V Hungerford Town (H) 11th March

[Connor McNeish]

Such a huge game this one.

It would be nice to turn around our poor form against them too. No wins in the last 6 meetings with them and not beaten them at home in the last 3.

A perfect time to beat them with some tough fixtures looming in both Eastbourne and Farnborough away and of course the big BT Sport fixture at home to Ebbsfleet.

[Reading Rebel]

Never a game for the purists.

Almost always boils down to who wants it the most and taking chances when they come along.

Bottom line is not to lose but being at home 3 points is preferable.

[GlenSTFC]

1 minute ago, Reading Rebel said:

Never a game for the purists.

Almost always boils down to who wants it the most and taking chances when they come along.

Bottom line is not to lose but being at home 3 points is preferable.

Not saying it’s a must win but with those 3 tough games next, a win today would go a long way plus build confidence going into these games. But yes Hungerford are always a tough match as they fight and give their all plus they’re desperate for points. Just galling that Francis isn’t available as he’d be a great weapon to have on the bench today. But hopefully Ogo can continue his recent form and get a few more goals today.

[Irishadrian]

Hungerfords last 9 away league games have resulted in 8 losses and a 1-0 win against fellow relegation candidates Cheshunt Todays game should imo be a Rebel victory.

 

[Irishadrian]

3 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

Hungerfords last 9 away league games have resulted in 8 losses and a 1-0 win against fellow relegation candidates Cheshunt Todays game should imo be a Rebel victory.

 

Q.E.D.

Great result vital points as rivals start to fight for their status Of the last 8 places only Hungerford lost the next 7 either won or drew I believe the spirit in the camp means we are capable of taking points from any team.

[GlenSTFC]

An unexpected very comfortable win. We should have scored more too as we wasted a few chances but when you’re 3 or 4 up it’s not too much of an issue. They had their fair share of possession but couldn’t break down our solid defence and we took our chances (with some luck!). Great to keep 2 consecutive clean sheets aswell… Temi who??? With Eastbourne in no man’s land and hopefully the return of Francis next week there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be confident going into that game. 

[Irishadrian]

Not sure Eastbourne would consider themselves in no mans land they came from behind today to beat St Albans 2-3 and are just 4 points off the play off group but I think we can steal a point or 3 from them!

[Irishadrian]

The Hungerford

managers post match interview is worth listening to Total hatchet job on his team and says the coach/train/:petrol expenses of supporters who travelled will be refunded from players funds!!

Edited March 11, 2023 by Irishadrian
Senior moment

[Ian g f]

1 minute ago, Irishadrian said:

The Eastbourne managers post match interview is worth listening to Total hatchet job on his team and says the coach/train/:petrol expenses of supporters who travelled will be refunded from players funds!!

Do you mean Hungerford?

[Irishadrian]

7 minutes ago, Ian g f said:

Do you mean Hungerford?

Yes  I did go in and edit it  dont know why it didnt show ill try this one

Actually if you scroll  my correction did post 

[Reading Rebel]

18 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

An unexpected very comfortable win. We should have scored more too as we wasted a few chances but when you’re 3 or 4 up it’s not too much of an issue. They had their fair share of possession but couldn’t break down our solid defence and we took our chances (with some luck!). Great to keep 2 consecutive clean sheets aswell… Temi who??? With Eastbourne in no man’s land and hopefully the return of Francis next week there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be confident going into that game. 

Return of Francis next week?

Apparently he broke down in training but hopefully will be in next weeks squad?

Is it me or is that a mixed message as to the progress Francis is making.

[Reading Rebel]

Excellent 3 points against a side we normally struggle against which should set us up nicely for the harder tests that are still to come.

 

[Scott Davies]

The decision on Francis was more precaution than anything. As soon as he said he can ‘feel it slightly’ I decided that we didn’t need to risk him.

He wasn’t going to start, so to possibly come off the bench when players never do a proper warm up just didn’t make sense to me.

He will more than likely be back for next week with another 7 days of rehab, but we will see! Hamstrings are a funny old thing.

[Reading Rebel]

16 hours ago, Irishadrian said:

The Hungerford

managers post match interview is worth listening to Total hatchet job on his team and says the coach/train/:petrol expenses of supporters who travelled will be refunded from players funds!!

'Slough chewed us up and spat us out'

Sounds revolting but good at the same time 😂

[Reading Rebel]

2 minutes ago, Scott Davies said:

The decision on Francis was more precaution than anything. As soon as he said he can ‘feel it slightly’ I decided that we didn’t need to risk him.

