford and Oxford City twice in our next 3 league games it’s hard to see us ending this long winless streak (anyone know the last time we had a run like this?). We just have to hope come the 1st January we have a fully fit squad available and the training/formation/tactics has been fully practiced and drilled into the players and we start picking up vital points as I worry we’ll already been in a relegation spot by then.

[Rebellier]

Very much doubt Chelmsford game will be on at this rate 

 

 

[glyn]

Long way to go     we keep  supporting.  Players are giving everything  

[Irishadrian]

H&W moved to second in the table with this win so  a good effortby the lads imo against one of the best teams.

Anyone know the attendance?

[rebelbrewer]

2 minutes ago, Irishadrian said:

H&W moved to second in the table with this win so  a good effortby the lads imo against one of the best teams.

Anyone know the attendance?

466

[3spirit]

3 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

H&W moved to second in the table with this win so  a good effortby the lads imo against one of the best teams.

Anyone know the attendance?

I thought Slough were quite good in spells and were a tad unfortunate to concede a goal just before half time. Pity it wasn't  1-0 at the break.Considering we were playing one of the best teams in the division we shouldn't be too downcast about the result. To me there was plenty of positives we can take from this performance.The Havant second goal was soft,though,we just hadn't switched on for the second half and gave away that goal cheaply.

What did bamboozle me was why we took Ogo Obi off.I thought he should have stayed on. I didn't notice any injury.

I thought Elliot Benyon took his goal well but did struggle to offer a lot of support to Ogo as the game wore on. To me he often got caught in no man's land by playing too deep.He was coming back to help defend but wasn't really getting near the ball. It was noticeable that because of Havant's threat going forward/and our previous bad results that we had a tendency to bring too many Slough players back into our half to keep Havant out but because of this Ogo was often isolated to battle on his own upfront in the first half. He could only do so much with often as many as 3 Havant players around him.

After going 1-2 down we started to get back into the game and began to improve, and our subs made a difference coming on and did provide a lift to our play, and when Youssef Chentouf gets the ball we need to get him to take on defenders more,as he is a natural dribbler and he did have Havant defenders rattled when running at them. Even Imran Kayani got amongst the play and while his end product wasn't brilliant, he did get involved with the action today. I liked what I saw of Matt Hall and Luca Woodhouse, and Gabe George had another good game. It was also good to see Matt Lench playing in centre midfield today. Too often in the past we have wasted him sticking him out wide. I would like to see him play in the hole behind the front two as he makes things happen,is good at linking play and has a good shot on him.

Rhys Forster obviously got Slough Man Of The Match with the superb saves he made but quite a few of our players put in good shifts today. Their third goal was always likely to happen, as Slough chased to get an equalizer. I came away from the game feeling we never got 'the rub of the green' and that there was plenty we can be pleased with.

Edited December 10, 2022 by 3spirit

[Irishadrian]

Excellent eye witness report 3spirit!

[Footyfan007]

Havant may be second in the league now but they are a very beatable team as proved by their recent 5-1 loss and their current mini slump prior to playing us, along with a loan keeper (who did not look overly confident at the start of this game) and a CB I would propbably still beat in the air and in a sprint! and a few other injuries within their squad.

Slough started well, but once we got our goal soon after the shape changed and our now wider players in the formation got pinned in our half, and as 3spirit mentioned Elliot then dropped further away from Ogo as well, this is due to H&W playing a further 15-20 yards higher.  Having gone 1-0 to the good this was a key moment as I actually thought H&W would start arguing and moaning amongst themselves as their dug out where on at there players as they didn't at the time know who to pick up, now with fingers crossed I was hoping for the second.  But we changed and the remainder of the half we where under the cosh due to H&W dugout instructing there back 4 to play higher and lock us in.