He wasn’t going to start, so to possibly come off the bench when players never do a proper warm up just didn’t make sense to me.

He will more than likely be back for next week with another 7 days of rehab, but we will see! Hamstrings are a funny old thing.

Thanks for the reply Scotty.

Understandable being cautious with a player like Francis who rely heavily on pace of the mark.  

[SloughFlyer]

Massive week topped off with a great 3 points and whilst probably not the home performance of the season (would have to go a long way to beat Worthing last week), 3pts and a clean sheet against a team below us is a good as it gets IMO.

I thought the entire team that started were excellent (bar 1) and the forced errors for the 2 OG's came from great play (1st from Lench and 2nd from Ogo). I actually said before the play that resulted in Bush's goal I fanced him to get 1, wasn't expecting it to be 2 inches off the ground, but they all count.

I thought Hungerford in general looked very poor and we handled them pretty easily most of the time (only real big save from Will Dennis came from a certain central defender trying to lob him with a chest back😅). Not I would ever wish to tell our manager and player of his experience how to play, however, may I say that the chest back to the keeper perhaps isn't the way to go given Welling and Hungerfords plays😂.

Coming into the last 2 games it was vital to get 6pts and we did exactly that with bells on. The next 3 are going to be very, very tough IMO. Hopefully the confidence we have as a squad now after this week, will stand us in good stead moving into a difficult period.

[GlenSTFC]

After the heroic draw with Worthing then 2 successive comfortable wins with clean sheets I’d say confidence should be sky high. With the hopeful addition of Francis and possibly a rejuvenated Kayani (unless he’s going out on loan again?) will add even more options to our squad. Yes Eastbourne still have a decent chance of making the play offs but we have a good recent record at theirs so I’m certainly confident about a draw but would hope we could grab a win.

[Reading Rebel]

29 minutes ago, SloughFlyer said:

Massive week topped off with a great 3 points and whilst probably not the home performance of the season (would have to go a long way to beat Worthing last week), 3pts and a clean sheet against a team below us is a good as it gets IMO.

I thought the entire team that started were excellent (bar 1) and the forced errors for the 2 OG's came from great play (1st from Lench and 2nd from Ogo). I actually said before the play that resulted in Bush's goal I fanced him to get 1, wasn't expecting it to be 2 inches off the ground, but they all count.

I thought Hungerford in general looked very poor and we handled them pretty easily most of the time (only real big save from Will Dennis came from a certain central defender trying to lob him with a chest back😅). Not I would ever wish to tell our manager and player of his experience how to play, however, may I say that the chest back to the keeper perhaps isn't the way to go given Welling and Hungerfords plays😂.

Coming into the last 2 games it was vital to get 6pts and we did exactly that with bells on. The next 3 are going to be very, very tough IMO. Hopefully the confidence we have as a squad now after this week, will stand us in good stead moving into a difficult period.

I thought every player played their part yesterday.

Of course there will always be players that stand out more than others and grab the limelight but I thought everyone contributed in different ways with no obvious weak links.

I think we need another 6 points from our remaining 9 games to be relatively safe.

Sounds well achievable but as you say our next 3 games, Eastbourne and Farnborough away and Ebbsfleet at home don't get much tougher.

3 or 4 points from these games I think will be a good return and put us within touching distance of safety.

 

[GlenSTFC]

1 minute ago, Reading Rebel said:

I thought every player played their part yesterday.

Of course there will always be players that stand out more than others and grab the limelight but I thought everyone contributed in different ways with no obvious weak links.

I think we need another 6 points from our remaining 9 games to be relatively safe.

Sounds well achievable but as you say our next 3 games, Eastbourne and Farnborough away and Ebbsfleet at home don't get much tougher.

3 or 4 points from these games I think will be a good return and put us within touching distance of safety.

 

I don’t share your 6 points prediction although I wish/hope it is! I’m thinking more around 10 points mainly because the teams below us are picking up a lot of points recently. Had we lost our last 2 we would have been just 1 point above the relegation spots having played more games.

[Reading Rebel]

17 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

I don’t share your 6 points prediction although I wish/hope it is! I’m thinking more around 10 points mainly because the teams below us are picking up a lot of points recently. Had we lost our last 2 we would have been just 1 point above the relegation spots having played more games.

You could be right.

It's the 4 extra games that could well throw a spanner in the works.

On a normal 42 game season 50 points would virtually guarantee safety.