The formation started with was the most successful last season under B&U I believe and IMO played to the strengths of Lench, Kuhl and Hunt and Davies. It was the midfield 4 with Davies sitting behind like the guardian angel that caused many teams havoc on the great run that we had last season, due to what I call ratting and winning a majority of 2nd phase regains, along with 3 players all with good technical ability when in possession.   Scott was instrumental in this system as he has the vision and passing range to switch defence into a attack and get the midfielders/forwards going the right way but then we have to trust the ratting higher up the pitch for the turnovers.  We also had 2 midfielders start with niggles I believe and Lench had been missing for 3 games prior so that game would have done him the world of good for the festive period and FA Trophy game.

The only difference was with Alfonso's efforts and energy up front, this was the trigger point for the midfeld 3 behind to engage and win the ball back higher which is what a 4-1-3-2 is designed to do win the ball back higher, rat and cause a higher transistion turnover.  Also stopping FB's pushing on as we have 2 forwards, didn't have this piece of the jigsaw right yesterday which is why big gaps looked to be appearing wide and probaby forced Scott to change system as everyone would love that win we all desire.  This is what I believe we are missing a CF who is a complete nuicance for the defenders but is also in and around that 6 yard box for those fox in the box and phase 2 goals, if memory serves me right Alfonso did score a fair amount of his goals from this area last season.

Also with a everchanging back 4 at the moment consistentcy from this area will come once settled down.

Lot of player changes have occured, I still believe a positive run is coming which will be enough to get this team away from the trap door and back into mid table, brave comment maybe but once that first win comes players will be able to breath again and play with some confidence.

Rhys if you read this forum 😉 another outstanding display and fully deserved man of the match.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Footyfan007

[Irishadrian]

Another excellent report/summary

[Reading Rebel]

18 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

Disappointed our winless run continues but I guess it was always going to be a tall order to get an anything from this match. With Chelmsford and Oxford City twice in our next 3 league games it’s hard to see us ending this long winless streak (anyone know the last time we had a run like this?). We just have to hope come the 1st January we have a fully fit squad available and the training/formation/tactics has been fully practiced and drilled into the players and we start picking up vital points as I worry we’ll already been in a relegation spot by then.

If we play like we did yesterday we have every chance of picking up some points.

[Reading Rebel]

We started the game well, not as in possession but in hustling and shutting players down.

Great cross field pass from Scott Davies out wide and an excellent cross I think from Luca for Elliott to steer a neat header for our opening goal.

For the last 15/20 minutes of the first half we stopped shutting players down which allowed Havant to completely dominate possession and the inevitable equaliser came albeit a scrappy one.

Havant's 2nd goal at the start of the second half was a really poor one to concede giving a player a free header in front of goal.

I was fearing this would be the cue for a pasting but nothing of the sort.

I thought we showed some real guts and fighting spirit causing Havant some scary moments but the equalizer just wouldn't happen for us, which on effort and guts alone I think we deserved.

Forget about their 3rd goal as were fully committed to attack and got caught on the break.

If we can show that sort of effort and fighting spirit for the rest of the season I have every confidence we will be ok.

Fully deserved MOTM for Rhys who pulled off some superb saves.

Also for his first game after suspension I thought Matt Lench had a superb game, always in the thick of the action looking like he was back to his best.    

 

[Nathan]

With the new faces yet to gel there is no shame in losing to one the the divisions big boys. However let's not detract from the fact that for much of the game yesterday we simply weren't competitive.

We started ok whilst not creating much. An excellent cross and header gave us the lead. Havant took a little while to get going but when they did showed why they're at the right end of the table, as between our goal and the 80th minute we barely got out of our own half. During that time Havant scored twice and could have had another 4 or 5 on top of that if it weren't for the superb Rhys Forster (and some sloppy finishing). However into the 80th minute and somehow still only 2-1 down we did rally and cause some problems. If only Kayani could head the ball we might have nicked something from the match, but lets be honest it would have been daylight robbery.

Our next games are against Chelmsford (if it goes ahead) and the Christmas games against Oxford. It's good to get these games out of the way but we needs some results asap, as in January we have what must be real six-pointers against Cheshunt and Dulwich.